This is my first attempt at a fanfiction, so i'm sorry if it runs on a bit or is boring!!
Her is the link for feedback - much appreciated!!

http://www.veritaserum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19570


Chapter 1: The Morning After

A loud crack pierced the silence of the dormitory. Seamus and Dean gave loud grunts and turned over, still sleeping. Neville sat up in bed.

“Harry … Wassat?” He asked sleepily.

Harry saw Neville’s head lolling sleepily between the hangings of his four-poster bed. Harry rubbed his eyes tiredly, not yet noticing the small elf pulling on his bed sheets.

“Go back to sleep, Neville, it’s nothing” Harry needn’t have finished his sentence, as next moment, Neville’s head had hit the pillow, and he was snoring as loud as ever.

It was a moment or two before Harry noticed that Ron had vacated his own bed, and was now dragging himself around to Harry’s side, where Kreacher the house-elf was impatiently trying to drag the covers of his bed.

“Master Harry, Kreacher has come to tell you that the ceremony will be beginning in one hour, sir.” The elf looked very proud to be telling Harry and Ron this news. He paused in time to let Harry thank him, before continuing, “Kreacher must leave now. He is supposed to be helping the other elves prepare breakfast, master.” Kreacher bowed before Harry and Ron, then left the room with another crack.

“Was that you, Harry?” Dean had been awoken by the sound of Kreacher’s disappearance, along with Seamus and Neville. They were all sitting up in their beds, looking bleary-eyed.

“No … it was nothing. We’ve only got an hour, we’d better get ready” Harry said quickly.
Harry and Ron left the dormitory after the other three. They met Hermione in the common room after making their way downstairs. She blushed when she saw Ron, but otherwise smiled. The three of them walked down to the Great Hall together.

Although only some sixth- and seventh-years had remained behind last night, the Great Hall was packed full of not only the students, staff and families who had fought in the battle, but also families who had not been fighting, whose sons’ or daughters’ lives had been taken at the hands of the Death Eaters. Most of them had arrived just an hour earlier, when they first heard of their family tragedy. There was a mixture of both sorrow and happiness buzzing around the hall. Many relatives were crying in each other’s arms, and many students were happily discussing how the Dark Lord had finally been defeated …

Harry saw Andromeda Tonks sitting at one of the four tables. She was alone apart from a small baby with tuft of shocking pink hair, who she was holding. Silent tears were pouring down her cheeks. Harry gestured for Ron and Hermione to follow him. He reached the table she was sitting at, and sat down at the empty space opposite her. She looked up into Harry’s face, “Why? Why was it Dora … I’ve already lost Ted … Now this … Poor Teddy doesn’t even have a father! I shouldn’t have let her go! I should have tried harder to make her stay … but I didn’t! It’s my fault!” She wailed, and the tears fell even more rapidly. Harry was about to speak, when Hermione started.

“Your daughter was an auror. She felt that it was her business to fight the Death Eaters. If she had let everybody fight without her … well, she knew she should have been here, even if other people didn’t think she should have. She died as a hero, along with all the others. She was fighting to give her son a better life, just like Teddy’s father … you can understand that, can’t you?” Andromeda looked up at Hermione when she had finished. She was silent for a moment or two, then she said quietly, “Dora always spoke so highly of you three. She always said you were all so brave and intelligent. I know that if she wanted to … to die in battle … it would have been for you three and Dumbledore.” A long pause followed her speech. A lone tear fell down Hermione’s cheek as she watched the young child in Andromeda’s arms sleeping soundly. Andromeda saw Hermione looking at the child, “You haven’t seen little Teddy before, have you? He looks just like his mother.” She gave a small smile, “He changed his hair colour just this morning. Pink was a personal favourite of … of my Dora. I think Teddy sensed this.”

Andromeda stood up and looked at Harry, Ron and Hermione. She smiled briefly again and said, “Thank-you for talking to me just now. I think Teddy will need his Godfather.” She put a hand on Harry’s shoulder before turning, and walking out of the Great Hall.

Harry looked around the hall. There were families everywhere, all sitting together, many of whom looked solemn. Harry located the Weasley family straight away. Vivid amongst the crowd, the five children and their parents were sitting tightly packed together at the table which usually belonged to Gryffindor. Ginny caught Harry’s eye, and wiped a tear from her face. He saw her say something to Mrs Weasley, before giving her a hug, and getting up from the table. She was walking towards Harry when the full extent of what had happened hit him. Fred was gone, and it was his death that had caused much of the sadness that was etched upon many of the students’ faces, as well as just the Weasley family alone. Fred and George were always popular with their jokes and products from their own shop. They were known for being a twosome, and one was hardly ever seen without the other. Now, looking over at George, Harry saw that he would never get over the loss of his twin, he looked like a smile or a laugh might never play upon his face again.

Ginny had reached Harry. She stopped in front of him and looked him hard in the face. Harry was reminded of when Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup … when Ginny had looked at him in that certain special way before she had kissed him …

Harry looked back at Ginny, her eyes threatening to overflow as she stood in front of him. Harry opened him arms and Ginny threw herself into them, burying her face in his shoulder as it muffled her sobs. Harry closed his eyes as he inhaled that smell he had known before … it gave him hope … it made Harry realise that, even after all that had happened, he still had a future, and it was with Ginny.

Chapter 2: The Phoenix' Tribute

The Weasleys, Harry and Hermione all rose from the table and walked, without saying a word, towards the grand, oak doors leading to the castle’s grounds. Ginny reached out and grasped Harry’s hand tightly in hers. He gently squeezed her fingers, and she returned the pressure. Harry looked her directly in the eyes. She had a determined look on her face, which Harry felt mirrored his own mood. He wanted nothing more than to hold her, to kiss her, but this wasn’t the time. He knew he would have to wait until after the ceremony.

When everyone was seated, a tall dark figure stepped up to the podium in front of the seated witches and wizards. Silence fell immediately over the grounds, and Kingsley Shackelbolt began to talk.

“We have all gathered here today, not to celebrate the end of the Dark Lord’s rein over both the wizarding and muggle world, but to celebrate the lives of those who died in battle. Last night, Lord Voldemort and those he called ‘Death Eaters’ arrived at Hogwarts. They fought, and they fought, and it is my deepest regret that this led to the deaths of so many brave and wonderful people. We are here today to honour their lives and their courageous abilities, without which many of us may not have been here now to tell the tale. Let us now remember these people by keeping a single feather here at Hogwarts for each of those who gave us hope when we thought that was all gone.

“Many of you may have seen this phoenix before …” Kingsley paused to allow the crowd to react to the sudden appearance of Dumbledore’s phoenix, Fawkes. Harry didn’t know what Kingsley meant by ‘A single feather’ but he knew he was about to find out.

Kingsley went on, “We will now name those who have sadly lost their lives, but we will always remember them. Forever” A round of applause followed Kingsley’s words. Many people stood up, and some took their hats off.

The gold phoenix flew up above a mass of freshly dug earth which Harry had not noticed before. It hovered there, and waited for Kingsley to continue, “Remus Lupin.”

Many of the witches and wizards jumped in fright, some screamed; Fawkes had burst in flames for a few seconds, before a single golden feather fell into the hole in the grass. There was another round of applause following this.

“Nymphadora Tonks.” Another feather fell from the flaming phoenix, joining that of Remus Lupin in the hole. “Fred Weasley.” Harry felt Ginny’s grip on his hand tighten as Fred’s feather fell to the ground. He looked round at Ron and Hermione; Ron’s eyes were shining, and he and Hermione were too, gripping hands. Harry heard a wail of despair that belonged to Mrs Weasley coming from a few rows in front of him.

The next feather was for Colin Creevey. Kingsley told the crowd of how the youngest fighter had snuck back to the castle after he was supposed to leave, and the witches and wizards listening to Kingsley applauded loudest to honour the life of this victim.

More names were called, and more feathers fell. Harry sat, listening intently for the name which he knew would not be there; but it needed to be there, and Harry would make sure of that. He waited until Kingsley had called the last name before getting to his feet and walking down the aisle between the rows of seats. Heads turned to watch Harry as he strode towards the podium. When he reached where Kingsley was standing, He knew exactly what he was going to say.

“I think there’s one more person who deserves to be honoured for their bravery,” Harry began. He didn’t care if the spectators didn’t agree with him for what he was about to say, “Severus Snape was one of the bravest people who was in the castle last night. I found something out after he had died. I was … told … that Severus Snape was a double agent. I knew this anyway, but I thought he was a Death Eater at heart.

“I was wrong, of course. Snape was working for Dumbledore when he died. He had been working for Dumbledore for nearly seventeen years. He was a brave man, and he didn’t deserve to die the way he did. There was a single reason that Snape was able to return to Dumbledore’s side, and that was because he could love. He had a power that many other Death Eaters did not have, which allowed him to return. So now, let’s show him that he didn’t die in vain. SEVERUS SNAPE!” Harry yelled these last two words, just as the phoenix burst into flames once more, and a final feather fell into the grave in the ground.

Chapter 3: Going Home

After the ceremony had finished many of the wizards and witches were making their way down to Hogsmeade where they could apparate home safely, or else have a drink at the Hog’s Head or the Three Broomsticks. Many students were getting the Hogwarts Express home, which was leaving in one hour. Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Percy and George were all apparating home, but Ron and Ginny had insisted they wanted to return on the train with Hermione and Harry.

Kingsley had caught up with Harry just as the four of them were on their way to the train station in Hogsmeade.
“That was very noble, Harry – what you just said. Severus treated you terribly when you were at Hogwarts, so for you to do that was extremely brave. I think Dumbledore would have been proud.” He smiled reassuringly at Harry. Harry was still unsure whether being compared to Dumbledore was a great compliment or not. Kingsley took a deep breath, “Harry, I want you to know something. Before I spoke at the ceremony today, I was told that I’d been made Minister for Magic … permanently. That means I need to be able to rely on people to work for me, who really know a thing or two about magic.” He paused for a reaction from Harry, who didn’t quite understand what Kingsley meant. “I’m talking about you, Harry. Our auror department needs … rearranging somewhat. You know much more about fighting the dark arts than many of the experienced aurors in the office. So what do you say?” Harry opened his mouth to speak, but Kingsley cut in quickly, “I know what you’re going to say; Voldemort’s gone. Yes, he has, but his supporters haven’t. A lot of them escaped last night, and I don’t think we’ve seen the last of them. It would be brilliant to know that I have someone like you working for the auror department. You two as well.” He added, nodding his head to Ron and Hermione.

“Wow … I didn’t expect that. I really would like to join you, Kingsley, and I will … soon. Right now, I just want to rest. A lot has happened in the past year. Give me a month or two to get used to this,” Harry told Kingsley.

Kingsley smiled again, “I can understand that, Harry. I look forward to the months ahead when you do join the Ministry. And you, Ron? Hermione?” Ron and Hermione still looked shocked from being told that they were wanted as aurors. Hermione looked at Kingsley, disbelief still etched upon her face, “I would love to join your Ministry, Kingsley, but I don’t think fighting the dark arts is where I belong. If it’s alright by you, I would love a job in the Protection of Magical Creatures office. Just because Voldemort has gone, it doesn’t mean House-elves get treated any better. They need wizards and witches to improve life for them.” Harry expected Ron to sigh, or get angry at Hermione for turning down an excellent job, but he didn’t. Instead, he smiled at Hermione and put his arm around her waist. It was, after all, Ron’s will to protect the house-elves of Hogwarts that had brought them together one night earlier.

“I respect that, Hermione. There will always be a job at the Ministry for you. We’ll be glad to have you working in that particular field. And you Ron?”

Ron looked saddened for a moment, before saying “Not now. I think George needs me … at the shop. What happened to Fred … well, its hit George a lot harder than it has to us. I think I’ll work there for a while, at least until Fred decides he doesn’t need me anymore.” Kingsley looked like he understood. He checked his watch, which was not unlike the one Harry had received for his seventeenth birthday, and told them he needed to go. “It wouldn’t look good if I was late for my first day at work!” He joked, before becoming serious again. “Thank you. All of you. I don’t know what the wizarding world would do without you.” He grasped their hands before departing through the gate and then he apparated on the spot.

The four of them stared at the spot where the Minister for Magic disappeared. Harry looked around them; they were the only people left in the grounds now; everybody was probably on the train now. Harry looked at his own watch, “Come on,” he said to the others, “The train will be leaving in ten minutes. Let’s go home.”


Chapter 4: The Start of a New Life

Ginny had found the four of them a compartment to themselves. Harry sat down, glad of the chance to do so, and Ginny lay down on the seat, her head lying in Harry’s lap. Ron was sitting opposite them; Hermione’s head was resting on his shoulder. Harry was going over what Kingsley had said in his head, when Ron broke the silence.

“It’s going to be quiet now, isn’t it? I mean, every year at Hogwarts something has happened that was down to him. It’ll be strange!” Harry, Hermione and Ginny laughed, “Seriously though, what are you all going to do now? Mum will be more than happy for you two to come and live with us,” He directed at Harry and Hermione, “What with your parents in Australia, Hermione, and Harry … well I’m pretty sure you won’t be going back to Privet Drive, eh?” Ron laughed, but stopped immediately at the sound of Hermione’s stifled sob.

“I forgot … my parents! What if something … horrible happened? What if the Death Eaters had caught up with them? It’ll be all my fault!” She cried. Ron wrapped her into a warm hug.

Ginny said softly, “Hermione, your parents will be fine! How would the Death Eaters know where to find them? Anyway, it wouldn’t be your fault at all! If you’d have let them stay here then they would have surely … been found. You did brilliantly, modifying their memories like that. You should be happy!” Hermione nodded slowly, but still continued sobbing.

“I’m going to find them. As soon as we get off the train. I’ve got some money in my muggle bank account that I can use. I’ll withdraw that and get a flight to Australia.” Nobody spoke for a few moments. Everybody was looking at Hermione.

“Well … why not just apparate?” Harry began, “It’s much less expensive! Or you could get a portkey? Kingsley could easily organise that for you!” Harry thought it seemed like a good idea, but apparently, Hermione didn’t.

“Harry, do you not know how hard it’s supposed to be to apparate to the other side of the world?! First you need a license to apparate normally, and then one to apparate across a continent and even then you need one to apparate around the world!” Hermione exclaimed.

“Alright, alright! But what about a portkey?” Harry asked carefully.

“Well, I suppose that is an idea … Do you really think Kingsley wouldn’t mind?”

“Of course, not!” Ron told her, “If he just offered you a job as an auror, I’m pretty sure he’ll let you have a portkey! We’ll go to the Ministry as soon as we get of the train, get a portkey, then we’ll go to Australia – simple!”

“Hold on! – We?? No, Ron. I need to do this myself. I appreciate you offering, but this is something I need – want – to do myself.” Ron tried to interrupt her, but she continued, “Don’t try to stop me, Ron! I’m going alone, and that’s final!”

Ron looked at Harry desperately, but he gave Ron a look that Ron knew to mean ‘Don’t try to argue.’ Harry had been thinking to himself about where he was going to go. He knew he couldn’t live at the Burrow for his whole life, but realistically, he didn’t have his own house yet …

“How could I forget?!” Harry said out loud, “12 Grimmauld Place!”

“Yeah, Harry … well done, it’s the house you own,” Ron said sarcastically, evidently confused at Harry’s sudden exclamation.

“Yes, I know, and I’ve just had an idea!” He looked round at the others who looked just as confused as Ron had, “Why don’t we all move into Grimmauld Place! The four of us! We can finish tidying it up, just as Sirius had wanted to! Then it would be fit enough for us to live in! It would be a shame to let all that hard work of trying to fix it up go to waste wouldn’t it?” Ron, Hermione and Ginny all looked at Harry, utterly bewildered. Ginny spoke first.

“I couldn’t, I’ve got other year of Hogwarts to finish first. I’d love to after that though. I’m sure mum wouldn’t mind. I’ll stay at the burrow over the holidays for now; I think she and dad will be quite lonely when I go to Hogwarts.”

“You’re right Ginny,” Ron said, “Bill and Fleur will be going back to Shell Cottage and Charlie will be going back to Romania. George might go back to live above the Joke Shop. I don’t know what Percy’s going to do, though. I think he’ll be going back to his house.”

“Where’s his house?” Enquired Hermione.

“Did I not tell you?” Ron said, confused, “He said earlier today, just after the ceremony that he’d found a house. Guess where?” When Harry and Hermione just shrugged, Ron said, “Godric’s Hollow! Him and Penelope Clearwater!”

Hermione said, “You mean … he would have been there when me and Harry …”

“Yip. He’s been living there for about a year now. I don’t know where he went before that, but, yeah, he says it’s a really great place. Anyway,” Ron continued, “I suppose, yeah, could be good; moving into Grimmauld Place. I’m up for it, Harry!”

“Great,” Harry smiled, “Hermione? How about it? When you get back from Australia?”

“Erm … yeah, it does sound like a good idea. I want to spend time with my parents first, though. Then I will, definitely!”

The lunch trolley went past their compartment just then. Harry bought pumpkin juice and cauldron cakes, passing them round to Hermione, Ron and Ginny.

“To the start of a new, Voldemort-free life!” Harry shouted around the compartment, raising his flagon of pumpkin juice. The others imitated Harry, and they all drank happily.


Hey, thanks for the feedback Ronluver!
Please can other readers give me some too!

~Amy

Chapter 5: Return to The Burrow

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny whiled away the rest of the journey by talking about all that had happened over the past seven years. When it came to the subject of horcruxes, Hermione and Ron looked significantly at Harry, and he knew why; Dumbledore had made Harry not tell anybody but Hermione and Ron about the secret of Voldemort’s horcruxes.

“I think we can tell Ginny about them,” He told Ron and Hermione, while Ginny had left the compartment to sit with some of her other friends for a while. Hermione tried to interject, but Harry cut across her, “Look, me and Ginny are together now. And that means no secrets, no lies. I want her to know. You remember the diary, don’t you? Do you not think she deserves to know what that was?”

Ron began, “But Dumbledore – ”

“ – Told lies all his life,” said Harry, “I don’t want to end up like that. He lost all his family, apart from his brother, and even then, they never spoke much,” Hermione was about to say something else, but again, Harry interrupted, “If Ron didn’t know, you’d want to tell him, wouldn’t you?”

Ron and Hermione looked at each other. “Yes. I would,” Hermione said quietly, “You’re right Harry. I think, in a way, Dumbledore wanted you to do this. He’d want your life to be better than his.”

Just then, Ginny’s outline appeared through the glass before she entered the compartment. She sat down next to Harry and kissed him lightly on the cheek. Then, seeing all their serious expressions, she asked, “What’s happened?”

“Nothing, Ginny. We just … well, we think you deserve to know … remember the diary?” Harry began, and he told her everything; about the locket, the cup, the diadem – everything. The only part Harry missed out was the fact that he, himself, was the final horcrux – he felt that this might scare her somewhat. When he had finished, Ginny continued to look intently at him.

“Why are you telling me this?” She said, “I would have understood if you didn’t.”

“I know you would have. But I want us to be together – properly. I think you had a right to know what we had been doing, and what the diary was doing to you.”

Ginny looked into Harry’s eyes for a brief moment, before reaching up and kissing him, softly on the lips. Harry felt like this was where he belonged; with Ginny, Ron and Hermione. He knew that Ginny needed to know about the horcruxes, and he felt much better now, knowing that he had told her.

They pulled into King’s Cross, and the four of them jumped off the train and through the barrier. Harry looked up at the domed ceiling and smiled to himself.

“OK,” said Hermione, “I’m going straight to the Ministry. I want to get my parents home as soon as possible.”

“Now?!” said Ron, “Can’t you at least wait a few days? We’ve only just got back! The four of us are supposed to go to the Burrow as soon as we get off the train! She didn’t say why, but something’s happening!”

“I shouldn’t be more than a few days, really. It depends how quickly I find my parents and modify their memories,” Hermione explained, “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine!” she added after seeing Ron’s expression.

“There’s really no changing your mind is there, Hermione?” Ginny smiled. She gave Hermione a small hug and said, “Be careful.”

Harry hugged her next and said “Are you sure you’ll be fine alone? Because we don’t mind –”

“I’ve told you! I’ll be OK!” This apparently settled matters; Harry could see she was getting quite agitated.

“Well … bye, Ron,” She said, and Ron pulled her into a close hug, “I won’t be that long gone,” She laughed as Ron refused to let go. He gave Hermione a quick kiss, before joining Harry and Ginny, who would be apparating to get back to the burrow. Hermione gave one last wave to them all; then with a quick spin on the spot, she was gone.

“C’mon,” Harry said to the others, “We better get going; your mum will be wondering where we are.”

Harry gripped arms with Ginny and Ron, and together they turned where they stood, and Harry was forced through that all-too-familiar tight rubber tube.

Harry opened his eyes and found himself with his arms linked with Ginny and Ron’s, the welcoming figure of the Burrow looming on the hill ahead.

Chapter 6: Fleur’s News

Mrs Weasley came tottering towards the three of them just as they appeared outside the Burrow. She looked rather flustered as she hugged them all.

“Oh thank goodness, we were beginning to wonder where you’d got to … But where’s Hermione?!” said Mrs Weasley, noticing Hermione’s absence. Ron quickly explained where she had gone, and when Mrs Weasley yelled at them because they should have tried harder to make her stay, Bill appeared at the doorway of the Burrow.

“Come on! We’ve been waiting for you; Fleur’s dying to tell everybody!”

The four of them trooped into the house after Bill, and went through to the living room. The Weasleys were all sitting around, evidently waiting for Harry, Ginny and Ron to arrive. As they took their seats, Fleur stood up, and told them her news.

“We were going to wait a while before we said anything,” She started, “But after ze events of last night, we felt zat ze family may need something to look forward to.” Bill put his arm around Fleur’s waist and continued over Fleur.

“Fleur couldn’t be at the ceremony at Hogwarts this morning. She was at St Mungo’s,” Many people in the room looked stunned, Mrs Weasley gasped and said “Are you alright, dear?” But Fleur just smiled.

“I am fine, thank you … Me and Bill … We are going to ‘ave a baby!” Mrs Weasley gasped again, but this time, it was to hug her son and daughter-in-law.

“Oh, this is wonderful! Just wonderful! Arthur, get some drinks, I think this calls for a celebration!” She hugged Fleur again and gushed, “So when are you due?”

“Well zat was why I was seeing ze ‘ealers at St Mungo’s. I am expecting ze baby to be born in November!” The Weasleys, plus Harry, all applauded, and raised their glasses of Butterbeer.

That evening, they all ate a magnificent dinner, courtesy of Mrs Weasley, in the garden which was beautifully decorated with floating, glimmering fairies. They had just finished their dessert of treacle tart, when somebody knocked on the door. Mr Weasley went through to answer it, and returned to the garden with Xenophilius and Luna Lovegood at his heel.

“Ah, Meester Xeno, thank you for ze wedding gift, it was very … er … thoughtful of you!” Fleur smiled as she kissed him on both cheeks.

“What did Mr Lovegood get you?” Harry murmured to Bill, who was sitting next to him.

“I have no idea what it was,” Bill whispered back, “It was some kind of yellow plant that squirted yellow liquid every hour. We think it was bubotuber pus, so we thought it was best to dispose of it as soon as possible”

Harry smirked. He thought a present from the Lovegoods might be something like this. Ron was laughing too; he was listening to Bill’s account of the Lovegood’s wedding gift.

Luna glided up to Harry, Ron and Ginny while her father was in deep conversation with Mr and Mrs Weasley. She smiled cheerily and sat down opposite Harry, next to Ginny.

“Daddy just came to ask your father if he wanted to join us to go to the Blibbering Humdinger convention in Wales next week! It’s so exciting, but daddy’s finding it difficult to find somebody else to go. He won three tickets but nobody seems to have heard of a Blibbering Humdinger!” She laughed in disbelief, which drowned out the sound of Ron whispering, “I wonder why.” Harry stifled a laugh with his fist, and managed to say, “I’m sure he’ll find somebody to go.”

Luna beamed at him, “Anyway, you were very brave last night … but I suppose you’ve heard that already,” she said vaguely, “Where’s Hermione?” She was looking around as though Hermione may jump down from the nearby tree.

“With her parents,” Ginny told Luna.

“… Appreciate the thought, Xeno, but I’m er … busy that day. Maybe another time, eh?” Mr Weasley was telling Mr Lovegood.

“You’re missing out, Arthur; a sighting of a Blibbering Humdinger is almost as unique as that of the Crumple-Horned Snorcack!” Harry could see that Mr Weasley was desperate to laugh, but he managed to hold it in as he thanked Xenophilius again. “Well, Arthur, we’ll be off now. Come on then, Luna, we’d better get those Freshwater Plimpies put into the soup!”

Luna was just about to leave when she remembered something, “Harry, I almost forgot, Neville Longbottom told me to give you this,” She handed over a small package with a note attached to it, and said “He says it’s your invisibility cloak … although it probably isn’t a real one; one of the only real cloaks in existence belonged to the Peverells, all the others are just simple charms cast upon a normal cloak. Daddy told me you were looking for the Deathly Hallows. Did you find any?” Without pausing for an answer, she went on, “Did you know that the cloak of invisibility belonging to the Peverells is supposed to show hidden powers? Yes, according to Daddy, if you use the elder wand while wearing the cloak, it allows you to gain whatever you desire! It supposedly gives the user more power than anyone else in the world!” Her father called for Luna, who said goodbye to each of them in turn, and ran off after him.

“Deathly Hallows? What are they?” asked Ginny. Harry told her, “Legendary magical objects. We wanted to find them to help get rid of the-” Harry checked that no-one else was within earshot, “horcruxes. But don’t forget, this is coming from Luna Lovegood!” Ginny smiled and went off to talk to George, who looked extremely lonely at the table.
Harry took the opportunity and tore open the note on the parcel and read aloud to Ron:

Harry–
Well done for what you did for everybody at Hogwarts last night. You were so brave, and it’s all thanks to you that my Gran has accepted me as my father’s true son! I’m starting a Ministry Course next week so I can become a Herbology Teacher! Gran thinks it’s a weak option for a career – she thinks I should be an auror! – but I’m doing the Herbology course anyway! I really want to work at Hogwarts when I’m qualified, but I’ll see what happens. I hope I can meet with you again soon – Ron and Hermione too.
All the best for whatever you three do,
Neville

Harry finished the letter and looked at Ron, who said, “Well he’s pretty much got his life planned out, hasn’t he?!”

“Yeah,” laughed Harry. He pocketed the letter, and made his way back inside the house with Ron.

“Are you going to try it, then?” Asked Ron when they were lying in bed in his attic room, “with the elder wand and cloak?”

“If there’s anything I’ve learnt, these past few months,” Harry yawned, “It’s that nobody can be trusted with too much power.” Ron laughed, and turned the light off. Harry was asleep within minutes.


The next week or so went by quite quickly. The day after they had returned from Hogwarts, they held a funeral in the orchard for Fred, Tonks and Lupin. Andromeda and Teddy came, most of the Weasleys who had been at the wedding, Alicia, Katie, Angelina and Oliver Wood from the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Lee Jordan, and many more people from Hogwarts. There were also some of Fred and George’s neighbours, from Diagon Alley. Aberforth Dumbledore had turned up for the procession, along with Kingsley, Mundungus, Hagrid and many teachers of Hogwarts including McGonagall, Slughorn and Flitwick. They all stayed for a drink afterwards, many of them questioning Harry about how he had managed to overcome Voldemort, to which Harry replied, “Luck, I suppose,” bringing confusion to some of the guests. Harry had seen George smiling with Alicia Spinnet earlier, the first time Harry had seen George do so since he had his brother.

As all the guests were leaving, a handsome tawny owl was seen flying towards the Burrow, silhouetted against the orange, sunset sky. It flew smoothly through the doorway into the kitchen, settled itself on Ron’s shoulder and patiently held its leg out. When Ron had detached the letter from the owl, it spread its wings and took of through the open door.

Ron was looking at the unfamiliar scrawny handwriting on the envelope. He looked at Harry, who shrugged, then tore it open. Ron began reading the letter, and as his eyes swept the page, they became wider, and his face turned a ghostly white.

“It … It’s Hermione!”

Can some more people please leave me some feedback?!

I'd love to write more chapters but I really need to know if people are actually liking this fanfic in case i'm wasting my time!

The link is above. Thanks!

~Amy

Chapter 7: The Search Begins

Ron handed the letter to Harry, then fell back into one of the wooden chairs around the kitchen table. Harry read the letter, which was in the same untidy handwriting:

Weasley –
We have your dear little mudblood friend here – we’d ask her to write a little ‘hello’ for you, but she is in no fit state to write at the minute! You and your little mate Potter had better be hoping for a miracle, cos that’s all your gonna need to get Granger back! It’s great that we ran into her – one of the three very people we were most excited to meet! Don’t worry, she’ll be fine – she’ll have that werewolf Lupin to keep her company when we’ve killed her! We’re having too much fun torturing her for now, but she’ll be gone soon – trust us!
Long live the Dark Lord!

Harry couldn’t believe it. He read and reread the letter, trying to make some kind of sense out of it, but all he knew was that Hermione had been captured, and she needed help. Fast

He looked over at Ron, who now had his head in his hands. He tried to say some words of comfort to Ron, but no words escaped his mouth. Instead, he walked around the table to Ron and put a hand on his shoulder. He found himself to be able to say only, “We’ll find her, don’t worry, she’ll be fine.”

Ron threw the hand off his shoulder and turned to face Harry, “Fine? FINE?!” he yelled, “Did you even READ that letter?” He snatched the parchment out of Harry’s hand and read a sentence out loud, “‘We’re having too much fun torturing her for now, but she’ll be gone soon’ – does she sound fine? It sounds to me like they’re going to kill her any minute! But I suppose you’ve faced much worse than that, haven’t you Harry Potter?” Ron was on his feet now, and tears of rage and anguish were staining his face, “Yeah, you’ve been face to face with Him in a graveyard before, you’ve been in the Forbidden Forest with him and he practically killed you! But not Hermione! She doesn’t know what it’s like, in a situation like this! Remember at Malfoy Manor? When she was being tortured by Lestrange? She was completely helpless! And she probably is now! So don’t you dare say she’s fine, Harry, when you know fine well that she could be dying right now, or she could even be dead already!” Ron finished. His face was bright red now, and his breathing was fast and angry.

Harry didn’t know what the best way to react to this was. He said, “I don’t know what arguing is going to do to help, Ron, but with any luck, Kingsley won’t have left yet. We can tell him, and he can use people from the Ministry to help. It’s the best option we have.” This seemed to stop Ron from going into another rage. He sat down again, and rested his elbows on the table, without looking at Harry, or saying a word. Harry took this as a silent agreement. He took the letter from the table and ran outside.

Mr Weasley was running up towards the house and said to Harry, “What’s happening here?! What was Ron yelling about?”

“Mr Weasley where’s Kingsley, is he still here?”

“Harry -”

“IS HE STILL HERE?” Harry yelled. He was getting worried now, and the thought that Hermione was being tortured right now was too horrible to think about.

“He’s talking to Molly in the orch -” Mr Weasley began, looking confused and worried, but Harry sprinted past him to the orchard where he saw Mrs Weasley and Kingsley Shackelbolt in deep conversation about something.

“Kingsley!” Harry panted, “Kingsley …” Harry thrust the letter in Kingsley’s hand, and stood, breathing sharply, waiting for a reaction while Kingsley’s eyes scanned the parchment.

“When did you get this?” Kingsley’s voice was hurried and urgent.

“Just now; me and Ron were in the kitch -”

“Harry, I need to take this letter. The aurors must be notified immediately; I’ll go now and they can start searching for Hermione immediately.”

“Aurors? Searching for Hermione?” Mrs Weasley gasped, “Harry, what -”

Kingsley held up a hand to silence her, “We’ll notify you immediately if we hear of anything. In the mean time, if you get another letter like this, you MUST bring it down to the Ministry.” And with that, he turned on the spot and disappeared.

“Harry, what on Earth has happened?” Mrs Weasley asked desperately. He told her all about the owl arriving, and what was in the note. When he was finished, Mrs Weasley simply gaped at him. They had reached the house by then, and entered the living room to find all the other Weasleys sitting around the room. They all looked up when Harry and Mrs Weasley entered, except Ron, who was refusing to meet his gaze.

“What did Kingsley say?” asked Mr Weasley.

“Nothing much,” replied Harry, “He wouldn’t say what he thought had happened. He just said he’d get the aurors on to it now.”

Silence followed his words. Nobody spoke for a while, as no-one really knew what to say. Eventually, Charlie brought out a bottle of firewhiskey and poured out ten glasses. He silently passed them round the room and everybody drank. Harry knew what they were all thinking; “Where is she?” “Who captured her?” And the question everybody had been most afraid of … “Is she still alive?”

She had to be, thought Harry, if they had indeed killed her, wouldn’t they be writing to gloat about it? Yet they were still torturing her. Harry felt sick. What if she did die? Would it be Harry’s fault? After all, he could have tried more to stop her, like Mrs Weasley had said. He should have realised, that even without Voldemort causing terror, there still would be danger lurking around every corner … That was what Kingsley had said before they got on the train. Harry felt even worse now. Everybody around him was being wary of the dangers around them, but Harry alone seemed ignorant of them. Had he just been more obedient of what was happening, maybe then he wouldn’t have let Hermione go without himself and Ron. They had always done everything together. When Harry had revealed to them that he wasn’t continuing his education, they both agreed, and accompanied him to find the horcruxes. Together, they had all felt safe; apart, they were just as weak as any other man. Harry never realised before how important it was to have the three of them together.

And if Harry felt like this, what must Ron be feeling right now? If it was Ginny in a situation like this, Harry would want to do anything to save her. He would do this for Hermione too, but with Ginny, it was different … Harry loved Ginny.

“I’m going to bed,” Harry told the others. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep, but he wanted to leave the room before anybody could see the tears rolling silently down his cheeks.

Chapter 8: The Breakthrough

Harry hadn’t slept well for the past few weeks. He woke up very early every morning, and often just lay awake in bed for hours. It had been one month since the letter had arrived, and Harry had woken up to find that it was 5:30am. Ron’s bed was empty.

Although Ron had spoken to Harry the next day, there was still clearly a lot of tension between them. Ron often got up earlier than Harry, and he often thought Ron was avoiding him. Today, however, Harry went downstairs to get a drink of tea, as it was very uncomfortable just lying there, mulling over what had happened.

He crept silently downstairs and entered the kitchen. The red-haired figure already at the table jumped in surprise at the door opening, and whipped her head around to see who had entered.

“I couldn’t sleep,” said Ginny, “I’ve been sitting here since three o’ clock.” She looked extremely tired; her eyes were red and bloodshot and her face was very pale. She was holding a large mug filled with tea, which, by the looks of it, hadn’t been touched for a few hours. Harry took the cup of cold tea and made a fresh mug for Ginny, and made himself some too.

The two of them sat in silence for a while, sipping their tea and sometimes glancing at each other. Harry wondered how much longer it would be before Kingsley and his aurors found anything out about the whereabouts of Hermione – a day, a week, a month, perhaps? He asked himself this question every day.

He looked up at Ginny and was surprised to see that she was crying silently. There was hardly ever a time when Harry caught sight of Ginny in tears. He stood up and walked round the table to where Ginny sat. He pulled her out of the chair and gently put his arms around her. She hugged him back, and Harry could here her sniffing into his chest. Harry never wanted to let go; Hermione was already in real danger, and Harry felt that if he let go of Ginny, the same would happen to her.

They stood there, wrapped in each other’s arms for what seemed like ages, until Fleur walked into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes, and they broke apart.

“I am sorry,” she said with an attempt at a smile, “I was ‘ungry,” She patted her stomach as she said this, and walked over to the bench. She picked up an orange, sat on a chair, and began peeling it. Harry and Ginny join her at the table.

“It is ‘ard, I know,” she said sympathetically, “When ze Dark Lord was at large many years ago, my father was caught by ze Death Eaters. ‘E was tortured for eenformation about where ze Veela usually lived. ‘E who must not be named was wanting to transfer zem to ze dark side.” She took a deep breath before continuing, “Eet was ‘ard, I admit, but my father did eventually escape from zem.” Ginny and Harry stared at Fleur. They had no idea her father had been nearly killed by the Death Eaters. But he had escaped; this, if anything was a small comfort to Harry.

Fleur took Harry’s hand in hers, and did the same with Ginny, “’Ermione will be fine,” Harry had heard these words before, and that time, it was he who was telling it to Ron … right before Ron had yelled at him … “she is a very brave girl. I theenk she proved this when she was fighting at ‘Ogwarts. My father wasn’t exactly a brave man, but still, ‘e escaped. If ‘e can escape, ‘Ermione definitely can. ‘Ave faith in ‘er, she is strong.”

“Fleur? What’s everybody doing up?” Bill had appeared at the doorway. He bent down and kissed Fleur on the cheek, then pulled up a chair himself.

“I was ‘ungry, and Ginny and ‘Arry could not sleep,” Fleur said, now putting orange into her mouth.

“Understandable,” nodded Bill, “Did Ron even go to bed? He was last up before I went upstairs last night …”

“He’s gone for a walk,” Ginny told them, “He was sitting in here when I came down, and after a while he said he was going out for a walk. It was about half past three, but I didn’t want to … to … Oh no! What have I done!? Why didn’t I realise how long he’d been gone?”

It was now, Harry noticed, after seven o’ clock. Ron had been away for …

“Nearly FOUR hours?” Bill exclaimed, “We need to find him. Ginny, did he say where he was going?”

“No! He just … he just said he needed some t-time to think and that he was going f-for a walk!” Ginny was hysterical now. Harry went to put a consoling arm around her. “What if something’s happened like … like it did to Hermione? It’ll be all m-my fault!”

“What’s happening here?” Mr Weasley asked from the doorway. He, Mrs Weasley, George, Percy and Charlie had all appeared at the in the kitchen.

“Ron’s gone,” Started Bill, pulling on his travelling cloak, “He went for a walk but he’s been away nearly four hours,” He walked over to the door and spoke while he was trying to unlock it, “I’m going to the Ministry now. We need to let Kingsley know about – RON!” Bill had finally opened the door, and found Ron sprinting towards the Burrow, holding a sheet of parchment.

“Ron, where on EARTH have you BEEN?” Bill yelled, “I was just about to go to tell Kingsley you were missing, Ginny’s been hysterical and she’s blaming herself for letting you leave like that -”

“Bill!” Ron shouted, “Shut up! I’ve been to the Ministry!”

“The Mini - ?”

“Yes! And if you gave me half a chance to explain why, I will!” Bill became silent, and nodded at Ron, and everyone who hadn’t been sitting down already pulled up a chair, looking at Ron, waiting.

It took Harry a while to notice it, but he was surprised to see that Ron actually looked happy.

“Here,” he threw the parchment on the table and Harry picked it up before anyone else, and read aloud:

Ron –
I’ve managed to find some parchment and I’ve stolen Alecto’s owl.
I was about to take the portkey back home after I’d found my parents. I’d already got them on a plane home, so they’re safe. Anyway, I tried to make it to the portkey but the Carrows caught me. They must have been hiding in Australia. I don’t know where we are now – they took me somewhere by side-along apparition straight away. It can’t be far away from where they caught me though – Melbourne – because I don’t think they have the brains to apparate too far. I’ve tried to apparate out of here, but I can’t. They must have some sort of enchantments on the place.
I’m fine – they’ve tortured me quite a few times, but it’s nothing too serious. Don’t worry, you and Harry are safe. The Carrows wouldn’t dare go out looking for you in broad daylight when the Ministry are looking for the rest of the Death Eaters that escaped from Hogwarts.
I’ll send you another letter if I find out where we are, but I can’t risk using Alecto’s owl too often – she might get suspicious.
I’m really missing you,
Give everyone my love,
Hermione

Harry looked up to see the expressions on everybody else’s face. Everyone looked worried or confused, except Ron, who looked triumphant.

“I don’t get it,” started Harry, looking at Ron, “We know who she’s with, but that doesn’t bring us any further forward, does it? I mean, the Ministry is already looking for the Carrows, aren’t they? So why do you look so -”

“Kingsley had a surprise when I saw him today!” Ron cut in, “I was planning on going for a walk this morning, and I did leave the house. Then I saw an owl coming flying towards me. The envelope was addressed to me, so I opened it and found this,” Ron indicated the letter on the kitchen table, “and I apparated straight to the Ministry. Luckily, Kingsley was just arriving as I got there, so I showed him it. He took me up to his office and showed me something,” Ron now produced newspaper from his pocket, “It’s today’s Daily Prophet,” He smirked, and threw it across the table at Harry. Harry gasped along with all the other Weasleys as he stared at the front page, emblazoned with the headline:

Carrow Siblings Caught After Six Weeks Of Searching

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Thanks, everyone for the brilliant feedback!!

Keep it coming!

http://www.veritaserum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19570

~Amy

Chapter 9: The Talking Weasel

In a recent and extended search for brother and sister, Amycus and Alecto Carrow, the Ministry have finally managed to confirm that they have, in fact, found and imprisoned the former ‘Death Eaters.’
The man and woman have been imprisoned for definite Death Eater activity, after they tortured the students of Hogwarts last year, and then fought in the Battle of Hogwarts. Since the Dark Lord’s downfall, the Ministry have been intent on rounding up all known Death Eaters. Many of them were captured immediately after the battle had ended, and few are still out in the open.
The Carrows, both aged 54, were last night found taking refuge in a magically concealed shack in the Australian countryside, following a thorough search of the area.
The country itself was already being searched, as stated one month previously, after Hermione Granger, who incidentally fought in the Battle and was a close friend of Harry Potter, went missing when she was visiting her parents there. Kingsley Shackelbolt, Minister for Magic, had insisted that the country must be searched thoroughly before they looked for anymore possibilities as to where Granger had disappeared to. When a small village in the countryside of Australia was searched, aurors found certain signs of magical concealment, and soon found it to be set upon a shack in the village. Amycus and Alecto Carrow were then captured, and taken straight to London where they were sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban without questioning.
Many questions have arisen as to whether the Carrows have played a part in the capture of Hermione Granger. The Ministry appear to be looking into this.

Harry finished reading the article and looked at Ron. They both smiled, the first time Harry had done for weeks. The rest of the Weasleys were doing the same, or else sighing with relief. All except Ginny.

“So where is she, then?” She directed at Ron, “If they’ve caught the Carrows then surely the Ministry know where Hermione is?”

“Well they don’t know yet,” Ron said, uncomfortably, “Kingsley said they’ve searched the shack and she isn’t there. They need veritaserum to use on the Carrows to find out where she is. Apparently the Ministry have been using it on all the other Death Eaters they’ve caught so far, and there isn’t a full stock of veritaserum left. They're busy making a fresh batch at the minute.”

“So how long will it be?” asked Harry, his face falling.

“Well Kingsley said it should be ready in a couple of days, but they’re still going to be searching around the shack in the meantime. He said he might drop in later for five minutes if he has time.” Mrs Weasley nodded and stood up.

“Right,” She smiled, “Who wants breakfast?” Harry had forgotten that it was still only quarter to eight in the morning; so much had happened in the last few hours. He had also not realised how hungry he was.

Twenty minutes later, Harry and the Weasleys were sitting down to a delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs with freshly made orange juice. When he had finished, Harry went upstairs to shower and get dressed. He was planning on visiting Grimmauld Place to continue the cleaning he had started – Ginny and Harry had been going to the house for a couple of hours a day while they had been waiting for news about Hermione; it was difficult being at the Burrow all day due to the tension and the crowds when everyone was present at the house.

Harry met Ginny in the living room, and together they went through to the kitchen. Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill and Charlie were sitting around the table with Kingsley, who smiled when Harry and Ginny arrived in the kitchen.

“Harry, Ginny, I was just telling everyone – the Veritaserum should be ready in about two days. It needs to stew slightly before it is safe to use. But,” He continued, “The reason I came, as I was just about to say, was that,” Kingsley looked at Harry as he said this, “We may or may not need it after all.” Harry and Ginny looked blankly at Kingsley before he went on, “The village where the Carrows were caught; We never realised it before but it’s called Atrum Cubile. And it’s a wizarding village,” Ginny and Harry looked at each other, surprised, then back at Kingsley, “Salazar Slytherin was born there, and it’s known for dark magic. We are quite sure that Hermione will be there. We’ve taken a few of the villagers aside to ask if they know or have seen anything.”

“And if they haven’t seen her? What if she isn’t there?” Harry asked.

“Like I said, we are pretty sure she will be there, but in case she isn’t, we’ll have to rely on the Veritaserum in a few days.”

A thought came to Harry’s head, and he felt he needed to voice it, “Kingsley, is it possible that Hermione managed to … escape? I mean, when the Carrows were caught could it have made it easier for her to leave … undetected?”

“Don’t think that thought hasn’t crossed our minds, Harry,” Kingsley said sadly, “It was one of the first things that came to us. We’re quite sure this isn’t the case, though. If she had managed to get out, we can only assume that she would have come straight here.”

Harry was about to retort, but Kingsley talked over him, “Harry, we are trying our very best. We’ll let you know if we get any more news. I need to go now, it’s very hectic at the minute; we’re still trying to round up the last of the Death Eaters. I’ll see you all later.” He gave a brief wave to them all, and walked out of the kitchen. They heard him leave with a crack after he was beyond the gate.

Harry and Ginny left to go to Grimmauld Place a few minutes later. They were able to apparate there, as Harry and Ron had both taken their apparition test earlier that week. Amazingly, they had both passed.

They worked on cleaning some of the bedrooms in Grimmauld Place. At midday, Kreacher apparated into the kitchen and surprised Harry and Ginny with a delicious meal of beef casserole followed by apple pie. They had, so far, completely redecorated and cleaned the drawing room, dining room, the kitchen in the basement and the entrance hallway. The rooms were completely unrecognisable.

Kreacher had also been cleaning while they weren’t there. They found that the pantry and Kreacher’s den had been cleaned, and he had even attempted to clean one of the bathrooms.

It was four o’ clock by the time Ginny and Harry decided to leave. The Fidelius charm was still working on the house, but when they opened the door, it was to find a bright gleam of silvery white in the middle of the road ahead. At closer look, Harry realised it was a weasel: Mr Weasley’s patronus. Ginny seemed to have noticed it too, because she whispered, “Dad,” then said to Harry, “Do you think everyone’s alright?”

Harry didn’t answer, but as soon as he closed the door to 12 Grimmauld Place, the weasel came leaping towards them and stopped as it reached where they stood. Mr Weasley’s voice rang out in the deserted street:

“Come to St. Mungo’s as soon as you get this. They’ve got Hermione.”



Chapter 10: Back to St Mungo’s

“Come on!” Harry yelled to Ginny. “Quickly, hold my hand!”

Together they were forced through the uncomfortable, narrow tube. St Mungo’s, St, Mungo’s, Harry thought desperately. He opened his eyes and found himself and Ginny in a muggle shopping street. He looked to his left and saw the shop he was hoping for: Purge and Dowse, Ltd.

Harry grabbed Ginny’s hand again and spoke to the dummy in the window, “We need to get to St Mungo’s … we’re here to see Hermione Granger.” The dummy nodded, and Harry looked at Ginny. Simultaneously, they walked through the glass of the window, which immediately became the entrance to the hospital. They found themselves in the entrance hall, which was not as crowded as it was last time Harry had visited, and crossed the room to where the Welcome Witch was sitting.

Harry said quickly “We’re here to see -”

“Hermione Granger?” The witch smirked, “Knew you’d be here some time. You just missed the circus parade going to see her – we had a right laugh at them Weasleys -” She stopped when she saw Ginny, who stared back at her coldly.

“Which floor is the circus parade on?” She asked, glaring at the blond witch behind the desk.

The Welcome Witch blushed, “Fourth Floor; spell damage.” Ginny smiled sarcastically, and followed Harry to the stairs. The witch watched them as they climbed the spiral staircase, neither of them pausing to breathe until they saw the sign with ‘Fourth Floor’ above the doorway leading away from the stairs. Harry pulled Ginny along behind him, and stopped when he found a cheery looking healer.

“Excuse me? Do you know where -”

“- Hermione Granger is?” She smiled, “We thought we might see you up here soon,” She led them down the corridor, just as Harry was wondering why everybody had to make a point of him being here. Round a corner, down another corridor, up a short flight of stairs and …

“Here,” said the healer, pointing into a room with six beds, “Just down at the end there.” She smiled at them again and walked off. Harry and Ginny entered the ward towards all the people crowded round the bottom of the ward; Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ron, George, Percy, Charlie, Bill, Fleur and Kingsley were all gathered around a harassed-looking healer next to a bed with curtains drawn around it.

“… sorry but we simple cannot allow this many people in the ward at once. You will need to enter in groups and wait outside until it’s your turn,” He sighed and turned to leave the ward when he saw Harry and Ginny, “Another two? How many more … ah, Mr Potter! I thought you -”

“Yes I know,” Harry rolled his eyes, wondering how many more people would be acknowledging his presence in this manner, “Can we see Hermione?”

“Only four people allowed at a time!” the healer shrieked, obviously desperate to leave, “The rest of you, out! Now!”

“Harry, dear, would you mind if Kingsley, Arthur and I saw Hermione first?” Mrs Weasley asked him kindly, “Kingsley would just like to -”

“It’s fine Mrs Weasley. We’ll wait outside,” He told her. She smiled and patted his shoulder fondly, before going towards Hermione’s bed. Harry joined the other Weasleys in the waiting room outside. Fleur was stroking her bump, which was getting very large now, and Bill had his arm around her. Charlie was talking to a nearby healer about dragon bites and stings, Percy and George were reading old Daily Prophets, and Ron was sitting alone, hugging his knees. Ginny and Harry went to join him, and they all sat in silence.

The minutes went by as they sat quietly, until Bill said to Harry and Ron, “They shouldn’t be much longer. Kingsley just wanted to see what sort of injuries Hermione has so he can make a formal document. ” Bill gave them a reassuring smile, which Harry returned.

A couple more minutes passed, until the doors opened to the ward and Kingsley strode out, followed by Mr and Mrs Weasley.

“Is she going to be alright?” Ron shot at them when they came out.

“She’ll be fine,” Kingsley said to everybody, “They don’t know when she’ll wake up but she’s definitely OK.” Ron sighed with relief.

“So what’s wrong with her?” Harry asked nervously; he wasn’t sure how bad this would be.

Mr Weasley answered, “Well the healers think she’s been tortured with what appears to be the cruciatus curse,” everyone gasped at hearing this, but Mr Weasley quickly went on, “Don’t worry! A bit of rest should sort that out. She’s been badly beaten too. We think they’ve been using muggle duelling against her. She needs to regrow a few bones, but that should only take a night. She just needs some rest for now. Like Kingsley said, we’re unsure when she’ll be awake.”

"So how did Hermione end up here?" Charlie asked Kingsley.

"Well one of the residents in the village of Atrum Cubile that we questioned is a healer at one of the wizarding hospitals in Australia. He told us that a young woman had been found in a ditch nearby the shack. So, we sent a Ministry Official out to identify the person to see if it was Hermione and it was confirmed that it was her, so we were allowed to transfer her here to St Mungo's. We think the Carrows may have tried to hide Hermione when they realised they'd been targeted. We will still be using the Veritaserum when it is ready, and we will need to question Hermione when she wakes up."

Harry, Ron and Ginny nodded, and went through the door Kingsley was holding for them. They walked tentatively up the ward to where Hermione lay, and Harry froze with shock.

If he hadn’t been told who was lying in the bed, he would never have recognised Hermione. Her face had swollen up to twice its normal size, as if she’d been hit with a stinging hex, and patches of it were purple and black. Her eyes were barely visible as they were surrounded by a mass amount of bruising and cuts. Her lips were also swollen and cut, and dry blood stains were all over her face. Her hair was unkempt and matted with congealed blood, and her arms were plastered in bandages.

“Hermione!” Ron moaned. He stumbled around her bedside and sat in one of the chairs next to the bed. He gently took one of her bloodied hands and wrapped his own around it. He was staring disbelievingly into her closed eyes, and his own eyes began to swim.

Harry sat down on Hermione’s other side and also took her hand. Ginny was sitting next to Harry with her head on his shoulder. He knew she was probably weeping silently.

They sat like that for at least twenty minutes. Nobody spoke; they were all just taking in the horror of what had happened. Hermione still hadn’t shown any signs of waking up when Percy came up the ward. He looked as shocked as they had done when he saw Hermione’s battered form.

“We need to go now. Visiting time is over in ten minutes,” he put an arm round Ginny and steered her out of the ward gently. Harry kissed Hermione’s forehead lightly, got up and waited for Ron. Ron took a little longer than Harry had. He leaned over and gave Hermione a soft kiss on the lips, before whispering in her ear, “I love you.”

Harry pulled Ron up from the chair, and together, they began walking towards the doors. When they were halfway down the ward they heard a gentle whisper:

“I love you too, Ron.”

Ron and Harry turned around in time to see Hermione attempting to sit up in bed. Ron ran back across to Hermione’s bed and was about to throw his arms around her, when he remembered her injuries. He gently put an arm around her shoulders, and she hugged him back tightly.

“I’m so sorry, Hermione. I knew we shouldn’t have let you go alone,” Ron was saying.

“No, it was my fault. You all tried to stop me …” Hermione tailed off, and sounded like she was in a lot of pain; Ron obviously realised this, and shushed her soothingly.

Harry sat down again next to Hermione and took one of her hands again, “It doesn’t matter about whether we let you go or not. What matters is that you’re safe.” Hermione managed a small smile at Harry, and lightly squeezed his hand to show that she understood.

Ron suddenly broke away from Hermione and looked her straight in the eye, “Hermione, I really do love you. And after what had happened, here,” he indicated Hermione’s body, “it really made me think. I never want this to happen again. Not to you, Harry or anyone,” Ron was talking very fast now and seemed determined to get to the end of what he was saying, “I care about you so much, and I know we’re young … only eighteen … but, Hermione … what I want to …well, what I need to ask you is … Hermione, will you marry me?”

Chapter 11: The Answer

Hermione was silent. She looked shocked as she stared Ron, and for a moment or two, seemed unable to speak. Harry was also amazed that Ron had decided to ask this question at this time.

“Ron … are you serious?” Hermione croaked

“Of course I am, Hermione. I love you,” He held her hand in his and smiled at her, “I don’t mind if you need time to think. I know it’s big, and I can understand if you don’t want to marry me,” Ron looked surprised at the sound of these words, but he still looked determinedly at Hermione.

She began, “Ron -”

“OK, just forget it,” Ron stood up, but his voice wasn’t cold or stubborn, it was calm, “I’m sorry, I didn’t think. I’ve just made a complete prat of myself so just forget -”

“Ron,” Hermione interrupted, “will you let me speak?”

Harry noticed that Ron and Hermione seemed completely oblivious to the fact that all the Weasleys were now standing at the bottom of the ward, as they had all entered so silently.

“What’s happening?” George whispered to Harry.

“Watch,” Harry muttered back to him.

Ron looked at Hermione, waiting for her to speak.

“Ron, you heard me before,” Hermione whispered. She smiled, “I love you too. You know I do,” although she winced when she did so, her smile became wider than ever, “Yes! I’ll marry you!” Ron gasped with delight and threw his arms around Hermione’s neck. Harry turned and looked at the Weasleys. They were all watching Ron and Hermione with shocked expressions. George looked at Harry and smiled, “It’s been a long time coming, eh?” He said. Harry grinned back and nodded. The sound of George’s voice seemed to break Ron and Hermione apart, who were now in a tight embrace.

Ron looked up and saw all his family gathered in the ward. His ears went bright red.

“Oh, Ron,” Mrs Weasley said, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, “Are you sure this is what you want?” Ron looked back at Hermione and grinned broadly; he couldn’t seem to believe his luck, “Definitely,” He said loudly so all the Weasleys could hear. Mrs Weasley ran forward and hugged her son, “I can’t believe it,” She kept saying, as she hugged Hermione now, “It’s so wonderful to have you back now, dear,” She was saying to Hermione, who thanked Mrs Weasley and hugged her back. All the Weasleys were now hugging and congratulating Ron and Hermione, and when it was Fleur’s turn, Hermione looked at her in surprise.

“Fleur! Are you … pregnant?”

“Bill and me found out some weeks ago. It is due in ze month of November!” It was obvious Fleur had been desperate to tell Hermione this, who gasped with delight and told Fleur, “That’s brilliant! Congratulations, both of you!”

After everyone had hugged Ron and Hermione, the annoyed-looking healer who had left earlier returned to find ten people gathered around Hermione’s bed.

“What did I say earlier? No more than four visitors at a time!” He checked his watch and told them all bossily, “Visiting time was over fifteen minutes ago! Miss Granger needs to rest!” He chivvied them all out of the ward and with a quick reminder of visiting rules, locked the door to the ward and walked away from them.

Twenty minutes later, they had all arrived back from the Burrow by apparition (Ginny had travelled side-along with Mr Weasley), and Mrs Weasley was making ten cups of hot cocoa in the kitchen. Everyone else was sitting in the living room, asking Ron about how long he had been planning to propose to Hermione.

“I dunno …” He was saying, “It just kind of came out, you know? I just realised when I was sitting with her that I want to marry her,” Ron’s ears turned red again and he looked down at his knees.

“I think it’s brilliant,” Percy said, “We all knew you would end up married someday, didn’t we?” He directed at the rest of the family.

“What do you mean, ‘you knew we would get married’?” Ron asked quickly.

“Ron,” Harry said, quite amused, “It’s been obvious that you and Hermione have loved each other for years. We were just waiting for this to happen!”

Ron’s cheeks were turning red now, “No we haven’t! It’s just since the Battle of Hogwarts that we’ve been together!”

George laughed, “Yeah, you’ve been ‘together’ since then, but you’ve loved her since your fourth year or something haven’t you?”

“No! I’ve just -”

“Ron, don’t bother arguing,” Charlie said, “You know as well as we all do that it’s true.”

Ron sat back on the sofa, clearly defeated, and took the cocoa Mrs Weasley was offering. Once everybody had taken some cocoa, Bill stood up and raised his own cup, “To Ron and Hermione, wishing you all the best!” Everybody else copied him, then Ron raised his again and said, “To Bill and Fleur, and their soon-to-be born baby!”

Harry and Ron went up to bed at about half past ten, along with everyone else. They both couldn’t sleep, as they kept going over in their heads what had happened that day.

“I never thought she’d say yes,” Ron said aloud, “I thought she’d say that we were too young or something like that,” Ron was silent for a moment, then he continued, “What did you all mean when you said Hermione had loved me for years?”

Harry told Ron, “She cares about you so much, you know. When you went out with Lavender in our sixth year, she was … well, heartbroken. She thought you loved her back. And then when you left the tent last year she was nearly always crying. She really missed you. You must’ve known how she felt …” Harry trailed off from here, then began again, “You were jealous of him weren’t you? Krum?”

“No! I - ” Harry gave Ron a significant look, “Yeah, I suppose I was. I don’t think I realised how I felt at the time. Hermione was always just a friend, then I started to think of her as more than that, but it was obvious she didn’t feel the same.”

“But she did, Ron,” Harry said, “I think she was expecting you to ask her to the Ball, but when you didn’t she went with Krum instead.”

“She told you all this?” Ron asked in disbelief.

“No. It was just obvious the way you two acted around each other. ”

Harry saw Ron smile. They both lay in silence for a while, before Harry said, “I knew she’d say yes. I don’t think she ever liked anyone other than you.”

“Really?” Ron asked, surprised, “she liked Krum, though, didn’t she?”

“Well I think she went to the Ball with him to make you jealous at first, but I think, yeah, she did get to like him.” More silence followed.

“I can’t believe it,” Ron said after a few minutes of quiet, “Hermione’s my fiancée!”

Harry laughed, “Believe it, it’s true!” He extinguished the candle on the table next to him and he and Ron eventually dropped off to sleep.

Chapter 12: Hermione’s Return

“Ron! Harry!” Mrs Weasley was shouting up the stairs the next morning, “Quickly, come down!”

Harry sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. Ron was still snoring, so Harry threw a pillow at his head, “Ron,” Harry said, as Ron feebly sat up, “Your mum wants us to go downstairs, hurry up.”

They threw some clothes on and trudged down the stairs. Everybody else was waiting in the kitchen for them, gathered round the table, and they were all wearing travelling cloaks, as if ready to go somewhere.

“We’ve just received an owl,” Mrs Weasley said, “From St Mungo’s. Hermione’s allowed home today as long as she rests for the next few days.” Mrs Weasley smiled at Harry and Ron and asked if they were coming with the others to bring Hermione to the Burrow. They both got their cloaks and walked out of the Burrow.

“Arthur and Percy are resuming work today,” Mrs Weasley told them, “It’s going to be a bit of a squeeze with eleven people in the house, so Bill and Fleur are going back to Shell Cottage. George is moving back above the shop later on today with Alicia Spinnet aren’t you?” George smiled sheepishly to Harry and Ron, and Mrs Weasley continued, “Percy’s moving back to Godric’s Hollow with Penelope tomorrow, so the house is going to seem quite empty!”

Percy and Arthur bade everybody goodbye, and apparated together to the Ministry, then Bill and Fleur left for Shell Cottage. The rest of them apparated to St Mungo’s. After telling the dummy why they were there, they walked passed the Welcome Witch, who caught sight of them and hid her face in the magazine she was reading. They all made their way up the staircase, and as they did, Harry said to George, “So, you’re going to be living with Alicia, then?”

George grinned at Harry and said, “We were talking at the … funeral,” George looked sad at the word, but disguised it as he went on, “and she needed a job, so I said I was looking for someone to work at the joke shop. Then, we just … you know … she said she’d work with me,” George winked at Harry, who grinned.

They arrived at the entranced to the ward, quickly glanced round to see if the annoyed healer was anywhere, then after deciding he wasn’t, they all entered the ward to where Hermione was. She was sitting up, waiting for them to arrive. She looked completely different from her appearance the day before. Her face had been wiped clean of blood and most of the swelling around her features had gone. Her eyes were still bruised and quite puffy, but her hair had been washed and was now free of blood. A few of the cuts on her face had gone, but she was still wearing bandages on her arms. Her face split into a broad grin as she saw them all walking down the ward to her. Ron kissed her when they arrived at her bed; she looked very pleased to see him.

A healer walked through the doors to the ward, and came down to Hermione’s bed, “You must be the Weasleys, then?” He said to the large family, “Yes, Miss Ganger here has talked about you a lot last night and this morning. Especially … Ron, I think it was?” Hermione blushed and Ron smiled at her, “Congratulations, by the way!” said the healer, looking at no-one in particular, “Hermione here hasn’t stopped talking about how please she is after you asked -”

“Er … Healer Casus? When can I go home?” Hermione was blushing furiously now, but Healer Casus didn’t seem to notice.

“I’d love to meet your young fiancée, Miss Granger,” the healer smiled, “which one of these charming young men is it?”

George, apparently enjoying this, pointed to Ron, who gave the healer a little smile.

“Ah Mr Weasley,” the healer held out a hand for Ron to shake, who took it, “Well I’m sure you’ll want to take care of her, Ron! Here,” Healer Casus handed a small paper bag to Ron, and his attitude suddenly changed to professionalism, “You’ll need to rub this Dittany on Hermione’s cuts on her face every morning and evening. She will also need to drink one of these cups,” the healer held out a small container, about the size of a teacup, “Filled to the top with Skele-gro. She will need to drink one of them before she goes to sleep for the next three nights to mend her ribs and arms. Also, plenty of bed rest will be needed,” Healer Casus smiled at Hermione, “I suppose you’ll want to be going home now?” Hermione glared at him.

“Yes, I would like to get away,” she rolled her eyes when the healer turned around to face the Weasleys.

“Take care of her,” he told them, “She may find it difficult to walk for a couple of days, but she should be good as new within a week!” he said cheerily.

Ron put an arm around Hermione and eased her to her feet. She got up gingerly and winced as she tried to walk, aided by Ron.

“Well I hope you two have a happy life together!” Healer Casus said, turning back to Hermione, “And if there’s a spare invitation for the wedding, don’t forget who nursed you back to health!” He said, half-joking, half-serious.

“Make sure there aren’t any spare invitations, Ron,” Hermione scowled. Ron laughed as he supported Hermione down the ward. Harry took the bag with the skele-gro and dittany from Ron, and they all left the ward.


Feedback!!

Chapter 13: Five Owls

“So you’ve been telling all the healers about us?” said Ron, amused. They were walking through the Entrance Hall in St Mungo’s.

“No!” said Hermione, outraged, “I told just one of the healers! She was really nice to me and she was asking me who had been visiting. I told her about you … proposing …” Hermione’s voice softened, “and she was congratulating me. Then Healer Casus walked in,” Hermione said his name rather sourly, which made Ron laugh silently, “and apparently he’d heard it all.”

“Ah well,” said Ron, “At least people will know how lucky I am!”

They all walked out of the hospital, and when they found themselves outside of Purge and Dowse, Ltd., Ginny voiced the question in Harry’s mind, “Mum, how’re we getting home?”

“Well it’s not safe for Hermione to be disapparating, even side-along, because of her injuries,” Mrs Weasley smiled warmly towards Hermione, who was still clinging to Ron for support. Mrs Weasley continued, “We’re going to be taking the tube, dear, then we’ll be going the rest of the way by portkey.”

“I’m sorry,” Hermione said to Mrs Weasley, “I know it’s inconven -”

“Nonsense, Hermione! All that matters is getting you home safely!” Mrs Weasley smiled reassuringly at her.

“Now, Hermione, Harry,” Mrs Weasley said when they arrived at the underground station, “Kingsley has set us a portkey up near Leicester Square, so we’ll need to travel on the train to get there. I’ve got some muggle money here, but I don’t understand how you get the tickets out of this machine.”

Harry took the notes out of her hand and inserted them into the machine. He handed train tickets to Mrs Weasley, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Charlie and George, and kept one for himself. Ten minutes later, they’d boarded the train. Ron and Hermione were sitting next to each other at the front of the train, and Ginny and Harry had managed to find two empty seats a few rows behind them. The others all had to find seats in the next carriage.

“They look so happy, don’t they?” Ginny asked, as up ahead, Ron put his arm round Hermione and kissed her.

“Yeah, they do … I never thought they’d go so long without an argument!” Harry joked, but stopped laughing when he saw the serious look on Ginny’s face. And looking at Ron and Hermione together – engaged, in fact – Harry realised something; he had never told Ginny how much he cared for her. His eyes met Ginny’s for a moment as he thought this, and he said, “I love you, Ginny. I know I’ve never said it, but I do. I have done for a long time. I need you to know that,” Ginny reached up to his face, and her lips met his. Time seemed to fly past them; nothing else mattered where he was; all that mattered was that he was with Ginny, nobody else …

“Oi!” Ron’s voice seemed distant and unimportant; he could wait, but Ginny couldn’t. He went on kissing Ginny, savouring the time he had until they reached the Leicester Square stop on the tube, “OI!” the voice was louder now, and Harry and Ginny finally broke apart, and looked up. Ron and Hermione were looking down on them, smirking.

“Enjoy that?” Ron asked, amused, “Nice way to kill ten minutes?!” Hermione hit him on the arm. Although it was feeble, Ron stopped teasing Harry and Ginny anyway, “Er … yeah, we’re at Leicester Square now,” He said, and walked off the train. He helped Hermione down the step onto the platform. Harry looked at Ginny, and they grinned sheepishly to each other. Harry held Ginny’s hand as they got up, and together, they jumped off the train.

“Ready?” Charlie asked when Harry and Ginny reached them, “Shouldn’t be too far, Kingsley said he’d set it up down an alley near the station. I think he said it would be an old car exhaust, whatever that means. He showed me what it looks like so I think I know what I’m looking for.”

They all made their way to the station exit and were greeted by large crowds of businessmen and shoppers, all hurrying to get on a train.

“Stick together everyone,” Mrs Weasley told them all. They walked down what seemed like dozens of deserted alleys near the tube station, but didn’t seem to have any luck in finding the portkey. The seven of them had split up down separate alleys, and Harry was supposed to be searching with Ginny. They hadn’t exactly been trying to find the portkey …

“Got it!” Charlie’s voice echoed down their alley. Harry and Ginny’s lips parted and they ran back down the alley, towards where Charlie’s voice had come from, “Just in time too,” He added when everybody had arrived, “It’s leaving in one minute. OK, now Ron, Harry, you’ll both have to support Hermione. I can’t imagine taking a portkey would be very easy when you’re in your condition,” He smiled at Hermione, “Make sure you don’t let go of each other.” Harry and Ron nodded, and went over to Hermione. They both put an arm round her, and picked up a leg each so she was in a seating position on their arms. Everybody put a forefinger on the exhaust and Charlie counted down on his watch, “Three … Two … One …”

Harry felt his stomach heave forward, and felt himself spinning round and round. He kept a tight hold on Hermione, and his finger felt almost magnetised to the portkey. Suddenly, the spinning stopped, his finger left contact with the old car counterpart, and he and Ron landed on their feet, Hermione between them, with a soft thud on the grass in front of the Burrow.

“Come on,” Ron grabbed Hermione’s hand and led her up to the Burrow, “You’ll need some rest.”

“I don’t want to rest!” Hermione moaned, “It’s boring.”

Harry laughed, “You sound like a little kid!”

“I think Ron’s right, Hermione,” Mrs Weasley said wisely, “You’ve got some terrible injuries there, Healer Casus told you to rest!” Hermione rolled her eyes at the sound of the healer’s name.

“Do you now need any help with anything, though? I could help you prepare dinner or -”

“Hermione, No!” Mrs Weasley said in a final tone.

“Mrs Weasley?” Harry asked, “Me and Ginny are going back to Grimmauld Place again today. Maybe Hermione could come with us?” Mrs Weasley opened her mouth to retaliate but he said quickly, “Just, you know, to see how we’re coming along.”

“Yeah, mum,” piped up Ron, “I was going to go with them too, but that would mean Hermione would be practically on her own, so why don’t you let her -”

“Fine, fine!” Mrs Weasley gave in, “You lot don’t half go on, do you?” but she smiled, “The four of you can go to Grimmauld Place – BUT you must be careful! Hermione, you’ll have to take it easy, OK? I don’t want you tiring yourself out by doing all that cleaning!”

“Yes, Mrs Weasley, don’t worry,” Hermione beamed at Harry and Ron to thank them, “I’ll relax. So when are we leaving?”

“Wow you’re eager!” Ginny laughed, “Just wait ‘til you see the house, it’s amazing!”

As Ginny was telling Hermione about what she and Harry had done to transform, Harry became transfixed at something, or some things, in the sky, drawing ever closer to the Burrow. When the objects were drifting over the hillside nearby, Harry realised what they were; owls; five of them, flying graciously towards where they stood.

“Harry?” George’s voice came from behind him, “You OK?” Harry hadn’t realised that everyone else was now at the door of the Burrow, and he was still standing on the pathway, watching the owls which were only a few seconds away from where they all stood.

“Are they for us?” Charlie said curiously, when they had all finally noticed what was taking Harry’s attention.

“Well they are carrying letters … and there aren’t any magical families that live near enough for the owls to be for them …?” Ron said. Sure enough, the five owls swooped down in front of them and dropped the letters on the grass. Ginny picked them up and looked at the names. She handed them out to her mum, Ron, Hermione, then, to his surprise, Harry. She kept the final letter, and began ripping it open. Harry looked at his:

Harry Potter,
The Burrow,
Ottery St. Catchpole

Not recognising the handwriting in purple ink, Harry slowly tore his own envelope to reveal a sheet of yellow parchment. He read the letter, amazed at what it said.

Chapter 14: The New Job?

Dear Mr Potter,
As you will know, Hogwarts has had great difficulty in securing a permanent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for many years now. Many rumours have arisen as to whether this ‘curse’ has been lifted since the Dark Lord’s downfall – we would like to think this is the case.
We are writing to inform you that both the governors and teachers of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry agree that you will be a suitable candidate for this particular post. We would very much like to welcome you to our teaching staff here at Hogwarts if you will accept our business proposition. The job requires a year of training at the Ministry, and if you are interested, we would appreciate if you could contact me at Hogwarts within the next two weeks. We have found a reasonable candidate for the job, but if you would like to join us in a year’s time, we would be more than happy to reduce his contract to just a year. If you could reply to us soon, we would like to arrange a meeting with you, regardless of whether you wish to take the job.
Yours sincerely,
Professor H. Jones,
Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Harry had to read the letter many times before he could make sense of it. His shock must have registered upon his face, as George looked at Harry through narrowed eyes, “Everything alright, Harry?” He asked. Wordlessly, Harry handed the letter to George, who read it out for everyone else to hear.

Once George had finished, everyone stared at him. Hermione said, “Harry, that’s brilliant!” Ron only managed, “Whoa!” and Charlie clapped him on the back.

“M-me? A teacher?” Harry managed to stammer, “But … I’m … not … I don’t … A teacher?!” Hermione laughed.

“Well it’s not that surprising, really, is it?” She said, “I mean, you’ve beaten Voldemort countless times and you know loads about the dark arts. Everybody feels safe when you’re around, Harry; It’s no wonder you’re wanted as an auror and a teacher!”

“Oh yeah …” said Harry, vaguely, “I forgot about being an auror!”

“Well, which would you rather do?” Ron asked.

“I don’t know … being a teacher would be great – especially at Hogwarts. But I’ve always wanted to be an auror. I suppose being a teacher would mean I’d hardly ever get to see all of you, and I love being with everybody all the time. I don’t know …” Harry searched for a quick change of subject, “So … what were all your letters about?”

“Just the usual,” Ginny said quickly, “Booklist, when school will resume – oh yeah, and we’ve got a new headmistress,” Ginny said, scanning the letter again.

“Yeah I noticed that,” said Harry, “Professor H. Jones … I wonder who that is?”

“It’s Hestia Jones, Harry! Remember her?” said Hermione, “She was part of your guard when you came to Grimmauld Place after the dementors came!”

“Wait a minute … why isn’t McGonagall staying on? She was deputy after all …” Ron asked.

“It says here that she’s still going to be teaching transfiguration … I suppose being head of the school might be too big of a job,” Ginny said, referring back to her letter again.

“Yeah, suppose,” Ron said, “So which books do you need for this year?” Ron tugged the envelope out of Ginny’s hand but she tried to reached back for it; she wasn’t quick enough. The silver badge fell to the ground, reflecting a shimmer of light from the sun.

“Head Girl?!” George was teasing, “Head Girl! You want to be careful, Gin, you don’t want to end up like Percy!

“Don’t tease her!” Hermione shot at him, “I think it’s great you’ve been made head girl, Ginny!”

“Er … Thanks, Hermione,” Ginny said, clearly unsure about whether being head girl was something to be proud of or not.

“Mum?” Charlie asked Mrs Weasley, “Are you OK?” Harry hadn’t realised, but Mrs Weasley had played any part in their discussion just now.

“I’m fine, dear,” she told him, “It’s … Hogwarts – they’ve given us all special awards for services to the school! I didn’t know you could get them when you weren’t a student!”

“Who has an award?” George asked.

“Well they’ve included a full list here. They said they’re making a plaque with all the names of everyone who fought in the battle. They want us to go to the school on the first day back to get a photo in the Great Hall!”

“Wow!” said Ron, “All of us?”

“Well there’s me and Arthur, George, Charlie, Percy, Bill and Fleur, Ginny, and of course, you three,” she smiled at Harry, Ron and Hermione,” She looked further down the list, “And … even though they won’t be there,” at this point, Mrs Weasley’s eyes began to fill up with tears, “Remus, Tonks and F-Fred. They’ll st-still get their names on the p-plaque,” tears streamed down her face now as George went to hug his mother. There was a rather awkward silence which followed this, which Harry felt it was necessary to break.

“Ron? Hermione? What were your letters for?” Hermione pulled hers back out of its envelope at looked at it, “Mine’s from my parents. I told them to send by owl if they ever needed to reach me when I wasn’t at home, and they want to know if I’m going to stay with them any time soon.”

“And … are you?” Ron asked.

“I think I am. I’ll go when I’m feeling better. Probably next week, but I’ll back in time to go to Hogwarts for the award,” she took a deep breath before continuing, “Will you come with me Ron? It’ll only be for a few days, I promise. I just want you to meet them properly. Will you?”

“Yes, of course I will,” he told Hermione, though he looked a bit unsure.

“Thanks Ron,” she smiled warmly, “So who was your letter off?”

“Oh … just a, er, letter from – Bill, just asking how … how we all are!” Ron smiled nervously and added, “Yeah,” before turning round and running into the house. Knowing that Ron was hiding something, Harry went after him, and met him in their room. Ron was bending over a pile of drawers, trying to hide the letter, and had not heard Harry tailing him.

“I’m guessing that wasn’t from Bill?” asked Harry. Ron jumped back in fright, and slammed his head on the shelf above him.

“Harry! I didn’t know you were there! You OK?” Ron said hurriedly, massaging his head.

“Who was the letter off, then?” Harry asked Ron casually. Ron bit his lip before saying anything. He ran over to the door to their room, and shut it after checking no-one was listening. He turned to Harry.

“Please don’t tell Hermione,” Ron said urgently. Harry nodded, and gestured for Ron to continue.

“Well, the letter was from … here, just read it,” Ron said, and he took the letter from the pile of drawers, and handed it to Harry.

Dear Mr Weasley,
We understand that you recently placed an order for an engagement ring at our Jewell and Pretium’s jewellery store. We regret to inform you that you have insufficient funds to afford this said ring, and we apologise for inconvenience caused by this. However, if you are interested in any from our cheaper range, please do not hesitate to place another owl order, or else visit our shop.
Yours sincerely,
R. Pretium,
Jewell and Pretium’s Emporium,
32 Diagon Alley, London

Harry looked up at Ron, who had his head in his hands, “What am I going to do, Harry? I wanted to get Hermione the perfect ring, but I can’t even afford one!”

“Ron, don’t worry! Hermione won’t care about a ring! Do you really think she’s going to dump you if you don’t get her some jewellery?”

“That’s easy for you to say! You could by any ring you wanted! If you and Ginny were …” Ron trailed off unexpectedly and looked at Harry, “Would you marry Ginny?”

Harry’s heart skipped a beat – why was Ron asking him this? Would he be annoyed if Harry said yes?

“I … er … why do you ask?” Harry asked sceptically. Harry knew what his honest answer was, but he felt Ron might not be too happy with that.

“I dunno … it’s just – you and Ginny seem so perfect for each other, and the way she talks about you – well, she really loves you. And … well … I’m sorry,” Harry was more confused now – what was he apologising for? “I know I haven’t really made it easy for you two, but I just didn’t want to see my little sister getting hurt. But now, I can see that you’d never hurt her, would you?”

Harry didn’t know why Ron was saying this to him now … they were talking about a ring for Hermione only two minutes ago …

“Of course I wouldn’t hurt her. I love her too much,” Harry smiled, “But if we did … you know … get married – would you be alright with that?” Harry half couldn’t believe what he was saying, and regretted it immediately. He could sense that Ron wouldn’t be quite as welcoming for this as he immediately thought. To his surprise however, Ron remained calm and even smiled.

“You mean you’re going to ask her?”

“Er … I don’t really know yet – she’s still at school!” Even more surprisingly, Ron laughed.

“Well I’m with you for whenever you choose to do it – I know you will, it’s just a matter of when!”

Harry laughed nervously, confused at Ron’s sudden desire for him to marry his younger sister. When nothing more was said on the subject, Harry opened his trunk, which was still full of the text books and parchment he had left before they started their search for the horcruxes. He dug out a piece of parchment, and withdrew a quill and some ink from the depths of the trunks. Harry began writing his reply to Hestia Jones.

Dear Professor Jones,
I was very surprised that you asked me to take up the job as a professor at Hogwarts. I very much appreciate that you think I would be suitable for the job, but I am still undecided – I have had another job offer before this one, and I feel I need some time to think.
I would like to meet you sometime soon to discuss the job, so could you please send me a time and place for where we could meet by return owl.
Yours sincerely,
Harry Potter

Harry read his letter through. Yes, that sounded very professional … or maybe a little too professional for Harry’s liking. He scribbled a PS at the bottom of the note:

PS – I haven’t forgotten that you rescued me from the Dursleys’ three years ago!

Harry smiled, and shoved the letter in an envelope, on which he copied the address from Hestia’s letter to him. He put the letter on the table, and got up to leave the room.

“Coming, Ron?” he asked Ron, who was still sitting on the edge of his bed.

“What will I say to her?” asked Ron, “She obviously won’t believe it’s from Bill … so what should I say?”

“The truth?” Harry said simply, “I told you, Hermione won’t care that you can’t get her a ring! Anyway, it’s better than lying, isn’t it?” Harry thought back to the time he had told Ginny about the horcruxes; I want us to be together – properly. He had told her he wanted no secrets and lies between them, for he had wanted them to be together, and he still did. More than anything.

Chapter 15: Hermione's Story

George was packing his things to leave for the joke shop later that day. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were all waiting for him to leave so they could say goodbye, before going to Grimmauld Place. Yet another owl had arrived about two hours after the first five, but this time it was addressed to Charlie.

“Uh-oh,” he frowned after he’d read it in the kitchen, “Looks like there’s been a Welsh Green causing a bit of trouble near the mountains. I’ll need to go and help.”

“How long will you be, dear?” Mrs Weasley asked her son, “I’m making dinner for six o’ clock so would you like some made?”

“I don’t know how long I’ll be,” he held up the letter in his hand, “Kepper Danio said in the letter that it’s a vicious one. I might be a couple of days.”

After a disagreement between Charlie and Mrs Weasley about how dangerous his job was, Charlie wished his brother good luck for the joke shop.

“Don’t make too much money, OK?” Charlie laughed and hugged George, “See you all later!” He gave everyone a quick wave and left the house with a sweep of his cloak.

“I don’t know!” Mrs Wesley sighed, “There’ll be no-one left in the house before long!” She said it in a jokey fashion, but Harry knew she was rather upset by it. She bustled over to the stove and began to cook lunch. They all gathered round the wooden table and waited patiently while Mrs Weasley cooked the onion soup. Together, they talked about what they were planning on doing in the week before Hermione and Ron set off to visit her parents. They planned to completely finish cleaning Grimmauld Place to make it homely for them all to live in, and they were going to visit Diagon Alley soon so Ginny could get her school books.

“I forgot to ask you, Hermione,” Ginny said, “What happened when you modified your mum and dad’s memories? Were they annoyed?” Hermione’s face turned pink and she told them she would explain later. Harry and Ron exchanged confused looks, but Ron shrugged and dug into his onion soup, which Mrs Weasley had just placed in front of them. They all ate in silence, all of them rather ravenous as they hadn’t had time to eat that morning.

When they had finished, Hermione began writing a letter, while George was telling Harry, Ron and Ginny about a new product he was developing.

“They’re called Voice Variations,” George told them in a hushed tone – Mrs Weasley was evidently trying to listen to see if they were dangerous artefacts, “Basically, what they do, is they change your voice. We came up with loads of different ones,” George fished around in his pocket and pulled out four different coloured sweets, “These are just a few of the ideas we’ve got, but these are perfect. We’ve tested them all and they’re fine. Me, Alicia and Lee have been working on them for weeks now,” he held up the first sweet, which was bright yellow, “This makes you sound like a duck, and this,” he gestured to the green sweet, “Makes you sing everything you say. We have loads of different types of those. There’s opera, tenor, off-tune; I think this one makes you sing everything to a really slow tune,” Harry, Ginny and Ron were laughing at George’s new invention, and were very eager to try them out, “Sorry, I can’t let you do that,” George said when Harry asked to try them out, “You see, I think these are better practised … away from prying eyes,” he glanced up at Mrs Weasley, who was now drying dishes with her wand.

“Finished!” Hermione said suddenly from the kitchen table. She held up a very long sheet of parchment, “It’s to my parents, telling them about what happened and everything. I’ve told them me and you will be coming up there for a few days,” she smiled at Ron and slipped the parchment in its envelope.

“Excellent,” Ron grinned, “When are we going?”

“Well I wrote that we’d be waiting until I was fit enough to travel, so maybe on Thursday? That’ll give us five days before we go, then we can be back on Monday, the day before the Hogwarts term starts.”

“Sounds good,” said Ron.

Suddenly, Mr Weasley burst through the door and breathlessly went to hang his cloak up. When he turned around, he saw that all eyes were on him. His face broke into a broad smile.

“I’ve been promoted!” he gushed, “I’m still in the misuse of muggle artefacts office, but I’m now a school governor too!”

“Arthur that’s fantastic!” Mrs Weasley squealed. Her husband looked extremely pleased.

Mr Weasley turned to look at Harry and said, “Harry I think you’ll be expecting a letter sometime today from -”

“Yeah, I got it,” Harry grinned, and Mr Weasley started talking non-stop about his job to his wife and George.

“Dad?” asked Ginny, “Where’s Percy?”

“Ah, yes” Mr Weasley said with another large smile, “Well, Kingsley gave Percy a promotion too! Senior undersecretary to the Minister!” He paused briefly to allow his family to celebrate, then went on, “So that means he’ll be working more. He might not be back for another few hours.”

“So what do you do in your new job, dad?” asked George. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny all took this opportunity to go upstairs to Ron and Harry’s room. Harry reached the room first, then Ginny. Hermione took longer, as she was being helped up the stairs by Ron. He eased Hermione onto the bed, where he sat next to her with his arm around her.

“OK, so what happened with your parents?” Harry shot at Hermione. She turned pink in the face again.

“It turns out that I … er … I did the memory charm wrong,” Hermione said with a sheepish grin.

“What!?” Ron said in a mockingly outraged voice, “It can’t be true … Hermione doesn’t get spells wrong!” Hermione playfully hit him on the arm.

“Well it’s not really that I did it wrong … it’s just that I wasn’t specific enough when I performed the charm.”

“So … what happened?” Ginny asked.

“Well it turns out that Wendell and Monica Wilkins,” Ginny looked at Hermione, confused, “They were the names I made my parents think they were called. Anyway, I made Wendell and Monica think that they didn’t have a daughter. And that worked. But, I didn’t actually tell them that they didn’t want a child.”

“You’re kidding?” said Harry.

“So I now have a two month old brother,” Hermione said nervously, “called Ronald.”

Ron laughed, then saw that Hermione was serious, “No way!” He exclaimed. Hermione nodded slowly.

“I couldn’t believe it either. When I found them, I saw the baby and asked who it was. ‘Monica’ told me he was Ronald – their son. So I modified their memories, but I made them remember who Ronald was, in case they got confused when they were back to normal.” She paused for a while.

“So were they annoyed?” Ginny asked.

“Annoyed is an understatement. First they yelled at me for – ‘Giving them a son’ as they put it – when they weren’t planning on having one. Then they got annoyed when they found out we were in Australia, and then when I told them I’d dropped out of school to help my best friends defeat the darkest wizard ever, they basically hit the roof.”

“But … are things OK with you now?” Ron asked her.

“Oh yes. That was what the letter was for,” she unfurled the letter from her pocket and read it to them:

Dearest Hermione,
You told us to write to you using owls, and we were lucky enough to find one! We are both very sorry for the way we treated you. It was very unfair, and we are embarrassed that it took us this long to realise it. Little Ronald is doing fine now, and we would like him to meet his big sister some time soon. We can see that the reason you did all that was to protect us, and we are both very, very sorry for not seeing that before. We would also like to say well done, for how you and your friends managed to defeat Lord Volgamorn (I think that was what you said!).
We hope that you can forgive us, and we hope you are well,
Please come to see us all sometime,
Love,
Mum and Dad

Hermione looked up at the others and smiled, “So basically, I’ve learnt that I have a brother who has the same name as my fiancé, my parents don’t like Australia, and,” she looked at Ron, “I can’t perfect every spell that I do.” Ron laughed.

Harry thought about what he’d been desperate to ask; how had the Carrows found Hermione? He wasn’t sure whether Hermione wanted to talk about this, though; she may find it uncomfortable. Ron didn’t seem to think so, for he brought up the subject.

“So … the Carrows …” He started carefully, “How did they find you?”

Hermione immediately looked embarrassed and sad, “I was so stupid!” she cried out, “I’d read about Atrum Cubile in A History of Magic, and it was just near Melbourne, where we were. I knew that was where Salazar Slytherin was born and I wanted to visit it, as I’ve never been to a foreign wizarding village, and I thought it would be interesting to see all the differences in cultures. I’d already sent mum and dad home by aeroplane by then, so I went on my own. The portkey wasn’t due to leave until the next day anyway. So I had a look around, then a group of wizards came over to me and recognised me from the Daily Prophet. Remember when we had our photo in there?” Harry nodded; they had indeed been in the Daily Prophet three days after the Battle, “Anyway,” Hermione continued, “That photo was in all the foreign newspapers as well. They recognised me from there, and wanted to know talk about how we’d done it. Then,” Hermione took a deep breath and tears began falling down her cheeks. Ron wiped them away with his sleeve and gave her an encouraging squeeze around her shoulders, “Then, I suppose they saw the big crowd around me, and I think they must’ve been spying on me or something, because when everyone else had gone, they just … just caught me.”

“But how?” Harry asked, “How did they know you were in Atrum Cubile in the first place?”

“I don’t know. Coincidence I guess,” she said simply, her eyes still watering slightly, “Are you really surprised though? Atrum Cubile is probably one of the most well-known wizarding villages in the world. And the darkest,” She added as an afterthought, “And we know they were very dark wizards. I suppose they liked the idea of staying in a village which praised Salazar Slytherin’s actions. I think I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then …” Hermione started to sob again.

“Hermione,” said Ron soothingly, “You don’t need to go on. We know enough.”

“No, no. It’s fine,” she said, “I want you all to know this. It doesn’t seem, right if we all keep secrets. I realise that from the train back from Hogwarts,” she smiled at Harry, “Yes … so they caught me and bound me up magically and then they took my wand. They apparated me to this … shack where they both lived, and they threw me in an empty room and locked the door. They were torturing me to tell them where you were, Harry, but I never said anything.”

Harry was outraged, “But you should’ve told them! You should have -”

But Hermione cut him off, “I would never hand any of you in. It could have been worse, though. They kept putting the cruciatus curse on me at least twice a day, just for the fun of it, but if I refused to give them information, the usually beat me.”

“So how did you escape?” Ginny asked, her eyes wide.

“Well like I said in the letter I managed to steal an owl and some parchment. They used to let me out of the room once a day to give me food, because they said it was only fun if I was in pain when they were directly causing it. So they took me down to the kitchen, and they usually tied me up while I ate, but they forgot to that day. I think they realised they were close to being found and they were too worried to remember. But they left the room and I found some spare parchment, and Alecto’s owl was there too. I knew it was too risky trying to escape, as they kept all the doors locked all the time, so I wrote a letter instead. I don’t know how the owl managed to get out of the house, but it did, and for the first time when I was in there, I felt almost safe.” The tears were still rolling down her cheeks as she went on, “Then I heard them shouting, then a door slammed, and it all went quiet. I went to the hallway to check what was happening, but there was no-one there. I didn’t have much strength, but I managed to grab my wand from where they had hidden it. I looked out of the window and saw that some people were struggling to restrain some others; the Carrows had apparently tried to escape as they knew they had been targeted. So I waited until they had all gone, and I went outside.I didn’t know where I was planning on going, but it didn’t really matter; I collapsed after a while.”

“You collapsed?” Harry asked, “They treated you that badly?”

Hermione gave a small smile, “Yes, they did treat me quite horribly. Well anyway, I collapsed and I couldn’t remember much after that. I remember waking up in a hospital, and that was St Mungo’s, but apparently a wizard had found me and he took me to an Australian hospital … then I got transferred to St Mungo’s,” Hermione looked relieved to have finished her account, and rested her head on Ron’s shoulder.

“Wow,” Ginny said, “you were really brave!”

“No I wasn’t!” Hermione laughed, “I just did what I needed to do and … I suppose it worked!”

“Have you told anyone else this?” Harry asked.

“Well I haven’t really had the chance, have I?” she smiled, “But as soon as I can, I’m going to tell Kingsley. I think he needs to know what those horrible Carrows are capable of, and make sure he gives them the highest level of security Azkaban can offer!”

Chapter 16: The Ring

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had recently been joined upstairs by George, who had finally allowed them to test out the Voice Verifiers; even Hermione wanted to try one. George took the sweets out of his pocket again and passed them round: Ginny had the yellow, Harry had been given a purple, Ron had the green, and Hermione was now examining a pink sweet.

“Are you sure these are safe?” asked Hermione tentatively, looking at the sweet, “I don’t really want another black eye …”

Everyone laughed, including Hermione.

“Don’t worry. Me, Lee and Alicia have been testing them on us, and these ones are absolutely fine,” George said reassuringly. He urged Harry to eat it, and after sniffing the sweet carefully, he popped it in his mouth. It tasted of blackberries, and when he swallowed it, he didn’t feel that his voice was any different. Everybody in the room was watching him, waiting for a reaction.

“It doesn’t feel any different,” was what Harry was meant to say, but instead a strangled scream came out of his mouth with every word. Ron roared with laughter.

“Well, it’s an improvement on the one you already had, mate!” He joked, before eating his own sweet. Now all eyes were on Ron, who said, “It - tastes - like – apples -,” He sang very slowly in a low voice.

George was laughing too, “Brilliant! Come on then, Ginny, Hermione!” They both looked at each other then simultaneously swallowed theirs. Hermione looked like she was about to say something, but instead, her face contorted and she began wailing like a baby. Everyone laughed in their own unique new voice, and everybody looked at Ginny when she let out a loud “Quack!” She stared back and said “Quack! Quack!” They were all rolling around and laughing; it sounded like complete mayhem, and Harry wasn’t surprised when Mrs Weasley came upstairs and threw the door open.

“Quack!” Ginny quacked before her mother could say anything.

“Stop this ridiculous game, all of you! Your father’s trying to tell me about his job -” she was cut off by Hermione, who let out a loud wail and began ‘crying’, then Harry started screaming.

Ron sang, “We – aren’t – being – rediculouuuuuuuuuuuuus!” Mrs Weasley sighed very loudly and left the room.

“Fantastic! OK I think we’d better stop now,” George could hardly speak for laughing so much, “Here,” he threw them all another sweet. They were the same colour as the ones they’d already eaten, but Harry’s new purple sweet was a lot fatter than the previous. He knew it had reversed the charm after he’d swallowed it, as he felt the sweet warm his throat as it slid down, “So?” said George, “What do you think?” He grinned when they all told him they were brilliant, “I can’t wait to get them all perfect so we can sell them. They’ll go down a treat!”

“George?” Ron asked, “Do you still need me at the joke shop? I mean, you’ve got Lee and Alicia now so I understand if -”

“Of course I still need you there!” George said, “Lee only works for me as a tester, he says he doesn’t like being in the business side of things, so yeah, I need you … unless you don’t want to?”

“No I do want to!” Ron told him.

“Great, I think mum’s taking you lot to Diagon Alley tomorrow so we’ll be able to talk business when you come to -” George stopped at the sound of the door knocking downstairs, “That’ll be Alicia,” He got up and said, “Meet you all in the kitchen? I still need to get my stuff from my room.”

When he left the room, Hermione looked at Ron, “He seems to be fine about Fred dying … I thought, maybe he’d be really cut up about it.”

“Oh he is,” said Ron, “He just doesn’t really like to show it.”

“I’ve heard him crying plenty of times when I walk past their room,” Ginny said quietly, “Only, don’t say anything. Mum and Dad are the same so they’ll probably just be too protective over him.”

They made their way downstairs and found Alicia sitting around the kitchen table talking to Mr and Mrs Weasley.

“Harry, Ron, Ginny! Hi!” She said, smiling at them, “Good to see you all!”

“You too!” They all said back to her, smiling. There was a clatter behind them and they saw George wrestling with a trunk down the stairs. Alicia ran over to help him and they managed to pull it down the remaining stairs.

“Good to see you again,” George smiled, and kissed Alicia on the cheek, “Ready?”

“George, dear,” Mrs Weasley said, “Would you mind if we all came to Diagon Alley with you? Instead of going tomorrow, you know, so we could see you off properly!” She smiled at him.

“Course you can come,” George smiled back, “We’ll be leaving soon though.”

“Are you lot coming?” Mr Weasley said, “If you’re ready we can leave now?” They went upstairs to get their jackets, and met up again in the kitchen. When they were all ready, they trudged out into the Burrow’s garden and were all about to apparate, but Mr Weasley stopped them.

“Hermione can’t apparate,” he said sadly, “We’ll have to go the muggle way.”

“I’m fine!” Hermione protested, “Watch!” She turned on the spot and reappeared behind them, “See? I didn’t splinch myself.” Mr Weasley looked unconvinced so she said, “Me and Ron can go sidealong if that’s better?” Mrs Weasley looked at her husband, who said, “Right, you and Ron can go sidealong, and Ginny, you can come with me. The rest of you, it’s the alley outside the Leaky Cauldron, got it?”

Harry closed his eyes, turned on the spot and thought of his destination. When he opened them, he found himself looking at the crooked sign above the entrance to the pub. He looked around him, and the Weasleys were appearing one by one. When they had all arrived, they went through the Leaky Cauldron, through the back, and into Diagon Alley after Mr Weasley had tapped the brick with his wand.

“OK, if you to want to go to the joke shop now, we’ll go to Gringotts and meet you later,” Mrs Weasley said to Fred and Alicia.

Harry watched them walk over to the joke shop, where a huge crowd of people stared forlornly at the closed door. Suddenly, a little child caught sight of George and yelled, “It’s the joke man!” and everybody clapped when they saw George arriving. Harry laughed, and continued to walk to Gringott’s with everybody else. When they got there, they found Bill talking to a couple of goblins. They all paraded across the marble hall, which had been remarkably repaired from the last time Harry saw it – when they’d taken a dragon ride through the hall.

“Mum! Dad! Hi everyone,” Bill said when he saw his family coming towards him. He said something in Gobbledegook to the goblins and they walked away, muttering in their own language, “I thought you weren’t coming until tomorrow. You’re lucky; I had a bit of spare time when I got here so I withdrew some money for you, wait there,” he told them, and returned a couple of minutes later with three moneybags, “Here you go,” he gave one to his father, one to Harry and the other to Hermione, “Harry, I got a bit more out for you, I thought you might want to get a new owl. I’ve got to go now, I think the goblins are going to get annoyed soon,” he kissed his mother on the cheek and said to them, “See you later then. Oh, and it’s good to see you on your feet, Hermione!” He added, and smiled at them all before he walked away.

“Right! Who’s going where?” Mrs Weasley asked them, “We can all split up, it’ll save time.”

“I want a knew cloak,” Ron said and after Ginny said she needed some more dress robes, the two of them, plus Mrs Weasley set off to Madam Malkin’s.

“Well I’ll go and get Ginny’s books from Flourish and Blotts, so you two can go to Eeylop’s Owl Emporium if you want, Harry,” Mr Weasley said, “remember, when you’re finished, just go to the Leaky Cauldron and we’ll all meet in there. See you later!” He said cheerfully, and set off down the wide path.

“So do you want to go to Eeylop’s?” Hermione asked him.

“Er … no. Hermione, I was hoping you could help me with something.”

“Sure,” she said, though she looked rather confused. Harry helped her walk down towards number 32, and stopped when he reached there.

“Jewell and Pretium’s Emporium? But why …” Hermione looked at Harry then back at the shop, and her eyes became very wide, “You and Ginny?!” She breathed, “Harry that’s wonderful!”

“Well I haven’t actually asked her yet, but I wanted to get her a ring first,” He said, not meeting Hermione’s gaze, “That’s where I want you to help me. I don’t really know what type to get or anything, so I was hoping you could help me out.”

Hermione grinned at him, and they walked into the shop, “How about this one?” she pointed to a gleaming silver ring with a large shining stone set in the middle of it.

“Er… Hermione?” Harry said, “I don’t have three hundred galleons with me!”

“Oh – right. I didn’t see the price.” After about ten minutes of scouring the shop, Hermione called Harry over, “It’s beautiful. It’s Goblin-made silver and it’s only fifty galleons!” Harry looked at where she was pointing. It was perfect, “Oh Harry you must get it!”

Five minutes later, they left the shop with the ring and a lot less money. Harry opened the box and looked at the shining diamond ring.

“She’s going to love it!” Hermione gushed, “When are you planning to ask her?”

“I dunno …” Harry said; he had never actually thought of when he would ask her, but he knew he wanted it to be soon.

“It’s weird isn’t it?” Hermione laughed, “I mean, us all getting engaged when we’re only eighteen. Or seventeen in Ginny’s case!”

“Yeah,” Harry said, “I only hope she says yes …”


Chapter 17: Back to Privet Drive

Harry stared at the ring as they walked toward’s the ice cream parlour. The assistant had said he was very lucky; there were only two of them left in stock. He hoped Ginny liked it.

“So aren’t you getting an owl?” Hermione asked Harry as they ate their ice cream from Florean Fortescue’s. The Parlour owner had been so excited to see Harry and Hermione that he told them they could have free ice creams whenever they wanted.

Harry’s heart sank at Hermione’s question, “I don’t know. Hedwig was … this is going to sound stupid, but she sometimes felt like a best friend to me when you and Ron weren’t around. Replacing her just doesn’t seem right.” Hermione gave Harry a sympathetic smile.

“I can understand that,” she said, “But maybe getting a new one could help you get over it?”

“Maybe. I suppose … I’ll have a look” They finished their ice cream and were bowed out by Mr Fortescue who told them to visit whenever they wanted. They made their way down the cobbled path towards Eeylops, and Harry sighed. Tethered to a perch outside the shop, Harry saw a beautiful snowy owl, which looked exactly the same as Hedwig. He remembered the day he first saw Hedwig; he was immediately attracted to her, and he knew that she was going to be his pet. Harry felt the same towards this one; he walked over to it and gently stroked the bird’s feathers beneath its beak. The owl gave a small hoot and affectionately nibbled his fingers, just as Hedwig had done. He felt his eyes threatening to spill over, then Hermione put a consoling arm around his shoulder. He smiled down at her, “This is the one, Hermione,” he said, “I’m buying this owl.”

Once he had handed over the money for the owl, he and Hermione began thinking of names for the owl, but none seemed to fit. This time, the owl was male, and Harry felt he was much harder to name. They walked down towards the Leaky Cauldron, and Harry had a sudden inspiration.

“Hermione, I’m going to call him Remus,” Harry smiled down at his new owl and thought the name suited him perfectly. Hermione looked startled at Harry’s choice of name for his new pet, but then she smiled and agreed that it was the right name.

The Weasleys were already waiting in the Leaky Cauldron when Harry and Hermione arrived. Ron told Harry and Hermione about his hours at the joke shop – he’d be working weekdays for five hours, then on a Saturday he was in for eight hours.

Harry showed everybody Remus the owl, and they all smiled at his name.

“Where else did you go?” Ginny asked.

“Er … just Florean Fortescue’s. It took me a while to pick an owl,” Harry said with a glance at Hermione, who smirked at him.

“Well if everybody’s ready, we may as well go!” Mrs Weasley said, looking around at everyone. They all nodded, and got up and walked out. Luckily, the pub was crowded, so they were able to blend into the crowd without anybody recognising them.

When they were in the alley, they checked to see if there were any muggles lurking about, before twisting on the spot, and reappearing outside the Burrow. Harry made sure Remus was fine after the apparition, then walked with the others back to the house. He’d already had an idea of how he was going to propose to Ginny, but he needed to have the garden to themselves. Harry went up to his and Ron’s room and put Remus’s cage on the table, and made sure the ring was well hidden so Ron couldn’t find it.

Harry was about to open Remus’s cage so he could send the letter off to Hestia Jones, when Ron came in and sat on his bed; he looked very pleased about something, and he was obviously bursting to tell Harry about it.

“Spit it out then!” Harry laughed, “You look like you’re desperate to say something!”

Ron gave a wide grin and delved into his pocket. His hand re-emerged and it was clasped around a small red box, “I went back to the jewellery shop today with Ginny after we’d been to Madam Malkin’s. She helped me pick out a ring for Hermione, a one I could afford. I’ve got a savings vault at Gringotts so I spent half of that on it,” Ron opened the box to reveal a silver ring … a very familiar ring, “it was the last one in stock! Ginny helped me pick it out! Do you think she’ll like it?”

Harry was stunned, “I know she’ll love it. I’m positive.”

“Do you really think so?” Ron looked so happy.

“Ron, I know it – look,” Harry went over to his trunk and brought out an identical red box, containing an identical silver ring. He showed Ron, who was evidently confused. He looked at Harry, waiting for an explanation, “I – me and Hermione went to the same shop today. I went to get this for Ginny, and Hermione helped me pick it out. She said it was a lovely ring,” Harry paused for a bit, looking at Ron who looked dumbfounded, “So, yeah, she will love the ring,” Harry finished.

“You … you and me bought the same ring?” Ron looked thoughtful for a minute, then laughed, “So basically Hermione and Ginny are going to get the same ring as they picked out for each other … but they don’t know it?!”

Harry was relieved at Ron’s reaction to him buying an engagement ring for Ron’s sister, “Looks like it!”

“Weird …” said Ron, “So when are you planning to ask her?”

“Tonight,” said Harry. He thought this would be a good time to ask Ron for a favour, “Er … Ron? Can you make sure nobody comes into the garden tonight? I want it just to be me and Ginny …” Harry looked up at Ron, who looked like he was fighting against his will to give an honest answer.

“No problem,” he managed to say. Harry was surprised.

“Thanks mate,” he grinned, and turned back to Remus’s cage, smiling to himself. Remus flew out of the open cage door and onto Harry shoulder. Harry picked up his letter to Hestia and tied it carefully to Remus, who stuck his leg out obligingly. Harry watched Remus as he took off lightly from Harry’s shoulder and through the open window. He kept his eye on him until he was nothing more than a dot against the darkening sky.

Harry and Ron made their way downstairs for their dinner – turkey casserole – cooked to perfection, as always, by Mrs Weasley. Harry was sitting next to Ginny, so when everyone else was talking, Harry whispered in her ear, so nobody else could hear, “Meet me in the garden at nine o’ clock.” She looked at him questioningly, but he just shook his head and looked secretive. She grinned and whispered back, “I’ll be there.”

So, at half past eight, Harry went outside armed with candles and butterbeer. He set up the candles so they floated around a patch of grass, and lit them all with his wand, then popped open two bottles of butterbeer while he waited for Ginny to arrive. At about five to nine, Harry heard the kitchen door being shut, then he saw Ginny’s figure coming towards him against the darkness.

“What’s all this?” she smiled, looking around at all the candles. She sat on the grass next to Harry, who handed her a bottle.

“I wanted you to know how much I love you,” Harry said, and he pulled her close to him. Ginny reached up and cupped his face in her hands. She kissed him lovingly on the lips, and they stayed there for maybe as long as three quarters of an hour, before Harry pulled away and put his hand into his pocket. He pulled out the small red box and caught hold of Ginny’s hand and kissed it tenderly.

“Ginny, I love you,” Harry opened the box revealing the ring, which glimmered in the candlelight, “Will you marry me?”

Ginny was lost for words … she stared at the ring with a confused look on her face, “Ron bought that -”

“I know,” Harry said, grinning, “Long story … so, will you? Will you be my wife?”

Whatever Ginny’s reaction was going to be, Harry never expected it to be this; she stood up and, not looking Harry in the eyes, said, “I have to go, Harry,” and she ran back towards the burrow.

Harry just stood there, surrounded by the candlelight … he’d thought it would be perfect … he thought Ginny loved him, yet she had left him standing there, alone and bewildered as she ran away from Harry.

Not entirely knowing what he was doing, Harry distinguished all the candles with his wand, and threw the empty butterbeer bottles against a tree, where they shattered with a great crack. Forgetting what time it was, Harry twisted on the spot, and disappeared. He didn’t even know where he was going, he just knew he wanted to get away from the Burrow … to get away from Ginny …

Harry stopped turning, and looked around at his new surroundings. He didn’t know where he was for a little while, until he saw the sign he had landed next to: Privet Drive.

Harry was shocked he’d apparated here. The place he’d hated for his whole life … he was back. He looked up at number four across the road – the light was on. He didn’t know why he was doing it, but Harry found himself walking towards the house he had despised so much.

Chapter 18: Dudley Reformed

Harry paused outside number four, and realised for the first time since he disapparated, what he was doing. He stared at the door and wondered whether he should go in. He didn’t know why, but Harry found himself wanting to see his only living relatives. Although he had never seen eye to eye with them, he did want to know that they were safe. He checked his watch; ten o’ clock. Harry could almost here Uncle Vernon’s reaction in his head: Who the DEVIL is coming at this time?

Harry walked up the driveway as quietly as he could, and before he could stop himself, he reached out a hand and rang the doorbell.

“Who the DEVIL is coming at this time?” Harry heard his uncle say before his footsteps became more pronounced. Vernon’s shadow appeared through the frosted glass as he unlocked the door angrily.

“What the -” Vernon started, but stopped immediately at the sight of his nephew standing on the doorstep. Harry’s uncle just stood there, staring blankly at Harry, as though trying to figure out whether he was really there or not.

“Vernon, who’s at the door?” came Petunia Dursley’s stern voice from the living room.

“P-Petunia?” Vernon stuttered, still staring at Harry, “Petunia … come to the door.” Harry heard his Aunt get up from the living room and watched her reaction as she came through the hall. She was halfway towards them when she realised who was standing there.

“Harry?” she gasped, clutching her heart, “I thought we’d seen the last of you …”

“Not quite, I wanted to … to know how you all are,” Harry said, but as he did so, Uncle Vernon seemed to come to his senses.

“No you didn’t, boy!” Vernon roared, clearly forgetting that the door was wide open and it was ten o’ clock at night, “You came here to try to hide from Lord Voldywhatsit!” Petunia was desperately shushing Vernon but he just shrugged her away, “You haven’t got rid of him and you decided to come here, didn’t you? Putting my family in danger like that … I won’t have it again! Out! OUT!” Vernon yelled. Petunia had now dragged Harry inside by his sleeve and slammed the door shut.

“Vernon! What will the neighbours think?” Petunia shrieked, “What is it you want? If it is to hide then you can think again -”

“I don’t need to hide!” Harry yelled. He realised now that coming here was a bad idea, “Voldemort died two months ago so I don’t need anywhere to hide!”

“He-he’s gone?” Petunia said, surprised.

“Well why else would the ministry have let you come back to live here?” Harry asked her. His Aunt opened her mouth to retort, but she was interrupted by the arrival of Harry’s cousin at the top of the stairs. Harry gasped at the sight of him. He was nowhere near as big as Harry had remembered him; in fact, he looked almost skinny! His clothes hung, baggy, against his body, and his face was much thinner. Dudley came running down the stairs to greet his cousin.

“Harry!” Dudley yelled, and came running at Harry. Next thing Harry knew, he had been pulled into a tight hug by his own cousin; his cousin whom he had hated since birth. Dudley looked embarrassed as he pulled away, but he mumbled, “I thought you’d be dead.”

“That’s nice, Dudders,” Harry pressed a finger to his wrist mockingly and said, “Nope, definitely alive.”

Dudley gave a little smile, “What are you doing here?”

“That’s JUST what we’re wondering, laddie!” Vernon turned to Harry.

“Well, like I said, I wanted to know that you were all fine. But apparently I shouldn’t have bothered because you’re just as predictable as you always were!” Harry directed his last sentence at his Aunt and Uncle. They stared at him, not knowing what to say, so Harry continued, “Anyway, you probably won’t see me again, not that you’ll be bothered.”

“And why’s that? Off to find another magic freak you can settle down with?” Vernon laughed and Harry seized his opportunity.

“Well, just ask your wife about the ‘magic freaks’ then,” Harry said coldly, “She wanted to be one, after all,” Petunia’s face turned ghostly white and her eyes became huge. She stared at Harry.

“What on earth is all this nonsense?” she said quickly.

“You know,” Harry said, rather enjoying himself, “When you sent that letter to Professor Dumbledore, asking if you could go to Hogwarts. Remember?”

“Petunia?” said Uncle Vernon quietly, “This isn’t true, is it?”

Petunia burst into tears, “It’s my freak of a sister! She was always loved more by my mother! Always the favourite because she could do magic!” she spluttered, “Then she went off to the Freak school with that freak from Spinner’s End! And all my mother could do was miss her while she was away! Never payed any attention to her other daughter, did she? No, it was all about Lily!” Petunia finished and started breathing heavily, “can you blame me for wanting to go there? I was never the favourite – I was never even regarded as equal! All I wanted was for my parents to love me. I’ve never hated you, as a person,” she turned to Harry as she said this, “I hated you for being Lily’s son, for inheriting the magic.” And with that, she left the room and went into the kitchen. Vernon didn’t say anything, but he did something that shocked Harry to the core.

Vernon held his hand out for Harry to shake, and Harry could’ve sworn he saw his uncle’s moustache twitch. Harry took the offered hand suspiciously and shook it, expecting Vernon to do something not so generous, but he just stared at Harry as he did before. Just as Harry was about to leave, Petunia came back into the hall carrying something long – something wooden …

“Where did you get that?!” Harry exclaimed, recognising his own Firebolt.

“It was at the bottom of the garden,” Petunia said quietly, “I’m not sure how it got there, but I remember Lily used to have a broomstick, and she loved it. I knew this must have belonged to you.” She held the broomstick out to Harry, who took it and examined it; it was good as new, and Harry was desperate to try it out.

“Thanks,” he smiled at his Aunt, and she actually returned it whole-heartedly, “Well … I’d better get going.”

“Be careful,” Dudley said, looking at Harry seriously.

Harry smiled at his cousin and waved to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, “Bye then,” he opened the front door and was halfway out, when Petunia called out to him.

“I’m sorry!” she had said, but when Harry turned to look at her, she made no indication whatsoever of saying this. Harry gave a small smile, and shut the door behind him, feeling that the visit had not been entirely worthless.

Harry was dying to go for a fly on his firebolt, but he couldn’t be sure if it was safe to ride. Instead, he found a corner in the street which wasn’t doused in light from the streetlamps, and disapparated. He had no intentions of going back to the Burrow; not after what had happened one hour earlier.

He found himself still clutching his broomstick, standing on the doorstep to Grimmauld Place. He undid all the metal locks, and slid into the dark house. He lit a candle in the hallway and carried it upstairs with him, where he fell into the newly decorated drawing room. He looked at how much it had changed; the cushions were no longer ragged and frayed, but neat and attractive. The wall had been painted a light cream, which made the room seem a lot larger and spacious. All the furniture had been cleaned and in some cases, repaired.

Harry fell back onto the pile of cushions and immediately fell asleep, where he slipped into a disturbing dream.

He was being turned down by Ginny in the middle of the Great Hall, in front of everyone he knew. He had asked her to marry him, just as he had done tonight, but instead of running away from him, she held up a hand indicating a glistening ring on her finger, “Sorry, Harry, Dean got there first.” Everybody in the hall was laughing at Harry, and Hermione kept saying, “She didn’t know what to do!” and “She panicked!”

It was a while before Harry realised that it wasn’t in his dream that Hermione was saying this, but she was standing over him in Grimmauld Place, trying to wake him up.

Chapter 19: Back at Grimmauld Place

“Harry!” Hermione was saying, “Please wake up!”

Harry opened his eyes and saw Hermione’s scarred face a foot or two away from his own, “Hermione? When did you get here?” He was startled to see her – he thought it was the middle of the night …

“Well we all woke up this morning and you weren’t there,” Hermione said, relieved he’d woke up, “And Ginny was really worried so she told us what happened,” Harry made to say something but she talked over him, “Don’t worry, she only told me and Ron. But we all got worried so we went looking for you. Me and Ron. He’s downstairs at the minute, I think Kreacher’s making him breakfast.”

Harry tried to smile, but he failed, as Hermione put a hand on his shoulder and said softly, “This was a big shock for Ginny. She wasn’t expecting you to propose to her. Maybe if you let her -”

“It was a shock for you, but you still said yes!” Harry retorted.

“Harry, different people take it different ways. I was surprised at first, don’t you remember? It took me a few minutes to make sense of what had happened. Just give her time.” Harry could tell that Hermione wasn’t telling him something.

“What is it?” he said, “I know you aren’t telling me something. Spit it out.”

She looked sad for a moment then said, “Harry, she doesn’t want you to know. I can’t tell you.”

“Can you not just tell me why she said no?” Harry asked desperately, “I thought she loved me … but apparently she doesn’t.”

“Harry … she does love you, more than anything,” Hermione told him.

“So why -”

“I’m sorry Harry, but I promised I wouldn’t say anything! Just … just talk to her. I don’t think I’m in the right position to tell you why.” Harry sat back down and put his head in his hands, “I’m sorry, Harry.”

Harry realised that Hermione did sound genuinely sorry, and felt he owed her an explanation about where he had gone last night, when they had got so worried, “Hermione … last night when I went away … I didn’t go straight here.”

He told her everything that had happened, from how he felt about Ginny, to his Aunt Petunia revealing how she really felt about magic. He got up and went to the corner of the room where he had propped up his Firebolt the previous night, and showed it to Hermione. He told her how Petunia was keeping it for him while he was away. He then told her about the dream, and when he reached the part about Dean Thomas, Hermione bit her lip.

“What?” Harry said, annoyed, “Just tell me Hermione! I won’t let Ginny know you told me!”

She looked worried, then she sighed, “Fine. Here it is. When we were at Diagon Alley yesterday, apparently she had gone to Quality Quidditch Supplies while Ron was getting measured for his new cloak, and she ran into Dean. He told her that he still had feelings for her and he wanted to give them two another go.”

“So … she’s with Dean now?” Harry asked, trying to hide his confusion and inward pain.

“Well … no, she isn’t, but she feels guilty about turning him down. She’s just been a bit down ever since she saw him.”

“And that’s all?” Harry frowned, “That’s why she turned me down?”

“That’s not all, no. You see, when she told Dean she was in love with you, he said that he loved her, and she started to question whether she still had feelings for him. She knew she loved you, but she was still unsure about Dean,” she stopped and looked at Harry, “She’s still really cut up about what happened with Fred. She told me last night. She feels guilty that she can feel so happy when he died just two months ago.” She ended and looked sympathetically at Harry.

“Can’t … can’t you just talk to her? Just tell her I’m sorry I rushed into things …”

Hermione shook her head, “Harry, you know as well as I do that this has to come ”

“So what shall I do?” Harry asked her, “Should I talk to her or just give her a bit of time to think?”

“Well she doesn’t know that I told you all this, so don’t tell her that. If I were you, I’d ask her what was wrong, but be gentle. If she says exactly the same as I did, act like you haven’t heard it before. If she doesn’t want to tell you, give her a bit of space. You two can sort this out Harry. Do you love her?” Harry looked at her encouraging smile, and felt determination sweep through his body. He nodded in response to Hermione’s question, and said, “More than anything.” Hermione smiled and said, “That’s all that matters. Anyway,” she clapped her hands together and said, “I can smell breakfast and I’m starving. Coming?”

Harry picked up his Firebolt and he and Hermione made their way down to the kitchen. Before Harry opened the door, Hermione grabbed hold of his wrist to stop him, and said quietly so her voice wouldn’t carry through to the kitchen, “I wouldn’t go to see Ginny just yet. Give it until tomorrow so she can have time to think.”

Harry didn’t really agree with what Hermione was saying; he was planning on leaving for the Burrow as soon as he’d finished his breakfast, and Hermione seemed to sense this, as she said, “Don’t rush her. Me and Ron will stay here tonight with you, then we can all go together tomorrow,” Harry looked at her meaningfully – he wanted her to know how desperate he was to see Ginny, “Harry, you want to see her, I know that, but all she needs is a bit of time. We’ll go back tomorrow. I promise.”

Harry knew Hermione was right in thinking this; there was hardly an instance where she had been wrong. Harry gave her a small smile to let her know he understood, and she loosened the hold on his wrist. He opened the door leading to the basement kitchen, which used to be a dark and dank room, but had been transformed completely.

Light was streaming in through the windows at the top of the walls; every surface in the room had been cleaned and they were all gleaming with an unfamiliar sheen from the blaze of brightness. The fireplace now looked cheery and inviting; logs had been added to the grate and there were also many ornaments and relics of the Black family which stood proudly on the mantelpiece. Ron looked up from his plate of bacon and eggs.

“Harry! Alright? Where did you – Whoa!” Ron clapped his eyes on the Firebolt in Harry’s hand, “How did you get that back?!”

Harry and Hermione sat down at the kitchen table, where they were given plates of hot delicious food, and Harry told Ron about the night before.

“Blimey … so your cousin was nice to you?!” He said in amazement. Harry nodded and laughed.

They all finished their breakfast and spent many hours cleaning some more of the house, aided by Kreacher. There were eight bedrooms in the house in total, and they had managed to revamp two of them in the morning they spent there. They had redone Mrs Black’s old room, where Buckbeak had spent the best part of two years, and they had also transformed the room Harry and Ron used to stay in. Kreacher had surprisingly taken down the portrait of Phineas Nigellus in response to the request from Harry.

“But Master, the picture can never truly leave the house,” the elf had said, “The portrait belongs to the Black family, and therefore must remain within the walls of the house, Sir.” The house elf gazed adoringly at the picture Harry was holding, who suddenly had a stroke of inspiration.

“Kreacher?” Harry asked him carefully, “You know your room in the pantry? Well how about we give you Regulus’s room instead? It’s much bigger so you can hang this on your wall, and we’ll let you chose some other heirlooms from the house to keep in there!” Part of the reason Harry had asked Kreacher to move into Regulus’s room was because truthfully, there were many things in the house that Harry did not wish to keep. He didn’t know what to do with them, and he knew it wouldn’t go down too well with Kreacher if Harry threw them all out; they had been getting along much better than usual recently after all. Anyway, Harry doubted he would ever need to use Regulus’s room for anything other than storage.

Kreacher’s eyes swam with tears, “Is Master Harry really letting Kreacher have Master Regulus’s room? It is an honour beyond anything that a house elf gets his own room, Sir,” Kreacher sunk down on his knees and hugged the hem of Harry’s robes, “Kreacher would be delighted to take residence in Master Regulus’s old room!” The happy elf flew to his feet and ran off; Harry expected to move into his new room. He turned around to admire their handiwork of the newly-decorated bedroom, and Harry saw that Hermione was looking at him.

“Harry, that was very kind,” She beamed and her face was so full of admiration, he didn’t have the heart to tell her the real reason he had allowed Kreacher the room. Ron, on the other hand, was standing beside Hermione, smirking; he had obviously seen through Harry’s plan.

“So what do you want to do now?” Harry asked eager to change the subject. They had had enough cleaning for one day, and it was only three o’ clock.

“I don’t know,” said Hermione, “Is there anything else you want done to the house today? Or would you rather just leave it all for another day?”

Harry sat down on a cushion, “Well there’s something I wanted to do, but I’ll need to check with Kingsley first,” Harry had indeed been thinking about changing a certain something about his house on Grimmauld Place, “It’s the Fidelius charm. I want it lifted. Voldemort’s gone, and I’m not in any immediate danger, so I don’t see the point in it being here anymore.” Ron nodded in agreement, but Hermione frowned slightly.

“And what about the muggles? They’ve been walking past here for years wondering why there was no number twelve, then it suddenly appears out of nowhere?” Harry sighed, he had thought of this loophole already.

“I know, Hermione. That’s why I wanted to see Kingsley before I tried anything.”

Almost as if he had heard Harry saying this, someone knocked at the door. Hermione went to answer it, and came back a minute later with Kingsley Shackelbolt at her heel. Harry grasped his hand as he came into the room, wondering why the minister had suddenly turned up at the doorstep to Grimmauld Place, rather than the Burrow.

Chapter 20: The end of the Fidelius Charm

“I’m glad you came,” said Harry, once they were all seated comfortably around the kitchen table with a tray of tea and biscuits, courtesy of Kreacher, “I wanted to ask you something about this house.”

“Oh?” said Kingsley, looking rather puzzled, “What might that be?”

“Well, I was wondering about the Fidelius charm – is it possible to lift it?” Harry asked nervously; he was sure Kingsley was about to shake his head sadly.

“Of course it is,” Kingsley smiled; Harry was quite taken aback.

“But … but what about the muggles who haven’t seen it for all those years?” Harry spluttered.

“Well there’s a simple charm which exists. If you like, I can remove the Fidelius charm for you, then I can perform this spell which was allow the viewer of the house to remember seeing it before. Even wizards. But first, Hermione?” Hermione looked startled at the mention of her name, “Could we speak in private for a few minutes please? It is rather important, but it shouldn’t take long.”

“Oh, erm …” Hermione glanced at Harry, who nodded vigorously, “Sure … where shall we … ?”

“We’ll just go through to the drawing room. We shouldn’t be too long,” Kingsley told Ron and Harry, who both stared confusedly after Hermione and Kingsley as they left the room. There was silence between Harry and Ron for a while; they were both trying to hear what Hermione was being told by Kingsley, without much luck. Eventually, Harry gave up trying to listen, and turned his attention to starting a conversation to mask the silence.

“So, I didn’t see Hermione wearing the ring … haven’t you given it to her?” Ron’s face brightened at the sound of Harry talking about him and Hermione.

“Well I wanted it to be nice, you know? So I’ve invited a some people over the day after tomorrow. I’ve asked mum and she says it’s fine – even offered to make the food without me asking!”

Harry grinned, “So who’ve you invited?”

Ron started listing people off on his fingers, “Well Bill and Fleur, Fred and Alicia, Neville, Luna, Hagrid, Andromeda Tonks – I thought she might need some cheering up so her and Teddy are coming - ”

At that point Hermione and Kingsley re-entered the room. Hermione looked rather pleased with herself as she eased herself back into one of the chairs.

“So … Harry. Would you like me to take off the Fidelius charm?” Kingsley said kindly, “I have a while before I need to go back to the Ministry so I can do it now if you like?” Harry nodded.

“That would be brilliant, thanks.”

“But Harry … you need to be absolutely certain you want this done, it is a very complex charm so once it has been removed, it is very rare that it will be successful a second time it is performed on the same dwelling.”

“I’m positive,” said Harry, “There’s not really any reason that I should leave it on really, is there? I mean, I’m just as in danger as anyone else is. Let’s do it.”

Kingsley led them all to the front of the house, but instead of opening the door, he pointed his wand at the handle, and performed a quick slashing movement with it. The entire door immediately emitted a bluish glow, then stopped immediately. All the locks on the door suddenly burst away from the black door, and fell with a clatter to the floor; the door threw itself open.

Kingsley stepped over the threshold and onto the small cracked paved area which stood forlornly in front of the house. He checked quickly for any muggles watching, then muttered a short incantation; Harry felt a cold something slither down his back; Kingsley had made them all invisible using a disillusionment charm. The faint outline of Kingsley raised his wand again, this time in the direction of the roof of the house. He spoke another incantation and immediately, a jet of blue light shot out of his wand, but instead of disappearing, it hung there, connected between the wand and the topmost corner of the roof. Kingsley now moved his wand very slowly and carefully, around the outside of the house, tracing it around every wall. When the end of the blue beam of light met the start of it, the light turned to a brilliant red, and started giving off sparks. Kingsley then performed the same spell, with the jet of blue and red light, around the windows and door, and soon, the entire front of the house was covered in a magnificent glow with silver sparks dancing around in the sea of blood-red light.

“You will be able to tell when the next part of the charm is ready to perform,” Kingsley explained to the three of them.

Sure enough, after two or three minutes of waiting, the red suddenly turned back to blue, and the sparks stopped shining and gradually disappeared. Kingsley held his wand up to the house, and said a long, indistinguishable incantation. He made many swift, complicated swoops of his wand, until the blue light from the house exploded, showering the deserted street they stood on in a fine blue powder. Kingsley smiled triumphantly and then moved his wand one last time; the disillusionment charm had been lifted, as well as the Fidelius.

“Well, Harry, there you go!” Kingsley said happily to Harry.

“Thanks!” he replied, “I knew it was complicated, but I never thought it would be like that!”

Kingsley laughed, “No problem. Anyway, I think I need to make another appearance at the Ministry – I have quite a bit of paperwork to do. And remember, Hermione, I’ll see you in two days! See you all later,” with one last smile, Kingsley positioned himself in a dark shadow, and disappeared, away from prying muggle eyes.

Harry, Ron and Hermione trooped inside and sat down again in the kitchen, “So what was that about, Hermione?” Ron asked her.

“Well he wanted to know what happened with the Carrows, obviously. They’ve talked to them with the influence of veritaserum. Kingsley wanted to hear my side of the story so they matched up. It turns we were right about why they were there; they went to Atrum Cubile because they quite liked the idea of living in the world’s darkest wizarding village,” Hermione finished with a nasty smile, “So they’re in Azkaban now. They’ve got the highest level of security the ministry offers. This is probably the only time I’ve ever wished that Azkaban even dementors.”

“You really hate them Carrows don’t you?” Ron smiled at her.

“Well you try liking them after they tortured and beat you just for fun!” She joked, “Anyway, Kingsley also said that he’s found me a job in the Magical Creatures office at the Ministry!”

“Hermione that’s brilliant!” Ron got up and threw his arms round Hermione. She hugged him back and said through his shoulder, “I’m going for an induction the day after tomorrow and if I’m sure I want the job, I’ll be starting permanently when we get back from my parent’s house!”

They all had a celebratory bottle of butterbeer, while Harry sat thinking about what was going to happen between him and Ginny. He hadn’t been thinking about her much today; they had all been too busy cleaning, then Kingsley had come, and Harry was glad of the distraction. He so desperately wanted to go and see Ginny now, to sort out their relationship, but he knew deep down that Hermione was right. He wondered what would happen if Ginny went to be with Dean – Harry would be all alone; Hermione and Ron were now together, and they would soon want to be independent, meaning they wouldn’t want Harry moping along with them all the time. He didn’t think he and Ginny could ever be friends if she chose Dean; they were either together, or apart, in Harry’s eyes. He didn’t want to lose her, but he felt that friendship was out of the question now – they would never be the same around each other again if Ginny said no.

Harry bade the other two goodnight at about eight o’ clock that night. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep very well, but it was better being in his room than watching Ron and Hermione being so happy together. It wasn’t just the fact that Harry couldn’t sleep - he was afraid of going to sleep. He didn’t want to slip into another dream like he had done the night before; maybe if he did, this time it would come true.

He had a plan. He had to wait until Hermione and Ron had gone to sleep first, but then he needed to see Ginny – he couldn’t wait until the next day.

Chapter 21: Reunited

Harry heard Ron and Hermione go upstairs at about ten o’ clock; half an hour ago. They were in the room that used to belong to Hermione and Ginny back when it was Order of the Phoenix headquarters. Harry didn’t know whether he would be able to get away with it if he left now. He didn’t know whether they would be asleep yet. His room was on the floor above Ron and Hermione’s, so if he went downstairs now, one creaking floorboard could scupper the plan.

He gave it another twenty minutes, before managing to creep down to the floor below without making too much noise. He paused briefly outside the bedroom and heard Ron’s unmistakable snores and breathed a sigh of relief. Next stop was the drawing room; he opened the door, careful not to let it creak, and grabbed his Firebolt from the corner. He was going to ask someone to look at it before he rode it, in case it had been cursed in the duel the night he escaped from the Dursleys, but that could wait. He shut the drawing room door and made it to the front entrance, glad that all of the locks had been removed. He slowly eased the door open and slipped outside. Once in the square, Harry checked his pocket for the ring to ensure he hadn’t forgotten it; he felt the small bulge in his pocket. He knew it may fall out while he was in flight, but he would worry about that later if he needed to; right now, he just wanted to get to Ginny’s.

Although it was dangerous to do so in the middle of a muggle street, Harry mounted his broom, and kicked off from the ground. The feeling was immense; he had been waiting so long to ride a broom again, and it felt so good. His hair was ruffled gently by the calm breeze, and the night air whipped pleasantly at his face. He flew over the countryside for a while, before realising he didn’t have a clue where he was going. Remembering the spell Hermione had taught him in his fourth year, Harry steadied himself in mid-air and took his wand out of his pocket, “Point me,” he muttered, and the wand spun in his hand, before pointing him in the right direction. He knew it would be a long flight from Grimmaul Place, but he didn’t care; he was enjoying his moonlit flight and all he wanted to do was get to Ginny.

About two hours after he had began flying, Harry began to catch sight of some familiar land; the hills and small village of Ottery St. Catchpole. Harry flew low over the hills, past Luna and her Father’s odd-looking house, and eventually found himself drawing nearer to the Burrow. He slowed down as he approached the house, and navigated himself around the exterior. He found where Ginny’s room was, and was surprised to see her bedroom light was still on. He flew closer and saw her sitting on the windowsill inside her room. The window was slightly open, and her long red hair was blowing beautifully in the slight wind. Harry ascended until he was level with Ginny’s window, and flew closer.

When she notice him, Ginny looked startled and jumped. She got to her feet and quickly opened the window fully, so she and Harry could talk properly, “What are you doing here? I thought you were at Grimmauld Place?”

“I was … but I had to see you. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you … about us.”

“Me too,” Ginny said, her brown eyes piercing Harry’s green ones.

“Will you come for a ride?” Harry whispered, indicating the broomstick on which he was still sitting. Ginny glanced nervously towards her bedroom door.

“But what about -”

“Leave a note. Please Ginny,” Ginny looked into his pleading eyes, and smiled slightly. Without even writing a note, she climbed silently through her window, and perched herself on the broom behind Harry.

“Hold on tight,” Harry whispered, “Firebolts can go pretty fast,” Harry felt Ginny’s hands grab his waist for support, and a warm feeling tingled up his spine. He kicked off against the wall, and up they went, high above the hillside and below the midnight sky. Ginny tightened her grip around Harry after a while, and rested her head on his back. It felt so comfortable alone up there with Ginny, and he wasn’t keen on descending, but he knew they needed to talk sooner or later, so Harry found a peaceful-looking river running through the quiet countryside. Lower and lower they got, until they touched down on the grassy slope by the river. Harry helped Ginny off the broom, and sat down on the grass, indicating for Ginny to do the same.

They lay back for a while, listening to the gentle splash of the river as it ran by them, and watching the stars above. After a while, Harry sat up, and began to talk.

“Ginny, about what happened … I’m sorry. I know I’ve probably rushed into things when you weren’t ready, and it was stupid of me, but I just want you to know that I understand completely, and I love you,” Harry looked at Ginny, who was still looking up at the night sky. She didn’t seem like she was about to say something, so Harry continued, “I understand if you need some time to think about Dean,” At these words, Ginny sat up and looked at Harry, “Hermione said that … I mean … I thought that -”

To Harry’s surprise Ginny gave a small laugh, “I sort of knew Hermione would tell you about that … I knew you wouldn’t rest until she did.”

It was Harry’s turn to laugh now, “You know me so well,” he smiled, “But – about you and Dean, like I was saying, I know that if you need time to think -”

“Harry, I don’t need time to think. It was stupid of me to run off like that last night. It was just a bit of a shock that Dean still had feelings for me. I wondered whether I still had them for him. They couldn’t be stronger than the ones I have for you though Harry. But I though … if I did still like him, it would be dishonest of me to be still seeing you while I had feelings for someone else. But I realise now that you are the only person I have feelings for. You’re the only person I have had really true feelings for, and I love you too Harry. I can’t believe I ran off like that … I’ve been regretting it ever since. I just thought you ought to know what had happened, and you asked me that before I had a chance, and I just … panicked. But I mean it, I love you Harry, with all my heart.”

Harry was shocked at what he had just heard. He had expected Ginny to tell him she didn’t want to marry him, that she just wanted to be friends, so he was rather shocked by Ginny’s response. Remembering what he was going to do, Harry dug his hand in his pocket, and was relieved to see that the ring was still there. He brought out the small red box and pressed it into Ginny’s hand.

“I want you to have the ring. If you ever decide that you do want us to get married, all you have to do is put the ring on when you’re ready, and I’ll be waiting. If you don’t want to, I still want you to keep it. To remind you of what we had. But like I say, I know that you’ll need time to think it through.”

Ginny looked at Harry, then at the box containing the ring. Carefully, she opened it and held the ring in her hand. She gently put the empty box down on the grass, and slid the ring on her finger.

“I’ve had time to think, Harry. All day. I do want to marry you. I was just too blind to see it before,” a wide grin spread across both hers and Harry’s faces, and at that instant, they knew it was right; they were meant to be together, and they always had been. Harry reached over and pulled Ginny into a passionate kiss, which she couldn’t refuse. They lay there for what could have been hours, and by the time the sun had begun to rise, they realised it had been that long. Ginny began to get worried about what her parents would think if they realised she had gone, and Harry decided it would be better for them to apparate to the Burrow. Ginny gripped Harry’s hand and together, they travelled through darkness, and eventually found themselves on a hill just a short walk from the Burrow, but Ginny wanted to fly the remainder of the journey.

“It seems right that way … we leave on a broom and we get back on a broom,” she grinned, “Anyway, I’ll need to get back in through the window, unless I want to wake mum and dad.”

They mounted Harry’s Firebolt and when Ginny hung onto him again, Harry felt warmth spread through his entire body. In what seemed like not enough time, Ginny was climbing through the bedroom window.

“Can’t you just stay here?” she moaned when Harry was about to leave.

“Well if you want to see me again, no,” Harry laughed at the puzzled look on Ginny’s face, “Unless I get back to Grimmauld Place before Hermione wakes up, she’ll kill me.” Ginny laughed too, and gave him another of her wonderful kisses, which he gratefully returned, before he flew back over to the hills and apparated directly into the living room of 12 Grimmauld Place.

Chapter 22: Hestia's reply

Harry sat down in one of the chairs, with a fresh mug of tea going over what had happened. He had only intended to give Ginny the ring and tell her that he’d be waiting for her when she was ready. He never thought she would change her mind about what he’d asked her. He smiled, and thought about Ginny … her long shimmering hair, her beautiful brown eyes, her soft lips …

“What was that?” Ron had appeared in the doorway, causing Harry to jump around in his seat and drop his mug on the floor. Harry repaired his mug with his wand, and siphoned the tea off the floor, “I heard a noise … what was it? It sounded like someone was apparating …” Ron narrowed his eyes suspiciously, and Harry quickly invented an excuse.

“It was Kreacher,” said Harry quickly; Ron stilled eyed him curiously, “He’d been to the Hogwarts kitchens to see the other elves and he’s just apparated back.” Harry smiled casually at Ron, who raised his eyebrows and laughed.

“Where’ve you been then?” Ron asked amused, “It’s obvious you aren’t doing a very good job at lying!”

“OK. I just … went for a fly on the Firebolt. I didn’t want to tell you in case you told Hermione, then she’d get annoyed because I still haven’t had it checked out,” Harry felt more comfortable saying this; he wasn’t exactly lying – he was just leaving out some other information.

“Alright,” Ron laughed, still slightly unconvinced, “So you went for a fly on your Firebolt at -” he checked his watch, “- six in the morning?”

“I told you, I didn’t want Hermione finding out. So what are you doing today?” Harry asked him, desperate to talk about something which avoided lying to his best friend.

“I thought we were going to the Burrow? Don’t you want to see Ginny?” Ron said, smirking slightly.

“I … yeah … I forgot about that!” Harry laughed a little too hard.

“So how is she?” Ron asked, staring hard at Harry.

“What?”

“Ginny, when you saw her last night; was she OK?” Harry’s heart skipped beat; how had he known? Ron took Harry’s silence as a sign of knowing he’d been caught out, and laughed.

“Hermione was convinced you’d be a good little boy and stay in bed until morning, but I know you better, Harry. I was waiting in the drawing room so I could hear you when you got back,” Ron grinned at the look on Harry’s face, “So how did it go with Ginny? Did you talk things through?”

Harry took a deep breath, and told Ron everything. It was much easier talking to Ron about this now, than it would have been two years ago, when Harry first realised his true feeling for Ginny. Harry explained about what Ginny had said about Dean, about regretting her actions, and when he told Ron that Ginny had told him she wanted to marry him, Ron yelled, “That’s brilliant!”, to Harry’s astonishment.

The sound of Ron’s exclamation had woken Hermione, who walked gingerly over to the kitchen table wearing a dressing gown. She bent down and kissed Ron, then sat on a vacant seat next to him, “What’s brilliant?” she asked them. Harry was unsure whether it was wise to tell Hermione exactly where he had been; she had been very certain that he wasn’t to go to see Ginny before today. Harry was about to open his mouth and once again skirt around the truth, when Ron spoke instead.

“Harry and Ginny have only gone and got engaged!” Hermione looked astounded. She stared at Ron, then turned her gaze to Harry.

“How, though? You haven’t even seen her since –” the truth suddenly dawned on Hermione, “Harry you didn’t?! Last night?” Harry sighed, and for the second time that morning, found himself reciting the events of the previous night. Harry was expecting a grilling off Hermione about why he shouldn’t have flown out to see Ginny, but instead, she congratulated him, and stood up, about to make them some more tea, when Kreacher bounced into the room.

“Morning, Master,” the elf grinned, “I will make the tea, Miss. Would Master and his friends like some breakfast?”

“That’d be great,” Ron smiled at the elf, “I’m starving!” Kreacher bowed low to them and busied himself with making their breakfast, while the three of them held a conversation about their plans for that day. It was Ron’s first day at work for George, and he was leaving straight after breakfast.

“Where will you be at one o’ clock? Because that’s when I finish. Will you be at the Burrow?” He asked, talking very fast. Hermione smiled at the fact he was so excited to work, and said, “I think we will be at the Burrow, we were planning on going anyway weren’t we?”

After eating a nourishing breakfast – bacon sandwiches and orange juice – Ron went upstairs to change into his new magenta robes, leaving Harry and Hermione alone in the kitchen; Kreacher had left the room in search of something to clean.

“So,” began Hermione. Harry had an idea what she was about to talk about, “Are you planning on telling Mrs Weasley that you snuck her daughter out of her bedroom window at midnight and didn’t return until half five in the morning?” Although the question was quite patronising, Hermione looked amused.

“Are you mad?” Harry laughed, “It was bad enough facing you, never mind Mrs Weasley!”

“Hey! I’m not really that bad am I?” Hermione sounded genuinely hurt.

“Sorry,” Harry said hastily, “I didn’t mean it … it’s just after you told me not to go last night I thought you’d be annoyed at me for going anyway.” Harry realised how stupid the words sounded, and laughed. Hermione joined in with him, just as Ron walked back in the room. He looked confusedly between the two of them, then shook his head in wonder.

“Well … I’m off,” Ron said quite nervously.

“You’ll be great Ron,” Hermione got up and kissed him lovingly. She pulled away and smiled, “So we’ll see you later at the Burrow?”

“Yep. See you later! See you Harry!” Ron turned and walked towards the front door. They heard it close and listened as Ron’s footsteps died away, followed by the faint pop, telling them he’d disapparated. A sudden silence was brought upon them, interrupted ten minutes after Ron’s departure, with a slight tapping noise coming from the entrance hall. Harry looked confusedly at Hermione, who looked back at him with the same expression. They both got up and walked down the hallway to the front door. Harry opened it to see who was there, but he found that the source of the noise was coming, not from the door, but from the window next to it.

Harry held out an arm for Remus to climb up on, and brought him into the house.

“Harry, is that from Hestia Jones?!” asked Hermione when he brought the owl back inside. Harry untied the letter from the owl’s leg, looked at the envelope. Sure enough, it was emblazoned with the Hogwarts Crest and the address was written in the same purple ink as his first letter from Hestia. Harry pocketed the letter, and took Remus up to his room, where he flew into his cage and took a large gulp of water. Harry ran back downstairs to the kitchen where Hermione was sat waiting for him, and took a seat himself. Taking the letter back out of his pocket, Harry read aloud for Hermione to hear:

Dear Mr Potter,
Thank-you for sending a reply back to me, here at Hogwarts.
I would be more than willing to meet you within the next day or two to discuss further matters for the potential teaching post we have offered you. As you can imagine, we will be rather busy here at Hogwarts in the coming week, as we will be preparing the castle for the return of our students, so it would be much appreciated if we could meet as soon as possible. I will be available to meet you during the course of the next three days, so could you please send us a time between now and Friday as soon as possible.
If it is possible, I would appreciate it if we could meet in Hogsmeade village, possibly the Three Broomsticks as this is closer to Hogwarts if I need to be up at the castle for any reason.
I’m glad you remember me from when you left your Aunt and Uncle’s house – at least we won’t be meeting for the first time!
Yours sincerely,
Professor H. Jones,
Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Harry finished reading the letter out to Hermione, and immediately began writing a short memo back to Hestia, telling her he wished to meet her in two days’ time; Ron and Hermione would be away by then, so it gave him something to do. He allowed Remus to rest for an hour or so, before watching him set off with the letter to Hestia.

Harry and Hermione got dressed and left to go to the Burrow at about noon. It felt strange locking the door to his house with one new key, instead of having to close all the silver locks which used to reside on the door. Together, they walked for a while to get out of the village so they were able to apparate without any muggles seeing; it was too risky to do so in broad daylight.

They apparated just outside the Weasley’s house, and just as they entered through the gate, they were greeted by a thoroughly enthusiastic Mrs Weasley, who wrapped Harry in a great big hug, when she reached him. When she let go of him, she seemed beside herself with excitement.

“Ginny just told me Harry! That’s all four of you! Oh I can’t wait to help you all plan these weddings. So Harry …” And she was off. She started by asking Harry when the wedding was planned for, to which he replied that he didn’t know yet. Then she started asking what kind of suit he would be wearing, the flowers they were going to have, and every other thing related to weddings. She then turned to Hermione to ask about her and Ron’s, and Harry was surprised when Hermione actually told Mrs Weasley that she’d had a few ideas for their Big Day. The two of them seemed entirely engrossed in the subject, so they didn’t notice when Harry went on in front of them, and into the house, where his fiancée was sat in the living room, waiting for him with a beautiful smile on her face.

Chapter 23: Ron's Departure

“Yes so I was thinking about a gold theme,” Hermione was saying to Mrs Weasley, “You know, gold flowers, gold bridesmaid dresses …”

Harry looked at Ginny, who rolled her eyes. They’d been in the kitchen for twenty minutes, and already Mrs Weasley and Hermione were writing down ideas for hers and Ron’s wedding. They didn’t even know when they were planning on having it, but everything else seemed to be almost sorted. While they were talking about the wedding, Harry and Ginny were talking to Charlie, who’d returned home earlier that day with many fresh burns and scratches.

“So, how was it?” Harry asked Charlie.

“Great,” though he grimaced as he said it. Harry looked at him questioningly, and Charlie said, so only Harry and Ginny could hear, “I’m thinking of giving up the dragon-keeping business. It’s just the same thing every day, and to tell you the truth, the pay isn’t that great.”

“So where’re you planning on working then?” Ginny asked, sounding just as shocked as Harry felt.

“Well, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but there’s a shop that’s been closed at Diagon Alley. Gambol and Japes? You probably remember it; it used to be a joke shop.”

“I didn’t know that had shut down!” Ginny frowned, “When did it closed?”

Charlie looked thoughtful for a moment, “I think it must’ve been about three weeks ago. George told me. I think they haven’t been able to put up with the competition, what with Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes!” Charlie laughed, “Well anyway, yeah, so I was thinking about buying Gambol’s. I was going to convert it into a kind of ‘all dragon’ shop. You know, selling stuff like dragon-hide gloves, boots and clothes, and dragon blood – that has some good uses. But I would sell dragon-keeping supplies too like dragon tranquilizers and things like that. The kind of stuff that dragon keepers use.”

“Yeah, but where would you get all the dragon hide and blood from anyway?” Harry asked, “If you aren’t going to be a keeper then it’ll be pretty expensive to import won’t it?”

“Well not really,” Charlie said with a smile, “I have friends in the dragon keeping business who said they’d help me, no problem. And it would cost me a fraction of the price for them to do it rather than importing it properly.”

“Wow,” said Harry, impressed, “That sounds like -”

Harry was interrupted by the door opening and Ron striding through into the kitchen, looking happy. He swooped down to give Hermione a kiss and sat next to her.

“So how was your first day?” she asked him, “You look happy about something!”

“It was brilliant. There were loads of Hogwarts people coming in and out, and it was really great seeing how everything works behind the actual shop. It’s so much fun! I can’t wait till tomorrow!” Ron evidently loved his new job, and it had put him in a very good mood. Hermione had taken advantage of this opportunity to talk about the wedding.

“So, Ron. Me and your mum have been talking about the wedding. We thought it would be nice to have a Christmas wedding … all gold and white. We could have it like Bill and Fleur had theirs … in the orchard with a marquee. What do you think?”

“Anything you want,” Ron smiled and he leaned over and kissed her softly, “But I’d rather work for a while so we have plenty of money to spend on it. We want it to be special, so that means we can’t spend any unnecessary money.”

Hermione looked quite pleasantly surprised at how Ron was reacting to the fact that she’d already started planning their wedding. Even more surprising, however, was what Ron said next.

“Hey, I’ve got an idea!” he exclaimed. Looking at Harry and Ginny sitting together, he said, “How about a double wedding! On Christmas Day!” Everybody looked at Ron as he said this, mulling the idea over. Harry thought it was a good thought; they had all done everything together in the past, so why should that stop now? He looked at Ginny to see how she’d reacted to this; she was grinning broadly, and she looked back at Harry and said, “I think it’s brilliant!”

Mrs Weasley seemed more excited than ever.

“Well if we’re all up for a Christmas wedding that means we’ll have to start planning now! There’s only four months until Christmas so we’d better get started!” she started running around the kitchen sifting through drawers and muttering enthusiastically to herself. After searching every cupboard and drawer, she stood up straight and said, “Charlie? Do you know what Bill did with those spare wedding magazines? I thought they were in one of these drawers but I can’t find them …”

“I think Fleur kept them, she said she liked to read them in her spare time. I can go round to Shell Cottage now if you like?”

“No, no, dear, it’s fine. I think I’ll go round later. I can’t wait to tell them both the big news!” She sat back down and resumed her conversation with Hermione about the wedding, but this time, Harry surprised himself by joining in; as did Ron, Ginny and Charlie.

They talked about the guests they were inviting - Mrs Weasley had insisted on writing out invitations for all the guests as soon as possible (“Some people make plans for Christmas very early, you know!”). She then went on to talk about the types of dresses Ginny and Hermione were going to wear.

“Well Hermione, you have a lovely neckline, so I think you would suit an off-the-shoulder sleeved dress, but then again it will be the middle of December, so you may get rather chilly. Maybe a halter neck with long gold gloves? Or I suppose you could go with a strapless dress with a fur cot over it …”

By this point, everybody else had tuned out. Harry could tell that even Hermione was getting annoyed with Mrs Weasley. Harry now knew how Bill and Fleur had felt last year when Mrs Weasley was planning their wedding for them. Harry started to think about that wedding; it was the first time he’d spoken to Elphias Doge, when he’d tried to tell Harry his account of Dumbledore’s life over Muriel’s story. That had also been the day that he, Ron and Hermione had left the Burrow for the last time until only weeks ago. They had started their quest of finding the horcruxes …

“ … agree Harry?” the sound of Mrs Weasley’s voice had snapped Harry back to reality. He looked blankly at Mrs Weasley and waited until she explained more, “Were you not listening, dear?”

“Well I -”

“Mum, NO-ONE was listening!” Ron burst out suddenly, “Look, this is mine and Hermione’s wedding, and Harry and Ginny’s. Do you not think we would like to make these decisions?”

“Ron -”

Ron pretended not to here her, “It was exactly the same last year with Bill and Fleur! They could hardly get a word in edgeways because you kept sticking your oar in and planning everything for them! See, you want everything to be just the way you want, but I think you’re forgetting that what you might like, we don’t! I don’t care if me and Hermione have to get married in the Shrieking Shack, I just want us to be able to plan this together!” And with that, Ron wrenched the kitchen door ropen and stormed out.

“Ron!” Hermione yelled after him, and left the house herself. Harry felt uncomfortable after that, and wanted to get away from the kitchen quickly.

“I better … go and see if …” Harry didn’t know what he was saying, but through himself out the open door before he could finish, and hurried after Ron. He heard Ginny’s footsteps behind him, and felt her fingers entwine in his.

“Way to go, Ron!” Ginny said, though uncertainly, “No-one’s ever had the guts to stand up to mum like that.”

“Yeah …” Harry said slowly, “I just hope she’s not too upset, Ron was a bit harsh.”

“Hmm,” said Ginny, “Where did they go?” It took Harry a while to realise that they had actually left the boundaries of the Burrow, and were now walking in the direction of Ottery St Catchpole. Wordlessly, Harry tightened his grip on Ginny’s hand, and apparated them both to Grimmauld Place. They both walked towards the still unattractive-looking number twelve. Harry made a mental note to redo the front of the house when he had a chance.

He fumbled in his pocket and brought out the shining silver key, inserting it into the keyhole in the black door. He threw the door open and was greeted by a frantic Hermione, who was running down the hall towards them.

“Is Ron with you?” she asked nervously.

“No! We though he’d apparate here!” Ginny said shocked, “He isn’t here then?”

“Well I’ve checked all the rooms, and I even asked Kreacher if he’s in but he said nobody had been.”

“Well he could be anywhere. This is just one place, I’m sure he’s fine and he’ll not have gone far.” Harry said this to reassure Hermione, but deep down, he was worried about where his best friend had got to. It wasn’t like Ron to storm away from his mother like that; Harry just hoped he hadn’t gone far …

Chapter 24: In Kingsley's Office

“OK, Ginny you go back to the Burrow. Tell your mum and Charlie that Ron’s gone; they might know somewhere he could have gone. Hermione, you go to Diagon Alley, tell Fred and Alicia, then you can go to Shell Cottage to tell Bill and Fleur. I’ll go to the Ministry to tell Mr Weasley and Per-”

“Harry, slight problem there,” Ginny said quickly, “I can’t apparate! I’ll have to go with someone!”

“I’ll go with you,” Hermione piped up, “Then we’ll go to see the others together.”

“OK, we better leave now,” Harry told Hermione and Ginny. He knew Ron must have just gone off somewhere to think, but Harry still felt uneasy about not knowing where he was; it was hard not to worry with everything that had gone on in the past year. Even after the war had ended Hermione had still been captured and tortured by Death Eaters who were still at large back then. Harry wondered how many more Death Eaters were yet to be rounded up; he knew the Carrows had been caught, and also Avery and Rowle had been captured only days after the Battle. Many Death Eaters were still at large, including Mulciber, Nott, and many more such as Antonin Dolohov. Harry desperately wanted this particular man to be locked up; he had been the one who had killed Remus Lupin in the Hogwarts grounds.

“Harry! Hurry up, we need to get away!” Hermione was standing with Ginny out on the pathway outside number twelve, and Harry was still standing with the door wide open in the hallway. He quickly came back to his senses and hurriedly locked the door, joining Hermione and Ginny after doing so. They had agreed that if they thought of anywhere else Ron could be, they would go there and meet up again later in the day at Grimmauld Place. He watched as Ginny and Hermione twisted into air and disappeared from view. Harry set his mind upon the Ministry of Magic and sent himself travelling through the uncomfortable narrow pipe, until he found himself standing in the grand Atrium of the Ministry.

Last time he’d been in here, there were terrible chairs carved out of muggle torsos, and a horrible statue in the middle of the Atrium with the caption ‘Magic is Might’. This had now been removed and replaced rightfully with the golden fountain which had resided there before Voldemort transformed the Ministry. The wizard, witch, house-elf centaur and goblin all spouted water from different points, sending streams of fresh clear water through the air into the vast golden pool below.

Harry headed over to the golden grilles where every so often, the lifts clattered into place, waiting to pick up witches and wizards leaving for another floor. Harry was the only one to get into his lift, which he was thankful for; the last thing he needed was for people to be ogling at his forehead. Lower he went, his destination being the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office. The lift juddered to a halt two levels below the Atrium to let more wizards on. Harry hid in the corner and attempted to hide his face, when a familiar voice spoke in the lift.

“Harry? What are you doing here?”

“Mr Weasley! I came here to see you and Percy -”

“Percy’s in my office, next floor down. Harry, is everything alright?”

“I’ll tell you when we get down there,” Harry told Mr Weasley, nodding at the eavesdropping wizards who were sharing the lift with them. Mr Weasley winked to show he understood. Finally, the lift stopped and Mr Weasley pulled Harry along the corridor towards his office. He wrenched the door open and let Harry inside, gesturing for him to sit down next to Percy on the only vacant seat in the cluttered office.

“Harry! It’s a surprise seeing you -”

“Harry, what is it?” Mr Weasley interrupted Percy.

“It’s Ron. He’s gone and we don’t know where. I know he’s probably just gone for a think, maybe took a walk or something but after what happened to Hermione, we don’t really want to take any chances. He just disapparated then we went to Grimmauld Place and Kreacher said no one was in so Hermione went with Ginny to the Burrow -”

“Harry!” Mr Wesley stopped him. Harry hadn’t realised he was talking utter rubbish, so he took a deep breath and explained slowly about how the argument had started, and where it had ended; with Ron storming out of the Burrow and to somewhere they didn’t know.

“So he hasn’t been to see either of you?” Harry asked as his last hope. Percy and Mr Weasley shook their heads sadly. He knew he was probably overreacting; he knew Ron was fine but he had already underestimated what could happen to a person while they were alone. Mr Weasley told Harry that he would do better if he went back to Grimmauld Place and waited for Hermione to return with Ginny. They ensured him that they would let Harry know if they heard anything, so Harry agreed to go home, and left the office solemnly.

Back in the lifts, another familiar face happened to meet Harry, and this time, it was in the form of Kingsley himself.

“Harry! What brings you here?” He said brightly. Harry briefly explained that he was asking Mr Weasley if he’d seen Ron anywhere, but left out most of the finer details. He reassured Kingsley that he didn’t need people to search for Ron as he’d only been away for about an hour.

“Well I think I have something to cheer you up!” said Kingsley, “Come to my office, I want to show you something.” Kingsley gestured for Harry to leave the lift when they reached the Atrium, and led him down a wide, lavishly decorated corridor. He pulled Harry into the room at the very end of the corridor, and shut the door behind them. The room was very large, and reminded Harry very much of Dumbledore’s old office. It was round, but perhaps larger than the old headmaster’s office, and the walls were filled with many witches and wizards snoozing or talking in their frames.

“I requested that my office was on the Atrium level, I find it is a much better atmosphere, and the office is a lot nicer too.” He smiled at Harry, and strode over to the desk. He tapped one of the drawers with his wand causing it to spring open, revealing many crumpled and untidily sorted papers. Kingsley picked up the one on the top, which happened to be a newspaper, and handed it to Harry.

“You mustn’t have had chance to read the paper recently. I urge you to do so. We have some much better workers now; none of them would dare write anything bad about you as long as I’m Minister, Harry,” He gave a little chuckle and watched Harry’s reaction as he skimmed through the article.

At first, Harry felt justice for Lupin at what he was reading, then it quickly turned to guilt and, although Harry was surprised by this, sadness. He looked up at Kingsley, mingled emotion mixing inside him.

“You’ve locked the Malfoys up?”

Chapter 25: The Malfoys' Sentence

Kingsley stared blankly at Harry in wonder. Obviously he had thought this particular imprisonment would lift Harry’s spirits rather than dampen them.

“I thought you’d be happy!” He said confusedly.

“I am … I mean its great you’ve caught …” Harry referred back to the newspaper in his hand, “Dolohov, Crabbe and Goyle, but I’m not sure whether the Malfoys deserve to be in there …”

Kingsley looked disbelievingly at Harry again, “And why’s that, Harry? Is it not enough that Ginny got possessed by a book that came from Lucius? That their house has been headquarters for Voldemort and his Death Eaters this past year? All the lives Lucius has destroyed, all the destruction he’s caused, and you want them freed? And hasn’t Draco made your life at Hogwarts pretty bad when you were there? They’re in the best place now, Harry. Why do you think they should be let out?”

Harry knew that the only way Kingsley would see this from Harry’s point of view was if he told the Minister the truth about what happened when Voldemort ‘killed’ him. He took a deep breath and spoke, “You remember when everyone thought Voldemort had killed me at the battle?” When Kingsley nodded, Harry continued, “Well he didn’t really kill me. Obviously. But he had fallen down after he tried to kill me, so he sent someone to check if I was really dead. He’d sent Narcissa Malfoy.” Harry paused to allow Kingsley a reaction, in which he inhaled deeply, “Well I was sure she was going to tell Voldemort that I was still alive, so I was prepared for Voldemort to finish me off. But she didn’t hand me in,” Harry explained to Kingsley, “But Narcissa examined my body and found my heartbeat. She realised I was still alive, but instead of turning me in to Voldemort, she asked me where Draco was,” Kingsley furrowed his eyebrows at this so Harry explained in greater detail, “She asked me if her son was alive and in the castle, and I told her he was. So she told Voldemort that I was dead because I had told her where her son was,” Harry stopped to allow Kingsley to speak, but he didn’t, “You say Lucius is responsible for so many deaths. But Narcissa is responsible for many survivors in a way. If she had told Voldemort I was alive, he would have finished me off for good, and who knows how many people he would have killed in the castle when he got back up there. The prophecy, remember that? Neither can live while the other survives. It was true. I was the only one who could kill Voldemort.”

This time, Kingsley did speak, “I had no idea … so she saved your life?” Kingsley asked Harry, who nodded, “I don’t know Harry … if I set them free how would the wizarding community take it? I’ve heard your account Harry, and I agree – at least Narcissa should be let out. But what about all the witches and wizards who had felt a sense of security after hearing the Malfoys had been locked up? They wouldn’t feel safe anymore. I don’t think I can let them out now. I can shorten their sentence though.”

“To what?” Harry enquired; he was expecting Kingsley to say something like twenty or ten years, but what he didn’t expect was what Kingsley actually offered.

“Five years? Maybe four at a push … I can’t bring it down to just one or two, but I can make them a bit more comfortable while they’re in Azkaban. Is that OK?” Harry was actually surprised at how reasonable Kingsley was being with this – he had expected to have to work hard to convince Kingsley to do something.

“Sound good!” Harry said; he felt it was good that they at least had some punishment, but not too much. Harry checked his watch and remembered why he was actually at the Ministry, “I’ll have to go now. I’ll be meeting Hermione and Ginny soon. If you see Ron …”

“I’ll tell him to go to Grimmauld Place,” Kingsley smiled at him. Harry returned the gesture, and walked out of the vast office. He entered the Atrium and went over to the corner of the hall, where everybody was apparating and disapparating. He transported himself to number twelve’s doorstep, and dug the key out of is pocket. He inserted it into the door, and opened it, expecting to find the house empty, but it wasn’t; Harry could hear voices coming from upstairs, and there were lots of them …

Harry shut the door and went up the newly-cleaned stairs leading up to the first floor. Harry went along the corridor, and found that the cheerful voices were coming from the drawing room. He paused outside the door, and distinctly heard Fleur’s throaty voice coming from inside, “Yes, zat is what Bill and me chose to have at ours.”

Harry opened the door to find Ron sitting on a chair with Hermione on his knee, Ginny cross legged on the floor, and Bill with his arm around a very pregnant Fleur on the new sofa Harry had bought. They all looked up from magazines they were all reading and smiled at him.

“Harry! Come and sit down, we’re looking at wedding magazines,” Bill smiled at him.

“Wha … Ron, when did you - ?” Harry spluttered.

“I went to Shell Cottage to see Bill and Fleur and they gave me these magazines so we started looking through them. Then Hermione and Ginny came so we thought we’d better come here in case you got back and wondered where we all were,” Ron smiled cheerily, “I thought it would be better if Bill and Fleur helped plan the wedding rather than mum … they’re a lot less controlling!” Ron grinned at them, “Come on! We can’t plan a double wedding without one of the grooms!”

Chapter 26: Wedding Plans

Harry joined Ginny on the floor, and they all started discussing what they each wanted for the wedding. It was good having Bill and Fleur there; they had already learned from past experience what was good and what was bad to have at weddings. Bill told them roughly how many people they should invite, and gave them some ideas on where they should hold the wedding, and Fleur helped them out with how they should decorate the venue.

They had decided to stay with the gold and white theme, and to hold the wedding on Christmas Day. They were still looking over some venues for it, but they needed to hurry as reservations would need to be made soon. They had narrowed it down to a marquee in the Burrow’s garden, like Bill and Fleur had done, “A great money-saver,” Bill had said. They were also thinking about a wizarding church Bill had shown them in a magazine in Upper Flagley; Harry remembered this as the small village they had once searched in for Voldemort’s horcruxes; it was home to quite a few witches and wizards, although it wasn’t entirely wizarding. There was a small church magically concealed which was popular for wizarding weddings. Harry loved this idea as soon as he saw the pictures of the beautiful church; it had high ceilings intricately decorated with moving carvings of witches and wizards dancing together, or else casting spells to make flowers and stars shoot out of their wands. The walls were tall and grand with stained glass windows, some showing still images of wizards and witches duelling fiercely, others showing them riding dragons or taming other magical creatures. Like muggle churches, the seats were set up in long rows. They were arranged in front of an archway full of bright red flowers which Harry had seen something like in Hogwarts’ greenhouses. Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Bill and Fleur all loved it; it was only a question of whether they were able to afford it or not. Harry pointed out that his inheritance from Sirius and his parents would easily cover the cost of it, but the others wouldn’t hear of it.

“Harry, we’re all paying equal amounts for the cost, its unfair if you end up paying for it all,” Hermione said sternly.

“But I can easily -”

“No, Harry,” said Ron, “Anyway, I’m working now, and Hermione will be soon. We’ll be able to afford it, but we might just need a while to get the money together!”

This apparently settled matters, so they started looking at clothes to wear – at least Ginny, Hermione and Fleur did. Harry, Ron and Bill had had enough planning for one day, so Harry was now telling the other two about what had happened with Kingsley earlier while the girls poured over magazines filled with moving pictures of witches modelling long white gowns. When Harry had finished telling them, Bill stared at Harry in amazement.

“You asked for them to be released? Harry have you forgotten what they all did?”

“No I haven’t and I especially haven’t forgotten what Narcissa did. She saved my life, and probably many others too,” Harry stared determinedly at Bill. He looked back at Harry, and his expression was quite unreadable for a moment. Then he looked for a change of subject.

“So Dolohov’s in Azkaban?” He asked Harry, “Well at least now we know Remus didn’t die in vain. Scum like that should never be allowed out of Azkaban,” Bill said the last sentence very forcefully, and Harry got the impression he was talking about the Malfoys; Harry didn’t want the subject to be brought back up again.

“I’ve got a copy of the article here,” Harry said, bringing the Daily Prophet out of his pocket, “Crabbe and Goyle’s dads have been captured too,” Harry told Ron, who grinned nastily.

“Serves them right, having sons like them two,” he said bitterly.

The three of them were silent for a while after that; Bill was now reading the rest of the Daily Prophet, and Harry and Ron were looking at more wedding magazines. Hermione, Ginny and Fleur were still talking about dresses for the wedding. The minutes past in silence, until it was interrupted by Bill.

“Harry have you seen this about you?!” He said loudly, indicating a certain page of the newspaper. When Harry shook his head and told Bill he hadn’t read anything but the front page, Bill handed him the newspaper and pointed to a column on the end of page two.

Harry Potter finds true love at last!
Recent claims on the WWN (Wireless Wizarding Network) indicated that Harry Potter, the defeater of He Who-Must-Not-be-Named, and bringer of peace to the wizarding world, has recently found love.
Reports suggested that the eighteen year old had recently rekindled his romance with ex-girlfriend, and sister of his best friend, Ginny Weasley. The pair had been seen together numerous times around London at a house believed to be owned by Harry Potter; the relationship was almost confirmed when Harry was seen looking for an engagement ring at Diagon Alley, aided by Hermione Granger, who incidentally also appears to be engaged.
The rumours were that she and Ronald Weasley, both close friends of Harry Potter, had begun their more-than-friends relationship sometime after the Battle of Hogwarts. Earlier articles in the Prophet told of how Miss Granger had been captured by the Carrows, and when she was safely returned home, Ronald couldn’t seem to hold his feelings any longer, and proposed in front of healers and patients alike at St Mungo’s.
All of us at the Daily Prophet would like to wish the four ‘good luck’ in their futures, and we hope their marriages turn out to be very long and happy ones.

Harry was glad they hadn’t found out about the brief spell in which Ginny hadn’t wanted to marry him; the Daily Prophet seemed to have guessed Ginny had accepted before having it confirmed by anyone. Harry passed the newspaper to Ron for him to read the article. As he reached the bottom of the page, he raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

“Why is it news that me and Hermione are engaged?” Ron asked Harry, “I know it’s big news that you and Ginny are, ‘cos everyone knows you … but why me and Hermione?”

“Because people now know who you are!” Harry told him, “It did get out that you and Hermione played a huge part in helping destroy Voldemort!” Ron smiled. There had indeed been an article in the Daily Prophet how it had been down to the three of them that Voldemort had been defeated; Harry was glad, as it meant he wasn’t fully in the spotlight like he usually was.

“Imagine if it was Rita Skeeter reporting on this!” Ron gestured at the newspaper which Bill was now reading again, “I doubt she’d be congratulating us; probably saying that it would never last!”

“Of course it’ll last!” Hermione smiled. Harry hadn’t noticed that she, Ginny and Fleur had dropped all the magazines to hear what they were saying. Hermione gave Ron a kiss on the cheek, “I don’t care what anyone says. The point is we’re getting married!” Ron put an arm around her and she grabbed a magazine to show him the dresses she was interested in. Ginny also wanted to show Harry what she wanted to wear for the wedding. She showed him a long flowing white dress with fine gold glitter around the neckline and hem, then turned the page to show him two more; one had long, lacy sleeves and reached the floor, and the other was strapless but with a long white cape decorated with fur around the collar. Harry hoped he wasn’t going to be asked which was the nicest – he was hopeless at choosing this sort of thing.

Sure enough, Ginny asked him, “Which one do you like best?”

Harry thought for something to say for a minute, and told Ginny, “I think you’ll look gorgeous in any of them. It’s your dress, you choose.” Ginny beamed at him after hearing his compliment, and gave him a long kiss. When they broke apart, they found that Bill and Fleur were ready to go.

“Do you not want to stay a bit longer?” Harry asked them, “Kreacher’ll be making dinner in about half an hour; you can stay if you want!”

“Thanks Harry but we have an appointment at St Mungo’s,” Bill patted Fleur’s protruding stomach gently, “Just a regular check-up.”

Fleur smiled, and said, “Thank-you for letting us help with ze wedding. I would let your mum ‘elp a bit too, though,” She added to Ron, “She eez only trying to ‘elp so you can ‘ave a good day.” She bent down and kissed Ron and Harry on the cheek, and hugged Hermione and Ginny with some difficulty.

“We probably won’t see you all until we say bye on the first, Ginny,” Bill said, “Have fun at your parents’ house Hermione, you too Ron! And Harry, good luck with Hestia when you see her!” Bill and Fleur gave them all one last smile, before leaving the drawing room. They heard the front door shut, and the house was silent again. They went back to looking at the dresses Ginny and Hermione had looked at, until a smell of delicious food came wafting up the stairs, closely followed by Kreacher, who entered the room with a cheerful air.

“Master and friends, your dinner is ready!” He led them all downstairs into the kitchen, where they all sat and ate their food happily. It tasted a lot better than it usually did, and that was saying something as Kreacher’s cooking was usually impeccable.

When they had all finished eating, Kreacher suddenly disapparated from the kitchen without even a warning. Before Harry even had time to question why, the house-elf reappeared right in front of him, but he wasn’t alone; he was actually holding hands with another elf.

“Winky?!”

Chapter 27: Twins!

“Hello Sirs and Madams!” The little elf squeaked. She was completely different from the last time Harry had seen her. She’d scrapped the filthy skirt and blouse, and now wore a rather extravagant floral dress with a matching hat complete with two holes for her flapping ears.

“How are you Winky?” Hermione asked kindly.

“I is fine, Miss! Kreacher and Dobby has been helping me off butterbeer!” It seemed as though Winky did not know of Dobby’s death, and Harry wasn’t in a hurry to bring the subject up, “Me and Kreacher is very happy together now -”

“Together?” Harry asked, surprised.

“Yes, Master,” Kreacher grinned toothily, “That is why I brought Winky here to see you! Me and Winky has had a baby elf!”

Harry didn’t know what to say. He never imagined that house-elves could find love, let alone have babies, yet he was very happy for Kreacher.

“That’s brilliant!” He smiled at the happy elves, “When was the elf born?”

“Born, Sir?” enquired Winky, “We elves are not born. When there is a certain special bond between two elves, a rare feat of magic is able to be performed which allows us to create a new baby elf. We managed to perform this magic two weeks ago.”

“Kreacher didn’t want to tell Master in case the elf died,” Kreacher said quite matter-of-factly, “Many baby house-elves do not make it through the first week, but ours did! He is called Peppy!”

The elves looked at the four humans grinning broadly at them, and couldn’t help but look happy for themselves, “But, Master, this means I will need to be relieved of my house-keeping duties for a few weeks,” Kreacher said this tentatively, as if he thought Harry would punish him for this. However, Harry, still grinning, told the elf, “Of course, Kreacher, take as long as you need!” To which the elf gave one last fleeting smile, and disappeared from the room with Winky.

“What an unlikely couple!” Ron laughed, “I never thought Kreacher would find love!”

They cleared the plates away themselves, and sat down again with a coffee and some cake Kreacher had made the night before.

“Ron, I think Fleur’s right,” Hermione spoke into the silence, “I think we need to talk to your mum. I know she was a bit controlling, but I think she deserves to know what’s happening.”

“Hmm … I suppose so. I just really wanted us to plan this together, you know? Our big day, ours decisions, and it just felt like mum was stopping us from doing this together. But … I suppose I’ll go back over soon.”

“Your dad and Percy’ll be wondering where you are as well,” Harry said, not bothering to look up from the Daily Prophet he was reading.

“What? You told them what happened?” Ron sounded shocked and slightly regretful.

“Well we needed to know if anyone had seen you. What did you expect us to do, just sit down and wait for you to return home? We had no idea where -”

“Alright, alright! I get it,” Ron said humorously, “Are you all coming to mum’s? Might as well go now.”

They trooped upstairs to the drawing room and picked up the wedding magazines to show Mrs Weasley their plans. Harry looked at the picture of the beautiful church in Upper Flagley. He could imagine having the perfect wedding there; all the Weasleys gathered round, snow drifting past the stained glass windows and most important of all, saying his vows to Ginny.

She grabbed his hand, ready to apparate, when they were in the square in Grimmauld Place. He looked down at her and saw her smiling warmly at him. He bent down and kissed her, and when they broke apart, Ginny looked happily confused, “What was that for?” she laughed.

“I just can’t wait to marry you,” Harry told her, grinning. She returned it with a wide smile, before realising that Ron and Hermione had already departed from the lonely street. Harry and Ginny twisted on the spot, and shot through the tight unwelcoming tube together.

“What took you so long?” Ron asked impatiently, but he was grinning, “C’mon, let’s go.”

They all went up the yard to the Burrow without talking, and when they reached the door, Ron acted shifty, “Maybe we shouldn’t -”

Hermione hit him gently on the arm, “No, Ron. We’re going inside and you’re going to apologise.” Her tone was very final, so Ron sighed and gently pushed the front door open. They entered the kitchen to find Mrs Weasley sitting alone at the table, and Charlie bustling around the counters making tea.

“Ron!” Mrs Weasley yelled when she saw him. She pulled him into a rib-cracking hug and said, “I thought you’d gone and done something stupid! But then we got an owl from Bill about half an hour ago and he explained why you were upset!” She forced Ron into a seat and motioned to the others to do the same, “I’m sorry, all of you,” Mrs Weasley told them, “It’s just a mother’s dream to help with her children’s weddings!”

“Mum you weren’t helping, you were taking over! You -” Ron quickly shut up after receiving a significant look off Hermione.

“I know dear, but I just didn’t know! I was so excited about it I didn’t even think,” she smiled at them, “Bill said in the letter you’ve been doing just fine on your own.”

At this, Ginny sprung into action, and began telling her mum exactly what they had planned so far. Mrs Weasley loved the church in Upper Flagley, and was all for them holding the wedding there. She looked at the dresses Ginny and Hermione picked out, and while they were doing this, Charlie, Harry and Ron held their own conversation, the latter two not wanting to hear anymore about dresses. Charlie told them that after they’d left earlier that day, Charlie had gone out to give his mum a bit of space. He had gone to Diagon Alley and put a deposit on the shop!

“Like I said, I’ve been thinking about it for a while,” Charlie told them proudly, “So I’ve saved up quite a bit of cash, more than enough for the deposit. So next thing I need to do is get the shop redone, hire some workers and start up the trading!” Ron and Harry congratulated him, and told him that they were available if he needed any help. He thanked them, and told them again the items he would be specialising in at his new shop. They did that for most of the remainder of the afternoon, until Mrs Weasley pulled a piece of parchment out of the drawer in the kitchen.

“OK, I don’t want to sound controlling again!” she said, grinning nervously to them all, “But I need to know how many people will be coming over tomorrow night!”

“Tomorrow night?” Hermione asked, “What’s happening?”

“Well we’re having a bit of a get-together before me and you leave,” Ron told her, “Nothing big, just a catch-up with a few friends.”

Hermione looked happy at this idea of Ron’s and said, “That’ll be nice! So who is going?”

“Let’s see,” Ron started, “Well there’s all of us, Bill, Fleur, George, Alicia, Neville, Luna, Hagrid, Andromeda and Teddy. Kingsley said he’s probably too bus, but he might drop in if he has the chance.”

Mrs Weasley wrote all the names down on the parchment, “So I’ll make enough food for …” she counted the people on the list, “Eighteen people, just in case Kingsley does turn up. I’ll work on the decorations … if it’s OK with you?” She asked Ron, half mockingly.

“It’s fine, mum,” Ron got up and gave his mother a hug, “Thanks. And … sorry for being an idiot before …”

“I know why you acted the way you did, Ronald,” his mum said, hugging him back.

The moment was interrupted by the kitchen door being flung open, and a breathless and ecstatic Bill came running into the room. He looked at them all, before exploding some stunning news.

“It’s twins! Fleur and I are having twins!” He said to the shocked Weasleys. There was a deafening silence for just a few seconds, before Mrs Weasley hugged her son tightly.

“That’s fantastic!” She screamed, “Oh, we can have a big, proper celebration tomorrow night!”

“Tomorrow night?” Bill said confused, “What’s happen – oh! I forgot! I don’t think we can make it now! The healers said that since it’s twins they could arrive any day, so we can’t really risk going out much,” he said sadly.

The rest of the family looked at Bill pleadingly. They all wanted him and Fleur at the party, and weren’t about to stop them from not coming that easily.

Eventually, after many pleas of, “It wouldn’t be the same!”, “You’d be celebrating!” and “Fleur’ll be fine if she’s careful!”, Bill finally gave in, and told them they would be there for seven o’ clock.

“I mean, it’s not as if she’s going to give birth in the middle of the party, is it?” Bill laughed, and returned home to Fleur after saying goodbye to them all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Chapter 28: The Letter From Lily and James

Harry, Ron and Hermione left not long after Bill; Ginny had stayed at home to help her mum with the party for the next day. It was ten o’ clock by the time they arrived at Grimmauld Place; they were all tired, so after a hot mug of cocoa at the kitchen table, Harry went upstairs to his won room, while Hermione and Ron ambled off to their room.

Harry lay awake for a few hours; he was excited because of the party the following evening – it meant he could see Neville, Luna and Hagrid again; he hadn’t seen them for weeks, and he was actually missing them, more so than he had done during any other school holiday. But besides being excited, he was also nervous. He would be meeting Hestia Jones at the Three Broomsticks the day after the party, and he still had no idea which job he wanted to go for. He had never actually though of being a teacher before, but now that he had it handed to him on a plate, he realised that it could actually be an ideal career. He imagined himself standing at the front of the classroom with students gazing at him while he showed them which spells he had used so many times to defend himself. He could almost hear himself telling them anecdotes about when he had faced Voldemort, and how he had managed to get out of fatal danger so many times.

But then he thought of being an auror; what he had always wanted to do. He could see himself out there with all the other brave men and women, prepared to fight off evil for the sake of others. He remembered what Kingsley had said to him the first time he offered him the job; about how just because Voldemort had been vanquished, it didn’t mean evil had also been defeated. There were still dark wizards out there, and it was up to aurors to take care of them.

This was one of the many times Harry wished he had his Godfather around. He knew Sirius would have helped Harry make his decision, and he would have made sure it had been the right one. Harry wished there was at least a portrait of Sirius he could talk to, but he knew Mrs Black had thrown them out many, many years ago. The closest thing Harry had to remind him of Sirius was this house, and his room. Harry suddenly found himself climbing out of bed, careful not to wake Hermione and Ron, and walked up to the very top floor where there were two rooms. One bore two signs; the first emblazoned with ‘Regulus Arcturus Black’ and the second, a battered piece of wood with ‘KreAchEr’ carved in untidily. The second door was one of Harry’s favourite rooms in the house; Sirius’s room. Harry hadn’t been in here since they were all forced out of the Burrow after the wedding.

He slowly pushed the door open with a slight creak, and entered the untidy room. It was just as he remembered seeing it before; papers strewn all over the floor, muggle posters stuck on the walls and a thick layer of dust on all the surfaces. The bed was unmade, and Harry went over to sit on it, but was distracted by a scroll of parchment lying on the patchy quilt. He gently unfurled it and read it:

Our Dearest Harry,
If you’re reading this, it probably means us and Sirius and Remus have gone. We realised a while ago that we were marked for death, and knew that we needed your life to be as good as it possibly could be.
Before we were targeted by Lord Voldemort, Sirius Black was made your Godfather. We knew that if we died, Sirius would do everything he could to give you a decent life, and if anything ever happened to him, your legal guardian was then Remus. They were our two greatest friends, and if all went according to plan, you would survive when Lord Voldemort killed us, and our friends would gladly take great care of you.
We know if you are reading this, the legal guardians we mentioned above must have all passed on, and we know they will have done everything in their hearts to protect and care for you. This letter has been enchanted to ensure that this letter will definitely find you, if need be. I only hope you are not too young when you do read this. To lose all of your loved ones at an early age would be terrible for our only son, and we would never want that for you, Harry.
We have known for a long time that we are targets to Voldemort, and we are unsure why this has happened, but we do know one thing; if you are in fact reading this, it means you are alive and hopefully well, which means the ancient magic has worked; the love I left for you has worked its charm. We knew this was the only thing that could save you from death.
We never wanted you to live life without parents, but this has obviously happened if you have received this letter. We want you to know that saying goodbye to our only son has been the hardest thing we have ever had to do, and we love you so much. We hope you will live a life fuller than ours, and we are sure you will, as you have been brought into a world of people who will always love and care for you, even when there are gone. Having a son was the happiest thing that ever happened to us, even though we knew our lives were to be shortened greatly. The months we spent caring for you were the best of our lives, and although you probably can’t remember them, you will always know that we loved you so very much. Our only wish we now have is that our son can grow up with the love and care he deserves, which we couldn’t offer properly. We’ve had our chance in life, and it’s time for you to have yours.
Good luck to our only son,
We love you forever,
Your Mum and Dad

At the bottom of the letter was a date, revealing that the letter had been written just two days before Pettigrew had betrayed Harry’s parents:

Lily and James Potter, 29th October 1981

Harry couldn’t believe it. He had to read the letter a further three times before he could put together what had happened. His parents knew they were marked for death, so they had wrote him a letter explaining how much they loved him, and who they had trusted enough with their only son. Harry felt tears in his eyes. Sirius had done all he could to protect Harry, and he ended up dying through it, as did Remus. The two people Lily and James had confided in to take care of Harry were now dead, and that was because of Harry.

Harry had known his parents were fierce, brave and intelligent, but how had they known about love? Love saved Harry’s life, and it looked as thought his parents had known it would … it looked like they had planned for Lily to die while protecting him … they had known this was his only way of survival, and it had cost them their lives to give Harry a better one …

It was then that Harry heard a floorboard creak on the floor below, followed by quiet footsteps, and they were getting nearer, up the stairs. Harry quickly wiped his tear-stained face with the sleeve of his pyjamas and tried to look as if nothing was wrong; a very difficult task when he had just read a letter from his parents who had died seventeen years ago.

The footsteps stopped at the top of the stairs, and Harry heard a barely audibly whisper, “Harry?” Hermione said softly, “Are you OK?” When Harry didn’t reply, the door swung open and Hermione entered Sirius’s room. She scanned the room for a second, before seeing Harry’s sombre expression bathed in the dim candlelight, and crossed the room and sat down next to Harry. She gently put her arms around him into a warm hug.

She said after pulling back, “I heard you going upstairs and I thought you might have been coming here,” she smiled dimly and gestured around the shadowy room. When Harry didn’t do or say anything, she asked, “Harry, what is it?” Harry shook his head, not wanting to speak in case tears began to fall again, and instead handed Hermione the curled piece of parchment he was gripping tightly.

He looked at Hermione’s face as she glared at the letter, her wide eyes taking in every word. When she finished, tears were sparkling in her eyes too. She looked back, and gave a small gasp, “This … this was two days before he … got them!”

She looked up at Harry, whose face was now streaming. She took hold of his hand and said quietly, “Do you want to talk about it?” Surprisingly, Harry found himself looking into Hermione’s encouraging face, and he nodded.

They walked slowly down the stairs, Harry still holding the letter, past Ron and Hermione’s room, where Ron was snoring noisily. Hermione pushed open the kitchen door, and Harry went in after her. He sat down numbly at the table while Hermione shut the door and found them some firewhiskey. They were both silent while she was pouring their drinks, and when Harry drank his, a warm reassuring feeling overcame him, and the urge to lament over the new-found letter was replaced with a desire to spill out what he was thinking to Hermione, but he couldn’t find the words to begin,

“I’ve heard about these letters,” Hermione said after a while, “Your parents wrote this letter to you, then charmed it so it would reach you at the right time,” Harry looked blankly at her, not understanding how the letter actually worked. Hermione explained more, “Your parents wanted you to have this letter when they, Sirius and Remus had all died. The letter would keep reappearing where you went until you actually read it. It’s extremely advanced magic … I suppose it shows how brilliant your mum and dad actually were,” she smiled.

Harry managed a smile back, “Yeah … I was thinking about how much they knew … did you notice what she said about love?” Harry asked Hermione, whose eyes widened, and her face quickly changed to a shocked expression.

“Of course! How didn’t I realise? They knew!” She breathed, “They knew that your mother’s love could protect you … but why didn’t they tell Dumbledore?”

Harry shook his head sadly, “I don’t know … but he obviously didn’t realise at the time that it could save me. I wonder how my mum and dad knew …”

Harry sat in thought for a few minutes before another thing came to him, “Hermione, that’s why Remus wanted to come with us last year!” Hermione furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, “When we were here,” Harry gestured around the kitchen, “When we … you know, had that argument. He asked to come with us; he wanted to know what was going on. I thought it was just because he thought we were incapable … but he was my guardian; he wanted to protect me …” Harry stopped suddenly, “So why didn’t he tell me?” Harry shot at Hermione, feeling slightly angry at Remus for not telling him.

“Well … I suppose it was just because you were of age. Wizards and witches who are seventeen don’t legally need a guardian, so he probably thought you wouldn’t need a guardian,” Hermione guessed. She obviously sensed that Harry was angry with Remus, as she said, “Harry, there’s no point getting annoyed with why he didn’t tell you. He did a lot for you when Sirius had gone. He tried his best to be as close as a father for you he could be.”

Harry hung his head; Remus had done a lot for him; he had always told him the truth, always tried to protect Harry from danger, and even offered to leave his family last year, because of a promise he’d made with Harry’s parents.

“Aren’t you happy?” Hermione asked suddenly, “I mean … you’ve always wanted to see and know your parents … so why are you sad?”

Harry thought for a moment, “I don’t really know. I suppose I am happy. It was just a shock reading this … finding out everything they’d done to make sure I was looked after,” Hermione smiled at him sympathetically. They both drank another firewhiskey at the kitchen table, and after another ten minutes, Hermione announced that she was going back to bed. She gave him another hug, and said, “I think you’ve made them proud, Harry,” She left the room, but Harry stayed.

He read the letter a few more times, and smiled. He finally had something that belonged to him to remind him of how brave and brilliant his parents were. They hadn’t had a great life, but they made sure they loved every minute of it. Harry owed it to them to live a long and happy life; they had everything planned out in their life, down to the second they died and yet they were still happy. He slipped the parchment into the pocket of his pyjamas, and eventually went upstairs himself.

Once in bed, Harry fell asleep immediately, and dreamed about getting married to Ginny in the church in Upper Flagley. His parents were sitting near to him in the front row of the seats, and kept telling Harry how happy they were for him; he had fulfilled their last wish; Harry was safe, happy and loved, and that was all that mattered to his mum and dad.

Chapter 29: Runting Clobers, Huffslumbers and Gurngles

Harry woke rather late the next morning with a smile on his face. He remembered the letter as soon as his eyes open, and read it again. He smiled to himself, and got up to shower and dress. When he made his way down to the bathroom on the floor below, Harry heard voices coming from the kitchen, and they didn’t belong to just Ron and Hermione. They were all laughing and sounded happy, so Harry quickened his shower, and hastened to get downstairs. He entered the kitchen to find Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna sitting round the table.

“Harry!” Neville grinned when he saw him, and clapped him on the back, “Great to see you! You OK?”

“Yeah, great,” Harry ginned back, “Great to see you too!”

“Hello, Harry,” Luna smiled at him from the table, “I haven’t seen you since me and daddy came to see you all at the Burrow!”

“Oh yeah,” Harry remembered, then said, trying to hold his laugh in, “Was the Crumple-Horned Snorcack thing good?”

“It was a Blibbering Humdinger convention,” Luna said very seriously, “But somehow there weren’t any there … I don’t know why, though. Daddy said they’re always breeding then,” Ron snorted from the table and managed to turn it into a sneeze after Hermione elbowed him in the ribs, but she was also stifling a laugh.

“That was probably a Runting Clober,” Luna told them all, “They float around, kind of like Wrackspurt, and they fly up your nose. They’re usually attracted to larger noses.”

Everyone in the room laughed apart from Ron, who scowled, and Luna, who apparently couldn’t see how that remark was so funny.

“So what brings you two here?” Harry asked, taking a seat between Neville and Ginny.

“Well I went to the Burrow to see you all before the party because I got to the village early,” Neville explained, “And I met Luna around the village, so we went up to the Burrow together, but Ginny said you’d be here, so the three of us came,” Neville finished, “So … you and Ginny eh?”

Harry grinned, putting an arm around Ginny, “Yes, Me and Ginny!”

“I was just telling them about how we’re thinking of having a double Christmas wedding,” Ginny told Harry after he kissed her cheek. Harry nodded happily, and they all told Neville and Luna about the plans they had. They both thought it was brilliant, and Luna even told them that she’d been to the church in Upper Flagley.

“It’s lovely,” she said dreamily, “But it all could have changed since I was last there. But it was very beautiful back then.”

“When were you last there?” Hermione asked Luna.

“It was eight years ago,” Luna said sadly, “We held my mum’s funeral there.” An awkward silence followed Luna’s words, and nobody seemed to know how to break it. Harry was about to say something, when he was saved the trouble by the sudden appearance of Kreacher. Luna and Neville nearly fell of their seats in alarm at the sight of him apparating so suddenly, but Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny, who were all rather used to this, greeted Kreacher casually.

“Afternoon, Master,” Kreacher said happily, “Would Master and his friends like some lunch? Winky is taking care of Peppy so Kreacher is free to do your bidding!”

“Yeah, that’d be great Kreacher, but nothing too big; we’re having a feast at the Weasleys’ tonight,” Harry smiled at the elf, who was now looking curiously at Neville and Luna; Harry hoped Kreacher wasn’t about to insult them.

“I remember you!” Neville suddenly burst out, “You were the one who lead all the elves to fight at the Battle of Hogwarts!”

“Yes, yes!” Luna said excitedly, “You were the one who fought off all those Death Eaters with the knives!”

The little elf was awestruck, “Yes, Sir and Miss! That is me! I is leading the house-elves out to fight for Master Harry and Master Regulus!” Kreacher was so please that Harry’s friends had remembered Kreacher’s moment of glory, he gave them both slightly more food than the others. They had a satisfying lunch of Kreacher’s homemade pumpkin pasties followed by some of his cauldron cakes, before Kreacher declared that he needed to return to the Hogwarts kitchen. He bowed low to each of them in turn, and disappeared as quick as a flash.

That afternoon, they all sat in the drawing room and listened to what Neville and Luna had been doing in the two months they hadn’t seen any of them. Neville had started his herbology teaching course at the Ministry, and he loved it. Harry reluctantly told Neville that he’d been offered the post for the defence against the dark arts teacher; he wasn’t planning on doing so, but he felt that Neville might be able to tell Harry what it was like at the Ministry on a teaching course.

“It’s brilliant, Harry!” Neville told him excitedly, “You actually get paid for it! Four galleons a week – it isn’t really much but once you actually start teaching professionally it’s usually about forty galleons! But the course is great too, Harry. Its like being back in the herbology greenhouses at Hogwarts, except it’s much more relaxed. I’ve already been on an excursion to Scotland to study plant life in the mountains! They say I’m coming on really well, and after Christmas, I’m allowed to go to Hogwarts to be an assistant to Professor Sprout! It’s all part of the course, so once I’m qualified, I’ll be able to teach properly, and that’s probably going to be in less than a year’s time!” Neville seemed to be really enjoying the teaching course at the Ministry, and Harry did find himself more interested in it than he had done previously.

“So, what’ve you been doing, Luna?” Ginny asked, turning towards Luna, who appeared to be in a trance-like state, “Luna?” Ginny repeated. Immediately, she came back to normal – or as normal as Luna is – and said, “Sorry, I was looking at those cushions, they look like they could be infested with Gurngles.” When everybody stared blankly at her, she just simply said, “It’s nothing to worry about, they could just make the room seem a little fuzzy when you look around, that’s all. I found that out in the Summer holidays!” She said brightly, “Me and Daddy have been on a few outings to learn more about household pests. Let’s see …” She stood up and walked around the room, peering in cracks in the walls, pressing her ear to the curtains, and finally, after sniffing the carpet, said, “I think you could have a lot of pests in here, Harry,” she said sadly, “Your carpet seems to hold a lot of Huffslumbers; they can make your feet itch really badly. Your curtains look like they have a few Achgings growing in them. They can smell quite putrid, so if your house starts to smell of turnips, I would get the curtains checked out.” She finished and looked at them all, waiting for a reaction.

“So … you’ve been learning about all these for the past few weeks?” Hermione said, trying to sound genuinely interested. Luna nodded brightly.

“Daddy’s been worried about our house – he said he got the impression that some odd beings have been nesting, so we went to find more about magical house pests. Strangely, we haven’t found anything abnormal, even though we’ve had all the signs. But anyway, he says he’ll keep looking until the house is back to normal,” Luna told them in her serious tone. Ron laughed and whispered, so only Harry could hear, “Since when has their house ever been normal?” Harry had to shove his own fist in his mouth to stop him from laughing. Luna was now telling them about how she personally thought they had had a curse put upon their house by the Daily Prophet, because of ‘Journalistic Jealousy,’ as she had called it.

“Maybe we should get ready to leave now!” said Ginny, interrupting Luna’s speech after realising it was getting harder and harder for everyone not to laugh at it, “We’ve got an hour, maybe you and Ron need to get ready!” She said meaningfully to Harry, who took this as a gesture to leave before he exploded with trying to keep his laugh in. Ron and himself didn’t need telling twice; they leapt up the stairs to Harry’s room, two at a time, and collapsed on the floor in a state of laughter.

Chapter 30: The Party

“Ron, Harry, hurry up!” Hermione called up the stairs impatiently. Harry quickly attempted, but failed, to flatten his hair, and Ron checked himself in the mirror, before they both went downstairs to meet Hermione; Luna had gone home, and Neville to a small inn at Ottery St Catchpole where he was staying, both to get ready for the celebration. Ginny had also returned home to get dressed, and to help Mrs Weasley with the final decorations.

“Wow,” breathed Ron when they got downstairs, “You look great!” he said to Hermione. She was wearing a knee-length dark blue dress with a black jacket over the top, and surprisingly, her hair was poker straight. She smiled happily when Ron complemented her, and thanked him with a long kiss. Harry allowed them a couple of moments before intruding.

“I thought you were ready to leave?” said Harry, now impatient. Ron and Hermione reluctantly broke apart, and followed Harry out of Grimmauld Place, hand-in-hand, “Ready?” Harry asked them. They both nodded, and the three of them apparated to the hillside just next to the Burrow. It was only just beginning to get dark, but there were dancing coloured lights just visible in the garden of the Burrow. Harry saw a few people milling around in the kitchen as they drew nearer to the house.

“You’ve got the ring, haven’t you?” Harry muttered to Ron so Hermione couldn’t hear him. Ron didn’t say anything, and when Harry turned around, he saw that he had disappeared. Harry laughed inwardly to himself; it was so typical of Ron to forget it. Harry didn’t speak to Hermione while they continued their short trek up the driveway of the Burrow in case she turned round and saw Ron wasn’t there, but she was distracted by the appearance of two people Harry had only briefly seen on a couple of occasions previously. A man and a woman were striding down the driveway having just coming out of the entrance to the kitchen. The man was quite tall with rather large teeth, and the woman, who was holding a baby, was much shorter and had very frizzy hair.

“Mum! Dad!” Hermione screamed, and ran forward to hug her parents, “Is this Ronald? He’s so cute!” she cooed at her baby brother, “Mum, Dad, this is …” Hermione broke off, turning round, to look at Harry, “Where’s Ron?” she asked him.

“Erm … he went back to the house, he just forgot a few of the magazines,” Harry quickly made up; he hoped Ron actually brought the magazines with him.

Hermione grinned, “Typical Ron,” she dragged Harry by the wrist over to her parents, “Anyway, this is Harry,” she told her parents proudly, “Harry, these are my parents, John and Linda,” Harry shook a delighted Mr Granger’s hand, and did the same for his wife.

“It’s wonderful to see you,” Linda said, “We’ve heard about how many times you and Ron have helped our Hermione out of tight spots!”

Harry grinned embarrassedly, “Well she’s helped me out of just as many!” He told them both.

“That’s our girl!” John said happily.

“So how are you here?” Hermione asked her parents as they all made their way up to the burrow, “Me and Ron weren’t planning on seeing you until tomorrow!”

“Well it was actually Ron who invited us here today!” John told his daughter and Harry, “He said he thought we should be here as it’s a special day!” Hermione looked puzzled; Harry remembered that she didn’t actually know Ron was presenting her with her engagement ring tonight. He was glad when Hermione didn’t question her father’s last statement. They listened to Hermione’s parents raving about how brilliantly peculiar the house looked, and when Hermione told them it was kept together by magic, they looked simply intrigued.

When they reached the entrance to the Burrow’s kitchen, they were greeted by a very enthusiastic Mrs Weasley, who ushered them all inside, and told them to wait in the living room before everyone else arrived. Waiting there already was Ginny, looking very pretty in a black and silver dress, George, who had his arm around Alicia, Percy, sitting next to who Harry remembered as Penelope, Charlie, Bill and Fleur. Harry took a seat next to Ginny, and Hermione and her family sat on the floor next to Charlie.

“I brought the magazines,” Bill acknowledged the pile of wedding magazines on the small coffee table, which positively intrigue John Granger.

“Amazing!” he said, looking at the magazines and picking one up, “The pictures … they move!” he held one up with a picture of a bride in a long white gown checking her appearance in a mirror. Mr Weasley, who had just walked into the room, looked politely puzzled at why the Grangers were making such a big deal over the moving images.

“We’ll have to go outside now,” Mr Weasley announced to the room, “Andromeda and Hagrid are here now, so there’s not enough space in the house,” Everyone followed Mr Weasley out the door and through to the extravagantly decorated garden. Fairy lights of all different colours fluttered and hovered around the trees, and streamers were draped over the branches. One long table was set upon the grass beneath the gradually darkening sky, decorated with candles and complete with cutlery. Andromeda was already sitting on one of the chairs, feeding a blue-haired Teddy a bottle of milk. She looked a lot happier than she had done last time Harry saw her, and started talking animatedly to Mrs Weasley, who had just sat down next to her.

“Got it!” Harry heard a triumphant voice in his ear. Harry turned round to find an out-of-breath Ron smiling in a relieved fashion.

“Oh, by the way …” Harry told Ron about how he had covered for him by telling Hermione about the wedding magazines.

“Thanks mate!” Ron said cheerily, “I’ll make out I didn’t know Bill had them!” he smiled secretively, and looked around the garden, “Speaking of which, where is Hermione?”

“She went to give her parents a tour of the Burrow,” He said to Ron, “They seem really fascinated by magic. Mind you, Hermione’s really pleased you invited them. I suppose she’ll be thanking you soon enough,” Harry grinned.

“Alrigh’ Harry? Ron?” Hagrid’s voice boomed across to them over the yard, and he came striding towards them.

“Great, Hagrid. You?” Harry asked as his friend drew up next to himself and Ron.

“I’m good, Harry. Congratulations both o’ yer!” he said, beaming, “Didn’ know what tonigh’ was for before Molly told me jus’ now! Only a matter o’ time though before you an’ Hermione got together eh Ron?”

Ron’s ears turned pink and he was about to retort, but was interrupted by Hermione, who came towards him and planted a long kiss on his lips.

“That was lovely of you Ron!” she said after they finally fell apart, “It was such a nice surprise!”

“It was nothing,” Ron told her, but he looked positively delighted.

After ten minutes of talking to Hagrid, Harry was dragged away from the procession by a rather harassed-looking Minister.

“Hi Kingsley!” Harry said, “Mrs Weasley didn’t think you’d make -”

“Harry I need to talk to you,” he said, in a very urgent tone.

“What is it?” Harry said, his cheery mood quickly evaporating.

“It’s … Harry, did you ever have contact with your grandparents?”

Chapter 31: Harry's Living Relatives

Harry looked blankly at Kingsley. Why was he asking about Harry’s grandparents? They had died before Harry was born, and he knew they were rather old when they died, even for a witch and wizard.

“No,” Harry said, confused, “They died before I heard anything about them … the Dursleys were my only living relatives, weren’t they? Why do you ask?”

Kingsley paused before he spoke again, “Harry, I know this is going to sound false, but they’re alive; your father’s parents. They’re in St. Mungo’s.”

Harry couldn’t speak. His grandparents couldn’t be alive … it wasn’t possible – would they not have tried to contact Harry? They would’ve known he was an orphan, so could they really have stood to watch their only grandson grow up parentless; with guardians who didn’t even care for him? No … Kingsley had obviously made a mistake, and harry made no hesitation to point this out to him.

“Kingsley, you must have -”

“- Made a mistake?” Kingsley cut across him, “No, I don’t think so. You see, earlier today, we managed to catch another two death eaters – Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, they -”

“Lestrange?” Harry interrupted, “Wasn’t one of them married to Bellatrix?” he asked bitterly.

“That was Rodolphus; Rabastan was his brother,” Kingsley told him, with just as much bitterness in his tone, “Anyway, Harry. We captured them somewhere in Wales after we received an anonymous tip-off. They had been holding many witches and wizards hostage, including your grandparents.” Kingsley allowed Harry some time to think about this before he added, “Harry, we forced veritaserum on Rodolphus and Rabastan; they told us who every one of them was. They’ve been holding them there for over eighteen years. There were loads more death eaters involved, including Bellatrix, but they’ve either been imprisoned or killed. We sent all the prisoners to St Mungo’s immediately, there were about twelve of them; they seem to have been tortured numerous times, but they should be fine with a few days in hospital.”

Harry didn’t know how to react to this. He just stood there, gaping at Kingsley, as if expecting him to tell him it was all a joke or a misunderstanding. But no such words ever came from the Minister’s mouth.

“You’re absolutely certain?” Harry asked Kingsley.

“One hundred percent,” then Kingsley smiled, “One of the healers told me that they were already asking how their grandson is. I would allow them to rest a few days, Harry and then I think you could all gain from a visit to them,” Kingsley’s smile was reassuring and Harry felt encouraged by it. He now believed that his grandparents are alive; he knew Kingsley wouldn’t lie to him about this, and he knew that he wanted to meet his only living magical relatives. He smiled back at Kingsley to show he understood; the shock had still left him slightly short of words.

“Well, as you can imagine, the Ministry is rather busy after all this, so I should be getting back. I’ll say goodbye to the guests, then I’ll be off,” They walked together in silence back up to where everyone was standing in the garden, and Harry walked over to Ron and Hermione, who were standing together in a shadowed corner of the garden.

“Harry!” Hermione said, shocked at his sudden return to them, “Where’ve you been? Hagrid said Kingsley had took you away to speak to you …”

“Yeah he did. Listen,” Harry said importantly, grabbing both Ron and Hermione’s attention, “He just told me something really -”

“Come on then!” Mrs Weasley trilled around the garden, “Time for dinner!”

Ron looked strangely at Harry, who gave both him and Hermione a meaningful look, “I’ll tell you later,” he muttered, aware of the fact that Ginny, Neville and Luna had now appeared at their side. He didn’t have time to tell them over dinner either; Harry found himself sitting in between Andromeda and Bill.

“Harry! It’s nice to see you again!” Andromeda said happily, “Congratulations!”

“Thanks,” Harry smiled, “How are you and Teddy?” He gestured at the struggling baby in a highchair on the other side of Andromeda. Teddy had changed his hair in the last twenty minutes to jet black, just like Harry’s.

“We’re fine, thank-you,” She told him, just as Mrs Weasley started putting full dishes in the middle of the table, “Harry, I might be asking for a lot here, but … do you think you could look after Teddy a few times a week?” She looked afraid in case he refused, and added, “I mean, it’s fine if you can’t, but, Remus would have wanted you too; Dora too. They made you Teddy’s godfather because -”

Harry held up a hand to silence her, “You don’t need to try to convince me, I’ll look after him whenever you want!” Her face split into a wide grin.

“Harry, that’s brilliant! It’s just, I need to start working again soon, so I’d need to find a babysitter, but if you’re sure you don’t mind …”

“Of course I don’t!” Harry told her, “I’d be happy too!” And that was the truth; Teddy was the closest thing Harry had to Remus, and after the letter he had found off his parents, he wanted to remember Remus even more than he had done. He and Tonks had left Harry with a responsibility of being a Godfather to their only son, and Harry knew he wanted and needed to fulfil that.

Harry began piling up his plate with everything in front of him; potatoes, vegetables, pie, chicken. They all ate and talked merrily through the feast, but Harry wasn’t speaking very much. He kept thinking about his grandparents, who had been alive all these years without him knowing. He kept stopping through mouthfuls of food, his mind lost in thought. At one point, he found his hand had stopped in front of him, bringing a forkful of food to his mouth, which was wide open.

“Is everything alright, Harry?” Bill asked him concernedly. He was watching him through narrowed eyes, and obviously suspected something, “You’ve been stopping like that a lot …”

“I’m fine!” Harry said, a little too convincingly. Bill nodded slowly and turned around to resume his conversation with Fleur. Harry was fine, but he was just thinking about the moment when he would finally meet his grandparents; his dad’s parents. He felt half happy-half nervous, even though he wouldn’t see them for another few days. He continued eating his dinner, and listened to the conversation Bill was now having with Charlie, who was sitting opposite him; they were talking about the Quidditch World Cup final which was two weeks ago; Ireland versus Spain.

“Well if Madero hadn’t dropped the snitch earlier they would’ve won by a mile,” Charlie was saying, “I can’t believe they didn’t win; the performance they gave!”

“Yeah, well. Relaxed too much didn’t they? Thought they were safe being 200 points ahead,” Bill replied, “Trust Ireland to come back to win it though!”

Charlie saw that Harry was watching their conversation with interest, “You never though of being part of the international quidditch team, Harry?” he said laughingly, but Harry knew he was only being half-serious, “God knows we need a decent team!”

“What was our score?” Harry asked curiously; from what he had heard, it was likely to be something bad.

“Got knocked out in the second round,” Bill said grimly, “Lost 300 to 20 against Croatia. Terrible performance; we should have never lost to them.”

Harry grimaced, and finished off his dinner. When the plates were removed from the table by Mrs Weasley, Harry felt someone tap his shoulder. He turned around to find Hermione crouched down beside him with a rather worried look on her face.

“Harry, what’s wrong?” she asked him, “You’ve seemed a bit … distracted over dinner. Is everything OK?”

“Everything’s fine,” he smiled, “It’s great, actually … but I’ll tell you later,” Harry jerked his head towards Mrs Weasley, who was walking towards them with a tray full of trifles balanced on her wand. Hermione nodded confusedly, and ran off to sit back down next to Ron. A large plate of trifle was placed in front of him by Mrs Weasley, which he ate mostly out of politeness; he was far too full from the main course to finish the entire plateful.

For the second time, Mrs Weasley carried the empty plates through to the kitchen, which she quickly doused with water and washed magically. When she arrived back in the garden, she tapped her glass lightly, carrying a loud enough noise to silence all the guests of the table. She nodded at Ron, who stood up nervously.

“Er…” He began, “OK. Well you all know that me and Hermione are engaged now,” he couldn’t help but smile at this, although his ears did turn rather red, “So I just wanted to make it official.”

Ron pulled Hermione up to her feet, much to her confusion. He dug into his pocket and drew out a red box, identical to the one Harry had presented to Ginny. Carefully, he opened the box revealing the ring, and sunk down onto one knee on the grass.

“Hermione,” he said seriously, looking her directly in the eye, “I really love you, and I wish it hadn’t took so long for me to realise it; we could have had maybe years together, but that doesn’t matter anymore, because I have realised now how much I want to be with you, and I want to marry you,” Ron paused and drew breath. Harry could tell he had been rehearsing this speech all night. Awkwardly, he said, “So, Hermione Jean Granger … will you marry me?” He took the ring out of the box and held it up to Hermione; his hand was shaking and his ears were positively glowing. Hermione’s eyes were wide and gleaming when she saw the ring; she looked back at Ron and smiled broadly.

“Ron, you know my answer!” she said happily, “Of course I’ll marry you! I don’t need a ring to show that I love you!” She pulled him back onto his feet and wrapped him in a tight embrace. Ron pulled back to put the ring on her finger, which she looked at adoringly. She threw her arms back around Ron’s neck, and the entire table applauded enthusiastically. The couple had smiles plastered on their faces which didn’t look like they would subside anytime soon. One by one, everybody rose from the table to shake hands with or else hug Ron and Hermione. Eventually, the couple managed to detach themselves from the crowd and they made their way to the middle of the garden to face everyone, holding a goblet of wine each. Hermione spoke, “We can’t forgot about another happy couple tonight!” she raised her goblet above her head and said, “To Harry and Ginny!” Everybody applauded again, and raised their own goblets happily; it was Harry’s turn to go red. Ginny sidled up to him and snaked an arm around his waist. She smiled up to him and kissed him gently.

“Well, shall we have anozzer look at those wedding magazines?” Fleur asked them, much to the excitement of most of the guests.

“I’d love ter, but I have ter go,” Hagrid told them all, “Got ter get back to Hogwarts; jus’ got some more hippogriffs an’ they can get a bi’ restless if they’re on their own fer too long,” he congratulated the four of them one last time and said goodbye to everyone, before departing down to the village, where Kingsley had kindly set up a portkey for Hagrid; he was too large to apparate.

Next to leave was Andromeda, “Thanks for everything Molly, but I’ll have to get Teddy to bed now; he’d usually have been asleep two hours ago!” she kissed Mrs Weasley on the cheek and thanked her again, then came over to where Harry stood, “Thank-you Harry. It means a lot that you’d be willing to look after Teddy sometimes,” she gave him a warm smile, and hugged him briefly. Ginny raised her eyebrows at Harry. When Andromeda left, she turned to Harry, “You don’t know the first thing about looking after babies!”

“I know,” Harry said calmly, “But I just want Remus to know that I’m there for his son. I owe him that much.”

Chapter 32: Potterwatch Continues

The rest of them trooped into the house and all squashed inside the small living room. They whiled away the rest of the evening by looking at the wedding magazines again, an activity which was becoming quite repetitive for Harry and Ron. They were sitting together in the corner of the living room away from everyone else, and Harry was just about to tell him about the conversation held between himself and Kingsley earlier that day.

“Well, I was talking to Hagrid and Kingsley just -” Harry started in a hushed tone, but was interrupted as Hermione came over to them and sat down next to Ron.

“Are you going to tell us what happened with you and Kingsley tonight then?” She asked him quietly.

“I was just about to tell Ron … they won’t be listening, will they?” Harry nodded in the direction of the rest of the Weasleys; he didn’t want anyone else to know about his grandparents just yet.

“No,” Hermione said shortly, “They’re all too busy showing my parents the pictures of the church – they’re absolutely fascinated by it.”

As he glanced over at them, Ginny caught his eye and narrowed her eyes at the serious look on Harry’s face. She carefully got up so the rest of the Weasleys didn’t notice, and made her way over to where Harry was sitting with Ron and Hermione.

“Is everything alright?” Ginny asked Harry.

“Yeah – Ginny, you might as well hear this too,” Harry told her, and pulled her down to sit next to him. She obliged, although she seemed quite confused as to what he was about to tell the three of them.

“I was just about to tell Ron what Kingsley had said to me earlier,” Harry began. Ginny stared at him, “Nothing bad has happened has it?” she asked nervously.

“No, no – in fact something good has happened …” he told them all about the Lestranges’ secret prison and who they had actually captured. Harry found it surprisingly easy to talk to them about what had happened; they listened intently throughout the whole story, and when he had finished, Ginny hugged him hard and told him, “I’ll be with you when you visit them, Harry. If you need me,” Harry hugged her back and thanked her with a soft kiss.

“So when are you going to visit them?” Ron asked.

“Probably three or four days. Kingsley told me to wait a few days before visiting them because they’ll be really weak.”

“Just wait till they hear what their grandson has done over the past seven years … or will they already know?” Hermione said wonderingly.

“I doubt it,” the same thought had indeed crossed Harry’s mind too, but he’d already thought of a reasonable answer to this, “If the Lestranges told their prisoners that Voldemort had died then they probably would’ve tried harder to escape. With him gone, they would have known that the Lestranges are no more powerful than anyone else.”

“True …” Hermione said.

“Come on you four!” Charlie suddenly called over to them, “We can’t plan your wedding without you all!”

“Well I think we’ll have to go now anyway,” Bill said, “Fleur needs to rest; it’s been quite a long night.”

“Are you sure?” Mrs Weasley asked sadly, “It’s only … Half past eleven?!” she was shocked it was so late, and Harry hadn’t realised the time either.

“I think we’ll go now, eh?” Harry turned to Ron and Hermione, “I’m meeting Hestia tomorrow so I don’t want to risk being late.”

Hermione and Ron nodded and got up. Ginny stood up as well and faced Harry, “What are you doing about your job, then?” she asked him.

“I don’t know … I suppose I’ll see what she says tomorrow and it might help me make up my mind,” he bent down and kissed her, “Anyway, I’ll see you soon. I’ll probably call in the day after tomorrow or something, I don’t think I’ll have time tomorrow.”

“Thanks for everything,” Harry told Mrs Weasley with a hug, “We really appreciate it.”

“It’s nothing, dear! Anytime!” she told them all happily.

The three of them left the house a few minutes later with everyone else apart from Mr and Mrs Weasley, Charlie, Ginny, Hermione’s parents and Bill and Fleur. The final two had returned to Shell Cottage by floo powder, and Mr and Mrs Granger were staying over at the Burrow for the night. Luna left them at the end of the garden to walk towards her house, which was only just visible in the dark night sky. Neville said goodbye to them all, wished Harry luck for his meeting with Hestia tomorrow, and walked away in the direction of Ottery St Catchpole, where he was spending the night. Percy – who had moved back to Godric’s Hollow the day before – apparated with Penelope back to their house, closely followed by George and Alicia.

When they arrived back at Grimmauld Place, Harry went straight up to his room and was asleep within seconds.

That night, Harry dreamt about his parents again. This time, they were with Remus, who was telling Harry that he couldn’t be prouder of Harry for looking after his son. Harry was just sitting there, holding his godson with his parents and Remus asking him how he was. Harry was telling them about the wedding when –

“HARRY!” Ron bellowed up the stairs suddenly. Harry shot up in bed and ran downstairs, thinking something had happened.

“What?!” Harry burst into the kitchen, where Ron and Hermione were sitting fully dressed with a suitcase, “What’s happened?” Harry asked, a little less urgently.

“We’re leaving now … we just thought we’d wake you up to say bye,” Hermione said, walking round the table towards Harry. She gave him a small hug and said, “We’ll be back on Monday; good luck with the interview!”

Ron clapped him lightly on the back and said, “Yeah, and your grandparents if you go.”

Harry smiled nervously and glanced over to the clock; he had two hours before he was due to meet Hestia in the Three Broomsticks. He walked Ron and Hermione to the door, and said a last goodbye to them before he watched them disappear in a shadowed corner of the square. He turned around and retreated back inside the house; it felt strangely empty without his best friends or girlfriend there to keep him company. In the past, when he was home alone in Privet Drive, he would take advantage of the television or Dudley’s computer. Thinking about this, Harry realised that he hadn’t watched TV or played on a computer in nearly two years. He went upstairs into his room, where there was a WWN radio on his windowsill. He spent a little under half an hour listening to a Weird Sisters special, then, while he was searching for a new station, something caught his attention. He switched the radio back to its previous frequency, and listened.

“… Most of our listeners all know we have decided to keep broadcasting our radio station under the same name to remember our namesake, but this time passwords to access it are not actually necessary. So we are now joined by one of our new regulars; someone who, all of the present and many of the past students of Hogwarts will remember – Minerva McGonagall!” Lee was saying enthusiastically.

“Good afternoon, Lee,” Harry recognised as the voice of Professor McGonagall.

“Hello to you too, Minerva, and it’s nice to have you back on Potterwatch. I know you’ve been rather busy lately, but you’ve agreed to make an appearance today to inform our listeners of how Hogwarts is going, am I right?”

“You most certainly are Lee. I’m proud to say that the renovations taking place over Hogwarts have finally finished and it is just as safe, if not safer than it was before. The damage was much worse than we first thought, so unfortunately we have had to deal with some minor problems the muggle way, but it is all back to normal now.”

“Good to know, good to know,” Lee said, “So, rumours have surfaced that Harry Potter has been offered the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher … can you confirm this?”

There was a very brief pause before McGonagall spoke again, “I can neither confirm, nor deny this, but I can say that our new headmistress, Professor Jones is meeting a possible candidate for the job today. We have, however, done some reshuffling in the staffing department of Hogwarts which I can tell you about.”

“I’m sure our listeners will benefit from hearing this if they are off to Hogwarts this year, so we hope you are all ears,” Lee said cheerily.

“Well first of all, Professor Jones herself will be taking over the role of Muggle Studies teacher on top of managing the school. We are indeed keeping Professor Slughorn as Potions Master; there has been quite a bit of speculation over whether he would be continuing his job here, but he has agreed to do so, as well as being the head of Slytherin,” Professor McGonagall, Harry noticed, said this last word with not nearly as much bitterness as Harry was used to hearing from her, “The rest of the staff are staying as they were, with the only vacancy, like you said, being that of Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher.”

“Well, Minerva, thank you for being with us today; we know how busy you are!” Harry turned the radio off and smiled to himself; Lee had decided to continue with Potterwatch and by the sounds of it, business was going well for him. Harry checked his watch, and realised that he had forty-five minutes before he needed to be at the Three Broomsticks. He threw on some smart clothes and attempted, but as always with no results, to flatten his hair. He managed to somewhat tame it, and then went over to extract the letter from Hestia confirming their appointment, just to make sure he had got the time right. Satisfied with what he read, he quickly fed Remus some owl treats, and ran down to the kitchen to get a snack before he left. It wouldn’t take him long at all to apparate there, but Harry left fifteen minutes before two o’ clock to ensure he wasn’t late.

He arrived in Hogsmeade seconds later, and inhaled the all-too familiar smell of butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks mingling with the sweet sugary scent drifting towards him from Honeydukes. He would allow himself to browse the shops when he had finished talking to Hestia; the opportunity felt too good to miss. He pushed the door open with a slight creak and made his way into the slightly packed pub. He glanced around for the face he recognised from three years ago, but could not see anyone who matched the appearance, so he went to the bar where Madam Rosmerta was waiting for customers to order drinks.

“Good afternoon, Harry!” she said when she saw him. Harry never remembered a moment when Madam Rosmerta acknowledged his presence with such enthusiasm, “I bet you’re something of a hero now, eh? Hestia told me you’d be meeting her here. She hasn’t arrived yet, but can I get you a drink while you’re waiting?”

“I’ll have a butterbeer, thanks,” Harry replied. He extracted a couple of silver sickles from his pocket, but when he handed them over, Rosmerta pushed his hand away and shook her head.

“On the house,” she smiled, “Call it a thanks for saving the wizarding world!”

Harry muttered an embarrassed thanks and went over to an empty table. He had barely sat down when the door opened and a short middle-aged witch with black hair tied into a bun walked in. Her eyes scanned the room for a minute before she clapped Harry. She smiled politely at him and sat down opposite him at the table.

“Harry, good to see you again!”

“Good to see you too, Professor Jones!”

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Thanks for all the feedback, keep it all coming!

Sorry I haven't written in a while!! I hope this chapter makes up for it; its not as great as some of my others but, there's a nice little heart-to-heart in there!

Happy reading, and please leave me some feedback, whether nice or not, I don't care!

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Chapter 33: Dumbledore's Portrait

“Please, Harry,” she smiled, “Call me Hestia. We do not have a student-teacher relationship.”

“Er … OK, Hestia” Harry said awkwardly. Hestia looked at him warmly, and opened her bag. She pulled out a single sheet of parchment, and put it on the table in front of him. Harry looked blankly at it for a moment, before Hestia spoke again.

“Now Harry, we both know why you are here, so I’ve prepared this for you,” she indicated the sheet in front of him, “Basically, it explains the type of training you need, how long you would train for, how much you would be paid; that sort of information. I know you are considering a job as an auror Harry, so I understand that it may be difficult for you to make a decision, but whatever that may be, I respect you for it, as I know you would make a great teacher and auror,” Harry was rather taken aback by Hestia’s words; he thought she would be intent on persuading Harry to take the teaching job, so he respected what she just said very much.

“Thank you,” he said, “I didn’t expect you to … well I wasn’t really …”

“It’s quite alright, Harry,” she laughed, “Anyway. If you look at this parchment you will see that to get the job, it requires a certain amount of training at the ministry. Different subjects take different amounts of time. For example, in order to be a History of Magic teacher, it requires only six months of training; to be a herbology teacher, it requires a year -”

“My friend is training to be a herbology teacher!” Harry said before he could stop himself, “He loves it, and he really wants to work here at Hogwarts!”

Hestia studied him for a second or two, “Am I right in thinking you are talking about Neville Longbottom?”

“Yeah … ” Harry said, confused.

“Professor Sprout spoke of great things about Neville,” she said smiling, “And between you and me Harry,” she lowered her voice slightly, “Professor Sprout may be leaving soon. She has been offered a job teaching at Beauxbatons and she hinted that she would like a change. I think that if she does leave, Mr Longbottom will be a forerunner to replace her from what I’ve heard about him. But you didn’t here that, Harry,” Hestia winked; Harry was surprised at how easy it was to get along with her, “So, as I was saying,” she continued in a rather business-like tone, “Unfortunately, to become a fully qualified Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, one must complete three years at the Ministry. But, it has been agreed that an exception can of course be made for you, Harry. I think you have proved to everyone that you are extremely advanced as a fighter of the Dark Arts …”

Harry suddenly became aware of how very quiet the pub had become. Hestia evidently noticed this too, as she broke off from her sentence, and looked around; nobody appeared to have left – in fact, it looked like more people had arrived since Harry had begun his meeting with Hestia.

“Harry? Do you mind if we go up to the castle? I don’t think it is private enough here to discuss potential jobs,” she looked around at all the customers whose eyes were all set directly between the pair. Harry nodded vigorously, and they both got up and left the pub. Harry was really pleased to be visiting the castle once again; he had missed Hogwarts dearly in the months he had been away from it, but knowing that he wouldn’t be going back to learn, but possibly to teach, scared him somewhat. They walked up to the grand castle in silence; Harry was reading the parchment with all the job details on it. According to this, he would be required to work four days a week from the hours of eight in the morning until nine o’ clock at night. The pay wasn’t bad at all – fifty galleons a week! He remembered Neville saying that he would be at forty, but Defence Against the Dark Arts was a more complex subject, in Harry’s opinion.

In what seemed like no time, Harry was walking along the corridor where Dumbledore’s old office resided. He followed Hestia to the Gargoyle which sprung aside when Hestia said, “Ice Mice.” Harry walked up the staircase after Hestia, and stepped into the office. She set down her bag next to the desk, which was exactly the same as Harry had remembered; all the delicate silver instruments were still placed on top of it.

Hestia saw Harry looking at them, “I’ve never known how to actually use them,” she said amusedly, “They were Professor Dumbledore’s, I thought they deserved to stay in here; they are part of this office. Anyway, I’ll just pop out to tell Minerva that I’ve arrived back, and we’ll continue our meeting when I get back,” she swiftly left the office, leaving Harry standing alone, looking at the all too familiar office.

“Harry!” a voice from behind the desk called, “I’ve been wondering when I might see you here,” Professor Dumbledore smiled at Harry from his portrait. Harry greeted him happily and stood in front of the wall where the portrait was hung.

“I hear you’ve made a young Ginevra Weasley happy?” Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.

Harry grinned sheepishly, “Yeah,” he muttered, “And Ron and Hermione too!”

Dumbledore smiled wisely, “It was always meant to be,” he said, “Love can be a very discrete thing – Mr Weasley and Miss Granger took a long time to realise it, but they found it in the end. And as for you Harry, I don’t think you could have found a better companion; Miss Weasley is an honest and true young lady, very brave, and she knows how to love, Harry. All the characteristics you have, yet all of them I lacked,” Harry looked up uncomfortably into the lined face; this was the first time Dumbledore had brought up this subject in front of Harry, even though they had only spoke a couple of times after he found out about Dumbledore’s past.

“Sir … you don’t need to -”

“Harry, we both know that I was a very weak man; I had very few qualities which could make a great wizard. Power was my weakness; the biggest regret of my life was not spending more time with my family; you already know that I put myself before my brother and my sister and my parents; I wanted to gain, I wanted to conquer, and I hate myself for it,” Harry had never heard Dumbledore speak as bitterly as he was doing now, “Harry, you know the mistakes I made – please do not make the same ones. Live a life that is full of happiness, and above all, love. Have a family and take care of them; put them first. It was too late when I realised that myself; most of my family were dead, and all their deaths were down to me.”

“Professor, please don’t say that,” Harry asked the portrait, “You were a brilliant wizard, Sir. You were intelligent, brave, trusting -”

“I was not brave, Harry. I was a coward. And intelligent? Something which many wizards associated with me, although I was never intelligent; much of my findings were results of guesswork. Although I admit, I did have a rather strong judge of character. I mostly knew when I could trust a person; I knew when a person was being honest and definite. And Harry,” Dumbledore looked at the wall opposite him for a split second, before averting his gaze back at Harry, “One of the people I decided to trust was a great wizard; he was brave, he could love and although I was far from convinced by him at first, I put trust in him, and he payed me back in return.”

Harry looked blankly at Dumbledore; he wasn’t sure whether Dumbledore was actually talking to Harry, or himself.

“He returned the favour by protecting you, Harry. He was a brave man who had lived life loathing you because you are your father’s son, yet loving you because you are your mother’s son.”

Harry now knew who Professor Dumbledore was talking about, but he wasn’t prepared for what happened next.

“Harry?” a voice which Harry recognised, yet it lacked the usual iciness which it usually possessed, came from behind him. Slowly, Harry turned around, and his eyes widened at the sight of the portrait beside the door.

Chapter 34: Snape’s Memories

Harry gasped; not only because he was facing the portrait of Severus Snape, but because he was shocked that his old enemy had called Harry by his first name.

Harry stared intently into the picture; Snape’s eyes were no longer cold and black, but were a warming shade of grey, and for once, his hair was not greasy and unkempt; it looked clean and tidy, and made Severus look years younger than he did.

“So, now you know,” Snape said, looking at Harry sadly, “I only gave you a hard time all these years because of your father. You know how it was between us; we despised each other, so you know how I must have felt when he ran off with your mother, the one person I had loved all my life.”

Harry didn’t really know what to say, so he just kept watching the portrait, waiting for Snape to speak again.

“I’ve been hoping you’d come here soon,” Snape said quietly, “There’s something I left for you; I’ve had it since I was at Hogwarts, and it’s always meant a lot to me. It’s a photo album of your mother; before she came to Hogwarts, when she was here, and there’s even a few from when she left school. If you go up to the Room of Requirement, you should find it. You know how to use that room I understand, from when you hid my potion book from me,” Snape said disapprovingly. He paused and looked longingly at Harry, before he continued, “I’m sorry, Harry. You know I’ve always hated your father, and I have never regretted not liking him,” He said this last part bitterly, and Harry immediately remembered the reason he had hated this man all his life, “But your mother stuck by me through everything; she stood up for me when your father and his petty friends were having fun. By having fun, I mean levitating me up by my ankle in front of everyone, putting ‘hilarious’ charms on me when I was most unsuspecting it. She also helped me and defended me through this, and then I went and did the one thing that I will regret forever,” Snape stopped talking; he seemed unable to speak about this anymore for a moment. Eventually, he took a deep breath, “Maybe if I hadn’t done that, you could’ve been …” his voice trailed off. He and Harry both knew what Snape was about to say; you could’ve been my son. There was an awkward silence between the man and the portrait, and neither of them dared to look at each other. After a while, Snape spoke again, “I’ve heard from Professor Jones that you are considering becoming a teacher over an auror. I know this is going to sound odd coming from me Harry, but I think you would make a very decent auror. You should know that your mother was one. Your father too,” He added as an afterthought, “I’m not sure if you know already though, but she was brilliant at it; remember, Harry, you’re your mother’s son. She managed to lock up many dark wizards of her time,” Snape finished in a regretful tone, as if he had wished he had chosen a career as an auror over a Death Eater.

After another pause, harry quietly said, “I thought you were really brave. Not many people would have been able to work as a double agent as well as you did,” half of Harry couldn’t believe what he was saying, but he continued nonetheless, “Thanks for the memories you gave me before you …” Harry didn’t want to say ‘before you died’ so he picked it up again awkwardly, “they really helped me understand a few things. Like when you – killed Dumbledore.” Harry heard a gentle intake of breath behind him, and was sure it was coming from Dumbledore’s portrait.

For the first time Harry had seen him do so, Snape actually smiled a true and warming smile, “You don’t have to forgive me. I know I have been a terribly difficult teacher over the years, but seeing you looking so much like your father made me …” Snape stopped again, but this time, it was because the door to the office suddenly opened, and in walked Hestia.

“Talking to the portraits, are you?” she said warmly, “I find myself doing so when I’m alone in the office. So Harry, back to this -”

“Hestia?” Harry interrupted, “I’ve been thinking while you were away just then, and I think I’ve made up my mind,” Harry paused nervously, “I think I’m going to become an auror. I’m really sorry, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and I still want to. I feel really privileged that you’ve asked me to -”

“Harry!” Hestia held up a hand which immediately silenced him, “It’s perfectly okay that you do not want this job. In fact, I thought you probably wouldn’t; I know how much you want to be an auror, and believe me Harry, you’ll make an excellent one.”

Harry smiled gratefully at Hestia and truthfully said, “I’d be happy to come in every now and again though. You know, just to tell the students what it’s really like, fighting the dark arts. Just in case something like that was to happen again,” there was quite an uncomfortable silence then, until Hestia decided to break it.

“That would be brilliant, Harry,” she beamed, “I’m sure the students would all benefit from it.”

Harry grinned back at her, and told her politely that he had to leave. He didn’t really have anywhere he needed to be; but he wanted to get the photo album of his mother which Snape had just told him about. He had never actually seen any photos of either of his parents in their younger days; only of the time they spent together after Hogwarts, when they were married.

“I’ll send you an owl after term begins, but I think I’ll see you on the first day back anyway; that is, if you are coming to collect your award?”

“Definitely,” Harry said, after hurriedly remembering about the awards he and the Weasleys would be receiving on September the first. Harry shook hands with Hestia before departing from the round office, but instead of going down towards the oak front doors, he turned right and went up the stairs. He went all the way up until he came to the seventh floor, pausing when he was next to the familiar tapestry. Harry wondered whether it would still work; after the fire last year, he wasn’t sure whether it was strong enough to damage the magic of the magnificent room. His question was quickly answered when the door suddenly appeared before him on a blank stretch of wall, and he entered, revealing the room of hidden objects; the room which it had become numerous times for Harry in his school days.

He stepped straight into the room and closed the door behind him, looking around at the gigantic mass of random objects. He remembered the place where he hid his old potions book; where Ravenclaw’s diadem resided. No sooner had he thought about where he should begin to look for the album, when a shelf not so far away from him began emitting a reddish glow. Harry walked carefully over to where the faint light was coming from, and was drawn towards a rather aged scrapbook lying in the middle of the shelf. He picked it up and immediately, the glowing around it stopped. He looked at the tatty cover and noticed the black letters against the discoloured grey background: “My one true love.”

Harry opened the book to the first page where a very brief prologue had been scrawled:

Lily Evans was my one true love; she never loved me back, but was a truly wonderful woman who lit up my life whenever she walked through the door. She has helped me through good times and bad, and I could only wish that one day she would be mine.

After reading this short passage a few times over, Harry turned the page to see a moving photograph of two small children, barely four years old. One of them had shoulder length red hair and brilliant green eyes, and the other was quite a scrawny boy with a tuft of black hair. They were playing with muggle toys, both of them looking very happy. There was a caption beneath the photograph reading, “Lily’s fourth birthday – 30th January 1964.” Harry stared at the picture of his mother as a toddler, not yet knowing what would become of her. Harry turned the page again.

This image was from a few years later; Lily and Snape were learning how to ride bikes together, their faces bright with happiness. The caption for this said, “Lily and me, learning to ride muggle bikes – 20th August 1966.” There were many more pictures of Lily and Severus in their early years, most of which displayed just everyday activities, like sitting in the park or going down to the local shop, but Harry still found them very comforting to look at.

Eventually, Harry found a photo entitled with, “When Lily got her Hogwarts letter – July 31st 1971.” It showed Snape obviously explaining something important, as Lily had a look of great interest on her face and looked as though she may burst with excitement at what she was hearing. Harry smiled, and continued to look through the book of memories. They were mostly of Lily and Snape, and Harry noticed that many of them were of Lily defending her friend from who could only be the Marauders, and Harry surprisingly felt a pang of sympathy towards the teenage Snape. Most of the captions quoted things like, “The second time Lily helped me when Potter hit me with the stinging jinx” and sometimes, “Lily stunned Black after he hit me with a jelly-legs charm.” Then one photo came which made Harry laugh lightly: Snape was holding his wand up to Sirius, who was floating in mid-air by his ankle; Lily had hoisted James up by his foot too, and by the looks of the caption (“Lily turned down Potter for the 87th time”), Harry’s father had just asked Lily out again, even after she had cursed him.

The photos continued like this, until it began to get distinctly obvious that they were ageing, due to the fact that it appeared there weren’t many photo opportunities. Harry looked at the photos of Lily queuing up for lessons alone, and eating dinner in the Great Hall with no company but a book, and understood that by this point, Snape must’ve joined up with Voldemort. Then came the photo that Harry was sure wouldn’t be there, so he was rather surprised when he saw it. The quote read, “Potter and The mudblood Lily – their first kiss – 25th December 1977.” The photo showed a seventeen year old boy, whom Harry recognised as his father, lifting an elated Lily Evans while he twirled her around and kissed her passionately. Harry noticed that this particular page was rather blotchy from, what Harry guessed, were tear stains. After smiling at his parents’ happiness for a while, Harry turned the page, expecting there to be another photo, but instead was a short paragraph scrawled in the same style as that of the quotes under each photo:

At this point, my heart stopped beating, I began to realise what I had done to allow someone like Potter to worm his way into my Lily’s life. I regret calling her a mudblood, I regret not being there for her like she had been there for me; but most of all I regret not telling her how I felt all these years. I love you, Lily Evans (30th January 1960 – 31st October 1981).

Harry shut the album, and got up from the floor of the Room of Requirement. He walked, slightly dazed, down to the entrance of the castle, and intended to go to Honeydukes; he hadn’t been inside the warm, sweet shop for nearly two years, and decided to stock up on sweets and chocolate, while making a mental note to ask Ginny round to Grimmauld Place that night.

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Chapter 35: The New Hog’s Head

Twenty minutes later, Harry’s pockets were weighed down with chocolate, every flavoured beans, and other Honeydukes specialities and he was happily wandering around the little village of Hogsmeade. He’d so far been to Honeydukes, Dervish and Banges, and of course Zonko’s, and he decided to visit Aberforth in the Hog’s Head. He walked down the moderately packed street to where the Hog’s Head stood, usually with the battered old sign and chipped brick walls. It wasn’t like that anymore though; the walls had been filled in where great chunks of it were missing, and had also been painted an attractive cream colour to match the other buildings in the vicinity. The old sign with the boar’s severed head coated on blood had now been taken down and replaced with a much more inviting one of a Hog, but although this one was not decapitated, the image still focused on its head. Harry looked at the door and windows; the door was a deep red, and fresh from any signs of weathering, and the windows had all been cleaned and furnished inside with curtains the same colour as the door. He pushed the door open into the tavern, and if he hadn’t seen the sign, he would have barely recognised which pub he was in.

To say that the barroom was full was an understatement; it was like the Three Broomsticks on a busy day! There were no longer any fine dust particles floating around the previously deserted pub, as they had been replaced by merrily drinking wizards and witches, who all seemed to be admiring the new décor to the pub. Harry looked around himself, and noticed that the inside walls were exactly the same as the outside ones; clean, light and they looked as if they had given the room a greater lift of capacity. Instead of old rickety tables which used to stand sorrowfully inside the room, there were now shiny new surfaces all around the spacious tavern.

“Harry!” A voice called to Harry’s right. Looking up, he saw Aberforth Dumbledore striding towards him. He grasped Harry’s hand and grinned broadly, “Like what I’ve done with the place?” he gestured around at the unrecognisable room and its customers.

“You’ll put Rosmerta out of business easily!” Harry told him cheerfully; he did indeed think that the transformation was brilliant, and it the atmosphere it held was nearly as good as the Three Broomsticks.

Aberforth laughed gratefully, “I wish! I only just finished it this morning, just opened up an hour ago! Been working on it for three weeks now. Two drinks for the price of one! What are you having?”

Harry contemplated returning back to Grimmauld Place for the remainder of the afternoon, but quickly ordered a Butterbeer, getting another free. He was about to search round the packed room to find a table, when Aberforth pulled him away, “You’ll never find a seat,” he told Harry happily, “I’ve been hoping you’d drop by today, I heard you were at the school; Dumbledore told me,” He saw the puzzled look on Harry’s face, “I got a portrait upstairs for when I need to speak to him … or when he needs to speak to me, should I say,” He stopped, then suddenly remembered what he needed to see Harry for,” “Speaking of portraits, I got something for you. Come through to the back, Seamus can hold the fort for a while!” Harry looked up to see Seamus indeed standing behind the bar, serving drinks (the bottles, incidentally were no longer filthy) to the witches and wizards. He looked up at the sound of his name, and a grin spread across his face when he saw Harry. He served one last customer before running over to Harry and giving him a manly hug. They exchanged small talk for a while before Aberforth asked Seamus to return to the bar to serve the numerous waiting customers. Seamus bade Harry goodbye, and turned back towards the bar. Aberforth led Harry through the back room where the stairs were, and motioned for Harry to go up. Judging by the immaculate state of the upstairs living room, Harry guessed that Aberforth had redecorated the entire inn, not just the bar area.

Harry sat down on one of the black leather armchairs and waited for Aberforth to arrive back into the room. When he did come back, he was holding a photo frame in his hand, slightly smaller than those in the Head’s office up at Hogwarts. He handed it to of Harry, and began to explain.

“My brother asked me to give it to you,” Aberforth said gruffly; he still didn’t seem intent on discussing Albus, just like last time they had spoken, “It’s a picture of him … vain little so-and-so … anyway,” He continued, before suddenly snapping back to reality, “He requested that you keep a portrait of him in Grimmauld Place; he said that he would like to keep up with how you’re doing and what you’re doing. Also said that Hestia would like to be able to have quick contact with you when it’s necessary … something about giving the kids up there some talks about the dark arts. She forgot to give it to you up there ‘cos she needed to see the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Mind you, it needs to be said that you’d make a dam better teacher than anyone else. Seen it all, you have,” he grinned down at Harry, who half-smiled back to him; he didn’t feel too comfortable when people talked about the ‘hero’ he was. Nevertheless, he began to tell Aberforth what he had been doing since the Battle, and about the upcoming wedding, to which he assured Aberforth he would be invited. He also told Harry that he would be willing to cater for the wedding, and seemed very enthusiastic to do so.

“I’d better go now,” Harry said after an hour or so, “I was going to see Ginny before I went back home.” He was actually planning on seeing Ginny; he had thought of an idea, but he wanted to run it by her first. Getting up, he shook Aberforth’s hand friendlily, and followed him down to the bar, which was just as crowded as before. Harry said goodbye to Seamus, and after managing to sneak out into the street without any customers in the pub recognising him, he apparated straight to the garden of the Burrow. He walked up the garden path towards the kitchen door, and he heard a conversation from inside. Although he couldn’t hear what was being said, he could tell that the voices were excited ones. Harry knocked on the door and it was immediately thrown open by an elated Ginny.

“Harry!” she squealed, throwing her arms around him, “Guess what Dad’s just done!?” And without even waiting for a response, she went on, “He’s booked it! The church in Upper Flagley!” When she finally let go of him and finished kissing him, Harry turned to Mr Weasley, who was stood a short distance behind Ginny in the kitchen.

“You’re kidding?” Harry asked, his good mood rising. When Mr Weasley showed Harry the booking document, Harry delved into his pocket and pulled out a handful of fat gold coins and dropped them onto the kitchen table, “Is that enough?” Harry asked, “If the deposit costs -”

“No Harry,” Mr Weasley said firmly, “I’m getting this for the four of you. I want to do it,” Harry tried to cut in, but Mr Weasley raised his voice slightly, “I’m earning a lot more money now because of my promotion, so we can afford it now, no problem,” He picked up the coins Harry had deposited on the table, and forced them back into Harry’s hand, “You aren’t paying for this.”

Harry admitted defeat, and instead began to tell them what he had thought about for the wedding, “I’ve just been to Hogsmeade,” Harry started.

“I forgot! Harry, how did the interview go?” Ginny said excitedly.

Harry waved that question away as if it was unimportant, “I’ll tell you in a minute,” Harry said quickly, “Anyway, I went to see Aberforth at the Hog’s Head …” he told them all about how much the pub had changed since they had all visited it last, and about the portrait of Dumbledore, which Harry suddenly realised was still in his hand.

“So anyway,” Harry finished, “I was thinking about asking Aberforth if we could have the reception over at the Hog’s Head? Like I say, he was eager to help, and the pub looks much bigger now; it could easily fit us all in there!” Harry looked around at the three Weasleys sitting round the kitchen table, waiting for a response.

“It’s brilliant!” Breathed Ginny, “All the photos would be next to Hogwarts … it would be so lovely. Oh Harry, that’s wonderful!” Ginny hugged Harry again, and over her shoulder, Harry saw that Mr and Mrs Weasley were both smiling too.

“So that’s the church sorted, the reception venue – that is if Aberforth consents to it – the dresses … Harry you’ll need to get some wedding dress robes soon!” Mrs Weasley said cheerfully. Harry groaned, Ginny laughed.

Sorry, I'm not good at the 'romance' so there's a significant part which I've just rushed
Happy reading!!

Chapter 36: Charlie’s New Job

Eight o’ clock came and went, and still, Harry was at the Burrow, talking happily to Ginny, Charlie and Mr and Mrs Weasley. He told them all about the interview, and surprisingly, he found himself revealing his conversations with Dumbledore, Aberforth, and even Snape. He pulled the photo album out of his small rucksack and one by one, the Weasleys rifled through it in awe. Harry didn’t know what made him feel so comfortable about reliving the day’s events with the Weasleys, but he liked the fact that he wasn’t bottling his feelings up, and it made it easier as the four of them were extremely understanding.

Eventually, they got back onto the subject of Harry’s career, which Harry felt he had talked about too much for one day. However, this allowed Harry to veer the conversation away from him for a little while, when he managed to change the subject to Charlie’s job.

“So, Charlie,” he said quickly, “Anything new about the shop?” Harry knew it was only a few days since Charlie had first told everyone about his plan to own the shop in Diagon Alley, so he wasn;t exactly expecting Charlie to say anything remotely interesting.

However, a wide grin spread across Charlie’s face, “Well,” he said, “I was going to tell you all, but I got a bit sidetracked with what we were all talking about,” he looked around at everyone in the kitchen, and he seemed to get increasingly excited by the minute, “I went to see George today at Diagon Alley and I ran into someone. Remember Ragmar Dorkins? Used to teach flying at Hogwarts before he became -”

“Manager of the Chudley Canons!” Mr Weasley exclaimed, his eyes wide.

“Yep!” Charlie continued enthusiastically, “Well he told me Galvin Gudgeon – that is, the seeker for the Cannons – decided to retire early. So Dorkins remembered me from Hogwarts …”

“You’re not saying what I think you’re saying?!” Ginny squealed.

Charlie nodded vigorously, “Got a trial next week! He said I’m one of the best seekers he remembers seeing at Hogwarts!” he said proudly.

“Charlie!” Mrs Weasley said sternly, but all the same she did sound quite pleased for her son, “You know how I feel about Quidditch – it’s dangerous, anything could happen!”

“Come on, Molly! The worst that happened to him at Hogwarts was a broken nose from a bludger! He dodges them well, don’t you, son?” Mr Weasley pulled Charlie into a one-armed hug and looked at him proudly, “A Quidditch player, eh? You’ll have to get me free tickets!” Charlie laughed and assured his father he would do his best, providing he performed well enough to actually get the position.

While Charlie was being congratulated by his father, and Mrs Weasley was asking him seriously if he was sure about it, Harry pulled up a chair next to Ginny, “Fancy spending the night at Grimmauld Place with me? It’s going to be quite lonely without anyone else there …”

Ginny smirked, and said, “Sounds good … but what about Mum? D’you think she’ll let me?”

Harry though for a moment, “Just tell her that you won’t see me properly until Christmas – cry if you have to!” Ginny laughed and said she would try her best.

The opportunity came not long after that, when Charlie had gone upstairs for a shower, and Mr Weasley had gone into his shed outside to study more muggle mechanisms. Ginny put her arm around her mother and said tentatively, “Mum, would it be okay to stay over at Harry’s tonight?” she and Harry waited for an answer from Mrs Weasley with baited breath. She looked round at Ginny and smiled confusedly, “Of course you can … you don’t need to ask!”

She saw the bewildered looks on Harry and Ginny’s faces, and laughed, “You though I would say no? Well maybe I would’ve done if you two weren’t getting married – but you need time together I suppose, don’t you?” Harry was surprised that Mrs Weasley was being so reasonable; she was usually very protective over her children, so her calm attitude pleasantly surprised Harry and Ginny.

They said goodbye to Mr and Mrs Weasley, the prior of whom had just arrived back in the room, and they called goodbye to Charlie upstairs. Ginny quickly grabbed some extra clothes, and when she met Harry in the yard, she grasped his hand and they disapparated together. Harry extracted the silver key from his pocket, and unlocked the door. When he let them both inside, it seemed mutual that they were going to go upstairs …

*

Ginny lay against Harry’s bare chest, breathing softly against his flesh. He was holding her tightly to him, both arms protectively around her. They had long since fallen asleep; it was now eight in the morning, and the sun was gently creeping through the window in the dawn of a glorious morning. The couple lay there for another hour or so, until an annoying scratching could be heard just outside the bedroom window. Harry stayed in bed, unsure about whether the noise was inside or out of his dream. He pulled Ginny closer to him, in a vain attempt to block out whatever was causing the noise.

“Harry,” Ginny mumbled, “Bring Remus in.”

“Remus is dead, Ginny,” Harry muttered back, “He died in the Battle.”

Ginny sat up and laughed, “Not Lupin, you idiot! Your owl!” Harry’s eyes snapped open suddenly; Remus was indeed sitting on the windowsill outside, scratching the frame impatiently with his beak to indicate that he wanted to be let into the house. Reluctantly, Harry got up, pulled his trousers on and walked towards the window. He opened it and the owl flew in the room and onto Harry’s shoulder. He tried to shrug the owl off; usually when Remus went out hunting he would return straight to his cage for a drink of water, but he didn’t seem intent on leaving Harry’s shoulder today.

“Gerroff,” Harry said feebly to the bird.

“Harry, he’s got a letter!” Ginny told him, pointing to Remus’s leg, which he was sticking out towards Harry’s face. Harry suddenly felt more awake, wondering who would be sending him a letter this early. He hurriedly detached the letter from Remus and sat on the bed, with Ginny reading over his shoulder:

Harry –
I’ve just visited St. Mungo’s this morning; your grandparents have recovered rapidly, and are requesting now that they meet you. I think it would be quite suitable now for you to see them; they appear to be making a full and successful recovery. I understand that you will be eager to know what happened all these years, but I ask you if you could refrain from asking them too many questions; although they are getting better, they are still not fit enough to be put under too much pressure, but I trust you already know this.
They look forward to seeing you, and if possible, could you perhaps make it around about noon today? I will be back in the hospital by then, and I would like to talk to you about business matters after you have visited your grandparents. I’m sorry that it’s short notice, but the Ministry is rather busy at the minute, so other available appointments are quite rare just now.
Kingsley Shackelbolt

Chapter 37! I didn't post last night so I thought I owed you one tonight but it's shorter than most of my other ones. My next one will be longer Anyway, read on .....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 37: Gordon and Florence

Harry began dressing at top speed, as did Ginny; it was only half nine, but Harry felt that he wanted to be ready straight away, just in case Kingsley made any more contact, though he doubted it. He threw on a t-shirt with his trousers and waited until Ginny was ready too before they departed downstairs to the kitchen, where they sat in silence while drinking a mug of tea each. Harry’s hand shook slightly as he picked up his cup, and he failed miserably trying to hide this from Ginny. She covered his hand with hers, “You don’t need to be afraid, Harry,” she said soothingly, “I’ll be there with you,” he looked up at her encouraging smile, and squeezed her hand, then pulled her into his arms. They sat like that for quite a while, Ginny lying gently against his chest as it rose and fell with his every breath, his arms wrapped lovingly around her; they only moved when Harry realised it was half past eleven; he had completely lost track of time.

“We’d better leave,” Harry pulled Ginny up from the table and cleared the cups away with a wave of his wand. Ginny caught his hand, and they left the house together. They made their way over to the part of Grimmauld Place that was always in shadows, and apparated after making sure they were well hidden from muggle eyes. Like they had a couple of months earlier, they found themselves facing the ugly dummy in the window of Purge and Dowse Ltd., where Harry tried to state that they were there to see Harry’s grandparents. Saying this out loud was harder than he first expected; the words got caught in his throat as he spoke, and he swallowed deeply. He looked at Ginny, who gave him a smile and held his hand tightly. He nodded his head, more to himself than to Ginny, and spoke again, “We’re here to see my grandparents,” he told the mannequin shakily. She nodded, and motioned for them to step through the glass, to which they obliged.

They walked towards the booth where the welcome witch was sat, but were interrupted from a shout behind them, “Harry, Ginny!” Kingsley was striding towards them, smiling, “Are you alright?” He added to Harry concernedly.

“I’m fine,” Harry smiled back, “Just … just nervous to meet them, that’s all. It’s strange, after all these years of not knowing, and now I’m finally meeting them …” he trailed off, unable to think of what to say next, but Kingsley understood, and gestured for him and Ginny to follow him up the stairs, where he led them to the fourth floor. They went down a corridor in the opposite direction to where Hermione’s old ward was, and towards the private rooms. Kingsley checked with a healer to see if it was okay to visit the Potters. The healer nodded kindly and brought them all down yet another corridor, until they finally got to a door with ‘Mr G. and Mrs F. Potter’ carved magically into a framed door sign. Kingsley looked at Harry encouragingly, “After you.”

Harry hesitantly took a step into the light room; sunlight was pouring in through the slightly open window at one end of the room, and at the other end, were two people in the beds. Harry couldn’t see their faces, as one occupant appeared to be reading Witch Weekly, and the other the Daily Prophet. At the sound of the door opening the man and woman both dropped their texts and looked up to see who had entered.

Harry stared at them both intently, wanting to take in every little detail about them. Harry could tell immediately who his father had inherited his appearance from; Harry’s grandmother had straggly, shoulder-length hair, which was amazingly still black after years of being held hostage. She looked like she had all of Harry’s features, apart from, of course, the eyes. Hers were rather large and deep hazel in colour, making them look warm and welcoming. Harry could help but notice how unhealthily gaunt her face was; her cheek bones seemed to be protruding alarmingly and even her chin seemed to be more sunken than a normal person’s. Harry’s thoughts quickly went back to Hermione; he remembered her lying in the hospital bed, her face covered in bruises and scratches. This was no different; wounds were covering nearly half of Harry’s grandma’s face, and, looking over at the other bed, his grandfather looked the same. However, the scratches and bruises seemed to be the only aspect they had in common for their appearances. His grandfather had a mass of rather unkempt, dark grey hair to match rough stubble on his chin. His eyes were very relaxed looking, a sea of light blue flecked with some dark, and, like his wife’s, were also large and round. He looked just as skinny as her too, and just as unhealthy.

A surge of anger rose through Harry at the thought of what the Lestranges had done to Harry’s own flesh and blood; here they lay, weakened and tortured, and still, Harry noticed, that his grandparents had managed to smile. He looked at both their happy faces, and he felt his face split into a grin too.

“Florence,” his grandfather said in a wheezy voice, “Florence, it’s our grandson!”

“Gordon, I can’t believe it! It’s our Harry!” his grandmother said happily, “Our brave, brave boy!”

Well this is slightly longer than my last, so I hope you like it. I've stopped giving the chapters names as it's getting harder to think of titles for them haha. So, I give you, chapter 38

Chapter 38

Harry didn’t quite know how to react; he hadn’t bargained on his grandparents knowing about what had happened in the past year, which they evidently did. Ginny’s hand was still clenched in his, but when he didn’t move or say anything, she let go and gave him a sharp prod in the back, “Go on,” she whispered to him.

Harry looked between his grandparents, who both had a huge grin still plastered to their faces. He noticed the chair between their beds, and stepped forward to sit down. Kingsley cleared his throat and announced to the room, “Me and Ginny should wait outside,” He started to walk out, and put a hand on Ginny’s shoulder to tell her to follow him. Harry looked pleadingly at Ginny; he felt quite uncomfortable in a room with only his relatives for company, who he had never met before this. Ginny gave him a sense of uplifting, so when she returned his silent request for her to stay by shaking her head silently, Harry felt suddenly alone.

“Please sit down, Harry,” Florence asked him politely, patting the chair in between hers and her husband’s beds. Harry obliged, and perched himself silently on the soft chair.

“Harry,” his grandfather began weakly, “We know this is hard for you. It’s quite difficult for us too. But please don’t be angry with us for not making contact all these -”

“How can I blame you for what happened?” Harry found himself blurting out, “It wasn’t your fault you were captured!”

“Do you know what happened?” Gordon asked his grandson gently.

“Well … Kingsley said the Lestranges had captured you over eighteen years ago, but he didn’t tell me why …”

“After they caught us they told us Lord Voldemort had ordered them to capture certain people, us included,” Harry registered how his grandfather had bravely used Voldemort’s actual name, and listened intently for what came next, “You see, Voldemort wanted all families with powerful magical connections to be caught. He didn’t want us dead though – I suppose you know what he’s like for pure-bloods,” harry nodded, and looked into Gordon’s lined face as he spoke again, “He caught a few gifted wizards and witches.”

“Like the Longbottoms,” Florence sniffed, “They caught Frank’s brother Albert and his wife Gloria. They were pure blood, but Voldemort killed them after a few years. Poor souls; they hadn’t even done anything wrong.” Harry snorted; Voldemort never killed because someone had done something wrong; he killed for fun. His grandfather seemed to know what he was thinking.

“Yes, he liked to kill for no reason. That was a speciality of his. Coward,” he said bitterly. Harry began to quickly warm to his grandparents; they reminded him a lot of himself in some ways.

“So he captured all the families he thought were a threat – or all those he could find. Many people went into hiding, but once he caught you, there was no getting back,” his grandma said seriously, “He was right in thinking we had tough relatives. Just look at your parents. And most of all Harry, yourself,” it took Harry a while to register what his grandma meant, but when he did, he smiled modestly.

“You’ve made us so proud Harry,” his granddad told him, “We’ve only just met, but already you feel like family. You truly are your parents’ son,” Harry could feel the lump forming in his throat and his eyes began to sting; it was now that Harry wished Ginny was still in the room. The room was silent for a moment or two, and Harry sat staring at his feet until he was sure the threat of tears had passed.

“We asked the healers if they knew Harry Potter as soon as we woke up,” Florence said soon after, “We thought there would be a chance that the wizarding population knew you … we never expected to be told that we were grandparents of the greatest wizard alive,” Harry was startled to hear these words, and looked up to see his grandmother wiping tears from her eyes. Awkwardly, Harry got up and walked towards her bed. He paused when he reached her and hesitantly put his arm out, unsure of whether he should put it round her shoulders just yet, but he was saved the trouble when she pulled him towards him and wrapped him in a warm hug. Her black locks of hair tickled his face gently, and he could hear her breathing softly into his shoulder, “It’s good to have you back Harry,” she said softly; her voice shook slightly. He pulled apart and held out a hanky from the bedside table. She dried her eyes with it, and looked through them at Harry’s, as though trying to make out something.

“You have your mother’s eyes,” she said quietly, “She had the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. I knew they were special,” she stared at them for a minute or so, before Harry started to feel slightly uncomfortable, and walked back towards his chair. When he was about to sit down, Gordon held an arm out, “Doesn’t your Granddad get a hug?” Harry grinned and got up. He let his grandfather pull him close while Harry took in a strangely familiar smell of fresh air and a sweet sugary aroma… he remembered smelling something like this when he was next to the amortentia potion – besides the flowery scent that was Ginny’s, another had been present, but Harry hadn’t realised it until now … it had been the smell of his grandparents; his only magical relatives who were still alive. But Harry hadn’t known that then, so it hadn’t registered what the smell actually was …

His grandfather pulled away and looked at Harry’s face, taking in all his features. He pushed Harry’s hair back from his face, and gasped. Harry jumped in fright, and looked alarmingly at his grandfather, who looked like he’d seen a ghost, “That’s … that’s where the curse hit you?” Harry suddenly realised he was talking about the lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, and nodded, “Merlin’s beard … must’ve been some effort he made to leave something like that!” he stared awestruck at the scar, just as his grandmother had done with his eyes, “Extraordinary …” he finished before finally letting Harry go. He sat in his chair again, and didn’t have to wait long for an excuse to talk.

“How did you do it, son?” His granddad asked him in amazement, “How did you defeat him?” Harry found himself explaining to Florence and Gordon about his six years at Hogwarts; he even told them about his life at the Dursleys. He explained about all the times he had escaped from Voldemort, when he found out about his godfather for the first time …

They seemed completely astounded by all the times Harry had faced Voldemort, and even more so when Harry finally got onto the subject of the Battle of Hogwarts; however, he had missed out the subject of the horcruxes – he felt that it would be unnecessary to tell them all that on top of everything else he had achieved. He told them about how nearly half their army had lost their lives that night, and he felt himself getting choked up again. His grandmother reached out and covered his hand with hers, and looked encouragingly into the eyes she loved so much. Harry smiled gratefully to her, and continued to explain about the moment when Voldemort had finally died.

“You’ve done all that?” Gordon asked, amazed at his grandson’s achievements. Harry nodded, slightly embarrassed at the expressions of awe and adoration on his grandparents’ faces. They both sat in silence for a while, thinking about everything Harry had done. Florence looked up to see an expression of quite discomfort on Harry’s face, and decided to drag the conversation away from the Battle.

“So this Ginny girl. She sounds quite special?” she asked him with a wry smile. Harry had indeed told them about Ginny and his relationship with her in his sixth year at school, but he hadn’t yet told them that they were going to get married.

“Yes, she’s great,” harry said happily, “I … I mean, we … we’re engaged,” he said, “To be married,” Harry added stupidly. He was unsure of what they would make of their grandson getting married at the age of just eighteen. To his relief, they both smiled widely and told him he deserved a lot of happiness after what he’d been through.

“So when can we meet this lucky girl?!” His grandfather winked at him.

Harry laughed softly, “She’s outside – that’s who I came in with! Would you like to meet her?” They both nodded vigorously, and Harry found himself walking over to the door to let Ginny in the room. He didn’t know what made him trust his grandparents so much, but they seemed so close to him already. He knew he would remain close to them for as long as he could; he knew he had to make up for lost time over the course of the eighteen years apart.

“Ginny?” he asked when he’d opened the door to find her sitting next to Kingsley outside the room, “They want to meet you,” he grinned.

Chapter 39

Ginny looked startled as she got up from her chair, “M-meet me?” she stammered, “Why?”

“I told them about us and they want to meet you,” Harry shrugged, “They’re really great, Ginny; they’ll love you,” She looked quite nervous, and bit her lip. Harry held his hand out to her. She looked into his pleading face, and took the offered hand. He pulled her to her feet, and with a swift smile at Kingsley, the two of them headed back into the little room.

“Erm … Gr – Grandma? Granddad?” It felt so strange for Harry to be calling them these names, and he wasn’t even sure if they themselves felt comfortable with it. However, they both grinned broadly, at the sound of Harry calling them this. Harry smiled happily back at them, “Well, this is Ginny … my fiancée.” Ginny smiled politely at the two of them, and they returned the gesture, “Ginny, this is my grandma, Florence, and my granddad, Gordon.”

“Well I think our grandson deserves someone special after all he’s been through,” his grandmother said, “And from what he’s told us, you seem like a very special person to him,” her eyes twinkled as she looked at Ginny with a look of admiration on her face, which also mirrored her husband’s. Harry felt himself blush, as Ginny turned to look at him; she couldn’t seem to hide her pleasure.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you my dear,” Gordon told her happily, “We’ve waited so long to finally meet our grandson, and it makes us so pleased that he is happy.”

Harry pulled up another chair between the two beds, and Harry and Ginny sat down on them. Harry’s grandparents began talking politely to Ginny, asking her about her family, where she was from and in general, they just got to know her.

“Weasley … Weasley … you know, Florence, that name rings a bell …” Gordon said when Ginny began talking about her family.

“Ginevra dear, are you by any chance related to Bilius Weasley?” Florence asked with her eyes narrowed.

“Yes!” Ginny gasped, “He was my uncle! But …” Ginny face fell, “He died a few years ago.”

“Ah,” Gordon said sadly, “He was a good man. He was a few years older than us at Hogwarts. He was the joker of the school; always full of laughs,” he chuckled reminiscently. Harry caught Ginny’s eye, and they both smiled; Harry knew she was thinking the same thing – Fred and George had obviously inherited their mischievous ways from their Uncle Bilius.

The afternoon rolled by very fast. They were all having a lot of fun, chatting about when Harry’s grandparents were at Hogwarts, and also when Harry was. They both seemed to be very proud of Harry’s achievements at Hogwarts, and warmed to Ginny very quickly. They only realised how late it was when Kingsley entered the room at three o’ clock.

“I’d like to talk with your grandparents soon Harry, if you don’t mind,” he said politely, “I went back to the Ministry just before, and they agree that if it’s possible, we would like to ask you about the events of these past years,” Gordon and Florence both smiled and nodded politely, “And Harry? Just before I speak with your grandparents, could I have a quick word outside?” Kingsley asked.

“Sure,” Harry said

Harry and Ginny got up to leave, and went over to say goodbye to Harry’s grandparents. They both held their arms out for Harry to hug them, which he did. This time, however, he felt comfortable to do so, instead of feeling awkward as he did before. He hugged them both tightly, as did Ginny. When the two of them were about to leave, Gordon called back to them, “Visit again soon, Harry. You as well Ginevra,” Harry promised them they would come back soon, then took Ginny’s hand and they left the ward.

“Just a quick word about your job as an auror, Harry,” Kingsley said, sitting on the edge of one of the seats, “Well, like I said at Hogwarts, there’s always a job in the auror office for you. I’ve been talking to the head aurors, and although they are keen to take you on straight away, we all agree that it is in your best interests to undergo some training. However, yours shouldn’t take nearly as long as the standard amount. But anyway, we were hoping you’d be able to start training in a week or two; the sooner the better!”

Harry was quite taken aback by how early Kingsley was asking him to start the training, but nonetheless, he was pleased, “Definitely! That would be great!” Kingsley smiled at Harry.

“Well, I’ll send you a letter sometime soon about when would be the best day to start. It won’t be until after the Hogwarts school term begins; I am currently helping Hestia plan for the beginning of the school year, what with it being her first time as headmistress. But I will get back to you after that, and hopefully it won’t be too long!”

Harry was grateful for how efficiently Kingsley was taking this, especially when he had other things to deal with, “Thanks a lot Kingsley. You didn’t have to do this, you know, I know that your really busy …”

“Nonsense, Harry!” Kingsley waved away Harry’s appreciation and said, “You’ll be an asset to the auror team, I can guarantee it!”

Harry grinned and mumbled another thank you, “Well we’d better go now; you still need to talk to my grandparents don’t you?”

“Thank you Harry. Oh – and one more thing,” Kingsley said, smiling, “I just saw Hermione at her induction at the Ministry before; it looks like she’s got herself a new job!”

“That’s brilliant!” Harry said enthusiastically, “I suppose she’ll be telling us all about it when she gets back!” he laughed.

“Well, you tell her I said congratulations; I didn’t have time to stop and speak today,” Kingsley told him.

“Will do! See you later!” Harry said cheerfully, walking away hand-in-hand with Ginny.


“Wow,” she said when they had reached the stairs, “That was great! They’re so nice!”

“I know,” Harry said smiling, “I still can’t believe they’ve been alive all these years and I’ve only just met them … it feels like I’ve known them all my life …”

“I know what you mean,” she said, “You know who they reminded me of?”

“Who?” Harry asked, although he already knew the answer.

“You,” she said simply, “They’re both so sensitive and caring, and they seem so brave. Like they said, a few people were killed when they were locked up. It must been in your blood,” she grinned, and Harry laughed. He put his arm around Ginny’s waist as they walked across the entrance hall and back into Muggle London.

“So are you going back home or coming back to Grimmauld Place?” he asked Ginny once they had found themselves on the other side of the glass.

“Well I was going to come back to Grimmauld Place, but if you don’t want me there …” she said in a mock-hurt voice.

“You aren’t getting away from me that easily!” Harry grabbed her hand and pulled them away from watching muggles, where he could apparated them, undetected, back to Grimmauld Place.

Yey! I've reached 3 pages!! Get in there!

Chapter 40 (!)

Harry woke up again the next morning exactly the he had done the previous day; Ginny was lying comfortably next to him, and a sharp tapping noise could be heard by the window. Harry looked up, bleary eyed, to see Remus once again struggling to get into the house. Reluctantly, Harry got up and opened the window to allow the owl to fly inside. Rubbing his eyes, he walked over to the cage where Remus now sat, and untied the letter from his leg:

Harry –
We’re both fine at Hermione’s parents’ house – Hermione made me go shopping yesterday afternoon for a muggle suit for the wedding– A muggle suit????? It made her happy though, I didn’t want any arguments! She got her dress too, she looks great in it. She went for her induction at the Ministry yesterday, and she got the job! She’s in the ‘Minor Magical Creatures’ office, and the first thing she’s proposed is that the name gets changed – ‘all creatures are equal, there’s no minors and majors!’ was what she said; I’m not sure what they made of that!
Anyway, how did the interview go? Hermione was going to ask Kingsley – she saw him at the Ministry – but he didn’t have time to talk. You’d better reply to this soon – I think she’s going to burst if she doesn’t find out quickly! Have you seen your grandparents yet? If you have, how did it go? If you haven’t, have fun!
Hermione’s introducing me to some of her muggle friends today; they don’t know she’s a witch, so I have to act ‘normal’ apparently. Well they’ll be going to our wizarding wedding, so why doesn’t she just tell them already?! Only, I haven’t said this to her – Like I say, I’m trying to stop the arguments!
We should be back in two or three days. Hermione, John and Linda send their love, and little Ronald would if he could,
Reply soon!
Ron

Harry laughed inwardly at the letter, and put it on the desk in the bedroom. He pulled a piece of parchment out of the drawer to write a return letter to Ron. As quietly as he could, he got out his quill and wrote a reply:

Ron –
Tell Hermione I said well done! Kingsley told me anyway when I was at St. Mungo’s – yes, I have seen my grandparents. They’re really great, and they’ve met Ginny too; I’ve told them about you and Hermione and they can’t wait to meet you. I’ll explain everything that happened when you get back.
I turned the Hogwarts job down, but that’s another story – far too long to explain in a letter! Kingsley spoke to me about starting my auror training soon; he said in a week or two, then he’ll get me started.
Your mum wants me to go with her and Ginny to get a muggle suit as well today – To be honest I couldn’t care less about what I wear, just as long as Ginny’s happy!
Tell everyone me and Ginny say Hi – and good luck with Hermione’s friends!
Harry

Satisfied, Harry sealed the envelope and coaxed Remus out of his cage with an owl treat. He tied the letter securely to his leg, and carried him to the open window, where he flew out into the late-morning sunshine.

Now that he was awake, Harry couldn’t get back to sleep, so he silently got dressed, careful again not to wake Ginny. He crept downstairs and was preparing himself to start making breakfast, when he heard a noise coming from the basement kitchen. Harry stopped halfway down the stairs, and listened closely.

It sounded like the clinking of pans chiming together, but there wasn’t supposed to be anyone else in the house …

“Homenum Revelio,” He muttered quietly, pointing his wand towards the kitchen door. Nothing happened. Harry slowly crept towards the kitchen door, and listened carefully to the sound within; the clanking of pots and pans had stopped now, and had been replaced by the sound of running water. Harry opened the door so only a tiny crack of light was visible through it, and peered inside.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and entered the kitchen. He realised why the spell had revealed to human presence in the kitchen; house-elves were not counted as humans. “Kreacher! I thought you were staying at Hogwarts?” The old elf looked startled at Harry’s sudden appearance in the kitchen, and stopped washing the dishes.

“Kreacher missed Master,” the elf said sadly, “Kreacher is meant to be serving Master, and he is missing doing that, Sir.”

Harry looked fondly at Kreacher, and smiled, “You don’t have to serve me all the time now; you’ve got Winky and Peppy to look after! How are they both?”

Kreacher’s bat-like ears suddenly pricked up at the sound of their names and his face split into a very toothy grin, “They is doing fine, Sir! They is at Hogwarts now, Winky is taking care of him. He will be working with all of us in a few weeks!”

“A few weeks?” Harry asked slightly surprised, “Is that not a bit too soon?”

“No, no Master,” he said, shaking his head vigorously, “House elves is usually starting work when they is two weeks old. We grow much faster than humans do, so we is usually beginning work at a young age,” Harry nodded, and sat down at the table. Kreacher suddenly went back over to the sink, and, by using magic, all the dishes became clear of food remnants, and zoomed back to their appropriate cupboards. Kreacher then hurried over to the oven, where he pulled out a tray of magnificent looking sausages and bacon rashers, “Master’s breakfast,” said the elf, dishing half of it up onto a clean plate, and placing it in front of Harry, “Cheers Kreacher,” Harry said gratefully, digging into his breakfast enthusiastically.

“Does Sir know when his companion will be down?” Kreacher asked politely.

Through a forkful of hot sausage, all Harry managed was, “Amnotsure,” he swallowed, and recovered from the heat before speaking properly, “She was asleep when I came down, so I’m not sure when she’ll come down.”

Almost as if she had heard Harry, Ginny walked through the kitchen door, fully clothed and looking lovely, in Harry’s opinion. She bent down and kissed him lightly, and sniffed the air, “Morning Kreacher! Something smells good!” she said cheerfully, joining Harry at the table. Kreacher put Ginny’s breakfast in front of her, and then tidied up the kitchen one last time.

“Kreacher must go to the Hogwarts Kitchens now; We is starting lunch for the Professors soon,” Kreacher sank into a low bow before each of them, and disapparated after Harry and Ginny bade him goodbye.

“So are you looking forward to today?” Ginny asked him with a smirk. Harry grimaced.

“Can’t you just pick a suit for me? I don’t care what it looks like!” Harry whined, and Ginny laughed at him.

“Well Ron and Hermione both have theirs -” Harry looked at her, puzzled, “Ron’s letter was on the desk in the bedroom; I read it. Anyway, seeing as they went together, you’ll have to come with me to get yourself a suit, and me a dress!” Harry groaned, and feigned falling asleep on the table. Ginny prodded his head sharply and said, “I told mum the other day we’d meet her at the Burrow at midday; it’s eleven o’ clock now, so make sure you’re ready!” She seemed very happy about going shopping, but Harry knew it would be a long, long day!

~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for all your feeback! I'm not sure when I'll be next posting because I have a LOT of coursework and I'm quite behind on it all hopefully if I get it done in time then I'll still be able to post frequently!!

Chapter 41

Harry and Ginny had arrived at the Burrow an hour later, and met Mrs Weasley as she came tottering down the driveway towards them. She kissed them both on the cheek, looked cheerfully at them, and said, “So where are we going?”

Ginny piped up excitedly, “Well me and Hermione were talking about what Harry and Ron should wear for the wedding, and we both agreed that they’d look handsome in muggle suits, so we’ll be going to muggle London today!” she laughed and looked at Harry.

“Muggle suits?” Mrs Weasley said confusedly, “Why would you want to wear muggle suits?”

“Mum, have you seen them? They’re so much better than dress robes!” She said defensively, “They look smarter and they go better with dresses; I they look quite scruffy compared to the muggle suits!” She concluded, and looked at her mother, who looked surprised, but smiled anyway.

“Well, shall we get going?” she asked them. They both nodded, and the three of them apparated at the end of the driveway. They had agreed to apparate into the Leakey Cauldron, which was not only right next to Diagon Alley, where they also needed to go, but it was in the middle of London.

They firstly went to Gringott’s to withdraw some gold and convert it into muggle money. Harry was pleased to see that the Weasleys’ vault was much fuller of coins this time, and he even spotted a small pile of galleons in one of the corners. They left the bank some twenty minutes later and went towards Madam Malkin’s, where Mrs Weasley wanted some new dress robes for the wedding.

“Now is there anywhere you two need to go while I’m in here?” Mrs Weasley asked them when they were about to enter the robe shop.

“Nah, there’s nothing … why don’t we go and see George and Alicia at the shop?” Ginny said turning to Harry.

“Yeah, why not?” Harry said. He looked over at the joke shop, which was, as always, heaving.

“Well I’ll meet you over there in about twenty minutes,” Mrs Weasley waved the couple off as they set off down the cobbled path towards Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. The windows were emblazoned with giant posters, all in different colours, advertising their newest and best-selling products. Harry fought his way into the shop through the huge crowd with Ginny in tow, and they made their way towards the counter at the far end of the room. When they got there, they found two people in magenta staff robes who Harry did not recognise, struggling to serve the numerous amounts of customers.

“Do you know where George is?” Ginny asked one of the girls politely.

“Mr Weasley? He’s in the back room,” she stepped back from the counter and was about to go through the door, “Who should I say is here?” she said, looking between the two of them and wondering why she just asked that; one was obviously Harry Potter, and the other must have been Ginny, his fiancée. She disappeared through to the back room, and returned a minute later, “Just go through,” she told them, opening the door behind the till to let them through. Harry thanked her, and followed Ginny through the door and down the stairs to the storage room.

Hundreds of boxes covered most of the floor, all with different labels like ‘Portable Swamps’ or ‘Extendable Ears.’ Harry walked around a particularly high pile of boxes and found George on the other side with a clipboard in his hand, inspecting the packages.

“Alright?” He grinned when he saw them. He held up his clipboard, and grimaced slightly, “Stocktaking; Ron said he’d do it when he was here, but he’s at Hermione’s so I’ve been stuck with it. Any idea when he’ll be back?” Harry told him about the letter telling him they’d be a few more days.

“Ah well, I suppose I can manage a few more days without him,” he said, “Two members of staff called in sick today, Lee’s doing Potterwatch until three o’ clock and Alicia’s … out. So it’s just me, Karen and Lesley in today … not great when the Hogwarts students are stocking up on jokes supplies! It’s our busiest time of year!” He laughed along with Harry and Ginny, “So what brings you to here anyway?” Harry groaned, but Ginny delightedly began to tell George about how Harry needed to buy a suit and Ginny needed a dress. George smirked at Harry and said, “Well you didn’t do yourself many favours bringing mum, that’s for sure!” Harry laughed sarcastically.

“So where’s Alicia?” Harry asked, willing to change the subject. He noticed a smile flicker across George’s face before he tried to disguise it, but not until Harry noticed it, “What?” Harry asked grinning.

“Nothing,” George said, trying to keep his expression as plain as possible.

“George I’ve known you for seventeen years, and as good as you are at lying, you’ve never been able to lie about something big, like you’re doing now, which obviously means this is something big,” Ginny said intelligently. Harry and George looked at her blankly, “So tell us!” She added; she had evidently noticed the excited expression flit across his face.

He sighed, half-annoyed, half-amused, “You aren’t going to let it go, are you?” He asked them both. Harry and Ginny shook their heads happily, and sat down on a pile of boxes next to them. George glared at them for a moment, then the grin reappeared on his face.

“Okay, I’ll tell you, but you need to PROMISE you won’t tell anyone yet – especially not mum! We’ll tell her when the time is right,” Harry looked at Ginny with his eyes narrowed, wondering what could be so important between George and Alicia. Could they be engaged … ?

“You swear?” George asked them seriously.

“We swear,” Harry and Ginny repeated eagerly, waiting for whatever George was about to tell them.

“Okay,” George took a deep breath, before yelling, “Alicia’s pregnant!”

“No way!” Ginny yelled. George nodded excitedly and hugged Ginny. Harry hugged him briefly too and yelled, “Congratulations!”

“So how long gone is she?” Ginny asked excitedly.

“We aren’t sure really … about a month, but she’s at St. Mungo’s now,” George exclaimed.

“I can’t believe it!” Ginny squealed, “This is brilliant!”

George suddenly held a hand up to silence them both, and pointed towards the door. Sure enough, Harry heard footsteps from the other side, and seconds later, one of the workers from behind the counter walked in.

“Mr Weasley?” She said in a business-like tone, “Your mother’s here. Shall I tell her to come through?”

“No, it’s fine Karen. Tell her we’ll be out soon,” George said in a relieved tone. When she had returned to the shop, George turned back to Ginny and Harry, “Please don’t say anything! We aren’t ready to tell anyone else yet!” This was one of the very few times George was being serious rather than jokey, and Harry almost laughed at the genuine expression on his face.

“Don’t worry,” Harry told him reassuringly, “We won’t tell.”

George nodded in thanks, and they all went upstairs to the main room, where they found Mrs Weasley waiting for them.

“George!” she said happily, kissing her son on the cheek, “Is everything okay?”

George glanced at harry and Ginny and said, “Yeah, everything’s great, mum. Er - I can’t really talk at the minute; we’re really busy and I need to finish stocktaking,” He kissed his mum on the cheek again, and said a hurried goodbye and scuttled off to the backroom again.

“Bless him!” Mrs Wesley said admiringly, “He’s working his socks off! Never thought I’d see the day!” she laughed to herself, then turned back to Ginny and Harry, “Are you ready, then?” Harry quickly forgot about what George had just told them, and prepared himself for being dragged around shop after shop with Mrs Weasley. He had already decided that he was going to buy the first thing he saw.

~~~~~~~
I'm sorry, I know a lot of people were expecting a bit of shopping drama, but that's up next - definately!

Feedback post is in my signture!!

Chapter 42

“Let’s look in here!” Ginny dragged her mother and Harry towards the entrance to a large shop named ‘Debenhams.’ Harry groaned loudly at the size of it; three floors high, and by the looks of it, the whole of Diagon Alley could have fitted onto the ground floor alone. He reluctantly allowed Ginny to drag him inside the huge store, and followed her to the bridal section. Usually it was Mr Weasley who was intrigued by muggle devices, but even Mrs Weasley couldn’t hide her fascination with the lifts. She pressed the button, and when the lift juddered to a halt in front of them, her eyes were wide as they swept the interior of the little room, “I must bring Arthur here,” she told Harry, “These are nothing like the ones he uses at the Ministry!”

Harry laughed, despite his unwillingness to be where he was.

“There they are!” Ginny squealed excitedly, pointing towards a mass of white which was the wedding section. She grabbed Harry’s hand and hurried towards the dresses and suits all lined up according to length, colour and style. She ran over to a long white gown embroidered with diamantes across the hem and began to inspect it.

“Nah, I don’t like the back of that,” she put the dress back and began searching again. She next found a strapless dress which reached the floor, but that went back on its rail because ‘it was off-white NOT normal white,’ as Ginny had said. Harry followed her to a third rack, where she pulled off another dress and held it up against herself for size.

“Ginny, that’s beautiful!” Mrs Weasley squealed at the sight of the dress, which went just past knee length, and had laced long sleeves. Ginny shook her head, returned the dress, and hastened to find another one.

Ten minutes and about eight more dresses later, Harry had given up and sat down on one of the chairs outside the fitting rooms. He noticed there were a few other men sitting there, all of whom looked the same as what Harry felt like; bored, tired, willing to be somewhere else. Harry knew he should probably be looking at suits for the wedding – it would definitely save time later – but he couldn’t bring himself to get off the chair; it was far too comfortable.

Harry found himself almost dozing off some fifteen minutes later, when Ginny and Mrs Weasley walked towards Harry. He thought for a moment that Ginny had finished looking, and even got out of his chair, but then he saw about six dresses in her hand, and groaned.

“I’m trying these on,” Ginny said cheerily, holding the dresses up. Harry nodded and sat bck down in his chair.

“Your fiancée looking for a dress too?” A man asked on Harry’s left, “Mine’s been in here for nearly two hours. She’s onto shoes now. You’re in for a long day, son,” the man laughed half-heartedly, “Martin,” he held his hand out for Harry to shake. He took it and said, “Harry.”

“I don’t know how they can spend so much time looking,” Harry said after a while, yawning.

Martin laughed again, “Well, that’s women for you, eh? Here’s a tip; the first dress she comes out in, tell her it looks great. It worked with Lisa; she got the first one she tried on. It’s just the shoes and jewellery she’s having trouble with,” Martin sat back and stretched his legs out in front of him. Harry moaned inwardly; he had forgotten about everything else; he had only thought about the dress, but there were also shoes, hair, makeup, jewellery and God knows what else to think about too.

“Well?” came a voice from behind him. He turned around and saw Ginny standing in a white gown; she looked stunning. Harry’s jaw dropped, and Ginny laughed at the sight of his face, “What do you think?” She was wearing a snow coloured halter-neck dress which flowed down so a little bit of material flowed onto the ground, and there were small white beads on the neckline and around the waist that shimmered in the light. Ginny twirled around to reveal a criss-crossing design on the back which showed off some of her flesh, and in Harry’s opinion, the dress was perfect.

“Wow,” he breathed, “You look gorgeous! Seriously!” She beamed at him, and turned to look in the mirror. Her grin quickly subsided and was replaced by a frown.

“I don’t know … I think it makes my hips look too big,” She turned to look at herself from the side to see if that made any difference. Apparently, it didn’t, “I’ll try the other ones,” and with that, she stalked off into the changing rooms to try on the next dress, Mrs Weasley closely behind her.

Harry flopped back into his chair and leaned back, trying to find a comfortable position.

“Better luck next time, eh?” Martin said, smirking. Harry grimaced, and found himself feeling sleepy again. He let his head loll forwards, and he immediately fell asleep.

In what seemed like no time at all, Ginny was back at his side, and she prodded him sharply in the ribs to wake him up. Harry woke up in fright and his head shot up fast; he gasped in pain as his head banged against the wall behind him, and he rubbed it soothingly with his hand.

“Did you get a dress then?” Harry asked eagerly.

“Nope,” Ginny said, not showing any signs of annoyance or impatience, “We’re trying a different shop now.”

“Exactly how many dresses have you tried, Ginny?” Harry asked her.

She counted on her fingers, before simply saying, “Twelve.”

Harry sighed, but followed her out of the shop anyway. She continued up the road until she found another large shop, and pulled Harry and her mother inside. She headed straight for the wedding dresses, and made a beeline for one particular gown. It had spaghetti straps made of white pearls, and the material shimmered and shined slightly in the light.

“I must try this on!” She said, looking adoringly at the dress. Harry knew what he had to do; he flopped down onto another chair. This time however, Mrs Weasley came over to him and sighed.

“Why don’t me and you go and look for a suit for you?” She said nicely. Harry really couldn’t be bothered to shop for anything, but he got up anyway, and allowed Mrs Weasley to pull him over to the men’s section.

Harry looked at all the suits and sighed; he knew Mrs Weasley would probably make him try every single one in the shop on before she was satisfied. Immediately, she ran over to a black two piece quit adorned with a red flower, and held it against Harry. She cocked her head, then nodded, before moving onto the next rack. Next was a grey suite with a matching waistcoat and tie, then another two piece, but with grey pinstripes.

Mrs Weasley ended up selecting five different suits, and forced Harry into one of the changing rooms. He reluctantly got changed into the first one, and stepped out to show Mrs Weasley. She brushed the jacket down, and tucked the shirt into the trousers, “Hmmm …” she said thoughtfully, “Not really smart enough. Let’s see the next one?”

It was more of a struggle to get into the next outfit; he had never tied a tie before, so he had trouble with this, then the waistcoat was too small. He enlarged it silently with a simple charm, then put it on over the shirt and tie. He stepped out of the cubicle, and was amazed, himself, with the results; he had never seen himself look so smart before, and the light grey colour in the suit brought out Harry’s eyes. Lily’s eyes.

“Mrs Weasley, I like this one!” He told her, surprised he had actually decided in one himself.

“Are you sure dear? Because you might find another …”

“I’m sure,” Harry said firmly. Mrs Weasley nodded, and took the remaining suits out of the changing room. Harry got changed back into his normal clothes, and hung the suit back on its hangers; another difficult task.

He checked the price once he had reached the till, and pulled out a handful of notes from his pocket; even though he had lived most of his life in the muggle world, he had never had so much muggle money in his life. He handed it over to the shop assistant, and took the bag containing his wedding suit.

“Where’ve you two been?” Ginny whined when they got back to where she was, “I’ve tried on three dresses!”

“Any good?” Harry asked, in a considerably better mood than he was earlier.

Ginny shook her head sadly, “I can’t find anything perfect!”

“Well Ginny, why don’t we let harry go home now? He has his suit, and I don’t think he’d want to be trailing around looking at dresses for the rest of the day!”

Harry beamed at Mrs Weasley, and turned to Ginny, “You don’t mind, do you?” she shook her head and smiled. Harry bent down and kissed her, before saying, “If you want my advice, I’d go with the on you tried on first. See you later!” He kissed her again, then pecked Mrs Weasley on the cheek, and walked out of the shop without a backward glance, wondering if Ron had gone through the same thing with Hermione.

~~~~
I have another chapter ready to post, but I want at least 3 reviews for this one first

Ta'ra for now!

~Amy

Chapter 43

“Ron, this is Sara, Kate and Rachel,” Hermione pointed to three young women in turn and smiled. Sara was tall and lean with shiny black hair and almond-shaped eyes. She smiled politely at Ron and shook his hand. Kate on the other hand was short and quite plump, with hair quite similar to Hermione’s, although it was actually bushier. Rachel had the same kind of figure as Sara, but she had short blonde hair cut into a bob. She eyed Ron with quite a mischievous smile on her face, and when they shook hands, she seemed to hold his for slightly longer than the other two had done.

“So you to are engaged?” Kate asked them, her eyes wide.

“Yep,” Hermione said proudly, “It’s been a week now!” Rachel snorted, and tried to disguise it as a sneeze. Ron sent her a sour look, and she returned it with a flirtatious smile. Hermione didn’t seem to notice this, as she was preoccupied with showing Sara and Kate her engagement ring. Ron turned back to Hermione, and put his arm around her waist, “Where’re we going then?” he asked her.

“I thought we’d go to a restaurant down the road from here, just to get to know each other,” Hermione told him happily.

“That’ll be nice,” Rachel said, still glaring at Ron with a hungry look on her face. This time Hermione did notice; she put her arm around Ron protectively and kissed him lightly, “Ready to go then?” she said, somewhat annoyed. Rachel looked slightly disgruntled, but followed the other four down the road to the restaurant.

The meal was quite uncomfortable for Ron; Rachel was sitting opposite him, and every now and then, her hand would brush ‘accidently’ against his leg. When she actually laid her hand on his thigh, he had had enough. He got up, and angrily walked towards the toilets. He’d almost got to the door, when he felt Hermione’s warm hand close around his. She pulled him round to face her, and sat him down on one of the chairs outside the toilets.

“What’s wrong?” she asked him urgently.

“N-nothing! Why would there be anything wrong?” Ron said defensively.

Hermione looked at Ron with her eyebrows raised and said, “I’ve known you for seven years, Ron. I know when you’re lying,” when he didn’t say anything, she sighed, “It’s Rachel, isn’t it?”

Ron looked up, startled, “How did you know?”

“Because two years ago, I had a boyfriend and she did exactly the same thing with him that she’s been doing to you. She took me off him. I recognise the signs,” she told him sadly.

Ron pulled her into a hug and whispered into her hair, “I’d never let someone come between you and me, Hermione. I’ve waited long enough to be with you, so don’t you dare think I’m letting you get away easily,” He kissed the top of her head, and she held onto him tighter. Eventually, Ron plucked up the courage to ask her what was playing on his mind, “Why are you still friends with her then? If she took your -”

“She’s never really been a real friend,” Hermione said sadly, “She just kind of … decided to tag along with us. I don’t know why. Kate likes her, but Sara doesn’t.” There was a short pause after Hermione said this.

“Shall we get back then?” Ron asked, “We’ll have to face her sooner or later.”

“Suppose we’ll have to,” Hermione said, pulling herself up from Ron’s shoulder. They walked hand-in-hand back to the table, and tried to ignore Rachel as best as they could. It was difficult for Ron; Rachel was still shooting him flirty smiles and she still kept knocking against his leg.

When they finished eating, they all returned to Hermione’s house. Her parents were out with Ronald at Hermione’s grandparents’ house, so no-one else was in. Hermione sidled up to Ron when they were alone in the kitchen, and whispered, “I’m going to tell Kate and Sara I’m a witch. They have a right to know,” Ron nodded at her, and held her hand tightly.

“Do you want me to be there? Or would you rather tell them on your own?” Ron asked her gently.

“I think it would be better if I told them myself … they hardly know you so -”

“It’s fine,” Ron smiled, “But how are you getting rid of Rachel?” Hermione looked at him and frowned.

“Oh I don’t care, I’m just going to tell her to get out,” she said bitterly. She went through to the sitting room and said in the same tone, “Rach? Would you mind leaving? Now?” Rachel looked startled; Hermione had obviously never spoken to her like this before. She gave Hermione a hard look and then looked at Ron. He turned away before she could send him more signals. This seemed to annoy her, as she grabbed her bag and strode out of the house, not hesitating to slam the door as hard as she could.

“That was harsh!” Kate said defensively. Sara rolled her eyes.

“Never mind that,” Hermione said impatiently, “Come upstairs, I need to tell you something. We shouldn’t be too long, Ron. Just watch the telly or something.”

Ron sat down on the settee, and was about to figure out how the television worked, when the front door opened, and Rachel walked back in. Ron looked at her with an expression of half-anger, half-confusion, and said, “What do you want?”

“Not much,” she grinned mischievously again, “Hermione always had good taste in men. Too bad I always thought that, she might have actually managed to keep one,” she laughed nastily, then turned back to Ron, “What do you see in her?” she enquired.

“I’m going to get Hermione,” Ron said in a bored voice.

“I know why she’s up there,” she said, a flash of maliciousness in her eyes.

“Been eavesdropping, have you? Wouldn’t put it past you,” he was about to go up the stairs to get Hermione, when Rachel spoke again.

“Now why would I need to eavesdrop when I can just use legilimency?”

~~~~~
Sorry irs short, but i did write 2 in one night!

This is a bit of a weird chapter ... I'm not even sure if I understand half of it
Enjoy!

Chapter 44

“L-legilimency?” Ron tried to sound as if he’d never heard of it, but he knew he’d failed miserably.

“Yes, legilimency. You know, when witches and wizards read into other people’s mind,” she said with a nasty smile, “Hermione always wondered how I managed to take boys away from her. I don’t need to get them to like me; I just …” she suddenly pulled a wand out of her pocket and waved it dramatically at Ron before he could react, and muttered a strange incantation, “… charm them,” she finished, satisfied. Ron suddenly felt a strange feeling take over him. He felt dizzy for a moment, and his eyes went in and out of focus. When they were back to normal he looked up and saw Rachel standing not too far away from him. She seemed so radiant … her hair seemed to shimmer in the dazzling sunlight … and her eyes! They were the brightest blue he had ever seen; like two pools of the purest water. Why didn’t he see it before? Why hadn’t he noticed Rachel’s beauty earlier? He felt guilty for the way he treat her when they were at dinner; he wanted to apologise, to tell her he loved her …

But you don’t love her!

Yes I do!

You love Hermione! You’re going to MARRY her!

But I want to marry Rachel!

While his mind was having an argument with itself, Rachel was looking at Ron with a smug look on her face. I’ve succeeded in performing the charm; she thought to herself. I just need to make sure that when Hermione comes downstairs, she’ll see Ron in my arms … it would destroy Hermione. Then I can finish the job off properly. Stealing her boyfriend two years ago was nothing; I WILL get revenge on her.

~~~
Harry gratefully shut the door behind him as he entered his house. He deposited his new suit in one of the spare rooms, then sat down in the kitchen with a cup of strong coffee. He looked over at the clock and realised he’d been away for nearly four hours; it was quarter to four now, but Harry felt like he’d been shopping for the whole day. He sat back in his chair, happy to have the opportunity to relax, when a loud crack echoed around the house. Harry jumped up, and looked around the kitchen, expecting to see Kreacher appearing in front of him at any moment, but all Harry heard was a muffled sob coming from upstairs.

Harry leapt up from his chair and followed the sound of the crying. He found himself outside the drawing room, listening at the door to what sounded like Hermione sobbing uncontrollably. He threw the door open and found her collapsed on the floor with tears streaming down her face. She looked up at Harry, as he walked in the room, and burst out, “H-he cheated on m-me! I knew he’d g-give in,” Harry pulled her onto her feet and guided her to the sofa, where she sat down and sobbed into Harry’s shoulder.

He allowed her to stay there for a while, until she had calmed down. He said gently, “Are you going to tell me what happened?” She looked up sadly at him, and nodded slowly. She told him about how she had introduced Ron to her friends, on of whom, Rachel, she hadn’t got on too well with. She had gone away with her other two friends to reveal that she was a witch, and had returned to find her ‘friend’ and Ron in a tight embrace. She had apparated immediately to Grimmauld Place, not even caring to think about what Rachel had thought when she disappeared into thin air; she was the only person in the room who didn’t know Hermione was a witch …

Harry was shocked to hear of Ron’s behaviour, “Are you sure -”

“Of course I’m sure!” Hermione exploded through tears, “I saw him there! He had told me only an hour earlier that he’d never be unfaithful, and look what he’s done! I thought he loved me!”

“Of course he loves you!” Harry said automatically.

“Yeah? So WHY was he getting off with that backstabber?” Hermione said, once again hysterical. Harry couldn’t find a retort for this; he just stood opposite Hermione, looking at her tear stained face when she said quietly, “See? Do you see what he’s done to me? Would I lie about something like this?” Harry shook his head sadly, and put his arms around her comfortingly. She wept into his shoulder for a while, before pulling away and saying, “Harry can I stay here for the night? I can’t really face going back … ”

“Of course you can, Hermione,” Harry smiled at her. She returned it half heartedly and kissed him on the cheek to say thanks. She left the room and went to get a shower, and Harry didn’t see her for the rest of the night. Harry wanted to find Ron and hit him so hard … Hermione was his friend, and to see Ron cause her so much pain, after he had swore he would never let anybody come between them seemed unforgivable to Harry; he knew Ron would feel the same of Harry ever did anything like that to Ginny.

Harry was sitting in the kitchen at seven o’ clock when Ginny burst through the door holding a number of large bags. She ran through to see him and gave him a large kiss before sitting down opposite him. She noticed the troubled expression on his face, and her smile quickly disappeared.

“Harry what is it?” She said concernedly.

Harry nodded, then sighed. He shook his head, and said, “I’m not alright actually. Want to know what your brother has done?” Ginny looked puzzled, but nodded warily.

When Harry had finished, she said, “Hermione’s here?” He nodded, and Ginny got up to leave the table.

“Wait … I’m going to see Ron,” Harry told her, “Don’t tell Hermione though. I offered to get him before but she refused. Just tell her I’ve gone for a ride on my Firebolt or something,” Ginny nodded, and sped off up the stairs to comfort Hermione. Harry went out the front door, and prepared himself for apparition. The only other time he had apparated to somewhere he hadn’t actually been to, was when he had taken Dobby to Shell Cottage. That had worked, so Harry hoped it would this time. John and Linda Granger’s, John and Linda Granger’s …

His body hit the ground with a resounding thump, and he looked around. He was lying under a bush in a neat little garden in a muggle street. He got up from where he had landed, and cautiously walked around to the front window. He peeked through, and saw a horrific sight; Ron was lying in the middle of the room on the floor, his eyes wide and staring at the ceiling and his face was drained of colour. No-one else appeared to be inside, so Harry threw himself at the front door; it was locked, so he pulled out his wand and said, “Alohomora!”

The door burst open, and Harry ran inside to the sitting room where Ron lay. His face was expressionless, and at the touch, his body seemed cold. He felt where his heart was, and thankfully, there was still a pulse. Harry pointed his wand at Ron and yelled, “Rennervate!”

Nothing.

“Rennervate! Rennervate!” Still, nothing happened. He quickly racked his brains for a spell, any spell which could awaken Ron. Think, he told himself, THINK!

He heard a mad cackle from behind him. He turned and found himself face-to-face with a tall blonde girl. She was smiling madly and laughing at the sight of Ron.

“So you’re Harry Potter? Yes, Hermione’s good friends with the famous Harry Potter. Maybe it would be for the best if you ended up like that,” she pointed happily to Ron, and while Harry was distracted by looking disbelievingly at his limp body, Rachel performed a swishing movement with her wand and spoke an incantation. Harry dropped his gaze from Ron, and stared intently at Rachel. For a moment, he noticed how pretty and beautiful she was.

But then the moment passed. He shook himself mentally, and looked at Rachel with shear disgust.

“You did this to him! What did you do?” He yelled, but she didn't appear to be listening. She seemed outraged that her spell hadn’t worked, and performed it again, this time with force. Harry felt the same feeling come over him, a desire to hold Rachel … but once again, it ended, and Harry found himself back to normal. He recognised the effects of this charm from when he had read about it in a textbook he had read when they were looking for horcruxes. It was dark magic.

“I suppose you did the same to Ron?!” He fired up angrily, “Try to put some charm on him to finish with Hermione!?”

“How did you fight that off?!” She shouted with venom in her tone.

Harry smirked nastily, “I’ve been known to be able to fight of the imperious curse. I suppose this isn’t any different, is it? Same controlling dark magic!” His voice echoed around the room, and he started up again, “What have you done to him?!”

Now it was Rachel’s turn to smirk, “Well, do you really think I’m going to tell you that? After what you just -”

“Stupefy!!” Harry yelled, a plan forming in his mind. Rachel looked horrified before she fell to the floor with a thud. He took the wand sticking out of her robes to make sure she wouldn’t be able to disapparated when she woke up again, “Kreacher!” Harry yelled into the silence. Immediately a confused looking elf appeared in the middle of the room. He was about to speak, but Harry cut in, “Kreacher, I need you to get me Kingsley! Tell him Ron’s unconscious and I can’t wake him! Bring him straight here!” Kreacher caught sight of Ron’s body, realised the seriousness of what had happened, and disapparated with a loud crack. Harry only had to wait less than a minute when Kreacher returned with the Minister right next to him.

Haha, knew I had you all worried! Will he live? die? Find out!!!!

~~~~~~
Chapter 45

Kingsley inspected Ron’s body for a moment and performed a few spells, each giving no positive results. Harry paced the room desperately and watched as Kingsley tried to reawaken Ron.

“Kreacher will leave now if Master permits him to do so,” Kreacher croaked. Harry jumped; he had forgotten Kreacher was there. He nodded at the elf and said thanks, before he disappeared.

“Aha,” Kingsley said a short while later, “Right,” he pointed his wand to Ron’s forehead and traced a complicated pattern with his wand, while chanting a spell which sounded like it should have been song. When he had finished, he pulled back his wand, and stared into Ron’s face for a few seconds. The spell seemed to have worked, as Ron’s eyes suddenly snapped open and he sprung up to his feet.

“I’LL KILL HER!” He screamed, and lunged forward to wear Rachel was lying. Harry reacted instinctively, and grabbed Ron’s shoulders, pulling him backwards to where he and Kingsley were standing. He managed to restrain Ron while he breathed fiercely and stared hatefully to where Rachel lay. Harry threw Ron into one of the chairs in the sitting room and said, his voice shaking, “What did she do to you?” Kingsley was also standing next to them, listening to their every word.

“She put a charm on me, that’s what she did!” Ron exclaimed, “You don’t think I’d seriously -” Ron eyes suddenly became wide with fear, and he looked desperately at Harry, “Hermione! Where is she? She saw didn’t she? That – that woman made sure she did! Harry where is Hermione?!” Tears had begun falling down Ron’s cheeks, whether angry ones or fear of losing Hermione, Harry did not know.

“She’s at Grimmauld Place, but you must tell us what happened,” Harry said forcefully, “Tell us everything.”

Ron sighed, annoyed, but clearly defeated, “Fine. Well Hermione had gone away to -”

“Yes, yes, I know that,” Harry said impatiently, “Hermione already told me.”

“She’s been telling -” Ron trailed off when he saw Harry giving him a look. He picked up again, “Well, when we heard Hermione and the other two coming down the stairs, Rachel just kind of … threw herself at me. I was under that charm thing though, so I couldn’t do anything. Then I just remember Hermione disapparating. She was …” Ron looked down guiltily, “Crying. Then Rachel forced the other two out of the house, and turned to me. She lifted the spell, then said something about getting even with Hermione, but that was the last thing I remember. She must’ve cursed me then.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that curse Ron,” Kingsley said suddenly, making both Harry and Ron jump, “It shouldn’t leave any lasting damage. It’s an extremely powerful stunning jinx, rather difficult to remove. Many people have died from this because of how hard it is to reverse. You were lucky Harry found you, Ron.”

Harry, surprised at the magnitude of the spell Rachel had cast upon Ron, looked at Kingsley, who appeared to be once again deep in thought. He looked at Rachel’s stunned body on the floor, and said, “I think,” Kingsley went over to her, “She must be a Durmstrang student. No Hogwarts or Beauxbatons student could perform magic like this … it is much too dark, and I can’t see her being sent off to a school outside Europe,” he stopped to think again, then looked up at Harry and Ron, “I’m going to wake her now, and I’ll take her back to the Ministry for questioning. I’d return back to Grimmauld Place if I were you,” he said to Harry and Ron, “Tell Hermione what happened. You might need this,” Kingsley put his hand into his pocket and brought out a tiny bottle of clear liquid, “In case she doesn’t believe you, I’d take some veritaserum. I’d not usually permit anyone to use the Ministry’s supply when it isn’t for questioning, but I can make special circumstances. Hermione needs to know the truth; she has been the victim in all of this,” Kingsley concluded, and handed over the veritaserum, “I’ll let you get away before Rachel wakes up; I can’t imagine she’d be very happy to see the two of you,” Harry and Ron nodded, and thanked Kingsley greatly for what he’d done. Kingsley smiled modestly, and said goodbye to them. They apparated straight into the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, where they found Ginny and Hermione sitting around the table, both puffy- and red-eyed. When Ginny saw them, she leapt up from her chair and threw her arms around Harry.

“I didn’t know what had happened! You’ve been ages!” Ginny said, relieved that Harry was back.

“I’ve only been away for just over an hour!” Harry said as he stroked her hair. From over her shoulder, Harry could see Hermione, still sitting at the table. She hadn’t even looked up when they appeared, but remained in her seat staring straight ahead of her. Harry and Ginny pulled apart, and sat down at the table. Ron looked pleadingly at Harry, as if willing for him to explain. Harry sighed, and addressed Hermione.

“This wasn’t Ron’s fault,” Harry began, but as he expected, Hermione interjected.

“Yeah, yeah. I KNEW you’d take his side!” She said; her voice was hoarse and sounded sore, probably from crying all this time, “I don’t think he told you the same story as I did. Am I right?” she said coldly.

“You’re right. He did tell a different story, but he told me the real one. Kingsley was there, so if you don’t believe us, ask him,” Hermione made to interrupted, but Harry kept talking, “You’ve not really got any choice but to believe us though, because Ron’s prepared to take some veritaserum if it will help you see,” Harry nudged Ron, who took the clear potion out of his pocket. Hermione looked at the little bottle, and her expression was unreadable, but Harry was pleased to know that she was actually letting them speak. Ron looked determinedly into Hermione’s eyes as he drank the veritaserum, and when he had finished it, he sat down next to her. She didn’t move away; another good sign.

“How much does Hermione mean to you?” Harry asked Ron sneakily. Hermione looked hard at Harry, but he merely said, “Just to check if the potion works!”

“Everything,” Ron said a little groggily due to the potion, “Hermione’s my everything and she means more to me than anyone else in the whole world. I love her and I want to be with her for the rest of my life and have a family with her,” Ron finished. Harry looked smugly at Ginny who grinned and gave him the thumbs up. Hermione was looking at the table, tears falling silently.

“Well, I think that proved that it definitely is veritaserum,” Harry said happily, “Now, Ron. What did Rachel do to you tonight?”

Hermione took a sharp intake of breath as Ron began recounting the night’s events. She listened to his every word and didn’t even try to interrupt. Ginny, who was hearing this for the first time also, seemed horrified by what Rachel had done and the manner in which she had done it.

“… So then Kingsley just told us to go while he took Rachel back to the Ministry,” Ron finished. He looked Hermione directly in the eye, and surprisingly, she didn’t look away, but stared in his eyes with a horrified look on her face.

“She’s a witch?” She asked loudly. Ron nodded solemnly, and Hermione closed her eyes and sighed, “Well it does explain a lot … how she managed to steal Kyle off me, and Darren off Sara,” Ron raised his eyebrows, “Oh yes, she stole one of her boyfriends too! She liked to cause trouble … I never thought she’d go this low though. But like I say, it makes sense. Durmstrang; I suppose that’s where she gets it from,” Hermione scowled at the thought of the school.

“So you believe me?” Ron asked her.

“How can I not believe you?” she said, laughing nervously, “After you just took veritaserum I know that you’re telling the truth. Especially about what you said first,” she blushed when she said this.

“Well it’s true!” Ron said, smiling, “I love you, and I want us to have a family and kids. I think we should get our own house sometime once we have enough money, then we can go on holidays and take the kids with us -”

Harry started laughing, “Hermione, do you have an antidote for veritaserum? I have a feeling we might be listening to Ron declaring his love for you all night unless we stop him.”

Hermione smiled weakly and blushed even more, “There’s a spell I know that reverses the effects of veritaserum. Reverto Tergum,” She said, and Ron suddenly sat up straighter in his seat. He looked at Hermione, “You know that I’m telling the truth, don’t you?”

“It seemed strange at first, but of course I do. And veritaserum never lies,” she walked around the table to where he was sitting, and gently wrapped her arms around him, “I’m sorry I doubted you -”

“You have every right to! I would’ve felt the same if it was you!” Ron exclaimed.

“Not just about that, though,” Hermione said, “I should have done something about it earlier when she kept flirting with you. I know what she’s capable of, but I didn’t even try to stop it,” she hung her head, and suddenly yelled, “I never thought she’d do this! Did you say she said she was getting revenge on me or something?” Hermione asked Ron.

He nodded, “She said something about getting even with you … why does she need to get even with you?”

Hermione put her head in her hands and explained, “When we were thirteen, Rachel’s parents had taken us out in the car for the day. We were on our way home when a car crashed into the one we were in. Rachel and me survived but … her parents died,” she said sadly, “And ever since then she’s been making my life pretty miserable whenever I’m around her. I suppose she blames me for surviving when her parents died.”

Ron looked at her sadly and covered her hand with his, “She can just as much blame herself for them dying as she can you! You’ve got nothing to be blamed for, that woman’s a psycho. She goes to Durmstrang! That says it all really …” Ron finished with a small smile. Hermione returned it, and they locked their gaze. Harry, knowing what was coming next, smirked at Ginny, and pulled her out of the kitchen to allow Ron and Hermione to have some privacy.

“Well, what a night!” Ginny said when they had settled down upstairs, “That Durmstrang seemed awful!”

“She was,” Harry nodded, “I can’t believe she’d do that to Hermione … and Ron too. I’m just glad they’re safe … and together again,” Harry grinned. He climbed into bed with Ginny, and fell into sweet dreams involving the two of them, and their own dream wedding.

Chapter 46


The next few days past without much event; Ron and Hermione were once again as loved up as ever, and Ginny had moved back to the Burrow for the last three days of the holidays. Harry had recently bought a new television for the drawing room, and Hermione had been teaching Ron how to work it, which he found simply fascinating. Mr Weasley had also called round to admire the mechanism, which resulted in the television breaking. Harry had quickly repaired it with his wand, but Mr Weasley had been warned by his wife not to go near it again by reminding him of the ‘toaster incident,’ whatever that may have been. Andromeda had also visited Grimmauld Place, and the two of them organised for Harry to take care of Teddy on Tuesday, the day after they would be returning to Hogwarts to accept their awards. Hermione and Ron had agreed to stay in that day in case Harry needed help (Which, Harry didn’t doubt, he would). In what seemed like no time at all, Monday had arrived, and Harry found himself changing into his dress robes from Bill and Fleur’s wedding the previous year. They were a little small on him, so he enlarged them slightly with a simple spell.

Harry checked his hair in the mirror, and as always, it stuck up no matter how much he flattened it. He rolled his eyes, and made his way to the kitchen, where Kreacher was making breakfast. Ron and Hermione were already sitting at the table, both fully dressed. Ron was also wearing the same dress robes he had worn for the wedding, and Hermione was wearing some smart dark blue witch’s dress robes. Harry joined them at the table, and waited for Kreacher to dish out their breakfast of bacon, eggs and hash browns.

“What time are we meeting everyone?” Harry asked the two of them; they were all going to meet with the rest of the Weasleys, minus Ginny (Who’d be travelling to Hogwarts by train, as always), to apparate to Hogsmeade, where they would then walk up to the castle.

“Well mum and dad are dropping Ginny off at Kings’ Cross at half ten,” Ron said, swallowing a forkful of bacon, “Then they’re coming back home but we won’t need to leave until about six since the ceremony starts at seven o’ clock. I think we’re going to the Burrow at about four o’ clock though.”

Harry nodded approvingly, and began eating his own breakfast. When they had all finished, they went into the drawing room and watched the telly for a while, something which usually greatly amused Ron. Hermione managed to find a Cinderella video for Ron since he had thought it was a disease when they had the copy of the Tales of Beedle the Bard. He wasn’t very impressed by it.

“I mean, any wizard or witch can perform magic, so why can’t Cindrenna? Why does she need a Fairy godmother to do it? I’ll never understand these things,” he said, looking at the video box. Hermione and Harry both laughed at him.

“Okay, first, it’s Cinderella, not Cindrenna,” Hermione explained patiently, “And I think you’re forgetting that it’s a muggle Fairytale; Cinerella was a muggle so she couldn't perform magic. Muggles only dream about magic, they don’t actually know it exists.”

“Weirdos,” Ron muttered, and Harry and Hermione grinned at each other. They then dug out another video, Shrek, in the hope that Ron may like it more than ‘Cindrenna.’

“So … Basically, it’s about an ogre whose swamp gets invaded, so he rescues a princess?” Harry nodded and rolled his eyes. He had seen Shrek once before; when the Dursleys were all out Harry had sneaked into Dudley’s room and watched it privately, “Well it’s pretty good, actually! A bit strange though …” Ron said to Harry and Hermione’s surprise.

Hermione gasped, “It’s ten to four; we’ll need to leave!” Harry also hadn’t realised how late it was, and ran upstairs to make sure he looked presentable for the awards presentation. He put on his smartest shoes, and straightened his robes so they were free of wrinkles and creases. He didn’t even bother to tidy his hair.

When he got downstairs, he found Ron waiting in the hall for Hermione. He looked up when Harry came down the stairs and said, “Ready to go?”

“Yep,” Harry replied, just as Hermione came down the stairs. Her hair was tied neatly back into a bun and she was wearing blue shoes to match her robes. Ron kissed her on the cheek, and the three of them left the house and departed for the Burrow. When they arrived, they found a very flustered Mrs Weasley in the kitchen, looking like she didn’t know what to do about something.

“Is everything alright mum?” Ron asked her when they entered the house.

“Yes, yes, everything’s fine,” she said before grinning nervously, “Fleur’s having the babies! Bill just owled us now,” she held up a crumpled letter and continued, “Obviously they won’t be able to make it to Hogwarts so we’re going to have to accept the awards for them!” she seemed torn between excitement and anxiety, so Hermione took her through to the living room where everyone else was, and made a pot of tea for everyone. While she made it, Harry and Ron stayed in the room with her and they began to talk about the babies, and what they may name them.

“Well if one of them is a boy they might call him Fred,” Hermione said suggestively.

“Yeah, they could do,” Ron said in agreement.

“Nah, I think George and Alicia are probably going to call theirs Fred,” Harry said without realising what he’d done.

“When they have a kid, maybe!” Ron said laughing.

“But they – erm – yeah, when they have a kid,” Harry mumbled; he was glad the door was closed in case George and Alicia heard them; they were just next door after all.

Unfortunately, Hermione noticed Harry’s face turning red and she had heard the uncertainty in his voice, “Harry are you not telling us something?”

“What? No! About what? What wouldn’t I tell you?” Harry said very unconvincingly. Ron and Hermione exchanged looks which clearly said they didn’t believe Harry, so he told them the truth.

“You must not tell anyone! Don’t let on to George and Alicia that you know because I swore to George that I wouldn’t tell anyone!” Harry said desperately. His two friends both promised, and listened to Harry while he told them.

“Alicia’s pregnant. She’s only one or two months gone, but they want to wait before they tell your mum or anybody else. George told me and Ginny when we went shopping the other day; he kind of let it slip in a way so we weren’t actually supposed to know! Remember, don’t breathe a word!” Harry finished sternly. Ron and Hermione nodded their heads firmly.

“Is that tea ready yet?” Mrs Weasley’s voice came from the living room. Harry gave one last significant look to Ron and Hermione, before he took the pot of tea and cups through to the living room.

Chapter 47

Mrs Weasley was very edgy for the rest of the afternoon. Every time they heard a heard rustle in the trees or fly past the window she would get up in the hope that it was an owl from Bill. She was so edgy in fact that they literally had to drag her out of the house to allow them to get to Hogwarts on time.

“Come ON mum, we’ll be late,” Ron was saying, pulling her arm to get her out of the house. She struggled and defiantly said, “He’ll be sending an owl any minute now! Let’s just wait for another five -”

“Come on, Molly. They’re all right, we’ll be late of we don’t hurry up! Even of Bill does send an owl it’ll find us at the castle won’t it?!” Mr Weasley said to his wife hopefully. She eventually gave up trying to stay in the house and reluctantly allowed Mr Weasley to drag her down the drive. Ron caught up with Hermione and put his arm around her waist, and she looked lovingly in his eyes. It was impossible to tell that there had actually been a rift between the two of them only a few days ago, as they were so in love once more; they had all decided not to tell anyone else other than the four of them plus Kingsley what had happened; they didn’t want Mr and Mrs Weasley to get worried over something which was nothing now.

“Ready?” Charlie asked them all. Everyone nodded and he said, “Remember, we’re apparating outside the Three Broomsticks. Three … Two … One …”

They all disappeared at once, and Harry felt the feeling of discomfort for a few seconds before finding himself surrounded by Weasleys again in the busy streets of Hogsmeade. Harry felt a light drop of water on his arm and looked up to see rain falling for the first time in months.

Many witches and wizards were bustling around the shops, many of whom Harry recognised as Ministry workers or parents of students, and in some cases, the students themselves. Parvati and Padma Patil had greeted them cheerfully while they walked through the packed streets, and Ernie and Justin, Hufflepuffs from Harry’s year, also stopped to say hello. A few minutes later, Dean Thomas walked past them; he seemed quite keen on getting away from them, and he didn’t dare make eye contact with Harry. They then saw Lavender, who, although smiled at most of them, gave Ron and Hermione a rather filthy look when she saw them looking so intimate.

Mrs Weasley frowned when she saw the look on Lavender’s face and said, “I’m glad you and Hermione are together, Ron. Not a very pleasant girl is she?” She pointed at Lavender, who was a few people in front of them, “And that Dean Boy … well, at least Ginny has better taste now,” Harry and Ron looked at each other and started laughing silently.

In what seemed like no time, they had arrived at the castle gates, and were greeted by a very high-spirited, though slightly late, Hagrid, who was on his way down to the station to meet the first years off the Hogwarts Express.

“Alrigh’ all o’ yer? Sorry bu’ the train’s jus’ come in, so I best be off. I’ll talk ter yer all at the feast,” He hurriedly dashed off towards the direction in which they had all came in, and the nine of them continued their trek up to the castle which was looming proudly above them. When they passed the lake, Harry noticed the phoenix feathers which had been left as a memory from the Battle … but how could he see them? Weren’t they supposed to be buried? Yes, they were underground, but there was no earth covering them. Just as Harry was thinking this, Percy seemed to know what he was thinking.

“Ah, very clever,” he said impressively, “I see the Minister has performed a disillusionment charm upon the earth so the feathers remain visible – a nice idea!” By then the rest of the Weasleys had also gathered around the invisible patch of earth and they were all, like Percy, admiring Kingsley’s handiwork. They only left the lakeside when they heard the cluttering and clanking of wheels, which could only mean that the Hogwarts carriages were arriving. It had also begun to rain heavier, so they rushed towards the structure and entered the castle gratefully through the sturdy oak doors. They met Professor McGonagall on the other side; she smiled warmly when she saw them all and said, “It’s wonderful to have you all here again, we feel it was only necessary to honour those who died and those who fought. Follow me,” she led them through to the Great Hall, where there were six tables instead of the usual five. The hall looked like it had been enlarged (which, Harry reminded himself, it probably had) and it had been decorated with black wreaths and drapes from the ceiling, which mirrored a rainy evening. The long staff table at the front was decorated with a black table cloth, and the four house tables were adorned with colours of their respective houses. The extra table, which many people were all ready sitting at, was covered with a white table cloth. Harry liked the way the hall had been decorated; too much black may have been too sad, so the colours complemented each other nicely. Harry thought he had never seen the hall look so beautiful for the first day feast.

Harry followed the Weasleys down the aisle between the house tables towards the newly added one, and sat down with everyone near the front. More and more people sat down at the table and they admired the decorations for a while before the doors opened from the back of the hall. Harry turned round to see the students of Hogwarts entering the room, all of whom appeared to be rather wet due to the rain. Harry’s eyes scanned the throng for a moment before he spotted Ginny. He grinned at her, and she waved back, her ring glinting in the candlelight. Many people in the crowd seemed to be looking for the ‘famous Harry Potter,’ but Harry didn’t find this nearly as annoying as he used to. He now felt permanently happy, something he hadn’t remembered feeling in his entire life.

Once all the students had taken their seats at their correct house tables, Hestia Jones stood up from the middle of the staff table and held her hands up, signalling for everyone to be quiet. The students and guests alike obliged, and the silence rippled over the hall like a wave. Hestia smiled and began addressing the room as a whole, “Welcome, everybody; to the old faces and our guests today,” she gestured towards the table Harry, the Weasleys and a hundred more people were sitting at, “Now as everybody knows, we have a very special ceremony this evening to honour the bravery and courage our own fellows showed in May this year. We will be presenting these awards after the feast, but first, of course, the sorting needs to take place for our new first years.” As she said this, Argus Filch placed the stool and shabby hat on the platform at the front of the hall, and stood back to wait for the arriving first-years.

Sure enough, the new students entered the Great Hall, many of them with hair plastered to their face thanks to the rain, and patiently, but terrified, they lined up in front if the staff table. The silence was deafening, but was soon punctuated by the old sorting hat bursting into song:

Oh how times have differed and people have grown,
How events have altered the future, unknown,
The school still stands despite these affairs,
For the founders four worked many repairs,
The school, by them, is a wizarding mark,
The beginning of the road on which they embark,
The start of which is a sorting decision,
Made by me with precise precision,
If I choose you for Gryffindor,
Your courage and bravery would thrive when in war,
The sword which you pull will be proof of your pride,
And Godric’s relic will remain by your side,
Slytherin House is a match for some,
Although their history speaks of much venom,
Blood matters no more, a finding of late,
For those worthy to bare Salazar’s snake,
For Ravenclaw brains are made to go far,
If I chose you for here, bright then you are,
Rowena herself had a brilliant mind,
Of the great and intelligent, logical kind,
Being a Hufflepuff is by no means bad,
In fact, many themselves are really quite glad,
A house for all, and all for one,
Will gladly take all but none,
So test me out and prove that I can tell you where to go,
I’ll read your heart and mind and brain and I will read your soul.

The sorting hat finished its song, and the entire hall broke into applause, bar the first-years, who still looked startled and terrified. Professor McGonagall walked swiftly in front of them and began reading from a list on her parchment. One by one, the students came up to the hat and warily pulled it over their heads. When their house was announce the occupants of it would clap warmly to welcome their newcomers to the table. The sorting took only just over ten minutes, and when all the first years had sat down and got over their initial fear, Hestia stood up again, “Welcome, new students! I hope you all have a fantastic year, but I can see many hungry faces, so we’ll save the small talk for later. Eat up!” As she said this, the plates in front of them filled up with food, and the goblets with drinks, and Harry gratefully tucked into his dinner. He missed these meals he had at Hogwarts, and savoured his every mouthful before the food once again disappeared.

Chapter 48

After the delicious meal which made Harry feel like he couldn’t move, the last scraps and remnants were cleared swiftly away from the table. The laughter and general noise quickly died down until it was once again silent, and Hestia stood up and addressed the students and guests.

“It’s lovely to see so many students back at Hogwarts; after recent events it was thought that many people may not return. If it hadn’t been for the brave- and kind-hearted wizards and witches who fought for the entire wizarding community not so long ago, we most certainly not have all been here today,” A murmur of agreement rippled through the students; many of them nodded, and some even clapped. Hestia smiled appreciatively and continued, “We lost many lives that night earlier this year, but none of them will be forgotten. A memorial already resides outside in the grounds; a mass of phoenix feathers, one given for every brave soul who died fighting for us. They, along with the survivors of that night, will be honoured today, with an award they should treasure forever; it is a mark of bravery, and now, I ask everybody to join me in respecting these people who died and put their lives on the line for the rest of us,” Hestia started clapping, and gradually, as more students and guests joined in, the applause became louder and louder. It went on for about a minute, before it died down, and Hestia held her hands up again to request silence. She did nothing except step back from the podium at the front, and was then replaced by Kingsley, who Harry hadn’t seen lurking at the side of the room.

“Students, parents, staff, and everyone else here today, I feel very privileged to be able to present these special tokens to those men and women who fought like heroes. I will read the names in alphabetical order, and when your name, or deceased family member’s name, is called, please come up and collect your medal.” There was a short pause in which Kingsley fumbled in his cloak pocket for a piece of official-looking parchment. He cleared his throat, and began to read off the names, “Hannah Abbott. David Abbott,” Hannah, and a man who could only be her father, stood up and walked proudly to the front of the hall, where Kingsley presented them with their medals and shook both of their hands. Hannah’s father must have arrived at the castle to fight that night, “Colin Creevey, who sadly died on the night of the battle,” a woman dressed in black stumbled up to the raised platform, aided by her husband. Harry presumed these were Colin’s parents; the woman had the same mousey brown hair, and her husband was rather short. They both had tears streaming down their faces as they accepted the award, “A very brave young man,” Kingsley told them defiantly. The names continued, and proud survivors or mourning family members approached Kingsley for their awards, “Filius Flitwick,” said Kingsley, and the small charms professor jumped off his seat to accept his award. Harry knew Hermione would be next to accept her award, so was therefore surprised when Kingsley went straight onto presenting a towering Grawp woth his award. Harry and Ron looked confusedly at each other, then at Hermione; she didn’t look like she’d noticed her name being skipped, but Harry knew she was disappointed.

“Poppy Pomfrey,” Kingsley said many names later. The matron seemed very surprised by this, and stood up warily, before accepting her award with a questioning look, “For outstanding treatment for the injured that night. Without this lady, many more unnecessary deaths may have occurred,” Madam Pomfrey blushed and sat back down at her seat, “Aurora Sinistra,” the astronomy teacher got to her feet and happily accepted her award from the minister, examining it as she sat down again. Ron looked at Harry again, who shrugged. Both his and Hermione’s names had been missed out for their awards, but Harry felt he knew where this was going; he presumed Ron’s nme would be missed too.

“Arthur Weasley. Bill Weasley. Charlie Weasley. Fleur Weasley,” Kingsley paused here to allow the first Weasleys to accept their awards.

“We will be accepting Bill and Fleur’s awards on their behalf; they couldn’t make it today,” Mr Weasley announced to the room. Harry saw Ginny’s face in the crowd looking questioningly around the room. She caught Harry’s eye and narrowed her eyesbrows. Harry mouthed back at her ‘later’ and she nodded.

“Fred Weasley, who also died, but will never be forgotten. George Weasley. Ginny Weasley,” George accepted his own award, and his twin’s as well, with his head held high. Ginny accepted hers with a handshake from Kingsley, and gave a swift smile to her family before sitting down again with her friends at the Gryffindor table, “Molly Weasley. Percy Weasley. Oliver Wood.” The final three people accepted their medals and sat back down, waiting for Kingsley to speak again, but there was a few murmured conversations going on around the hall, and many heads turned towards where Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting; it seemed that they weren’t alone in noticing the absences of their names.

“Silence please,” Kingsley said softly. He only needed to wait a few seconds before everyone’s attention was averted back to Kingsley, “I know what everyone is talking about. No, we haven’t forgotten three very special individuals. Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter had been working none-stop from last August to May this year. They had been working on ways in which to thwart He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and if it hadn’t been for the three of them, we would almost definitely still be living in terror now. Many of us in this room probably owe our lives to these three heroes. It is for this reason that the three of them will all be awarded with the Order of Merlin, First Class.”

Harry felt his jaw drop, yet he felt unable to close it. Ron and Hermione appeared to be baring the same expression. He couldn’t believe it; the Order of Merlin was awarded to only the best of wizards – Dumbledore and Fudge had both received them, but Harry had never become headmaster or Minister for Magic.

“Many wizards and witches have never even seen bravery, such as what we’ve seen in these three, even in a fully qualified auror. The courage of these people have saved the wizarding AND the muggle world from a terrible fate, and in my opinion, nobody deserves these awards more. Harry, Ron, Hermione; please come forth and accept your medals,” A huge burst of applause followed Kingsley’s words, and Harry found himself walking to the front of the hall with Ron and Hermione. The Minister handed Harry a huge gold plate engraved with the words ‘Harry Potter ~ Order of Merlin, First Class ~ Showing bravery while defeating the Dark Lord.” Harry shook Kingsley’s hand, slightly dazedly, and returned back to his seat. He could feel all eyes on him as he sat back down, closely followed by Ron, then Hermione. They both looked just as shocked as Harry felt; the three of them barely noticed the scraping of chairs, or everyone else getting up to leave around them.

Chapter 49

Harry looked around and saw that everyone else was leaving the Great Hall; the ceremony was over, and the students were all going up to their dormitories and the award winners were leaving through the front doors. Some people were staying to talk to the teachers; some were talking to their sons or daughters who doubled as Hogwarts students, and some remained sitting, talking to other families who were sitting near them. Harry got to his feet and followed the Weasleys slowly to the back of the hall and into the entrance hall. Even more eyes were on him now, but he didn’t realise this; he was too preoccupied with admiring his new golden medal.

“Well done!” A pair of thin arms were thrown round Harry’s neck and a mass of red hair was flung in his face. Harry smelt the familiar flowery scent before Ginny pulled back and looked into his face with a huge grin on her face, “Order of Merlin, First Class! That’s amazing!” She gave him a lingering kiss and only parted her lips from his when she heard a shout from behind her, “Ginny!!” Called her friend with a touch of laughter to her tone. Ginny laughed and called, “Two minutes Faye!” her friend called Faye smirked and waited at the edge of the crowd until Ginny was finished with Harry.

“Anyway,” she changed her tone to a more serious one and put her hands on her hips. Harry loved it when she did this, so he couldn’t help but smile, “I need to know where – what are you smiling at?” she said with her eyebrows raised slightly. Harry just grinned, which caused Ginny to roll her eyes in an amused fashion, “Oh never mind. Why weren’t Bill and Fleur here?”

“Well I wouldn’t know, but I expect it must be hard to accept an award when you’re giving birth,” Harry said grinning.


“She – the babies are being born?!” she squealed excitedly. Harry nodded, and Ginny gushed, “That’s brilliant! I hope they’re okay! I think I’ll go and owl Bill. Do you think he’ll be busy? Yes, he’ll be at St Mungo’s probably. I’ll owl him anyway. He’ll still get it but he probably won’t reply. I’m going to owl Bill now Harry!” Harry was looking amusedly at Ginny; most of this statement seemed to be more to herself than Harry apart from the last sentence. She stood on her toes and gave Harry a long kiss, “I’m going to really miss you!” Harry told her he’d owl her regularly and he might even pop into the fireplace if he could get away with it. She gave him a last long kiss before saying, “I’m going to owl Bill!” and she ran off to meet Faye, who was tapping her watch impatiently.

“Do you think she’s going to owl Bill?” Ron asked Harry while laughing; he seemed to have heard Ginny’s excited reaction to the news. Harry chuckled and followed Ron and Hermione out of the castle and down towards Hogsmeade; Harry had told them all about the Hog’s Head’s transformation and they all wanted to visit. They made their way down the crowded street – it seemed they weren’t the only ones planning to have a drink at the Hog’s Head; only a handful of people seemed to be going to the Three Broomsticks, and a lot were heading in the direction of Abeforth’s pub.

It was busy, although not as crammed as last time Harry had been in. He managed to find a table this time, but couldn’t scavenge enough chairs to fit around it. Hermione ended up sitting on Ron’s knee, which neither seemed to mind; the same went for George and Alicia. Harry squashed into a chair with Percy, and everyone else got one each. They were soon greeted by Seamus, who had accepted his award that day too. He had begun working again straight after he had arrived back from the castle. After a few minutes of talking, and Seamus congratulating Harry, Ron and Hermione for their OM awards, he took all their orders. Everybody ordered butterbeer, except Alicia who ordered pumpkin juice. Percy gave her a querying look, but she was careful not to make eye contact with anyone. Seamus went to the bar with their orders and Harry watched through the crowd as he poured out eight butterbeers and a pumpkin juice. The others were all admiring the new look of the bar with great enthusiasm when the drinks were brought to them by not Seamus, but Aberforth.

“Abe, the place looks great!” George told the old barman impressively.

“Cheers George! Took me a good few weeks to get it turned round, but I suppose it’s all been worth it, you wouldn’t believe how much business I’ve had since we redecorated!” Aberforth said happily. He crouched down to talk to them better.

Hermione suddenly spoke in a polite tone, “Abeforth, we were just wondering if you could do us a favour,” Ron and Harry smiled at her; she would definitely do a better job of asking for a favour than the two of them would.

“What is it?” Aberforth asked narrowing his eyes.

“Well Harry probably told you, but we’re having a joint wedding in December. Me and Ron, and Harry and Ginny. We were just wondering if you would be kind enough to allow us to have the reception here afterwards?”

Aberforth grinned and answered, “Of course! I told Harry I’d be more than happy to help out with it. Christmas Day I think you said?” Harry nodded, smiling, “Well if you tell me how many people you need me to cater for I’ll get all the food and drink, no problem!”

“Thank you very much,” Hermione told him appreciatively, “It really means a lot to have it here, especially with it being so close to Hogwarts.”

“Like I say, it’s not a problem,” he smiled round the table before saying, “Well we’re getting busy now, so I’d better help Seamus and Lavender behind the bar,” Harry looked over and indeed saw Lavender serving behind the bar. She looked over at him with an extremely sour look and turned away. Harry smirked and turned back to the table, where Mrs Weasley was frantic to get up and see her new grandchildren. Her husband was arguing with her, saying she should let them rest before she visits, but she wouldn’t hear anything of it.

Ron, trying his best to ignore this heated discussion, turned to Harry and Hermione and said, “Anyway, what do you think of the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher?” Harry looked blankly at him.

“Did they even tell us who it was?” Harry said surprised.

“Well – weren’t you listening?” Ron asked exasperatedly, but then he realised, “You must have been too caught up in looking at your award,” he laughed. Harry grinned half heartedly and waited for Ron to go on about the new teacher.

“Anyway,” Ron continued, “They’ve appointed that auror Kenneth Proudfoot as the new teacher. What do you reckon?” Ron asked him and Hermione.

“Well I suppose if he’s an auror then he’ll do a pretty good job,” Harry said, shrugging his shoulders.

“I wonder why he’s come out of the auror business though?” Hermione said wonderingly.

“I dunno … probably just because they might not need as many aurors as they did have,” Ron said suggestively. Hermione nodded and the three of them stopped talking in time to hear Mr Weasley giving in and saying, “Fine Molly! We can go to the hospital but only for ten minutes! They’ll need to rest,” Everybody else followed Mr and Mrs Weasley out of the shop and when they were about to apparate, Mr Weasley said, “I’m not sure we should all go … they won’t let nine of us in at the same time. Why don’t you all go tomorrow and Molly and I can go now?”

They all began to protest, but Mrs Weasley gave them all a stern look, which was enough to make anyone shut up. Mrs Weasley disappeared with her husband, and Harry and the others all apparated back home. Harry hadn’t realised just how tired he was, and was grateful to arrive back at Grimmauld Place; it was just past ten o’ clock, but after a long day, he couldn’t wait to get to sleep.

Chapter 50

“Harry,” Someone was shaking Harry awake but he didn’t know who. He couldn’t muster up the strength to open his eyes so he lay with them tight shut, hoping the person trying to wake him up would leave soon. “Harry!”

Harry groaned and reluctantly sat up. He saw a blurry mass of magenta before forcing his glasses over his near-shut eyes. He looked up to see the figure of Ron standing over Harry wearing his pink uniform robes for work. When he was sure Harry was awake and listening Ron spoke, “George just owled me – I know I said I’d stay and help out with Teddy but I need to go to work. Hermione’ll still be here though, so you won’t be alone.”

Harry yawned and rubbed his eyes tiredly, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine. Just go to work and I’ll see you later,” Harry removed his glasses and placed them back upon the table beside his bed. He flopped back onto the mattress, planning to get a few hours sleep before he got up properly. He hoped Ron would take the hint to leave, but all he did was pull the blankets off Harry and said, “Oh no you don’t. Andromeda will be here in less than half an hour! Anyway I need to go; George was expecting me there five minutes ago,” Ron disappeared with a crack and Harry sighed. He jumped out of bed before he could allow himself to fall asleep again, and went to the bathroom to shower and dress.

When he came downstairs to the kitchen, he found Andromeda talking to Hermione, who was happily holding a sleeping Teddy, who today had bright red hair. Andromeda smiled warmly at Harry when he walked into the room, and stood up to leave.

“Well everything Teddy needs is in this bag,” she indicated a small blue bag on the floor, which Harry guessed had been magically enlarged, “I’ve also written out a list of charms to make the job easier; things like cleaning spells, charms to avoid too much crying …” Harry nodded to show that he understood, and suddenly an idea came to him.

“Andromeda, would you mind if I took Teddy out for a while today?” Harry asked as politely as he could. He wasn’t expecting her to say yes, as he had never actually taken care of Teddy yet, so Andromeda might not trust him enough. However, Andromeda thought this over.

“Well, I suppose it depends on where you were going to take him. Did you have anywhere particular in mind?”

“I was thinking of taking him to St Mungo’s to see my grandparents. They knew Remus very well and I think they would like to meet Teddy,” Harry thought this would be the right way in going about it, and to his relief, a thoughtful smile appeared on Andromeda’s face.

“I think that would be quite nice,” she told Harry, “Teddy hasn’t got much family left, and I’m sure Dora and Remus would both have wanted Teddy to be happy. Yes, I think that’s a good idea,” She smiled again at Harry, then widened her eyes as she saw the clock on the kitchen wall, “I’d better leave now! I wouldn’t want to be late on my first day back! Well I’ll be back at about six o’ clock. Have a good day!” she bent down and kissed Teddy on the forehead and waved to Harry and Hermione before disapparating straight from the kitchen. Harry, still standing in the doorway, walked over to the table and sat down next to Hermione, who still had Teddy in her arms.

“Do you want to hold him?” Hermione asked him, smiling. Harry looked at the child, sleeping soundly and comfortably. He didn’t want to interrupt Teddy’s slumber; he had a feeling he would wake up and cry, and Harry wasn’t sure whether he was good enough with babies as he had never actually held one.

Before he had time to express this, Hermione had got up and walked over to Harry with Teddy. She held him out for Harry to take, but he just looked blankly back at her. She sighed amusedly and said, “Hold your arms out like I’ve got mine,” Harry mimicked Hermione and put his arms together, “Now hold one of your hands up to support his head,” Harry lifted one of his hands up and looked at Hermione to see if he was doing it right. She smiled and carefully passed Teddy over and placed him in Harry’s ready arms. The baby stirred and his eyes slowly opened. Harry didn’t know what to expect – would he cry, go back to sleep? He didn’t know what he would do if Teddy cried – holding him was one thing for Harry, so how would he handle soothing him?

Teddy was fully awake now, and he was looking straight at Harry. His hair immediately changed from red to jet black, and Harry saw the connection immediately; Teddy’s eyes were exactly the same as Remus’s were; dark blue and friendly, they gave a sense of remembering for Harry.

“His eyes are exactly the same as Remus’s were,” Harry said out loud. Hermione looked down at the young boy and smiled. She looked at Harry and nodded.

“He seems to like you,” Hermione said looking back down at Teddy, who, Harry was surprised to see, appeared to be smiling slightly. Harry pulled the baby closer to him and whispered, “I’m your godfather,” Teddy yawned and turned over in Harry’s arms. Harry smiled again and looked up at Hermione, who grinned back at him.

“What time are you taking Teddy out then?” She asked.

Harry was confused, “Just me? Aren’t you coming along?”

“Well I thought you might just want it to be the two of you. You know … to bond,” Hermione shrugged, although she did seem keen.

“Don’t be silly, it’ll be great if you came. My grandparents would love to meet you. Ron too, but since he’s not here you might as well come along,” Harry told her, “They said to visit them anytime I want!”

An hour later, they had fed Teddy his lunch, and he had remained rather well behaved throughout. They wrapped him up in warm clothes; the beginning of September had brought with it a chilly breeze and Harry decided it was best to make sure Teddy was comfortable enough. Hermione had found a pram which had been magically shrunken in the bag. When she had restored it to its original size, they set off down Grimmauld Place until they got to the square. Harry threw out his right arm and a purple bus suddenly appeared in front of them with a loud BANG. The doors opened and out stepped none other than Stan Shunpike. He looked even scrawnier, if that was possible, than last time they had met. He stepped down onto the pavement and began reciting his usual introduction to the Knight bus.

They paid Stan with a few coins and jumped onto the bus. Harry was careful to keep his head down in front of Stan; he knew if Stan saw him he would make quite a scene. Hermione found them a small table on the lower deck shadowed at the back of the bus. They sat down, making sure Teddy was safe in his pram as the bus roared on down the busy streets of London. There weren’t many people on the Knight Bus today, so it took them only about five minutes to get to the muggle street where the entrance to St Mungo’s was situated. Hermione spoke to the dummy in the window, and when she had opened the entrance to the hospital, Harry took Teddy out of the pram and Hermione shrunk it with her wand. She took the tiny sculpture in her pocket and followed Harry through the entrance hall of St Mungo’s and up the stairs.

Harry led Hermione along the last corridor and stopped outside the room he had visited only days ago. The door was open, and Harry looked in to find Florence and Gordon lying in bed, though looking a lot chirpier and cured than when he had seen them last.

He walked slowly into the room, Teddy still clutched in his arms and with Hermione nervously at his heel. His grandma and Grandpa were both reading, their head’s buried in separate copies of the Daily Prophet.

“Umm … Grandma? Grandpa?” Harry said awkwardly. They put down their newspapers and looked up, wide eyed to see their son holding a baby.

“Harry, dear! I had no idea you were a father!” Florence gushed excitedly.

“N-no! He’s not mine … I mean, he’s my … I haven’t got …” Harry gabbled before catching himself, “I mean to say, he’s my godson. Do you remember Remus?”

“Lovely young man he was. Pity, like you said last time, he didn’t deserve to die like that,” Gordon said before realising, “You mean he’s Remus’s son!?”

Harry suddenly realised he’d forgotten to actually tell them about how he had a godson and more importantly, that it was Remus’s child, “He got married last Summer and they had a baby this year in April. He’s called Teddy,” Harry grandparents seemed positively thrilled that he had been made godfather to Remus Lupin’s son. Harry had just handed over Teddy for Gordon to hold when Florence said, “Aren’t you going to introduce us to this young lady, Harry?” she indicated Hermione lurking in the corner of the room.

“Sorry!” Harry said guiltily, more to Hermione, “This is one of my best friends. Hermione Granger; I told you about her, remember?”

“Oh yes!” Florence said happily, “The really intelligent one? My dear, you seemed to have helped Harry a lot these past few years. Thank you for keeping our grandson safe,” Hermione blushed quite a lot and shook Florence’s hand.

It turned into a nice afternoon; Hermione got to know Harry grandparents, and Harry found out more about them. For instance, he had no idea that they both used to be fully qualified aurors, nor that they had both been head boy and girl at Hogwarts. Gordon himself was a seeker at Hogwarts, just like his grandson, and Florence was actually a chaser for the Gryffindor team. Hermione got along especially well with Gordon; he had also been top of their year at school, and it wasn’t long before they were comparing potions they had brewed and spells they had cast, while Florence was telling Harry about being an auror, as she knew this was Harry’s ideal career.

In the middle of all this, Teddy slept throughout the whole of the two hours, in four different people’s arms, but only felt the true safety when he was held by his godfather.

Chapter 51

“We’re going to have to ask you to leave,” A healer told them after entering the room nearly an hour later, “We need to give Mr and Mrs Potter their dittany.”

Harry nodded, and him and Hermione said goodbye to Gordon and Florence. He promised they would return to visit them soon, but Harry knew he wouldn’t have time in the next few days, as he was planning to see Kingsley tomorrow to ask to begin his auror training.

“Your grandparents are so nice!” Hermione told him when they left the room and were walking downstairs to the entrance.

Harry nodded, “I couldn’t believe how well we got on when I first met them; they’re really good -”

“Harry! Hermione!”

The two of them both turned around at the same time to see Bill running towards them holding a large bunch of flowers. They were standing in the entrance hall now, and Bill had just walked through the doors.

“I’m on my way to see Fleur! D’you want to come? Come on! Fleur would love to see you both!” Bill seemed in a very happy mood, and Harry and Hermione were only too happy to go up the stairs again after him.

“So are they okay, Bill?” Hermione asked him happily.

“They’re doing brilliantly! Two beautiful girls,” he said quickly, “Victoire and Aimée. They mean victory and love.”

“They’re lovely names,” Hermione beamed.

“Thank you Hermione. Anyway, I see you have little Teddy there!” Bill said, ruffling Teddy’s little tuft of black hair. The baby stirred, but did not wake up. Bill smiled, and led them on up the stairs. Eventually, they came out at the second floor and entered a ward just off the entrance to the floor. Bill ran down to the end of the ward and kissed a tired-looking Fleur on the forehead. He placed the flowers on the table next to her and whispered something in her ear, causing her to immediately sit up and look around the room. When she saw Harry and Hermione standing in the doorway her face split into a grin and she beckoned them over. They walked over to the bed and Fleur reached over to pull them into a hug, difficult for Harry while he was holding Teddy. When she let go of them she pointed to a small cot housing two tiny babies and said, “Thees ees Victoire, and thees ees Aimée,” she pointed to each child in turn and smiled up at them, “Eet ees very good to see you both. We ‘ave only seen Molly so far, and ze ‘ealers would not let ‘er stay zat long.”

Bill walked round to the little cot and brought one of the babies out. He handed her over to Hermione and said, “Have a little hold, this is Victoire,” Hermione happily took the sleeping baby and cradled her in her arms, “Fleur, why not hold Teddy so Harry can hold Aimée?” Bill asked his wife. She smiled and held out her arms to hold Teddy. Harry passed him over to Fleur and she sat him back gently against her chest, while Harry was given Aimée from Bill. She was still sleeping peacefully, and didn’t even flinch when Harry held her. He began gently rocking her in his arms as Bill looked happily at Harry and Hermione.

“So when will you all be allowed home?” Hermione asked after few minutes of silence.

“Well the healers want to monitor Victoire and Aimée’s progress over the next few days so they’ll have to stay here for a while, but I’m taking Fleur home tomorrow,” Bill smiled cheerily, “We’ve asked the rest of the family to come over for a while in the afternoon. Can you both make it?”

Harry frowned, “I was planning on going to the Ministry to see Kingsley tomorrow. About my auror training,” he said, “Otherwise I would have loved to come.”

“Zat ees a shame,” said Fleur, “But eet ‘as still been nice to see you today. ‘Ermione? Will you be able to come?”

Hermione shook her head sadly, “I wish I could but I’m starting work properly tomorrow. I wouldn’t really want to ask for my first day off. It would have been nice to go as well, but I’m in until seven o’ clock tomorrow night.”

“Ah well. I suppose you’ve made up for it by coming along today. I suppose you’ve been visiting your grandparents Harry?” Bill asked.

“Yeah, I wanted to introduce them to Teddy and Hermione,” Harry told him and Fleur, “They seem to get along very well don’t you?” he added to Hermione. She nodded happily.

“Yes, Mr Potter was telling me all about -”

“Excuse me? I’d hate to interrupt but I’m afraid Mrs Weasley needs to rest now,” A cheerful looking healer said as she walked up the ward. For the second time that day, Harry and Hermione prepared to be shunted out of the ward.

Bill smiled, “I never get tired of hearing that name,” he planted a kiss on Fleur’s lips and ruffled Teddy’s hair again. Harry gently placed Aimée back in her cot, and Hermione did the same with Victoire. They hugged Fleur again, and she thanked them for coming along. Harry gently took Teddy off Fleur, careful not to wake him, and followed Hermione and Bill out the ward.

“So where are you two going now?” Bill asked them.

“We’ll have to go back to Grimmauld place; Andromeda will be there in about an hour so we don’t want to be late,” Harry told him. When they got to the entrance hall, Hermione took out the small model pram and enlarged it with her wand so it was big enough once again for Teddy to lie in.

“That’s a pretty advanced piece of magic there Hermione,” Bill said impressively. He waited for them as Harry gently placed Teddy in the pram and still, Teddy slept on. Once he was sure Teddy was comfortable, Harry began pushing Teddy along the marble floor and towards the doors, which would soon become glass.

On the other side, Bill turned to Harry and Hermione and said, “Well, thanks again for coming to see the babies. It meant a lot to Fleur and me,” Bill smiled at them both then said, “Well I’m off to the Burrow now; I promised mum I’d see her when I was finished at the hospital. I think she’ll go mad if I’m even the slightest bit late,” he laughed nervously, bade them goodbye and ran off to a deserted alley where he could disappear without detection.

Harry and Hermione kept walking until they reached a not-too-busy street, and Hermione flung her arm out to flag down the violently purple bus. Again Harry kept his head down as he and Hermione jumped on the bus, the pram small again, and Harry once again holding Teddy in his arms. They sat down and talked about what would probably happen with Harry’s auror training throughout the journey home.

“Well you might start off by showing them what spells you can already do,” Hermione suggested.

“Yeah but they might want to go through theory and stuff first. You know what it’s like with these sort of things,” harry put forward.

“Hmm … suppose they might. I wonder how long it’ll take?”

“I think Kingsley said it shouldn’t take any longer than two years, probably eighteen months. It usually takes five years but he said something about me already proving I’m worth the job or something.”

“Obviously,” Hermione grinned, “Here we are,” she said, just as the bus came to a screeching halt at the square in Grimmauld Place. They climbed off the bus and, with Harry still holding Teddy, they set off towards number twelve.

Chapter 52

Harry was sitting in the drawing room the next morning, fully dressed in some smart robes. He was watching television, waiting for Hermione to get changed as he would be leaving the house with her today. Ron would be apparating to the joke shop, and Harry and Hermione were using the floo network to get to the Ministry. Hermione had asked that they got their fireplace linked up with the network as it was more convenient to travel to work this way.

Harry was watching The Simpsons for ten more minutes before Ron and Hermione finally came downstairs. Ron kissed Hermione goodbye and wished her luck, before leaving the house. Harry heard him apparate from just outside the window. Hermione took a pinch of floo powder from the mantelpiece and threw it into the fire, “See you there!” She said cheerfully. She stepped into the climbing embers and said clearly, despite the ash, “Ministry of Magic Atrium!” The flames suddenly whooshed up and began licking her body before she disappeared from view. Harry stepped forward and did exactly as Hermione had done. He refrained from gagging when he stepped into the grate, and after yelling his destination, felt himself twisting through the wizarding fireplaces, every now and then catching sight of the interior of a wizarding house. Eventually, he felt himself slide out of the fireplace, and looked around to see the shimmering gold of the water fountain straight in front of him. He stood up and began to brush soot off his robes, before he realised that there wasn’t actually any on him. Hermione saw him looking quite bewildered and said, “The Ministry enchant their fireplaces so you don’t get dirty.”

“Good thing too,” Harry said, laughing.

“So are you going to Kingsley’s office?” Hermione asked him. He nodded, “Right then. I’m going up to level four, so if you need me just come up there.”

“Thanks, I’ll just see you back at home then?” Harry asked. It felt strange calling Grimmauld Place home, but that’s what it felt like now.

“Okay, I’m finished at seven o’ clock, so I’ll probably see you then,” she walked off towards the golden grilles which were the entrances to the many magical lifts. Harry turned the other way and went down the corridor to where Kingsley’s office was. There were still many posters and newspaper cutting stuck on the wall down this corridor, which eventually led to a large oak door complete with a brass doorknocker. Harry reached the door and knocked loudly three times.

“Enter,” Harry heard Kingsley’s deep voice from inside say.

Harry pushed the door open and stepped into the large office. Kingsley looked up from a letter he was writing and laughed, “I was just writing to you,” he pointed at the letter, crumpled it up and threw it in the bin, “sit down,” he indicated the chairs in front of the desk and Harry sat down in one of them, “Well I might as well tell you in person instead, but first, what is it you wanted with me?”

“Well,” Harry began, “I was just wondering when my training would begin. Hermione started work today so I thought I might as well come along with her to ask about it.”

Kingsley smiled, “Harry, it’s very good to see you’re so eager! That’s exactly what I was going to ask you. When would you like to begin? We have a slot in half an hour’s time, then another one at two o’ clock, but if you don’t want to start today we can give you a few days.”

Harry was startled at how early Kingsley was willing to let Harry start training, but by all means happy, “Umm … I suppose I’ll take the one in half an hour if that’s okay!”

“Brilliant, I’ll just let them know you’ll be going,” Kingsley pulled out a purple sheet of parchment and quickly scrawled something down on it. He pointed his wand at it and it immediately folded itself into a paper aeroplane, which then took off through the door to Kingsley’s office and down the corridor.

“Well, it doesn’t begin for another thirty minutes, so I suppose you might like to know a bit about the course?” Kingsley asked him. Harry nodded and sat up in his seat, eager to know what he would be doing.

“Well auror training consists of four different sections. First, you will be learning theory of what it takes to be an auror. This means learning how to conceal yourself from dark magic, dark wizards etc. and you will also be learning about basic theory behind spells and curses. You will also need to recognise poisonous potions and plants which may be dangerous and you may come across them once you are fully qualified. This part of the course usually takes about six months, but it may take you only half that time to complete this section.”

Harry nodded and guessed what the next part of the training would be about, “The next section is about the practical side. You will revise old spells, and learn new ones, and you will also need to be able to control dark plants such as devilsnare, and there is also a section on potion- and antidote-making. I daresay there won’t be many spells you have trouble with, so you may also find that this doesn’t take as long,” Kingsley winked at Harry and went on, “After learning about this, you will need to know how to disguise yourself; some wizards find that becoming an animagus helps, and usually they start training for this at the very beginning of the entire auror course. Usually this would take a year, but we’ll see how it goes for you.” Harry nodded in interest, and waited to hear what the next two parts of the course would be.

“Now the third is the most important and most difficult. I must warn you Harry, that it can sometimes be very dangerous, and many wizards or witches decide not to continue with training half way through this,” Harry nodded again, his interest and attention growing, “It takes a full year for this, for everybody. What you must do is go to a place where there is lots of dark magical activity, and serve time fighting there. For instance, we have four trainee aurors who are up to this stage at the minute, d they are all currently in Japan, where there is a minor battle taking place. They must remain there for a full year to achieve a pass for this. They must also show use of spells they have learnt, and if possible, potion brewing, plant recognising and any other skills they have learnt. It is very difficult, and already one wizard has pulled out of training after only three months. You still want to continue, I suppose?”

“Yes, of course!” Harry protested, “It’s not as if I haven’t fought in a war already,” he laughed nervously. Kingsley smiled.

“I thought you might say that. Anyway, the final section is just bringing all you have learnt together and putting that into demonstration. You will need to show your abilities in a number of examinations, both written and practical, but these only take a week. I’m guessing you will pass these with flying colours though Harry,” Kingsley said proudly.

It all seemed so complicated to harry, but in no way did it stop him wanting to undergo the training. He had wanted to be an auror since his fourth year at Hogwarts, and he wasn’t about to quit now. Kingsley handed Harry a leaflet entitled, ‘So you want to be an auror?’ and told him it basically just summed up what he had just explained.

“Anyway,” Kingsley said, looking at his watch, “Your first lesson begins in ten minutes, so I would leave now. It’s the second floor, and it’s the office just off the first corridor on the left. They know you are on your way, as I have already sent them a memo.”

Harry nodded, “Thank you very much for all this, Kingsley,” Harry said, but Kingsley waved his hand modestly.

“It was nothing, Harry. Believe me, you’d be doping me a favour by becoming an auror”

Harry grinned and left the room. He made his way down the corridor and back into the atrium, where he joined the throng of people waiting to get into one of the lifts. While he waited, he read the leaflet clutched tightly in his hand, and thought about how quickly he had started. He had expected Kingsley to tell him to come back in a few days; an hour ago, he never thought that he’d be on his way to auror training that same day.

Less than five minutes later, Harry found himself tumbling out of the lift at the second floor. He followed Kingsley directions: on the left, just off the corridor. Sure enough, Harry stood facing a black door, not unlike the one which led to the Department of mysteries, but this one had ‘Auror Training Headquarters’ engraved in shining silver writing. Harry took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.

Chapter 53

“Enter,” cam a polite female voice from inside. Harry nervously opened the door and found himself in a room rather like the classrooms at Hogwarts. It was quite large with about ten desks and seats at the back of the room, and at the front there was a blank stretch of marbled floor which Harry guessed was probably used for spell practise. The walls were all filled with many bookshelves, some holding numerous reads and others housing potion ingredients. Harry looked around and saw that two men were sitting at separate desks in the room, and appeared to be doing an exam of some sort. At the very back, a friendly looking woman was sitting behind a larger desk. She looked middle-aged and had her hair tied back with a clip, “Hello Mr Potter,” she said when he looked over at her, “Please come here.” Harry stepped properly into the room and let the door close behind him. He walked as quietly as he could up to the woman sitting behind the desk, so as not to interrupt the two men doing their exams.

“Now Mr Potter. The minister has just sent me a memo telling me you wish to begin your auror training today,” Harry nodded and waited for more, “My name is Alameda Fortis, and I will be your personal instructor throughout your course. You can call me Ally,” she held a hand out for Harry to shake, which he took with quite a shaking hand, “Now, Kingsley said he was planning to tell you what it takes to be an auror. I trust he’s been clear about the topic?”

“Yes, very. He gave me this too,” Harry showed Ally the leaflet Kingsley gave him. She nodded her approval.

“Great, that means we can get started straight away. Now, before we begin the actual training we always request that a test is to be taken. It’s nothing of extreme importance, just to allow us to see how much you already know about the dark arts and fighting them, which I guess you will not have many problems with,” She smiled at Harry and handed him a question booklet, which seemed many sheets of parchment thick, with a quill and some ink, “If you could please complete this now it would be of great help to us. As you can see, these are two new trainees too. They’re both in the same position as you so don’t worry, you won’t be alone on the course,” she gestured t the two men who still had their heads down, looking intently at their answer sheet. Ally smiled at him again and pointed to an empty seat for Harry to sit down.

He sat down at the empty desk and opened the first page.

Question one
Name the three unforgivable curses, and what they do.

Question two
What does the ‘Impedimenta’ jinx do?

Question three
Name the potion which forces the drinker to tell the truth.

Harry grinned to himself and began to write the answers down, knowing what they were. The questions continued in this manner. Harry found them rather easy to answer, and was glad of it.

Question eleven
Name an antidote to most poisons

Question twelve i)
How does devilsnare capture its prey?

Question twelve ii)
How can you tell the difference between devilsnare and a flitterbloom cutting?

Harry, remembering back to when Broderick Bode was killed by the devilsnare, remembered Hermione saying something about the colour of the leaves on the plants. He also remembered when he had shoved the bezoar down Ron's throat back in their sixth year. He began writing again, and answered another twenty three questions before he became stuck.

Question thirty seven
What is the main ingredient in a blood-replenishing potion?

Question thirty eight
How do you recognise a confusing concoction?

Question thirty nine
What is the only spell known to kill venomous tentacula?

Harry didn’t know any of these questions, nor did he get any of the following four. There were fifty questions in all, and he managed to answer thirty nine himself. The ones he didn’t know, he decided to leave blank rather than guess, as Ally would be able to see where his weakest points were. By the time he had finished, the other two men had had their papers marked and had left the room; one had scored twenty eight out of fifty, the other thirty two.

Harry stood up and made his way over to the desk. Ally looked up when she heard him coming and held out her hand to take the paper. Harry handed it over, and she placed it on her desk. She pulled her wand out of a drawer and tapped the paper with it. Immediately, ticks and crosses began to fill all the pages, until it was finished and a final mark appeared on the top corner of the front page.

“Thirty nine out of fifty, well done Harry!” She said impressively, “Now you scored one hundred per cent of the spells questions, which is excellent. Creatures, eighty two per cent. Herbology, sixty four per cent, not bad at all; potions was just fifty four, which isn’t too bad, but there’s room for improvement. These are very good results, Harry, especially for spells and dark creatures. However, I know that your weakest points were for potions and herbology, so we will be playing close attention to these aspects when you come to starting your training.”

“So when will I be starting?” Harry asked politely.

“Well I’ll need to inform the professors that there are three new students; I am only your advisor, I may not teach you at all. After I have informed the professors then I’ll be able to get back to you. I’d expect an owl in the next four days. We’ll send you a timetable of when you need to be here and information packs for what you will be studying. You’ll be in probably three days a week, for between two and four hours at a time.”

“That sounds fine, thank you,” Harry said.

“No problem. Anyway, I need to go now, I’m meeting a trainee soon, so I’ll see you possibly later in the week,” She held her hand out again and Harry shook it, “It’s been nice to meet you, and best of luck on the course.”

She smiled and walked out the door at the back of the room. Harry followed suit, and walked towards the lifts. He didn’t have to wait long for one to arrive, and while he went up to the atrium, he thought about the training he would need to undergo to become an auror. He felt nervous about it, but also excited. In a way, it would be like school all over again … but then at the end of his training he would need to fight in a wizarding battle.

Harry laughed. Yep, he thought, definitely like school; learn things, then fight a battle.

~~~
Sorry it was quite short, but I wanted to post another chapter because I'm not sure if I'll be able to post another tomorrow seeing as it's Christmas Eve

Anyway, please leave me lots and lots of feedback, as it's Christmas!!

~Amy

Okay, so Christmas is over, so I wrote this chapter on boxing day ... I don't really like the first part, but I like the second part

Enjoy!

~~~

Chapter 54

“Wow,” Ron said incredulously, “That’s a lot of training!”

Harry nodded, but smiled. It was night-time, and they were all in the drawing room. Harry was showing Ron and Hermione the leaflet about the course of training he was taking. They had both listened as Harry explained about all the different sections of the training there were, and he was now showing them the leaflet.

“So you’ll need to know more about potions and plants?” Hermione asked, taking the leaflet off Ron.

“Yes. I got,” harry screwed up his face, trying to remember what he had achieved in his preliminary test, “one hundred on spells, so I’m okay for them at the minute. I think it was eighty two for the dark magical creatures; sixty something for herbology, and fifty something at potions.”

“Really??” Hermione asked, “You got one hundred per cent for spells?”

“Hermione are you really that surprised? This is Harry Potter we’re talking about!” Ron laughed.

“Anyway,” Hermione pressed on, ignoring Ron, “I’ll be back in minute,” she got up from Ron’s lap and left the room; Harry heard her going up the stairs.

“What do you suppose she’s doing?” Harry asked Ron, his eyes narrowed.

“Well what do you think?!” Ron said, grinning, “Books maybe??”

Harry laughed, “Oh yeah,” he said. There was silence for a while, until Harry asked, “So how was work?”

Ron laughed, “Great, guess who came to the shop?” Harry shrugged, “Well Percy came in, and he went through to the backroom to see George and Alicia. You’d think they’d make their doors imperturble when there are dozens of extendable ears in the shop,” Ron grinned, “So anyway I got a set of ears and listened at the door – only don’t tell Hermione, I doubt she’d be too pleased with me – and I heard them talking about how Alicia is pregnant. Percy guessed when she ordered the pumpkin juice at the Hogshead so now he knows. Alicia told Fleur as well, so Bill probably knows, and George told Charlie since they get on so well. So anyway, mum and dad are the only ones who don’t know!” Harry stared at Ron, trying his best not to laugh. But the image of Mrs Weasleys face when she found out everyone else knew was too much, and he gave in. The two of them were in hysterics when Hermione walked back in.

“What’s so funny?” She asked, bemused. She sat down next to Ron and put down a pile of about six books on the floor. She looked between the two of them and sighed.

“N-nothing!” Ron spluttered. Hermione tutted and looked at Ron questioningly. His laughs subsided enough for him to explain what had made them so hysterical, “Mr and Mrs Weasley are the only ones who don’t know Alicia is pregnant!”

Hermione stared at them blankly and was silent before saying, “Why is that so funny?”

“Hermione, imagine -” Ron said, his laughter stopping, “Imagine their reaction when they find out!! Priceless! Especially mum’s, I think she’ll explode. Three grandkids in a year! And them being the only ones who don’t know!”

Hermione raise her eyebrows and shook her head disbelievingly, “Anyway Harry, I’ve dug out these books to help you with the training. You’ll probably need to revise a lot so I’ve got some about potions and herbology, and there’s also a couple about magical creatures, so you’ll be able to … oh forget it!” She threw her arms in the air and sat back on the sofa, for Harry and Ron had just dissolved into a fit of laughter again.

“Sorry, Hermione,” Harry said, trying to disguise his laughter.

“Yeah, sorry,” Ron said, and he went to kiss her cheek but he ended up laughing in her face.

“Ron!!” She screamed, wiping her cheek, but she too seemed unable to hold her laugh in now, “Oh I’m getting some tea!” she left the room and they heard her going downstairs to the kitchen. Harry didn’t even know why it was so funny, but he liked being able to laugh once again.

~~~~~~~~

Ginny woke up earlier than she normally would have on the morning of the first Saturday of term, mostly due to excitement to see whether hers and Faye’s prank had worked from the previous night. She leant over the edge of the bed and picked up a ‘blank’ piece of parchment from the floor, under mounting piles of homework. She had received two packages earlier that week, one from George, and the other from Harry. The one from her brother was a bumper pack of products from the joke shop with a note attached to it – 'Someone needs to keep the jokes and pranks up!'

The parcel from Harry had a note attached to it too, which said ‘Do not open this at the table! It’s the invisibility cloak and the marauders map – you know how to work it. Just in case you get board at night. Love you, Harry.’ Ginny had grinned when she received this; it was the perfect combination – joke shop items, the cloak and the map. She’d already come up with a prank when she saw what George had included in his set.

Now, she carefully unfolded the map, tapped it with her wand and whispered, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” The map immediately grew and grew until it showed the whole of Hogwarts and its inhabitants. She looked at the map and noticed that a few Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were roaming the corridors, though no Slytherins. She grinned evilly to herself, cleared the map and lay back down for a while, waiting for Faye to wake up. Faye was Ginny’s best friend in their year group; they had made friends on their first week of their first year, and ever since, they had sat next to each other in lessons, along with Luna, and hung out together when Ginny was not with Harry, Ron and Hermione. Faye was a tall brunette with brown eyes, and she was also muggle born. This didn’t seem to bother her though, and like Hermione, she was the best in their year, but this didn’t stop her wanting to break the rules.

An hour later, Faye began to stir, and Ginny looked through the hangings of the bed, “Hurry up Faye! We need to get downstairs!” Suddenly a look of knowing dawned upon Faye’s face, and she immediately got up to get dressed. Ginny checked the map again and noticed that there still weren’t any Slytherins out of their common room, but most of the rest of the school was now in the great hall.

When they were dressed, Ginny and Faye made their way down to the great hall where they found three relatively full house tables and one without any occupants at all. Ginny and Faye looked at each other and grinned. They walked over to the Gryffindor table, trying to look as though they didn’t know what was happening, and sat down next to Demelza Robins, the new Gryffindor quidditch captain.

“Hi Demelza,” Ginny said, wearing what she hoped was a puzzled expression, “What’s happened? Where are all the Slytherins?”

Demelza laughed and said, “Well apparently the entrance to their common room has been sealed shut and none of them can get out. Loads of the teachers have tried to unstick it, but nothing is working.”

Ginny and Faye gave each other the thumbs up from under the table, and ate their breakfast happily. When they had finished Ginny took out some spare parchment and began writing a letter.

George –
Thank you so much for the pack of joke products! Harry sent me the map and cloak too, so thanks to you two, me and Faye were able to pull our first prank! We went out to the dungeons at one o’ clock this morning and poured some of that Invisible Charm-Repelling Glue all over the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Since no one can see it, none of the teachers know what it is or how to unseal it, so until we decide we’ve had enough fun, the Slytherins are pretty much stuck inside their dungeon!
I’ll owl you again when we’ve done our next prank, but I don’t know when that’ll be.
Love, Ginny

Satisfied, Ginny tied the letter up with a piece of string, and began to write a second one. She kept it pretty much the same, except it was to Harry. She tied this one up as well, and turned to her friend, “Can I use your owl Faye?” she nodded, and they gathered their stuff to go to the owlery.

Chapter 55

“What are they?” Ron asked as Harry began to open the first of two letters he had just received; one from a small barn owl and the other from a handsome tawny one. He and Ron were sitting in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, and two owls had just flown through the open window. Hermione was at work, and Ron wasn’t starting at the joke shop until the afternoon.

Harry tore the first envelope open to find a letter from Ally at the auror office at the ministry. It was Sunday now, five days since he had gone for his initial test.

Dear Harry,
I have managed to contact the suitable professors to train you to become an auror, and I have come up with a timetable, which you will find enclosed with this letter. I have also included a list of books you may find useful for your training. It is not compulsory to purchase these, but I urge you to do so, as they will help you very much in the near future.
You will get paid for your training, though it will not be a large sum. You will receive two galleons for every class you attend, and an extra five for every exam you pass with a distinction.
If you have any questions, queries, or if you wish for your timetable to be changed, please do not hesitate to contact me at the Auror office at the Ministry.
Yours sincerely,
Alameda Fortis,
Auror Training Office

“Is that from the ministry?” Ron asked Harry, noticing the official-looking stamp on the envelope. Harry nodded and passed the letter over for Ron to read, while he ripped open the second letter, which Harry noticed was in Ginny’s handwriting. He happily opened it up, and as he read it, he began to laugh.

Harry –
Thanks a lot for the cloak and map! George recently sent me a bumper pack of WWW products, so thanks to you both, me and Faye have pulled of our first prank! We sneaked out at one in the morning, went down to the dungeons and poured some of that Invisible Charm-Repelling Glue all over the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Since no one can see it, none of the teachers know what it is or how to unseal it, so until we decide we’ve had enough fun, the Slytherins are pretty much stuck inside their dungeon!
Keep in touch, I’m missing you all!
Love you, Ginny

“What’s so funny?” Ron asked Harry, watching him laugh. Harry just gave this letter to Ron as well, and he read it and laughed out loud.

“I never thought Ginny had it in her!” He said delightedly, “I’d love to be at Hogwarts right now, just to see the school without all the Slytherins cramping our style!”

Harry laughed, “Yeah, trust all the fun to come back after we’d left!”

“Well, at least someone’s seeing to the Slytherins, whether we’re at Hogwarts or not,” Ron said thoughtfully, “Mind you, I never expected that it would be Ginny and Faye who turned into the new Fred and George. Faye always seemed so … Hermione-ish!” Ron laughed, “And then Ginny’s just … Well, Ginny!”

Harry smiled, then turned serious again, “Yeah, I suppose you’re right, which is why we shouldn’t tell Hermione about what Ginny’s up to. She’ll probably go straight up to the school herself and drag Ginny out.”

“Good point. Anyway, when are you in for training?”

Harry looked back at his timetable and read off it, “I’m in Monday, Tuesday and Friday. I think I might go and see my grandparents on Wednesday or Thursday, but the healers said they might be let out this week.”

Ron frowned, “But where would they live? Do they have a house or did they lose it when …”

“I’m not sure,” Harry said quickly, “They never actually said anything about that.”

~~~
Harry heard a gasp coming from the kitchen later in the evening, “She didn’t!”

Harry crossed through the hall to see who had made the noise and why, and opened the kitchen door to find Hermione reading a letter with her mouth open, “What is it?” Harry asked her urgently.

“You weren’t planning on telling me this were you?” She said with her hands on her hips. Harry looked at what she had been reading, and suddenly he realised; it was the letter Harry had received from Ginny that morning, and he had forgotten to put it away.

“Well I didn’t want you going up to the school and yelling at her, did I?” Harry said defensively.

“Well I – why would I do that?” Hermione asked, changing in mid-sentence. Harry heard a creak from behind him and turned to find Ron entering the kitchen.

“What’s happened?” he asked.

“Harry was about to tell me why he didn’t tell me about this prank Ginny had pulled!”

“You hardly gave me a chance to explain what had happened; you haven’t been in the house that long!” Harry lied.

“Is three hours not long enough to explain? Anyway, who says I would be annoyed?” She said sounding slightly hurt. Neither Harry nor Ron answered, but looked up at her awkwardly, “It’s only a bit of fun, isn’t it? And I suppose she just doesn’t want Fred to die in vain.” Hermione got up and walked out of the kitchen, and Harry could’ve sworn he saw tears in her eyes. He immediately felt guilty, and was about to get up from his chair when Ron followed her out of the kitchen.

Harry waited for ten minutes before Ron arrived back in the kitchen and sat down opposite him.

“Don’t worry about her, she’s fine. She’s just a bit hurt that we have a ‘negative’ image of her, was what she said in her exact words.”

“Surely she knows you at least don’t have a negative image of her?!” Harry grinned. Ron blushed slightly.

“Anyway,” he said hurriedly, “She said something about the Slytherins getting what they deserved, and that the battle had changed her and she wishes we could see that she’s not just a sensible know-it-all.”

“Wow,” Harry said, “How can girls can feel so many different things?”

Ron laughed, “Search me. Well, I’m off to bed. Night.”

“Night,” Harry said, and went up to his own room soon after.

~~~
“Maybe we should let the Slytherins out now,” Faye said to Ginny on Sunday night, while they were lying on their beds in the dormitory “They’ll eventually find out it was us anyway,” Faye waited a while for a response, but didn’t get one, “Ginny?!” She said, looking over at her friend.

“Hmm?” Ginny said absent-mindedly. Faye laughed.

“Playing with that ring again? You’ve never stopped twirling it since you got to Hogwarts!” Ginny suddenly realised that she was indeed twisting her ring lovingly round her finger. She always thought of Harry when she did this, and it sent her into a daydream.

“Sorry, what were you saying?” Ginny asked Faye.

“I said, we should let the Slytherins out tonight, or else we’ll get into trouble. The teachers are going to find out it was us eventually.”

Ginny sighed. Although Faye did break the rules, she was always afraid of being caught, and always knew where to draw the line, “Fine, we’ll go back under the cloak at midnight.”

At half past eleven that night, Ginny rummaged silently in her trunk until she found the bottle of dark green fluid which would unstuck the entrance to the Slytherin common room. She also extracted from her trunk the map and the cloak, before setting off to reverse their prank. When they arrived down in the dungeons, they found the blank wall where the Slytherin common room was, and stood silently outside it, listening.

Angry voices were coming from the inside of the room, even though it was past midnight now.

“I bet it’s a Gryffindor!”

“I think it’s that new headmistress!”

“I bet it’s Weasley, her brother probably put her up to this!”

“I thought he was dead?”

“Nah, that was his twin, pity it couldn’t have been both though!”

“Dirty blood traitors!”

Ginny and Faye, still standing under the cloak, listened in horror as the Slytherins foulmouthed the Weasley family. Ginny was thinking fast of a plan to get them back; if she left them in the common room, the enjoyment of it would soon wear off, and the other students in the school would eventually get bored. She needed a new plan …

“I know!” Faye whispered, “Okay, we’ll let the Slytherins out tomorrow morning, so we know they’ll all be out, and since the entrance will be open, we’ll sneak inside. I’ve never liked green personally!”

Ginny catching on at what Faye was planning, grinned evilly and nodded. The two of them ran back up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room, and after casting the muffliato charm around the other girls’ beds, they began to plan their next prank on the Slytherins.

~~~
Harry woke up early the next morning, and prepared himself for his first proper lesson in auror training. He had already checked the booklist for what he may need, and realised that these had been the books Hermione had given him the other day. He looked guiltily down at the pile of old books and sifted through them until he found the ones he needed. There were five on his list, and unfortunately, these happened to be the five heaviest books there. He rifled through the cupboards in the drawing room until he found a black rucksack, though it was only large enough to fit a couple of books inside it.

Remembering what Hermione was so accomplished at, Harry attempted to enlarge the interior of the bag, but although he knew the incantation, it wasn’t making any difference to the size of it. Harry sighed, and decided to just carry the books by hand to the Ministry.

“Harry?” Hermione’s voice came from the doorway. Harry looked over and noticed she hd her emerald robes on for work.

“Morning! I thought you weren’t at work today?” Harry asked her; she was supposed to have Mondays off.

“I requested extra hours to pay for the wedding,” she told him, “Need help with that charm?” she walked over and sat down next to Harry. She picked up the small backpack, tapped it with her wand and muttered the incantation. Harry heard what sounded like something heavy being dropped, and looked in the bag. It didn’t look any bigger than earlier, but Hermione slipped the books inside and they fitted with great ease.

“Thanks Hermione … and, sorry for yesterday, I should’ve told -”

“Harry don’t apologise, I was being pathetic. I overreacted, it really doesn’t matter anymore, but I suppose I was just worried about Ginny. I don’t want her doing anything stupid and getting expelled for it,” She paused, then to Harry’s surprise, said, “But still, she got the Slytherins. I suppose we have to give her some credit!”

Harry stared at her and said, “Hermione Granger, I never thought you’d ever be happy about a prank at Hogwarts!”

Hermione grinned and said, “That’s exactly what Ron said! People change though Harry! But one thing I won’t change is my punctuality,” She turned back to being serious again and said, “I need to leave for work now. Coming?”

Harry nodded and waited while she quickly ran up to ‘say’ goodbye to Ron, who was starting work later on today. He had also asked for more working hours at the shop to cover the cost of the wedding. Harry wouldn’t get paid a lot for training, but he still had a lot of money in his vault at Gringotts from his parents and Sirius. Ginny was also earning money – George was paying her to sell WWW products at Hogwarts to other students. Harry thought that with all the money they were earning, they would have more than enough to have the perfect wedding.

~~~~
Please leave me some feedback! I worked hard on this to get it the perfect amount of words (2007!)

Have a fab new year all!!

~AMY <3

Chapter 56

The Ministry was full of witches and wizards milling around in the atrium when they arrived there. Harry didn’t feel a bit nervous as he left the lift and turned into the room he had gone in the other day. He pushed the door open and found Ally sitting at the desk, with one of the two men who were there when Harry took his exam.

“Harry,” Ally smiled as he walked in, “Please sit down. We’re just waiting for Wayne now. Harry, this is Nick Harper. He was, I think, two years older than you at Hogwarts. Nick, this is Harry Potter.” Harry felt it was quite unnecessary to tell Nick his name. Harry remembered him as a Slytherin whose brother had been in Harry’s year and on the Slytherin Quidditch team. Harry nodded at Nick and shook hands with him but they broke their grip quickly, and Harry sat down a couple of desks away from him and waited for the final student to arrive.

Less than five minutes later, a man with shoulder length dark blond hair who looked considerably older than Harry walked in and smiled nervously at Ally, “Sorry I’m late!” he told her.

“That’s fine. Wayne, this is Nick and Harry. Nick, Harry, this is Wayne . Harry I think Wayne was in your friend Bill Weasley’s year at Hogwarts. A Gryffindor, if I remember correctly?”

Wayne nodded and grinned, and sat down between Nick and Harry. The three of them looked up at Ally, waiting for her to speak. She got up from her desk and stood in front of the three of them.

“Well I’m glad the three of you are all going ahead with the training course; many witches and wizards change their minds after they take our preliminary exam, but I’m glad we still have all three of you. Now, first of all, you won’t be getting me as your teacher, but once a month we’ll all come together and discuss your progress, and I will tell you which areas you will need to work at, which areas you are excelling at, and so on. Professor Klug will be your normal teacher, and he should be here any minute now,” she checked her watch and looked up at the door. As soon as she did so, a tall man with a neat comb over hair style walked in holding a briefcase. He smiled warmly at them and set his case upon the desk at the front of the room.

“Now I best be off now. Enjoy it, but try hard and listen carefully, it can prove to be difficult sometimes. I’ll see you later,” said Ally, and she walked out of the room with a small wave at them. Professor Klug sat down behind his desk and looked at the three of them. At closer glance, he reminded Harry a bit of Mad-Eye Moody in the sense that his face bore many deep scars, and he also had half of his right ear missing.

“My name is Professor Joseph Klug, and I will be teaching you in the majority of your auror course,” he said with a smile in a deep voice, “I’m guessing you are Wayne, you are Nick, and you of course are Harry Potter,” the three students nodded and Klug went on, “Now as you can see, being an auror is by no means a walk in the park. The pressure and physical strength required for the job has evidently left me with many scars and permanent injuries, which resulted in me having to retire early as an auror. Since then, I have become a teacher for trainee aurors like yourselves. Some of those I have helped train ended up with injuries similar to mine, some of them left the business when they felt the time was right, and others never returned from jobs due to murders, and sometimes terrible accidents,” an eerie silence followed Klug’s last words and the three men stared at him, awestruck, “The point I am trying to make, is that to continue on this course, you MUST be prepared, and you must be dedicated. It can be very dangerous, being an auror, and we need to be sure that you are all up to the level of this amount of work. If you are not, you my as well leave now,” he pointed to the door and looked at them all. None of them moved, which satisfied Klug enough for him to stand up and conjure up a blackboard with his wand, right in front of them all.

“Now today I just want to test your knowledge on spells; this includes dark curses, counter curses, and even very basic spells which can come of use to us when we are in tight situations.” He now waved his wand at the board and the words Useful spells to defend appeared in white writing.

“We will firstly revise some simple spells which aurors have used. Simple though they are, they have seemed to save the lives of many aurors in the past, which is why we feel the need to teach them and their uses. Now, who can tell me the incantation, purpose and advantage of the disarming spell?”

Harry heard a tut from two seats along, “This is too easy” He heard Nick mutter. Harry rolled his eyes just as Professor Klug inclined his head towards Nick and said, “It may be easy, but do not forget that it saved a certain somebody’s life from the dark lord not too many years ago. A certain somebody who is sitting in front of me right now,” He now looked at Harry, who felt his face redden. Nick sighed and sat back in his seat, “If you think it’s beyond you though, maybe you should leave?” Klug looked back at Nick and once again pointed at the door.

Nick mumbled a nearly inaudible apology, and shut his mouth.

“Good,” Klug said, satisfied, “As I was saying. The disarming spell?”

Wayne said, “The disarming spell’s incantation is expelliarmus, and it works by removing the wand of the opposite user. This gives an advantage as it prevents the enemy from performing a curse or spell without the use of their arm,” Klug nodded and again tapped the board with his wand. This time, a summary of what Wayne had just said appeared on the blackboard. Klug then said, “Yes, that is the main purpose of it. However, it is not just the user’s wand which can be taken off them. The term ‘disarm’ does what it says – disarms the opponent, and this goes for anything they are holding at the time which can be of threat to the spell-user. But, yes, the basic gist of it is to prevent the enemy from using their wand. Next, the impediment jinx?”

Harry suddenly found himself explaining what he knew about the jinx to the Professor Klug, “Well the incantation is Impedimenta, and it slows the person, or object you are facing, down. It gives a moment for the user to escape or disapparated quicker before the opponent can curse or harm you, as it also renders the opponent unable to use their wand until the effects wear off.”

Harry surprised himself of being able to say this in front of the other three, but Klug seemed impressed. With a waved of his wand, Harry’s words also appeared on the blackboard, “Well said. The impediment jinx is a very common spell, and can give the user a split second advantage, providing the opponent doesn’t deflect it with a shield charm. Nick,” Nick suddenly sat bolt upright and looked at Professor Klug, “Tell us, what are the properties of a shield charm?”

Nick hesitate then said, “I think the charm is protego. It prevents a spell from hitting its target by producing a shield between the person who performs the initial curse, and its target. And it’s … erm … easy to use.” He finished awkwardly, and looked up at Klug.

“Yes, that’s right,” Klug said, and the words once again appeared before their very eyes on the board in front of them, “However. It is, as you correctly said, easy to use. The incantation is easy to remember, and the theory is also very simple. But, this can prove to be a disadvantage as well. Due to the simplicity of learning this charm, it can be produced non-verbally just as easy as it can when the word is uttered. This means, that the opponent can always make time to perform the spell immediately after you have already cast a spell, but this can also act as an advantage to you as well. Just remember, your enemy will always be prepared to perform a reacting shield charm,” he flicked his wand again and the extra information about this appeared in white, “Which spell can be used to bind the enemy in ropes, causing them to be unable to move or use their wand?”

Once again, Harry found himself explaining, “Incarcerous. It conjures ropes to wrap around the opponent’s body, or the object they are intended for, which are unbreakable unless the correct counter-curse is used against them,” Harry finished and looked up at Professor Klug, who nodded.

“Can you tell me which counter-curse this is Harry?” he asked.

“It’s the severing charm. Diffindo I think,” Harry finished.

Klug went through many more curses, such as Stupefy, Rennervate (the stunning curse and its counterpart), Accio (the summoning charm Harry was all-too familiar with – he explained this to the others as well), Alohomora (Unlocks doors), Colloportus (to lock doors), Episkey (heals wounds and other bodily damage), Evanesco (the vanishing spell), Finite (stops the spell currently being used) and a few more. He told them that tomorrow, which was when they were next due in, they would be focusing on more complex spells, such as patronuses, which Harry would be looking forward to, even if they didn’t get to actually perform them.

When the day’s lesson was over (it lasted just over two hours) Harry left the room with the other two behind him. He was walking down the corridor when Wayne came up behind him and said, “You really do know a lot about all that stuff. Even I don’t know some of that and I actually completed my seventh year at Hogwarts!” He laughed as he said it but then said, “But seriously, I think it’s great how much you know. We never really got taught much about those kinds of spells when we were at Hogwarts. You-Know-Who wasn’t really around much then so the teachers didn’t find it necessary,” a small silence followed his words, and eventually Wayne said, “So how’s Bill? We used to be great friends at school but then we just lost contact. I haven’t heard from him in about three years now!”

Wayne seemed like a nice man, so Harry didn’t hesitate much to tell him what Bill was doing now, “He’s great. He got married last year and his wife just had twins last week,” Harry told Wayne with a smile.

“That’s brilliant! I heard last year that he got a werewolf bite, but there wasn’t much said about it. He’s not … you know …”

“No,” said Harry firmly, “He wasn’t bitten at the full moon. He still has scars but he isn’t a werewolf.”

Wayne nodded and said, “That’s good. Does he still have that fang earring and the long hair?” He asked with a grin.

“Yeah, his mum is always getting annoyed about it!” Harry said also grinning, and Wayne laughed.

“Yeah, he used to always complain about that at school. I think I might owl him soon. I haven’t spoke to him in ages like I say, and it would be great to catch up with him. Anyway, it’s nice to meet you Harry. I’ll see you tomorrow!” He waved at Harry in a friendly way, and Harry waved back, glad of a new friend he had made.

~~~
Hahaha 2008 words for this one!!! I'm getting good at this

Please leave feedback!!

Have a great new year too!

~Amy <3

Chapter 57

Ginny and Faye went up to bed and lay for a while, planning what they were going to do in the morning, aided by the muffliato spell once again.

“How can we guarantee that they’ll all be out though?” Faye asked Ginny nervously.

“I don’t think we’ll need to worry about that,” Ginny said thoughtfully, “I think after being trapped in the common room for nearly three days is enough to make anyone want to get out of there!”

“Good point,” Faye agreed with a small laugh, “So what are the plans for Operation Redecoration?”

“So we’re naming the pranks now are we?” Ginny grinned, “Anyway, I’m not even sure what the Slytherin common room is like. Obviously, I’ve never been in. Well, Harry has and he says it’s basically all green and silver, so I was thinking maybe we should just change the green to red, the silver to gold, and all the snakes to lions,” Ginny finished, and hi-fived Faye.

“Harry’s been in the … never mind,” Faye laughed; she thought this was a tame thing for Harry to do compared to all the other things he had done in the past, “How about a banner?” Faye suggested, “We could write something like ‘The Weasley twins will never leave Hogwarts’?”

Ginny grinned, “Great idea … that’s a bit of a mouthful though, maybe we should shorten it to something more witty. We’ll think about it before we start in the morning. Right now, I just want to sleep,” she yawned, and as Faye crept over to her own bed, Ginny removed the Muffliato charms around the other girls’ beds. Ginny and Faye didn’t really get on well with them, so Ginny didn’t want to let them in on the pranks. They had always thought of Harry as a ‘nutter’ and weren’t happy when Ginny had defended him. Ginny thought her and Faye made a great team anyway, and as she fell back against her pillow, she couldn’t wait for the morning to come.

~~~

Harry and Hermione left the house together again the next day to go to the Ministry. Hermione was excited as today she was putting forth a few ideas she had in mind to revamp the Magical Creatures office. Harry wished her luck as he left her in the lift to go to the auror office on the second floor. He entered the large classroom to find Professor Klug standing in the middle of the empty space with Wayne. He greeted Wayne in a friendly manner and said good morning to Professor Klug. They stood waiting for Nick for a short while and it wasn’t look before he came swaggering into the room. He reminded Harry unpleasantly of Malfoy.

“Okay!” Klug clapped his hands together and said, “As I said yesterday, we’ll be doing patronuses today. The thing with patronuses is that even when you study the theory, it is never as easy to actually perform the spell, unlike most charms. Because of this, I have decided to dedicate half of today’s lesson to actually practising the charm. We will also be looking at other advanced spells, many of which weren’t mentioned in the initial test you did last week, so they may be knew to some of you. So, before we start the practical side of things, tell me; what is a patronus?”

Nobody answered at first, so Harry spoke, “It’s like a shield around the user, and it repels dementors, but only for a moment or two if the memory isn’t strong enough. If you perform a proper patronus it drives the dementors away properly in the form of an animal usually,” Harry finished and looked up at Professor Klug who was nodding.

“Can I ask you what form your patronus takes?” He asked Harry.

“A stag,” Harry told him.

He nodded again, “Nick, Wayne; can either of you produce a fully-fledged patronus?”

Nick shook his head in a bored way, but Wayne said, “I’ve been able to produce one a couple of times, but I find it difficult. Mine’s a hippogriff.”

“Yes, patronuses can be very difficult to master. Once you understand how to use them, it becomes rather simple to produce them, providing you have a sufficiently happy memory. Expecto patronum!” He said unexpectedly, pointing his wand to the wall. Only a thin wisp of silver light came out and disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared, “You see, the incantation was correct, but my memory wasn’t strong enough. Dementors fear happiness, so the memory must be very powerful to be able to drive them off, like so. EXPECTO PATRONUM!” he shouted. A silvery shape erupted out of the end of his wand and this time it didn’t disappear, but took the form of a shining eagle which soared around the room a couple of times before disappearing, “The first memory I thought of was when I passed my NEWTS in seventh year. Obviously, this wasn’t a strong enough memory, so the patronus didn’t work properly. My second memory was when I became a qualified auror. For me, this was one of he greatest moments of my life, so this allowed my patronus to bework fully, in the form of an eagle, as you have just seen. I understand that there may not be much need to use patronuses as often now since the Minister has removed them from Azkaban, but we still feel that it is necessary to teach you the correct charm to repel them.” He paused for a moment then turned to Harry, “Harry, how about you show us your patronus?”

“Me?” Harry asked stupidly; Klug nodded. Harry took a step away from the others and took his wand out of his back pocket. He pointed it at the middle of the room and immediately thought of when he had defeated Voldemort and he knew he would be able to be happy once again with Ron, Hermione and Ginny, “EXPECTO PATRONUM!” Harry shouted, and at once, silver stag jumped from the end of his wand, galloped the length of the room and disappeared through the wall.

Klug nodded, impressed and stayed silent for a while before speaking again, “Well done, Harry. Would you mind telling us which memory you thought of, or would you find that a bit personal?”

“No, I don’t mind. I thought of … when Voldemort was defeated,” Harry thought it may seem slightly pigheaded if he said ‘when I defeated Voldemort.’

“Yes, I can imagine that is a powerful memory. Especially for you Harry,” Klug smiled at Harry understandingly then turned to Wayne, “Why don’t you have a try? I know you may not get it first time round, but it’s better to try than to not.”

Wayne nodded and stepped forward. He pointed his wand in front of him and closed his eyes for a moment; Harry guessed it was to think of a memory. He opened them again a few seconds later and took a deep breath, “EXPECTO PATRONUM!” he yelled determinedly, still looking straight ahead of him. Something silver came out the end of his wand, and after a moment it formed a hippogriff and started leaping proudly around the room. Harry looked at Wayne, who looked both shocked and impressed at his own work.

“Very well done,” Professor Klug smiled, “The memory - ?”

“My wedding two years ago,” Wayne said happily. Klug nodded approvingly then rested his eyes upon Nick who seemed to be somewhat dreading stepping forward for his turn. He reluctantly did so, and pointed his wand forward with a shaking hand. Harry grinned inwardly to himself.

“Ex-Expectro Patromun – no Patronun – I mean …” Nick swore rather loudly but didn’t look at Klug, obviously afraid of what he might say, “Expecto Patronum!” He said expectantly, but his wand only did a pathetic judder in his hand, but nothing came out of the end, “This is useless anyway!!” Nick exploded, “I don’t even WANT to be an auror!!” And with that, he stormed out of the classroom and kicked a desk, which was followed by a yelp of pain. Harry, Wayne and Professor Klug were all silent for a moment or two, all of them staring at the door which Nick had just slammed shut.

“I knew he wouldn’t last,” Klug said casually, but Harry could tell he was pleased, “Only a matter of time before he went. It looks like our class is just down to two, now. I’m very sorry, but unfortunately this means quite a bit of paperwork for me, so I’m going to have to cut the lesson short for today. I’ll see you all again on Friday though, same time. Sorry about this,” He smiled apologetically, and held the door open for them, “Can I ask you both to practise patronuses to master them, and did you get the required textbooks?” Both Harry and Wayne nodded and Klug said, “Okay, well can I ask you to read chapter seventeen of Advanced Defensive Magic, which begins on page 394, and make brief notes on the charm. We would do it in the lesson, but certain things have got in the way,” Harry nodded, and followed Wayne into the corridor.

“Little Git,” Wayne said, “Typical Slytherin, he was. I don’t even know why he started the course of he can’t even do it.”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed, “Well done on the patronus by the way!”

“Oh thanks! I was really surprised; like I said I’ve never managed to do one properly many times. Well done on yours too. Not many people in Hogwarts could do it, even past NEWT level!”

“Thanks,” Harry grinned. There was a pause while they got in the lift, then Harry said, “What do you think we’ll be doing on Friday?”

Wayne looked thoughtful for a moment and then he said, “I’m not sure, he said advanced stuff, so it could be anything really. I doubt we’ll be doing a practical lesson though, he said that was just a one off so we knew what it felt like to produce a patronus.”

“Yeah,” Harry said, nodding, “I’ll see you on Friday then,” Harry said, as they had arrived at the fireplaces where they’d be leaving by floo powder.

“See you later,” Wayne said.

~~~

“Ready?” Faye asked.

“Ready!” Ginny said with a mischievous grin. They gathered their wands, the anti-stick formula and a piece of red cloth and set off under the cloak; if anyone saw them with what they were carrying they would almost certainly be found out.

They passed the Great Hall, which was three quarters full (thanks to Ginny and Faye) and went through a door which led to the stairs down to the dungeons. They crept as quietly as they could in case they ran into Peeves or any ghosts on their way. Thankfully, they got to the common room entrance without interruption, and prepared for further revenge.

Ginny pulled the bottle of anti-stick formula out of her pocket and using her wand, she caused the liquid to fly at the wall, and straight away, the wall fell open and out tumbled at least a hundred Slytherins. Ginny quickly ensured they were fully covered under the cloak and they stood back against the other wall in case any Slytherins banged into them in their haste to get to the Great Hall.

Eventually, after the last of the stampede toppled out of the wall, Ginny pulled Faye, the two of them still under the cloak, into the Slytherin common room. Faye sealed the wall behind them and the two of them looked around at their new green and silver surroundings.

“Ew,” Ginny said, “The colours just aren’t right. You take the green, I’ll do the silver and all the snakes.”

“Right,” said Faye, and the two of them got to work.

~~~
Okie dokie, this has no specific word count, but please feedback! Link is in my sig!

~Amy <3

Chapter 58

Harry, Ron and Hermione set off for St Mungo’s at midday on Wednesday to visit Gordon and Florence again, providing they hadn’t been discharged already. Hermione and Ron had both worked in the morning so they could get the afternoon off, but Hermione had to return to work when they got back since her ideas yesterday had been so successful; she had made no haste in telling Harry and Ron that they all agreed at the office about tightening the laws of keeping house-elves.

They arrived at St Mungo’s a few minutes later, and when they got to Gordon and Florence’s room, it was to find them both sitting on their beds, fully clothed and looking as if they were waiting for something.

“Harry!” Florence said when she saw Harry. He went over to hug her, then did the same for his grandpa, “We’re just getting ready to leave! The healers are pleased with our progress and said we can go home now!”

“That’s great!” Harry told them, smiling, “I’d like you to meet Ron, he’s my best friend and also Hermione’s fiancé.” Harry had to add this on the end as it always made Ron blush, something Harry never got tired of seeing. Ron shook hands with Gordon and Florence and the three of them began having an animated discussion about Ron’s family.

“So where do you think they’ll be living?” Hermione asked him while Ron was in deep conversation with the Potters.

“I dunno,” Harry said, “I don’t know where my dad lived before he moved in with my mum. I suppose the Ministry might be supplying them with a house for a while,” He said suggestively. Hermione shrugged, and they joined in the conversation with the other three.

A few minutes later, a healer walked in and Hermione groaned. It was none other than Healer Casus, who had annoyed Hermione so much the day she had returned from hospital.

“Well hello Mr Potter, Mrs Potter! I see you have visi – Hermione!” He said happily, flicking his blond hair behind his ears, “What brings you here?”

“Visiting, what else?” Hermione said quite rudely.

Apparently the healer didn’t catch the tone of her voice and he said, “Ah yes, I see you are here with Harry here! And your fiancé! You are R … Reg? Is that right?”

“Ron,” Ron said through gritted teeth.

“Hmm,” Healer Casus said uninterestedly. He turned back to Hermione, “I still haven’t received that invitation Miss Granger!”

“I wonder why?” Hermione said sarcastically.

Casus didn’t get the sarcasm again, and said, “Yes, I was wondering too. Maybe it got lost in the post! Maybe you should write another one out!”

“Or maybe not,” Hermione muttered under her breath.

“What was that? Sorry, I couldn’t hear you,” Healer Casus said, not realising that Hermione didn’t want him to hear.

“Nothing,” she said with a false smile, “Anyway, didn’t you come in to tell Mr and Mrs Potter something?”

“Too right I did!” Casus said, suddenly realising why he had even walked in the room, and he turned back to Gordon and Florence, “Yes, we have your dittany here, and you may leave whenever you feel like it! It’s been a pleasure talking to you over this past week!”

“Likewise,” Gordon said stiffly. Casus bade goodbye to them all and walked out the room. Gordon sighed, “Hard to get rid of, that one. Well, I suppose we’d better be off!”

“Um … How’re you getting to … wherever you’re going?” Harry asked them.

“Well for a start, we’ve been informed that our house is still standing and nothing appears to have been taken, so we’ll be going there, and we’re taking the Knight Bus,” Florence said the last part rather nervously; she obviously wasn’t a fan of the Knight Bus.

“Do you want any help?” Harry asked, “We’ll come with you, just to make sure you get there alright.”

“Harry, you are sweet,” Florence said fondly, “You’re just like your mother!”

Harry smiled, and helped his grandparents to their feet. They walked in silence through the hospital, and when they were outside and in a not in the presence of many muggles, Harry threw his arm out to flag down the Triple-Decker bus, which came hurtling round the corner towards them just seconds later. Stan Shunpike stepped down, and when he saw Harry, he seemed unable to read his usual speech anymore. He stopped and stared at Harry, not doing anything else. Eventually, Harry got sick of this, and marched on the bus straight past Stan, threw a few coins on top of the small till to cover all their fares, and sat down at one of the tables on the bottom floor. The rest of them followed suit, and when they were all sitting down, the bus began to gather speed, and with frequent BANGS to tell them they had moved location.

Eventually, after another bang Gordon said, “This is us,” he looked out of the window of the bus and smiled at the surroundings. The bus stopped, and the five of them stepped down from the bus, and Harry suddenly realised where they were.

“You lived here too?” Harry asked in awe.

Florence smiled, “Yes, we liked to live near James. He didn’t mind, nor did Lily,” Harry was still looking around the small village of Godric’s Hollow, and didn’t realise that the others had all moved off.

“Harry?” Hermione said, snapping him out of his trance of remembering what had happened nearly a year previously. She smiled sadly, knowing what he was thinking, and said, “Come on.” Harry obeyed, and followed Gordon and Florence to their house, which was only a few away from the cottage which Harry’s parents had lived in.

Gordon extracted an ancient looking key from his pocket and put it in the hole. The door swung open, revealing a spacious hallway, and despite the years in their absence, the house seemed sparklingly clean.

The answer as to why this was came in the form of a small house elf who came hurtling down the hallway towards her masters.

“Miss and Sir! Jilly has been missing you! She has, she has, she has!” Jilly threw her arms around Gordon’s knees, and he patted her on the head fondly. She then moved onto Florence’s legs and began hugging them.

“It’s lovely to see you again too Jilly!” Florence said happily to the little elf. Harry looked at Hermione to find that she was smiling; she obviously approved of their treatment of Jilly so far.

"Jilly will get some drinks for Master and friends," Jilly the house-elf bowed to them all and ran back down the hallway.

“Why don’t we have a look around the house?” Gordon suggested, “I bet you wouldn’t mind seeing your father’s old room, Harry.”

~~~
Ginny ran around the common room, changing every single silver item she could find to gold. Faye was doing the same, but with all the green. Once Ginny had finished changing the colour of all the silver things, she moved onto transforming the snakes into lions, which she knew would infuriate the Slytherins even more. She had almost finished when she heard a creak followed by the sound of something heavy being moved from behind her. She and Faye exchanged a horrified glance before turning around to see who had walked in.

~~~
Aww I know it's short but the next one is the long-awaited L/J one!! Please leave me feedback!

~Amy <3

Chapter 59

Harry followed Gordon and Florence up the stairs and into a large room just off the end of the long corridor. Harry stepped inside and smiled as he looked around. The walls were covered in posters of various Quidditch teams, and there were also huge pictures of James and his friends on the walls. Most of them were of the four marauders happily messing about, all in their younger years. Harry grinned as he saw young James giving Sirius a piggy-back then throwing him off, and both of them sharing the laughter. There was also a photo of them all at Hogwarts – James, Lily, Sirius, Remus and Peter, along with a girl Remus had his arms around, and another who Sirius was hugging. Peter looked slightly outcasted, and Harry noticed he was a lot thinner on here than he was on other photos in the room. Harry walked over to the table next to the bed and picked up a photo in a heart-shaped frame. James and Lily were sitting under the night sky next to the lake at Hogwarts, and were gazing up at the shining stars. Harry smiled at the photo, and Gordon saw him.

“Have it, Harry,” he told him, “We have many more. We know you might not have many photos of your parents, so take it. Remember them,” Harry looked back at photo and thought about his parents’ happiness, both of them unaware that they would be dead only a few years later.

“I remember when they first got together,” Florence said reminiscently with a smile, “Do you remember Gordon? James told us every little detail of it; said it was one of the proudest moments of his life …”

*Flashback*

James Potter sat in his room with his door locked tightly. He didn’t want to see anyone at the minute, not even his best friend Sirius Black, who was staying at the Potter’s house for the Christmas. They had arrived home from Hogwarts the previous day, and as soon as he’d opened the door, James had shot up to his room and locked his door with every spell imaginable.

He felt so stupid for what he had done, and he felt more annoyed than anything towards Sirius. Lily Evans had finally given James a chance, and he had ruined it completely.

The last day of term brought cheer upon the students of the castle, and Lily felt that this was the time to tell him how she really felt. James had been asking her out none-stop since their fourth year, but she had turned him down with loathing and disgust in her tone every time. Since the beginning of their seventh year however, Lily had begun to see a side of James she had never seen before; her parents had died in the summer, and James had comforted Lily with a softer and more compassionate attitude than he usually would have. He hadn’t even asked her out since the beginning of the year, and Lily thought this was definitely a sign he had changed for the best.

“James, can I talk to you?” Lily asked him nervously after she’d sought him out of the crowd in the Gryffindor common room before the feast was due to start. He looked confused at why she wanted to talk to him, but he nodded and she led him over to a corner where they couldn’t be overheard.

“What’s wrong?” he asked Lily, thinking something bad had happened.

“Nothing … nothing’s wrong,” she smiled at him, “It’s just … you’ve been so good to me lately. After what happened to my … parents in the summer. You’ve been really nice to me and I really don’t deserve it. I’ve been completely awful to you over the past few years and you never really gave up did you?” James shook his head uncomfortably but Lily smiled again, “Don’t look so worried. I wanted to ask you … will you go out with me?” Lily blushed as she said this, but James lifted his head to look at her and a delighted smiled spread across his face.

“Do you really mean -” James was cut off by the sudden arrival of Sirius Black.

“Prongs, it worked! That hair removal formula you planted in Snivellus’s shampoo worked! He’s in Slughorn’s office and he’s completely bald! Mind you I still can’t believe the greaseball actually uses shampoo but -”

“You did WHAT?” Lily yelled, causing many of the people around them to look around, but when they saw Lily shouting at James, most of them ignored them as they were so used to this sight, “God James! Just when I decide to give you a chance you have to ruin it!”

“You heard him though!” James shouted in his defence, “He called you a mudblood!”

“I don’t give a DAMN what he called me! You shouldn’t have to stoop down to his level to get back at him! Just get out of my face Potter!”

And with that, Lily stalked off and ran up to her dormitory.

James didn’t talk to anyone until the feast, and even then it was to yell at his best friend.

“I’ve really landed you in it now haven’t I?” Sirius asked James, but James could tell he was trying hard not to smile.

It was this that made James finally explode, “IT’S ALL A BIG JOKE TO YOU, ISN’T IT?? JUST BECAUSE I DON’T GO OUT WITH THREE DIFFERENT GIRLS EVERY WEEK LIKE YOU DO, YOU THINK I’M A COMPLETE IDIOT! YES, I KNOW I CAN GET ANY GIRL IN THE SCHOOL, BUT I DON’T WANT TO! THERE’S ONLY ONE GIRL FOR ME, AND YOU KNOW IT BUT YOU JUST HAVE TO MESS IT UP FOR ME DON’T YOU? AND AS IF THAT ISN’T BAD ENOUGH YOU JUST LAUGH AT IT AFTERWARDS! WELL I DON’T CARE WHO KNOWS IT NOW!” James stopped for a moment and turned to look at Lily, whose eyes were wide from his sudden outburst, “I love you Lily Evans! I love you! I’ve never said that to anyone else in my life but I love you with all my heart! And I’m sorry for everything I’ve done and I know I’m a huge prat but I just need you to know that!”

A deafening silence followed his words, and James, now aware that every eye in the hall was on him, turned on his heel and ran straight out the front doors without even thinking about what he was doing. He didn’t care that he was leaving his trunk behind, he didn’t care that he would probably get a month of detentions when he got back after Christmas; he just wanted to get away from Hogwarts. He didn’t stop running until he was into Hogsmeade. The scarlet steam engine was waiting proudly at the station, and James could have sat on it, waiting for the rest of the students to arrive, but he didn’t. Instead, he took advantage of the apparition licence he had received in the summer and apparated straight back into his front garden. He darted into the house, ran straight past his mother who looked completely bewildered at the sudden appearance of her son, and threw himself into his room where he locked the door as securely as possible.

Now, the next day, James felt no better at all. Sirius, his mother and his father had all attempted to talk to him, but they all ended up burning their hands on the doorknob. This was thanks to a clever spell he had learned from Lily. Thinking of this however, made him feel no better at all. He lay on his bed alone, and wasn’t afraid to let the tears fall freely down his face. He never even noticed the sound of the doorbell ringing at about midday either, but he groaned when there was yet another knock at the door.

“Do you want to get lost or do you need to touch the door handle again?” He asked agitatedly.

“I’ve been warned about the door handle,” came a soft voice, “James, please let me in. It’s Lily.”

James didn’t need to be told who it was; he could recognise her voice anywhere. He didn’t know why, but he automatically found himself getting up from his refuge on the bed and he began undoing all the charms he had placed on the door. Finally, the last one was removed, and he opened the door to reveal Lily standing in front of him with tear tracks down her cheeks and bloodshot eyes. Without warning, she flung her arms around James and held him in a tight hug, “I was so worried about you when you ran off like that James! I thought you were going to do something stupid!” James shushed her gently and stroked her hair as she sobbed into his shoulder. He reluctantly pulled away from her and shut the door, then asked Lily to sit down. She perched herself on the end of the bed and turned to look at James, who had just sat down next to her.

“I couldn’t sleep last night,” she said quietly, “I kept thinking about you. About what you said at the feast. Was it … was it true?”

James breathed deeply, “Yes, every single word of it. You are the only girl for me. I don’t know why, but I can’t bring myself to look at other girls when you’re around. Even though you hated me all through school I never gave up on you; I love you Lily Evans.” There was a long pause following this, broken only by the gentle sniffing of Lily.

After a while, she turned her gaze to James and said, “I love you too James.” He looked into her startlingly bright green eyes and just by reading them, he knew she meant it. Instinctively, he leaned towards her and kissed her. She kissed him back with so much passion and through this one kiss, James knew he had made the right decision in waiting for her all those years. All his anger with Sirius subsided, as did his fear of Lily hating him. After many long blissful minutes, they pulled away, and Lily smiled at him, “I don’t care what you did to Snivellus. If it brought us together, nothing else matters. I love you James Potter.”

*End*

Florence and Gordon looked at each other with small beads of tears in their eyes and smiled as they remembered the moment. Hermione was also fighting back tears, and Ron had a strong arm around her. It took a while for Harry to realise that his own eyes were swimming. He walked casually over to the window and looked out of it while he wiped his eyes.

~~~
She and Faye exchanged a horrified glance before turning around to see who had walked in.

For a moment, Ginny expected the worst, but when she saw who it was, relief swept through her.

“Luna! What are you doing here?” She hissed, afraid that someone was listening even though they were the only three in the common room.

Luna looked up at Ginny as though she had just realised where she was, “Oh, hello Ginny. Why are you in the Slytherin common room?”

Ginny and Faye looked confusedly at each other before Faye said, “Erm, Luna? Why are YOU in the Slytherin common room?!”

Luna looked around at the room for a moment, seemingly surprised of where she was and then said, “It looks very much like the Gryffindor colours in here. Are you sure we’re in the Slytherin common room or has there been a Farbenong invasion?”

“A farb – what?” Faye asked Luna.

“Farbenongs invade rooms and mess all the colours around. Yes, I think there’s been a Farbenong infestation. The room does look nice though,” Luna explained and smiled at the mass of red and gold.

“Luna, sorry, but could you go?” Ginny said, careful to sound nice, “We’re … um … getting rid of the Farbelongs and we really need everybody out.”

“You said Farbelongs. You mean Farbenongs?” Luna asked with a dreamy smile.

“I – yes, whatever!” Ginny said impatiently, “We need you to get out!”

“That’s fine,” Luna said vaguely.

“Thanks – oh, and Luna? Would you mind not telling anyone we were here?”

Luna nodded and said seriously, “Oh don’t worry about that. I know how embarrassing it would be for Professor Jones if it got out that there’s been a Farbenong invasion. I’ll not tell anyone,” and with that, she glided out the common room, looking like she’d just entered another daydream (she probably had, Ginny reminded herself).

“Right, we don’t have much time left now, be better be quick or the Slytherins will be back soon,” Faye said, and returned to turning the green hangings and chairs to red. Ginny went back to changing the serpents of Slytherins to the Gryffindor lions, and when she had finished, she extracted the red banner from her bag. She used her wand to hang it up above the entrance to the dormitories and said to Faye, “What shall we make it say?”

Faye turned the last chair red and turned to the blank sign above the door, “Hmm,” she said thoughtfully, “I dunno …”

“I’ve got it!” Ginny raised her wand and traced some words in shining gold letters upon the scarlet. Faye grinned and nodded her approval as she read the words, but then said, “He won’t mind, will he?”

“Nah, course not!” Ginny laughed, “Him and Fred always loved anything to remember them by at Hogwarts. George’ll love it!” Ginny said, “Oh wait a minute!” she pulled out a wizarding camera from her bag and took photos of the new Slytherin common room, “I need these to prove to George we did it. He’d never believe me otherwise!”

Ginny grinned up at the banner one more time and imagined the look on the Slytherins’ faces when they saw the words:

There’s pranks – then there’s Weasley Twins.

Once they had finished admiring their handiwork, Ginny and Faye picked up any evidence that they were and put it in their bags, and threw the cloak around them. They sprinted out of the common room and through the dungeons, where they were lucky that they only ran into one or two Slytherins before they made it up the stairs and onto the main level of the castle. They didn’t stop running under the cloak until they arrived into the Gryffindor common room (still red and gold) and collapsed on a sofa in a fit of hysterics.

~~~
Wooo two in a night!
Not much else to say except enjoy!!

~Amy <3

Chapter 60

The next few weeks passed without much event for Ginny and Faye. The teachers already suspected them for the two pranks they had pulled on the first week of term, so they had decided to keep quite for a while since McGonagall was keeping a close eye on them. That didn’t stop them planning a new prank though.

“I’ve been writing to George quite a bit,” Ginny told Faye one night in October while they were sitting next to the fire in the common room, “He thinks we should do something for Halloween, but he isn’t sure what yet. He said he’d write again if he gets an idea, but I think we might as well plan one in case he doesn’t write back soon.”

Faye nodded and yawned. Although it was only seven o’ clock they were both very tired; Faye had made it onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team as keeper, and Demelza had been making them train for nearly three hours a day, five days a week. It was extremely tiresome on top of their NEWT homework, and Ginny also had her Head Girl duties, which she despised, as it really cut into the already limited time she had to spend with Faye and Luna after classes. Tonight was one of the rare nights Ginny could spend with Faye as it was raining outside, and Demelza had called practice off.

“So have you got any ideas?” Faye asked Ginny, stifling another yawn.

Ginny shrugged and said, “A few, but they aren’t huge and probably won’t get as many laughs as the other ones,” It was true; the other two had caused a lot of humour in the Gryffindor common room, especially when they had redecorated the Slytherin common room. Ginny had made copies of the photos and blown them up so they were huge enough to stick on the walls for every Gryffindor to see. They all knew it was all down to Ginny and Faye but none of them grassed them up as they were having too much fun waiting for another strike from the new jokers. All the other houses seemed completely oblivious to who it was all down to, except Luna, who Ginny and Faye had told. They knew it was safe to tell her though, as she didn’t really to talk to anyone else and even if she did, it was more likely she would talk about a strange animal than the pranks. Many of the Slytherins were actually convinced that Fred had returned as a ghost and was haunting them by playing pranks on them all, much to the amusement of many other students.

“Okay, well what are they?” Asked Faye, but just as Ginny was about to answer, a sharp tapping noise coming from the window averted her attention. A large brown owl was perched on the windowsill with a letter tied to its leg. Ginny opened the window to let the bird in, and when she looked at the name on the letter and found that it was addressed to herself. She extracted the letter from the bird’s leg and it flew off back out the window, probably to the owlery.

“Who’s that off?” Faye asked.

“George,” said Ginny as she read the letter. A grin was spreading across her face as she handed the letter to Faye. “I think we’ve got our next prank sorted!”

Faye read the letter and grinned too, “This is going to be good!”

~~~

Over a month had passed since Nick had stormed out of Harry’s auror class, and the lessons only got more interesting. They had now covered some very advanced spells, and Harry had mastered nearly all of them. Hermione found them extremely fascinating, and on many occasions she had asked Harry to teach her how to do them. These spells were some of the hardest Harry had come cross, although he could do most of them now. He sometimes felt as though he was back in his fourth year when he stayed up to the early hours of the morning practising the summoning charm, except this was ten times harder.

They were currently covering disguising spells; ways to change the appearance of a person or an object. Harry now knew how to change the colour of hair, eyes and even to add facial hair to someone in order to give a more undetectable disguise. Hermione already knew how to perform these from when she had changed Ron’s appearance when they broke into Gringotts all those months ago, but what she found brilliant was to disguise a person as an object, something which Harry was struggling slightly with.

“I think it’s brilliant how you can turn one object into something else,” Hermione said excitedly, “I always wanted to do human transfiguration but I never got the chance since we missed seventh year!” she waved her wand, and turned Harry into a teacup. She squealed excitedly and said, “Harry! Harry! I did it!! Harry - ?” She looked around the room, forgetting that it had been Harry who she’d just transformed. She looked back at the teacup, gasped in realisation and then turned him back with a swift wand movement, “Sorry, I forgot that was you!”

“Good to know!” Harry said sarcastically, “Hermione isn’t it meant to be me practising on you, not the other way round?” He said irritably as he picked himself up off the floor, “If you don’t mind, I really need to get this done; Klug wants all the spell theory done before Christmas and at this rate I’ll never get it done!”

Harry sat back down at the kitchen table and began making notes about human transfiguration. Klug had asked for written work from the book to be completed for their next lesson, tomorrow, so they could begin performing the spell properly. He had told Harry and Wayne that instead of doing a section of theory, then a section on practical later on, he had decided to integrate them together so they didn’t forget the theory over time.

Hermione was quiet for a while after that, but then she started talking about the letter Harry had recently received containing photos of Ginny's latest prank, "I mean, I can understand that she wants to have fun, but why does she have to risk expulsion? The common room does look good, but she said Luna had walked in! And if Luna could, so could anyone! What if it was a Slytherin? Or a teacher? Or what if -"

“Hermione! I’ve still got three pages of notes to do!” Harry yelled at her.

She immediately shut her mouth and looked rather hurt for a moment. She looked over at the clock, stood up and said, “I’d better leave now anyway, Mrs Weasley wants me there for five o’ clock; it’s already ten to.”

“Hermione I didn’t mean -”

“It’s fine,” Hermione smiled, “I know how annoying I can be. Anyway, I’m off! Tell Ron to come to the Burrow when he gets back.”

“Okay. Tell the others I said hi,” Harry said. Hermione nodded and left the kitchen. Harry heard the front door shut, and got back to his work in peace. Hermione had gone to the Burrow to discuss more wedding plans with Mrs Weasley. Harry couldn’t go since he had too much work to do, but he told Hermione that if they needed him badly he would go. Fortunately, none of them minded that he wasn’t going, so he was able to stay at home and finish making his notes alone.

~~~

Dear Ginny and Faye,
I’ve been thinking over the past week or so, and I’ve finally come up with plan. I hope you two aren’t bored with playing tricks on the Slytherins, because this is another one of those! Firstly, it’s going to be at the Halloween feast – the bigger the event, the bigger the reaction. The plan is to get all the Slytherins believing that Fred’s ghost is in Hogwarts – Any excuse to make a mug of them is good enough for me!
It's not going to be an easy task, but me and Alicia are going to come up to help you. Be at the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room on the 28th at half one in the morning, so there’s less chance we’ll be overheard. It won’t matter too much since the prank is on the Slytherins, but we can’t risk even a Gryffindor going to a teacher. We’ve got a few plans, but I won’t say what they are here in case the letter gets intercepted.
Remember, 28th October, 1:30am.
George.
PS – I’ve got the photos you sent me in the joke shop window – everyone loves them. Well done!

“So I wonder what these plans are?” Faye said wonderingly. Ginny shrugged.

“It’ll be good though. Don’t worry about that!” Ginny said with a grin, which Faye returned.

There was a slight pause before Faye said, “Well I suppose we might as well do that Defence Against the Dark Arts essay for Proudfoot. I doubt he’ll let us off for much longer.”

Reluctantly, they got out their books and did their essays. Ginny doubted hers would get more than an A; she was too excited thinking about the upcoming Halloween feast. It was already the twenty-third, so they only had a few days left before their meeting with George.

~~~

60 chapters for the new year!!

Leave feedback please and have a FAB new year!!

~Amy <3

Chapter 61

“Are you sure everyone’s in their rooms?” Faye asked nervously.

Ginny didn’t say anything, but she checked all the seats in the common room in case anyone was lurking about, listening in on their upcoming conversation. She found nobody however, and turned to the staircase and muttered, “Muffliato,” just to ensure nobody would hear them. George was due to be here in ten minutes, so Ginny sat on a chair opposite Faye, and together, they waited for the arrival of George.

Eventually, there was the sound of softly hissing embers, and Ginny looked over to see George’s grinning face sitting in the flames.

“George!” She smiled, sitting on the hearthrug to talk to him better, “How’re you?”

“Great thanks! By the way, it’s nice to meet you Faye. I’m glad Ginny has a partner in crime!”

Faye laughed and said, “I’m glad to meet the inspiration of Ginny!”

“How’re you both anyway?” George said conversationally.

“Not bad! I’m looking forward to hearing this plan though,” she said with a wry smile.

“Ah yes. The plan,” George said evilly, but excited at the same time, “Now first we’re going to need to – AAAARRRGGHHH!!”

Ginny jumped back in fright as another head appeared in the flames. For a minute she thought it was a teacher, but then she breathed a sigh of relief as she saw who it was.

“Harry!” She said in a loud whisper, “What are you doing here at this time?!” She looked bewildered at the sight of two heads squashed into the same grate, and Harry laughed at her expression.

“Well I remember in our sixth year when we used to stay up at this time doing our homework so I thought there might be a slight chance you’d be still up … doesn’t look like you’re doing homework though,” he added with a wink, “Alright George?” he asked with a grin.

“Yeah, brilliant! You?”

“Not bad at all,” Harry told him. Ginny was still staring between the two of them, still not understanding how two heads could fit in the same fireplace, “What are you doing here anyway?”

“Prank discussion,” George explained, “For Halloween. We’re hopefully going to get the Slytherins to believe that Fred’s ghost is alive and haunting the castle,” he said conversationally. Harry laughed out loud and began choking slightly on the bitter ash of the fire.

When he recovered, he said, “So what’s the plan?”

“Well,” George started, “It’s going to be hard. It’ll be better of we do it at the Halloween feast for a better impact, but this means we’re going to have to make the other students and staff completely oblivious to what’s happening.”

“So how’re we going to do that?” Faye asked, narrowing her eyes.

“Well Alicia told me about a couple of charms we could use. One would make the rest of the school not see what’s happening, and the other one would make the Slytherins be the only people to see it. Do you get what I mean?”

Ginny nodded warily, “So we could either charm the Slytherins into seeing something, or we could charm the rest of the school into NOT seeing it?”

George nodded, “I know, confusing, but I think it’ll be better to use the charm on the Slytherins. It’ll be easier with less people. But, there’s a slight problem.”

“What?” Harry, Faye and Ginny asked at the same time.

“Well the spell is extremely difficult to do on lots of people. Me and Alicia have both tried. We can do it one at a time, but that’s no good because it’ll take us all night to do it.”

“So what are we going to do then?” Ginny asked.

“Well I was going to ask …” George’s head suddenly turned to Harry’s in the fire and he said, “I was going to owl Hermione to ask her, but could you?”

Harry frowned, “Are you suggesting that we get Hermione to do this charm when there’s no way on Earth she’s going to say yes?”

“It’s worth a try! Look, this prank will be great if we can pull it off, but for that, we need to have someone who is really advanced on these kinds of charms. Please? At least try, or if you can’t, tell Ron to ask her. She’ll say yes to him, you know what they’re like together,” Harry agreed and told George he’d at least have a go.

“Great,” George said, “So if we can do that, Hermione would have to come up to the castle, perform that charm on the Slytherins, then we can do the rest.”

“Which is what?” Harry asked. He didn’t even have a purpose to be there anymore; he had only come to see Ginny, to see if she was okay, but the prank was beginning to sound interesting, so he couldn’t help but stay to hear the rest of it.

“Well Alicia can do a spell where she can make a kind of ‘copy’ of me. It’s a bit like a doll, but it would look exactly like me. The models can’t move though, so we’re going to have to charm it to do so, and then we’d obviously need to make transparent.”

Ginny nodded eagerly and waved her hand to urge him to keep explaining.

“Then, basically we’d control the ‘ghost’ image of Fred and scare all the Slytherins!” he finished with a satisfied smirk, “And because the charm is only for the Slytherins’ eyes, the rest of the school wouldn’t see the ghost; just the Slytherins freaking out!”

“Nice,” Ginny grinned, “Anyway, how’s Alicia?”

“She’s fine,” George said happily, “She’s due in April so there’s plenty of time before we need to tell mum and dad – oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, they’re the only people who don’t know!”

Ginny opened her mouth in shock, “Mum is going to DIE when she finds out!” then she laughed, “How is she the only one?”

“Well, I told you, Harry and Charlie, and I know you probably told Ron and Hermione,” he added to Harry. Harry opened his mouth to retort but George just grinned and said, “Don’t worry, we don’t mind! Anyway, Percy guessed when she ordered a pumpkin juice at the Hog’s Head. And Alicia told Fleur, who told Bill. So yeah, mum and dad are the only ones who don’t know!”

Ginny looked halfway between laughter and shock, but she just said, “Well, good luck for when you tell them!”

George laughed and said, “Well I’ll owl you again on the thirtieth and we’ll make final arrangements then. I’d better go now though, I need to get some sleep ‘cos we’re opening earlier since it’s nearly Halloween!”

George’s head disappeared with a faint pop, and Harry’s head suddenly felt bigger than before since they had been so squashed together before.

“Now,” Ginny said looking down at Harry with an amused smile on her face, “Remind me why you came?!”

“Just to make sure you’re okay!” Harry said as though it was obvious.

She grinned at him and said, “Well it was very sweet of you! But next time, do you think you could come when George isn’t here?! I don’t want either of you suffering broken skulls when you bash heads like that!”

Harry grinned up at her, said a last goodbye to her and Faye, and disappeared with a second pop.

“Halloween is going to be great!” Ginny grinned.

“If Hermione says yes it will be!” Faye smiled sadly.

~~~

Okay, I think I confused myself with that chapter

Please give feedback!!

~Amy <3

Chapter 62

Harry’s head rushed back onto his shoulders and he once again found himself crouched on the kitchen floor of twelve Grimmauld Place. He was about to get up and creep upstairs, as it was past two in the morning, when he heard a cough from behind him. Harry jumped and turned around to find Ron sitting at the kitchen table, his eyebrows raised.

Harry grinned and tried to look innocent, but Ron just frowned and checked his watch mockingly, “Nice time to go around the fireplaces eh?” He asked Harry.

“Um … yeah,” said Harry stupidly. Ron stared at him, silently asking for an explanation.

When none came, he said, “I came down for a drink of water,” he indicated the glass on the table next to him, “And when I came down your door was open and your room was empty. Then in the kitchen, your rear end was sticking out of the fireplace,” he said with an amused grin.

Harry sighed and sat down opposite Ron, “Okay, want to know where I was? I went to Hogwarts to see Ginny. And er … Fred was in the fireplace too. Bit of a coincidence, but anyway, they’re planning another prank for Halloween …”

Harry went on to explain about the entire plan for the prank, and when he finished Ron laughed and said, “Sounds brilliant! Should be a good laugh!”

“Yes but there’s one problem …” Harry tolt Ron it was up to him to convince Hermione to perform the charm, at which he stared open-mouthed at Harry.

“You’re joking, right?” Ron asked hopefully, but Harry shook his head. Ron exhaled loudly and said, “Sorry mate, but I don’t want to annoy her. We’re good together now. Do you know how long we’ve gone without an argument?” Harry shrugged and Ron went on, “We haven’t argued since before the battle! That’s five months! And I’d like to keep it that way,” he said in a final tone, but Harry wouldn’t allow the conversation to be closed.

“But Ron, just think about all the Slytherins we’d be fooling!” Harry said temptingly, “And you’d be ruining the entire plan for Ginny, Faye, George and Alicia. And think about Fred; he would’ve loved for us to do this prank! Do it for him, Ron.”

He’d done it. Ron bit his lip and sighed in an annoyed fashion, but he slowly nodded at Harry, “Fine. I’ll do it, but if Hermione says no, I’m not going to force her!”

“Well obviously, we’re hardly going to put her under the Imperius curse or anything!” Harry said defensively.

“Why would you be putting me under the Imperius curse?” came a voice from the door. Harry and Ron turned in their seats to find Hermione wearing a half-stern, half-questioning expression, “I heard you talking from upstairs. So why would you put the imperius curse on me?”

“Well we wouldn’t, that’s what we were saying!” Ron said quickly. Hermione narrowed her eyes and sat down next to him. She gave him a questioning look, which he gave into.

“Right, I’ll explain,” he said grudgingly. Harry grinned inwardly to himself as Ron continued, “Well George is doing a prank at Hogwarts on the Slytherins and he needs some help with a charm, so he was hoping you’d do it.”

Harry was grateful that Ron said it was George pulling the prank, as harry was almost certain she would’ve said no straight away. However, it seemed she wasn’t convinced by Ron, “By George, I suppose you mean Ginny?”

“No!” Harry cut in, earning him a doubtful look from Hermione, “Well … both of them really.”

To Harry’s surprise, Hermione seemed to be considering it. She looked thoughtful for a minute and then said, “What charm?”

Harry explained briefly about the charm to make the Slytherins all see something which everyone else would not, and he was once again surprised to see that she looked interested.

“The Obliviose Charm?!” she said excitedly. Harry merely shrugged and waited for an answer.

Hermione looked as if she was in deep thought, when Ron grabbed her hand and said pleadingly, “Do it for me?”

Hermione smiled lovingly at him and said, “Ginny and George and everyone would hate me if I said no wouldn’t they?”

“Well no … they’d just be seriously annoyed with you,” Ron said, then added, “And so would I!”

“Oi!” Hermione shouted and punched him playfully on the arm, “Why does Ginny need to play pranks on the Slytherins anyway?”

Harry and Ron stared at her as if to say ‘isn’t it obvious?’ so she sighed and said, “Well I suppose I’ll have to. Can’t fall out with my fiancé can I?!”

“Seriously?” Harry said in disbelief, “You’ll do it!?”

Hermione nodded unsurely, and Ron threw his arms around her and kissed her, “Thanks! You’re the best!”

She grinned nervously and said, “Well it’s only a one off! Don’t ask me for any more pranks because the answer will be no!”

Harry and Ron nodded obediently, feeling like they were schoolchildren being told what to do. Hermione got up from the table and yawned, “I’m going back to bed. Coming Ron?” Ron nodded and he too got up and followed her out of the room, but not before punching the air gleefully and giving Harry the thumbs up. Harry returned it, grinning, and thought about how happy Ginny and George would be when they knew Hermione had consented to it. When Ron had left the room Harry pulled two sheets of parchment out of one of the drawers and began writing a letter to Ginny straight away:

Ginny –
Hermione said yes! It took a bit of persuasion from Ron, but she’s agreed to do it. She said not to get used to it though, so I wouldn’t ask her for any more help with pranks for a while yet!
I forgot to tell you when I saw you tonight – Hermione and your Mum have sorted out most of the wedding arrangements, but they need a list of who you want to give invitations to, so you’ll need to owl your Mum soon.
Anyway, it looks like the prank is ready for action, so I’ll (or Ron will) get Hermione to visit you (George too) in the fire same time tonight to go over the plan so she knows what to do.

Love you,
Harry

Harry, satisfied with the letter, rolled it into a scroll and tied it up with some string. He put it to one side, grabbed the next piece of parchment and wrote out a letter to George, telling him to be in the fire tomorrow as well. Knowing that Remus would be off hunting for the rest of the night, Harry gathered up the letters and took them upstairs to his room. When he got there however, he was surprised to find Remus sitting on top of his cage, looking like he was ready to go off to deliver the letters. Harry attached one to each of Remus’ legs and opened the window to watch him soar of into the distance, before realising how tired he was. He yawned and took off his glasses, and he was asleep the instant his head hit the pillow.

~~~

“Post owls are here,” Faye said, pointing at the flock of owls which had just zoomed into the great hall.

“I doubt Harry will have replied yet,” Ginny said between mouthfuls of porridge, “He won’t have had time to persuade Her -”

She was cut of by the arrival of Remus, who landed gracefully in front of Ginny and held out a leg on which there was a letter. Ginny raised her eyebrows, detached the letter and after allowing Remus to drink from her goblet before he flew back up with the other owls, she undid the scroll and read aloud so only Faye could hear.

“ … same time tonight to go over the plan so she knows what to do,” Ginny finished in a low whisper. A grin spread across her face and she said to Faye, “This is going to be great! Halloween is only a few days away and everything’s going fine! Hermione and George will be coming tonight so we can make final arrangements and everything will be sorted!”

Ginny and Faye hi-fived before getting up from the table and making their way back up to the common room. Ginny found a scrap piece of parchment and scribbled down a quick reply to Harry, just to let him know the plans were fine.

~~~

I know it was short again, but I posted my January contest fic tonight as well ... please check it out!!

~Amy <3

Chapter 63

“I can’t believe I’m actually doing this,” Hermione groaned as they prepared to leave the house on Halloween. It was ten minutes to seven o’ clock, one hour before the feast was due to start, but they needed to be prepared. The three of them were all going, as they would need lookouts to make sure no teachers or students would see them. They had the plan all sorted out, planned to every precise minute, thanks to Hermione.

“Well you’ve already agreed to it! No going back now,” Ron laughed. She smiled doubtfully and let out a nervous whimper. Harry still couldn’t get over the fact that Hermione had agreed to it, but he wasn’t about to voice this; he didn’t want Hermione backing out now.

“Do we have everything?” Ron asked them both.

Hermione nodded and said, “Ginny has the map and the cloak and all we need is the broomsticks. Harry I’ve took your firebolt from your room and we’ve got Ron’s old broom and his new one.”

“I thought we were apparating?” Harry asked.

“We are, but we need the broomsticks for when we get there,” Hermione explained, “I don’t know why; George just said to bring them.” Harry wondered what this could be for, but nodded anyway. He picked up his wand from the table, and followed Ron and Hermione out of the house. They walked over to the shadowed area of the square, as it was more likely muggle children may see them tonight with it being Halloween. Hermione gave them each a broomstick to carry, and they apparated to Hogwarts, leaving behind only a loud CRACK to pierce the silence of Grimmauld Place.

Harry reappeared seconds later outside the Hog’s Head with Ron and Hermione next to him. The pub was, as it had been last time he was there, heaving. Harry glanced at the other two, and they all nodded. The three of them hurried down the twisting paths of Hogsmeade with their heads kept down, careful not to be seen. They only slowed down when they had left the shopping street and had entered the gates of the Hogwarts boundaries.

The setting sun peeking just above the mountains casted a beautiful glow over all the grounds, and particularly illuminated the Black Lake. Warm orange light flashed across the gently rippling surface of the cool water, and the trees were casting grand shadows across the grassy hills surrounding the castle. Hermione actually stopped in her tracks to admire the beauty of the setting before Ron grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him. He led her and Harry over to the edge of the forest where it was more shadowed so there was less chance of them being spotted.

“When are we meeting George and Alicia?” Harry asked in a hushed tone.

“Well it’s …” Hermione looked at her watch and said, “just after seven, so they should be here any -”

“Oi!” George’s voice came over from inside the forest. The three of them turned around, and George waved his hand to motion for them to come over to where he stood with Alicia. Harry, Ron and Hermione ran over to where they were in the darkness of the trees, and listened as George began to talk.

“Now listen carefully, because this mustn’t go wrong,” he began, “We’ve only got one chance to do this right. First, we’ll wait until everyone is in the Great Hall. We can’t risk anybody seeing us doing anything, because then the whole thing will fall flat on its face. So at about …” this time George looked at his own watch, “I’d say, at ten past eight, we’ll begin. Ginny and Faye must stay inside the Great Hall throughout the whole prank so they won’t be suspected, but we’re going to need you lot to be lookouts. Alicia and me are doing all the work, apart from the Obliviose charm, which Hermione’s going to do -” Hermione gave a nervous nod and George continued, “Ron, you’ll need to make sure no one comes out of the Great Hall; Harry, you have to make sure no one comes out of the dungeons or anything. You all know what to do after that don’t you?”

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Alicia all nodded, and they sat beneath the trees, waiting for Ginny and Faye to arrive.

About twenty minutes later, the five of them saw the front door to the castle open, but nobody could be seen coming out. They all exchanged a knowing look and sure enough, less than a minute after the door had opened, Ginny and Faye revealed their presence and pulled the cloak off them. Ginny ran over to Harry and greeted him with a kiss, then she turned to the others and began hugging them all.

“We haven’t got time for all this!” George suddenly said, sounding annoyed. Everybody was quite taken aback by his tone; they had rarely seen him so serious about many things before, but nobody said anything, as they all knew it was probably due to sadness that Fred wasn’t there to share the laugh with them.

“Sorry,” George said quickly, “I didn’t mean to be like that. It’s just …” he stopped talking, and immediately shoved everyone deeper into the forest. Looking through the trees, Harry could make out Hagrid coming out of his hut with a familiar floral umbrella. He entered his pumpkin patch, looked around to see if anyone was watching him, and pointed the umbrella at the pumpkins, causing them to grow twice their already-huge size. Harry laughed to himself and watched as Hagrid pulled up the pumpkins and hauled them across the grounds to the castle.

“He does that every year,” Alicia shook her head with an amused grin and watched as Hagrid kicked the front door open since his arms were too full to push it. When the door was shut behind him, George came out from behind the tree and faces the others again.

“Anyway, Ginny have you got the map and cloak?” he asked. She delved into her bag, coming out with the Marauder’s Map, and handed it to George, and Faye gave him the cloak.

“Right, so you two, just make sure the teachers see you when you’re in the hall so you don’t get the blame … just tell one of them you like their hat or something.” Ginny and Faye agreed and tried not to laugh. Harry could see why too; the thought of someone approaching McGonagall and admiring her hat would probably give funny results.

“Okay, so then me and Alicia will charm the ‘ghost’ to come to life,” George indicated a battered looking dummy which Alicia was holding, and then looked at Hermione, “And after we do that, you’ll go up on the broom -”

“On my own?!” Hermione exclaimed, “I can’t fly on my own! I’ll fall off!”

“Well … Ron can take you up on the broom then. We’ll be okay without a lookout, just as long as we keep an eye on the map. So Ron, you’ll fly Hermione up to the window inside, Hermione will put the Obliviose charm on the Slytherins, then fly back down. We’ll set the fake ghost off and then use disillusion charms on us so no one can see us. Alicia can do those charms, so she’ll take care of them. Harry, you’ll get on another broom and Alicia and I will get on the last one, Hermione and Ron will get back on theirs, and we’ll fly up to the window.”

“Why do we need to go to the window?” Ron asked stupidly.

“Well, I’m not sure about you, but I wouldn’t miss seeing the Slytherins’ reactions for the world!”

~~~
Sorry it's short agin but if I did the whole thing in one chapter it would be too long and I probably wouldn't have it up for a few days! Please leave feedback!!

~Amy <3

Sorry about the long wait in posting!! I've been working on this chapter but it got too long so I've had to split it in 2 separate chapters. I'll post the second chapter soon, it just needs to be finished off a bit

Enjoy!!

Chapter 64

“Okay, it’s twenty to eight now, so we’d better go before anyone sees us,” Ginny said after a while. “Is there anyone coming?” she asked George. He took the map out, tapped it lightly with his wand and watched as the plan of Hogwarts unfurled before his eyes.

He scanned the area on the map for a while and finally said, “Filch is on the fifth floor, all the teachers are in their offices and everyone else is in the dormitories. If you hurry now you’ll be able to get away before the crowd comes to the Great Hall.”

“Well I guess I won’t be seeing you for a while then!” Ginny said with quite a sad smile. “Oh, and by the way …” Ginny dug around in her bag for a moment before bringing out a piece of crumpled parchment. Handing it over to Harry, she said, “That’s the wedding invitation list mum wanted. I might as well give it to you instead of owling it.”

Harry took the parchment from her, and as their hands met, so did their gaze. Harry couldn’t help but lean down and give her a long and lingering kiss. She responded with so much passion, and they remained locked like that for many moments before they heard Ron impatiently clucking his tongue. They pulled apart and Ginny gave Ron a sour look before hugging the others again. She and Faye couldn’t risk coming out later to say goodbye, as it would be a certain giveaway as to who played the prank.

Ginny gave Harry one last savouring kiss before turning on her heal and running back towards the castle with Faye. Harry and the others watched until they entered through the front door, and then George insisted on going through the plan one last time. When he finished, the five of them sat in silence at the edge of the forest, waiting for the time to come when they could start the prank.

A few minutes later, they heard the cheerful chatter of the Hogwarts students in the great hall; although they were in the forest, the distance by no means drowned out the voices they were making up at the castle. Harry glanced round at George and saw excitement playing across his face; Alicia looked enthusiastic, as did Ron, but Hermione looked downright petrified.

Ron noticed her expression too, because he turned to her and said, “It’s not as if it’s the first time you’ve broke the rules!”

She glared at him and said, “It’s not that! I’m going to be on a broom!” she exclaimed. Nobody said anything, they just all continued watching her getting in a fluster. “A broom!” she repeated as if no one had heard her.

“I’ll be on too, remember?!” Ron said defensively, “I’ll make sure you won’t fall off!”

Hermione looked only slightly cheered when Ron said this, and returned to sitting in silence until George eventually stood up.

“Ready?” he asked them nervously, but excitedly all the same. “Seems like everyone’s in there,” he continued, consulting the marauders’ map. He put the map in his pocket for the time being and gestured for them all to stand up, which they did. They picked up the brooms and walked in silence across the grassy banks of the grounds, past the tall windows of the classrooms, and stopped when they were standing directly outside the great hall.

“Okay, you must be careful,” George stage whispered to Hermione and Ron, “If anyone sees you then it’ll ruin the whole thing. In fact … Alicia? I think you might as well disillusion Ron and Hermione now since they’re going up there.”

Alicia took out her wand and said, “Okay you two, don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” She muttered something and pointed her wand at Ron and Hermione in turn, who both shuddered slightly before their bodies became transparent.

“Me and Alicia will prepare the fake ghost out here so there’s less chance of being heard, but we’ll have to release it inside obviously. Harry, here …” George threw the Marauder’s Map at Harry and said, “Keep an eye out for anyone coming. If anybody seems to be coming outside, seal the front door with the colloportus charm. Understand?”

Harry nodded vigorously and studied the map carefully; nobody seemed to be outside of the hall, apart from themselves and Filch, who was prowling the fourth floor with Mrs Norris at his heal. Harry looked up from the map just in time to see the faint outlines of Ron and Hermione taking off from the ground and flying up to one of the windows. It was unlikely they would be seen by the Hogwarts students and staff, as the windows were all made of stained glass. Soon all Harry could see was a floating broomstick silhouetted against the night sky. Harry watched both them and the Marauder’s Map intently, careful they would not be revealed.

Up on the broom, Hermione, clutching at Ron’s waste, whimpered nervously as they stopped next to the window. Ron carefully swivelled round on the broom and said to Hermione, “Get your wand out. You’ll be fine, I’ve got you,” He found her waste and slipped one arm around it as she fumbled in her pocket and pulled out her wand. Slowly, she turned so she was facing the window, and whispered an incantation, tapping the window three times as she did so. She watched for a couple of seconds before a few pieces of glass silently disappeared before their eyes. Satisfied with this so far, she leaned forward, still with Ron’s arm safely around her, and poked her wand through the newly-made gap in the window. She’d read about this spell before, though she’d never actually performed it properly.

She looked through into the great hall, where everyone was happily enjoying their food, and was relieved to find that the Slytherins were sitting directly in front of the window she had chosen to break – if she’d chosen the wrong window it would hve been very difficuly to aim a shot at them with her wand.

She took a deep breath and, because she couldn’t risk anyone inside the hall hearing her, thought the incantation in her head. She pointed her wand at the Slytherin table, and closed her eyes, bracing herself for the result.

As soon as she’d finished thinking the spell she opened her eyes, knowing immediately it had worked. She looked down at all the students sitting at the green-clothed table and watched them as they jerked their heads up and widened their eyes. They all seemed to be looking around the hall for some kind of disturbance, but the other students were still happily stuffing their faces with the food from the feast. She finally tapped the window again, and the small panes of glass which were missing reappeared again.

Hermione grinned to herself, and forgetting she was on a broom, she turned and almost fell off, but pulled herself up at the last minute. Ron, who could hardly see Hermione since she was practically invisible, seemed oblivious to this until he heard her gasp behind him. He whipped round to find Hermione’s arms grappling round his waste for support again as she said, “I‘ve done it. Now get us down!”

Ron didn’t need telling twice, as he was aware of how uncomfortable Hermione was on a broom. He swerved the broom around and soared back down to the ground, helping Hermione dismount the broom when they got there.

George and Alicia were busy creating the ghost using the dummy Alicia had brought with her. She was using her wand to copy George’s features onto it so it was an exact replica of him, except that the ears were both intact. The ‘ghost’ looked very realistic indeed; the body had the exact lean physique that George had, and the hair was the same red colour as it had always been. His ears, eyes, hair and nose had all been added to the model, and Alicia was just applying the lips now. She traced the contours of George’s mouth with the tip of her wand and after murmuring a few barely audible words, pointed her wand to the dummy, and immediately, George’s lips appeared there, perfectly exact. The final touch to be added was the freckles, which, when duplicated onto the ghost image, were exact down to the last position on the last mark.

“All done?” Ron asked as he and Hermione joined George and Alicia. Harry was still circling the area by the Great Hall windows, searching the map every now and then for potential stragglers up at the castle who weren’t yet in the hall. Luckily though, Harry found none, so he went back to the others. Ron and Hermione were back down, although they were still somewhat invisible.

“Finished!” Alicia said triumphantly. She stood the model ghost up next to George and said, “What do you think?”

Harry gave her two thumbs up. It did look the double of George, and Harry could not find one aspect of the dummy that did not look exactly like Fred had done.

“It’s a bit solid …” Ron said stupidly.

George rolled his eyes. “Well obviously Ron, we still need to do that.”

Alicia took her wand out again and prodded the model with it; immediately the colours all subsided and made way for all the black and white to take over.

Once the entire ghost was all black and white, Alicia murmured another spell, and the Fred became transparent. It looked brilliant.

“Pretty lifelike eh?” George said happily. “No pun intended,” he said with a small laugh.

Harry grinned; if this didn’t scare the Slytherins, Harry didn’t know what would.

~~~

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Cheers!

~Amy <3