Harry Potter walked out of the Leaky Cauldron carrying a case of Muggle beer under his left arm, and in his right arm a sack containing two bottles of Firewhisky. "In just three days, Gin and I will be married. We'll be lying around on the beach at… erm… Bill's place. I just have to get through this weekend," Harry thought to himself.
He walked across the street and up the stairs to the second landing. Facing the door to his flat, Harry looked left and right to make sure that no one anywhere near was watching. He took out a simple, silver key and placed it in the lock. He then drew his wand, and slid it all the way into a small slot just above the keyhole. Finally, he placed his left hand on a blank space just next to the doorknob. He heard a click as the door unlocked.
It had been a unique challenge for him when he had been designing the defenses for his flat. If he used a simple lock and key, it would just take Alohomora to get in. So he created the wand slot, which required his wand to unlock the door. Unfortunately, he realized that people could simply steal it. So, he created a fingerprint sensitive area which would scan Harry's left hand. Intruders would either have to drag him here, or cut off his arm from his dead body to get in. Of course, that was only if they could get him to break his Fidelius Charm first.
He entered the flat, closed the door and tapped it with his wand to re-lock it. He walked into the kitchen and set his alcohol down on the counter. He felt his wand vibrate; indicating to him that someone was coming in through the Floo. He had a vague idea of who it would be.
"Name?" requested the curt voice of his bewitched fireplace wall.
"Ginny Weasley," replied a frustrated voice.
"When spending the night with Mr. Potter, what side of the bed do you sleep on?"
"We sleep horizontally, with me being closer to the headboard," she giggled.
The wall melted away and Ginny stepped out of the fireplace. Harry smiled at her and strode towards her to give her a hug, but she pushed away from him and gave him a steady glare. Harry sighed. "Gin, you know it wasn't my idea."
"Well, you could have said no!"
"You know George and Ron! Not a chance of that happening," Harry pleaded.
Ginny sighed. "Please don't go to any strip clubs, or do something stupid…"
"Ginny, I agreed to the party so that I could do it on my own terms. I went and bought the alcohol, I didn't buy much, so I know we will have to be conservative. We are just going to stay here and play some cards," Harry said, waving at the card table he had erected.
Finally Ginny gave in and gave Harry a hug.
"What, Gin? You don't think I'm suddenly going to have cold feet do you? I've had nine years of your brothers trying to run me off… that's not going to happen now."
Ginny smiled at him. "It's not that, I just know my brothers. The words George and conservative never ever end up in the same sentence."
"Trust me," Harry smiled back, "they will tonight."
Suddenly the Fireplace wall's curt voice called out. "Mr. Potter, Messer's Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan, and Dean Thomas are arriving shortly. As well as Ron, George, Percy, Charlie and Bill Weasley. Permission to grant them access?"
"Permission granted," Harry replied as the wall receded again.
Suddenly Neville was stepping out of the fireplace, followed by Seamus, then Dean, and soon red head after red head began stepping out of the fireplace. Harry nodded hello to each of them respectively as they stepped out and moved to the side. Finally, after Neville, Seamus and Dean completed the ensemble, the wall blocked the fireplace again.
"Bloody hell! Is she here to destroy our attempts at a fun night already?" George asked teasingly.
Bill stepped forward and tugged on Ginny's arm. "Come on, little sister, you're about to have him all to yourself for a whole week. Let's get you home."
Ginny pulled out of his grip and gave Harry one last hug. As he pulled her close, she whispered in his ear, "Please don't do anything stupid." Harry smiled and gave her one last kiss.
Ginny pulled away and gave her brothers and friends one last dirty look before she stepped up, tapped the wall with her wand, and disappeared in green flames.
"Wow! I thought that she would put up more of a fight than that. She's been campaigning against this for two weeks."
Harry gave George a glare. "Hell. Look who I'm going with… can you blame her?"
Ron gave Harry a surprised look. "Yes," he said seriously, with no hint of humor in his voice.
"Okay, Potter, read this," Bill muttered as he handed Harry a bit of parchment.
"Bill Weasley is throwing Harry Potter his Stag night at Shell Cottage on the outskirts of Tinworth," Harry read.
Harry felt what seemed like wind sweep across him as memory of Shell Cottage came back to him. Harry smiled at Bill with a sudden understanding. "Fidelius Charm?" he asked.
Bill smiled. "I know we were going to have it here, but I know my sister. That wasn't the last time we are going to hear from her again this evening." Bill walked up to Harry, and began searching him over. "If I know my sister… yep!" Bill exclaimed as he peeled a tiny, circular object off of Harry's shoulder. He turned to George, "You need to watch who you sell your secret spy cameras to, George."
"Hey! That there is a top selling product!" George scoffed.
"That is being used to spy on a sacred right of passage!" Bill retorted as he crushed the tiny object. "Okay, everyone, let's head to my place before she shows back up."
Harry was about to protest, but Ron briskly grabbed his arm and Apparated them both to Shell Cottage.
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Ginny sat in stunned silence. She leaned forward and tapped her wand against the small black box on the coffee table which had previously been projecting a picture of Harry's sitting room on the empty wall in front of her. However, the wall remained dead before her. She had been found out, and it hadn't even been five minutes. Her mother chuckled as she continued knitting. "Your brothers know you all too well. Perhaps you should just let them have their fun. You know they won't cause too much trouble."
"I'm with you Ginny; I trust Ron, but I'm not so sure about George," Hermione said, placing her book on the coffee table.
Molly threw up her arms in defeat. "You two need to give them a chance. For all you know they just want some privacy! Haven't you given them enough reason not to trust you?"
Ginny shot her mother a dirty look. "Maybe if George wasn't present, I would agree with you."
Ginny stood and rushed to the fireplace. "Harry Potter's flat!" she exclaimed, throwing down Floo powder.
After she finally quit spinning, she stepped out into the humungous fireplace. "Name?" a curt voice prompted her.
"Ginny Weasley," she muttered impatiently.
"What was Harry Potter's informal gift to you on your last birthday?"
It didn't matter that this was an inanimate object she was talking too, she blushed immensely anyway. "Whatever I wanted in bed…" she whispered quietly.
She stepped out into the flat and cursed under her breath. She was going to kill her brothers.
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Harry and company moved into the sitting room of Shell Cottage. "So, Harry, has my sister show up yet?" Ron asked.
Harry felt his wand vibrate in his pocket. "Yep, just now," he said as everyone snickered.
As they all sat down, Bill said, "Right, Potter, I know if you had it your way we would be sitting in your flat, sober, and playing boring card games all night. Instead, we are going to dinner at the Leaky Cauldron, then to the English-Swedish Quidditch match-" at this he had to silence the suddenly excited, whooping crowd before him. "And then, we are coming back here, and we are getting pissed," he said with a smirk, deliberately emphasizing the last word.
Ron looked at his watch. "Time to go everyone! Abbot won't hesitate to give up our reservation if we don't get a move on!"
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Harry patted his overfilled stomach. Not only had Bill and Ron made reservations for nine people, they had ordered everyone a 20 oz. aged sirloin steak, and a round of Firewhisky to start off the night.
As everyone finished up their meal, Ron stood up and tapped his glass with his fork to get everyone's attention. "Harry. You've been my best mate for nine years. No… wait… you've been more than that… you've been my brother," he added to applause and whoops. Ron silenced them before continuing. "We've been to hell and back together, mate, and honestly I can't imagine anyone else that I would trust to be with my little sister." At this he paused, and glared jokingly at Dean. "Harry, I can't wait for you to become my brother for real."
"Hear, hear!" Charlie roared, clapping Ron on the back.
Harry felt a pressure under his arm as George pushed him to his feet.
"Speech! Speech! Speech!" crowed the crowd in front of him.
"Bloody hell, you prats, you know I'm pants at speaking." Harry paused for a moment, taking full advantage of the time to think as the group before him laughed at the truth of the statement. "Before I went to Hogwarts, I never thought that I would ever have friends. Dudley scared off anyone who ever tried to get to know me. I can't believe that I got lucky enough to have friends like you guys-" Harry was forced to pause again as the group applauded and whooped.
"Oh, dwahling, we'll be bestest friends forever!" exclaimed George in a high-pitched voice as he flung his arms around Dean, who subsequently tried to inch away.
"Okay, someone cut him off," Harry laughed as Percy stooped to catch George before he fell to the floor. "Anyway, I can't believe that soon I'm becoming family with some of the best friends I ever had. Guys, I promise, I will always take care of Ginny, I love her," he added thoughtfully.
At this everyone threw up their hands and laughed again. "Oh shut it, Potter! This isn't a Hen's night! Take another drink!" roared Bill as he slid Harry another Firewhisky.
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When Ron finally woke up the next morning, he lay there for a moment listening to the sound of beating drums in his ears. As his headache began to worsen as he regained consciousness, he pulled Hermione closer to him and put his head into her hair. He took in a long draw through his nose. "When did she change her shampoo?" he asked himself. He opened his eyes and, to his horror, found that it was not Hermione so tightly nested against himself, but Seamus.
In the blink of an eye, he had thrown Seamus's arms off him and scurried across the room. A quick glance around told him that he was in the living room of Shell Cottage. He must have passed out sometime. He took a look at his watch. According to the hands, it was nearly noon. Ron sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands. For the life of him, he could not recall what had happened that night, or why Neville, Dean, Seamus and he had passed out in the sitting room.
Ron stood, and stretched out his tired, aching muscles. He walked to the kitchen, pausing only to take a leak. He entered the kitchen to see a simmering cauldron sitting on the middle of the table. Bill was sitting reading the Daily Prophet, George was sleeping with his head on the table, and Charlie was muttering a complex incantation is his wand pointed carefully into Percy's face. Upon the sound of shuffling feet, Bill looked up and saw Ron looking at Percy. "Broken nose," he explained.
Ron sat down and looked into the cauldron. "Hangover potion, brilliant," he said, picking up a glass and wincing as his voice sounded overly-loud. The moment the liquid hit his stomach, the pounding in his ears slowly died away.
Charlie grinned evilly at him. "So, Ronnie, how did you sleep last night?"
Ron glowered at him. "Which one of you bastards set us up?"
George looked up, not actually asleep. "Funny thing, Ronniekins, none of us did that. You and Seamus fell into each others arms all by yourselves. I knew Hermione was just a show."
Ron slowly shook his head in disbelief, turning his attention back to his potion. "So how did you break your nose, Perce?" Ron asked as he finished the rest of his glass.
Charlie frowned. "Actually, we were hoping you could tell us that. I don't remember what happened after we ate dinner; Bill remembers arriving at the Quidditch stadium, Percy remembers bits and pieces of the game, but George doesn't remember a god damn thing."
Ron chuckled a bit. "Well, I can't do much better than you. I remember eating, and that's about it."
The conversation was interrupted by Seamus, Dean and Neville stumbling drunkenly into the kitchen. Bill waved his wand to conjure chairs and glasses for them.
"Thanks," they muttered as individual glasses of hangover potion floated towards them.
A minute later, Neville looked up. "Erm… do any of you guys remember what happened last night?"
Bill chuckled. "No, not really."
George smiled, picking his head up from the table. "That right there, gentlemen, is a sign that we all had one… hell…. of a night."
Ron looked around the room. "Guys, where is Harry?"
The room became deathly quiet.
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Half an hour later they had searched Shell Cottage up and down, as well as the nearby beach. Ron and George had gone to Harry's flat, but he wasn't there either.
As Ron and George entered the sitting room, they found everyone else waiting for them expectantly. "He isn't at his flat," Ron said.
They all looked at Bill. He was the oldest and the most responsible one after all. After a moment of deliberation, he turned to Ron. "Send him a Patronus," he decided.
Ron nodded and put his hand in his pocket. He was shocked to find not one, but two handles. He pulled them both out, and everyone was aghast at he held in his hand. It was Harry's wand.
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I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter of Harry's Stag Night. Do me a favor, PLEASE REVIEW! Let me know what you liked, loved, or hated. Your reviews are my only form of payment, and it makes my day when I see that I have a new review. If you want the next chapter, leave reviews. They give me my inspiration to keep writing.
Thanks!
Bware0313
p.s. Sorry, I had to update this for a strange phenomenon that is beyond my comprehension. During Harry's speech at the Leaky, you may have noticed that some words were bolded? This was not for influence, and it wasn't supposed to be bolded. For some reason, Microsoft Word kept the property of those words bolded? Also, I use long dashes to indicate the end of a scene. Sometimes, Word makes this into a solid line which the document uploader wasn't uploading. Fixed it all now!