New lives and loves
Cedric Dursley
Chapter 1-Goyle and Lavender
Two days after the final against Lord Voldemort Gregory Goyle felt both relieved and nervous. He was relieved that the war was finally over even though he was on the losing side, and nervous because he was sure that he was wanted by the ministry for siding with the Dark Lord, even though he was not involved in the final battle. Gregory didn't want to return home since there was no one there. His father was in ministry custody awaiting trial and his mother had disappeared sometime during the year. He needed to visit Diagon Alley to visit his personal vault that was opened after his grandmother passed away and also buy a new wand since his was ruined in the fire in the Room of Requirement. He also hoped that Tom the bartender at the Leaky Cauldron would rent him a room.
When Gregory arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, he asked Tom to open the portal to Diagon Alley and Tom reluctantly rented him a room and let him into Diagon Alley. The first place he went was Gringotts to withdraw some money. While he was there, he received some good news. The newly reorganized Ministry of Magic was not going to arrest any Hogwarts students for death eater activity.
After he left Gringotts, He went to Ollivander's Wands to buy a new wand. He was concerned that Mr. Ollivander would not sell to him because of everything that happened during the war. When he arrived at Ollivander's shop, Ollivander was not in the front.
He called out; "Mr. Ollivander, are you open?"
Ollivander answered, "Yes, I'm in the back. I'll be out in just a second."
When Mr. Ollivander came out and saw who was there, He froze for a moment. And then he uttered, "Oh it's you. I assume you need a new wand. Well, I suppose I can sell you one, even though your family was involved with He Who Must Not Be Named. Well, let's get started"
Twenty minutes later, Gregory left Ollivander's shop with a Twelve inch Mahogany wand with a unicorn hair core. He then went back to the Leaky Cauldron and ordered lunch. Gregory sat down near one of his fellow classmates, Lavender Brown. She still had much of her looks, except for a long scar that ran down her face. She also had a hardened look on her face that was only seen on grizzled old war veterans. After a few moments Lavender softly spoke.
"I know who you are. Go ahead start with the jokes about my face. I can take it. After all, I did survive the last battle against your Dark Lord. If I can live with these hideous scars on my face, I can take anything."
Gregory's replied in an unusually soft voice, "Miss Brown, I have done a great many things that I am not proud of, but beating a person when they are down is not one of them. If you like, we could have dinner together some time. I am trying to change. One of those changes is to try to be a better person. I can tell you it is not an easy change to make. So, do we have a date?'
After a brief pause Lavender looked at Goyle's face and saw that he was sincere. They continued talking for three hours straight until she realized she had an appointment with a mind healer the next day to help her cope with her experiences from the war.
The two of them continued to see each other over the next few days and began to realize that there was an attraction between them. Gregory knew he needed to find work, but because of his family's allegiance during the last war, he was unable to find work. He talked to Lavender about this problem and she thought of a perfect solution. They could move out of England for a few years until the Ministry improved for the better. The only thing that was up in the air is where to move. They finally decided on New York because of a large magical population there and it just sounded like fun to live there. So the two of them decided to move right after the award ceremony and memorial service scheduled in two weeks. They had to attend the award ceremony because lavender was to be awarded the Order of Merlin third class for her bravery in the final battle. One other decision they made was not to live together because neither one felt that they were ready for that strong a commitment.
The next day, Gregory and Lavender ran into Theodore Nott and Susan Bones at the Ministry of Magic and they began talking. It turned out that Nott and Susan Bones were dating and they also had plans to move to New York at the same time. So they all decided keep in touch after they moved.
Nott was to receive the Order of Merlin first class for saving the life of Kingsley Shacklebolt during the final battle by taking out his own father. The elder Nott was killed in the final battle and Nott just wanted to leave the country for a while. Susan was going to move to New York because Cho Chang was moving there as well with her muggle boyfriend, Dudley Dursley.
Gregory and Lavender finally received confirmation that the move was approved by the Ministry of Magic and the American Magic Congress so the plans to move were begun. They were both relieved and nervous about the move. Gregory was going to stay in the same apartment that Dudley and Nott had rented so they would try to get along. Lavender, Cho, and Susan were also going to share an apartment nearby. Gregory was in for a bit of a shock because he had never lived with a muggle before and he was not sure what to expect.
On the day of the move, Gregory met Lavender, Nott, Susan, Dudley, and Cho at the airport. They all decided that because Dudley didn't have any magic, they would all fly to New York the muggle way, by plane. Dudley told everyone that his father had bought a bar for him and he invited his new friends to assist him in running it. They agreed but only if they could buy a share in the bar and run it as a partnership. And so the friendship of Dudley Dursley, Theodore Nott, and Gregory Goyle had begun.