Chapter 2: Vacation and Return (2022)

HR sat in the kitchen of his Grandparents' condo in Florida with a cup of tea in front of him. The summer sun streamed in through the windows of the little breakfast nook, and a cool breeze came in through the partially opened windows. His Gran had already fixed a large breakfast, and they had tried to wait for his Grandpa to wake up, but since that didn't seem likely to happen anytime soon they had decided to just go ahead and eat.

"So HR, tell me what you and your sisters have been doing. I get your letters, but it's so much nicer in person."

"Well, Gran, I'm going into my fourth year at Hogwarts. Gin's going to be in her second year. School's pretty good, I'm getting pretty good grades in Herbology, Charms and History of Magic, but DADA is pretty hard. Professor Farnsworth is tough."

"DADA is Defense Against the Dark Arts, isn't it?"

"Yeah, that's it. I'm ok at it, but Hugo is awesome. He's going to be an Auror like his dad."

Karen Boyd nodded at her grandson. She remembered meeting Hugo and several of the children's friends when she and Tom had visited last Christmas. They had attended a dinner party at Harry Potter's house and she'd thoroughly enjoyed herself. It had been hard to think of James Potter as a very athletic young man, as it had seemed like only yesterday that she and Molly Weasley had changed his diapers. It was at the dinner party that she'd met the youngest Potter, Lily, and she'd noticed how HR watched Lily out of the corner of his eye. She knew that look; after all, she'd raised three boys.

"And how is Lily?"

HR took a sip of tea and didn't look up. "She's fine, I guess. I don't really talk to her much at school. We don't really have the same friends."

"What do you mean?"

"She's in the popular group, Gran. She's the most popular girl in school. I mean, she's in Mum's magazine every now and then for some girly clothes thing."

Karen saw the way his face looked and decided to change the topic. "And how is Witch Weekly doing these days?"

HR shrugged. "Ok, I guess. Sometimes when Mum gets mad she says she should stop being editor and go back to working with the Harpies, but she'll never do it."

"Is there any left?"

HR watched his Grandpa Tom sit down slowly at the table. "Sure, Grandpa."

Karen touched her husband on his arm. "HR was just telling me about school and his friends."

"What about a girlfriend?" Tom smiled at his grandson. "Or are you still playing the field?"

"I don't have a girlfriend, Grandpa. I went with Parker's little sister to a dance, but that was just so she could go."

Karen gave her husband a quick look and he understood. "So, HR, what about your sisters? What are they up to?"

HR's shoulders eased and he leaned back in his chair. "Well, Gin's been painting and drawing everything as usual; Mione and Minnie are just bored because they can't go to Hogwarts this year. They've been in trouble at school a lot 'cause they can't really control their magic yet. Mione got in so much trouble last year that Mum had to go to talk with her teacher. Mum's thinking she may have to send them to The Burrow an' have Molly Weasley teach them until they can go to Hogwarts. Either that or they send her to Aunt Lavinia's school, the one for little magical kids."

Karen smiled and shook her head. "If anyone could help tame the twins, I'd put my money on Molly."

Hank looked at his Gran and nodded. "Mum wanted to send the twins to Aunt Lavinia's but Dad wanted them to go to Muggle school. I think Mione's going to get them kicked out if she keeps it up this year."

Karen then stopped and snapped her fingers. "I just remembered. HR, your Uncle Nate and Aunt Lavender will be coming down for supper later this week. I must say, it is so much easier to have them apparate here than drive. Nate says they have a surprise, but he won't tell me anything."

The news made HR happy, as Uncle Nate was his favorite relative. He'd let HR drive a Porsche in the parking lot of the high school last year, something they both decided not to tell his parents. Maybe this year he'd let HR drive on the roads.

"HR, could you get the paper for your old Grandfather?" Tom looked over at HR, then down at his wand.

"Sorry, Grandpa." HR picked up his wand and looked at it. "Can't use magic outside of Hogwarts until I'm seventeen." HR walked over to the counter, picked up the paper and tossed it towards his grandfather.

After the paper landed in front of him Tom looked over at his wife. "What? I'm an old man."

The week in Florida went by quickly, as HR found himself enjoying the Muggle world with his grandparents, especially fishing with his grandfather. It was a week later, the day that Nate and Lavender were to come over, that found HR out in his grandparents' fenced-in garden looking at their trees. He was wondering what kind of wand an orange tree would make when he heard the familiar POP of apparition. His Uncle and Aunt were there, but his Aunt was holding something in her arms.

"Uncle Nate! Aunt Lavender!"

"Hey boyo, how are you?" Nate walked over and gave him a hug. "Dude, you are getting tall. Definitely didn't get that from your dad. How tall are you now?"

"Five foot nine. I might get taller than you."

Nate laughed at his nephew. "Maybe, maybe not."

"Hi there, Hieronymus." Aunt Lavender gave him a one armed hug and a kiss.

HR made a small expression of irritation, only his Mum, Grandmum Bramble and Lavender ever called him that. The bundle in her arms began to squirm and HR thought he heard a baby. "Is that what I think it is?"

Lavender nodded. "Say hello to your new cousin Claire."

"I thought I heard your voices." Karen looked out and then stopped short. "A baby? Oh my goodness gracious! Lavender I didn't even know you were pregnant!" She hurried over and Lavender moved the light blankets to show a very small little girl with bright blue eyes.

"I've never been pregnant, Karen. We've adopted her."

Nate gently touched the baby's head. "Come on, let's go inside Mom. We'll fill you in."

After introducing baby Claire to her grandfather everyone ended up in the crowded little living room, with Karen and Lavender on the couch with the baby. HR knew his Gran couldn't wait, so he decided to break the ice for her.

"So you guys adopted her? How'd that happen?'

Nate looked over at Lavender, and she nodded, and Nate leaned in closer. "HR, I don't know how much you've been following the news in the Wizarding World, but some bad things have been happening lately. You know from school and Harry and your folks how the dark wizards tried to take over in England, right? And you've heard the stories about what happened in Virginia when your Uncle Ted got married, not to mention when your Mom and Dad got married. It's kind of like that, but this time it isn't just happening in England. It's all over the world, but it's been really bad in the northern UMS, Switzerland and Italy. Its open war in Switzerland and we're all afraid it could spread to even more countries. There's been a lot of fighting going on, and it seems like it just keeps getting worse. Lavender was on special assignment in Switzerland, working with their AAB or Aurors or whatever they're called, and she found Claire."

HR looked at his Gran, and her face looked worried. Before he could say anything Lavender took over for Nate.

"We'd been called in as advisors as we've had some experience with the Knights of the Wand and the WLF, and we came across a house that had just been attacked. Claire's father was a wizard but her mother was a Muggle, so they killed them both. We fought them off and they disappeared, leaving Claire upstairs in her crib. We took her back with us and she was in the orphanage with all of the other kids. Nate and I had decided that we weren't going to have children because of, well, my condition, but I couldn't leave her there."

"So we started the paperwork a month or so ago." Nate looked at his mother, who was almost ready to cry. "And we brought her home from Switzerland yesterday. Her name is now Claire Angelique Boyd. How about a picture with your new granddaughter, Mom?"

Once photos, both Magical and Muggle, had been taken of everyone with the new baby, HR found himself in the kitchen with his Uncle Nate looking in the fridge for a snack. After deciding on ham sandwiches, cheese and crackers, crisps and dip they sat at the kitchen table. HR had hoped to get some time alone with his uncle, and it seemed like a good time as Lavender and his grandparents were busy with Claire.

"Um, Uncle Nate, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, what's on your mind, squirt?"

HR took a deep breath. "I need some help. You've had a lot of girlfriends, right?"

Nate laughed. "Has your Dad been telling stories about me? I wasn't that bad, trust me."

"Not really. He just said that you had more girlfriends that he had."

"Well, that's true. So what's up?"

HR took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "There's a girl that I really like, but I don't think she really knows that I exist. Well, that's not it, I've known her all my life, but she's the most popular girl in school. I'm not in that crowd."

"Take after your Dad on that one." Nate took a drink of sweet tea and looked at his nephew. "This isn't a conversation you can have with your old man, is it? Ok, I'll tell you what I think, but you have to know my experience is a little bit different than yours. I was in the popular crowd, and to be honest it's not all it's cracked up to be. I spent most of high school worried that I didn't have the right clothes, the right girlfriend, and the right car. Took me a lot of time and a lot of girlfriends to figure out that it doesn't matter if you're popular, what matters is that you're a good person. Look at Lavender. She met me when I was still trying to be the popular guy even though high school was over for a long time. I flirted with every woman and had a lot of girlfriends, but they never lasted very long. It wasn't until I started writing letters to Lavender that I realized I didn't have to be popular, I didn't have to be that guy, I just had to be me. All the stuff that the women I dated thought was cool didn't matter to Lavender because she had no idea what half of that stuff was." Nate took another drink of sweet tea. "What I'm trying to say is something I know you've heard before, but that doesn't mean it's easy. Just be yourself. Don't try to be someone you think this girl will like, because if she likes you it needs to be because she likes you, not the person you're pretending to be."

HR sighed. "But how will that help me? I really don't think she knows who I am. We see each other at school and we go to dinner at her house sometimes, but she's famous, Nate. I'm nobody."

"Famous? Just who is this girl, anyway?"

"Lily Potter." HR looked down at his uneaten sandwich and pushed the plate away.

"Oh boy, kid, you don't mess around. I saw her in the back to school edition of your Mom's magazine. She's cute."

"Who's cute?" Lavender sat down at the table, reached over and took a bite out of Nate's sandwich.

HR looked with fear at his uncle, who winked. Nate kissed his wife on the cheek. "You are, honey."

Lavender, Nate and baby Claire were almost ready to leave as HR watched as his Gran take Claire again, making Nate and Lavender promise to visit again soon. When Grandpa Ted went over to hold the baby again Lavender walked over to HR with something in her hand.

"Hieronymus, can you do a favor for me?"

"Sure thing, Aunt Lavender. What do you need?"

She handed him a letter with a large red wax seal. "I need you to give this to Harry Potter. Don't send it by owl. I need you to give this to him personally. You're still planning on going home tomorrow, right?"

HR nodded.

"Good. This is very important. I've owled your Mum and she's going to have an Auror come and take you home. Yes, I know you're a fourth year now, but this is important, you need to be very careful now. You're old enough to know what's happening, and we didn't say too much because we didn't want to scare your grandparents, but things are worse than what we said earlier."

Lavender looked over her shoulder at her in-laws.

"We don't have enough time for me to explain. Just take that to Harry Potter as soon as you get home. Remember, nobody else but him, ok?"

HR nodded and Lavender hugged him. "You're a good kid, even if you are a Hufflepuff."

HR arrived back in rain of London with Seamus Finnegan not too far from Diagon Alley. He walked with the Auror, who was not much taller than he was, through the crowd of umbrellas until they reached Grimmauld Place. All through the trip he hadn't been able to get anything out of the Auror except that the security levels had been raised for everyone, especially those who had Muggle relatives. Only when Ginny Potter opened the door did Seamus seem to relax.

"HR? Seamus? This is a pleasant surprise. Won't you come in?"

Seamus shook his head, waved, then apparated away, leaving HR standing alone on the doorstep. HR walked in and made some small talk with Ginny, but she told him that Al was somewhere in the house and left him to his own devices. After all, HR was over at Grimmauld often enough that Ginny seemed to treat him like one of her own children.

It wasn't until HR made it into the living room that he realized he was really nervous. He couldn't decide if it was the letter or the possibility of seeing Lily that was making him feel that way, but one look on the sofa decided that instantly. Lily Potter was snuggled into the arms of her boyfriend Graham Kent, a fifth year Gryffindor. Graham was one of the popular crowd, a Chaser on the Gryffindor team and had what the girls in HR's year said was "perfect hair."

"Oh. Sorry." HR felt his face become warm and looked away as quickly as possible.

HR looked down at the floor the whole way into the kitchen. His heart was beating fast and his stomach seemed to be doing flips. He needed a drink of water. It was after filling a glass and turning off the tap that he realized he wasn't alone.

"Good thing you know where everything is, mate." Al Potter sat at the kitchen table eating a sandwich.

"Al! Your Mum said you were here. How long have you been back?"

"Yesterday. Ireland's nice, but it's good to be back home."

"Guess you're going to be famous now, huh?" HR sat down next to his good friend gave him a sarcastic smile.

"Yeah, funny, whatever. It was an acting job, even though I had to pretend to be Dad. That was weird. So what brings you by at this hour? It's kind of late. Not that I care, you know. Just not like you."

"I have something for your Dad. My Aunt Lavender sent it with me, and I have to give it to him personally."

"Damn, that's weird. Well, he's up in his study. Stop back before you leave, ok?"

"Sure, Al. Back in a few."

HR looked in to the study to see Harry sitting at his desk, reading over one of a giant stack of parchment that sat on the right side of the desk. He knocked quietly, and when Harry didn't respond he knocked harder.

Harry looked up. "HR? I didn't know you were here. Are your parents downstairs?"

"No, they're in Stintborough. I just got back from Florida."

"Oh. Well, what can I do for you?"

HR walked in and handed Harry the letter. "My Aunt Lavender said to hand deliver this. I don't know what it is, but I know it can't be good. She and Mum had Seamus Finnegan bring me back from Gran and Grandpa's house. Oh, and Lavender and my Uncle Nate adopted a little girl. But I think that you should probably read that." HR started to head for the door. "I'll see you later, Harry."

"Hold up a second, HR. Why don't you have a seat?" Harry motioned to the big brown leather chair.

HR sat down quickly. He knew this really couldn't be good.

"HR, I believe you know your history. Al says you're the top of your year in History of Magic, so you'll understand what this means. You know what things were like when Voldemort came to power, right? Well, it's starting to be like that again, but this time there isn't one dark wizard who's trying to take over, it's a lot of different groups who have the same goal. They want to get rid of all the Muggles forever, and instead of a single group like the Death Eaters they're forming armies. Now, I know you're wondering why I'm telling you this, but I feel like you should know. Even though your Dad is technically a wizard the rest of his family are Muggles. You're old enough to know what's going on, and it's been going on for longer than a lot of people realize."

"Wow." HR sat back in the chair. "Are my Gran and Grandpa going to be ok?"

"Yes, they'll be fine. The AAB has them on their list for protection, and your Aunt Lavender would never let anything happen if she could help it. But even then, we need to be remember, constant vigilance."

"Isn't that what Mad-Eye Moody used to say?" HR saw a look of surprise on Harry's face.

"Al wasn't lying, you know your history. What you need to remember is that you have to realize who you are and what's going on. I know it may sound dumb after what I've just told you, but you need to study as hard as you can while you're at Hogwarts. You need to know those things. Trust me, it'll be important later." Harry looked down at the letter on his desk. "Please talk to your parents about what we've discussed tonight; I know they'll want to explain some things that I've left out. Now if you'll excuse me I need to read this letter."

HR got up and walked to the door. "Thanks, Harry."

"Sure thing. Make sure to talk to Ginny on your way out or she'll be up here the second you leave."

HR made his way downstairs to the kitchen and found Ginny and Al sitting there with a cup of tea.

"HR, would you like to join us?" Ginny looked over to HR with a kind face.

"Sure, that'd be great." HR sat down next to Albus. He'd always felt very comfortable at Grimmauld Place, and Ginny, along with Hermione Weasley, were like extra mothers to him, not to mention his godmother Hannah Longbottom. "Can't stay long, though, I still haven't seen Mum and Dad yet."

"You haven't?" Ginny looked over at HR while she levitated another cup and saucer over to the table. "Why not?"

"I had to hand deliver a letter to Harry from my Aunt Lavender." HR looked over at Al who mouthed "one, two, three…"

"Well," Ginny said as she got up from the table, "I'd better go see about that letter. Tell your parents hello for me."

After Ginny left Al looked over at HR, "So Dad gave you his impending doom talk, did he?"

"Yeah, and Lavender did the same. What do you think, Al? Are we going to have a war?"

"Dunno, HR. Sure sounds like it. Dad's pushing me to keep on with DADA this year, but I don't want to. It's not like Hogwarts has acting OWL or NEWTS. The only thing we've got is the Theater Club your Dad and Mike Greene put together."

"Yeah, or anything about wandmaking. But Al, this sounds bad. It's like the Voldemort years, but everywhere."

Al ran his hand through his hair. "We'll see. You're the history guy. I still haven't told Mum you got me through that class. I know this may sound weird, but I really don't want to go back this year. There's a Performing Arts school in Ireland that a lot of the people I know are going to, but I think Mum would go spare if I went there instead of Hogwarts." Al spun a spoon around on the table with his fingers for a while. "Oh well, we've got another month or so left before we have to go back. What are you going to do? Tell your folks about Ollivander's offer?"

"That I can work in his shop? Not yet, I don't want to freak them out. Maybe I'll tell them tomorrow after I show them the pictures of the baby that Nate and Lavender adopted."

"Really? Wow. That's cool. Boy or girl?'

"Girl." HR laughed. "I'm surrounded by girls, Al."

"But not the one you want, right?" Al looked over to HR, who blushed. "Don't worry, I haven't said a word. I promise."

HR looked at his teacup intently. Finally, after a long pause he looked over at Al. "Is he still here?"

Al made a face and shook his head. "Nah, he took off not too long after you got here. I don't like him, he seems a bit dodgy to me. He's really, really polite to Mum and Dad but I think he's said about ten words to me the whole time Lils has brought him over. James scared the hell out of him, so at least we've got that going for us."

"What did James do?'

"Told him that he'd do a full bodybind on him, take him on his broom, fly to the top of Puddlemere United's pitch and shove him off if he ever did anything to his little sister. That was a good one."

"Do you think James would do it?"

Al laughed heartily. "Oh yeah. He also sat around one night with his Beater's bat while Graham was over. Don't get a professional Quidditch player angry. Plus, you know James' temper."

HR got up quickly from the table. "Well, I'd better go see Mum and Dad now. Owl me later if you want to go to Diagon Alley."

"Will do, see you, mate."

A/N: I'm having difficulty with the paragraph breaks, specifically the white space breaks, so I've inserted the annoying asterisk dividers. Sorry.