Chapter 3 - Calm

Submitted: Wednesday 18 January 2012

Harry was not prepared for the onslaught of attention he received once it became public that he and Ginny were no longer together. Hecate had warned him when he last saw her that he'd have to be careful because witches would literally begin throwing themselves at him. "Harry," she had said as he walked her back to her hut, "don't be seduced. These witches don't know you for you. They are in love with your celebrity and your accomplishments. You will know when the time is right."

Wherever he went he was greeted by young and old witches alike who subconsciously mussed with their hair and offered their best smiles. Most embarrassing were occasions when married witches would visibly flirt with him in front of their very husbands. A friendship with more than one of his fellow Aurors had predictably gone icy cold once he was introduced to the wife.

He'd accidentally overheard one conversation amongst former mates a few weeks back. "I don't understand what the birds see in the boy. Scrawny little thing. Can't hold a decent conversation with a witch if she's not his best mate's girl." He'd have been angrier had he not known the bloke was just blowing off steam.

At the moment he passed the time in his cubicle doodling on a piece of parchment, "You planning on getting any work done or are you going to spend the day sketching broomsticks?"

Harry found his best mate standing over his shoulder admiring his work, "You have something better for us to do?"

"Rid the world of crime. You up for it?"

"Really?" Harry asked, "That's what you are going with? You sound like some wizard out of the comics." He shook his head in mock disgust, "I should have taken that offer to play Seeker for Puddlemore."

"Oy, I could have tended goal with the Cannons," Ron tried to use his best hurt voice.

"You could have tended goal with Puddlemore too. If I remember there were a half-dozen clubs here and across Europe that inquired."

And it was true. For the past few months they worked at the Aurors Office despite continued offers from several clubs. Puddlemore had been most insistent about Harry joining and was particularly interested in the idea of two heroes being able to shore up what they considered their only points of weakness. Harry loved the idea of playing Quidditch but he just couldn't get over the idea of making it his life.

Ron had nearly signed with the Cannons. He'd spent a month selling Harry on the idea of helping him return the club to its former glory only to change his mind himself after a private conversation with his mentor Ewan Duncan. Ewan was Auror Robard's Head of Training and was second only to Robard at the Department. He'd spent the previous year serving as Professor for Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts as a favour to the Minister and he'd been particularly angry with Harry for not sharing the identity of the criminal that had been responsible for tormenting the students at Hogwarts and the inhabitants of the forest. Harry had defeated the wizard at the end of the term but kept his identity a secret hoping it would help restore some order and an already fragile peace.

If Harry was admired by witches throughout England, he was also feared by wizards. While a few considered the defeat of Voldemort a fluke, it was generally rumoured that Harry had defeated whatever scourge had taken the lives of several Centaurs in the forest. The fact that no-one knew exactly what that evil was made the stories all the more grand. Hannah had recounted many a conversation at the Cauldron that had begun with, "Remember, the bloke killed a basilisk his Second Year and his duel with Voldemort wasn't their first showdown..."

Thrice in the past three months wizards turned themselves in and admitted their crimes when it was made public he was assigned their case. The Ministry took advantage of this and began making public his more difficult assignments in hopes to have them resolved quickly. It wasn't as if the cases of late were Earth shattering anyway. Harry knew there were a few Death Eaters that remained in hiding but they weren't going to make themselves public without a leader. As a result, most of the Auror's crimes were simple affairs. There had only been one murder and that had been simple greed.

"I'm bored," Harry complained as they walked along Diagon Alley. "Are we really going to go check out a call over a few nicked items? Aurors don't normally handle shoplifting calls."

Ron looked at Harry with sympathy, "Mate, would you rather see the Alley looking like it did last year when we broke into Gringotts? The place is brilliant now...thanks to you no less. George has said more than once that the loans you offered the shops around town allowed them to rebuild and stay afloat." He stopped Harry, "Look Mate. I miss the adventure as much as you do but can't you enjoy just a little bit what you've helped create?"

"Of course I can," Harry said with a look of guilt, "I love this place. And I love that people are happy. That makes me no less bored..."

"I know, Mate." Ron eyed Harry with anticipation, "Hey, Mum asked me to find out if you'd be at the Burrow tomorrow night."

"Of course," Harry answered, "it's her birthday."

Ron seemed to relax a little, "Excellent, I was worried you wouldn't come. Mum's been asking me all week. She complained last weekend when you didn't go with us for dinner. You know the last time we all got together was for Hermione's birthday."

"Yes, I remember well." Harry cheeked, "I also remember an owl belonging to Seamus pecking on the window until we let it in. You never did tell us what was written on the parchment."

Ron flushed, "You needn't mind that." Harry's silence must have been too much for his mate, "He sent me a reminder, all right? He said he didn't want to see a repeat of last year and was just sending a friendly reminder."

Harry couldn't help but snigger, "Throwing a birthday party for her on the wrong day was rather amusing. Lucky for you Hermione finds your utter lack of memory for such things endearing."

"Yeah, right," dead-panned Ron. "Here we are. You want to take notes or me?"

"Ron, you're the Team Leader. You don't need to ask."

"Right. Then you take notes. I don't feel like it."

Harry just shook his head as they walked in and he smiled to himself. With Auror Duncan as his mentor, Ron had become accustomed to the role of leader and he had performed brilliantly as the head of the Auror Trainees. He still was reluctant to give Harry orders so Harry would occasionally push him along. He couldn't have people feeling like Ron treated him differently – he got enough accusations of favouritism as it was. Harry hoped the day went quickly.

ZZZZZZ

Mrs. Weasley's birthday party was just as awkward as Harry's previous visit had been. Molly had always wanted him to feel like family but no mum could be asked to choose an adopted son over an only daughter. She wanted so much to be angry with her daughter with how she treated Harry but she couldn't. The public nature of their breakup had made things no easier.

The story in the Prophet and the letter that went with it put Ginny in a very bad light. Harry, ever the gentleman, granted one interview with Witch Weekly over the matter. He insisted that Ginny had always been good to him and that he felt the move was good for her. "She needs to concentrate on Quidditch," he was quoted in the article, "and she's correct that she needs her freedom if she is truly going to treat this opportunity for what it is. She can't be spending all of her free time worrying about me. The Harpies have made her an unbelievable offer and trusted her with an important job so for now that is her future."

Molly sat across from Harry at the table and watched the boy carefully. He really wasn't a boy any more. He put on a good face but she knew coming back was hard for him. Occasionally he'd catch her gaze and he'd smile politely back but she could feel the ocean-sized rift that now separated them. It wasn't until she had lost him that she realised just how unfairly she had favoured him over her boys as he gradually eased his way into the family. A lesser boy would have taken advantage of the favouritism that she provided him and she knew this was why she had probably been so blind to it. No-one had made an issue of it except perhaps the occasional grumble from Ron but somehow even he'd never really provided too much of a dust-up over the whole business.

Ron had grown so much since their time away. He was advancing so quickly as an Auror. In July, an owl delivered a full slate of 'Acceptables' and even an 'Outstanding' on his NEWTs. The Outstanding had been in DADA, of course, and he showed it to anyone willing to look his way. The fact that he'd even received Acceptables in the other courses was a testament to his dedication that final term – and how much effort he'd put into his Auror training that three months before term began.

Ewan insisted that Ron was advancing as quickly as any Auror in the Trainee program and he was considering making the young bloke a team leader directly out of his training at the end of the year if he continued at the current pace. Molly nearly hexed the poor boy when he claimed he was considering playing Quidditch instead of returning to the Ministry but instead she spoke with Ewan and Duncan had saved her the trouble.

"So Mum," asked Molly's new subconscious favourite playfully, "I brought Harry home tonight. I hope you don't mind if I didn't get you anything more for your birthday."

"Oh Ron," she lied, "You didn't have to get me anything for my birthday. Just you being here tonight is enough."

"Oh," Ron winked to Hermione, "then you wouldn't be interested in this little old box."

Murmurs were heard around the table. Bill and Charlie could be heard whispering some small curse and complaining gifts weren't meant for the dinner table. They both were shushed by Dad who thought it appropriate that the youngest boy was finally getting some attention. Mum and Dad had had many conversations of late about how she felt guilty for overlooking their youngest boy much of his childhood. Percy grumbled "Suck up..." George observed to Angelina, "Can't argue with Percy...he'd be the expert."

"Now, now boys..." Mum was enjoying the attention despite the grumbling, "How about we retire to the sitting room and we can open gifts there? Besides," she said meaningfully to the older boys, "if anyone was truly up to sucking up, as you so call it...everyone knows what your dear Mum wants every Christmas, birthday and perhaps even Easter." When the boys answered with blank stares, Hermione and Fleur sang out in chorus, "Grandchildren!" This got the desired response as the boys scrambled for the sitting room.

All of the gifts were brilliant. Once they'd been opened and the tea had been served, Percy and George excused themselves explaining that they had early mornings ahead of them. Bill left soon after with his wife and sleeping daughter but not before Winky brought their darling baby girl to Harry and whispered, "Isn't she precocious?"

"I think you mean precious, Winky," Harry smiled. "Has Fleur been practising grammar and vocabulary again with you?"

The elf nodded, "Misses Hermione's put idea in Mistress's head. Missess Weaslee now says elves is like Veelas. Mistress says Veelas didn't want to be freed at first because they didn't know better but she never would want to serve no old wizard." Winky looked at Harry guiltily, "Winky wants one."

Harry didn't understand, "A wizard?"

"A precocious little baby." She looked at Harry with such a yearning that he didn't know how to respond. "Well, then ok," he finally answered

Winky didn't think she heard him correctly at first. First she blinked. Then she winked. Or maybe it was a twitch...Harry wasn't sure. Finally she stuttered, "Master Harry allows Winky to have a baby?"

"I can't stop you. You are a free elf, Winky. If you wish to have a baby then you have my blessing." Harry wasn't sure but he'd have sworn that the final word was said to empty air. Somehow Winky had moved from next to him to Fleur in the time it took him to say 'stop' and she had handed little Victoire to her mother. By the time he was out with the word 'blessing' he heard the "Crack!" of the elf's leaving. Hermione rushed over to him and asked, "What was that about?" to which he explained. When he was done her lips pursed together in a manner that normally meant he had done something foolish.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," she answered, "Except there really is no precedent. Wizard law doesn't make any differentiation between free and servant elves. The law states that it is illegal for owners to breed elves without first obtaining a permit. If a female house elf attempts to breed without permission from the owner then she is put to death. The laws were put in place to support the value of house elves and insure that the population remains in check."

Harry thought for a minute, "Well that shouldn't be too hard. It will take her a while I am sure to find an elf she likes. You basically run the Department for Magical Creatures. With Shacklebolt's blessing, how hard could it be to get a permit?"

The look on Hermione's face told him she was looking at a half-wit, "Are you kidding me Harry? It's not that simple. Even I am bound by law and I don't even come close to running the department. Before I can approve a permit I must evaluate each elf's pedigree and make sure that two elf's of similar breeding are being presented. Household elves can't be paired with outdoor elves, etcetera. I have to find a new home for the baby..."

"What?" Harry was beside himself.

"Mother's aren't allowed to raise their own elves, Harry. It keeps the baby from bonding with it's new Master. The elf is sold to the highest bidder. I have a list of different households looking for specific elves. Half of the proceeds go to each of the breeding families but twenty percent of that goes to the Department of Magical Creatures for facilitating the transaction."

"That is madness!' Harry exclaimed just a little too loudly. The others returned to their own conversations when he masked his exasperation to assure everyone that everything was ok.

Hermione couldn't help but add the dig, "Wish you had worn one of those buttons now Harry?"