A/N: I don't own Harry Potter
Chapter Four: Now the World…
We took Angie and her son home the next day, thanks to magic Angie was healed quicker than normal. She'd still have to take it easy because there was still muscle fatigue and her energy stores were depleted. Alec was a quiet baby once he was settled in his little vintage bassinet that I'd gotten him when Harry and I had slipped away from the shopping party.
Harry and I were fascinated with the little guy. We'd never been around a child so young before and couldn't believe they came that small. Hermione not so much because she been around them before with baby cousins. So the girl had just stayed back with Gran, Angie, the elder Grangers and Tonks and watched us with him.
Angie found it amusing and heartwarming. She liked how Harry and I bickered over whose stuffed toy he liked better, the snitch that Harry got him or the lion that I got him. The diaper changing was really, really gross and gag worthy but Harry and I just figured that was another challenge and something new to learn.
It was nearing Harry's birthday when all hell broke loose. First to drop by Gran's cottage was Lady Longbottom and Neville. I'd answered the door and was very surprised when the woman pushed me out of the way and started calling for Gran. She had a newspaper in her hand but that's all I saw before she disappeared out to the back garden where the family (everyone including the Grangers and Nym) had gathered for a Granger style cookout.
"What?" I frowned at Neville
He sighed as me pushed me back and quickly shut the door behind us, dead bolting it shut. The boy grabbed my wrist and pulled be towards the backdoor, the jug of tea I was meant to be getting was forgotten on the table.
"I understand why you didn't tell me, Athena and I'm not mad at you, really," he told me as we made our way across the house "I wish you'd hit that bastard just a bit harder."
"What are you talking about?" I frowned
Neville stopped just before the back door "it's in the Daily Prophet about Angie and her son. There's no pictures because you lot left before the cameramen got to St. Mungo's."
"What?" I demanded, wide eyed and stunned.
Neville didn't says as he led me out in the back garden. Gran's face was growing redder and redder as she read the paper that was in her hands, Uncle Ted reading over her should and he didn't look very happy either. I'm not sure how far Gran got before she roared in anger and tore the paper up.
"Who told?" she demanded as she threw the paper up into the air "I want their heads! This was supposed to be a sealed matter!"
Lady Longbottom didn't flinch as an owl swooped in and landed on Uncle Ted's shoulder "if you would have kept reading, Skeeter says her source was in the ministry."
"I have to go," Uncle Ted said, interrupting whatever Gran was going to say "Brett Murphy has called an emergency board meeting and he wants senior partners there as well," he looked up from the letter to Angie "don't worry, Angie luv, we'll get this taken care of."
"I'd apparate from back here," Lady Longbottom called "I had to clear out a few gawkers from the front," she grinned at Gran "you're welcome, Min."
…
It took some convincing but we got Angie to at least eat something, even if she was sitting in at the table with Alec cradled to her. The elder Grangers ended up going home, they had work the next morning anyways and we teenagers were left in the care of Lady Longbottom. Gran and Aunt Andy headed for the Daily Prophet offices and Nym went in order to keep them from killing anyone.
"Is my son safe?" Angie asked Lady Longbottom, we were all sitting there at the kitchen table halfheartedly playing some ancient board game that had been in the closet "should I be looking at other schools?"
Lady Longbottom smiled at Angie and patted her on the shoulder "you're just fine, Angelina, Min will get this figure out. I'm not saying that the sheep of our magical community won't bleat out their protests and you won't face opposition," she shrugged "but with his fathering being whom he was…well, more sheep will bleat a little louder. Had you chosen some random boy not as many sheep for that boy didn't have as many sheep followers; you must rise above the sheep."
"Or throw rocks," I offered "or let me hit them, I'm good at throwing rocks and punches."
"That's nothing to be proud of, dear," Lady Longbottom smiled and looked back to Angie "or, Angelina, you let the wolves at the sheep," she pointed to us younger teenagers.
"Awhooo!" I cried softly "hey, wasn't there a song about that…oh, what was that band."
"Duran Duran had one and there was Sam the Sham," Hermione nodded and then raised an eyebrow at me "I like music too, Hammy."
I shook my head at her "I wasn't saying you didn't, it just wasn't Frank you were talking about," Hermione just rolled her eyes at me as I flashed her a smile and looked back to Angie "you stay behind us, big sis, I think Harry and I can cause enough of a stir if we wanted. The Boy-Who-Didn't-Die and the Heir of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black…I'm sure we could find something," Harry was nodding in agreement at this.
"Hey," Neville cried "I'm Heir to the Most Noble and Ancient House of Longbottom, ya know, I could trouble if I wanted."
I raised an eyebrow at the boy and pointedly looked at his grandmother; the woman was smirking "is that right, lad?" she asked
Neville gulped, his gaze flicked from me to his gran, he nodded and straightened his postures "Longbottoms are brave and noble. So yes, that's right."
Neville's grandmother cuffed him softly and grinned at him "you're learning, lad, you're learning."
…
Madam Bones was with Gran, Uncle Ted and Aunt Andy when they returned. They sat down with us at the table and explained what happened. A 'source' inside the ministry had leaked the contents of the sealed meeting for a large amount of coin to Rita Skeeter, who had no morals and was a gossipmonger, saw her own payday. She'd gone to St. Mungo's to question Angie and get a photo but we'd already taken her home; she'd tried to get to Lockhart but his ward was a closed one.
Rita was very puffed up, as Aunt Andy had put it, before the namesakes of Cromwell, Lovett and Murphy walked into the Editor in Chief with a lawsuit in hand. A lawsuit suing the paper for a hefty amount of money for printing the name of a minor and character damages.
The editor who let the story go to print was fried when Madam Bones walked in with a team of Aurors in tow charging the heads of the paper with obstruction of an ongoing criminal case and printing the name of an under aged person connected with that case. The Prophet would be printing a retraction and an apology to Angie but the damage had been done; not that that would save them from the lawsuit.
"What's that mean for Angie though?" I asked "everyone already knows."
"It means that for a while, Angie and Alec after going to have to stay out of the public's eye until this blows over, like they were really in it to begin with," Madam Bones said softly "it will blow over, I promise you it will. When the next big news story comes around."
"Right, rise above the sheep," Angie nodded getting up from the table when Alec started getting fussy. She took him upstairs, muttering to herself "rise above the sheep, rise above the sheep, let Athena throw rocks at them."
…
Things hadn't gotten better by the time we returned from Longbottom Manor for Neville and Harry's birthdays. Which…I did get them gifts this year; got Neville a small window box garden that could be converted to a little green house with little plants already growing and Uncle Ted and I got Harry comic books. It was a starter box for a collection of both muggle and magical graphic novels.
We, the Tonks (including Nym) plus Harry, Hermione and I, hadn't been home more than ten minutes when a very distraught Angie came through the fireplace with Gran following. Gran had Alec and had kindly asked Jubilee to retrieve Alec's diaper bag and some clothes for Angie. There'd been people out front of the cottage with disparaging signs and throwing rotten eggs and vegetables.
Harry and I shared a glance over Angie's shoulders, we were both hugging her with Alec safely cocooned between us. We got Angie settled into my room, she was quickly asleep on the bed with Alec protected by a ring of pillows. While the adults were downstairs making plans to protect the cottage with wards, we teenagers were drawing battle plans of our own.
Next morning, rather early for us, Harry and I snuck down the nearby shopping center. Getting a mega slingshot or a water balloon launcher as the packaging called it, and a large sack of water balloons. The purchases took most of our muggle pocket money, the rest went to chocolate milk and bagged donuts.
Hermione was behind the garden shed brewing a dying potion in my cauldron over a dying camp stove. She had three colors bottled up so far and was working on a fourth. When she was done, the house still quiet, we wrote a note for Aunt Andy and then left via floo to Gran's cottage. Gran wasn't home, probably off at Gringotts hiring a curse breaker for the day; they did more than break curses you know.
Our morning past quickly as we filled the water balloons with water from the tap and then added the dye; dressed in protective full body rain gear and kitchen gloves (gifts from Kreacher). When our arsenal was done and safely in buckets that Kreacher brought us, the three of made our way outside to the lone tree next to the house that had the best advantage point for the front of the cottage. It also had an old tree house there that was just the floor at this point.
Kreacher was happy to supply us with snacks and drinks, more buckets for sitting on as we waited for the crowd. It wasn't likely it wouldn't gather a second time but as the idiots didn't know they were egging Minerva McGonagall's house. Well…we were taking the bet that they would and we would have won money.
A small crowd of middle aged women and young women, older than us still, gathered at the low rock fence. The first egg was rewarded with a bright pink balloon that drenched two witches at the front. Second balloon caught the middle of the crowd with blood red, third was puke green and so on as we'd meshed up the colors but not enough to muddy them.
"Look, Easter's come and gone." I grinned to Harry and Hermione as we lobbed another balloon towards the fleeing pack
Hermione swatted at me as she giggled "that was horrible, Hammy."
"But yet, Milady Myne, you still laughed," I pointed out and then yelped.
Gran was there below the tree glaring up at us. Her arms were crossed and her foot tapping the ground "what are you lot doing up there?" she demanded.
"Dying Easter eggs," I called back "wanna try it?"
…
The only people amused by our deployment of siege tactics and cottage defense was Madam Bones, Mr. Granger and Uncle Ted. Bones had had an array of brightly colored women stomp into her office only to be laughed right back out once their story was told. The department head also passed along the thanks from whole DMLE who'd gotten to watch the parade. Apparently, trying to shame and bully a teenaged mother isn't very well looked upon.
Gran, Aunt Andy and Mrs. Granger were a whole other story with Angie on the fence. This was not how Harry's birthday was supposed to be spent and because of the dyed water balloons…mostly because of the water balloons and our leaving without permission.
Uncle Ted defused the situation and kept us all from getting grounded. What we done was non-lethal, we left a note and paid for all our own materials. The camp stove was fair game as it'd been in the garden shed. He offered a solution. So far we'd been kept from reading the wizarding news but that wasn't enough. We were hearing all the details from the adults so he offered to take us off the grid for a while.
Uncle Ted wanted to take us camping and as it turned out, his idea of camping and my idea of camping were two very different things. Especially when Mr. Granger got involved, Hermione groaned over that one and Mrs. Granger thought it'd be excellent form of torture. I groaned too when the two men started planning for a road trip in a 70' VW bus; Hermione couldn't read and ride at the same time because it made her motion sick.
Very early August first found us loading up a restored VW bus that was painted powder blue with sleeping bags, blankets, several tents and whatever else the men and the two house elves had scrounged together. Harry got the middle seat while Hermione and I took the back seat.
We were barely dressed, shoes untied and wrapped up in blankets as we climbed in. I had my back to the wall of the bus with Hermione using me for a body pillow, wrapped up in my blanket. Harry's legs draped over the end of the shorter bench seat. I'm sure if I was more awake there would have been a different position for myself and Hermione but it was comfy and cuddly and we were back to sleep before we'd left the end of our road.
…
An air horn woke us around noon-ish. The side door was open and Mr. Granger had the horn, if glares could kill then he would have been dead three-fold. Hermione and I both blushed when we realized that Hermione had been sleeping on my chest. She'd been warm and now that she was gone I could tell where she'd been laying on me. The situation was ignored in favor of tying shoes, stretching and following the eager men into a diner they'd found.
Wasn't the only time that situation happened though, as we spent four more days wondering about to different camping sites near the different festivals; folk, renaissance, classic car and even a pie festival that we were not to tell Aunt Andy or Mrs. Granger about. Did stop at an Inn fifth night out so to get a shower because the bus was getting ripe. The inn was secluded on this country estate, Uncle Ted knew the owners. They'd gone to school with him and were muggle-born too. Parents owned the place and when the kids inherited they were able to broaden their client base to wizards on holiday.
Disaster should just be Harry's and I's middle names. Without us, Hermione would never get into trouble; girl would be predictably boring that way and I'd probably still be falling for her. Yep, the girl would be safe and not stuck running into unwanted relatives who decided to be petty like the Dursleys had done.
Imagine our luck when we came into the dining room and found the Dursleys seated at a table with a rather large woman with a bulldog at her feet. Harry told us the woman was Aunt Marge, Vernon's sister. Woman was a right cow from what Harry whispered to us and the woman proved it too; when they noticed us.
Aunt Marge really should have kept her mouth shut instead of bashing Harry's parents, intending for us to overhear. Calling them drunken lay-a-bouts who were probably pissed when they died in a car wreck. Harry lost control, mostly of his magic because Uncle Ted and I had hands on his shoulder while Mr. Granger was trying to flag the waitress down for a change of seating.
It was Hermione who altered us to Aunt Marge's distress. She…she was ballooning out like she'd been hit with an engorgement charm or something. Her clothes were ripped from her body, well very much stretched with buttons dangerously flying about as the woman started to…lift off.
I physically pulled Harry from the room when his Aunt Marge started to float. Bouncing off the ceiling and heading for the open veranda doors. Uncle Ted and the Inn owner was trying to get a handle on the situation before the foul woman literally floated away but Vernon and the bulldog were both being belligerent; well there were more teeth in the dog's case.
…
Harry was snapped from his daze when I shoved him into the fountain out by the front doors. He'd tried to take a swing at me in his anger daze. Hermione was standing beside me with her hands over her mouth and her eyes wide was Harry sputtered and thrash about trying to find his feet. I was too busy rubbing at my jaw were Harry had actually connected.
"What…what was that for?" Harry asked shivering
I shrugged "my jaw, you wanker," I growled at him "I get the righteous parental anger but did you really need to hit me?"
Hermione winched at it "I think it's going to bruise," she had slapped my hand away and was looking at in the fading light "I wish I had something cold to give you, Hammy."
"Why are you in the fountain, Potter?" Nym called questioningly as coming she out from the inn with a portly man who was no taller than I was.
He carried a lime green bowler hat in one hand while smoothing out his pinstriped suit with the other. His greying hair was ruffled up a bit and in need of a comb. Hermione's eyes went wide and she clung to my arm, nearly putting me and Harry into the fountain; a second time in Harry's case.
Nym just shook her head at the saturated boy and dried him out with a flick of her wand. He sighed in relief and paused when he took a step away from the fountain and his shoes squelched with a wet sucking sound. Lift a foot and wiggling it, he looked up at with a hopeful little smile but Nym just smirked and shook her head.
The pink haired woman just shook her head "sorry but nope. You're just going to have to squelch about, Harry-boy," the man with the bowler hat cleared his throat and Nym jumped a little "oh, right," she blushed sending her hair a light shade of orange "Minister Fudge, this is Harry Potter, Athena Black; Heir to the House of Black and Hermione Granger. Everyone this is Minister Cornelius Fudge."
"Oh," Harry and I said at the same time straightening up our postures
The man smiled at us "well, Mr. Potter, we've already gotten your aunt into the hands of two officers from the Accidental Magical Reversal Department. They've punctured your aunt and a qualified Obliviator has already modified her memory," both Harry and I winched at that considering how close we came recently to having our memories modified "your aunt and uncle weren't too happy and might have wanted you jailed but accidents happen, don't they?" he said with a grin, even Hermione raised an eyebrow at him "no harm no foul."
"No harm?" I squeaked "no offense and I'm not saying Harry should get in trouble here but you punctured his aunt. That seems…violent….Minister…sir."
The man just chuckled as Nym face palmed herself "there was no harm there, Miss Black…" he hesitated then and asked "Miss Black are you aware that Lord Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban four days ago?"
"What?" I asked just blinking at him in surprise "I'm not sure I heard you right, Mr. Minister…who did what now?"
"Lord Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban prison on August the first, the last person to have contact with him by any means was your care package." Fudge said pointedly
"Umm…Minster, are you accusing my cousin of something?" Nym asked carefully "because she is still a minor and is currently without her guardian. I'm not her guardian, sir, that would be my mother and father and my father happens to be inside of you want to continue this conversation."
Hermione's hand was over my mouth and Harry's arm was on my shoulder "sir, Mr. Minister, I helped Athena pack that care package and the only thing in there that wasn't on the list was a toothbrush and tooth paste, sir, muggle items that wouldn't allow anyone to escape from anywhere expect from bad breath and gum disease."
"It was blue, too, the toothbrush, sir," Harry added.
Minister Fudge just sighed "well, I just had to make sure. As far we can tell, he slipped through the bars," he said "well, you lot should probably get on home. No idea what a man like Black will do."
…
Nym took us teenagers home on the Knight Bus after we packed out bags and got our stuff out of Mr. Granger's VW bus. Wow, the Knight Bus was weird. A shockingly purple double decker bus that so obviously magical that it was painful. Nym was paid some pimple face young man named Stan who told us to take any of the open beds.
I was never going to do that again and if I ever see that bus again, I'm burning it with a vengeances. There will be nothing left. The beds we sat on weren't bolted down so they slid all over the place and the driver, Ern, was downright rubbish as a driver. I've never been so motion sick before that I was throwing up in a conjured bucket; it was so bad that I begged Nym to let me walk the rest of the way home.
When we did finally make it more, I face planted in the grass of the front garden and asked to be left there to die. Aunt Andy and Gran managed to get me to my feet and got me inside. Angie was on the couch with George, of all people, as I was deposited into Uncle Ted's plush recliner. That wasn't working for me so I slid out of the car and laid on the floor, face down with my forehead on my arms.
"You okay, Whiskers?" George asked worriedly
I didn't even chance the shaking of my head "no!" I cried, it was muffled though "that contraption is evil and I'm never getting on it again even if my life depended upon it!"
Angie knelt beside me and rubbed at my shoulder "what can I do to make you feel better, little lion?"
Slowly I turned my head to look at her "burn it to the ground," I said very seriously "pour petrol all over it and lit a match. Go muggle justice on it."
Angie just smiled and shook her head "sorry, little lion, but that's not happening."
"You asked," I pointed out miserably.
