Chapter 7 Retrieving Parents and Summer Term
"I don't think my wand is working properly" well that was a massive understatement if there ever was one. It had taken Harry and Ginny nearly two months before they had been able to discover what was wrong with Harry's phoenix wand.
Harry smiled when he remembered how Ginny's outburst at her mother about continually cleaning and doing chores had an effect beyond the day of the picnics. Molly had backed off almost completely and had given them far fewer chores to do around the house and had allowed them far more privacy than they had been allowed in the previous weeks.
The evening after the Picnic's Ron and Hermione had announced they were going to go to the ministry later in the week. Hermione had been desperate to find her parents and bring them home. They had managed to get a meeting with Kingsley who had offered to help her. When they had gotten home from their meeting Hermione had been practically bouncing off the ceiling with delight. Kingsley had been more than true to his word. After Hermione, had initially contacted him asking him for help, Kingsley had leapt into action. He had contacted the Australian Ministry for magic and requested their help in finding Hermione's parents as well as sending an Auror over to Australia to help with the search. The result of Kingsley's help was that Hermione's parents had been found and had their memories restored by the time Hermione and Ron had arrived for their meeting with Kingsley. The only thing that had delayed their return was typically red tape and paper work, though with both ministry's working together they were processed quickly and Hermione could expect her parent's home the following week. Despite having gone to the trouble of contacting the Australian Ministry and getting her parents found, Kingsley then went one better, he took the blame for her parent's memory being modified. He told Hermione's parents that it had been by order of the ministry before the ministry had fallen in order to keep them safe from possible attacks due to Hermione being friends with Harry. This meant that Hermione was able to stop worrying about how her parents would react to her modifying their memories. When she asked Kingsley why he had taken the blame he had simply said "it was the least I could do, the world owes you so much more"
Thinking back Harry realised that was also the week that the first set of Hogwarts letters had arrived for the four of them. They had discovered that with the school being nearly repaired the decision had been made to run a six-week summer term for students that had their education disrupted. Ginny had been invited to attend so she could go over what she had missed after she had been unable to return at Easter. Harry's, Ron's and Hermione's invites had been different. They had been invited to attend so they could cover a year's education in six weeks. At the end of which they would take their NEWTS. If they failed an exam or were unhappy with a result they were welcome to return the following year to retake as many courses as they wanted, they also had the option of skipping the summer term and go back to Hogwarts for a full year of study starting in September if they wished.
All four of them had signed up for the summer term, though for different reasons. Ginny simply didn't want to be behind at the start of the seventh year, Hermione was seriously considering going for back for the full year and was going to view the summer term as a revision session, however she still intended to take her NEWTs at the end of the summer term, Harry and Ron on the other hand weren't keen on going back for a full year, but still wanted their NEWTs so decided to sign up for the summer term and hope for their best.
When their results had finally arrived they had passed all of their exams except one, typically they had all failed Potions. On top of which Harry and Ron had passed with the required marks they needed to become Auror's. Kingsley upon finding out Harry and Ron's results, told them that if they signed up to retake potions they could start their Auror training and special arrangements could be made so they could attend classes at Hogwarts.
Harry and Ron had both refused, but for different reasons. Harry had stated that he didn't want special treatment because of who he was, on top of which Harry liked the idea of a relaxed year, being able to see Ginny twice a week in potion lessens and possibly spending some time making Grimmauld place liveable. Ron on the other hand had been asked by George to help him get the shop back up and running. Ron had been torn as to what he should do. By failing potions, he had inadvertently created a situation where he could help George for a year while studying for the grade he needed to become an Auror.
Hermione on the other hand had still been intent on going back to Hogwarts for the full year. This was until Ron had spoken to her. What Ron had said to her Harry had no idea and couldn't possibly fathom, but in the end, she relented and decided to retake just two subjects, Potions and Ancient Runes as she wasn't happy with her result for runes.
This period also presented them with a period of intense teasing from the Weasley brothers that was focussed mostly on Ginny. Sometimes they had involved Harry but mostly it was focused solely on Ginny. It had all come to an abrupt end when Harry had kicked Charlie out of the Burrow.
