Chapter Eight

Desperate Measures

"James, you big bully give me my wand back." Albus was chasing his older brother all around Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

"Oh, is wittle bitty Al afwaid wifout his wand?" James taunted him.

"James, give your brother his wand back." Finally realizing what happened, Ginny stepped in.

"You're only a year older than him, James," Harry scolded him. "Pretty soon there won't be much difference between the kind of magic he knows and the kind of magic you know. Not to mention the kinds of defensive spells your mother and I could teach him. Aunt Hermione too."

"Hey, what about me?" Ron walked up behind him. "No, don't answer that. Everyone else was always the one teaching them to me."

Harry turned back to James. "Uncle Ron, too."

"Thanks, mate!" Ron looked pleased with himself, as usual. "What are you scolding James for this time?"

"He took Al's wand and was poking a bit of what he thought was fun at him," Ginny filled in. She looked at her oldest son. "And it won't be happening while you're away at school, will it, James?"

James hung his head in shame. "No, Mum, it won't."

"I can take care of myself, Mum," Al looked embarrassed. He was, after all, fourteen years old and still being defended by his parents. "I'm not a baby. I could have gotten my wand back on my own."

"ALL ABOARD THE HOGWART'S EXPRESS!" the engineer called.

"LILY!" Ginny called. Lily came running back. "You forgot your bag! And DO NOT LOSE HARDY!"

"Mum, he's fine. He's on the train with Rose and Crookshanks."

"I can't believe that thing is still alive," Ron said.

"Ron, he never ate Scabbers, and at this point, knowing what Scabbers was, don't you wish he had."

Ron got a sour look on his face. "Yeah, I suppose." He now seemed eager to change the subject. "You'd better get on the train Lily."

Lily gave her Ginny and Harry a big hug and waved goodbye to Ron and Hermione.

"So, you think Al's gonna be okay?" Harry asked his wife.

"Yeah, I do. You always were. I see a lot of you in him sometimes."

"It's just the eyes, Ginny. Everybody sees that, we get told that all the time. It's the same way I always get told I look just like my father. Except for the eyes, I have my mother's eyes."

"Yeah, maybe it is the eyes. You're really just like your mom. You stand up for people even if they're not the greatest to you, like how she stood up for Snape, and you saved Malfoy's life." Ginny took his hand. "She had a lot of talent, and so do you. She knew just what to do in threatening situations."

"Ginny, she died to save me." Harry wasn't easily convinced.

"That's right. She did. That was exactly the right thing to do, I thought you understood that. That's what she had to do to keep you alive. The way she stood in front of you kept you alive for sixteen years."

"I guess you're right." Harry sighed. "C'mon. Let's go home." He wrapped his arm around her and had just made their way off of Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

"Hey, Harry, Ginny!" The four of them turned around and saw the Malfoys stepping out of the border between platforms nine and ten. They were closer to the Potters and the Weasleys when he said, "We just dropped off Scorpius."

"I figured," Harry said. He turned to Marissa. "You must be Mrs. Malfoy."

"You can call me Marissa," she shook out her hand for Harry to shake, then to Ginny, Ron and Hermione. "It's nice to meet you all. I've heard good things." She smiled and looked at her husband.

"Good things? No kidding, then?" asked Ron in disbelief. "I knew we were getting along now, but blimey…"

"Yes, I've told her all about this thing with my dad, and also about everything back at Hogwarts."

"Everything?" Hermione glared at him, pursing her lips and crossing her arms.

"Well, not the bad stuff."

"So she's heard about the end of seventh year then?" asked Harry.

"Pretty much." They all laughed. This was nice, Harry thought. In the past he had never thought he'd be meeting Draco Malfoy's wife, let alone having a good laugh with them. He realized now that it was so much nicer getting along with people than fighting them and accidentally using horrible spells against them, simply in defense.

"So have you found out anything new?"

"I went to visit my mum the other day, and Travers and Yaxley were there again. I heard them saying something about using hostages or something like that."

"Translation…" Harry said, "…time for the Fidelius Charm. Your father doesn't know where we live does he?"

"No, but it wouldn't hurt to move. I don't see why you wouldn't be able to go back to Godric's Hollow eventually."

"He's right, Harry, we should go somewhere. We won't tell the neighbors anything," Ginny said. She looked truly scared.

"Ron, maybe we should move, too." It was rare to be able to frighten Hermione after everything that she had been through. Of course, it helped that she already acted tough. Now, however, she tried to hide it, but it was obvious that something was bothering her.

"Yeah, maybe." He seemed to go off into his own world, clearly pondering what to do.

Harry finally spoke up, earlier seeming too overwhelmed to speak. "We could all live together. It could be a sort of, anti Death Eater headquarters. You know, like Grimmauld Place."

"Good idea." Ginny squeezed his hand. "Mum and Dad could help us find a place."

"Draco, we ought to get going." Marissa reminded Harry of those wives that you see on television. They were pretty and confident, and really polite. They had all the classic signs of rich women, but had made their mean husbands slightly nicer: The type of women who donate a lot of money to charity.

"Right." He smiled at the other four. "See you later, then. Keep me updated, will you?"

"We'll try," said Ron bitterly. No matter what it seemed to take him longer to warm up to people after they'd done him wrong. His fights with Harry and Hermione when they were younger seemed to last unnecessarily forever.

When they had gone, Ginny, always the optimist said, "Well, you know what they say. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We'll just have to notify the kids that they'll be coming somewhere else on holiday."

"I'm sure we can trust McGonagall with that," said Hermione. "We'll notify her as soon as we get a new address."

The next day Ginny had checked with her parents about anywhere they might know of that two families could live comfortably. Mr. Weasley was the one who came up with an idea. He said he knew of a place. It was secluded like Shell Cottage. It was right near the water, and it was called Bay Bluff. When he mentioned the name of this place, Harry wondered why seemingly every place had a name: the Burrow, Grimmauld Place, Shell Cottage. Pulling him out of his daydream was Ginny's voice, "What do you think Harry?"

"It sounds great. Is it big enough for nine people on holiday?"

"Harry, dear," said Mrs. Weasley, "if there were around eleven people staying at the Burrow for Bill and Fleur's wedding, there's enough room anywhere for nine people."