Title: A New Chance Continued
Author: pyrodaemon
Author of Original Story: Curalium Lacrimo
Pairing: Harry Potter/ Luna Lovegood
Rating: M for Future Content
Archived: fanfiction(dot)net under pyrodaemon
Beta: Blueowl and Nubial Sheep
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait, everyone. For those of you who are wondering, my mom is doing fine she had seven disks fused and is able to walk on her own now. The bad news is that they found, I guess, that she has congestive heart failure. There was a lot of noise about her heart being too strong so when is plumped it the muscles weren't being released all the way. So that sucks. And there was a freak lightening storm that fired my harddrive. I rebuilt an old computer I had around the house but I have to buy a new one soon, and that's a pain.
There's not a whole lot going on in this chapter, just introducing characters that might or might not be important in later chapters and getting Harry to the Leaky Cauldron.
On a side note almost the entire next chapter is done. So that's happy news for everyone.
Chapter 14
Leaky Conversations
When Harry finally stepped off the Hogwarts Express later that afternoon, it was with a smile on his face, which was, however tentative and small, a miracle all the same. Seamus was, understandably, beaming at having put that smile there. It had taken the entire trip and some pretty outrageous jokes before he had even coaxed a twitch from the other boy's lips, but all the hard work had been worth it, at least in Seamus' opinion. The rest of the compartment's inhabitants were, on the other hand, all thoroughly annoyed with the sandy-haired wizard. Seamus didn't seem to notice, being either completely obvious to all others' feelings but Harry's, or – he was simply so used to receiving annoyed glares that he didn't even register them any longer.
"So I'll floo over sometime after Christmas, Harry. We can show each other some of our loot, yeah?"
Was he this …. hyper the First Time Around and I just didn't notice it? Or was I really that much of a bastard and didn't know him at all?
"Yes, that would be … much appreciated, Seamus. Thanks." Harry said awkwardly.
"It's just in case you guys don't get along, right? Then you'll have an escape," Seamus said with a knowing grin. Harry shifted uncomfortably beside him, then blinked in surprised as Seamus suddenly caught his arm and dragged him away from the train. "Mam, Dad!"
Harry's face went blank when he saw Seamus' mom. He still remembered how she had believed all the nasty rumors about him the First Time, when the Ministry had started their smear campaign on him during his fifteenth year. She's just a tool, Harry thought scornfully, but it's not her fault no one ever taught her to think for herself.
"Mam, Da, this is Harry Potter. Harry, this is my Mam and Da."
"Hello, Mr. Finnigan, Mrs. Finnigan, it's a pleasure to meet you," Harry said inclining his head toward the older woman while he shook Seamus' dad's hand.
"The pleasure is all ours, my dear boy," Mrs. Finnigan said with an almost giddy smile.
She's like those women in second year who were all vying for Lockhart's time, Harry thought. It's nauseating.
"Seamus where's Dean?" Mr. Finnigan asked, casting a sidelong look at his wife.
"Dean? He's saying g'bye to Lee."
"Lee?"
"Yeah, his cousin Lee Jordan. We met him in Diagon Alley, remember? He was taking Dean around for his supplies."
"Right," Mr. Finnigan said with a nod after a moment of silence when it was clear he was thinking back to the summer. "We're supposed to take the boy with us. Though his parents will be taking the rest of Break off, they have to work late tonight." This was all said as if it was a common occurrence, and for all Harry knew it very well could have been.
"We'll go find him!" Seamus chirped and dragged Harry off to find his Gryffindor year mate.
"Seamus, I've really--" Harry pulled his arm out of his friend's grasp and started backwards.
"You'll not be getting out of here anytime soon, anyways. It's easier to wait for the crush of bodies to disappear before trying to find people…. Unless you're a Weasley, that is. They're some of the only red-heads in the Wizarding World so they're pretty easy to spot." Seamus blinked at his friend then grabbed his arm again and proceeded to bodily drag his unwilling classmate off to search for Dean.
Harry stared contemplatively at the sandy-haired wizard's back. He'd never thought of that before, but now that it had been pointed out to him he realized that what Seamus told him was true. Harry and Ron had always been able to find Mrs. Weasley without any trouble because of her vivid red hair, so the Weasleys were always one of the first families to leave Platform 9 ¾.
"Dean! Oy mate, over here!" Seamus shouted, waving his arms madly about in the air.
"What, Finnigan?" Dean asked as he stopped in front of them, but didn't glance at his friend as he craned his neck around. "I'm trying to find Mum and Dad."
"They aren't here,"
"What?" Dean asked finally looking at them.
"You're staying the night with us and then going home tomorrow morning," Seamus said merrily.
"They're working late again?" Dean asked in a resigned voice.
"Yeah, but they made sure to be off for the rest of Break." Seamus said waving a hand as if to dismiss his dark skinned friend's tone.
Dean must have seen the look on Harry's face because he smiled, "Mum is a Doctor, a surgeon, and Dad owns a really big company in America that you've probably never heard of. Point is they work really long hours, but they always make sure that they're with us when we need them."
"That's nice," Harry said. "And I'm not saying that to be smart or polite. It's really nice that they make time for you, even when they're busy."
"Yeah, Dean smiled softly. "Some of my friends' parents don't. But even if Mum and Dad have to pencil in meetings to see us, they always do: and they never forget an important date."
Harry smiled at the two boys as they made their way towards the Finnigans. "Harry dear, where are your guardians?" Mrs. Finnigan asked as she looked around them, as if she could recognize people she'd never seen before in her life.
"The Dodderidge's are…. somewhere in this mess." Harry said waving vaguely around them.
"Tom Dodderidge?" Mr. Finnigan asked, his sharp blue eyes fixed shrewdly on Harry's face. "I was under the impression that you lived with you Muggle relatives."
"Not anymore," Harry with, but didn't go into any further detail.
"I see." Mr. Finnigan said, his narrowed eyes staying intently fixed on Harry's face, before he tactfully let the subject -- which he sensed was an unpleasant one -- drop as he turned and addressed the group as a whole. "Does anyone see Tom?"
"N-yes!" Seamus exclaimed as he pointed to a man dressed in drab brown robes. Harry took a good, long look at the familiar form of the bartender. He was balding and toothless, but Harry knew better than to judge a book by its cover. Tom had lived through the war with Grindelwald and had been caught while on s mission to steal important tactical information from the enemy, and had remained a prisoner at the Dar Wizard's base – where they had subjected him to countless unspeakable tortures – for a period of four years before Dumbledore had finally defeated the crazed bastard. Tom was far stronger and more dangerous than most people gave him credit fo, and was also firmly loyal to Dumbledore.
"There you are, Harry," The speaker was Melinda Dodderidge, who was standing at her husband's side in a light blue frock. She was older, maybe in her late forties or early fifties. She was a handsome woman; you could see the hint of beauty that she'd held in her prime which had faded, as all things did, with age. She had washed out blond hair and pale blue eyes and age spots on her hands. She was tall and had an aura about her that Harry had always associated with Minerva McGonagall: approachable (unlike Petunia Dursley) but you still knew you couldn't pull one over on her.
"Did the train ride go all right, dear?"
"Yes, ma'am," Harry nodded politely, feeling just a little awkward. It was one thing to converse with someone in a letter, but another completely to actually speak with them face to face.
"Good, good," Tom smiled at him before looking curiously at the group Harry was standing with.
"Oh, this is Seamus Finnigan, his parents and Dean Tomas; they're my year mates. Err, I mean Seamus and Dean are my year mates. Mr. and Mrs. Finnigan aren't." Harry motioned with his arm to indicate each in turn before he blushed at his choice of words as the group said their hellos.
"Martha Finnigan, you're looking good, as always. I haven't seen you in nearly three years!" Melinda smiled at Seamus' mother. Harry couldn't do anything but agree with Mrs. Doddridge. Despite that woman's questionable intelligence Mrs. Finnigan was a stunning woman. Not traditionally beautiful but still very pretty with startling blue eyes, a darker completion and ink black hair.
"I've been extremely busy with the babies. I'll never have children so close together again!" Mrs. Finnigan laughed.
"Oh I understand," Melinda nodded knowingly. "Could you imagine Molly Weasley, though? She had little Billy, Charlie and Percy all in three years, waited, and then had the twins while little Percy was still only two And if that wasn't enough, two years later she went and had Ronnie, and then Ginny just a year later!"
"That woman must be a saint," Mrs. Finnigan shook her head a touch exasperated and tinged with awe. "I remember Billy always casting spells on things, making the chairs come alive to eat the rest of the children… Remember when they lost Percy for nearly a day and found him in the cushion of the chaise? And Charlie, he was always bringing home strays and had to nurse them back to health. And the Twins! Merlin those two were such little terrors!!"
"I'm sure you're glad the Underage Magic Laws were passed," Melinda ran her hand's through Harry's black locks, trying to smooth down the stubborn cowlick.
"Not in Ireland they weren't," Mrs. Finnigan shook her head and let out a long-suffering sigh. "And you know as well as I do the Ministry can't tell whether it's a child who's casting spells In a magical household or their parents."
Melinda shook her head, "At least I'll only have one running around now. I just don't see how Molly does it."
"Does what, dear?" Harry froze up as a voice spoke from behind them, the voice belonging to none other than the much beloved Molly Weasley.
"Take care of your brood," Mrs. Finnigan waved to the five children surrounding the plump redheaded woman.
"To be honest, I don't know how I deal with it myself," Mrs. Weasley said as she moved to separate Ron and Ginny, who were bickering heatedly over some inane thing. "Honestly you two, behave!"
"Mummy, Ronnie said that I can't go to Hogwarts next year!" Ginny whined. "He said Professor Snape said they weren't allowing anymore red-heads into school! If that's true, then can I dye my hair black?" She got a dreamy, reverent look on her face. "Harry Potter has black hair."
Several people coughed, catching Ginny's attention. When she looked around the group, puzzled over the snickers from the boys, she said that Harry was standing right there! She squeaked like a frightened mouse before scurrying to hide behind Mrs. Weasley. "Hello, dear, you must be Harry. Ronnie's written home so much about you."
"Really?" Harry asked, puzzled, as he turned away from the entertainment that Ginny provided to look at Mrs. Weasley. "I can't imagine why. We've barely spoken more than eight words."
"You've been tutoring him in Defense, haven't you?" Mrs. Weasley inquired. "He's going to be so good at it with you teaching him."
"Er… well to be honest it's just a club we do," Harry shrugged. "Quirrell's pants at teaching so Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom asked me to help them with whatever they didn't understand in Defense and it sort of… grew from there."
"That's all well and good, dear, but you are helping him and that's what matters. Is there anything he should do over the Break?"
Harry blinked at the woman. "Just have him keep up with is morning runs and read over his notes."
"Well, we've got to get going, I've a roast in the oven back home that needs tending to. Children!"
"Bye!" The many Weasley children all exclaimed in one unified breath, as if they'd practiced it over the years.
"That was… odd." Harry looked at Seamus questioning.
"It's sort of a joke in the Wizarding World, Harry, that the Weasley's are so poor but produce such powerful children. I mean Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are both powerful and were forces to be reckoned with in the War. Bill, the oldest, is a curse-breaker -- a really dangerous job, and Charlie, the second oldest, works with Dragons, and hopefully I don't have to tell you just how dangerous that is. Percy is a Prefect and is set for Head Boy and he's definitely going into the Ministry. The Twins are talented, if slightly mad inventors and Ginny's already created three original spells that she's sics on her brothers when they annoy her…. And then there's Ron, he's powerful too, but he's spent his early years whining that he's never found anything he wanted to do…. He's sort of the black sheep in the Weasley Family. So I think Mrs. Weasley is hoping that you training Ron and building up his confidence will give him purpose or something."
"Oh," Harry replied eloquently And here I always thought it was Percy who was the Black Sheep of the Weasley Family.
"We'd better get going now that the crowd's died down," Melinda pulled him away from the Finnigans. "Don't be strangers, Martha, I don't want to go so long without seeing you again."
Harry, getting the rather clear picture, easily picked up his trunk, not noticed the looks he received from those around him, and followed the Dodderidges.
By the time Harry and the Dodderidges finally arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry was near the point of exhaustion and just wanted to get to sleep.
"Harry, I didn't know what kind of room you wanted and you're eleven years old, which is plenty old enough to know right from wrong. So I fixed up the old Maid Quarters for you." Melinda said as she looked at Harry.
"The Maid Quarters?"
"Yes – well, let me just give you a tour of the place and we can decide later whether you want to live with a bunch of old stuffy people or not," Tom said with a grin as he opened the door to the Leaky Cauldron and stepped inside. It was, miraculously, empty for probably the first time since it had opened, but it was still just as dingy as always. It wasn't too cluttered and the tables and floor, worn from years of scrubbing a use, were very clean, but the paint on the walls was discolored and the ceiling was filthy. Harry knew if a Muggle health inspector ever set foot in the Cauldron it would be closed down before you could say 'hello', but he didn't worry about that. Tom continued to speak, spreading his arms to indicate the room at large. "This is my domain, and is the only place, besides my study, that I have complete say over. The main room has five tables, each seating six people, and a bar that seats nine; on the north side are the lavatories, four for the females and three for the men. That door to the northwest opens to the stairs leading up; I keep it shut so the people going into the Alley – the door right next to the stairs – can't just walk up there all casual like," Tom glanced around the room. "We take the privacy of our customers very seriously."
"Leave your trunk here, Harry, while I show you the rest of the Cauldron," Melinda said, leading him through a door near the stairs. "This is the kitchen. You're allowed in here if you want to make your own snacks or even meals, but please, please be careful. The island in the middle has spells on it to chop, cut, dice, blend, and grind anything you put on it, depending on the color of the counter. Please don't, no matter what, put your hand on it. Several of our employees always lose a hand because they forget and go to wipe the counter down and brace their hand against it and – poof – no more hand. The cupboards on the north side of the room store the food, two for cold things and two for hot. There are two stoves, three ovens, and two sinks. The sink on the north side of the room is for washing food --and only food-- and the one nearest the stoves is for cleanings pots, pans and your hands if you want to cook in my kitchen. Those cupboards on the south side of the room are for storing cutlery, plates, bowls, serving platters – well, anything like that." Harry glanced around the cheerful kitchen with its yellow walls, white counters and pine floors. It was clean, even the walls and ceiling and Harry could tell that a woman spent most of her time inside the room; men just didn't care enough to keep things that clean.
"The Maid's Room is over here, follow me." Melinda led him to a door on the south side of the room. "If you want to stay here it's already been all fixed up." The door opened to reveal a room perfect for a Ravenclaw. The furniture and floor was all rich walnut and the walls and material were done in deep blues, greens, accented with silver and some black. Leading into the room were two vast, empty bookcases on either side. There was a desk against the far wall, a large sectional couch next to the desk, and two wardrobes next to that. On the opposite side of one of the bookcases was a large dresser with a mirror on the wall and a very, very large platform bed with a tall black leather headboard. The bed was piled high with plump blue and green pillows, accented by a single silver throw cushion. The soft down comforter was dyed a deep green, with a blue thrown laid across it near the foot of the bed.
"Wow!" Harry whispered, though the word could hardly convey how overwhelmed Harry was at that moment. The room was certainly bigger and more luxurious than anything he'd ever had; it was even bigger than the room he and Anthony Goldstein shared. "This is mine?"
"Yes," Melinda said. "The door to the left leads to a garden, a pond and out to London. I figured that, while you're only eleven, with the way you grew up you'd need and want your own space. That doesn't mean I'm giving you permission to run around London without telling me where you are or anything like that, but you are very responsible, according to Minerva, and I feel I can trust you with this. Besides I figure you're a very intelligent little boy, you've been at Hogwarts for four months without getting into trouble and it'll be easier to know where you are then to have you sneak out. I hope you don't break that trust."
"Yes ma'am," Harry said as they made their way to the stairs, already thinking that this was the best thing that could have happened to him. Surely they wouldn't check on him all the time and if they did, well, he hadn't survived the War against Voldemort for nothing. He'd picked up quite a few tricks of his own.
"The second level is the actual hotel part of the Cauldron. It has twenty rooms and nine bathrooms installed with showers, which doesn't include the bathroom inside the suite," Melinda continued. "There's no reason to visit them as there are guests staying here at the moment." The two of them ascended the stairs to the second floor.
"And this is our place. The bedroom I share with Tom is to the right, as is the bathroom. Straight ahead is Tom's study, which is a disaster area on a good day: papers piled up to the ceiling... My office is that room all the way in the far corner on the left. That huge monstrosity over there is the Couch; Tom picked it out and won't let me get rid of it. I don't understand why, it's not like we'll ever actually have twenty people over to sit on it," Melinda sighed and shook her head. "If you want to live up here with us, that's fine. We can expand the place easily enough; we just cut down on it when the children moved out so we'd have less to care for."
"No, the Maid's Room is fine," Harry assured her.
"All right then, that's pretty much all there is to the Cauldron," Melinda said as she led him back to the ground floor. "There are some other things we have to talk to you about, though."
They found Tom sitting at the bar with a glass of some dark liquid Harry had never seen before, but thought might be rum. "Good, you showed him everything?"
"Yes."
"Harry, there are some things you have to know, before you begin your stay here," Tom said as he set his glass down. "I know about you; the entire world knows about you. I don't know how you want to handle things, but we spoke to the other shopkeepers when we found out you were going to stay here for the Break. They aren't going to bother you and they won't let the shoppers bother you, but the press is out of our hands. We can tell them to back off if they get pushy but we can't make them leave you alone all the time."
"I had wondered," Harry said. "The press will be annoying I'm sure, but it's nothing I can't deal with. And if they get too pushy...Well, I am a Ravenclaw and I know some pretty nice spells for dealing with pests." Harry thought for a moment trying to think of what an eleven year old, even or maybe especially a rather intelligent, mature eleven year old would ask. After a few seconds of thought he looked up at Tom and solemnly asked, "What keeps me safe from the Death Eaters that are still out there?"
"Yes, that…" Tom looked uncomfortable for a moment. "The Leaky Cauldron is --and has always been-- completely neutral grounds. People cannot draw their wands in this room; if they do then everyone in the room will attack them, no questions asked, and they'll go to jail. Voldemort tried it once, before the war ended, and was driven out."
"Too bad the morons we call customers don't fight like that all the time. It would've saved so many people," Melinda muttered under her breath, giving Harry the feeling he wasn't supposed to have heard that, even if he agreed with her a hundred and ten percent.
Harry stayed silent, deep in thought. He'd never before heard of any incident in which people had actually driven Voldemort off. It sounded rather unbelievable.
"You will be as completely safe here as you would be anywhere. There is a cellar here that has the Fidelius Charm on it, with Dumbledore as the Secret Keeper – you do know what that is, right?"
"Yes, I read up on it when I researched my parents. There isn't much to be found on the subject, however."
"So if anything happens, go to the cellar immediately. No one can find you there, at least," Tom said handing him a piece of paper with 'Safe Haven is through the cupboard under the north wall sink.'
Harry nodded. It sounded like a good idea to him. He was very public, living in the Cauldron, but it also gave him a base of operations that no one but a select few people could get to.
"Now, there are a few ground rules we need to go over," Melinda said, her face serious as she held out a silver pendant with a raven on it. "This is a portkey – you know what that is, right? – that will transport you directly to the cellar. It is the only portkey that will work there; all others will take you to the bar. I don't honestly care where you go during the day, London or Diagon Alley or to a friend's house. But should anything happen to you --such as you being knocked out or stunned-- the portkey will activate. It can also be given an activation code, which no one but you should know. I don't want to know, Tom won't know: not even Dumbledore will know what it is. I don't want anyone besides you to activate your portkey and get in with you. If they do that, then they would be able to come and go as they please."
"Of course," Harry said with a nod.
"Yes well . . . I do expect you to be back in the Cauldron by... er, is sundown good?"
"That's fine." Harry said, mentally wondering if all witches and wizards were as lenient with their children as these two seemed to be. Then he remembered Molly Weasley, who only tentatively allowed her children to go to Diagon Alley alone when they had reached eleven, and that was only when hundreds of other parents were there.
"Good. I want to be told where you're going to be at all times and I want to know ahead of time if you plan to spend the night over at a friend's or have a friend stay here with you. You friends will eat free, of course, but we are running a business so do try to limit how many you have over, yes?" At Harry's nod she went on. "Good, then. . . . I want all your homework done in the next three days. And you can't . . . leave, until it's all finished."
"I've already completed my winter assignments," Harry raised a brow at the older woman.
"Really? Oh wonderful! I remember my son always waited to do his work until the train ride back."
Ron did that as well, Harry thought sadly.
"Er . . . you need to eat at least three meals a day. Poppy sent me some potions and things that you'll have to take as well."
"I'm aware of them, yes," Harry said with a nod.
"Good. Now as your Guardian, we need to go to Gringotts and look into your inheritance so I can figure out how much you're allowed to spend in a year. We've taken over your tuition payments for Hogwarts and your school supply fees, so you needn't worry about them."
"That's very kind of you, but it's not necessary to-"
"Nonsense!" Tom said. "We're old and we don't spend nearly as much money as we make. It'll be good for us to do something with our gold other than let it sit around in Gringotts gathering dust."
"Very well then." Harry shrugged, still not quite comfortable with having others look after him.
"Then we'll set up a time to go later," Melinda said, beaming at him. "What do you want to do for dinner, then?"
"Whatever you want to make is fine with me. I'm not picky."
"Well . . . how about Cottage pie?"
"Sounds fine to me."
"Wonderful!" Melinda beamed at him before going through the swinging doors to the kitchen.
Harry nodded and picked up his trunk and went to the Maid's Room. Harry looked at his room and smiled. It was strange not to have to share a room this large with another person. The two bookcases were huge, towering from floor to ceiling and looked like they could hold a massive amount of books.
Hermione will be -- no, would have been -- jealous. Harry blinked hard in order to rid his eyes of their momentary stinging, then shook his head. No, this wasn't the time to think about the life he had left behind, not when his new one was just beginning to look better.
Harry set his trunk down at the end of the bed and took off his shoes before looking around his room.
His room. Not a cupboard, not a dormitory, but a room of his very own.
Harry grinned widely and took a running leap at the bed, which bounced him up delightfully when he hit it. "My room," he sighed as he fell asleep.
As always any questions or comments can reach me through review or PM and I'll do my best to answer.
Added: November 22, 2008
