"Harry, may I have a word with you?" Artemis called as Harry walked past his open door Monday morning.
"Yes?" Harry asked, poking his head into the office.
"Come in. Close the door." Uh oh. Harry did as he was asked and sat in one of the chairs in front of the headmaster's desk, crossing one leg over the other, waiting for him to start what was likely to be a weighty conversation.
Artemis seemed uncomfortable at Harry's calm and shuffled some papers around on his desk before speaking again. "I was contacted by some parents over the weekend. There seems to be some concern about your teaching the students non-verbal casting."
"Oh?"
"Yes. Apparently several of your Juniors and Seniors decided to practice by playing pranks on their families. One mother was so distraught at the unexpected explosions that she had to spend the weekend out of the house," Artemis said with a genuine look of concern.
"Whose mother was that?"
"Roger Hill's mother."
"Ah. He's a handful, that one."
"Yes, well, be that as it may, your teaching the students non-verbal casting has upset many of our parents."
"It's quite likely that my teaching them non-verbal casting will save their lives one day," Harry said mildly.
"Perhaps that sort of teaching should be restricted to higher-level learning when the children are no longer so prone to mischief," the headmaster said in a conciliatory tone.
"I disagree."
Artemis looked at him from over his glasses. "Harry, not everyone has had to live with the degree of fear that witches and wizards in Britain did."
Harry cocked an eyebrow at him. "I think that's to their detriment."
Artemis sighed and took off his glasses. "Listen to reason, Harry. There is no Voldemort here. I don't think non-verbal casting is appropriate to teach at this level of instruction."
"Artemis, I can appreciate that parents are upset about flashes and bangs going off unexpectedly. It's a new thing and it will wear off like everything else does. Being able to cast spells effectively non-verbally made a lot of difference to a lot of people when faced with Voldemort's Death Eaters." Harry leaned forward with both feet planted on the floor.
"The last thing I want is to hear that one of my students died because I withheld knowledge that could have saved their life." Artemis drew a breath to speak and Harry raised a finger to interrupt him. "Now, when you hired me, you told me I had free rein to design my own curriculum and I promised you that my students would receive the best instruction possible. And now you're trying to hobble them?"
"Well, but…the parents…"
"If they continue to complain, feel free to direct them to me. If the parents really don't like me, then I'll finish out the year and find another situation." Harry was satisfied to see Artemis actually blanch at this statement.
"No, I don't think we need to do anything too…extreme." Artemis sat, contemplating Harry's calm expression, chin in his hands before he heaved a breath. "Let me talk to some of the more…strident ones. In the meantime, if you could impress on your students the right time and wrong time to practice their non-verbal skills…?"
"Of course. Anything else?" Harry asked, standing up from the chair and shouldering his satchel. He felt a little sorry for the man, knowing he was in for a long day.
"Did you ask Ginny about chaperoning the Winter Formal?"
"I did. We'd be delighted to help out."
"Well that's one thing that's gone right today. Thank you, Harry. Please do talk to your students about…" he said, trailing off and waving his hands around.
"Certainly. Have a good day," Harry said as he let himself out of the office and continued on his way to the mailroom where he ran into Juanita.
"Good morning, Harry. How was your weekend?" she asked as she riffled through her perennially overstuffed mailbox.
"All right. Yours?"
"Not too bad. I heard you get called into the office."
Harry sighed and shrugged. "Seems that some of the parents are a wee bit upset at my teaching their kids how to cast without making a sound."
Juanita laughed out loud and shook her head. "I imagine there were a lot of surprised dogs and cats this weekend. They'll get over it." Shoving the accumulated papers back into her mailbox, she turned to face Harry. "My eighth graders didn't give you too much grief Friday?"
"Nah, they were all right. We had a good question and answer and I gave them a load of reading for the weekend with the promise of a quiz today because of the time we spent talking about me on Friday. I'm sure that cooled some of their hero worship."
The class on Friday had started out awkwardly when the kids came into his room completely silent instead of with the usual chatter. They all sat quietly, staring at him with wide eyes. Oh God, what did Juanita tell them? he wondered. They all looked a little shell-shocked and Harry cleared his throat before writing his name on the chalkboard as he had on the very first day of school.
"All right, class. Now you know a bit of the history behind that name. Is there anything you'd like to ask?" It was as if he'd blasted a dam wide open and could only stare at the wall of water hurtling toward him. The questions ran the gamut from questions about his parents, Quidditch, Voldemort, Dumbledore, Basilisks, Fawkes, Hogwarts, Ron and Hermione (the girls all giggled when he told them they were engaged to be married) and life in Wizarding England in general.
He was relieved that there were no questions about the Deathly Hallows or Horcruxes. He hadn't seen anything regarding those in Juanita's notes and he certainly wasn't going to volunteer any information about them. As he got into it, he was surprised to find that he was actually enjoying answering questions from his students. They were just kids and asked questions that were relevant only to them. All in all, it was a lot of fun.
"Okay, that's enough about me," he said, clearing the chalkboard of the sketch he'd done of the Hungarian Horntail he'd faced down in the Triwizard Tournament a lifetime ago. "Let's talk about you and what you'll be doing this weekend. Specifically, the chapters you'll be reading on trolls and giants." The class groaned as one, growing louder when Harry told them of the quiz they'd be having on Monday.
The bell rang and the students packed up to move on to the next class, many of them smiling shyly at him as they left. One girl stopped by his desk and stood looking down at her shoes. "Yes, Claire?"
"Mr Potter, I just wanted to say that I'm glad you won," she said, still looking down at the floor.
Harry smiled. "I am, too. You better get going. You know what Mrs Peterson does to tardies."
The school's all-purpose room was decorated to look like a winter wonderland. There were snowbanks, evergreen pine trees complete with moving woodland creatures in the branches and animated snowmen that waved to the dancers. Artemis had even hired a few of Jacob's house-elves to wear Christmas elf costumes and serve at the refreshments table.
The students were completely delighted by the decorations and the boys kept trying to push each other into the snowbanks, bouncing off of the protective forcefield instead. The lighting was school dance-dim; dark enough to make the kids think they were getting away with something and light enough that the chaperones could see everything that went on. Oh dear. An actual disco ball, Harry thought, seeing it hanging from the ceiling. The ceiling itself was enchanted to mirror the sparkling clear winter night sky outside. It rather put Harry in mind of Hogwarts and he felt a surge of nostalgia for the old castle.
He stood near the entrance of the room, watching the kids as they arrived to gasp in amazement at the normally dull room's transformation. Ginny stood next to him, wearing her beautiful green dress with the matching wrap. She smiled at him warmly, seeming to have caught some of the students' excitement.
"Did you do all the decorating, Mr Potter?" a boy asked, approaching Harry and Ginny.
"Hello, Steven. No, I did not. I understand Headmaster Ashborough did the snow and the ceiling, Mrs Peterson did the snowmen and Mr Keller did the trees and the little creatures. Good work, isn't it?" Steven nodded, seemingly disappointed that Harry hadn't had anything to do with the transformation of the room.
"Looks like you're not living up to your legend," Ginny remarked when Steven sloped off to join his friends.
"Hm, my legend. Megan Peterson is who they hired for Charms when Hermione turned them down to go to Hogwarts. She's really good. If I had done the snowmen, they'd probably be giving kids the V rather than waving," Harry said, smiling as more students entered the room.
"Who is Mr Keller? What does he do?"
"He's an interesting one. He's head of custodial, but he's a dab hand at artificing. Every time I see him it seems like he's carving something. He carved all of the little animals in the trees and charmed them, too."
"Impressive."
"Rather." The room was full of students milling around everywhere but the dance floor. Harry thought they had all cleaned up very nicely, the boys in somber dress robes with a splash of color to match their dates' outfits, and the girls in dresses ranging from sophisticated to ostentatious. Artemis had tried to get him to wear his Auror dress robes, but he'd demurred, saying that they were packed away in London, which might have been a lie. He chose to wear instead a charcoal gray ensemble, setting it off with a green tie that matched Ginny's dress. He felt rather Slytherin, but there wasn't anything for it; Ginny didn't have a red dress.
He touched her on the shoulder, motioning towards a group of kids across from them. Bowing to tradition, Artemis had agreed to have a few bunches of mistletoe floating around and Harry had to fight the impulse to laugh out loud as he watched the girls try to steer their dates to stand underneath and the boys just as assiduously steer the girls away.
"Oh, bless them," Ginny said fondly. "Should we set an example?" she asked, looking up at Harry with a mischievous smile.
He checked above their heads and saw that they were in the clear. "Looks like we're out of luck," he said regretfully.
"I'm sure you can arrange something," she whispered in his ear and Harry gave a little jump when he felt her hand on his arse.
"You are going to get me in trouble," he murmured.
"My offer to visit you in detention still stands."
Harry shook his head and kissed her temple, turning his attention back to the room. The band were set up on the stage at the opposite end of the room. Artemis had promised that they were very good and just what the kids were into these days. Harry had found that the Bay Area had quite a thriving Wizarding music scene that crossed over a little bit into Muggle society. Muggles tended to think that these bands just had really good pyrotechnics.
Harry took Ginny's hand. "Shall we make the rounds outside?" Ginny nodded and they walked out, nodding to students who were still coming up the walkway. It was chilly outdoors and Ginny pulled her wrap closer around her shoulders.
"It's a lovely evening," she said, looking up at the cloudless sky.
Harry put his arm around her and pulled her close. "Not as lovely as you in that dress."
"Flatterer." They walked slowly around the building. A few boys were still outside, horsing around by the fountain in the grassy quad.
"Better get inside," Harry called to them, "band's going to start soon." They called back and shuffled off toward the all-purpose room. "Stags," he said with a smile. "That lot were convinced that the girls were going to ask them, so none of them got dates."
"That'll teach them to wait on girls," Ginny said archly. "Anywhere else?"
"Let's go over by the classrooms." They ambled slowly down the well-lit walkways toward the bank of classroom buildings, checking the dark corners for any stray students and finding none. They passed by Harry's classroom with everything looking in order and headed back to the dance. Inside, the music was going full blast, but the dancing was not. All of the Seniors were on the floor dancing, but most of the Juniors and almost all of the Sophomores were standing on the sidelines.
"This is just sad," Ginny said, tugging on Harry's hand. "Come on, let's give them some encouragement." He followed her out onto the dance floor as the band swung into a fast song. He felt a bit awkward at first, likely because just about the whole school was indeed watching him, but he focused on Ginny and the music, losing himself in the movement.
She's so beautiful, he thought, watching as the dress flared around her as she spun, her hips swaying to the fast beat. Mindful of their audience, he didn't pull her as close to him as he wanted to. We'll have to go out sometime when we're not being watched so closely. As the song came to a close, Harry looked around, seeing that the dance floor was definitely more populated.
"Look at that," Ginny said with a smile as she held both of Harry's hands, "it seems we've had some effect. One more?"
"As you wish," Harry said with a bow. For this dance, he saw more kids coming out onto the floor and even a few members of the faculty, including Artemis and his wife. I had no idea he was that agile, he thought as he watched the pair move around the floor, perfectly in sync. At the end of the song, Harry picked Ginny up and swung her around in a circle, kissing her soundly and making her laugh out loud.
"We should really do that more often. I'll have to ask Ben for where to go." Ginny fanned herself and moved toward the refreshment table. "I need something to drink!"
They surveyed what was available and Harry chose a couple of red fizzy drinks for them both as they made a circuit of the room. Everything seemed to be going well; the kids were having fun and there was a lack of troublemakers so far. The photographer was still setting up in front of a backdrop of actual falling snow with boys and girls already lining up to get their pictures taken.
"Are we going to get our picture taken?" Ginny asked, sipping her drink.
"Do you want to?"
"Of course I do! We have to document our first school dance."
"Technically this isn't our first school dance. There was the Yule Ball at Hogwarts we chaperoned last year," Harry pointed out, finishing his own drink.
"Well, that hardly counts. We weren't really together then, were we?"
Harry leaned down and nuzzled her ear. "We're together now," he whispered, feeling her shiver next to him.
She looked up at him with bright eyes. "Come on, let's queue up." They got in the queue and chatted amiably with the students. They seemed to be surprised that Harry had a girlfriend or even a life outside of the school and they peppered Ginny with questions.
"Are you from England, too?" a Sophomore girl named Katie asked.
"Yes, I am!" Ginny replied, amused by the attention.
"How old are you? How did you meet Mr Potter?" Another girl, Melinda, asked. Harry knew she had a bit of a crush on him that he tried his best to discourage.
"I'm twenty-five and I met Harry at school."
"At Hogwarts?"
"Yes," Ginny nodded.
"Did you know who he was when you met him?"
"Of course I did. Everyone back home knows who Harry is," she said, smiling up at him.
"Do you have a job?"
"Well, in England I was a Healer, but right now I'm going to medical school."
The questions went on and on with Ginny showing remarkable patience in answering them all until it was finally their turn to pose in front of the falling snow backdrop. The photographer moved them around several times until he was finally satisfied with the way Harry was holding Ginny's hand and took the picture, saying that the photos would be sent to the school by next Wednesday.
"Maybe we can give one to Mum and Dad for Christmas," Ginny suggested as they walked away from the photographer.
"I guess that would be one way to tell them about us, yeah?" So far, they hadn't come up with what they felt was a good way to tell Molly and Arthur that they were living together without being married. Harry thought that Molly would have a harder time with it than Arthur, but Molly had surprised him in the past.
While they were in line for pictures, the band had finished its first set and gone on a break, leaving the kids to wander around, chatting and eating. Harry saw the other chaperones circulating around and groaned when he saw Artemis making a beeline for them.
"Harry! I'm so glad you and your lovely Ginny were able to come and help us out! Please allow me to introduce my wife, Diana."
Harry squeezed her offered hand and bowed. "Wonderful to finally meet you, Diana," he said. Diana was much shorter than her husband and where Artemis was hearty and bluff, she was delicate and refined with sparkling dark eyes and a mass of dark hair.
"I've heard so much about you," she said warmly and Harry noted that she didn't even look at his scar, something that immediately endeared her to him. "So wonderful to finally meet you. Artemis says the children love you."
"I don't know about all that," Harry laughed. "Ask them after they've had their midterm exams!" He brought Ginny forward. "This is my girlfriend, Ginny Weasley." The two women shook hands and exchanged warm greetings.
They were chatting amiably when Harry felt a warning tingle in his tattoo. Turning his head ever so slightly to the left, he didn't see anything amiss. The band was starting up again and Harry took the opportunity to wind down the conversation. "Looks like the music is starting again. Did you and Diana get your picture taken yet? It looks like the queue has gone down."
"We do this every year. We have quite the collection!" Artemis said. "Thank you again for chaperoning tonight. I'll see you Monday."
"Till Monday, then," Harry nodded, taking Ginny's hand and heading toward the doors that led outside.
"Where are we going?" Ginny asked. "Another circuit outside?"
"I felt something. Someone set off one of my wards."
"You have wards out here?" Ginny pulled her wrap tighter around her shoulders as the cold air from outside hit her.
"I do. On my classroom. I have the Pensieve in there, Dumbledore's books, a few other things that I don't need anyone to get their hands on." He stood still, letting his eyes adjust to the lower light outside and he caught sight of two figures out by the fountain. He grinned at Ginny and gestured toward the couple. "Busted," he said quietly.
"Oh, Harry. Be nice. They're just kids having a snog," Ginny admonished with a smile.
"I'll be nice. Wait here for me, all right? I'm going to check out my room and make sure everything's okay."
"All right. Be careful."
Harry nodded and walked quietly toward the couple in the heated throes of a serious make out session. "Good evening, Richard," he said heartily, laughing inwardly when the two sprang apart as if propelled by magnets. "And Carrie," he said with a bow, looking discreetly away as she hurriedly adjusted her dress.
"Mr Potter! I thought you were inside!" Richard stammered, "I mean, I thought you were dancing … with your girlfriend …"
"I think it's time the two of you got back the the dance, yeah?"
"Yes, sir," Richard said miserably, holding his hand out for Carrie. Harry watched as they walked back into the all-purpose room, ducking their heads to Ginny as they passed.
Shaking his head, he headed over to his classroom door, wand out and ready. He didn't see anyone outside of his classroom and the windows all looked intact. He approached the door, silently casting a spell to make the ward pattern on his door and windows glow for his eyes only. Looking closely, he saw where one section by the door handle had been disturbed. Someone had tried to defeat his Locking Charm. The person who tried though didn't know that Harry rejected the simple Alohomora and used a much more complicated spell. Getting through the door would require a curse breaker of Bill's caliber.
Hmm, a prank? Something more? Harry repaired the damaged ward section and unlocked his classroom, going inside to make sure nothing was disturbed. He walked immediately to the locked cabinet that held the Pensieve, Dumbledore's books and other artifacts, making sure it was still locked. The Boggart's cabinet was also still locked, the wards on both intact.
For good measure, he also checked the fireplace. It was cold and didn't show any recent Floo activity. The Floo was only active during school hours anyway and Harry had put additional restrictions on the fireplace in his classroom. Anyone who tried to Floo into his classroom when he wasn't physically in the room would be redirected to the fireplace in the main office.
Making sure everything was in its place once more, Harry shook his head and closed up his classroom again, jogging back to where Ginny waited. "Everything all right?"
"Yeah, nothing wrong inside the room. Someone did try and get in, though. The wards by the door handle were disturbed."
"You think it was a student?" Ginny asked as they walked back to the dance.
Harry shook his head. "I don't know. The only people that are here tonight are students and faculty chaperones."
"Well, those are the ones we've seen."
"You would have made a good Auror," Harry said, hugging her with the arm around her shoulders.
Ginny snorted. "I think your suspiciousness is rubbing off on me."
"That works too." He opened the door to the all-purpose room, bowing Ginny in. "Well, unless something else happens tonight, I guess there's nothing to worry about. Want another dance?"
Ginny put her arms around Harry's neck and drew him close. "I'd love to dance with you all night," she whispered.
Harry spent the rest of the evening in a state of heightened awareness, alert to anything even the least bit suspicious, resulting in the bust of a group of Senior boys in the toilets that had smuggled in a pint of vodka and were in the process of getting roaring drunk. Ginny quelled a few arguments that sprang up between a group of stag girls over some of the stag boys, but all in all there wasn't a whole lot of trouble which Harry thought was quite remarkable given all of the hormones flying around.
It was getting close to midnight and the dance was almost over, the band playing a slow ballad. Harry held Ginny close as they swayed slowly on the dance floor, her head resting on his shoulder. He closed his eyes, a sleepy contentment washing over him at the feeling of Ginny in his arms pressed up close to him as the music swirled around them. Opening his eyes again, he caught sight of one of his students, Mark Preston, giving him the thumbs up and he shook his head wryly.
Casting his eyes around the room, he felt a shock reverberate through him and he stopped dead in the middle of the floor, causing Ginny to look up at him in alarm. "What's going on?" she asked with a frown.
Harry cocked his head in the direction of the refreshment table and Ginny turned to look, taking a sharp breath. "What in the world is he doing here?" she said in astonishment.
"I don't know. Let's go see if we can find out," Harry said grimly, watching Ignatius Weatherbee deep in conversation with Artemis and Diana. "Ignatius," Harry said as they approached, "what brings you out here tonight? Surely a school dance isn't all that exciting!"
"Harry Potter! A Gryffindor in Slytherin's clothing!" Ignatius said heartily, shaking Harry's hand.
Harry inclined his head toward Ginny with a smile. "I had to match my lady and she doesn't have a red dress."
Ignatius took Ginny's hand and bowed over it, kissing the air above the back of her hand. "You look simply stunning tonight, my dear."
"Harry, Ignatius was just telling us about his bid for the open seat on the Greater Bay Area Wizarding Council."
"Is he now? I didn't realize a seat was open," Harry said. He had only the barest understanding of how the magical local government functioned and vowed that he would find out more. He wasn't even sure if he or Ginny could vote in the upcoming election. "What brought this on?"
Ignatius smiled and drew a gold coin out of his pocket, rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger as if it were some kind of talisman. Harry could tell it wasn't a Galleon, but he didn't know what kind it was. "Well, you may have heard that I've run before, but I wasn't able to gather enough votes. With Rutherford retiring from his seat at the end of his term, I feel the time is right."
Harry crossed his arms across his chest and tried out an interested look. "What's your platform? What are you hoping to do for us?"
"Well, I'm glad you've asked, Harry!" Ignatius walked the coin across the backs of his fingers without even looking at it. "You see, I feel that witches and wizards here in this paradise have become a bit too complacent and lost their way a bit. They need a strong, guiding hand, a voice that will advocate for Wizardkind in the greater council. A voice that focuses on our needs."
Harry cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. "I thought that was the whole council that did that?"
"You would think so, wouldn't you?" Ignatius asked, nodding sagely. "No, the council of late seems to be more concerned with the various doings of Muggles and other lessers. We need to bring the focus back to us." He was really warming to his topic now, the gold coin flashing in his hands. Harry found it distracting as he tried to pay attention to what the older wizard was saying.
"I'm sorry, but I have to ask. What sort of coin is that? I can see it's not a Galleon," Harry asked, indicating the coin that was flipping end over end as Ignatius tossed it in the air and caught it.
"This?" Ignatius asked, holding it up so Harry could see the profile of a woman engraved on it, then spun it around to show the eagle. "This is what's called a gold double eagle. It used to be worth $20, but it's worth a rather lot more than that these days! This one was minted during the Gold Rush, probably with gold from these very hills." Below the profile of the woman, Harry could see the year 1850. Ignatius tossed and caught it again. "I think of it as my lucky charm."
"I'm certain it will bring you all the luck you deserve," Harry said with a forced friendliness. Next to him, Ginny shook her head sharply as if to clear it and he gave her a questioning look, receiving a small head shake in return.
The dance began to wind down, the band announcing their last song to a mix of cheers and sounds of dismay from the dancers. Harry saw the chaperones fan out into the crowd and he turned to Artemis. "Looks like we're about done. What happens now?" he asked.
"Harry, I wonder if you would be so good as to open up your classroom so students can Floo home?" Artemis asked. "I'll manage the Floo in the office."
"Of course," he said, noticing how Ignatius's eyes lit up at the prospect of Harry opening his classroom.
The band finished their last song to copious applause and some yells from the kids. The band had been really good and Harry thought he'd have to make an effort to see them sometime when they weren't playing a school dance. Artemis mounted the stage, announcing that the Floos in the office and Harry's classroom would be active for those who wished to Floo home and the students started to shuffle out of the all-purpose room.
Taking Ginny's arm, Harry headed toward his classroom. "Harry, do you mind if I take a look around your classroom? I'm interested to see what a modern Defense classroom looks like. It's been a while since I've seen one!" Ignatius said with a deprecating laugh as he followed Harry and Ginny.
Feeling his hackles rise, Harry nodded. "Of course. I'm afraid you might not find it too interesting, though."
"On the contrary, I find seeing how people arrange their environments very interesting," Ignatius said, "almost like looking into their minds. Is it cluttered? Is it neat and organized? These are all important insights."
Students were already crowded around his classroom when he approached and he greeted them warmly, silently releasing the locking charm on his door. Ginny sat on top of one of the desks, her feet swinging back and forth, catching his eye and tilting her head at Ignatius, who was making a slow circuit of the room. Harry nodded, knowing she would keep an eye on him while he marshaled the kids through the Floo.
Quickly kindling a fire, he lined the kids up and sent them through one at a time, irritated at the explosions of soot and extra Floo powder that accompanied each transport. As he worked, he stayed aware of where Ignatius was in the room, tensing up when he was by the two locked cabinets. Finally, the last student was through and Harry extinguished the fire, banishing the soot and Floo powder that had gotten all over him. He looked over to where Ginny stood with Ignatius. They were chatting quietly, standing in front of a bulletin board that showcased student drawings of various sorts of ghouls and ghosts along with their vital statistics and vulnerabilities.
"So Ignatius, what do you think of my classroom?" Harry asked as he joined them, putting an arm around Ginny's shoulder.
"It's very nice. Not quite like the dank old classroom at Hogwarts! Now, that was a Defense classroom. I do see you have a genuine stuffed Chupacabra, though. Where did you find that?" Ignatius smiled widely at him, but Harry detected an undercurrent of irritation in him.
"Ah, well, I can't take credit for that, I'm afraid. It's a leftover from the previous instructor."
"In my experience, Defense teachers acquire all manner of strange and wonderful things. I've heard you have an actual Boggart. Is that true?"
"It is. I've got it in that cabinet over there," Harry said, indicating the rocking cabinet with a twitch of his head. "Would you like to try your hand at it?"
"Ah, I don't think so. Maybe another time; it's been so long since I faced one, I'm not even sure what my Boggart is, these days." He looked at Harry speculatively, and then at Ginny. "I wonder, Harry, what's yours?"
Harry gave a noncommittal grunt and began walking toward the door of the room. "Well, it's very late, Ignatius. It was good to see you again. Please feel free to come by and sit in on my class one of these days." He looked straight at him and smiled mirthlessly. "It's never too late for a refresher and you might learn a thing or two."
Ignatius returned his smile in equal measure. "Indeed. I might take you up on that offer." He bowed to Ginny and took her hand again. "Miss Weasley, delightful as always," he said before walking out of the door, whistling tunelessly.
Harry made sure he was well away before resetting the locking charm on his door. He hadn't had any warning from his wards on the cabinets, but he double-checked the ones on the outer door and windows, finding them still intact. Taking Ginny's hand, he walked with her towards his car.
"So?" he asked quietly.
"He never got his wand out, but I saw him try the knobs on both cabinets. He looked very closely at your books on the classroom shelves, but I think he was disappointed in those," Ginny said.
"Yeah, those are pretty run-of-the mill. Some of my old school books and such." They reached the car and Harry unlocked it with the fob, helping Ginny into the passenger seat. "Anything else interesting? He say anything?"
Ginny shook her head. "Not really. We talked about some people back at home. He asked how my family are. Oh, there was one thing that was sort of odd. He seemed very interested in my schooling, but not the actual academic aspect. More like, 'how can you stand being around all those Muggles every day?'" she said in a good imitation of Ignatius's voice.
"Hm. Seems our friend isn't a fan of the non-magical among us." Harry sighed and started the car. "Well, as long as he keeps away from my kids." Harry turned the car for home while Ginny looked out of the passenger window. She seemed pensive and Harry frowned. "Something wrong?"
"That coin," she said, turning to look at him, "did you notice anything…off about it?"
Harry thought for a moment as he guided the car down the dark, twisting road. "No. He seemed very nimble with it and it's a bit odd to carry around such a valuable thing. What did you notice?"
Ginny shook her head. "I'm not sure. I mean, I suppose it could have been because of the music, but when he had that coin out, it was almost as if my ears were ringing."
"What about in the classroom?"
"No, nothing."
"Well, hopefully we won't be seeing him anytime soon, but if you hear that ringing again, let me know, yeah?"
"Yeah," she said with a yawn.
As Harry drove, he turned the conversation with Ignatius over in his mind. Muggles and other lessers, he said. Not a good sign.
"Oh, Harry," Ginny said, breaking into his thoughts, "can we stop for a hot fudge sundae?"
"Hungry?" he asked with a smile.
"Got a bit of a sweet tooth," she grinned sheepishly.
"Now I'll have to get one," he said as he pulled up to the drive-thru and ordered, amending Ginny's with no nuts and an extra cherry. He parked in the darkened parking lot as they enjoyed their late night treats.
Ginny heaved a great sigh as she savored her sundae. "I'm so ready for this break."
"Me too," Harry nodded. "What else needs to be done before we go?"
Lips pursed around her spoon, Ginny thought for a moment. "I think we're done with the gifts. You got everything on Teddy's list, right?" Harry nodded and Ginny went on. "We've got Mum and Dad, Bill, Fleur Charlie, Ron, Hermione, George, Percy and Penny and the littles…oh, I thought of another thing for Victoire."
"What is it? I can pick it up for you."
"That would be wonderful. I'll write it down for you."
As they finished their sundaes, Harry's thoughts turned to their impending visit and how they were going to handle telling Molly and Arthur about them living together and he found he was starting to feel a little anxious about it. "Have you given any more thought to how we might…tell your parents?"
Scraping out the last of the hot fudge from her cup, Ginny sighed. "I have and I haven't come up with anything good." She licked the sweet from the spoon and shrugged. "Divide and conquer, I guess. You take Dad and I'll take Mum."
"Hm, I think I've got the easier end of the deal, there."
"You certainly do. Just goes to show how much I love you."
