Disclaimer: I don't even know JKR. I do however know people with at least one of those initials.
Chapter 11
Harry was putting the last of the biscuits into a box when Tonks walked into the kitchen.
"It's five a.m. what are you doing?"
"I couldn't sleep."
"Want to talk about it?"
Harry looked at his feet for a few moments "Rebecca is going to be with Ginny today isn't she?"
"She said she would, why?"
"Madam Bones said that this was going to be really painful and I think it will be almost as bad for Gin. I just want to make sure Rebecca will be there to help."
"Yeah she'll be there; she won't let anything happen to Ginny." She watched him for a moment "That's not what's got you up though is it?"
He slowly shook his head "I'm wondering what's going to make it all disappear."
"Make all of what disappear?"
He took a breath "The happiness. Every time I have something happening that makes me happy it gets taken away by something really bad. I've never been happier so what ever is coming to take it away is going to be the worst yet. I just wonder what it is."
Tonks pulled him into a hug and just held him for a moment. "Have a seat; I'll get us some tea."
After they had tea she held his hand "I'm not going to tell you nothing bad is going to happen, after watching your memories I know I wouldn't believe it if I were you. But you have people who are going to be there with you no matter what. Bill is so taken with you that I think he hopes you and Ginny will get together so he can call you his brother. I probably shouldn't tell you this but Rebecca is wondering if she should ask you if you want to call her Mum and if you'd be interested in adoption." A smile lit Harry's face making Tonks laugh "Yeah that's the reaction I told her she'd get, you seem to have made an impact on her. Madam Bones will put every Auror she can find behind you for whatever happens. And you know I'm not going anywhere."
She gave his hand a squeeze "Dumble's trial is tomorrow, they have Bill and three Aurors who all heard him say he wanted you dead testifying, so she'll be able to get the veritaserum into him. Once he takes it he's going to go away for at least twenty years and at his age he'll probably last less than half of that in Azkaban. Today you're going to get rid of that thing in you. Amelia is going to make sure that whatever's left of snake face is good and dead and she has twenty Aurors who are going to sweep the ministry at the same time you're going through the ritual. You're going to get rid of those nasty biscuits today and save countless lives in the process. That's the three things that are the biggest threats to your life gone. The only things left are normal everyday things that everyone has to put up with, and none of them is life threatening." She smiled "Unless you piss off a girl you should be able to live a good long life."
Harry laughed "I thought I was going to get hit when Lisa went off on me about telling the truth yesterday." His eyes got wide "Do you think we can get Dumbledore to have to eat some of those things as part of his sentence?"
Tonks started laughing "I don't think even Snaky is that cruel. Although we might be able to get a guard at Azkaban to slip him one or two, that'll teach the old bastard to mess with us." She pulled him into another hug "Feel a little better?"
"Yeah, a lot better. Thanks."
"No problem. So do you think you can whip up a breakfast for us?"
"I might have something planned." He got up and pulled a couple of bowls out of the refrigerator. "How does strawberry topped waffles sound?"
"I am going to miss this. I hope Rebecca knows she's getting two for the price of one with you."
Harry laughed "She asked me if I thought her office at the house would make a good bedroom or if she needed to start looking for a three bedroom. She's already picked out which chair is going to be yours at the table."
Tonks grinned "You have to love a person who thinks ahead."
They chatted while they ate and washed the dishes. Once everything was done She asked "I noticed that the café opens at seven do you want to show up early with the goodies? I really don't fancy sitting around waiting today."
"It's already driving me nuts. I think I would prefer them to have just sprung this on me. Yeah let's go, we can figure out what to do with the rest of the morning while having some tea. We should warn them that Madam Bones will be stopping by tomorrow to talk to them, I don't think they would want to be surprised by that."
They went to get ready for the day then left for the alley near the clinic and walked the rest of the way to the café at a little after seven and took the same booth as the day before.
Lisa walked up with a smile "I think your watch is broken, it's a bit before twelve."
Harry laughed and held up his watch "It got water logged last year; it wasn't made for the depth I had to swim to. I only wear it out of habit. We thought we'd get here early so you would have some biscuits to give to your customers today and see what they think."
"Do I even want to know what you were doing swimming that deep?"
Tonks smiled "Saving a girl actually. We can't tell you what happened but Harry here seems to have a habit of rescuing pretty girls. What are you up to, three so far?"
Harry blushed "Yeah, it wasn't that big a deal, I found out she wasn't in any real danger afterwards."
"Same information as when you made the decision Harry."
"What's that mean?" Lisa asked.
"It means that when you look back on choices you've made you have to look at it using the same information you had when you made them, not the information you have after everything is done and over with. If you would have had all of that information at the time you would have made a different decision so it doesn't do you any good to look at it that way. It just makes you torture yourself about not doing the right thing."
Lisa looked thoughtful for a minute "I never thought about it like that before. So if I made a bad choice but with what I knew at the time it looked to be the right one, I shouldn't beat myself up for it when I get new information afterwards. Is that about right?"
Tonks was smiling "That's it exactly. Why don't you have a seat?"
She looked at Harry and asked as she sat "So are you regretting what you did when you saved her or something else?"
"I don't regret any of it, I just felt a little foolish when I found out that it was…well let just say in the end I had new information that should have been obvious in the beginning and it made me feel a little foolish."
"Fleur will be happy to know you don't regret it. Especially the way she greeted you the other day."
"Ah, so the girls name is Fleur. Now we're getting somewhere."
Harry smiled "No, Fleur's her older sister, Gabriel is the name of the girl."
Lisa grinned "So who are the other girls?"
Tonks answered with her own grin "You already heard Ginny's name and the other one is Hermione." She saw Harry cringe a bit and chose not to say anything.
Lisa asked "So you've saved three girls, don't save boys or something?" The moment she said it she regretted it remembering the conversation the day before "Crap, I'm sorry Harry. I forgot."
Harry smiled a little "Its ok Lisa, I've been shown and told that there was nothing I could have done different. I'm learning not to blame myself for it slowly. And I have saved one guy; twice; in one night. Damn I never thought of it that way before. That bastard wouldn't even..." Harry looked down and gave a cough "Sorry; didn't mean to do that. Anyway I have saved a guy before."
Tonks took his hand "Its ok Harry, things will work out one way or another."
Lisa waited a moment before speaking again. "Alright, we know you save people, stop the bad guys and bake biscuits. Speaking of which are those them in the box?"
Harry nodded and opened it offering her one and waited.
Lisa took a small nibble and her eyes widened before she took a bigger bite. "Damn, these are good. Do you do anything half arsed?"
Harry smiled and let out the breath he didn't even know he was holding "Yeah, homework."
"Really, what's your favorite subject?"
Harry paled and looked at Tonks who answered for him "Harry didn't go to a normal school which is why he needs the tutors. He's trying to catch up on four years of normal education."
"What sort of school did you go to?"
"He can't tell you. Unfortunately there's a lot of his life that he can't talk about. We can tell you about the last four years in very broad detail but nothing really specific. Sorry."
"Are you sure you're not just acting out some action movie plot? I mean the saving the pretty girl thing, the beautiful protector and not being able to talk about your past bit. It sounds like a really good action movie."
Tonks laughed "Thank you. Nobody would believe it if it was, it's too far fetched to be anything but real. Not to mention Harry saw his first movie only a few days ago."
"Now I know your joking. You said the last four years were a secret, what about the rest of your life? You had to have seen a movie before now."
He shook his head "I grew up with relatives who are going to be arrested when they get back from holiday. Tonks, her boss and Rebecca saved me after a really bad beating from my uncle last week. I can't talk about the last four years but I choose not to talk about the years before that. They weren't really good years."
"I'm sorry."
Harry gave her a half smile "You couldn't know about it. I guess it's not really easy to get to know someone like me, you kind of have to guess at everything don't you?"
She grinned "Kind of makes it more fun this way."
Tonks laughed "There you go Harry, playing hard to get to know is the way to get the girls interested. You should have them lining up by the end of next week."
He laughed "Yeah right, I bet they only want me for my cooking. Look at Lisa here, she's on her seventh biscuit and probable doesn't even know it." They both laughed again at the look on her face as she looked at the one in her hand.
Lisa cleared her throat "Sorry."
"Don't be, I'm glad you like them. Do you think your uncle will?"
"Only one way to find out, all we really have to do is tell him that we know he heard everything and he can come out now." She grinned as he walked out of the kitchen.
He cleared his throat. "Uhm, everything that's said in this booth is kind of projected into the kitchen for some reason. That's how we ended up in trouble in the first place."
Tonks shook her head looking gravely at Harry "Should we tell him how much trouble?"
Harry also had a serious expression. "I thought it would be a good idea, but if Madam Bones found out we warned them we could be the ones she comes after." He shivered.
Tonks eyes widened "I didn't think of that. She loves you so she'll probably only do a number five on you. Me, I just know I'd get the sixteen. I can't take that one again Harry, not after the last one."
"I don't think she'd do that to you again. Maybe it will only be the twelve, that one wasn't that bad. I only took two months to recover from it."
"Yeah but everyone knows you heal quick, I'd take at least three and more than likely four months after that. No, if it's anything more than a nine I don't think I'll be able to keep going. That last fifteen almost ended it all for me. I can't live like that anymore; those were the longest six months of my life. It took four of them for me to move my fingers again."
"True but you could get lucky and get another seven. You really do like that hair color after all. You said the pain might have been worth it. Who knows it could get the carpet to finally match the drapes."
Tonks looked shocked "You peeked."
Harry lost it and started laughing which caused Tonks to follow as a pale Lisa and Conner looked between the two of them.
"I win, you lost it first. Now you owe me another date, this time a real one. That last one doesn't count, and don't think your sleeping with me again."
"Don't worry, I could barely move the next morning."
"We just have to try different positions is all. You'll get the hang of it after a few times. It's just going to take more than last time to get you into that bed."
"Well that's not hard, last time just took me being there. I still think it was rude of you to run out of there like that without even a kiss though. I felt used."
Tonks started laughing and Harry smiled "Even again, thank you, thank you very much."
Conner cleared his throat again "Are the two of you finished yet?'
"Sorry sir, I didn't really joke around a lot before I met Tonks. Now it just sort of starts out of nothing and takes a life of its own." He scooted over and made room for the man. "We really do want to tell you that Madam Bones is going to come by and talk to you. She's a really good person who I owe my life to, literally. She'll just ask you a few questions and talk to you for a bit, nothing serious that you have to worry about."
Tonks added "Just don't piss her off, which would end badly."
Harry nodded "That's not a joke; she can be really inventive when she's pissed. I've started calling them Corrective Attitude Adjusters or CAA's for short." He looked at Conner "You might have heard a few; I've found that any really pissed off woman can come up with them."
Conner smiled "I think I know what you're talking about lad. My wife can invent some pretty bad forms of punishment herself when she's got the heat rising."
Harry grinned "You should know that they get worse when they're in a pack. Rebecca, Tonks and Madam Bones came up with some that should be physically impossible even with dismemberment. When I pointed that out they just glared and said 'watch us' I left the room for my own safety."
Conner laughed "A smart lad knows when to run."
Tonks spoke up "He fights more often than running though."
Both the guys laughed and Conner added with Harry nodding "The only battle that is truly one to run from is with a really angry woman. That's the only one you can't hope to come out of with all body parts in tacked."
Harry added "I've only learned that in the last week, but its one thing I don't plan to forget. You do remember I got Bill out of the way when you and Rebecca were going to help that guy in Bones' office remember his manners? I may not learn everything quickly but I do when it comes to living longer."
Tonks looked at Lisa "It's nice to know that a man can learn something."
Lisa shook her head "I'm still not convinced. I think my Uncle should try the biscuits, and then we'll know for sure."
Conner chuckled "Never argue with a lady who's trying to prove a point lad, it just wastes your time and pisses off the woman." He grabbed a biscuit and took a bite. After a second his eyes widened "Lad I think you have a job, papers be damned. Did you really make these?"
Tonks laughed "He was finishing them at five this morning."
Lisa looked at him "Didn't you sleep last night?"
"Not much, we have a few things happening this afternoon, that and the fact that whenever I've been happy something bad has happened kind of made sleep hard to come by."
This time it was Lisa who reached across the table and took his hand "It can get better Harry, and you have people who are helping you so it will get better."
Harry squeezed her hand "Thanks, that's just what Tonks was telling me."
Tonks was grinning and Conner once again cleared his throat. "Let's get down to business."
XXXXXXXX
Bill and Rebecca each held one of Ginny's hands with Rebecca telling the girl to breathe deeply and let it out slowly. The ritual had been over for about five minutes.
Bill had told her that it would hurt a lot to help her prepare for it. Rebecca had told them that she had a pain potion with her just in case and Bill shook his head.
"This is a goblin ritual," He looked Ginny in the eyes "I know that it's going to be bad for you, but you have to get through the pain on your own. If you use a potion for any of it you'll lose respect with them. This is hard for me to tell you but it will help you with future dealings with goblins. Try not to scream from the pain; the more you can take before you do the more respect they'll have for you. The only other way to get that respect is to find them a lot of treasure."
Ginny had been nodding "Is Harry going to have as much pain?"
Bill looked down "More, a lot more. He'll wish for your pain before he's even half through. He has a whole fragment in him; it will fight the ritual to stay alive." He looked at Rebecca "I'm sorry, I know you care for him but he needs to do this, it's the only way."
"As much as I wish it were other wise, I know there's nothing else that will help him. I just wish there was something I could do to help him."
"You are helping him; you're the one who found all of this. If it wasn't for you he'd never know about the Horcrux until it was too late and Voldemort would be immortal."
"I know, but it doesn't feel like enough. He's had too much pain already and I can't do anything to stop it. I just feel helpless, I really hate that feeling."
Ginny laughed "You'll get used to it around Harry. After I woke up in the Chamber I saw that he was hurt. He just told me it was ok and then started making sure I knew how to get out safely and that I knew none of it was my fault. I found out later that he was dieing when he did all of this. I felt useless in the Chamber as he got us out and then felt it again when I found out how close he came to dieing."
Bill spoke "Not to mention that you're helping him get his life set up. Princess said that he and Tonks were exploring the area around the clinic yesterday, is he going to be working there?"
"No, he's moving in with me this weekend, I'm his magical guardian now and we filed papers for me to be his muggle one as well. He's baking biscuits this morning to take to a café as a sample; he's hoping to get a part time job there. He's already got a couple of tutors who are going to come over next week to talk to him and find out what he's going to need to catch up on his education."
Ginny asked "What does he need to catch up on? I know his grades aren't the best but their not that bad."
Bill took a breath "He's going to be getting a muggle education Princess; he's not going back to Hogwarts." Seeing the question forming he explained "He's had it bad in the magical world, even with Voldemort gone and Dumbledore locked up everyone still knows who he is. They'll just keep at him in the press and people tend to believe what's printed. The only way he'll get a normal life is to get away from the magical world."
Rebecca continued "He wants to keep what friends he has but needs to do this for himself. If he stays in the magical world he'll never have a moment's peace and will end up miserable no matter what he does. In the muggle world he's unknown and people have to get to know him the same way they have to get to know everyone else. They don't have the preconceived image of the hero nutter as he calls it, they don't know his name just because of his scar, they have to ask for it. Do you understand why he wants to do this?"
Ginny nodded "He wants to keep his sanity and won't do it at Hogwarts."
A goblin came in "Follow me" and then turned and walked away without waiting for them.
After a few minutes of walking they entered the same room that the blocking ritual was held in with two very old looking goblins standing by the far wall.
"William of clan Weasley are you here as a student or as support?"
Bill bowed "Curse Master Defthand, I am here as support for my blood sister Ginevra of Clan Weasley. I will be here as a student this afternoon when the ritual is performed on the artifacts and Harry."
"Very well take your place. Female what is your name?"
Rebecca bowed "Rebecca of clan Monroe Curse Master."
"Take your place, Ginevra of Clan Weasley lay in the center of the room."
Ginny did this and the moment her head rested on the floor Defthand started muttering in the guttural language of the goblins. At first she felt a tingling sensation through out her body, and then it started to get worse. After a couple of minutes she wanted to scream but kept her mouth closed and concentrated on not making a sound. As the pain increased she knew she would scream and cry before it was over and gritted her teeth to hold out as long as possible.
Finally she started to break, with one last effort she opened her eyes and glared at the ceiling and growled through her clenched teeth "No more pain Tom. You can't hurt me any more. I win and you lose you bastard. I WIN TOM, GO TO HELL."
Small wispy black threads came out of her chest as she yelled the last words and floated above her for a few seconds then dissipated into the air.
Ginny's breathing was shallow and rapid as Defthand approached. He looked at her for a second before grinning "Shame you have that human form, you would make a good goblin." He turned and walked out of the room with the other one following and Ginny passed out.
When she came to Bill and Rebecca were sitting over her holding her hands.
"You're fine, all of it's gone. Take deep breaths and let them out slowly, it will help with the pain. How do you feel?" Rebecca asked.
"Like I've been at the bottom of a dog pile at a Weasley family reunion, is it over?"
Bill smiled "Yeah Princess it's over now." He chuckled "I may have to stop calling you that. No mere princess could impress the goblins like you did. Believe it or not you just made this family very honored among the goblins. I'm so proud of you Princess." He pulled her into a hug.
They helped her stand and get steady on her feet when she asked "Can I be here for Harry's ritual? He's done so much for me I want to support him for this."
Rebecca answered "Harry would like that. Why don't you go home and soak in a hot bath for a little while before then. It will help your muscles relax some."
Ginny looked at Bill "I'm having lunch with Harry and Tonks tomorrow, can you take me to the clinic before one? Remus didn't look like he had a good talk with Harry and might not want to see him for a while."
"I'm not sure Harry will be in any shape to go out tomorrow."
Ginny snorted "He's Harry, he'll be there and you know it."
A rough laugh echoed in the room "That's good praise from one who has declared victory with their pain."
Bill bowed "Director Ragnok, we are honored by your presence." Ginny and Rebecca both followed Bill's lead and bowed.
"If what Defthand has just told me is true, the honor is mine. Ginevra of Clan Weasley has honored her fathers this day. We will speak your name at tonight's feast with that of William of Clan Weasley for his actions in this business. I look forward to seeing how this Harry handles the ritual this afternoon." With that he turned and left.
Bill stood there with his mouth hanging open before shaking his head and looking at his sister. "You have no idea how big of an honor that is. There's only ever been eight humans who have had there names spoken at a feast. To have both of us mentioned will cause a stir. We need to teach you their customs; you'll need to know them when you come into the bank from now on because they will deal with you more as a goblin than a witch. Mum's going to have a heart attack when I tell her."
