The Unofficial Books Eight, Nine, and Ten
The Rest of the Story of the Boy that Lived
Book 8 Chapter 21 'The Return to Diagon Alley'
Chapter 21: 'The Return to Diagon Alley'
The screech of the tires touching the pavement made a shrill and penetrating noise in the cabin of the jet plane as it landed at Cairo International Airport. Bill Weasley was awakened with a jolt to his senses. After a few seconds to collect his thoughts together; Bill was happy to have this Muggle flight finally over. He never did care to fly in this way but Egypt was just too risky to apparate to. The risk of failure going across the sea made a difficult trip turn into a dangerous one even for him.
As they were pulling up to the gate, he was packing up the items he had been studying on the fight from Paris. He had said goodbye to Fleur and had told her it could be a month or so until he was able to return.
The reports he had been reading on the flight to bring him up to speed told him that this project had been very aggravating for everyone that had been involved so far. Just last week a large explosion had taken place during the day, which had resulted in a large number of deaths in the underground structure. For Gringotts, this had been a terrible breach of security as Goblins, wizards, and Muggles had died; and the out roar by the people and government of Egypt was threatening to have them withdrawn all digging permits.
Normally this issue might have been able to be just taken care of by covering it up by any way they deemed necessary. But now, both the wizard and non-wizarding governments had become quite disconcerted by the number of deaths. In addition, the families of the Goblins killed were not taking it easy with the Goblin project manager on what had happened on his watch.
This had quickly become a public relations nightmare for the bank; so now, in order to contain the disaster, it was decided to call up the best from all over the world. As one of the top curse breaking Wizards, and now that his loyalty was not in question, Bill was the obvious choice for the Banking group to send. Once the decision was made, he was ordered to Cairo at all speed, but due to the death of Fred, even he was forced to tell his own employer that he would be unavailable for several more days.
Several of the higher ranking and resentful Goblins in Zurich, had tried to make a case on this showing that giving Bill such a high level of management had been a terrible mistake. They said he was a wizard that showed no appreciable loyalty to the companies needs at such a serious time.
In simpler times, this might have proved to be his downfall, but they had greatly underestimated the true cost of this failure to the largest stockholders of the bank.
Several of the top Goblin partners had also suffered losses in their family circles. The Goblin, who had pushed for Bill's promotion in the first place, then went into overdrive to promote him on this project. This action soon proved to not be a waste of time but totally shielded Bill from his enemies.
What then happened proved in the end to be the worse time for Bill's rivals to have undertaken this misguided opportunity. When they tried to make their move and cause Bill to be removed from his new position, they quickly found out they had underestimated the support for this red headed wizard. It seemed that each time they tried to place blame, their allegations were easily shown to be unsubstantiated. Soon they became careless and begin making up lies, and this in time would become a unfortunate mistake for them.
Now a number of the Goblins had funerals to attend the following morning. They were not happy that they had been kept from leaving early that day. When all the facts had finally come to everyone's attention, Bill's status was no longer under question. Because now, after many hours of conference calls and owls being delivered that day that questioned why Bill had been promoted, the entire board voted to give Bill full and complete authority on this matter.
After that, a number of Goblins were shown to be unreliable and were demoted severely and were no longer in any position to ever cause Bill any problems again.
Through part of the night, Bill had been reading about this new project that was only about a twenty-five minute drive from Cairo. It was telling him that it had first appeared to be nothing of a substantial importance. It was out in the Desert and away from anything else. It had just been a reported area of possible treasure late last year, and had suddenly turned into a possibly huge find for the Gringotts International Banking Group.
Now the confidential reports were all appearing to show that a large structure had been found, but all signs above ground had been eroded over many thousands of years. It seemed that the desert had just reclaimed the area, so that was why the last one hundred and fifty years of exploration in the area had overlooked it.
As Bill had read on, it now reported that it looked like it had been literally erased from the face of the earth. Almost like a huge giant had appeared and had taken his hand and just wiped it away. The reports also said that some traces of lingering magic were still appearing to be around the area, and that was what had finally gotten the attention of the Goblins.
However, research into the past was showing no record of anything like this having ever existed in this area. This made the task turn into a search instead of a recovery, and far less money was allocated for safety.
And now, after nearly six months and a number of diggings later they had success. Early last week, entry was made into what appeared to be a large hall. It was quickly reported back to Zurich that they had found a royal complex. The Goblin in charge should have then moved back into a recovery mode but he proceeded hap hazardously on and chose to ignore all of the more seasoned employee's warnings of safety protocols.
After a quick and rapid advance into the structure, disaster struck and over fifteen employees were killed by what had first appeared to be a protective curse.
Bill knew that some of his old friends, who were some of Gringotts best curse breakers, had been some of the casualties; and he knew they would have usually been very cautious. Even with the Superintendent pushing them hard, whatever had happened was something that must have never been seen or even anticipated before.
All work on this project had been stopped immediately. A request for him and three others that were considered the best in Egyptian curse breaking was issued immediately from the main office. Bill was able to stay until after Fred's funeral, and on Thursday had a phone call from one of his own friends and mentors. He told Bill of what he thought had happened and then Bill told him to stop and seal all entry until he was able to view everything on site. He informed them that he would be arriving a little before seven o'clock on Saturday morning by Muggle transportation.
For the rest of Thursday, he studied all the information they had sent them and Friday morning Fleur and him went to France for her to stay with her parents while he was in Egypt.
When they arrived, Gabrielle was chattering away about Harry Potter and how he would make a good husband. Bill made it known to his wife to have a talk with his young sister-in-law. The last thing he wanted was her thinking that Harry was obtainable and to have Ginny and her get into an awkward situation on the next family get together. Fleur said she would try to make sure that Gabrielle understood that they were all but engaged, and he was to be considered off limits for her. The discussion then came up about the World Cup and since the stadium was being built only eleven kilometers away from their house, all the Weasleys would be expected to stay with them. Bill's flight was stopping at two cities on the way to Cairo and would be taking off from Paris at eleven o'clock that night. He figured he would sleep on the way and be ready to go see the new find that following morning.
As he walked out of the gate and into the terminal, a young man came up to him and asked, "Are you Bill Weasley, Sir?" It was in very good English and Bill nodded back to him.
"My name is Mohammad Rasee. I will be taking you to the site by car. It is about a one hour drive from the airport and we are not expected until nine o'clock this morning."
As they walked up to the customs desk, a rather imposing man walked up to them and asked him, "Are you Bill Weasley?" Bill nodded and then the man said, "Please follow me, Sir." They walked down into a office, he closed the door and said, "I'm glad you're finally here Bill, the Ministry here is all up in arms about what happen out there last week and they are doing their best to keep the Muggle Government from getting involved. We had four Muggle deaths and since two of the bodies have not been reclaimed yet, keeping a lid on this has become a really big problem."
"One of the missing persons is the son to one of the Presidential advisors and whose family is quite connected in the Government. We need to get his body found and back to them as fast as we can."
"By the way, do you have your passport Mr. Weasley?" Bill pulled it out and handed it to him and he quickly stamped it and then told him, "Bill, I normally work during the night shift and know you are one of the few who have boldly Apparated into our country a few times. I am happy to finally meet you, and I hope you can quietly help solve our mutual problem."
Bill and his driver soon left the area. As they walked outside into the warm morning air, Bill was happy to be back in Egypt. Over the last eight years, he had made many friends here, and had many successes and hoped that this would also be one of though times. They reached Mohammad's car and soon they were driving out of the parking lot and onto the highway.
"Would you like to stop for breakfast or something else, Sir?"
"Are we staying in the usual hotel?" asked Bill.
"Yes you are, Mr. Weasley. It is right on the way and we could stop to drop off your things; or if you want to freshen up, I think we have time to do so."
"That would be nice and do you have a mobile phone?" asked Bill.
"Yes Sir, I do." He grabbed his phone from the seat and reached around to hand it to Bill. As soon as he had it, Bill called the Hotel from his memory. He told them who he was, and asked if breakfast could be waiting in his room in about twenty minutes. They told him they could and Bill told them thank you and asked them to hold for a moment.
He then asked, "Mohammad, would you like to eat too?"
"Yes, I could use some extra this morning, Mr. Weasley."
Bill ordered enough for both of them and after finishing the call, told Mohammad, "You don't need to call me Mr. Weasley. Bill is fine."
As they continued to drive through the morning traffic, Bill was starting to consider what Gringotts had really found here. Why were such deadly curses established on this site in the first place? It had to be a very important location for something or someone. If this was possibly a burial site, he thought they must have been a very rich or even a royal member of the court. Who ever had created them in the past, had wanted nobody to find it. If they did, the curse would insure that they would not be able to leave and tell someone about it.
When they reach the Hotel, he and Mohammad grabbed his stuff from the car, and they both proceeded to walk up to the counter. As they arrived, the Manager came out and said in a friendly voice, "Mr. Weasley, it's good to see you. May I ask on how married life has been treating you?"
"Fine Mr. Aswen," replied Bill. "She is a beautiful dream that I hope I never wake up from." The two talked for a few minutes while all the paperwork was completed and then he and Mohammad headed up to his room.
As soon as he entered the room, Bill went directly to the bedroom and grabbed a change of clothing. He then took a quick shower to freshen up, and after getting dressed, came out to the veranda and sat down at the table overlooking the city.
Room service had already delivered breakfast and once Bill had filled up his plate he asked, "How long have you been working at the dig site Mohammad?"
"I have been working at the project for about six months, Sir; and yes, just to let you know, I do carry a wand. It was thought this location had shown some magical tendencies over the years but the more we looked, the more it seemed it kept trying to lead us away."
"Last winter, we were reorganized and put under several Goblins and they told us that something quite unusually was buried there. They said they could feel a magical resonance that was not from a wand and was not Goblin either. Whatever it is, they said this magic was not fooling them at all."
"At first we did careful surveying and then some test digs around the area. However this was just to slow and the Goblins quickly grew tired of nothing to show for our efforts. The one in charge then ordered that major digging was to commence now or they would find others that wanted to dig. Therefore, about a month ago, we started using magic and heavy equipment to see what was around the most promising areas."
"About ten days ago, we found an old stairway and in short order we found the door. However there were some types of spells that proved to be quite difficult to break through. Because of this, it did take five days to break through the doorway. It was then that the Goblins knew that this was protected by extensive protection spells and something very valuable must be around in this area."
Bill asked, "Have you figured out what the ruins are yet?"
"We are sure it was at least a small city or complex that was built somewhere around four thousand years ago. The Goblins have a number of possibilities in mind but won't tell anyone what they are. None of the Human staff is for sure if it is a city, a temple complex or just a large burial site.
"The project manager has managed to raise the level of spending for this project and was able to get the funds to even pay for some satellite imaging. We should receive them sometime this afternoon. It is then hoped that with low frequency radar maps of the area that we will see though some of the magical protections that we know that are there."
"What are your own feelings of this site Mohammad?"
"Well most everyone is quite scared about what has happened. This occurred just two days after entering the structure. We did recover some of the bodies quickly; but once we got deeper inside, we found several of them burned and disfigured rather horribly. We could only figure out who they were by the clothing they were wearing."
"So I assume the level of confidence Mohammad is not very good?"
"Yes, Bill. All the new ones, and especially the non-magical workers, are very scared and don't understand what happened. We have told them that it must have been some type of gas or phosphorous flares that were booby-trapped to go off when someone tripped the trigger. It is helping for now but we need to find and identify everyone."
"Whatever it was, and whether magic was involved or not, we at least now know that this is a very large underground site. It is thought by the size of the walls and the columns that we have encountered so far, that there had at one time been a large structure built above it. I think you will be quite amazed at what you see, Mr. Weasley; but I think we are entering a time and place to proceed very carefully."
Bill smiled at him and nodded and knew that this was going to be a good challenge and he felt some sorrow for the lost of his friends this past week. It had already been a very hard week with the loss of his brother and all the other family friends in the battle. Now he had to worry about this recovery effort in this major loss for Gringotts.
As they were both finishing up with breakfast, Mohammad told him, "Sir, we need to leave in ten minutes in order to get there in time for your meeting." Soon they were in the car and proceeding across the desert and Bill was again wondering what this place could be.
Harry opened his eyes and he knew it was Saturday morning and that meant finally taking Ginny out to a nice restaurant and shop. It would be with escorts but he was starting to enjoy Hobbs and his crew. They were nice and it did help to keep the onlookers back and made his life a lot easier. He and Ginny didn't have to continue to look everywhere and at everyone, wondering if they were safe from any possible Death Eaters or others planning to attack them.
As he stretched out in bed and then swung his legs over the side, this was the first morning that he actually felt fairly good physically. He knew that his body was healing quickly as Madam Pomfrey had said it would. When he took off his Pajama top and saw that most of the traces of bruising were now gone, he smiled and then he grabbed his bathrobe and quietly left the room so as not to wake up Ron. When he got to the bathroom he knocked and nobody said anything, so he opened the door and for the next half hour he enjoyed the hot shower.
When he turned off the water, he heard a whistle and he knew that Ginny was on the other side of the curtain. He quickly popped his head out and she smiled at him and told him, "I waited fifteen minutes and I almost got in with you, Harry, but I didn't want you to wake up the whole house this morning." She then handed him a towel and said, "I will wait in the Hall unless you don't want me to." She gave him such a puppy dog look on her face but he knew she was just having some fun with him this morning.
"Well I wish too, Ginny, but… " He slowly waved bye at her and she gave him a sarcastic look of hurt and then turned and opened the door.
As she left the room, she told him in a sarcastic voice, "Well I could always owl Dean or Michael." As Harry sort of stared toward the door, feeling a little disturbed, she poked her face back into the room and looked at him with a tinkle in her eye and smiled. She was gone in a flash and closed the door so quickly, that he never had a chance to reply to the sneaky little witch. Harry just shook his head and thought to himself, we still have over a year before we are going to get married. I just don't see how we are going to make it.
Ginny was so busy laughing in the hallway; that she didn't see Hermione walk up behind her and start to look at her with a questionable look "Ginny! You didn't?" Ginny turned to look at her and then started laughing so hard that her feet went out from under herself and she fell to the floor. She was breathing in hard breaths and then Hermione began to laugh. It wasn't very long before Ron shown up and he looked at the two girls and asked,
"Hermione what is so funny?"
"I have positively no idea Ron. You have to ask Ginny."
It was just at that moment that Harry opened the door; he had heard the laughing but had not expected to see all three of them there at that moment. He looked at Ron, and then at Hermione, and then at Ginny, who was still laughing and holding her sides. He didn't like it so he just stormed off. Ginny tried to call out his name but as much as she wanted to, she couldn't with her laughing. This caused Hermione to start laughing even more and then it was a good five minutes before either girl could recover.
Meanwhile Ron just said, "Fine if neither of you is going in there then I will," and he jumped into the bathroom and closed the door to take his shower. When Ron came out about ten minutes later, Hermione was still waiting and told him. "You cut in line Ron that wasn't nice of you."
"Nice of me! You girls were just laughing at Harry it seemed, and I wasn't just going to wait around until one of you would craw in there with the speed of a slug or something." He just turned and walked up the stairs toward his room but when he got there the door was locked.
When Harry had left and returned to the room, he was quite upset at Ginny. He didn't know why but all the laughing that had appeared to be directed at him didn't sit well toward him. When she appeared about four minutes later in the doorway, he told her, "Ginny, I'm not sure what all that was about but I didn't think it was proper for the both of you to be laughing about me like that." As he told her this, she was still a little giggly and this was probably the worst timing she could ever have had. As she made a funny noise in her throat, he looked at her and gave her a very unhappy look.
It was then that she knew that whatever she had done it was time to fix it. She walked right in and closed and locked the door. She walked over and right up to him and sat down next to him on the bed and told him.
"You are Harry James Potter, the one that I love with all of my heart and would willingly die for in helping to protect you. If you want me to say I am sorry, then I am. I would never laugh at you like what I'm pretty sure you are thinking. Hermione just showed up at the wrong time and she started laughing on her own. That only made it all the worse, so we both couldn't stop laughing for a long while." She turned toward him and grabbed him and started to ravage his mouth with all the passion she could muster.
For a very few seconds, Harry tried to pull away from her but suddenly his own heart took over and the two of them became so passionate that Ron's knocks seven minutes later were left unheeded. Ron had not taken his wand and for the next five minutes, he pounded loudly on the door.
Finally when Harry and Ginny broke apart and came up for air, they both realized that Ron was waiting to get into his room. Harry said a few choice expressive words as Ginny stood up and went over and unlocked the door before opening it. "Sorry Ron, I must have locked the door," and she walked right by him with a grin and went back to the bathroom to wait until Hermione was done.
When Ron walked in, he was not at all amused and looked at Harry in a way that he hadn't since the time Harry had his name called out in the Goblet of Fire. Harry knew that Ron was mostly mad about being locked out of his own room, and so he was careful on what he told him. "I'm sorry Ron, the moment sort of got away from us I guess."
Ron replied saying, "My room… My Room… It's my Room Harry! Go snog somewhere else next time, mate."
"I really am sorry, Ron, she sort of came up here and the next thing I knew is that it just happened…" He could see that trying to explain anything to Ron wasn't going to work right now and so he just proceeded to get dressed as fast as he could. Before Ron said anything else, Harry was walking out the door and heading back down the stairs, in order to give Ron some time to cool down.
When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw Ginny waiting at the bathroom door. She started laughing but stopped when she saw the look that he gave her. Harry then told her, "He is really pissed off at us right now. I hope Hermione can help a little on calming him down for us."
Suddenly the bathroom door opened and Hermione came out and she looked at them with a questionable look and Harry said to her, "Hermione, we kind of got Ron a little upset about locking the door to his room. We didn't hear him and I guess he stood in the hall for a while."
"Oh you two didn't?" she asked as a small comical grin appeared.
Ginny looked at her with a beaming smile and quickly nodded in reply to her.
Hermione laughed and told them, "I think you two are going to owe me one for this," and she headed up towards Ron's room instead of Ginny's.
As she started up the stairs, Ginny called out to her, "don't take too much time to make him forget about us."
"Well if I do, you two can just blame yourselves," replied Hermione.
Harry gave her a quick kiss and when Ginny started pulling him into the bathroom Harry said, "Ginny I don't think this is a very good idea right now. It is getting late and I think your Mum might be starting to wonder why nobody has made it downstairs yet." Ginny made a small groan in dismay and then let go of Harry and looked at him with a look of rejection on her face. "I'll make it up to you later," said Harry. Her looks of sorrow quickly changed into a smile and she mouthed, 'I love you, Harry' and then closed the bathroom door.
Harry turned and headed downstairs and saw both Arthur and Molly sitting at the table. Arthur smiled as Harry sat down next to Molly and told him, "Good morning, Harry. It seems everyone but us is running a little late this morning."
"Well we all kind of backed-up into a wait at the bathroom this morning and stuff," replied Harry.
"Well Harry, Hobbs owled me early this morning and he will be here at nine o'clock. I still think you should all wait another week but I know the three of you are leaving in about a week on your trip. I know you all need to get new clothing and stuff, so I will hold off giving you a lecture except to say be careful."
Molly though had her own thoughts and told him, "Harry, I really don't think Ginny should be going with you today. I think the media is going to hound you all day and I really don't think it is safe yet for any of you to go."
'That's strange' thought Harry to himself. She wasn't saying no to him on letting Ginny go, but was hoping he would tell Ginny no. Well she was going to be a great mother-in-law, thought Harry. "Molly, I promise I will be careful and watch out for Ginny. In terms of Death Eaters and others that might try to do something to us, I think it will be years, if not ever, until that type of argument is put to rest. The last thing we both want is Ginny getting hurt somehow. I appreciate your feelings and know that you both understand that I mean what I say."
Molly turned and grabbed Harry into a hug and told him, "Thank you, Harry, and just be extra careful with my little girl."
Harry gave her a hug in return and then sat back in his chair and asked, "Arthur, how is the trip planning coming?"
"I was going to tell all of you at breakfast, Harry; they're done and I have your itinerary complete. It will be a nice trip for the three of you, but… You and Ginny will not see each other for about six weeks."
When Arthur said that, Harry's attention was suddenly all his as he coughed up some eggs he was starting to swallow. After a few extra coughs to clear his throat, he asked, "Why so long?"
"The Ministry is getting some intelligence that in June some possible attacks may be attempted toward you and other Ministry officials. It is thought that it would be nice to have you safe and out of the way at this time. If we can be ready for them we think we can neutralize and capture practically everyone we have been looking for the last week. Don't say anything to anyone yet on this. I just want you to know why I want you to go and enjoy yourself for a change. Having you here is just too much risk on you and my staff and I think you can understand why you need to go. We will arrange special security owls for letter transfers so you two can keep in touch with each other while she is finishing up her term."
As he finished up, Ron and Hermione came into the room and set down and Ron looked up at Harry and told him, "I'm sorry about how I acted earlier."
Harry smiled back at Ron and said, "Well it is your room and…"
Ron cut him off and said in a loud voice, "Yes my room! But… Harry I understand."
Hermione leaned over and gave Ron a kiss and said, "I love you, Ron." He blushed a good red and turned and hugged Hermione.
Arthur and Molly looked at each other and then at Harry and then Molly said, "Harry dear, did we miss something?"
"Like I said, the four of us had a bathroom pile up this morning. I'd rather not go into details since I think we all worked it out."
As Harry had finished his little statement, Ginny showed up and sat down next to Harry and said, "Hi Dad, Mum."
Arthur then said, "They have some nice photos of the four of you in the cafeteria from yesterday and at least nothing was said about your little reception in the entry area Ginny. I guess the Daily Prophet is behaving, as their new policy seems to show. You all have about twenty minutes to eat before Hobbs gets here with your security detail. Your meeting with Susan at the Leaky Cauldron is all set up and Kingsley, Dawlish, and I will also be attending it."
"Why are you going to be there, Arthur?" Harry was not sure but he felt something had been determined for both of them being there.
"We all thought we might want to hear it first hand Harry. It also gives the three of us a private place to have our Saturday meeting and enjoy a few drinks at the same time. Now since you all are rather short on time, I think you need to eat quickly and not keep Hobbs and his men waiting. They are all doing this off the clock today since they like you, Harry, and want to recruit you for the Aurors." Quickly the food was passed around the table, and everyone was eating quickly and very little was said. Harry thought to himself that something was up but he knew it could be a number of things so he just decided to forget it and knew Arthur would have good reasons not to tell him right now.
Once the food had been passed around, Arthur then said, "Hermione, almost all of your trip plans are complete and the Australian Ministry has located your parents and everything is fine. They will have some very good healers on hand when you revert their memories. They have done quite fine in their new job and will probably be missed by their employer. It is thought that they will probably want to give a month of notices if they choose to come back to England."
Hermione then said, "I never thought that they might want to stay. If they don't want to come back, what am I going to do? I got school and Ron and what am I going to do?"
She began to get a little hysterical and Ron leaned in to hug her and said, "I'll help you Hermione and I'll be there the whole time for you. Whatever it takes, I'll help you and support you."
Ginny and Harry looked at each other and were both impressed by Ron's support for Hermione.
"And Hermione, I will stay with you if you want to stay there with them." When he said that Hermione looked at him and the most satisfied smile came over her face and both Ginny and Harry noticed that all her anxiety appeared to have left her with that.
Molly dropped her glass and Arthur was just staring at his son with a smile. It was now plain to everyone that Ron was committed to her and now just how long it would take him to ask her was the big question.
Precisely at nine o'clock, Auror Hobbs walked out of the fireplace, and then three other Aurors walked out behind him. "How are you today?" asked the senior Auror.
"Fine, Sir. My friends and I appreciate what you are doing for us today," said Harry. "I just found out that your doing this as a volunteer today."
"Harry, for the time being your safety, along with Ginny's, Ron's, and Hermione's, is my job. After all that you have done for us, and being cooped up for a week doing everything but what you would like to do, I felt that I needed to do this for you. Now for today, Frank has the day off. This is Steve Harbor and the tall lanky one is Charles McMasters. They have only been around for three years but they are quite good at what they do. Have you prepared a list of what you want to do today?"
Hermione spoke up, "Auror Hobbs, here are the locations we wish to go to and we will need to go somewhere for lunch too. We are not very sure what restaurants are still open, so we felt we would leave it in your hands to pick the location for lunch."
He looked at the list and then said, "This is all quite feasible today. How long did you want to visit George at his store?"
Ron replied, "We thought maybe an hour or so would be nice."
Harry then added, "I have a special request that's not on the list."
Everyone in the room looked at Harry and he turned a little pink at the attention. "I think the four of us need to visit a place that sells some nice things like earrings, lockets, and… rings." When he said that the room went silent and then in unison the voices of Ginny and Hermione rang out with, "YES!" Harry heard a groan and turned to look at Ron who had a face that showed the look of this day has just become the worse day of my life.' Harry knew what to do since he had just backed Ron into a corner and said, "I need a moment with my best mate, everyone, before we leave. He grabbed Ron's arm and pulled him along until they were outside on the porch.
As Ron started to say something, Harry cut him off and said, "You're my best friend and soon to be brother-in-law and don't you forget it. We have both saved each other's lives and this time you are going to listen to me and do what I am going to tell you that you are going to do, Ron. Both of you love each other and it's time to give her something special. I would like to see you propose to her but if your not ready I understand, so the next best thing you can at least do for Hermione is to buy her something quite nice today that she can wear. Whatever it costs Ron, I am paying for it because that is what your best mate does. You're the brother I never had and Hermione's the sister I never had, and I will do anything to help the two of you finally get together. Please do it for her or your sister or me if that means anything to you."
Ron looked up to Harry and grinned and said, "You really want to do this for me today, don't you?"
"Duh, Ron! I know how you two feel about each other and I know how I feel about Ginny. It may be different between how we all feel about each other but we love our companions with undeniable love. You two may argue about the most petty things at times, but it is quite obvious to me that you both love each other."
"I ought to be mad at you, Harry, but I guess I needed this kick in the arse from you."
"That's why we are standing outside with everyone wondering what is going on right now." As he finished, he started chuckling and soon the both of them were laughing out loud and then Harry said, "Let's go back in and go have some fun today."
Ron opened the door and the two best mates went back to their other halves and gave them a good kiss and then Harry told them, "Lets go."
As the group all departed, Molly looked at Arthur and asked, "Do you have any idea what that was about?"
"I think Ron's best friend was just able to get Ron to realize that he needed to get something for Hermione, dear. Harry just risked his friendship to make sure Ron would buy something nice for Hermione. I think a true friend just took a big risk that demonstrated his loyal friendship to our son."
"I hope Ron really understands why he did this for him, dear."
The car was driving along an old trail that served as a road in the dessert. In places it had been cleared of wind blown sand that dominated most of the landscape. In the last few minutes, they had descended down into a valley that was now quite flat and Bill could see in the distance some tents and trailers. All around them in the distance, large sand dunes were visible and it seemed to him quite strange how nothing was covered up in this area. His driver slowed down and then was waved on through a checkpoint and in another minute they were pulling up to a large tent.
Mohammad then told him, "This tent is the main head quarters of the operation and the meeting is scheduled to start as soon as you are in there, Mr. Weasley." A couple of men had just come out and were heading over toward the car. Bill smiled, for he saw his friend John Klein, and was glad he was involved in this operation. He was not a wizard but had a general idea of the magical world. He was around fifty years old and was someone that was able to figure the best way to use Muggle devices and wizard's magic to get past some of the curses and protections that had been installed on a project. He considered him as the best in the recovery operations field and the two of them had worked together in many of the ruins and tombs that Bill had been on.
Both he and Mohammad opened their doors and Bill grabbed his briefcase, they got out and John wrapped his arms around Bill and said, "Bill, it is good to see you. I hope your marriage is treating you well and by the way, welcome to the place of all places.
John looked at him and said, "Really Bill, this is it."
"This is the ancient location that everyone has been looking for years?"
"We are about ninety percent sure, but we haven't found enough to confirm it yet. As you can see, the entire area was definitely destroyed or removed by someone. We have finally found a large substructure and, from what the goblins have told us, the entire area here is still protected by some major spells that humans have a hard time recognizing. Whoever cast them didn't want anyone finding this place. I also have requested, and Gringotts finally approved paying for some low level radar imaging of this area. The satellite will be in position around three fifteen this afternoon. I am hoping it might be able to penetrate whatever has been making it hard for us to see."
Bill looked at his friend thinking and then asked, "You're really sure this is the missing site we have all been looking so long for?"
"Bill this is not normal magic from what everyone including the Goblins have said. Do to the sensitivity of this information, it has not been past out to anyone that is not working on this operation. This entire location has somehow been kept from being deeply buried. The cover appears to be just a top dressing of sand and how and why, nobody can understand. I have never seen the opening of a tomb take so much work as this one did and then when the accident happened, I stopped everything until I could get Ya-pi, Hari, and you here to try to figure this out. Even Chilow, the Head Goblin in charge of antiquity extractions, was more than happy to agree when his own three field agents were among the dead. They entered the damn area thinking that they had broken in and the hard part was over. Well they were right about it being over for them.
"We went in and recovered what bodies we could. When they got to the ones that had been burned past recognition, I told them to recover them and then stop the rest of the efforts until I could get everyone together on this. The others are inside and I think we need to really look very hard at what ever is down there and what happened to my men. I feel pretty bad about what has occurred and I hope the three of you can give me some more ideas on what is actually down there."
Bill knew that his friend was upset and was a cautious man when it came to risking lives. They all headed into the tent and for a few minutes Bill was caught up with meeting his old friends and being introduced to some other experts he had never met before. There were several world renowned Muggles that also had good ideas on what was possible here and they were quite excited about being involved with this group effort.
It now seemed to Bill that just about everyone that was a true and knowledgeable treasure hunter was now involved in this operation. Just having everyone here, was a good indication that everyone knew that this was indeed now a serious operation and could be a find of the century. After the introductions were over, they all sat down and for the next three hours, ideas were traded around and talked about.
When the Fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron lit up in a blaze of green, eight hooded figures walked out of it and then silently walked to the back and proceeded into Diagon Alley. As they all walked through the gateway, they headed toward the closest shop, which was Quality Quidditch Supplies. As they walked into the shop, it was still early enough that they appeared to be the first customers. The four then broke into their respective pairs and slowly looked around to take in the new items that were in the shop. As two of the Aurors stood guard at the front of the shop the other two walked around and took up locations to stand watch.
It didn't take the manager very long to figure that somebody important was here today. He watched them for a few minutes and then seeing some red ginger hair, the manager had a pretty good idea on who they were. He walked over to Harry and Ginny and asked if he could be of some help. Harry quietly said they were just looking at all the new stuff in the store. That was all that it took and the manager had recognized his voice and said, "Mr. Potter, take your time and I will make sure no one bothers you here today." He walked over to the front door and turned the lock and then put up a closed sign in the door.
When they got to the Firebolt broom on display, Ginny ran her hand over it and said. "If I get to play professional Quidditch, I want one like you use to have Harry."
As she looked around at the other brooms, Harry excused himself and went to the back and pulled the manger aside and told him. "Unless Ginny or I come to a bad misfortune in the next few months, I want to order her a Firebolt for her birthday. I will either pick it up the first week in August or need it to be delivered if I can't make it. If you have any problems, contact Arthur Weasley at the Ministry to get a message to me."
The Manager then asked Harry, "I know she is a very good chaser from seeing her at some games at Hogwarts the last couple of years. Is she thinking of trying to play professionally?"
"Yes, I think she is going to try to."
"Let me contact the company first, Mr. Potter. If she is going to try to go pro when she finishes school, I think the company will either foot most, if not the entire bill. She also may get the chance to try out the new experimental Firebolt Plus before it is released to the general public. It is due to come out sometime in the next year and since you already own one, I think they would jump at the opportunity to let Ginny Weasley and the future wife of Harry Potter have the first production model to try out."
"Whatever you can do, will be great," said Harry. "I just want one of these brooms for her in August." He slowly worked his way back over to Ginny and then found a nice set of dragon hide gloves. He looked at them for a minute and as he felt them, he was impressed with the quality of the material and how soft they felt. He suddenly felt an elbow nudge him in his side and turned to see Ginny looking at him.
He smiled at her and told her, "look at these gloves and feel how soft they are to the touch. Even better, try them on, Ginny."
"Harry this are man size gloves, I think I could put both hands in one of them." Harry dug around in the bin, pulled out a smaller pair and took one of her hands, and then he slowly worked on one of the gloves and asked her, "How does it feel Ginny?"
"Let me try on the other one, Harry," Ginny replied. She slid it on and moved her hands around and smiled and replied, "This are very nice, Harry."
"Well you can use them in your final game against Slytherin when you go back to school," said Harry. "I am not going to have you get broom splinters in your hands. I have a vested interest that your hands stay clean of splinters, my love."
She looked at Harry and replied, "You know you can be full of it sometimes, Harry, but I do really do love these gloves, so I will force myself to accept your gift."
"Ginny did you find anything else you want?" When she didn't reply at first, he knew she had found something else she really wanted and turned and put his hand under her chin and lifted it up to his face and stared into her eyes and said, "What do you wish of your hearts desires, my love?"
"Well Harry, I can think of something standing in front of me that I would love to have, but I understand I have to wait until next year before I get him. The other thing is something I would really like to have. I found a shirt with the Holyhead Harpies' logo on it… Please!"
"Well I will want repayment with a large amount of interest due at anytime I demand repayment for this little shirt my love. Be it money or in trade and at my option."
"Anything Harry, as long as I get my shirt." She knew that Harry was only kidding about the repayment in money but she also knew that it was going to be requested to get her to do something that she would normally say no to.
"Go get it then. He followed her and she lifted it from the back row under a large stack of shirts and he laughed knowing that she had hid it, wanting to make sure that no one might find it in the stack of shirts. She unfolded it and it was a team shirt with everyone's signatures on it. "Is this really signed, Ginny?"
"Yes Harry, they issued them last year when they won the playoffs. There were only five hundred of them made and I wanted one so bad."
"Well it's yours now, my love." Her lips were on his so fast with lightning speed that Harry had no time to react to her assault. He was just glad that he hadn't done anything to cause her to do injury to him or he knew he would be flat on the floor. After about thirty seconds, he was able to pull her slowly away from holding him and said to her, "I am ready to go and unless there is more for you to get indebted to me, then I think we should pay for this and go to our next destination, my love." She looked dreamily at Harry and nodded and they went and paid for their purchases and then headed over to Ron and Hermione who were sitting down at a table by the front door.
"Well, mate, what did you do to have my sister climb all over you like that?" laughed Ron.
"I bought her a shirt Ron. It is amazing what a girl will promise to do for you for such a small token gift."
They all looked at each other and then Ron and Harry broke out laughing and then Ginny and Hermione joined in. For a short minute, Quality Quidditch Supplies was full of laughter and even the Auror's started to laugh some. As the manager unlocked the door, they put their cloaks up over their heads and they all headed out into Diagon Alley.
Auror Hobbs said, "Alright, we will all head to Madam Malkins. I expect them to have a few people, so try to stay hidden as long as you can." It was only a short walk and soon they were all inside and again the Auror's took up positions in the shop; Harry and Ginny walked over to a sales person and asked her if they could have a private fitting room. She led them to the back and when they were in the room they lowered their hoods and the clerk gasped and Harry said. "Please keep our being here a secret, because we don't want to have a large crowd following us around today."
She smiled and nodded to him and said, "I understand, Mr. Potter, you are quite the attention getter these days. What can I and Madam Malkins do for the two of you today?"
"I want to buy some nice robes for Ginny and me. I want three school robes, a dress, and a formal robe for both of us, if you please."
The clerk looked at Harry and knew that this could really make her day but new that she shouldn't and replied, "I think I need to go get Madam Malkins for this. She has always taken care of you Mr. Potter and she will know exactly what you want."
"Do you not want to help us, madam?" replied Harry in a questionable voice.
The poor clerk looked at Harry and Ginny and she was scared if she picked the wrong thing and her boss found out about it she would probably lose her job. She was quite afraid to pick out anything for these two celebrities.
Harry then told her, "I understand why you could be a little nervous but I want you to go pick out some stuff that you think would make the two of us look nice. I have faith in that you will do a good job." She nodded to Harry and then did a quick measure of him and Ginny and quickly went out the door.
Ginny then turned and said to Harry, "You didn't say anything about buying me some new robes Harry. Mine may not be in the best fashion, but they're alright."
"Ginny I want both of us to look nice and we are going to be appearing in many places the next year. I want you to be comfortable being with me and I want you to look and feel the part of Miss Ginny Potter. You're beautiful to me all the time, but I want you to know I love you, and we are in this for the rest of our lives together. So let me do this for you, and besides this is my way of demanding my repayment of my loan on your shirt."
"But Harry, the shirt is nowhere near the cost of the robes."
We both agreed to the terms of your shirt purchase with a high rate of interest my love. The robes come with the shirt purchase today or I just have to take the shirt back for credit," said Harry.
Ginny looked over at Harry rather sulkily and knew that she had no choice in this matter. She did agree to the repayment terms and darn him, he had set her up on this. She knew that he did love her and she did her, but really this was just too much.
He had assured her that he had money, but due to her frugal upbringings, she felt like saying no. She knew that Harry was doing this because he loved her and wanted her to feel comfortable with him where ever he went. She walked up to him and smiled and gave him a kiss and then told him, "I love you, Harry, but just don't surprise me quite so much. Nevertheless, I do understand why 'WE' are buying these for 'US'."
A couple of minutes later, the clerk returned with an armful of robes and sat them down by Ginny and said, "I'll be back in a few minutes with yours, Mr. Potter."
Ginny felt the material of the first robe and said, "These are really nice, Harry." She thumbed through the pile and picked out three robes and held each of them up and asked, "Harry, which ones do you like?"
"I think you need to try them on, Ginny, so I can help you decide."
"Alright," she said, and then she just started to pull off her robe before Harry could even leave the room. He started to shut his eyes but figured if it didn't bother Ginny then it sure wasn't going to bother him to see her in her undergarments. She picked the one that she liked the most and when she had put it on and then looked in the mirror she fell in love with it. He looked up at Ginny and knew he had fallen in love with a beautiful angel. "You really look nice, Ginny," he said in a way that his voice trembled with wonder.
"Just nice?" she asked and looked at Harry with a stern look.
"Just beautiful, Ginny. I was saving 'beautiful' until you have tried on the other two, so I could be honest with you."
She looked at Harry with a smile and thought that he was starting to learn how to dig himself out of a hole with that skillful use of words. For the next few minutes, she changed into the other two robes and soon she was asking Harry, "So which one do you like the best, Harry?"
"I like the witch under the robes," he said as he smiled into her face. "But the first two dress robes look beautiful on you and I think we should get both of them."
She looked at Harry with a face that showed her unwillingness to spend his money like this and then Harry said to her, "I have told you that my money is now yours. I don't like to waste money either, Ginny, but it's not wasted if it is being put to good use. We don't need that many things right now, but I think this is something that goes together with both of us."
The attendant came back in and gave Harry a stack of Robes and Harry told her, "She is going to take the two dress robes there. Please bring her some formal ones to look at." She grabbed the ones that Ginny had not selected and disappeared again.
Harry pulled off his robe and then asked Ginny to help him select some to go with the robes she had picked out. They quickly found four that looked promising and as Harry held them in front of his body they suddenly had two that seemed to look good on Harry. He then put on the first one and Ginny held the two robes that she had picked out and saw that they both looked good next to Harry's. He then put on the other choice and then again, it looked good also, and Harry then said, "I'll just take both of them too."
The attendant returned with just two robes in her hand. She gave one to both of them and said, try these both on. As they put on the formal dress robes they weren't looking at each other until they both turned around and each was amazed at who was standing in front of them. They both walked over to each other and stood side by side and turned and looked in the mirror. Whoever had designed these two robes had must of known that they were going to be going on Harry and Ginny. If the two of them had been attracted to each other before, what the two saw in the mirror now was pure perfection in each other's eyes. The red and green trim on each robe highlighted his eyes and her hair and each just stared in the mirror for a long time.
Shortly a knock came at the door and Hermione stuck her head in and asked, "How much longer are the two of you going…" She saw the formal robes on her two friends and gasped. She walked in and said, "Are these things charmed or something? You two look just stunning. Gee, Ginny if you decide that Harry is not for you, I might have to reconsider on marrying Ron."
Just after she had said that, Ron walked into the dressing room and then he took his own double take and said, "You two are just beautiful," and just stared at his sister and best friend.
The clerk then appeared again and in seeing their disbelief she told them, "they have no charms, but the fabric is made by Goblins and the robes are made by house elves that are paid for their services. This was a special set that was sent to us last month by mistake. We didn't even know about them until last weekend when we unpacked what we thought was for a customer. When we notified the tailor, he told us the people they had been made for had an untimely death two weeks ago in downtown London and we were asked to see if we could sell them to somebody else."
"Do you know what happen to them?" asked Harry. "We were told that a Muggle truck driver had a heart attack and ran his lorry into their car and they were killed instantly."
Ginny and Harry looked at each other and knew that each of them felt sorry for the couple. Harry then said, "We will take them with us. Do you think you can have them adjusted by four o'clock for pickup today or would it be better for us to pick them up on Monday?"
The clerk looked at him and said, "It would be a rush to have all of them finished today since it is Saturday. I would really suggest you pick them up on Monday after one o'clock, if that would be possible."
"Thank you," said Harry. "Also add three sets of your best Hogwarts school robes to our purchase and here is my card."
"I will go get Madam Malkins to do your measurements, and thank you for doing business with us Mr. Potter and Ms. Weasley."
As soon as she left Ginny said, "She was very nice, Harry, I liked her."
Harry looked at Ron and Hermione and told them, "I'm sorry this took us so long but I wanted to get some new robes for Ginny and myself."
Ron added, "You know, Harry, you looked like some royal wizard or something and Ginny, you looked gorgeous even for my sister. How bad can I be when my own sister looks so stunning that I am envious of you, Harry? Yuck."
"Don't worry, Ron, I'm already taken," said Ginny and she giggled.
"Well as soon as she returns to get our measurements, I want to get the Seventh-year books to study on," said Harry. "Then I think we will all be ready for lunch."
"I'm ready now," replied Ron.
Madam Malkins walked into the room and said, "I see my little niece has sold you some very nice things, Harry," as she handed back his card.
"Don't get mad at her, Madam. I told her I wanted her to make the sale for some reason. I guess I thought it would be a good training lesson for her and she did quite well. I think you have a good person in her and I would sure recommend her to anyone."
"Thank you for your patronage, Mr. Potter, and I am glad to have met you, Miss Weasley. The paper said you two were a very nice looking couple. Now let me get your measurements and get you all on the way." It took her about eight minutes to get all the measurements and she told them everything would be ready for pick up on Monday afternoon.
They put their robes back on and then they all pulled their hoods back over their heads and went out; soon they all found them selves in Flourish & Blott's. Harry asked Hobbs to ask for four sets of seventh-year books for next year and then gave him his card to pay for them. The four of them slowly looked around at the new books in the store and soon Hobbs came back over and asked Harry, "Do you know for sure what next year books will be?"
"They will be going back to last year's curriculum, "replied Harry. "Just tell them you want the same books that were used a year ago." He saw Hobbs go back to the manager and in just a short time a large stack of books was on the counter and the manager started staring at the four of them. Harry saw him smile and knew that he had identified them. As the manager put the books in a large box, he took the card and looked at it. He smiled again and then rung up the sale, and then handed the card back to Hobbs.
As Hobbs walked over, the manager came over and quietly said to them, "I appreciate your patronage, Mr. Potter, and I assume that Miss Granger and to the two Weasleys are the other two here today. I hope your last year at Hogwarts will be a most enjoyable year for all of you."
When they got ready to leave the store, Harry said to Hobbs, "so far this has worked out pretty good for this trip. Now how do we stay hidden at lunch?"
"I'm not much worried about that, Harry. I think for the rest of the day it will not be an issue. George's shop is closed and the Jewelry store is also a small store that will close if we ask them to while you are in there. I am not too worried about the rest of the day. If necessary we can apparate from Georges to the Leaky Cauldron; so I suggest we just walk across the street and eat at the Warlocks Wonderful Grubbhouse. It is a small quaint place that has some of the best food you can find in London."
"Sounds good to me," said Harry. "Let's go eat." The group headed outside and crossed the street. As they walked into the Grubbhouse, the smell of the food in the air reminded him of the Burrow, when Molly was fixing a large family meal. As they were taken to their seats, Harry could tell that this restaurant had probably been around for at least a hundred years, if not longer. Hobbs had requested a large table at the back of the dining area and had Harry and his friends all sat facing away from the rest of the tables. The four Aurors sat down and was able to view everyone sitting at the rest of the tables in the room. He suggested everyone at the table to order the lunch special and that no one would be disappointed by what they would be served. It sounded good to him and Ron, but the girls wanted to know what it was first before they decided.
The server was there in a few minutes time, and once the word pot roast was mentioned, Hermione and Ginny said they would try it. Well in just a few minutes, large services were brought out, family style; and soon the whole table was quiet as everybody was consuming lunch. Harry decided that this was now a place to visit from now on when he was shopping at Diagon Alley. The food was superb and mouth watering, and only when the food was emptied from all the plates did anyone lay back and start to decide that maybe they had eaten a little too much.
Harry turned to Hobbs and said, "You were right, this was possibly the best tasting food that I ever had in my life."
At that time, the server showed back up and asked, "Would anyone care for dessert today?" A number of groans were heard at the table and she look around and continued, "I guess it sounds like you all really enjoyed the food, but dessert is included with your meal and I guarantee you it is even better than what you just ate."
Well, that settled it for everyone and eight hands went up and soon moans of pleasure were heard as three types of pies were consumed at the table. As everyone finished up, Harry said, "Ron, do you think George could possible visit us here. I'm not sure, but I think I just ate a little too much."
Ginny laid back against Harry's shoulder and said, "This is good food but if we start coming here very much, Harry, I am going to gain too much weight and that will slow me down playing Quidditch."
"Well Harry, Did you enjoy eating everything?" asked Hobbs.
"Overindulgence is a more appropriate term I think," replied Harry. "This, in my mind, is the best restaurant I have ever been to. Hobbs, I do have a request. I think we will need to sit here awhile to settle our food a bit before we leave."
Hobbs smiled at the other Aurors and told the rest of the table "We thought about warning the rest of you, but the Aurors have used this as a little initiation into the brotherhood of law enforcement. I don't know of anyone that has ever come out of this place the first time that didn't feel like they were going to explode. I guess the two of you passed your first introduction to our department with a good passing grade."
The four of them started clapping and the two couples just looked at each other and suffered. Then Hobbs pulled out a small jug. "Alright recruits, we still have a lot to do today and I know that all of you don't feel like running. Here is a little potion that should make you feel quite better. Just take a small swig and wash it down with some liquid. In a few minutes, you will all be ready to leave." He passed it to Harry and he quickly raised it to his lips and took a good gulp. He passed it to Ginny and then took a swig of pumpkin juice and lay back in his chair. As he watched, everyone consume some of the potion. Ron was the last to take a drink and by then, Harry realized his stomach felt a lot better.
In a few more minutes, he felt fine and then he said to Hobbs, "This was pretty good stuff, Sir. I thank you very much," and soon the rest of the table had also given him their own 'thank you.'
As they got up to leave, Harry asked Hobbs how they were paying the bill, and he told him, "I have already taken care of it, Harry. The Auror department has picked up the tab on this lunch in our recruitment budget. Dawlish has already approved it as an expense."
They all put up their hoods and preceded back outside and they started walking toward Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. As they got there, a sign on the door said they would be reopening around June first. Ron knocked on the door a number of times and nobody appeared. Harry looked through a window and didn't see any movement and then Ron checked the door and it was locked. "Well," said Ginny "what do we do now?"
Ron said, "I owled George that we would be here around one today. What time is it anyway?"
Hobbs looked at his watch and said, "The time is almost one o'clock, Ron."
Suddenly a voice in the distance was heard, "Can't you read the sign? We are closed till next month!"
Everyone looked across the street and George was waving and holding hands with Angelina Johnson. Ginny quietly said, "So that is why he was in a better mood the last few days."
"Well it looks like you women make the best medicine for all of us wizards!" Yelled Harry.
Both Ginny and Hermione gave Harry a playful slap on the head and Ron yelled out, "Hey, that's my best mate you two."
As George and Angelina walked up, Harry asked them, "So, how long has this been going on?"
Well we started talking at Fred's funeral and she came over Thursday to help me clean up the shop and well, we have been together since then." Everyone started talking at once and soon they all headed into the store and for the next ninety minutes everyone pitched in and helped George pick up the last few areas that he hadn't gotten to yet.
Next Chapter: 'The Unexpected Love in Tom Riddle'
11-5-09 'Pottercomplete' WBW
Betaed by 'ginnyweasly777'
Betaed by 'Slick86'