Ch. 25 The Spring of 2001
Thanks to my Beta FriendofMolly who rejected parts of this chapter and had me do a major re-write. We welcome a new Beta who lives in Britain and hopes to help me avoid the most obvious Americanisms, MrJamesBrown from the FanFiction site.
Reviews are always appreciated and really help me in writing the story.
Spring 2001 the Harpies won it all. It was one of those magical seasons when everything went right. The two Harpies seekers were phenomenal, catching the snitch at just the right time. Ginny and Donna seemed to have some 6th sense going on between them, with Tristan Brown not far behind. Ginny had worked on making the Quaffle curve ever since bowling and softball the first summer at the VanLente cottage, and by Spring she had taught all the Harpy chasers how to curve the Quaffle. Together Ginny and Donna developed a way of making almost all the keepers think one of them was going to score when in reality the other one was. The Harpies keeper was blocking most of the opponents' goals, and the beaters were keeping the opposition players off guard and more importantly doing an excellent job of guarding the seekers and to a lesser extent the beaters.
The problem for Harry and Ginny was that their personal life was taking a back seat to the Harpies magical season. Both of them agreed that this was a "time of life" thing, that as long as the Harpies was having such a season that was what Ginny needed to pay attention to.
Saturday March 3, after starting their spring season with a winning game, Ginny and Donna came to the box together. "The Prewett's had their baby last weekend," Ginny said to Harry. "They had a girl they named Joan Joy. I hope we get to see her this weekend."
Donna said, "I never wanted one of those Muggle mobiles, but after talking to Mary Sue on the mobile I may change my mind. I asked her how giving birth was. She said it was hard work, but Harpies are used to hard work. All we got for our hard work was victories, but she got a BABY, a person, for her work.
"Bill's brother Mark and his wife Melissa had a baby, a son Mark, last week as well. I've never known of so many people having babies."
Giving Tabitha a big hug Donna said, "People are more important than victories. Although I think this season is VERY NICE!"
Ginny gave Harry a big hug and said, "I'm sorry I'm not with you more, Harry, but everybody is telling us that this is one of those teams and years that will go down in Quidditch history. It feels like it too!"
Harry replied, "It IS fun seeing you and all your teammates so excited. Have fun while you can."
Ginny sighed. "People keep telling us it can't last forever, and to enjoy it while we can."
Harry meanwhile was very busy. The Potter Estate affairs were almost totally being handled by Bill Weasley and his competent staff. Harry was spending more time working with the Wizengamot and the International Conference of Wizards, trying never to be the leader and to operate "under the radar," but trying hard to meet and influence all the members, and if he could not influence them, at least understand where they stood.
Hermione and Harriet were the key to a lot of what was going on in both bodies. They were determined to keep small steps moving forward, gradually getting better conditions for house elves and all elves, hopefully in the end leading to much more freedom.
Ron was becoming more and more key to the expansion of WWW. As always Ron was the best of all the staff making sure that as far as possible every product, everything they did, made money or in some way contributed to the profitable growth of WWW. He was doing this while he was still working full time as an Auror and only working part time at WWW.
The middle of March Percy and Audrey announced that she was pregnant again. Ginny was still trying to spend parts of some Mondays with her mother, and she learned that Molly had to tell Audrey that the potion that kept you from getting pregnant while you were nursing did not work once you stopped nursing, and she really ought to read the book and find out more about her body.
The end of March Harry and Ron were talking to Roger & Penelope Davies.
"We are beginning to learn who is buying shady supplies and dabbling in dark magic," Penelope said. "We are also beginning to see who may be supplying the Lestrange brothers with food and supplies. We think we have eight people who meet with people from the hiding place of the Lestrange brothers and their gang or supporters. We think somewhere between three and five of them apparate to meet with the people who buy the supplies."
Harry said, "Most wizards do not like money that can be traced, but we have traced some of the money that your suspects have spent back to the ransom money paid by the Parkinson's and your cousin's family."
"That's a real awkward situation for me," Rodger said. "So far it hasn't caused any problems, but my family is not very happy with us."
"Do you have any better idea what is going on at the brother's hideout?" asked Harry.
"Only rumors," Penelope said. "One, that both girls are pregnant, another that they are being kept either in the room with Bellatrix's body or a room right next to it. There is still another rumor that the people who are meeting to get the supplies are all couples, and the wife or husband is kept hostage so the other will have to come back. All prefaced with 'but of course I don't really know for sure' or something like that."
"How do you hear all the rumors?" Harry asked Penelope.
Penelope shook her bust, pushed up and out by a classic British bar maid's outfit. You did not need to be very well endowed to look pretty sexy when wearing an outfit that showed as much cleavage as her dress, and of course it was tight under her bust until her waist, and then flared out in a big skirt. She sighed and said, "You get the wizards drunk and let them look at your bust and they kind of forget that they are supposed to be more discrete. Then you quietly complain to the witches about guys staring at you and get them on your side and they confide in you. It's acting.
"Besides, with our cliental I get MUCH better tips dressed this way."
Harry looked at Roger, who said, "They can look all they want, as long as they don't touch. As Penelope said, we are acting, doing what we need to do to get information."
Saturday April 14 Harry got up to go to the Harpies game. Kreacher came down to the kitchen table where Mable was feeding Harry and Dobedo and said, "Another dead Parkinson Baby. Kreacher think you need to go there."
Harry got an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach. Failure, a death that they should have prevented, could have if he could just find out where the Lestrange brothers and their entourage were hiding!
He notified Bill what was going on so he could tell people why he was not at the Harpies game, got some Auror backup, and went to the Parkinson house. As he walked in the door Peter Parkinson swung at Harry, giving him a bloody nose. Peter was immediately detained by one of the Aurors while another one healed Harry's nose. The bleeding stopped but it was still sore.
The baby was in the dining room, on the table. This time it was a girl, and it was obvious that her head had been bashed in hard enough to kill her.
Peter came into the room, went over to Harry, and said, "I've talked to your Aurors, and I shouldn't have swung at you. I'm JUST SO MAD AND FRUSTRATED! "
Harry said to Peter, "I'm very frustrated too. This is a big failure for me. I am so sorry for you and your family."
Carmella Capper, Peter's grandmother, went right over to Priscilla and said, "Pansy is never going to come back to us alive, and we are never going to have a live grandbaby either. You HAVE to have another child."
"I WILL not," Priscilla said. "I thought I was marrying into a prosperous family business, not this boggarts version of a fairy tale. This is some family business, where you have to work all day to support your husband's grandparents. You have a sister. She can inherit the rights to harvest the wood."
"I'll rot in hell before I live to see her come prancing in here with her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren."
Carmella turned to Harry and said, "Death, wounded people, chaos follow you around. Do you enjoy all the death and destruction? I have seen photographs and read of all the scars your two best friends have. The family that took you in lost a son. How does it feel, to be such a dangerous friend to have?
"Your wife has suffered a badly damaged knee even after you defeated Voldemort, and she keeps getting hurt at Quidditch. I've even heard rumors that you have confronted the Dementors and have been told of all the death and damage you will see in those around you. The Azkaban staff has met with the Wizengamot, after all. Maybe you like living that way but I don't."
Carmella turned back towards Priscilla, and said, "If you are not going to produce another heir, so I can pass on the harvest rights, then I'm going to just kill myself before seeing this family even more humiliated." Carmella took out what looked to be a small sword, put the point right under her ribs.
Her husband Mike grabbed the sword and said, "STOP THIS!
"Pansy is not dead! There is no need to act like everything is decided."
Peter's mother Colorado said, "Please, Mum. Don't kill yourself. We all love you and don't want you to go." Colorado pleaded and cried, to Carmella's obvious satisfaction.
Peter's father Burley looked at Peter and rolled his eyes.
Harry tried to figure out what was going on. It was almost like Carmella couldn't stand it that she was not the center of attention. Is that what a boggarts version of a fairy tale was, this obviously dysfunctional family?
Harry tried to get statements from all the members of the family, but everyone had their own tale of woe to tell, and everyone took their time telling it. Carmella was way over the top in her drama acting.
Mike seemed reasonably long suffering, but he obviously had no idea how to control his wife the drama queen.
Colorado, the daughter, was every bit the drama queen her mother was. She was the pleading daughter to her mother, begging her mother not to give up and not to commit suicide. She was the equally dramatic devastated Great Grandmother of now two dead babies. It took Harry a very long time to get absolutely no useful information out of Colorado.
Mike and Peter both told Harry that they liked the actual wood harvesting and wood working business, but that the family drama could get to be a bit much. Peter actually did most of the communicating with the kidnappers. Doing the communicating and paying the money made him mad and frustrated, and trying to communicate all this to his family was obviously not easy.
Harry felt he had to stay at the Parkinson house until the evidence team from Magical Law Enforcement was done and until he had finished talking to all six people. The whole process took most of the day.
After all the evidence team had left and Harry and Peter were alone Peter said, "Be honest with me, Harry. Are you making any progress?"
"A little," Harry said. "I have some people who are finding out a little, but I cannot go into detail. There is a rumor that Tracy Davis is also pregnant. Anything we have is second or third hand. I have not given up on finding both girls and rescuing them, but I don't want to give anyone false hope. I'm discouraged and frustrated too."
Peter said, "My parents and I like the business, and with your brother-in-law and his team's help it is running better than ever. It's just that Priscilla has always hated working at it. If we were Muggles she would just leave. There is some way of dissolving a marriage for Muggles, but we can't do that, so we are stuck with each other. We are living in the same house but sleeping in different rooms and not liking each other.
"My parents waited too long to try and have a second child. I feel like I am failing them too, living in an unhappy and unproductive marriage."
Peter wanted to talk, and Harry ended up listening to him and consoling him for a long time.
Ginny was hit by a bludger towards the end of the game, on her left foot. She was rotated out of the game shortly afterwards; The foot wasn't broken badly, and they healed the bones right away, but she had to stay off the foot for a couple of days. When Harry didn't show up she went home with her parents and Teddy. She really didn't want to go back to Grimmauld Place and just wait, not knowing when Harry would get back. It was a good thing too. Ginny had dinner with her parents and Teddy.
Harry finally appeared at the New Burrow a little after 8 p.m.
"Where have you been?" Ginny asked. "Can't you take at least one day off work? It's not like you don't work long hours the rest of the week."
"I was at the Parkinson's, Ginny," Harry said.
"Your WIFE was playing Quidditch, Harry," Ginny replied.
"Another dead baby," Harry said.
"Are you going to abandon me for every catastrophe? I just hurt my foot. Maybe I didn't get hurt enough for you."
"What happened, Ginny?"
"I got hit by a bludger. Broke a few bones and I have to stay off it a couple of days, but it will be all better by Tuesday. I just have to see the team healer twice a day, including first thing and middle of the day tomorrow. How come this took so long?"
Harry said, "Have you ever heard of a boggarts version of a fairy tale? It was a very dysfunctional family. Carmella Capper is a drama queen. It almost seemed like she was jealous that the dead baby was the center of attention. She threatened suicide and her husband and daughter rescued her. It's a frustrating situation."
"That's all?" Ginny said. "You want YOUR marriage to be a boggarts version of a fairy tale?"
"I'm really sorry, Ginny. It was hard to leave because of all the drama."
"Just a drama queen grandmother? It should not have taken ALL DAY! Maybe I should be more of a drama queen."
"Ginny, I'm really sorry. I hate to miss even a part of a game."
"You haven's told me everything, Harry."
"Well, no," Harry said. "I'll talk to you a little more about it privately."
"Have you eaten anything?" Molly asked.
"No," Harry said. "I'd better have a little something to eat. I could use a good stiff drink about now as well."
When Harry and Ginny got back to Grimmauld Place Harry said, "Ginny, I'm really sorry I missed your game. I hate to miss even part of a match.
"Peter Parkinson and his wife Pansy don't get along at all. They sleep in different rooms, and I was told that if they were Muggles she would just leave. Since they have to stay married she stays at the house and works at the business but hates it. I just didn't think I should spread that around.
"Pansy's grandmother Colorado is just as much of a drama queen as her mother. It is a real crazy family.
"I promised you that there wouldn't be any secrets between us. It's just that some things are best kept quiet."
"What does that have to do with you being so late, Harry?" Ginny asked.
"Well, the day started with Peter punching me, as he was so frustrated and mad, and ended up with us talking, him doing more of the talking and me listening, after everything else was done. I'm going to get a lot more cooperation out of him by having him as a friend."
Ginny said. "I really miss and resent it when you are not at one of my games."
Harry said, "I'll do everything I can to be at all your games, Ginny. I'm really sorry."
Harry was at the rest of Ginny's games that season, although he was in communication with the Auror Department during part of about a quarter of the games.