Version: 1.0 (2006); 1.1 (2012)
Chapter 25: A New Life
After a nice breakfast where Molly fussed over her married children, Harry told his new mum they had some errands to run and they'd be back before three, and not to worry about them for lunch. He took Ginny out onto the back porch and had her take her robe off, which he knew would reveal the Muggle style clothes she seemed to like, and he honestly liked seeing her in. Taking off his own robe, he shrunk them both down to small cloths and they stuck them in their pockets. She questioned him with her expression.
"Ginny, my other errand is a family one. This is going to be a bit hard, but I feel I must make one last try with my Aunt Petunia." She gave a small start as she wasn't expecting that. "Since you know everything that happened to me, in addition to controlling your temper because I know you'd like to hex them too, I need to ask you to help me control myself so I don't do something like turn Dudley into the pig he is. Can you help me do that?" Looking into his lovely green eyes, she slowly nodded.
Holding his arm out, she tightly gripped it and they Apparated to the front porch of number four Privet Drive. It was much like Harry remembered it. He knocked on the front door and waited.
When the door opened, there stood his aunt who looked at him in shock for a few seconds before she seemed to wilt. Harry quickly reached out and grabbed her around the waist with one arm, and pulled his other hand from Ginny's in time to fully catch her before she hit the floor. Walking into the living room, he gently sat her on the couch.
As he was trying to decide what to do now, he heard his uncle come in from the kitchen.
"Who was at the door, Petunia?"
Harry's uncle began yelling when he saw his wife unconscious, with Harry and a strange girl standing in front of the couch. "What have you done to her, you freak?! I thought you were dead!"
Harry took a half step sideways to shield Ginny, but Vernon stopped advancing when his yells awoke his wife. She looked up at her nephew. "Lily? James?" she looked very shaken.
Everyone stopped when she spoke. It took Harry a few seconds to clue in on what she was talking about, but he finally understood. Turning to Ginny he whispered, "I'll explain when we get home." Dudley came down the stairs and entered the room as well, going wide-eyed at seeing his cousin and the pretty girl next to him. Harry barely gave him a glance.
"I, uh, wanted to come by and say hello," Harry told them, "and see if we could be at least somewhat like relatives now that I no longer have to stay here."
"I thought you were dead when you didn't show up at the train station." Vernon looked like he'd been really put out at having to go to King's Cross Station and then not finding Harry waiting for him.
"Yeah, well, sorry about me not being there," Harry explained. "But there was a battle on the train when we were coming home and Ginny, my wife, was injured, so I had to take her to the hospital and we never made it to the train station."
"You're married? I bet she's another freak just like you, isn't she?" Vernon roared.
"Silencio!" Harry cast wandlessly. His uncle continued to move his mouth but nothing came out. "I've taken your insults over the years, but I will not have you insulting my wife." Dudley started to come at him as if he could protect his family, but Harry merely held out his hand and Banished him to a chair and thought Incarcerous at him. Ropes shot out of his fingers and bound his cousin to the chair. Harry also gently Banished his uncle to the couch beside his aunt.
As Harry pulled Ginny down to a settee, his aunt finally spoke again. "Y-You didn't have your little stick."
"No, Aunt Petunia. For those few wizards and witches who are powerful enough, we don't really need them. So Uncle Vernon, I hope you will keep that in mind while we're here." Harry was having to work hard to rein his temper in. Ginny's hand was rubbing his back which helped in calming him down.
"Now, I had hoped that since I was no longer forced to live here, we could at least be distantly polite and be something like normal relatives. Is that possible at all?" Harry asked again.
"Why didn't you come back at the end of June, Harry?" his aunt asked. His uncle didn't look like he liked that question but he couldn't say anything either.
"During the battle on the train that I mentioned, Ginny and I defeated the evil wizard that killed my parents and forced me to live here. Since I knew your family didn't want me here, and I only needed to live somewhere for about six weeks, I didn't bother to come back. I lived with Ginny's brother until we got married three weeks ago. My hope had been that with a break, we might be able to at least be civil to one another."
"So you just got married then?" Aunt Petunia still seemed to be trying to work it all out.
"Yes, we did," Ginny spoke up for the first time. "I know your family doesn't like Harry, but you really should try to know him as he is. He's a wonderful person and he's done many wonderful things in our world."
"I don't know what to say to that." Petunia looked at her husband, who appeared to be shouting his disagreements along with shaking his very red face. Dudley had been quite silent for some reason; his mum suspected he was finally aware of the full powers of his cousin and was simply scared. She'd seen what Lily could do years ago. "Perhaps it would be for the best if you went your own way and simply left us alone, Harry."
"Are you sure, Aunt Petunia? You know, I could keep in contact with just you and not these other two," Harry suggested.
She looked thoughtful at that. Vernon still seemed outraged and started to get up but she put her hand on him before Harry needed to do anything. To Harry's surprise, his uncle stopped and sat back down. "Thank you, Harry, but I think it would be in everyone's best interest just to let you and your new wife enjoy life on your own."
"As you wish, Aunt Petunia." Harry rose and gave Ginny a hand up.
"And Harry? Congratulations on getting married. You look happy together." Harry had hoped his aunt would also tell him she was sorry for what had happened in his childhood, but she didn't say anything else.
"Very well then. Good bye, Aunt Petunia." Harry purposefully ignored his uncle and his cousin.
"Hey, what about me? I want out of here." His cousin finally spoke up.
Harry just smiled. "It will wear off by dinnertime or so. I hope you didn't drink too much recently and have to go to the bathroom." Dudley's eyes seemed to go wild at the suggestion. "Have a peaceful morning and afternoon, Aunt Petunia. Shall we go shopping, dear?" Ginny grabbed his arm and they Apparated to Diagon Alley, leaving a whimpering Dudley and furious and still silent Vernon behind.
At the Leaky Cauldron, they pulled their robes out and Harry enlarged them. They felt they'd be less conspicuous dressed like everyone else. Harry also put a glamour on each of them such that they had medium blonde hair and eyebrows. He thought it looked amusing with her freckles.
Their first stop was Gringotts; Harry needed to replenish his gold sack, as well as get one for Ginny. When he presented his key to a goblin at the windows, the goblin held it for a second before recognition came to his face. "Ah, you're in disguise, Mr. Potter. If you would follow me, Griphook has a new key for you sir." That was a surprise to him, so they followed the goblin to a door marked "Griphook, Sr. Manager".
Griphook greeted him inside. "Mr. and Mrs. Potter, how nice to see you." Harry didn't think the goblins were ever friendly with anyone, so the greeting was a bit of a surprise. "Your disguise is a good thing. You would probably have difficulty traveling here in Diagon Alley without it. Have a seat." The first goblin handed Harry's vault key to his manager and then left. "I'm glad you came, we need to give you a new vault key."
"Why is that?"
"Since you are now of age, you're family's full vault is now available to you, not just your small vault which only held a portion of it for you to use while you were still underage."
"I have a family vault too?" Harry kept getting surprised during this visit. Ginny sat in silence trying to comprehend it all. She knew the Potters had been a well-to-do family, but this sounded like something more.
"Yes," the goblin manager told him. "Plus when the Black family fortune that you inherited was added in, we had to move it all to a new and bigger vault. You should go visit it while you are here, there are some items in it besides the roughly five million Galleons." He handed over a new key, which Harry slowly took with a slightly shaking hand.
"I had no idea." Harry turned to Ginny, who was in awe.
"Mr. Potter, in addition to putting your new wife's name on the account, I would suggest you draw up a will. A simple one now would be good while you think about how you really want it. Here is a list of your assets which we manage for you." Harry took the small book and finally got an understanding of why the goblin had greeted him so warmly. He now suspected he was one of the richest teenagers in the Wizarding world.
"Uh, what do you think, Ginny? Give the island to Ron and split the rest among your family?" Harry didn't know what to do and Ginny just looked blankly at him, never even imagining being in a situation like this.
"Most of the assets can be sold to do that, Mr. Potter, but there is also your family house in Godric's Hollow which might require special handling," the goblin informed him.
"Oh right, I knew that was there, but I'd forgotten as I've never been there. How about giving that to Ron too, along with the island? Then all the assets and gold to be split among the survivors of Ron, Fred, George, Charlie, Bill, Arthur, and Molly Weasley. Oh, and Hermione Granger, Remus Lupin, and Nymphadora Tonks. That's assuming we don't have any children, in which case everything would go to them, with a trust fund if needed." Harry was having to make this up as he went along. Ginny shrugged at him.
"Fine, Mr. Potter," Griphook said as he made notes. "That will do for a first will, though I do need an executor."
Harry looked back at Ginny who suggested, "You got along well with Bill this summer, right?" Harry agreed with that.
"Very good, Mr. Potter. I think Bill is a fine choice. I've enjoyed working with him while he's been here. I'll have Fanhorn take you to your vault." Griphook touched a stone on his desk. "If you will see me when you return, you can sign the will. When you want to make changes, feel free to come see or owl me." Fanhorn arrived and asked the couple to follow him.
Ginny had never been down to the vaults. She enjoyed the car ride as much as Harry did. Nearly ten minutes later, the car stopped deep underground where the vault doors were much further apart then they were up near the surface.
Harry handed his key over and Fanhorn stuck it in the door and then worked his goblin magic, which caused the many locks on the door to disengage and for it to slowly swing open. Both of the teenagers were agog at the sight of the gold in front of them. Holding his wife's hand, Harry very slowly walked in with her. Near the front were nearly a dozen chests.
Thinking that is what Griphook meant when he mentioned something more than gold, he walked over to the chests and started opening them. Several of them held nothing but jewels, mostly loose gems. A couple held books of various kinds; those he shrunk down. One appeared to hold only journals and letters; that got shrunk too. The rest held what looked like mementos, including one that was only baby things; he also shrunk those. Finishing his search, he picked up all the little trunks and put them in a large spare pocket inside his robe. He wanted to go through these later.
As Harry turned to leave, Fanhorn spoke up, having watched everything else in silence. "Mr. Potter, did you want to fill your gold sack while you were here?"
"Oh yes, thank you, Fanhorn. I had totally forgotten after having seen the rest of this. Oh, do you have an extra gold sack?"
"Certainly, sir." He pulled one out and handed it to Harry, who handed it to Ginny.
"Fill it up Ginny, there's plenty," he told her. She stood there still not sure about it all; all of this was so new to her having been raised in a financially strapped family. Harry finished filling his sack then turned to find her still looking at the mountain of gold. He gently took the sack from her and filled it before handing it back. "You know, we could never spend all of this with normal living, so don't worry about this little sack. You'll never have to worry about second-hand robes again." She just stared at him and nodded before following him out.
He felt for her feelings as they rode back up to the surface. Awe and a sense of loss kept coming from her. "Ginny, don't worry about it," he quietly told her. "What matters to me is you, and that you picked me before you knew about any of this." He hugged her tightly and felt her apprehension change into love for him.
Back upstairs, they saw Griphook one more time to sign their provisional will before they left.
They quickly got their school supplies and the few books they needed for school. Harry also picked up some extra books on Charms; he was starting to really like that class. He mused that maybe he'd picked some of that up from his mum. He also found a few more books on spell creation and bought those too.
On their way back to the Leaky Cauldron for a late lunch, they decided to stop by her brothers' shop. The twins' business was booming, with many of the kids grabbing joke products to take to school with them. Hoping to avoid a scene, the couple regrettably passed on by and went on to lunch.
After a leisurely lunch, they realized it was almost three o'clock, so Harry bought four cases of Butterbeer from Tom the restaurant owner. He shrunk those down and also put them in his robes, which were starting to become heavy with all the little things he had in them. Ginny questioned the purchase, but he told her they might be nice to have later. She shrugged and grabbed onto his arm so they could Apparate home.
Up in their room, Harry emptied his robe out and put most of the extra things into his trunk. Spying the photo album Hagrid had given him, he pulled it out. "Here Ginny, you need to see this." He steered her over so they were in front of the mirror on the wall, then he opened the album to the page that showed his parents at their wedding.
She gasped. "That's so uncanny! Her hair is slightly darker than mine and she's almost as tall as your dad was, while I'm several inches shorter than you. Our faces are completely different, but the other similarities are amazing."
Harry smiled, "Yeah, I think so too, and I think it's actually pretty cool. I can see why Aunt Petunia first thought my parents had come back." He put the book down and wrapped her in his arms. "Everyone tells me they were really happy too, but I don't think they were nearly as happy as I am with you." He kissed her slowly and deeply while feeling her love for him.
"Umm, careful, Potter, you may start something you can't finish now," she told him.
"Hmm, since that name applies to you as well, are you talking to yourself now?" he joked with her.
She laughed, "Maybe ..." but she got interrupted.
"Ginny! Harry! You've got a visitor!" they heard shouted from downstairs.
Harry gave her a quick kiss before steering her towards the stairs, walking down with their arms around each other.
As expected, they found the former Headmaster waiting for them. "Good afternoon, Harry, Ginny," the old man greeted them.
"Hello, Professor," they told him in unison, which made them smile at one another when they accidentally did that.
"I have something to show the two of you, if you would grab onto this Portkey." He held out an old, long-handled wooden spoon. Looking over to the woman of the house he said, "Molly, they should be back by dinnertime."
"Will you be joining us, Albus?" Molly asked.
"No, I'm afraid I already have other plans. Thank you for inviting me though." He turned back to his two students. "Ready?" They grabbed the long handled spoon and the old man touched it with his wand.
Coming out of the dizzying journey, Harry was pleased that he landed normally; Ginny stumbled slightly, but Harry held her hand and prevented her from falling. Dumbledore landed gracefully as always. They were at the end of a street that was lined with large, ancient trees. There were a couple of good-sized houses down the street; the area in front of them looked like an empty field.
Dumbledore reached into his robes and pulled out a small piece of parchment and handed it to Harry. "If the two of you would read and memorize what's on here, we can get started." They both read "The location of Potter Manor is at number one Oak Street, Godric's Hollow." When they both nodded and Harry handed the parchment back, Dumbledore burned it with his wand. "Now think carefully about what you read."
Suddenly the field turned into a large house with many large oak trees and vines covering much of the walls. It looked rundown, though it was probably very elegant at one time. Harry finally realized what he was looking at. "This was my parents' house ..."
It wasn't said like a question, but Dumbledore knew it would be the first of many this afternoon. "Yes, Harry. This is your family house, although not where they went into hiding sixteen years ago. That was on the other side of town and was totally destroyed. I put this house under the Fidelius myself. It is time for you to see and have this. It is the last of the Potter items I have held for you over the years. Come, let's take a tour." He started walking onto the grounds.
Ginny could feel a restlessness coming from him. It wasn't quite fear, but he wasn't totally sure he wanted to be here either she could tell. Having shared all his memories, she knew what he was afraid to find. "Harry," she squeezed his hand to get him to look at her. "I'll be right here with you. There's nothing bad in there; it's just an empty old house." She felt his feelings relax a bit.
"Thanks, Gin," he whispered while he squeezed her hand, then they slowly started walking after Dumbledore.
He must be under more stress than I realized, she thought. He normally only called her "Gin" when under extreme stress or during intimate moments. She decided she better keep close tabs on his emotions while they were here.
When they approached the house itself, they found its outer walls were actually made out of rock. Ginny thought it would probably be a nice looking house once all the vines and other overgrowth were removed. There were no broken windows or holes in the walls, so it appeared to be intact.
Approaching the front of the house, Harry saw a very ornate door which had two lions facing each other carved on it, with a big brass knocker between them. It would have been quite majestic, except for the peeling paint. With a touch of his wand, Dumbledore unlocked the door and led the couple in.
Inside, it appeared to be a very nice house, though everything was covered in a very thick layer of dust. Harry had expected to find a few curse marks on the walls, until he remember the fight had not been here. That realization calmed him down even more.
After passing through a short hallway, they came to a room that seemed almost familiar to Harry. It appeared to have been light blue at one time, but the paint had long since faded. "This was your room, Harry", the Professor told him. Harry had no distinct memories of this room at all.
They toured the rest of the house, finding lots of dust but no damage as they peeked into the master bedroom, another bedroom, kitchen, dining room, library, and parlor on the first floor. The six bedrooms on the second floor and their bathrooms, the second floor sitting area, as well as the large attic on the third floor appeared to be the same way - very dusty and somewhat dirty.
In the back garden, they found a small guest house as well as a garage-like building, which surprised Harry as most Wizarding families didn't own cars. He wondered what his parents had used it for, but it was empty so he couldn't tell. There was also a barely visible gazebo and what was probably a fountain, though it was hard to tell underneath all the overgrowth.
Finally breaking the silence of the last half hour of their wanderings, Harry turned to his wife. "So, what do you think? If we could get it cleaned up, would you want to live here? Or would you prefer somewhere else?"
She turned to look him in the eyes as she continued to try to understand what he was feeling. A bit blindly, she grasped for and found his other hand so she now held both of them. Finally she felt his feelings start to settle and she felt a resignation from him, almost peace, or maybe more like acceptance. "I think it would be a very nice place, Harry. I'm sure Dobby and Winky could help us get it cleaned up; I know you could hire them." Dumbledore was a ways off, looking at the grounds to give them some privacy, but she still spoke very softly. "The question is Harry, can you live here?"
Harry thought about that, as that had been the question that kept coming into his mind during the entire tour. "Yes, I think so. While I don't have any real memories of the place, there is a familiar feeling inside me."
Looking up he saw his mentor slowly walking towards them. "Professor," he called out, "we'll take it."
That caused the old man to chuckle. "That's good, Harry. I'm not sure what we would have done with it otherwise." That got a smile from the two youngsters. "If you'll follow me, I'll transfer it over." They walked back out onto the street in front of the house. Dumbledore looked very carefully down the street, but all was quiet. Pulling his wand out, he did a spell Harry hadn't seen before.
"Was that to end the Fidelius?" he asked.
"Yes Harry." Dumbledore put his wand back up. "Now if you'll put it back under Fidelius, then it will be safe again and under your control."
"Oh," Harry exclaimed. "That's why you taught me this spell at the end of last year." The old man smiled and nodded. Pulling his wand out, Harry was about to do the charm when a thought occurred to him. Moving to the other side of Ginny, he grabbed her hand. With the boundaries of the property in his mind, he cast the spell, feeling a little something extra in his mind as he finished it, which he assumed to be weight of the secret he now kept. "Is there anything else I need to do, Professor?"
Smiling, Dumbledore told him, "You just need to share the secret with your wife so she can find it too."
"But I can already see it," she announced.
A look of extreme surprise registered on the old man's face. "But that shouldn't happen unless ..." He paused thinking it through rapidly. "You two have a life bond don't you? Yes, that would explain a lot. Without this information, I'm not sure I would have guessed."
Harry looked at Ginny in something close to shock, who was looking at him the same way. Suddenly he knew what had to be done. Play along and go with me on this Gin he thought to her, and she nodded. "Professor, about the secret of our life bond ..."
"I know, Harry, I can't share that with anyone. I will keep your secret," Dumbledore told him.
"Yes, Professor, and I'm sorry it has to be this way ... Obliviate!" Harry was now glad he'd learned that from Flitwick at the end of last year as he removed the memory of the last half minute from Dumbledore. The Professor looked shocked and blank for a second, then normalcy returned to his face. When that happened, Harry again asked, "Is there anything else I need to do Professor, besides sharing the secret with Ginny?"
Ginny had a totally shocked look on her face. She couldn't believe Harry had just done that, though she did appreciate it.
Misunderstanding the look on her face, Dumbledore told her, "Yes, it's disconcerting for something like a house to disappear in front of you, isn't it Ginny?" She mutely nodded. "Here let me help you." He pulled out some parchment and a quill for Harry, who wrote the secret on it and showed it to Ginny as if she really needed it, who played along and looked at it.
After a few seconds, she exclaimed, "Oh, there it is again." Everyone smiled and Dumbledore was none the wiser.
When Harry made to show the paper to Dumbledore, he stopped Harry. "No, I don't really need to see it. At least for a while, you should only share the location with those who really need to know. While I'd never betray you, there are still some Death Eaters on the loose and you really should have a good hiding place away from everyone, even well-wishers for your victory last June." Harry nodded. "Unless there is anything else, I shall be on my way, as you can Apparate home."
"No, we'll be fine; and thank you for everything Professor. I - we," he smiled and looked at Ginny, "really appreciate you showing us this. I was wondering where it was and where we were going to live when we got out of school."
"I understand, and it was not a problem. Good night, Harry, Ginny. Until we meet again tomorrow evening?" The old wizard smiled and Disapparated away.
Ginny instantly turned to her husband. "I can't believe you Obliviated Dumbledore. That was incredible."
He smiled, "Thank you Gin. Part of me can't believe I did it either, but I didn't know what else to do."
"Yeah, I don't know what else we could have done either." She paused then said, "Now what, go home?"
"No, I think we have one more thing to do here. How about we hire some house-elves?" He grinned mischievously. She grinned back at him. "Dobby and Winky! I need your help."
About five seconds later, there were two pops and there stood the desired house-elves. "Harry Potter Sir! This is an unexpected surprise. Winky was very surprised you called her too."
"Winky," Harry asked, "did you hear me when I called?"
"No Sir, but Dobby did and suggested I come since you called me too." Harry didn't think she would have heard him, so he wasn't surprised.
"Well, I called you here because I have need of house-elves and I'd like to hire both of you. Would you like to work for us?"
Dobby's reaction was obvious. "Oh yes, Harry Potter Sir. Dobby would be most glad to work for you. It would be better than working at Hogwarts."
"Oh yes, good point. I'll need to clear this with Headmistress McGonagall before it becomes permanent, so for now it would be for whenever you have any spare time," Harry told them. "How about you, Winky, do you want to work for us?"
"Would you be my master or my employer, Mr. Potter Sir?" she asked.
"Well, I don't really believe in slavery, Winky, and I know you're a free House-elf now, so I would be your employer." He saw her look sad. "Why do you ask, Winky?"
"Oh, I was wanting to be a proper house-elf again, Mr. Potter. I don't like being a free elf." Winky seemed be wringing her hands in a way that Harry didn't think should be physically possible.
"Winky," Ginny gently said, "what if we hired you for a while and then if you liked it, we made you part of our family. Would that be all right?"
"You would do that for me, Mrs. Potter?" Winky looked overjoyed.
"If that's what you want. Dobby, I guess the same offer could be made to you, or you could stay free and be paid if you want, whichever you prefer," Ginny informed him.
"I don't care, but I do want to stay with Winky." Dobby suddenly seemed shy. Ginny found that cute.
"OK," Harry said, "how about five Galleons per month for each of you until next July when we finish school? Then we'll talk again and see how everyone is. If either or both of you want to become part of the family, we'll make that happen; otherwise we'll still hire you. How's that?" Both elves were practically jumping up and down with joy.
"Very good," Harry told them. "The first thing you need to do is to read this." He showed them the secret that he still had. Each one of them read it then Harry burned it.
"Wow!" Dobby exclaimed happily. "We will have lots of work to do." Winky seemed to be very happy too.
"Come on you two, let us show you the house." The humans led the elves in and gave them a brief tour.
When they returned to the living room, Harry turned to the elves. "Here's what I'm thinking. Don't wear yourselves out, but when you have free time, you can come here and start making the house ready to live in. I will speak to Professor McGonagall about releasing you from some of your duties at Hogwarts to help give you more time here. Do you think you can have the master bedroom and bathroom, kitchen, and living room livable by Christmas?"
The elves didn't even bother to confer. "Oh yes, Sir!" Dobby told him. "That will be easy to do."
"Fine," Harry acknowledged and smiled at Ginny; this was going well. "One last thing, I didn't notice any house-elf quarters in there, did you?"
"Yes Sir, there is some off the kitchen," Winky told him.
"Oh, OK." Harry was surprised. "Well, those are obviously yours. If you need more room, just let me know and we'll work something out."
"Harry Potter Sir, we don't need any more. That would be much too grand for us," Dobby protested. Winky agreed.
Shrugging, Harry told them, "If you're happy, then I suppose that will do."
Dobby told him, "Thank you, Sir. We do a very good job for you."
With that done, the Potters bid the elves goodbye and Apparated back to The Burrow. Over dinner, they explained about where they'd gone and the house that they now owned. That created much excitement; Molly especially wanted to go see it. Both Harry and Ginny were proud of that, but told everyone they'd have to wait until the house was livable.
.