Chapter 26 – Finishing the Year
The next six months passed quickly for the Golden Trio, their friends and family. Ron recovered from his injuries and was back on full duty within a month of his return. His and Harry's positions as Senior Aurors meant that they were placed on the more important cases. Still, they often found themselves mired in paperwork. Harry was more patient than Ron, seeing the complexities that linked small clues in piles of business documents and bank records.
Reviewing these subtle details led to the uneventful capture of Evan Rosier Jr. at a small hideout in County Kerry, Ireland. He had setup a small base of operations there while he worked on restoring his investment income enough to disappear more completely. Although he had gone to lengths to hide his transactions under a number of company names, it was Harry who traced his complicated business web and two small sales of supplies that were delivered to the cottage that finally led to his successful capture in August. The capture was the result of nearly three months of work. Despite the tediousness, Harry was pleased to have taken down a noted Death Eater without violence. After years of fighting, he found that result much more pleasing than the alternative. When Harry briefed the department on how he pieced the tenuous threads together, Ron was one of many who shook their heads, unable to fully comprehend how Harry had associated the different clues.
Along with their usual investigations, Harry, Ron, and two other Aurors began taking regular French classes with a tutor who came to the department twice a week. After their work on the counterfeiting investigation, Robards realized how essential language skills were. For too long the British Aurors had separated themselves from the Auror departments in other countries and that was coming to an end. As well as encouraging the change and working dutifully on his language classes, Harry encouraged the Auror department, as well as the rest of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement, to strengthen ties with the goblins. Many were still dubious, but the success of working with the goblins on the counterfeiting investigation gave credence to the idea. Harry had always dealt fairly and respectfully with the goblins and they remembered that when Auror Potter sought assistance with banking records. Harry emphasized this point when he briefed the department after Rosier Jr. was captured. Gradually others began to accept the idea.
August also saw a significant job advancement for Alicia. She was still technically living at Grimmauld, but was usually there only a week each month. Most of her time was spent with the ambassador in Paris. That was one of the reasons she never bothered to move out the house, not that Harry minded. Early in the month, the ambassador suffered a series of cardiac events that even magic was not able to resolve completely. The result was that the ambassador was ordered back home for extended medical care. In the interim, he named Alicia the acting British Ministry ambassador to the French Bureau. Others in the department bristled a bit, mainly due to Alicia's youth, but she had worked the closest with the ambassador and knew the job well. She ended up spending four months in the temporary position, gaining valuable experience and contacts that she would put to future use. Her final duty as the acting ambassador was to attend the annual Samhain Fete at the Bureau. She made front page headlines in both countries when she attended the event on the arm of Blaise Zabini, who had coincidentally been spending quite a bit of time managing his family's business ventures in France. The pairing of a noted member of the DA and a member of a family with reputed Death Eater ties kept tongues wagging for days.
Back in England, Ginny had finished her Quidditch season in June and was using her time off to help George and Ron at Wheezes. The shop in Diagon was doing so well that George had bought the old Zonko's shop in Hogsmeade and was preparing to open his second store. Zonko's had never reopened after the war and George knew that the students of Hogwarts were suffering for the lack of a joke shop in the village. His goal was to have the old shop fixed up, stocked, and ready to open by the time of the first Hogsmeade weekend on September 16th. The store had been damaged significantly and was going to take a good deal of work, which Ginny took on. She was happy to be busy, as well as helping her brothers. The hours were flexible around Harry's schedule and she relished the chance to spend more time with him.
Hermione's position and schooling were also progressing well as she thrived and learned each day. With her, Ginny, Harry, and Ron settling into their careers, they decided it was time to think about weddings. Molly dropped hints frequently and even Jean did as well on occasion. While both couples already felt committed, they knew that it was time to formalize their unions. Both the brides wanted spring weddings, so Ginny decided on April and Hermione chose May. It gave them 9-10 months to plan each wedding, giving them plenty of time. Molly was happy to finally have dates chosen, even if they were well in the future, and finally stopped dropping hints. She and Jean traded letters regularly and were in a full flurry of planning when the Grangers left the Sydney winter in July and visited for a month. Hermione and Ginny found themselves confronted with many more decisions and choices than they would have ever thought possible.
One evening, they got together and decided it was time to call for help. The following day they arranged a lunch with both families and also invited Tony. Both the mothers were a bit upset that a professional planner was being brought in, but by the end of lunch they had begun to warm up to the idea. When the Grangers left, the wedding was still in the early planning, but Tony had everything well underway and had grown friendly with both mothers. He had a knack for knowing how to sooth ruffled feathers that Ginny and Hermione were both quite thankful for. When the Grangers left to return home, they secured a promise from Molly and Arthur to visit them in Sydney for the new year.
Soon the weekend of the grand opening of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes: Hogsmeade, was upon them. The entire family was in attendance, with George having left employees in charge of the Diagon Alley store. Ginny had truly shown her brilliance over the previous couple of weeks and the store was perfectly stocked and arranged. Even George admitted that it was much better setup than the first store had been for its grand opening. A full page ad the previous weekend in the Prophet assured that everyone would be well aware of the new shop. Hermione had suggested a promotion and George had taken her idea and offered a store-wide 5% discount to all Hogwarts students for one day only. Upon seeing the ad, Headmistress McGonagall had sent a personal letter of admonishment to George for corrupting the students and causing her more headaches. George was so happy with the letter he had it framed for the shop.
Most of the DA also arrived for the grand opening, with only Alicia and Luna sending apologies that they were out of country. The shop opened promptly at nine in the morning with a ribbon severing ceremony and enough cake and punch to last through most of the day. Between family and friends taking shifts the store was well staffed to handle the rush of business, both from Hogwarts and from the outside community. By the end of the day, everyone was astonished when the receipts were tallied up. The store took everyone a full two hours to clean up and restock. When it was finished, George ushered the entire large group to the Three Broomsticks, where he treated everyone to dinner. Molly made a point of sitting next to her son and leaned over to tell him how proud she was. George beamed briefly and then quieted as he thought of Fred and wished he could have finally heard their mother's approval.
While Wheezes' business was going well, Parvati and Padma were seeing success as well. Beautifully Bewitching had become THE place for all fashionable young witches to shop. Even a number of the older pureblood stock were seen surreptitiously visiting. The only problem they had was planning and timing their stock deliveries as they learned about the timetables around manufacture and shipping, and coordinating them with the different seasons. They hired three new employees, allowing for both of them to spend several hours a day working on new designs for each season. They also kept a line of Bewitching Basics that could form the foundation pieces for a sophisticated witch's wardrobe. All the witches in the DA owned multiple pieces from their collections, with Hermione surprisingly being one of their best customers. She found most of her work wardrobe at the shop and enjoyed pairing either a basic skirt or trousers with a seasonal blouse, or a basic blouse with a seasonal print skirt. Her fame and rising position at the Ministry made her someone that was always watched, which meant that whenever she wore something new and unusual, the shop could expect a fresh influx of business from Ministry witches. Padma even suggested that Hermione should receive free items, given the amount of business she brought them, although Hermione steadfastly refused.
Hermione was doing well herself and gradually earning respect within the overall DMLE. Her studies in magical law brought plenty of fresh insights as she constantly marveled at the number of old laws that remained standing and the petty political intrigues that took up too much of the Ministry's time. In her position supervising inter-departmental cooperation, she gradually took note of those individuals who were as frustrated as she was with the slow rate of progress within the Ministry. Her studies on magical law fascinated her as well. There were many correlations between magical and mundane laws, but the areas where they diverged intrigued her the most. Her schedule was quite busy, but she was quickly gaining a reputation within the Ministry for her abilities. Those who had seen her as a famous figurehead began to quiet as they realized the substantial skills she brought with her. There were still a small percentage who refused to see past her non magical heritage and those she took note of as well.
Soon the year was drawing to a close and all the members of the DA agreed that they needed to get together for the holiday. The last time they had all mostly seen each other was September at the Wheezes opening in Hogsmeade, which hadn't included Alicia and Luna. After many letters back and forth between multiple countries, a Christmas Eve Eve party on the 23rd was arranged at Grimmauld. Every one of the DA and their significant others would be in attendance. Luna and Rolf arrived from Madagascar two days before and happily reclaimed their guest bedroom at Grimmauld. Alicia left Paris on the 22nd and arrived back at the old house with Blaise in tow. Everyone realized that their relationship was serious and Blaise's attitude had adjusted dramatically since school, so he was welcomed warmly by most. Seamus was one of only a couple who came alone, being between girlfriends. Michael and Anthony floo'd in from Wales as well, bringing members in from every part of Britain. Much to the surprise of their friends, Parvati and Padma brought the Malone cousins. The surprise was doubled when it was announced that Robert and Alex had opened a small investment office in London, from where they handled their family's business holdings in Europe. They had relocated two months previously and it was easy for everyone to see that they had ulterior motives to the relocation. Cho was the next to surprise them with her date. He was a muggle and almost twenty years her senior by the name of Wes Larson. He was finely dressed and quite dashing with dark brown hair that was lightly salted and he had brilliant blue eyes. He was a business advisor and former friend of her father's who had been told of magic years before. Within minutes of their arrival, it became obvious how attached the two were as he doted on her throughout the day.
Everyone drifted into the Double Eve party as it was being called, eventually filling up the manor by midafternoon. Since the arrivals drifted in gradually, no official lunch was served. Instead, light snacks floated around (literally) and made themselves available to whomever wanted them. Groups assembled in the main rooms on the first floor, some just talking while others played a number of games. As the day wore on, the groups adjusted as different friends moved around to catch up with each other and their significant others followed and got better acquainted with the special group of friends. Quite a bit of business was discussed along with more mundane topics and more than one business deal was arranged during the day. Cho's date, Wes, was amazed at the amount of money and business dealings that this quite young group seemed to control. With snacks being served well into the afternoon, dinner was set to be later than usual at 8pm. Harry had asked Minerva for Winky's help for the evening and she and Kreacher fixed an elaborate full English holiday spread. Many of the group had fun explaining some of the dishes to the Yanks that had accompanied the twins. As the meal was winding down and the elves were preparing to serve dessert, Ernie began tapping his glass to call the noisy room to attention. It took a full minute, but everyone gradually quieted and allowed Ernie to talk.
"Thank you all for quieting for just a moment. We'll resume shortly, but I have an announcement. Susan and I are expecting!"
The room erupted and temporarily descended into madness at the announcement of the first 'DA baby' (as Ginny quickly dubbed the new MacMillan). The elves arrived with the dessert and were temporarily disconcerted by the chaos, standing back and waiting for the room to settle. Eventually it quieted enough for Ernie to continue.
"Thanks everyone. Only our parents knew before you. We consider all of you our family and wanted you to know next. Susan is due in late in June. We know we're the first of many and we plan on everyone adding to the DA family soon so that our little one will have DA classmates at Hogwarts."
Ernie's last statement was accompanied by quick glances at Luna, Hermione, and Ginny as the rest of the room applauded his statement. While Luna remained moderately disconnected as usual, Hermione just blushed. Ginny was the one to respond to Ernie.
"Whoa there Ernie! As Harry and I have discussed, I want to play for a few years yet. We'll just keep practicing for now. Anyway, there are plenty of other candidates. Maybe you should check with Seamus. Shay, how many girls have you been with in the last year?"
Seamus seemed a bit surprised and then pondered as his brow furrowed, thinking. Everyone was laughing at him when he finally responded.
"Only eight Ginny. And that is one charm I've learned well, so stop looking at me. I don't really see the need to settle on one for a while."
A few of the ladies rolled their eyes at Seamus while others laughed. With everyone settled, the elves stepped forward and desserts began appearing on the table. By the time everyone had their fill, the moans and groans around the table formed a chorus as everyone dragged themselves to the living room. Despite their stuffed state, the drinks continued to flow as everyone packed into the room and enjoyed good natured banter for another hour or so. Shortly before midnight, the MacMillans announced it was time to floo home and others followed shortly thereafter. Those in residence at Grimmauld stayed talking for a while longer before separating to their bedrooms. As each member of the DA fell asleep that evening, they were grateful for their persisting friendships that continued despite new goals and everyone scattering in different directions.
Christmas for Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny was spent at the Burrow as usual. All of the Weasleys were in attendance and Molly was at her happiest with her house full. The next day, Molly, Arthur, Ron, and Hermione all took a set of portkeys to Sydney to spend a week with her parents and Bart.
The little boy was doing well and catching up to his milestones, thanks to a number of occupational therapies that the Grangers had researched and enrolled him in. They knew he would never meet the same markers as an average child, but they were both determined to give him every chance possible. He was now past two and running everywhere and getting into everything. Even when he was causing chaos in the house, it was impossible to be mad with him. He was a cherubic child with a round face, pudgy cheeks, and perfect flowing light brown curls. When everyone arrived to visit after Christmas, he was ecstatic to be the center of attention.
Molly and Arthur had never been to Australia and the Grangers had a fantastic time showing them their favorite sights. For a couple of the days, Hermione and Ron took Bart and let their parents go off together. The four of them bonded quickly, making their children quite happy. The mothers still tried to work on wedding details in the evening, but Hermione steadfastly refused. She wanted to make the most of her holiday and told them both to get hold of Tony. All too soon, the week was up and Ron and Hermione had to return for work. Arthur had managed to arrange an extra week off and he and Molly promptly decided to extend their vacation and see a bit more of Australia.
The first year of the new millennium drew to a close quickly, seeing all of the DA getting well established and starting to show patterns of success that would continue for years to come. There were still many milestones to be reached, but each knew that they could count on their friends to be with them through it all.
oOOOOo
A/N: Yes, this chapter is a good bit shorter than others for this story. The last one was longer than average. That's just the way it worked. This seemed to be a good place to stop for now. I'm trying to fend off other plot bunnies and get my updates out on a more regular basis. Thanks for reading and reviewing.