Chapter Thirty-Six - The Past, Present, and Future
The talk of Wizarding England in the early months of the New Year was about the daily vitamin, ReVive that was taken by nearly every adult Witch and Wizard in the Wizarding World, and by billions of Muggles. Now that the Institute was able to supply all of the Wizarding World, it's true life-extending advantage was quietly announced in the journal Magic Medicine, and the story had been picked up by the media, creating a frenzy of attention for the Institute, and for the co-creators of the vitamin.
Neville and Hermione were awarded Orders of Merlin First Class for their work, and the whole family was in attendance to watch the Minister of Magic honour them not only for ReVive, but for their many other accomplishments. Harry was so proud of his two friends! He was probably like everyone else that took ReVive every day. You didn't think about it at all, but you had lots of energy, were able to do more, and never got sick from common bugs like colds or the flu.
St. Mungo's was still a busy place, since there were always magical accidents and other maladies, but the Healers certainly liked not constantly being tied up with the little minor ailments that used to fill up so much of their day, and the patients who did come in were able to get immediate care.
Hermione and Neville had wanted to mention him in their speeches, but he'd convinced them not to, since it'd give the news hounds too much information, and would probably expose him, and PBP Investments, which he definitely didn't want to have happen. Harry and Ginny had arranged for a celebration dinner after the ceremony. There were over two hundred guests, including their family, the entire Wizengamot, Most of the Ministry of Magic Department Heads, and many of Hermione and Neville's friends.
They might be two of the youngest ever recipients of the Order of Merlin, but in Harry's opinion, they should have received them years ago. Hermione had practically single-handedly eliminated Dragon Pox, and had created so many new healing spells and treatments that she was personally responsible for saving thousands of lives, and in some way helping nearly every single Witch and Wizard in the world. Neville's poison antidote had saved more lives than anyone would likely ever know about, and now it was also almost unheard of for any Witch or Wizard to become a werewolf, since nearly everyone carried at least one dose of the antidote with them at all times. Now they had finally been recognized, though, and for one day, they were both excited and proud to have their work publically heralded and rewarded.
The Cannons kept winning, and in a reversal from last season, their only two losses came at the hands of the Harpies. They had won ten games and lost two through February, and the two teams were both looking like the top contenders for the League for the second season in a row.
Harry and the kids continued to spend at least two days at the residence each week, and with Valentine's Day being on a Saturday this year, were able to have Ginny join them to help out with the Valentine's Day party there. Harry and Ginny went to the Institute's Valentine's Day dance that night, followed by another romantic night on the island. This year, George, Marietta, and Frederica hosted the cousins, and a few other friend's kids for the night.
Ginny got a letter from Victoire and Isabelle telling her all about their Valentine adventure. Teddy and Stewart had taken them to Hogsmeade, where they had the girls go shopping for new dresses, bought them flowers, and then took them out for lunch. They had gifts of jewellery for each girl, and when they went back to Hogwarts, they attended the Valentine's Day dinner and dance that had been set up for the students. They danced until late, snuggled in the Common Room for a while after the dance, and finished off their fun days with a couple of kisses that had both girls laughing as they left a couple of melted puddles on the floor at the foot of the entrance to the girls dorm. The Gryffindor Quidditch team had another lopsided win over Hufflepuff, and looked to be well on their way to winning the Quidditch Cup again this year.
Victoire was sitting down with Isabelle and the boys for breakfast, when the Owl Post arrived, dropping off several birthday presents for her. Her Mum and Dad gave her some very nice new clothes, and Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry had sent her a brand new, not yet released game for her Virtual GameWitch. PotionsMaster allowed you to virtually experiment with potions, and Victoire thought it'd be a big help in doing her homework, especially since she'd also be able to use her VirtualQuill with this game too.
"Happy Birthday, Victoire," Teddy whispered, leaning in close to her ear so she could hear him over the normal noise level in the Great Hall during meals. He kissed her cheek, and handed her a present.
She smiled at him, and then gave her undivided attention to opening her gift. Isabelle must've helped him pick out the gift, because she was pretty sure he hadn't been with them when she'd been admiring the crystal phoenix that had been on display at Dervish & Banges. She carefully lifted the incredibly detailed figurine out of the box. The reds, golds, and blacks were perfectly coloured, and the magnificent bird appeared to be in flight.
"Thank-you, Teddy," she told him. "It's beautiful!" Teddy smiled back at her.
"You're welcome," he answered. "You'll have to thank Isabelle for pointing me in the right direction, though."
Victoire smiled at her sister. "Thanks, sis."
Isabelle smiled too. "You're welcome, sis."
Teddy and Stewart had taken the Apparition course, and Teddy was able to go and take his exam after his seventeenth birthday, and passed it with no problem. Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny had drafted Victoire to help them with their plans for Teddy's birthday. They were going to give him an extra special birthday present this year, and had worked hard to get everything ready for his big surprise. When they were at breakfast on the morning of his birthday, she gave him his gift, and watched as he opened it up. He lifted out the Muggle driver's handbook first, and then the Virtual GameWizard game. When he looked at Victoire, she smiled, and handed him his Virtual GameWizard.
"You're supposed to play the game now," she told him. He loaded the game, and put his glasses on. This was different than any other game he'd done, because he suddenly found himself in the Cottage, with perfect Virtual Characters of Harry, Ginny, and Victoire.
"Happy Birthday, Teddy!" they all told him.
"How do you like Ginny's new game?" the virtual Harry asked him. Teddy laughed, they must all be playing the game too.
"I didn't know you could make each of us look so real - or personalize the games like this," he answered, and his virtual Aunt Ginny smiled.
"This is the first one, but yes, pretty soon each person will be able to actually be themselves in the games they play," she told him. Victoire took his Virtual hand and smiled at him.
"Ready to see your birthday present?" she asked. Teddy nodded, and they led him outside, where he saw a brand new dark blue 2015 Mercedes SL-series Roadster. They were all smiling at him now.
"It'll be right here in the driveway anytime you want to come and take it for a Virtual Drive," Harry told him. Teddy walked over and got into the driver's seat of the beautiful machine.
"Is that what the driving book is for?" he asked them. "So I can learn to drive a virtual sports car?"
"No," Victoire answered excitedly. "The driving book is so that you can study for the test so that when you get home from school you can drive the real roadster that's sitting in the real driveway at the Cottage." Teddy hopped out of the car, and gave them all some Virtual hugs, and a Virtual kiss for Victoire.
"Thank-you!" he said happily. "This is so way over the top brilliant!"
Ginny laughed at him. "Well, you've got to get back to the real world now, but you can come back anytime and take it for a spin." She pointed at her virtual black Porsche. "Maybe I'll even meet you here and we can see which one is faster!" Teddy hugged them again, and then he ended the game and took his glasses off, back in the real world once more. He gave Victoire a real hug and kiss.
"Thank-you," he told her happily. "I'll read up on driving, and then maybe we can go for a Virtual drive tonight after we get our homework done." Victoire smiled and nodded.
"That'd be fun," she agreed, and looked around at the quickly emptying Great Hall. "We better get going, or we'll be late for class."
Nicolas had his ninth birthday, and Penelope had given Harry approval to get him one of the speed-modified Firebolts. Nicolas loved his present, and didn't seem to mind the long lecture that his father gave him on the rules and regulations for flying before letting him take it for a spin. Lily had her seventh birthday, and started her day out with a few presents, followed by a morning at SpaMagic with Rose, Frederica, Carolyn, and Brianna. They had lunch with Mommy at the Diner in Chudley, and an afternoon shopping trip that had included the purchase of two new dresses, three pairs of pants, two blouses, and one swimsuit. They had dinner at the Cottage, and the five girls had a sleepover that night, making for what Lily thought happily was another perfect birthday.
Ginny had received a WiComm message from her mother to come to her office after work. It was about a week after Lily's birthday, and she was a little surprised, since her Mum rarely asked her to come to her office, unless it was to meet for lunch. She got there around five o'clock, and everyone else had left for the day. Her mother gave her a hug, and then they both sat down.
"I wanted to talk to you in private about Harry's family," Molly began, looking at Ginny seriously. Ginny was surprised at that, since she and her mother had never talked about the Dursleys since back when she'd still been at school.
"Harry had asked me to keep an eye on them back before you two got married, to make sure they were alright after the war," she continued. Ginny hadn't known that, but nodded.
"I've been doing that ever since, and now I need to decide whether to talk with Harry about them, because they're having some real problems now," she told her daughter. Ginny was not feeling very sympathetic about that, but motioned for her mother to continue.
"Vernon isn't well enough to work anymore, and lost his job," Molly told her. "Dudley is now a very large, and very unemployed man who still lives at home, and off of his parents. Petunia never worked to the best of my knowledge, and she doesn't work now either. They're getting to the point where they're in deep financial trouble." Molly could tell from her daughter's expression that Ginny was thinking the same thing that she herself had - that those people had it coming to them.
"You know if we tell Harry, he'll feel obligated to help them," she said quietly, and Ginny sighed and nodded her agreement. "I really don't want to drag him back into any contact with them. He asked me to watch out for them, but has never asked to know about them, so I was thinking that maybe you and I are way overdue to take a mother-daughter weekend away," she suggested with a smile. "We could hop in your cute little black sports car, and go for a drive, take care of some business, spend some time at a spa, and be back by late Sunday afternoon. We could do what he'd want done, and Harry would never have to know about it at all." Ginny smiled for the first time since they'd sat down.
"That's a brilliant idea, Mum," she told Molly. "What did you have in mind for them, since I guess turning them into pigs would just give pigs a bad name. Harry probably wouldn't approve of exchanging having them worrying about where there next meal was coming from to worrying about being someone's next meal, either." Molly laughed at her.
"I thought maybe we'd get a Muggle account for them, give them five million pounds, which is about a million galleons, and then I plan on walking away and never looking out for them again." Ginny thought about that for a minute.
"That's a fair bit of money, but I know Harry would want to do even more, and they sure don't deserve it," she said. "Make the transfer from my account, Mum. That way he won't know about it." Molly smiled and nodded.
"How about we split it?" she suggested. Ginny got up and hugged her mother.
"Whatever you think. I'll pick you up Saturday morning, okay?" Her mother nodded.
"If you can hang on another few minutes, I'll have the parchment drawn up for the transfer and I'll take care of the rest before the end of the week and get us reservations for a suite and a spa day at the Emerald City Centre," she said, and Ginny gave her another hug.
"Thanks, Mum," she told Molly. "Thanks for doing this with me too."
Molly smiled and hugged her back. "I was pretty sure you'd want to do it this way. I'm sure we may never know everything that happened to him there, but the little bit I do know about is bad enough." Ginny agreed, and then waited while the parchment was drawn up for her to sign that would soon help to make the Dursleys millionaires.
When Ginny got home, she let Harry know that Mum had asked her to go away for the weekend with her, and Harry had thought that was a great idea. She worked the rest of the week, and then on Saturday morning, hopped in her Porsche, and headed for the Burrow to pick her mother up. After they were done their visit to Privet Drive, the two women would be spending the rest of the weekend at the Emerald City Centre, so Ginny put her Mum's small overnight bag in the car next to hers, and they headed out for Little Whinging.
It was an hour before noon when they pulled into the driveway of Number Four Privet Drive. They got out of the car, and walked to the front door. Petunia Dursley answered the door. She did not recognize the two women, but seeing the expensive car in the driveway, and that they were both well dressed, was polite in her greeting.
"Good morning," she said in her prim and proper voice. "May I help you?"
On the drive over, they'd agreed that Molly would initiate the conversation, and introduce - or reintroduce them to the Dursleys. Ginny studied the woman as her mother engaged her in conversation. Harry's Aunt Petunia was now in her mid-fifties, and the years hadn't been very kind to her.
"Mrs. Dursley, you probably don't recognize me, but my name is Molly Weasley, and this is my daughter Ginny."
Petunia lost all signs of politeness immediately, having recognized the name as being that family of 'freaks' that had been so fond of that mistake of a nephew, Harry. She had thought they were long since rid of having anything to do with their kind.
"What do you want?" she asked them coldly. "If you're looking for us to bail that idiot nephew of mine out of that Azkaban prison or something, forget it. He probably deserved whatever he got." Ginny had been keeping her face placid up until that point, but her eyes hardened, and she spoke in a firm, quiet voice that immediately got the stupid woman's attention.
"My husband isn't in any trouble, Mrs. Dursley, and we've come here to talk to you because we're aware that you're the ones having some difficulty," she told Harry's sorry excuse for an Aunt. "Why don't you invite us in for the short bit of your time we'll need, and then my mother and I plan on leaving here and never returning." Petunia saw something in Ginny's eyes, swallowed hard, and opened the door for them to come in.
"Who is it, Petunia?" they heard Vernon Dursley bellow from the sitting room.
Petunia led them into the room, where Ginny saw Vernon and Dudley sitting down, watching television. Vernon was still a big man, but Dudley was now huge. The man must have been near five hundred pounds. He looked like a large, petulant child, and the look and leering smile he directed toward Ginny when they walked in made her want to throw up. What a pig! Petunia tried to speak, but just finally went and sat down beside her husband. Molly and Ginny weren't invited to sit, and weren't offered anything to drink. Vernon looked at Molly closely. It took a moment, but eventually recognition of who she was dawned on him.
"What do you want?" he snarled at her. "I hope you're not coming here to ask us to help that good-for-nothing nephew of Petunia's." Molly was also getting tired of these people, but she reminded herself that this was why she didn't want to have Harry feel he needed to come and help them.
"No, Vernon," she told him, "I'm not. In fact, for some reason that escapes me, Harry had asked me to keep an eye on you, and make sure you were all fine after everything that happened during the war."
Vernon snorted. "Why? So he could come back and steal our money or house?" he demanded. Molly was getting angry.
"Did you happen to hear the part where I said he asked me to watch out for you?" she asked him. "What money do you think he's after, Vernon? You're basically broke. I give you about three months before you'll have to sell this place."
Vernon started turning purple. "How DARE you!" he roared at her.
"Vernon!" Petunia said in a fierce whisper, "the windows are open!" He struggled to get his voice under control, but his temper raged on.
"You have no right prying into my affairs," he spat at Molly. She looked at him with contempt.
"Look, I don't really want to be here any more than you would have wanted me to come, but Ginny and I have made this visit because Harry would want to help you, and we wouldn't even think about wasting his time with the likes of you," she told him. When Vernon looked like he was going to explode again, she pulled out her wand, and an envelope. It was the wand that made him stop in his tracks.
"Now," Molly continued, handing the envelope to the distasteful man, "Ginny and I have set up an account for you at your bank, and put enough money in there to take care of the three of you comfortably. When we leave here, I'm never going to check on you again, and none of us will ever help you again, so I suggest you act wisely with the money."
Vernon opened the envelope and looked through the paperwork. He had to read the amount several times before it clicked in that there was five million pounds in the account, but he was suspicious.
"This is probably stolen," he told Molly. "Is this some trick to put us all in prison? Does he need somebody to take the fall for his crimes, so he's setting us up? That must be it."
Ginny gritted her teeth. "My husband isn't in prison, Mr. Dursley (she would never call this man her uncle)," she told him. "He happens to be the richest man in the world, and I'm not just talking about the Wizarding World, but both of our worlds. He holds two seats in our government. He helps millions of people with his charity foundation, and he's the loving father of our three beautiful children." She took a breath before continuing.
"You all abused him the whole time he was here," she said and looked around. She saw the door to the cupboard under the stairs right across the hallway from her. She walked over to it and opened the door while the Dursleys watched her, and looked inside, seeing for herself just one small part of what he'd been through – what these people had put him through. When she turned around, even Vernon shrank from the eyes that were blazing brighter than her fiery hair.
"How could you have done all of the horrible things you did to such a wonderful, loving child?" she demanded, and pointed at the closet. "You made him live in there for years!" Molly gasped. She hadn't known about that.
"You let your pathetic slob of a son torment him and beat him up," she continued, pointing at the now scared Dudley. "You put bars on his window when you finally did give him that little closet you called his room upstairs, and fed him through a flap in the door, when you weren't just plain starving him. You made him your slave, and inflicted your bigoted scorn and hatred on him."
Ginny took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "You all did such reprehensible things to a little boy, then a young teenager. I'll never understand how anyone could be so horrid to another human being, let alone their own sister's son," she said, now looking at Petunia.
"The only reason my mother and I are helping you is because Harry would have helped you despite the horrible things you did to him, and we didn't want to put him through having to look at any of you again," she told them. "Take the money. Do what you want with it. When I walk out of here, I'm done with anything to do with you."
There was a greedy gleam in Vernon's eyes, and he acted like the only word he'd heard from Ginny had been 'rich'.
"Wait just a minute," he told the two women. "You say he's rich? The richest person in the world?" he threw the bank letters on the table. "Then this is nothing. We took care of that boy for sixteen years, we deserve a lot more than that if he's as rich as you say." Ginny turned her full attention on him, ready to drop her anger on him along with a few choice curses, but her mother put a restraining hand on her arm when she started to draw her wand.
"Vernon, this is not a negotiation, and you're not entitled to anything," she told him. "We came here to give you a generous amount of money to help you because we know Harry wouldn't want us to stand by and let you end up destitute. Don't mistake this as generousity or something that's rightfully yours. If we were here to repay you for what you did to Harry for all of those years, all I'd need is this," she said, waving her wand. Vernon was turning purple again.
"I think we'll just sue the little ingrate, and see what the courts have to say about what we're entitled to," he bellowed at the two women. Molly stood up straighter, and she pointed her wand at Vernon.
"Mr. Dursley, Ginny and I came here to help you," she again repeated to him as if speaking to a small child. "That money is to help you take care of your family - take it and be happy, but if you even try to in any way contact my son-in-law, or attempt to take legal action against him, which would be useless, since the Muggle courts would laugh at you if you told them you were suing your famous and rich Wizard nephew, I will come back here and deal with you myself - he may be able to care about you still, but I don't."
Vernon spluttered indignantly. "You can't come in here and threaten us like this in our own house!" he told her. "We have rights! Petunia, call the police! They should be arrested!" Petunia looked from her husband to a very stern looking Molly, and back again.
"Vernon, shut-up and sit down," she told him. "By the time the police got here, it'd be too late. What would you tell them anyway? That two women, who are really Witches, drove up here in their Porsche, gave us five million pounds because they heard we were in financial trouble, and then when you decided that wasn't enough money, they threatened you with magic?" She waved a hand at the bank letters on the table.
"We need that money, and you know it. You won't be able to work again. It's a lot more than you made in your whole life too. If we're careful, it'll even take care of Dudley for his whole life after we're gone too." Vernon continued to make strangling noises, but he did sit down. Dudley was greedily eyeing the bank papers, seeing in those sheets of parchment a future on easy street. Petunia had put her foot down, and somewhere in that pea-sized brain of his, Vernon knew she was right. Molly nodded.
"Good," she said. "Come on Ginny. We've taken enough of their time."
She stopped for a moment before they left, though, and looked into the cupboard under the stairs that Ginny had opened and looked into. Sorrow fought with anger for a brief moment. Anger won. When she turned back to the Dursleys, she let that terrible anger she felt well up in her, and all three Dursleys shrank back from her in fear - which in Dudley's case was a lot of shinking. There was a crackle of power in the air around her, and the room was charged with energy that even these Muggles could feel.
"Vernon, don't change your mind about going after Harry for any reason," she warned him in a deadly serious voice. "I've only been this angry two times in my entire life, and the last time I killed one of the Dark Lord's top lieutenants in a one-on-one duel because she'd threatened my family." She smiled coldly at him. "Let your imagination run wild with what I could do to someone like you, and the worst you could come up with wouldn't even be close to what I'd like to do for what you did to Harry."
With that said, the women walked out the door, got into their car, and drove away. Both women were certain from the look on Vernon's face, and the loss of control that their little Dudley had obviously experienced, that she had gotten her point across. Molly was crying by the time they'd hit the end of the street, and Ginny pulled the car over after they'd gone a few blocks, so she could hold her mother while she cried.
"I can't believe those people," she sobbed. "I know why Dumbledore told us Harry had to stay with them, but we should have found another way." Ginny was crying too.
"I'm sorry, Mum," she said. "I didn't even know about a lot of that until fairly recently. Harry's always been ashamed about what they did to him, and he never talked about it." Her mother sat back in her seat, and Ginny started driving again.
"I'm at least glad that we know a few other Muggles" Ginny told her mother. "If all we had was those three to base an opinion on, it'd make them all look terrible."
Molly agreed. "I can hardly believe that Petunia is even related to Lily - apparently Lily got all of the goodness, brains, and looks in her family." Ginny laughed.
"Let's get to our hotel and grab some lunch before our first spa appointment," she suggested. "I could really use that massage about now. I think I cramped everything trying to keep myself from turning that jerk into the giant pile of hippogriff dung that he is." She shivered with the memory of their visit – the house of horrors kind of shivers, not the good kind.
"Then there was that buffoon, Dudley," she continued. "The way he looked at me when we first walked in had me crawling out of my skin. I'd say he needs to get a girlfriend, but by the looks of him, that'll never happen."
Molly laughed at that. "When we get back home I could ask Hagrid if he has a half sister that might be interested, but I hear that giantesses have better taste than that."
Ginny smiled at her mother. "They could always try him boiled in oil, and with a few spices thrown in the pot to see if they could improve the taste," she suggested.
Once their two unexpected, and unwanted visitors had gone, with a massive effort, Dudley heaved himself off of the now wet sofa he'd been sitting on, and stood on massive, shaking legs. His whole body shook uncontrollably as he looked wildly at his parents – five hundred plus pounds of quivering that actually sent a vibration throughout the house.
His mother came to him, fussing as always. "Oh, Dudley, look what those horrible women did to you!" she cried. "My poor baby!"
He ignored his mother's comments and turned to his father. "How much money did they give us, Dad?"
His father looked up at him, and Dudley watched as the fear in his eyes was replaced with something very close to the greed he felt himself.
"Five Million Pounds!" Vernon answered.
Dudley's mouth fell open again, this time, not in fear, but in amazement. "We're RICH!" he shouted exultantly.
Vernon, still trying to salvage some dignity, smiled - a grim, spiteful slash across his pudgy, wrinkled face. If his despised nephew had seen that smile, he'd have been reminded eerily of Griphook's smile.
"Yes, we are, son - even though that ingrate's family probably ripped us off compared to what we deserve!" he spat out, feeling much better. "The nerve of those women coming in here and telling me what I deserve! At least they've promised to never bother us again, and we're well rid of that lot!"
Dudley nodded his agreement, the wheels slowly turning as his imagination began to take hold of the new possiblilities that were now opening up to him. He'd quickly found out after leaving school (he didn't graduate - even after two extra years), that working for a living left a lot to be desired when compared to the pampered life he'd had growing up, so he'd settled in for the long haul, and let his parents continue to take care of his every need.
He'd been starting to get worried lately, though. His Dad couldn't work anymore either, and he was getting hints that the money train he had been riding his whole life was on the way to a disastrous crash. Now, he knew that his own name and 'work' would never need to be used in the same sentence again.
"Dudley, dear," his mother said, "why don't you go upstairs and get cleaned up, and I'll take care of things here while you're gone."
He looked down at the large, wet stain on his pants, the discomfort finally registering on his awareness. His face reddened, and he quickly - by his standards - left the room, and hauled himself up the stairs. He went to his room and got clean clothes before going to the new bathroom that had been built specially to accommodate the 'big, strapping Dursley men'.
The new shower had once been his freaky cousin's little bedroom. He hadn't thought at all about Harry in, well, never. As he stripped off his soiled clothes and waddled into the shower, he thought about him now, though. When he'd seen that beautiful young woman walk into their sitting room, his first thoughts had been definitely un-gentlemanly, and by the look on her face, those thoughts had been clearly communicated to her.
After he had found out that his pathetic little cousin was married to her, there had been a flash of what he was now sure couldn't possibly have been jealousy. Now that he thought about it, she wasn't really all that good looking at all, he lied to himself. She and that other woman, her mother, were also magic freaks too, and no self-respecting Dursley could possibly find anything about them attractive!.
He shuddered at the thought - another quivering, house-shaking event. And what had she said about Harry? He was the richest person in the world? Apparently there had been some mix-up in the order of the universe. That four-eyed, wimpy freak didn't deserve to be rich, or have a beautiful wife - not even cute, he reminded himself, or be allowed to procreate and have more of those little freaks. What creator of the universe would allow such idiocy to happen?
Dudley finished cleaning up, and got dressed again. He was already exhausted from his extended activity, and plopped himself down into a dangerously groaning chair, which doubled as a two-person loveseat for everyone else, when he got back to the sitting room.
Vernon Dursley was again under control, and Dudley could tell that his father had already put his spin on the recent visit so that he didn't see the whole scene for what it had been - a horror that was as bad or worse than that night the giant had come for Harry, or the day the Dementors had attacked him. He decided to try and cheer his father up, and maybe get himself a bonus or two in the process.
"Dad, we're millionaires now. Why don't you and Mum go out and do a little shopping to celebrate?" he suggested.
His father looked at him in surprise. "You don't want to come?"
Dudley shook his head. "I've had enough excitement for one day - although while you're about, one of those new big screen televisions would look pretty great in our sitting room." He glanced out the window at the now old car in the drive.
"And how envious would the neighbours all be to see a big new car in the drive?" he asked. Vernon's eyes lit up, just like Dudley knew they would at any mention of showing up the neighbours. There was nothing Vernon Dursley liked better in life than making other people jealous of him and his family. He'd be shocked to find out that they were actually the official neighbourhood joke, but since ignorance is bliss, he was nodding his head at his son's comments.
"Dudley, that's a capital idea!" he declared. "PETUNIA!" he bellowed, "come on, we're going shopping!"
His mother came into the sitting room, and couldn't help but smile at the grins on the faces of her two men. If a little shopping would make Vernon and Dursley this happy, then she was more than happy to go along.
Dudley was in the sitting room late that night, watching the new big-screen. His parents had gone off to sleep for the night, and he was idly flipping through the channels. Getting the new Tele had been his father's first stop of the afternoon, and it had been delivered and set up almost immediately, long before they'd returned home. There was a beautiful black town car in the drive now too, and even Dudley was able to get in the huge doors without the usual fuss he'd had with the old car.
He smiled as he remembered his father's glee at seeing so many neighbours either peeking out of windows, or actually coming outside to stare at the Dursleys. It didn't occur to him that the two reasons his neighbours had been staring was because Dudley rarely came outside, and because they were astonished to find out that someone built a car that he could fit into, and didn't collapse under the strain of holding him up.
They'd ordered in a catered meal, and he was now having his third late night snack from the leftovers. His mind had, like his father's, already blocked out those moments of terror from earlier in the day, and when he'd finished eating, he fell asleep there in the sitting room, entering a dream world where a scantily-clad, beautiful redhead was at the beck and call of millionaire playboy extraordinaire Dudley, The Dream, Dursley.
When Molly and Ginny got back to the Burrow on Sunday, Harry and the kids were hanging out with Grandpa, and had made dinner for all of them. Molly had given him a bigger than normal hug, and Harry watched her carefully throughout dinner. Every time she looked at him, her eyes filled up with tears, and she'd look away, blinking rapidly.
The kids went outside to play, and Harry and Arthur were sitting at the table listening to the girls tell them about their spa weekend as they did the after dinner cleanup (the boys had cooked - Burrow rules). Harry was sure that they were leaving something out.
"That sounds like you had a fun weekend," he told them. "What aren't you telling us, though?" He watched as the two women exchanged glances, and he saw Arthur flinch ever so slightly out of the corner of his eye. So – his father-in-law obviously knew what they'd been doing, and they didn't want to tell him, and they were in London, and Mum was upset, and it was about him. That added up to there being only one reason they'd be hiding it from him.
"Thank-you," he said quietly, smiling at all of them. He got up and hugged his mother-in-law, then hugged Ginny. "I'll assume that you didn't leave two big fat radishes and a stick of celery behind when you left." Molly and Ginny both laughed.
"So much for keeping it from him," Molly said with a smile, wiping a few tears away. Ginny answered his question about turning the Dursleys into vegetables.
"No, Harry, we didn't," she told him, "but that's an interesting idea. What are you doing next weekend, Dad? Want to go for a drive?" They all laughed, finished up in the kitchen, and headed outside to play with the kids.
When it was time to head home, Lily won the passenger seat for the drive home with Ginny, while Harry and the boys used the TransPortal. Later, the kids were in bed, and Ginny was snuggled up on the sofa with Harry.
"Except for that first night when we talked with Aaron and Arianna, I've hardly thought about the Dursleys," he told Ginny quietly. "I didn't know Mum was still watching out for them either after all of these years." He smiled at Ginny and hugged her.
"I'm guessing that she also must have found out a few things she didn't know before, judging by the extra big hug I got when you two got back to the Burrow, and how sad she seemed every time she looked at me during dinner. Are they going to be alright?"
Ginny smiled back at him. "If they don't do anything stupid, they've been taken care of," she assured him. "Are they going to be alright? - No. They're definitely not ever going to be all right. They're the same or worse than they were before. Mom did find out a few things, and they're really lucky that she loves you so much, or radishes and celery would have been the least of their problems."
Harry sighed sadly. "Thanks for taking care of them for me. I know they don't deserve it, but they're still family - even if they don't know what that's supposed to mean."
Ginny kissed him tenderly. "You're welcome. Why don't you carry me to bed, and we'll help each other find something more interesting to think about than the Dursleys." Harry grinned, and Ginny laughed as he swept her off the sofa, and carried her toward the stairs, kissing her as he walked.
"Somehow I'm confident that we'll have no trouble doing just that," he whispered in between kisses.
The final game of the Hogwarts Quidditch season was finally here, but there wasn't the excitement that surrounded most other years, since Gryffindor had already won the Quidditch Cup. Hufflepuff had also won two games, but since Gryffindor was so far ahead of them on points, and had beaten the Hufflepuff team, even a Ravenclaw win wouldn't help them now, and nobody was giving Ravenclaw any chance at all of winning the match.
Thankfully for the Ravenclaw team, the Gryffindor Seeker caught the snitch quickly, ending the game in under an hour, because in that short time, Gryffindor had already scored twenty-seven times, while Ravenclaw had scored only once. The Gryffindor Common Room was filled with celebrating students when their team arrived with the Quidditch Cup, and the party, as happened with all victory celebrations, lasted late into the night.
James turned ten in June, and what he'd wanted for his birthday most was their own Quidditch pitch so he could practice every day. That was something that Harry and Ginny would not be able to make a surprise, so James had been out there watching as the pitch was built, complete with a small set of bleachers for spectators, and a working scoreboard. When they were at breakfast on his birthday, he got his own regulation Quidditch set to complete his birthday wish.
They had a group of the boys from the Residence, and Nicolas come over to play on the new pitch, and at lunch, Uncle Ron surprised him with a visit by the entire Chudley Cannons team, who ate with them and then stayed and played Quidditch with the kids for about an hour before having to get back to training for the playoffs.
The kids played Quidditch all afternoon, and then again after dinner. Harry and Ginny joined them for that session, and they played until dark before taking the kids back to the Residence, and putting a happy but exhausted James, and his brother, sister, and cousin to bed.
Ron's Cannons won eighteen games, and only had the two losses to the Harpies the season, but the Harpies won nineteen games, and finished in first place overall. They met for the third time of the year in the finals, and Quidditch fans everywhere were excited about the rematch of last year's Championship game.
The Harpies had beaten the Wasps and Arrows to reach the Championship game, while the Cannons had needed to get by the Tornados and the United teams. This year, the game was a low scoring, close match. The lead changed hands fourteen times before Dennis, in a flat out race for the snitch with the Harpies Seeker, desperately tried something he'd heard Ginny and Harry joking about from one of their GameWizard Quidditch World Cup matches - he leaned in close to the Harpie Seeker, and kissed her right on the lips - at one hundred and forty miles an hour!
She was so startled that she lost her advantage in the chase, and he caught the snitch to win the game, and the Championship for the Cannons. The crowd in the hometown Harpies stadium was stunned, and yet thousands of them just couldn't help laughing at the unexpected audacity of the tactic, even though it meant their team had lost. Demelza was the first to give Dennis a hug when they landed.
"You're lucky that you won the game with that move, buddy, or you'd have some real explaining to do," she whispered into his ear, "and you better not make a habit of it, because that big guy that plays Seeker for Puddlemere United would probably put a serious beating on you if you tried that move on him."
Dennis laughed. "I promise that was a one time, desperation move," he assured his beautiful wife. "I didn't actually think it'd work." Demelza laughed too.
"You forget she's quite a few years younger than we are," she told him. "She probably had your poster in her room when she was a kid. Hmmm, I wonder if that'd work for me on some of these young Chasers in the league." The look on Dennis' face made her laugh again.
"I'm just kidding, honey," she told him. "Besides, now that it's been tried, I wouldn't be surprised to see a new rule next season - no snogging the opposing team players during the match. This is a family rated sport, and who knows what the players might try next if we went down that road."
The Hogwarts Express pulled into the station, and Harry was there with an excited welcoming committee of five children, who were all there to meet their six favourite Hogwarts students. The number of teens he was picking up might vary from year to year, but this day made him as happy as the days when he saw them off to school again made him sad. Teddy was first off the train, and he gave Harry a big hug, and then greeted all of the kids too.
"I've missed you guys so much!" he told them. "And Grandma's letting me come and spend the whole summer with you this year!" There were more hugs, and quite a few kisses too as Stewart, Victoire, Isabelle, Aaron, and Arianna all joined them.
Stewart and Teddy could both apparate now, so after they had placed Translocators on the trunks going to the Residence, and sent them along, the two boys then apparated to the Cottage, having asked Harry if he minded them going right away to go and take a look at Teddy's new car. Both boys were going for their licenses this afternoon. Harry loaded up the car with the rest of the luggage, and drove the rest of his gang of students and kids to the Cottage, where they found the boys sitting in Teddy's car, admiring the beautiful machine. Teddy got out of the car, and gave Harry another hug, and had one for Victoire after that.
"Thank-you!" he told them. "That game is really great, but not compared to the real thing."
They had lunch at the Cottage, and when they were done, Harry drove the boys into town so they could take their driving tests, which they both easily passed without any need to confound their Muggle examiner. When they got back to the Cottage, Harry handed Teddy the keys to his car.
"Why don't you take your girlfriend for a spin?" he suggested, and then turned to Stewart, threw him a set of keys, and pointed to Ginny's old, heading toward classic, but mint condition red sports car. "And why don't you go take Isabelle for a drive in your car?"
Stewart's mouth fell open. "Mine?" he asked in amazement.
Harry smiled and nodded. "Ginny wants you to have it - she's sure you'll take good care of her baby." Stewart gave him a big hug.
"Thank-you!" Stewart said, overwhelmed by the gift. The girls had come outside when they had heard the sedan come into the drive, and they were each escorted to a car, had doors opened for them, and within a few minutes, both cars were off and heading down the road for an afternoon drive.
James had already talked Aaron and Arianna into a little Quidditch, and they were out on the pitch playing. Al was out playing too, and Lily, Carolyn, and Brianna were watching in the stands. Harry called for his broom, and went out to join them while they waited for the two young couples to get back from their car rides.
They had dinner with Ginny, Bill, and Fleur, followed by another hour or so on the brooms, then Bill, Fleur, Victoire, and Isabelle headed home. They were all going to meet at the Marauders Mall in the morning for the annual start of summer shopping trip, so they managed to get the kids settled down for the night, had a quiet talk in the sitting room with just Teddy, Stewart, Aaron, and Arianna, then headed for bed themselves. The only real weirdness for Harry and Ginny that night was offering the two boys adult beverages for the first time. It didn't seem like seventeen years since Teddy had been drinking from baby bottles, and it definitely required a shift in perception - their little boy was all grown up!
This year, Teddy and Stewart were going to be working for the Phoenix Foundation during the summer. They were going to spend some time in different areas, and would learn about how everything the Foundation did worked. Victoire and Isabelle were going to be testing games again this year at the Institute.
Harry and Ginny hired Aaron and Arianna for three days a week to stay with the kids so that Harry could help out with getting everything prepared for the two separate weeks the Foundation had at Marauders Paradise this summer. Requests to have certain Residences together in the same week were honoured when possible. They also made sure that each week would have children there from all over the world too. The Foundation now had the last week of July, and the first week of August. The children from the Lily Evans Memorial Residence would be going on the last week of July, as would the children from the Dragon's Lair, and the Canadian Residence. Harry didn't usually exert his influence for personal reasons, but he did make the occasional exception.
They had a long shopping day on that first Saturday of the summer holidays, followed by a relaxing Sunday where they stayed at the Cottage, played a little Quidditch to keep James happy, and watched little black, blue, and red sports cars come in and out of the driveway taking kids and girlfriends for drives. Harry stayed home and entertained, since for some reason, none of the kids were interested in going for a ride in his plain old sedan. They had dinner outdoors, then spent a few quiet hours in the sitting room before heading to bed, each of them ready to start their new jobs and summer adventures in the morning.
Harry and Ginny went with Ron and Hermione for a three-day anniversary weekend in Milan, leaving the kids with Aaron and Arianna, with support from Teddy, Stewart, Victoire, and Isabelle. Art turned twelve. They couldn't all go to see him in Romania for his birthday, so Harry and Ginny had brought him to the Cottage for a couple of days before his birthday. Rose had her ninth birthday, and joined the group of kids in the family with their speed-limited Firebolts. Ron might boast about her getting Hermione's looks and brains, but there was also no doubt that she had fortunately inherited Ron's flying ability, and not her mother's.
They found out that Professor Sprout was leaving Hogwarts, and that Neville would be leaving the Institute to become the new Herbology Professor in September - his shiny new Order of Merlin certainly helping earn him the invitation to teach at the school.
Marauders Paradise continued to amaze you, no matter how many times you went there. This year's most anticipated and new favourite attraction was an impossibly complex looking water park. Harry had seen Muggle water parks in his many travels, but this was totally off the charts amazing. There was one basic rule that dictated what could be done to make a Muggle water ride exciting, and that was laws of physics - like gravity. A Wizarding water park didn't have that problem.
There were slides that dropped twenty metres to skim the water, then would shoot thirty metres back up into the sky, take you through a barrel roll, a couple of loops, then plunge you back toward the pool, dumping you there in a giant splash of fun. Harry and Ginny were walking hand in hand beside the biggest of the pools in the water park, watching as the kids played - well, Ginny was watching the kids, and Harry was watching Ginny in her bikini.
It was their first day on the island, and when the kids had seen the amazing new water park from the windows in their suite, it had unanimously become the first and only stop for the morning. Teddy and Stewart were working for the Foundation here this week and next week, and had been given to Megan to do whatever she needed them to do to help out. Victoire and Isabelle were with Bill, Fleur, and their two children from the Residence. Arianna, Aaron, and Carolyn were with Harry, Ginny, James, Al, and Lily, and Lisa and Brianna were there too, and had a suite that was close to theirs, thanks to Megan.
When it was close to lunchtime, Ginny gathered up the kids, while Harry rounded up towels and bags, and they went to meet Gabrielle and Kevin for lunch (Michael had already joined them for the morning). Aaron and Arianna offered to take Al, Lily, Brianna and Carolyn around for the afternoon, and Michael and James went off together, so Harry and Ginny spent a relaxing afternoon by the hotel pool with Lisa and Marcus, who had been paired up with a twelve year old boy who was spending the afternoon exploring the island with some of his friends from the Residence.
The opening banquet and the evening entertainment was a terrific start to the week, as always. Teddy and Stewart had the nights off, so they were able to join them for dinner, and then took Victoire and Isabelle out for an evening of dancing. Since they were officially working here, they had their own small suite for the two weeks they were on the island. The boys had not forgotten the talk that Harry and Bill had given them a few years ago. The girls did visit their suite, but the boys did not attempt to take advantage of the opportunities having their own place might have allowed - except for a little innocent snogging, which they felt fell safely into the 'make the girls happy' category.
Since Victoire and Isabelle were not tied down with boyfriends all day, they were able to do a Spa day with Arianna, and even took the younger girls, since the Spa here had added a similar program to the one that SpaMagic offered. They both decided that it wasn't so bad not to have to watch the boys play LaserBroom or some of the other games they liked, but instead could spend their time catching some sun on the beach or by the pool if they wanted. Shopping was also on their 'to do' lists, and they made sure they spent at least a few hours each day with the younger kids, playing with them, or giving Harry, Ginny, Bill and Fleur a chance to go do something for themselves for a morning or afternoon.
Now that there were two weeks for the children here on the island, there would be a Phoenix Cup handed out for each week. To get down to only five teams for the finals, they had daily mini competitions, and the winning Residence for each day would compete in the finals. Their team did not win their little competition, which was won by the team from Syria. The final competition was won by one of the Residences from Russia this year.
The banquet at the end of the week, and the talent competition put on by the Residences was a fun ending to their trip. Victoire and Isabelle stayed out late with Teddy and Stewart, having to say good-bye to their boyfriends for a whole week until they would be coming home too. Marauders Paradise was a bit chaotic the next morning, as they were coordinating departures of the first group of kids at the same time that the second group was arriving for their week on the island. Harry, Ginny, and the others in their group all left before breakfast in the morning to help them out, so they all gathered at the Cottage at nearly lunchtime local time, and they cooked up a large meal for everyone before taking kids back to the Residence and heading to their homes to rest up before having to get back to work on Monday.
Ginny and the girls had been busy all summer at the lab, working on new games to have ready for the back to school sales rush, and then later, for the Christmas holiday shopping season. The back-to-school games were nearly all geared toward helping students with their studies, while the Christmas season games were all adventure games. They also would begin selling the new upgrades that allowed you to have a Virtual copy of yourself in all of the games you played, and set up the equipment in stores that was needed to create those digital avatars.
Al had his ninth birthday in August, getting his new Firebolt, and Hugo turned seven. Teddy and Stewart worked with the food program, helped to build a low-income house, and even spent a week with Griphook, learning about some of the programs he managed for the Foundation that were developed to help Goblins.
The school letters came out. The boys would each be able to take seven NEWT's, Isabelle passed all of her OWL's with O's and E's. Victoire had earned all O's and E's too, was going into her OWL year, and received her Prefect badge with her Hogwarts letter. Aaron and Arianna passed all of their classes too, and were both looking forward to their second year at school.
The six Hogwarts students all had the last week of August off before having to go back to school. There was the annual shopping day to get clothes and supplies for all of the kids, some play days around the Cottage and on the island, and then it was suddenly September first again, and Harry found himself on the platform next to the Hogwarts Express, saying goodbye to the kids.
"Next year, I'll get to go too," James was telling Al and Lily excitedly. Harry smiled at his son.
"Don't remind me," he told James. "I have enough trouble saying goodbye each year to Teddy and the others. I don't even want to think about you three going away for the school year too. I might have to think about becoming a Professor there just so I could still see you every day."
James looked horrified. "You wouldn't! You can't do that to me, Dad!"
Harry laughed. "Don't you think I'd make a good Professor?" he asked James.
"Teaching what?" James said dismissively. "I don't think there's a course in 'Fun'. Besides, a kid could never get a break with a parent as a Professor. Don't even think about it. You just stay at home and take care of Mom in your old age." It was nearly time for the train to leave, so they hurried the goodbye hugs and kisses, the baggage was loaded up, and the train was soon on it's way to Hogwarts.
With the kids back at school, the daily routine at the Cottage settled back into the normal rhythm of breakfast with Ginny before she went to work, followed now by a morning Quidditch workout that Harry and Al joined James for. While they were doing that, Lily would either watch from the bleachers, stay indoors and play, or watch something on WWVN until they were finished.
Depending on the day, they would either head to the Residence, go on an outing, or spend the morning playing at the Cottage. Once a week, lunch was with Mum at the Diner in Chudley, and they usually had lunch in whatever place they were in on outing day. For the rest of the week, Harry made lunch for the kids at the Cottage. They would do different things in the afternoons during the week, but they would always be back at the Cottage in lots of time to make a nice dinner for when Ginny got home from work.
The defending League Champion Chudley Cannons had their season and home opener match against the Holyhead Harpies again this year. The game was receiving a lot of hype from the sports media, and Dennis was completely sick of being referred to as 'The Quidditch Kisser' by the pundits. The souvenir vendors had a field day with the whole thing too, having shirts and hats with slogans like 'Championship Kisser' and little stuffed snitches with big, red, puckered up lips. It was another great game, and the Cannons managed to pull out a win for their hometown fans, but it was close, and everyone knew that both of these teams would again be strong contenders this season.
The Gryffindor team tryouts were underway, and Teddy watched as the kids flew around the pitch - some could fly well, and some were terrible. He never understood what possessed some of his fellow Gryffindors to even come here when they couldn't even fly. There were only a few students trying out for Chaser positions, knowing that all three positions were a lock with Teddy, Aaron, and Arianna this season, but wanting to be on the practice team so that they might have a chance at Teddy's spot next season.
Stewart defended his Beater position, and they selected a new Beater for the other position. Their Seeker and Keeper both had strong competition this season, but won their spots for another year. Teddy was sure he had another team that could play with whatever teams the other Houses put together this year, and he really hoped they would have some real competition too.
Victoire had watched Teddy, Stewart, and Isabelle go through their OWL years already, so she knew what to expect. She had the advantage of a VirtualLibrary and the new educational games that she and Isabelle had worked on all summer, though, and she was a phenom with her Virtual GameWitch. She could write over two hundred words a minute with her VirtualQuill, and did almost all of her homework assignments and reports that way. She had her Potions tested virtually before ever trying them in class or on a test. She could do the same with all of her other classes except Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. Isabelle and the boys now had the same advantages for their sixth year and NEWT classes too, so they were all able to work faster and smarter than ever before.
The Quidditch team practiced every day, and while Victoire did see Teddy every day, they really didn't have much time together that didn't involve working on their studies. They both wished they could find some time where they could just be alone with each other for a while, but they just didn't get those opportunities very often.
The only exception to this was on their Hogsmeade weekends, where they made a point of spending the time alone, or only with Stewart and Isabelle. They almost always went back to the school early so they could keep ahead of their homework, but they all cherished those few hours when they could forget about all of the school work, Quidditch, and Prefect duties for a while, and just go and have a little fun together.
Ginny booked another fall vacation at Marauders Paradise for the last two weeks of October, and they again took Carolyn and Brianna with them for the trip. Gabrielle took the entire first week off to spend with them, and they were able to spend some time with Megan too, but most of their days were filled with playing games, going on rides, and enjoying all of the wonders of the island.
Lisa and Marcus were down for the second week, and Brianna stayed in Lisa's suite that week. Their second week was filled with more adventure, and the adults were even able to fit in a couple of nights out together before their vacations were over, and it was time to head back to home and work.
Susan and Wayne got married the weekend after Harry and Ginny got back from their vacation. Harry and Ginny gave them a house close to the Residence for their wedding present. They left for two weeks at Marauders Paradise in one of the private beach bungalows.
Gryffindor won their first game of the season over Slytherin, another game highlighted by the scoring power of the Gryffindor Chasers. The Slytherin Beaters made the mistake of trying to attack and take out Arianna. When Stewart was done with them, they were all pretty sure that the other teams got the message too - don't try to play dirty with the Gryffindor team. The only thing worse than playing against a good pair of Beaters was playing against an angry one. The Cannons were still undefeated at the end of November, and the Harpies were keeping pace with their only loss being that opening match.
Ginny and Harry were both in the kitchen early on the morning of December first. Harry was just starting to make breakfast when the Owl Posts arrived, so Ginny poured herself a coffee, and sat down to read her annual incentive letter and Witch Investments report first, while Harry continued his work. She started with the letter from her mother first.
Dear Ginny,
Marauders Institute and Witch Investments have both recorded outstanding results for the past year. I am pleased to advise you that the PBP Investments account managers have approved your well-deserved incentive. A transfer of one hundred and fourteen million galleons has been completed to your account.
Witch Investments, backed by another major investment boost, has significantly increased the global operations of the various retail and manufacturing capabilities, and more than doubled our profits over the previous year. When you next review your accounts, you will notice that your balance for your personal consolidated assets and investments now exceeds one and a half billion galleons.
Your annual report for Witch Investments is included in this package. Congratulations on another great year!
Molly Weasley
Account Manager - PBP Investments & Witch Investments
Ginny continued to sip her coffee and moved on to the financial report.
Annual Financial Report - Witch Investments
Year Ending November 30, 2015
Beginning Balance WI: 2,445 million galleons
New Investment: 900 million galleons
Beginning Balance PBPI: 1,630 million galleons
New Investment: 600 million galleons
Total Beginning Balance: 5,575 million galleons
Profits:
Manufacturing: 600 million galleons
Retail: 1,500 million galleons
Total Profit: 2,100 million galleons
Less Incentive: 525 million galleons (25 percent)
Profit: 1,575 million galleons
WI Profit: 945 million galleons
PBPI Profit: 630 million galleons
Ending Balance WI: 4,290 million galleons
Ending Balance PBPI: 2,860 million galleons
Total Ending Balance: 7,150 million galleons
When she'd finished, Ginny got up from the table, and took over the cooking from Harry so he could get through his package before the kids got downstairs. He poured some coffee, sat down, and opened the envelope.
Dear Harry,
PBP Investments continues to have strong growth, driven by Marauders Institute, our Property Division, and impressive results from Witch Investments. We will continue to invest additional resources into the Witch Investment fund, and with Marauders Institute - primarily to continue growing the Muggle sector expansion of ReVive. The Property division is also pushing a major expansion of their Mall concept, and will have ten new facilities opening in the coming year. Four of those Malls will have Hotel complexes similar to Emerald City Centre attached to them. All other investments continue to perform strongly, and we project another excellent year ahead.
We were doing a review of the PBP Investments employee accounts in preparation for the year-end, and I thought you might find it interesting to know that as of this year-end, your pay and incentive programs have helped nine Witches, one Wizard, and five Goblins to each exceed one billion galleons in personal net worth. There are twenty-seven Witches and Wizards who are worth over one hundred million galleons, over three hundred who have passed ten million galleons, and just under five thousand who have exceeded one million galleons.
PBP Investments has paid out well over thirty billion galleons in incentives since 1998 - over six billion this year alone! We now have over one hundred thousand people working for the various divisions. For all of those people, and the millions of others you've helped all over the world, I'm sure that I speak for all of them when I say 'Thank-you'.
The financial report, Phoenix Foundation report, and my incentive authorization letter is included with this package. The Owl will wait for your return post.
Fleur Weasley
CEO - PBP Investments
Harry put that letter aside, and quickly read through the financial report.
Annual Financial Report - PBP Investments
Year Ending November 30, 2015
Beginning Balance PBPI: 23,469 million galleons
Beginning Balance PF: 2,600 million galleons
Beginning Balance - IP: 17,357.5 million galleons
New Investment: 0 million galleons
Total Beginning Balance: 43,426.5 million galleons
Profits:
Marauders Institute 11,400 million galleons
Property Division 2,800 million galleons
Goblin Ventures 750 million galleons
Witch Investment 630 million galleons
Other Investments 420 million galleons
Total Profit 16,000 million galleons
Less incentive (40 percent) 6,400 million galleons
*Pending approval of projected incentives.
Profit after incentives 9,600 million galleons
PBP Profit 3,200 million galleons
PF Profit 3,200 million galleons
IP Profit 3,200 million galleons
Ending Balance PBPI: 26,669 million galleons
Phoenix Foundation: 5,800 million galleons
Less Expenses: 2,600 million galleons
Ending Balance - PF: 3,200 million galleons
Ending Balance - IP: 20,557.5 million galleons
Total Ending Balance: 50,426.5 million galleons
He got up, refilled his cup, and gave Ginny a kiss on the way back to the table, before continuing on to the Foundation's report.
Annual Phoenix Foundation Report
Year Ending November 30, 2015
Financial Report:
Beginning Balance: 2,600.00 million galleons
New Revenue: 3,200.00 million galleons
Total Expenses: 2,600.00 million galleons
Ending Balance: 3,200.00 million galleons
Phoenix Foundation Program Expenses:
Residences: 920 million galleons
Vaccine Program: 5 million galleons
Goblin Programs: 150 million galleons
Food Program: 480 million galleons
Housing Program: 300 million galleons
Work Program: 720 million galleons
DREAM Christmas: 25 million galleons
Total Expenses: 2,600 million galleons
Phoenix Foundation Program Statistics:
Program Persons Aided Cost Per Person
Residences: 13,900 20,000 galleons**
Vaccine Program: 1 million 5 galleons
Goblin Programs: 54,550 2,750 galleons
Food Program: 2.4 million 200 galleons
Housing Program: 30,000 10,000 galleons*
Work Program: 288,000 2,500 galleons*
DREAM Christmas: 250,000 100 galleons*
Phoenix Foundation Activity Summary:
The Phoenix Foundation directly assisted over thirteen million Witches, Wizards, and Goblins during the past year. Fifteen new Residences were opened, and we cared for nearly fourteen thousand children this year. The Food Program aided 2.4 million families. The Work program continues to have an incredible impact every year, and is now helping two hundred and eighty-eight thousand families.
For the coming year, we have another fifteen Residences under construction, and will be expanding all other programs, with the exception of the housing program, which is limited by our inability to increase our available workforce due to the incredible growth worldwide in the construction industry.
Everyone involved with the Foundation should once again be excited about the coming year, and be honoured to have helped make such an awesome impact throughout the Wizarding World.
David Matthews
Senior Account Manager – Phoenix Foundation
When he was finished, and once again was overwhelmed at the results for both PBP Investments and the Foundation, he went over Fleur's incentive letter, signed it, and sent it off with the waiting Owl. He read over Ginny's reports, and then got up to again switch places with her. They discussed everything while he cooked, and she read his reports.
"It's hard to believe this part of Fleur's letter," Ginny said, pointing out the part about how many people that worked for PBP Investments who were now billionaires and millionaires. "The Wizard threw me for a minute, until I remembered Neville. When you put him together with Luna, they're probably number two in the Wizarding World behind you and me now."
Harry laughed. "Maybe she'll decide to buy the Quibbler, and then her father can work for her," he joked. Ginny smiled at him.
"I doubt it - she's a pretty smart investor, and I don't think it makes enough money for her to want to invest in it," she told him, and Harry nodded his agreement.
"Probably true," he said, and brought the pot of coffee over and filled both of their cups again. Ginny had been thinking about the reports, and the expectations for the coming year when she suddenly thought about the fact that James would be going to school starting next September, and that after this next nine months, he'd only be home on holidays. She told Harry what she'd been thinking.
"Don't remind me," he told her. "I'm trying to stay in the denial stage for as long as I can. They'll all be in school in a few more years, and then what will we do while they're gone?" Ginny suddenly had an impish grin on her face that made Harry laugh.
"I'll think of something when we get there," she promised him. "What I was thinking, though, was that I'm going to take some extra time off, so I can spend more time with him, and with Al and Lily."
Harry gave her a warm hug. "I think that's a brilliant idea, Ginny." She hugged him back.
"I'll let Mandy and Natalie know. I think I'll take two weeks at Christmas, two more in February or March, and then all summer from when the kids get out of school, until James starts back," she told him. Harry was starting to fill up bowls and platters and put them on the table.
"That sounds great," he agreed. "Maybe we could hire Victoire, Isabelle, Arianna, and Aaron, and take them all with us on a big tour somewhere. Make it a graduation trip for Teddy and Stewart." Ginny had gotten up, and helped him get everything on the table.
"That sounds great too, but do you think that Isabelle and Victoire would take jobs babysitting Teddy and Stewart for the whole summer?" she asked. "I'm sure Aaron and Arianna would take the job to watch Al, Carolyn, Brianna, and Lily."
Harry laughed again. "It's a tough decision between that and game testing, but I think there's only one choice they'll make," he answered. "Why don't you get your vacation set up, and you can ask them over Christmas break - although I guess we should talk with Bill and Fleur first - maybe they'd take a few extra weeks off this summer too."
The kids, having finally woken to the smell of food, came tumbling down the stairs, and began devouring their breakfast, so Harry and Ginny dropped their conversation in favour of hearing all about what the kids wanted to do with their bonus day. When Ginny left for work, she was sure her day at the lab, and with the afternoon party was going to be a breeze compared to the Quidditch practice, trip to the Residence, lunch, and afternoon shopping expedition to the Mall was going to be for Harry, but since he was making a couple of billion galleons a year while he mostly spent his days playing, she wasn't really all that sympathetic.
Natalie and Lisa were doing manager stuff all morning, so Ginny worked in her lab alone. She had a few pet projects on the go, but the main Christmas game rush was over - at least for the researchers, since they were in stores starting today. She decided to work on the VirtualMall that she and Lisa had thought had some potential if they could get all of the details worked out.
The creation of the actual mall, and the stores within it hadn't been difficult, although they were still experimenting with how the stores would be able to change and update the products they could sell. The whole process of buying VirtualMoney, and then transferring that to store owners in exchange for products or services was still under development. Finally, they had to develop a new process for the Virtual orders from stores to get to real stores so that real products could be sent, probably by Translocator, to the customers. Ginny worked until just before noon, when Hermione stopped by to get her to go for lunch before they headed over to the manufacturing facility for the party.
That afternoon, she let Mandy and the others know about her plans to take some extra time off at Christmas, later in the winter, and next summer, and during the few weeks that she had until school was out for the Christmas break, she started to work out the details, particularly for next summer. Bill and Fleur thought it was a great idea, and they also decided to take a couple of extra weeks off to join them for part of the trip, plus they'd be at Marauders Paradise for the Phoenix Foundation week. Andromeda gave her approval too, although Teddy was legally an adult anyway, and could decide for himself.
Harry and the kids did a lot of Christmas shopping for family, friends, and to help with the gifts for the children at the Residence. He and Ginny worked the first weekend of the DREAM Christmas this year, and would again be working with the teens for the second Saturday of the DREAM Christmas program, and that weekend, they were going to concentrate on helping children get gifts for their parents - something that everyone thought had been a good idea, and was now being done with many of the volunteers around the world.
Ginny's Christmas holidays started on the day the students were coming home from Hogwarts, so she was able to go with Harry and the kids to pick them up at the station. When the train pulled in, they watched for their gang of six students, and Victoire, Isabelle, and Arianna all ran to Ginny when they saw she'd come to welcome them home. Luggage was tagged with Translocators, and sent to the Cottage, and to Victoire and Isabelle's house. The three boys, and Arianna were spending the weekend with them before Teddy would be going to spend a few days with Andromeda and Robert. Stewart, Aaron, and Arianna would go back to the Residence when Teddy went to stay with his Grandmother.
After they left the train station, the next stop was the Marauders Mall, where they shopped, had lunch, and then shopped some more. They met Bill and Fleur for dinner in London, where they told the six students about their new summer jobs and vacation plans for the coming summer. There wasn't any surprise when the four job offers were unanimously accepted, and discussion about some of the different places they could go during the long vacation was the central focus of the conversation during their meal.
Victoire and Isabelle headed home with Bill and Fleur when they left the restaurant, and the rest of the gang headed to the Cottage, everyone wanting to get some sleep so they'd be ready for a big day on Saturday helping with the DREAM Christmas, and another day of shopping.
Arianna was spending the morning with Lily and Carolyn, and Aaron had the harder job of keeping up with James and Al while the others were out making dreams come true. She loved the whole idea of what the DREAM Christmas was all about, and was glad she could help out - even if it was just by watching the younger kids. Lily and Carolyn had led Arianna into a store looking for a gift for Ginny, and they overheard a little girl about Lily's age telling her younger brother that they couldn't get a certain gift for their Mum because they had only saved twelve knuts, and that was all they had to get presents for both of their parents.
Arianna was already making the WiComm call to Victoire to see if she or Isabelle could come help when Lily and Carolyn looked up at her in mute request to help the two children. Arianna nodded that the two girls could go talk with the kids, and a few minutes later, Isabelle joined them, and together they helped make two little DREAMS come true.
They all met together for lunch, and Isabelle had told everyone about how Arianna, Lily, and Carolyn had found and helped out the young girl and her brother, just one of the dozens of stories they each had from the morning. Aaron and the boys asked if they could help too, and so Harry and Ginny suddenly had six more volunteers for the afternoon.
Ginny went with Arianna, Lily, and Carolyn after lunch, while Harry went with Aaron, James, and Al. Bill and Fleur went together to continue finding parents to help, and Teddy, Stewart, Victoire, and Isabelle continued to work together as they had been doing during the morning. Lily found another little girl to help, and Ginny also helped the girl's mother. Arianna spotted a student she recognized from Hogwarts who she knew needed them, although she had Ginny help the young Wizard so that he wouldn't have any reason to be embarrassed around Arianna when they were back at school.
They each found other children and families to help as they wandered through the Mall. Carolyn helped out too, but she hadn't 'found' anyone to help all by herself yet, and by late in the afternoon, she was thinking to herself that she probably wouldn't. They were walking past the food market when she happened to glance in and see a boy about her own age furtively looking around as he put some fruit into a pocket, and then wander down the aisle. She reached out for Ginny and with a glance, asked her to wait while she went into the store. When she again saw the boy put more food into a pocket, she walked up to him.
"You do know that if you try to walk out of here without paying for that food the magical alarms will go off, don't you?" she asked him in a quiet voice that only he would hear. The boy, who she could now see was wearing clothes that most Witches wouldn't use for rags, looked at her, afraid and desperate.
"I don't got nothing," he told her fiercely, but also in a whisper. Carolyn smiled at him gently, and told him exactly what she'd seen him put in his pockets.
"I just thought maybe I could help you," she told him, "starting with keeping you from getting caught - it's not possible to steal anything in this Mall, so you really don't want to try walking out of this store with that stuff unless you'd like to experience a binding spell." The boy looked at her dubiously.
"Grandma Weasley's company built this mall, and I once heard her talk about it," she explained, seeing his disbelief. "If you don't believe me, you will shortly after you try." The boy began to tremble, and she put a hand on his shoulder.
"Why don't you put the food back, and come with me," she invited. "I'll buy you some lunch, and we can talk." The boy looked at her suspiciously.
"There's no catch, and you can trust me," she told him with a smile, and he couldn't help but believe the gentle young girl, so he did what she'd asked, and followed her out of the store.
'I wonder how long it's been since he's eaten anthing?' Carolyn wondered to herself as she sipped a drink and watched Jason wolf down a burger and fries like he hadn't seen food in a month. He watched her with nervous, darting eyes.
"Why did you need that food so badly?" she asked him, keeping her voice low so that only he could hear her.
"'Cause we got none at home and we're hungry - Why do you think?" he retorted. Carolyn looked at him, sympathy in her eyes.
"How come you don't have food at home?" she persisted.
Jason shrugged. "Dad lost his job, so we don't have any money. Mum used to bring me to Diagon Alley before she died. I thought I could come here and get some food, and nobody would ever know. My brothers and sisters haven't eaten in two days - I'm not really sure how long it's been for Dad."
Carolyn was shocked. "Doesn't your father know about the Phoenix Foundation, or the food program, or any of the help he can get?" Jason looked at her blankly.
"I don't know what you're tolking about," he told her. "Is that some Wizarding thing? Dad's a Muggle. Except for Diagon Alley and St. Mungo's, we don't really know much at all about the Wizarding World." Carolyn had tears in her eyes now.
"Will you trust me and meet someone who I'm sure can help you and your family?" she asked him. Jason looked at her steadily, but fear flashed in his eyes for a moment before he took a deep breath.
"I guess I don't have anything to lose," he admitted as much to himself as to Carolyn. "Alright - whom do you want me to meet?"
Carolyn turned to where she knew Ginny was sitting with the other girls, and motioned her over. "Jason, this is Ginny Potter, and I know we'll want to help you and your family," she said, introducing Ginny to him. The boy stared up at the beautiful woman as she walked over from the other table, her last name sending a shock of recognition through him. Ginny smiled at him, understanding his surprise.
"I'm guessing by the look on your face that you've heard the name before," she told him as she put a stringy looking thing into her pocket. She sat down beside him, and took his hand in hers. "Nice to meet you, Jason." His eyes were still wide as he watched her cautiously.
"You're Harry Potter's wife! Mommy told us about him, and about the war."
Ginny nodded. "Once you get to know us, you'll find out we're just regular people," she assured him. Carolyn laughed.
"They like to think so anyway, Jason - the rest of us all think they're extra special," she said, and Ginny laughed too, her eyes sparkling. Jason was still nervous, but he just somehow knew that he could trust this woman.
"I listened in while you and Carolyn were talking," Ginny told him, and laughed at the look on his face. "I know – it's a very bad habit, but being nosey runs in my family. Carolyn mentioned the Phoenix Foundation, and one of the things we do at Christmas time is a program called the DREAM Christmas. She and I are both volunteers, and we are definitely going to help you and your family out," she promised.
Ginny called the gang together, and the kids were redistributed so that Harry, Ginny, Al and Carolyn could all work to help Jason for the rest of the day. They had the young boy take them to his home, and after introductions and explanations, took the whole family out on a shopping spree.
Harry took Jason's Dad with him, and they bought a month's worth of groceries, then went looking for Christmas presents for all of the kids. He found out that the man had worked for a company that closed, and hadn't been able to find work with so many others out of work too. The Wizarding World had been having amazing economic growth ever since the war ended, but that was not the case in many parts the Muggle world. Just trying to take care of these gifted children on his own was practically a full time job.
Ginny took the kids shopping for new clothes, and a few gifts for their father for Christmas. The kids were all little Witches and Wizards, having inherited the gifts from their mother. When they all arrived back at their house, Harry left them with enough Muggle money to comfortably get through the holidays, and with promises to continue helping them in the New Year. When they finally left to go meet the others for a late dinner, Ginny was rewarded for her work with a big hug from Carolyn.
"Thank-you," she told Ginny with a bright, happy smile. "That was the best thing I've ever gotten to do in my whole life!" Ginny hugged her back, and then gave her a small box. When Carolyn looked at her in surprise, she smiled too.
"You're officially a Phoenix Foundation volunteer, so you need to have your pin," she explained. Carolyn hugged her again, and gave her a kiss. Ginny helped her put the pin on, and then they continued on their way back to Diagon Alley and a well deserved dinner with their family.
The Weasley family Christmas was on Sunday at the Burrow. With in-law and adopted family, there was a full house this year. The Delacours, Andromeda, Robert, Gabrielle, Kevin, and Michael were all able to come. Stewart, Carolyn, Aaron, and Arianna had come with Harry and Ginny. Lisa and Megan were both there with boyfriends, and Lisa and Marcus had also brought Brianna with them.
The afternoon was filled with excited conversation, fun, and games. Dinner was another wonder created by Winky and Kreacher, and that was followed by an evening spent opening gifts and watching kids of all ages playing with their new games and toys. When it was time to go home, Teddy left with Andromeda and Robert. They were going on a mini-vacation until Christmas Day. Lisa and Marcus took Brianna and Carolyn with them - the girls were staying overnight with Lisa. The group from Marauders Paradise all headed back to the island together, and the Delacours left for their home in France.
Since Ginny had the next two weeks off, their little gang were the last to leave, taking their time seeing everyone else off, and helping with the cleanup after the rest of the family had left. It was late when they finally got back to the Cottage, and Lily, Al, and James were quickly asleep in their beds. There was going to be a special trip with the kids in the morning, so they'd decided to keep Stewart, Aaron, and Arianna, instead of sending them back to the Residence, so the three teens stayed up and watched a Christmas show on the WWVN, not yet ready to go to sleep. Harry and Ginny sat up with them for part of it before heading to bed themselves, knowing that their own kids would be up and ready to go early in the morning.
Harry was in the kitchen the next morning, cooking up breakfast for eight, and thinking about what a great couple of weeks they had to look forward to enjoying together. This was the first time Ginny had taken the entire Christmas holiday off since that whole year they'd taken together, which was Christmas 2003. This week they were going to shop, hang out at the Residence a lot, go to the Marauders Institute Christmas party, and have their usual Christmas Eve and Christmas Day afternoon at the Residence. When they left the Residence after the party, they were taking eleven kids to the island for an entire week, but that was going to be a surprise for the kids.
Stewart was the first downstairs, and the two men talked about school and Quidditch, the second topic being one that James happily joined in on when he came into the kitchen and sat down next to Stewart. The rest of the kids, and Ginny, trickled in, and Harry kept the food coming in a steady stream. When they were all together, Ginny got the kids attention.
"Are you ready to find out what today's adventure is going to be?" she asked them, and there were nods all around the table. "We're going to the Mall!" she told them in an overly enthusiastic-sounding voice. The kids all looked at her like that was terribly anti-climactic, considering how much she'd been hyping the exciting, surprise outings she had planned for them for the next two weeks. She smiled at them, her eyes sparkling.
"Did I forget to mention that it's the new mall that Grandma Weasley just opened up in Paris?" she asked off-handedly. "Maybe you've heard about it - the one with the indoor amusement park and hotel?" She laughed as the kids all went crazy. Even Stewart was excited about going - they'd all seen the advertising about it on the WWVN.
"Lisa is going to drop Carolyn and Brianna off here before going to work," she told them. "Victoire and Isabelle will be here soon too, so when you're all done eating, let's get everything cleaned up, and then we'll use the TransPortal to go there."
Weekends were always thought of as 'days off', even when there was homework or jobs to do, so the day at the Mall in Paris was the first day that really felt like they were officially on their Christmas holiday. The Mall was a holiday wonderland, with festive decorations and displays. Rides that would be impossible in any Muggle building were an incredible reality in the magical atrium that housed the amusement park that held many of the rides and games that only the Wizarding families who worked for PBP Investments got to see on Marauders Paradise, along with several completely new adventure rides.
They were all like a bunch of kids who'd been set free to roam the atrium, and they all had fun playing games and going on the different rides for the morning. They had lunch together at a café where the tables overlooked the fantastic atrium from a large balcony on the fifth floor of the hotel.
All of the younger kids wanted to keep playing in the amusement park for the afternoon, and so Stewart, and Isabelle had selflessly volunteered to keep an eye on them, and spend the afternoon playing, while Harry, Ginny, Victoire, and the twins were the only ones interested in actually going shopping.
Harry helped Aaron pick out a present for his sister, having gone their own way instead of watching the girls all afternoon as they tried on clothes, sampled perfumes, and tested makeup. When the two of them had finished a much faster tour of the giant mall, they headed back to the amusement park. The girls met the rest of them at the amusement park later in the afternoon, they all spent another hour or so there, and then Ginny took Stewart, Aaron, Arianna, Carolyn, and Brianna back to the Residence, while Harry went back to the Cottage with James, Al, and Lily.
Tuesday was a whole day at the Residence. They had a very cold, morning Quidditch session, followed by swim time in the pool, and lunch in the Dining Hall. During the afternoon, they played games, listened to Christmas music, and watched Carolyn and Brianna as they practiced their parts and songs for the Christmas pageant. On Wednesday, Harry spent the day running around picking up last minute gifts for the kids at the Residence, while Ginny and the kids went visiting and dropping off Christmas presents. They met at the Mall for lunch, then as Harry continued with his work, the others went into London to see how Jason and his family were doing, and so the kids could play together for an afternoon.
While they played, Ginny sat down for coffee with Jason's father, and let him know that they'd found him a new job that he could start in January, working for the Muggle company that PBP Investments owned that distributed ReVive.
The Marauders Institute Christmas party was on Wednesday night, so Harry and Ginny were dressed up for the occasion, and had arrived at the Emerald City Centre Grand Ballroom early. The kids were at the Burrow this year, under the care of Stewart, Victoire, Isabelle, Aaron, and Arianna. The five students were cleaning up tonight, charging five galleons per kid, plus the cost of a hotel room for Grandma and Grandpa Weasley, so they could go and enjoy the party too. Harry thought fifteen galleons for their three kids in exchange for a night off was a bargain.
Rose and Hugo were there, as were Frederica and Nicolas. Nathallie dropped Art off too, but Harry suspected that his oldest nephew just might have been more interested in a night hanging out with Arianna, since he certainly didn't need to have a babysitter anymore. Neville and Luna also dropped off Lance, and just so they wouldn't miss out on the fun, Lisa paid for Carolyn and Brianna to go too.
Neville was telling Harry about how his first year as a Professor was going so far while Luna and Ginny were walking around visiting before dinner. The kids had all told Harry and Ginny that they really liked his teaching, and that he even managed to make what most of them thought of as a boring subject interesting. For his part, Neville found it a bit odd being on the other end of the Professor-student relationship, but he loved being back at the school, and teaching Herbology.
The girls eventually joined them again, and the conversation turned to kids, work, and Ginny's plans for extra time off over the next year until James started at Hogwarts. Lisa and Marcus joined them next, followed by Ron and Hermione. Bill, Fleur, Mum, and Dad rounded out their table this year, and by the time they'd all had a chance to get drinks and sit down, it was time for dinner.
With the continual growth at Marauders Institute, it was no longer possible to have everyone in the same ballroom anymore, and so they were using the large Grand Ballroom, and the three slightly smaller banquet halls too. The great thing about having four rooms was that there was also four entertainment options after dinner, and the guests were all free to wander between the live bands doing two different music styles in the Grand Ballroom and one of the other rooms, a WWVN VJ in the third room, and the last ballroom would have WizardKaraoke.
When dinner was over, Mum and Dad moved off toward the Ballroom that was going to have the live band playing the 'old folks' music. Harry and Ginny walked around the Grand Ballroom, spending the first hour or so talking with some of their friends. They caught up with Lisa and Marcus before they headed for the ballroom with the VJ. They talked with Mandy and Terry, and Natalie and Owen. Both couples were spending Christmas with family, but would all be at the Residence for Christmas afternoon. Natalie and Owen were heading for Toronto after the Christmas party, and Owen was going to help Valerie out at her store for the Christmas Eve day rush on Thursday.
They danced for the next couple of hours, and then they visited the other rooms. Harry had a dance with Mum while Ginny danced with her father to a waltz, and they stayed for a couple of dances in the room with the WWVN VJ before the volume drove them off into the much quieter WizardKaraoke room. This had been put in the smallest of the four ballrooms, yet was surprisingly crowded. They sat down with Luna and Neville, and listened for a while to the good, bad, and occasionally ugly performances.
When Luna had mentioned that she'd always wanted to try it, Harry and Ginny tried to coax her to sign up to do a song, but she said she'd be too nervous. Ginny smiled at her, an idea popping into her head.
"Why don't you and Harry do a duet then?" she suggested. Luna thought about that, and then shook her head 'no' again. Harry stood up anyway, and held out his hand to her.
"Come on," he urged her. "Let's go give it a try. We can't possibly do any worse than some of the Witches and Wizards we've heard so far, and Ginny will just keep trying to get you up there until you give in anyway." Luna laughed her musical little laugh, and caved in with a glance at Ginny.
"Do you ever say no to those green eyes of his?" she asked, and Ginny laughed too.
"Not very often, no," she answered, standing up too. "Come on, Neville. We might as well go dancing while they go play."
Luna picked out a favourite duet. She and Harry both went through getting the lyrics charm, and then they waited for their turn on stage. Harry had never heard Luna sing before, and wondered if tonight was the night he'd find out what it felt like to stand up in front of a bunch of people and crash and burn. She actually looked scared, and he gently took her hand in his.
"Don't worry about any of the people out there," he told her softly. "Let's just look at each other, and we'll pretend we're singing with nobody else around." Luna flashed him a smile, and nodded.
They were called for their turn, and Harry was still holding her hand when they stepped to the front of the stage, and the music started. Harry's heart skipped a beat as he looked into his beautiful friend's face, his green eyes locked with her silvery grey eyes. He smiled and gave her hand a gentle squeeze of silent encouragement. He didn't notice the hush that fell over the room when he began singing, concentrating only on the song, pouring his heart into it, singing only for Luna.
She was smiling too, and when her harmony joined his melody, they were both amazed to find out that their voices were a perfect match. Neither noticed that their audience hadn't just gone quiet, but had almost collectively stopped breathing as they listened in awe. Even the couples on the small dance floor had stopped dancing, and just listened.
During the first verse and chorus, Luna's harmony weaved through the melody that Harry was singing, and when the second verse started, she took over the melody, and Harry was so lost listening to her singing that he almost forgot where he was supposed to join in with his lower, but just as stunning harmony. The room erupted in applause when the song was over, and when they met back up with Ginny and Neville, they both got a hug from Ginny, and Neville had tears in his eyes when he hugged his wife.
"See?" he told her happily. "I told you it wasn't just that Lance and I are biased - you really are that good."
Luna smiled at him. "I guess we weren't really awful or anything," she conceded. "You and Lance definitely are biased, though." She took a shaky breath. "That was really scary, but it was brilliant too."
Ginny smiled at her friend. "You should be scared - the way you two looked and sounded up there, I think Neville and I were both jealous." Harry smiled, and put his arm around her.
"Well, you and Neville could go up there and sing a song together to make it even," he suggested. Ginny and Neville looked at each other and laughed.
"No," Neville told him, "that would definitely be a bad plan, since I can't sing, and Ginny just finished telling me that she sings about as well as Ron does. I've heard him in the showers in the dorms before, so I'm sure that would be a really bad idea - unless there's a good prize for worst performance of the night."
They all laughed. "I can't believe we never found out that you could sing like that sooner," Harry told Luna. "We'll have to do that again sometime."
She smiled at him. "Maybe - just give my heart a couple of decades to calm back down first," she answered. "It was fun though - in a world's scariest rollercoaster kind of way."
The two couples had decided to stay in the quieter room so they could talk, which might have been a mistake, since it wasn't a couple of decades later before Luna was singing again, but only a little over an hour before popular demand brought them back up for an encore, this time singing one of Ginny's favourite songs. Now that the initial surprise was over, the dance floor filled up with couples who danced close together, and more than one long kiss was exchanged as each pair allowed the music and their partner to pull them into a tiny world of love meant just for two.
"Our kids are gone all night," Ginny was telling the others shortly after Harry and Luna returned from their second song. "Harry and I have a lot of running around to do tomorrow, but why don't we get out of here, hop over to the island for a sunset stroll on the beach, then you two can stay there overnight? Harry and I can keep Lance with us for the morning, and you could meet us for lunch in Diagon Alley." Neville gave Luna a hopeful smile, and she laughed.
"That sounds great, Ginny," she said, agreeing to the plan. "Thanks." They made some quick good-byes, wished some Merry Christmases, and then left for the island together.
The walk on the beach was followed by drinks and quiet conversation by the pool, before Harry and Ginny left their friends to stay at their beach house, and headed to the Cottage to get some sleep.
They picked up the kids the next morning. Stewart, Victoire and Isabelle were going to the Delacour's house with Bill and Fleur. Ron and Hermione picked up Rose and Hugo. Charlie picked up Art, and Penelope picked up Nicolas and Frederica. That left Harry and Ginny with Aaron, Arianna, James, Al, Lily, Lance, Carolyn, and Brianna.
When they got to the Mall, Aaron, James, Al, and Lance were set free, starting off in the direction of the BroomCloset. With tips, the five students had walked away with fifteen galleons each, and so Arianna went off with Carolyn, Brianna, and Lily to go looking at clothes. Ginny made sure that Arianna had enough extra money to cover purchases for the three younger girls.
Harry and Ginny's first stop was at the GamePortal, where they picked up a fully loaded WizardKaraoke machine for Luna, had it wrapped, and using a Translocator, sent it to sit next to the Christmas tree in their friend's home. Ginny was laughing a few minutes later when she got a WiComm call from Luna. She and Neville had stopped in at home before going to the Mall so they could get clean clothes, since they hadn't taken overnight bags.
"What's up with the present popping in here?" she asked Ginny. "It scared me half to death when it showed up like that!" Ginny laughed again.
"Sorry, Luna," she apologized. "We thought that you and Neville would still be on the island, or I'd have called first. No peeking until Christmas, though!"
She heard Luna laugh too. "Is shaking allowed?" she asked, and Ginny smiled at the sparkle in her friend's eyes.
"Absolutely," Ginny confirmed. "What good are presents under the tree if you can't pick them up and try to figure out what's inside of them!" Luna was smiling too.
"Not all of us have a know-it-all remembrall like you do, though," she said, and Ginny gave her a mock frown.
"It doesn't work for presents - it just gives me that stupid 'Request denied - Information is confidential' response."
Luna was still grinning at her. "Poor baby. How's Lance?"
Ginny smiled again. "We lost him," she answered. When she saw Luna frown in concern, she laughed again. "Don't worry. He's with Aaron and the other boys, and he's fine. Lily wants to keep him and give you James." She heard Neville laugh in the background.
"We'll see if you're still laughing when he's in your class next September," Luna told her husband, smiling at Ginny again, and winking into her WiComm. "We'll see you in a bit, Ginny. We're just getting ready to leave for the Mall now." Ginny nodded and they ended the call.
They had a fun-filled lunch together, followed by some more shopping. They had two last-minute DREAM Christmases - three children found by Carolyn, Brianna, and Lily, and a young mother who Ginny and Luna had come across in the FashionKnut store. They didn't officially do the DREAM Christmas except on the two weekends before Christmas, but Harry and Ginny were two of several hundred volunteers around the world who could go ahead and help out whenever they found other families in need.
They wished Neville, Luna, and Lance a Merry Christmas, dropped Aaron, Arianna, Carolyn, and Brianna off at the Residence, and then headed home for dinner before going back to the Residence to spend Christmas Eve with Susan, Wayne, and the children. Lisa and Marcus had come to spend Christmas Eve at the Residence too, and they'd already arranged to have Carolyn and Brianna spend the night with them - Marcus was allowed to sleep over in one of the guest bedrooms as long as they had their little 'chaperones'. The two girls giggled a lot about that, but took their job very seriously.
Harry and Ginny had already known that Stewart, Carolyn, and Brianna would be away from the Residence, so they had decided that Aaron and Arianna should come and stay with them overnight, but had waited until tonight to tell them, thrilled to see the surprise and happiness on their faces. They ran to their rooms to pack overnight bags while Harry and Ginny said their goodnights and gathered James, Al, and Lily together. When they were all ready, the seven of them headed home to the Cottage.
James had everyone up early on Christmas morning, and opening presents was followed by a big breakfast, and a morning playing with new toys and games. The real excitement of the day began when they arrived back at the Residence. Carolyn and Brianna pounced on Ginny when she walked into the dining hall, obviously having been waiting to show her their bestest Christmas presents - a pair of small diamond rings from Marcus and Lisa.
He had asked Lisa to marry him this morning, and after she'd said 'yes', had given Carolyn and Brianna their rings and asked the girls to officially 'adopt' them as their volunteers. Carolyn hoped that Ginny and Harry didn't mind, but this kinda made her and Brianna adopted sisters, so they'd both agreed to adopt Lisa and Marcus. Ginny was laughing, and assuring Carolyn that it was fine when Lisa and Marcus joined the girls, and there were smiles, tears and hugs all around. Lisa was rarely shy anymore, but she reminded Harry of the little girl they'd met that first day this residence opened, when she asked them to be her 'parents' for the wedding, and have Harry walk her down the aisle, which brought on more tears, hugs, and kisses.
That news was followed up by another engagement announcement - this time from Andromeda and Robert, who also had gotten engaged for Christmas. She told Harry and Ginny that she would be leaving Hogwarts at the end of the school year. Now that Teddy was finishing school and was grown up, she could, for lack of a softer way of putting it, get on with her life. It wasn't that she regretted a moment of the years taking care of Teddy, it was just that she was now ready and able to start doing the things she loved to do, and was going to have a new husband to do those things with.
Those happy announcements made for a wonderful start to the afternoon. The usual fun and games were followed by the fantastic gift exchange, another amazing Christmas dinner, and the entertaining show put on by the kids. When it was nearing time to go, Harry and Ginny sprung their next holiday surprise on the kids.
"Why don't you all go get packed," Ginny told Stewart, Aaron, Arianna, Carolyn, and Brianna when they'd all been gathered together. They looked at her in surprise, thinking they'd just been asked to join them to say 'goodnight'. "We're going on vacation for a week on the island, so pack swimsuits," she advised them, loving their response to her announcement. There might have been quite a bit of difference in age, but they all were smiling, and running for their rooms in a flash. Harry turned to Teddy, Isabelle, and Victoire and smiled at them.
"Your bags are already on the island," he told them. "You and Stewart stay at your place," he told Teddy. Bill, Fleur, Lisa, and Marcus were all smiling as they watched the kids.
"We'll be going too, for the weekends," Fleur told the girls, "so you'll be staying at our house."
Lisa and Marcus were going to stay at one of the guest houses with Carolyn and Brianna on the weekends too, and then the girls would stay with Harry and Ginny during the week. The kids were all back quickly, and the large group left for the island. One quick TransPortal trip later, and they arrived to be welcomed by a warm, late afternoon sun, and enough time left in the day to have some fun out on the water.