Chapter 37 A new year
Severus kept the secret of the "potions for house elves operation" and he thought he could definitely get used to being held in special favor of the elves.
Harry divided his time between brewing potions, spending time with his family (in which he now included Remus as well), the house elves and studying. He also met up with the twins one more time to practice dueling which they all enjoyed.
When they were settled in one evening Minerva spoke to Harry.
"You know in my family we had a special tradition each change of the year. Since my parents died I haven't celebrated this way, but I thought that as we are a family now…"
Harry nodded immediately and also Albus smiled.
Then Harry asked. "Will Severus also celebrate this with us? I mean he's part of the family too. And what of you Remus? Will you go back to your family or will you also stay with us?"
Remus eyes had dimmed slightly when Harry mentioned Severus being part of the family but lit up again when Harry asked if he wanted to stay.
"I would really like to stay, that is if you don't mind." He said.
"Of course not Remus. You are welcome here." Minerva assured him. And then she went on to explain how her family welcomed the new year.
When she finished Harry looked thoughtful. "Can Hagrid also use a broom? I mean if he'd like to come too."
Albus smiled at Harry, while deciding to go with Harry when he invited Hagrid to the new year celebration, to protect the little one from Hagrid's bone-breaking hugs.
"I believe we can find a solution for this problem Harry."
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So the night of the 31st of December a group of people trudged out of the entrance hall onto Hogwarts grounds to meet up with a giant of the man. Then they mounted their brooms with Hagrid using Harry's two-person broom, which had been additionally enchanted to carry his weight and then took to the sky. They assembled into a circle over the lake, quite some way from the castle.
It was nothing religious, it was a simple celebration designed to bring the family closer together, to share hopes.
Minerva began, holding up her wand. "I am very thankful for this past year. I got to know Harry, who I feel about as my grandson, better and I got closer to my friends."
With this she sent a beam of light out of her wand that connected to Albus' wand, who continued the same. They all said similar things, how they were thankful for a good year, for getting to know Harry, getting closer to the others in the process and so on.
Harry said. "I would never have thought that I would find a family and now I have so many people that I love like family."
With this Harry sent the final beam of light back to Minerva so it was a complete circle.
They raised their wands (Hagrid was using his umbrella) and let the circle of light fly away into the sky as a sign to say goodbye to the passed year.
In the second part they shared their hopes for the new year and each set a goal, an intention they wished to achieve.
They all hoped for good health for all of them, Minerva said that she hoped that for once someone other than Slytherin would win the house cup which made Severus smirk. Hagrid said that he hoped to see a dragon or another interesting creature this year which caused the others to smile. Remus's statement didn't cause a smile. He knew that he had to be honest so he admitted that his greatest hope was to find and keep work that he liked. Harry looked at Remus concerned. He hadn't known that Remus had no work and was very sad about it. He was already thinking if there was anyway that he could help Remus. Of course he had no way to get him a job, but maybe there was something else that he could do.
Harry's hope was very simple. He hoped that his family remained healthy and happy and they still liked him and would remain his family.
Some of the aims and intentions were rather amusing. While Severus said that he wanted to try to be more patient, Albus said that "As Minerva always says that I eat more candy that is good for me I shall try to be better, this doesn't include Lemon drops of course."
On which Minerva said that she would try not to annoy Albus with too many complaints about his sweets.
Finally they raised together their wands and a beam of all the colors of the rainbow flew out and then formed a circle around them, staying there even as they took their wands back into his pocket again. They flew together and met in the middle. Dumbledore took out a bottle of champagne and a smaller bottle of butterbeer while Minerva conjured glasses. So they drank to a happy new year in the air, over the lake of Hogwarts.
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After a brilliant meal on new years day, Remus said pleasantly.
"The house elves here are really great, I haven't eaten that well for years."
Here Harry looked up. "Can't you conjure something like that?" Harry asked. "I mean the house elves do that too."
"That's your subject Minerva." Remus said pleasantly. "Transfiguration was never my strength as you know, in particular conjuring."
Minerva nodded smiling. "You know Harry, the magic of the elves is rather different from ours. There are things that elves can do much easier then wizards and one of them is the conjuring of food. Conjuring food is very difficult for wizards and not everyone can do it, and not everyone in the same quality. Conjuring the ingredients for cooking is easier though, or simple things such as tea, or even cookies. But conjuring a real meal is very hard."
Remus nodded to this. "And I was never a great cook, but I manage." Though he didn't say that his meals were always sparse and that there were times (around the full moon of course) that he didn't have enough energy to conjure more then basic things.
Harry nodded but vowed to look if he could do anything.
A day later when Harry was again in the kitchen to visit the elves he asked a question that had been flitting around his head for the last day.
"What do you do with the food that isn't eaten? I mean it just vanishes from the great hall, so where does it go? Do you eat of it, or do you use it for the next meal?"
The elves looked at him in shock.
"I didn't mean to offend you in any way, if it's a house elf secret then it's ok, I just wondered…"
The elder of the elves nodded understanding.
"You must know master Harry that it is against house elf honor to serve something to a master again. It would be a sign of disgrace, a sign, that an elf can't do the assigned work if he were to use the same things again. And we house elves are cooking for ourselves. We don't eat the same food that we prepare for our masters, it is tradition."
"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't know. But what do you do with it then? I mean sometimes there are whole chickens and all that left."
"We always prepare more than necessary and keep some of what we don't use in the kitchen to send up too. We vanish what we don't send up and also what is left of the food on the tables."
Harry looked at him in disbelief.
"But this makes more work for you, doesn't it?"
"It does. But we don not mind."
Harry nodded thoughtful, this could be the solution of his problem.
So he asked the elves further about this subject.
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"Remus. Where are you living?" Harry asked the same evening.
"I'm living in a mixed wizarding/muggle town in the south of Scotland. Why?"
"I just thought. You know, if I could write you sometimes. Hedwig my owl is always complaining that she doesn't have enough work, even with Hermione having her making deliveries too."
"Of course you can write to me. I would like that. I believe an owl has to fly about two hours to three hours to get there."
"Oh that's great, I have to tell Hedwig later."
After a while of talk Harry asked again.
"So you know how to do a freezing spell? Or a heating spell?" Harry asked.
"That I do, I always liked Charms, though Defense was my favourite subject. Shall I teach you some of the simpler charms?"
Harry nodded enthusiastically and an hour later he could use a freezing charm that would last several hours. Remus had told him that he could do one that lasted more than a day, but that one was rather hard to learn. Harry had to admit that Remus was a very good and patient teacher, while Remus was proud that Harry learnt the charms so fast.
After that Harry went to the owlery to tell Hedwig the news.
"So what do you say Hedwig? Would you like that? I can send some owl treats along, so you get something nice when you arrive at Remus's."
Hedwig hooted contently and nibbled Harry's ear.
"Are you sure this isn't too much for you? If it is, I can…" He stopped at the indignant hoot of his owl.
"I'm not doubting that you can do this, after all you're the best owl there is." Hedwig stretched and hooted proudly. "I just don't want to take away too much of your free time, but if you are sure, than that's great. So what do you think? Shall we go flying for a bit?"
Hedwig hooted happily and took off, Harry followed her on the broom he had taken along with him.
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"Ah there you are Harry, Remus has to leave soon." Albus greeted when Harry came running into the living room.
"Sorry, I was chatting with the house elves and I had to finish something that took longer than I thought."
Then he turned to Remus. "It was really nice that you spent so much time with us Remus. I have something for you to take home."
With this he handed over a big box that he was carrying.
"That way you can enjoy the house elves cooking at home too. You don't have to worry, they don't have more work because of that as they always cook more than is needed and keep it down in the kitchen as reserve. And I froze it all, so all you have to do is to redo the freezing charm and you can keep it for really long, you know like in a freezer." Harry looked up at Remus unsure. When he didn't get a reaction he added.
"I asked the house elves about how to warm it up again and I wrote on everything how long you have to use a heating charm on it."
Remus was speechless but opened the box. He saw a whole cooked chicken, and many boxes of other good looking meals.
"It's not so much I know, but I learnt how to do a shrinking charm and a charm that lessens the weight and I have asked Hedwig and she agrees to bring you other things. I thought I could send them once a week, best would be Sunday evenings, as the Sunday meals are always best. Would that be alright? Oh and I still don't know what your favorite dessert is, and I didn't even get to pack desserts yet, I can send them to you later."
Remus was still speechless so Albus decided to intervene. "Harry, why don't the two of us go and get some desserts for Remus. Who knows maybe Minerva can get Remus to divulge his favorite dessert. I'm sure Remus won't mind staying a little longer."
With this he lead Harry out of the room, just in time to be out when Remus came out of his shock.
"I can't take this. I might not have a regular job, but I can still care of myself, I don't need charity!"
Minerva patted his arm. "We know that Remus. Harry doesn't mean it as an insult to you. This is not charity, all he wants to do is help a member of his family. I wouldn't be surprised if he gives you a cookbook on your birthday or something like that. That's Harry for you."
"But…" Remus began.
"Remus you need to understand. Harry hasn't had enough to eat for many years. Those people often starved him. You should have seen how big his eyes got, the first time he ate a full meal in the great hall. He thinks it is a gift to be able to eat something like that and he wants to share this with you. Don't feel too proud to accept this."
Remus nodded thoughtfully, still not convinced.
"Harry even made sure that the house-elves won't have any additional work. It's funny really how he is always making sure that he isn't taking advantage of anyone. Good thing though as he's very dear to most of the faculty and he might get away with a few things that others wouldn't."
So when Harry and Albus returned with another box, this one filled with cake and ice cream, all of it either frozen or being kept fresh with charms Remus smiled and thanked Harry profusely.
When Remus had finally left Minerva laid a hand on Harry's shoulder. "That was a very nice thing of you to do Harry. By the way, I found out that Remus likes chocolate cake best."
Author's note:
Sorry it's only short, but this seemed to be the right place to stopp. Comming up next: School start's again, someone finds out about Harry's past, and in a few chapters the trial of the oh so nice muggle family of Harry.
It could take a while till I update, as I am starting my new job.