I'm back! After over a year's hiatus, I am resuming this story. I have said I will never abandon a story, so here we go. I never planned on having the hiatus be that long, but Harmony Bound took longer than planned and I took some detours. Also, in preparation due to the long delay, I went back through the first 34 chapters of this story and read through, corrected, and re-posted them all. I fixed some grammar, as well as tried to make the paragraphs not so huge. Hopefully in the past year I have improved some. As a reminder, from this point on all chapters will cover one year of time.
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Chapter 35 – 2008
The new year started with a bitter wind that blew off the Irish Sea and brought a massive snow storm to Wales and the lower part of England beginning on the second day of the year. Hermione and Ron heard about the storm and were happy to be sunning themselves on the beaches of Sydney. The Grangers had given an open invitation to anyone else who wanted to visit and Fred, Angie, and their kids had joined them for their first trip down under. George congratulated himself on picking the perfect year as they missed one of the worst snow storms in the past century.
Meanwhile back in Wales, Mike immured himself indoors in his basement potions lab as he continued work on the alternative ingredients for the blood replenishing potion, which was showing great promise. The sap from the hairy mud bush hadn't in itself proven to be the replacement for the problematic spores, but he was looking at combining it with a catalytic ingredient. During the second week of January he tried a new solution in which he used a two thirds dilution of the sap mixed with a tincture of wormheel root. Once the two had reacted he added them to the main potion and continued with the rest of the preparation. It took a couple of hours, but most of that time was idle time, not near the hours of laborious scraping and preparation that the spores required.
On January 14th he had his breakthrough moment when his final batch of potion completed and he put ten drops of his own blood into a phial. He then added five drops of the potion and watched the blood volume triple almost immediately. He was ecstatic. It had been two years of hard work in his after-hours lab and a couple of years of research prior to that, but he had finally done it! Of course, he still had more trials to do. With that in mind, he set bottled the potion and put it under a stasis charm before going to purchase several mice for continued trials.
While all was going well in Wales, Harry was not doing as well back in London. He had been left in charge of the department when Robards had left on vacation to the islands on Boxing Day. Christmas had been blessedly quiet and he had hoped to be able to catch up on paperwork while shuffling vacation schedules. Unfortunately that was not be when a band of young purebloods decided to ring in their new year by attacking a large gathering of muggles at a park in Birmingham. It had largely been a target of opportunity and the attack had lasted only five minutes, but seven had been killed and several dozen had been injured. Thankfully the burst of magic had been detected and Aurors had responded quick enough to apprehend three suspects. Also, the security cameras that were in place in most muggle venues were quite helpful. Still, it meant that Harry and the rest of the department were working a lot of late nights.
So far from the three that had been apprehended two had been questioned. The third was still unconscious in St. Mungo's. The two were part of a new neo-pureblood group that Harry likened unfortunately as similar to neo-Nazi like groups. The leader of the group was Davinius Rowle, a second cousin of the noted Death Eater family. Unfortunately, the group's leader had high-tailed and apparated away and was now the department's most wanted. Harry suspected that he was most likely out of country, given the family's business ties around the world, and had put out alerts with all his contacts within the ICW. In the meantime the department was looking for the other perpetrators and had so far arrested two others. Of course all this had to happen while Robards was away. Harry knew that it was good experience, but he hated the long hours that saw him arriving home after the boys had already been put to bed, especially since Ginny's pregnancy was advancing and she was tiring more.
While Harry was busy working through the first couple of weeks of the new year and worrying about his wife's advancing pregnancy, another member of the DA was seeing an end to her own pregnancy. On January 15th Padma was helping herself to a second helping of porridge shortly after seeing her husband off to work when her water broke and she had to recall him and make the familiar trip to St. Mungo's. Thankfully her mother-in-law was already in place to look after her two young sons so the exodus to the hospital was made in a fairly orderly fashion as Parvati was notified and then her sister proceeded to start the rest of the notifications of all of their friends. Although it was a Friday and everyone had jobs, enough of the friends were still available to descend on the hospital that the familiar conference room was prepared as everyone settled in to wait for the Malones' third child. Thankfully they didn't have long to wait when Padma delivered her third son a scant four hours later. Keegan Ashish was loud, healthy, and a carbon copy of his two brothers, who made their way to the hospital shortly after all of the family and friends had a chance to visit the arrival. Padma and Robert might have been hoping for a girl, but they were thrilled with their three thriving boys and declared that their family felt complete.
The third week of January brought Robards back to the Auror department after his three week vacation. Harry had everything well enough in hand, but he was glad to have his boss back so that he could focus on the investigation more and relegate administrative details back to Robards. He couldn't help but be a bit proud though when his boss returned and heaped praise on the state of the department and how well Harry had done.
Meanwhile the investigation into the neo-pureblood group had stalled with no further leads on Davinius Rowle. That all changed at the beginning of February when Rowle was spotted in Switzerland near the home of a former girlfriend that had been on their watch list. Harry had been in touch with the Swiss Aurors and they had put her under surveillance for him, using one of their juniors. It was another example of the benefits of the good will between the countries. With an actual sighting noted, a more active investigation was warranted and Harry sent a team of three Senior Aurors to Switzerland to assist further. He briefly considered going himself, but then remembered that his role had changed. As the assistant director it was now his role to delegate such duties. Then he thought of his family back home and all he had done in years past and he settled back in his seat. He had earned his position and would be happy where he was.
While February was bringing advancements in Harry's case, it was also finding Hermione busy with a new law as she was re-energized after her long holiday in Sydney. She was now past her first trimester and feeling better as well so she was determined to get one of the more archaic ancient laws revoked. The first such law that she was going for revoking outright was a law that dated from the fifteenth century that allowed a pureblood to 'enforce physical discipline as he sees fit upon those of lesser superiority as long as he does not bring forth his greater magical ability'. It basically meant that a pureblood could beat a muggleborn to near death as long as no magic was used and the muggleborn had no legal recourse. Thankfully the law wasn't widely known and that was why she had been leery to do much about it. As had been pointed out before, fighting a law also had the downside of publicizing it. Still Hermione was tired with being quiet and began to draft an en perpetuum law so that she would be ready for the Wizengamot meeting on February 16th.
When the majority of the DA met at the Macmillans on the 5th, Hermione decided to wait until after the fine meal was finished and the group had all had a chance to enjoy lighter topics before she brought up the subject of the law. Just as she was beginning to speak, their host for the evening stood and called the noisy group to attention. Everyone quickly settled and turned to look at a grinning Ernie.
"Alright everyone, Susan and I have an announcement. Some of the ladies have been giving her sideways looks, so this probably won't be a surprise. We're expecting again. Susan just passed three months. We're due in July. We've been waiting a bit to tell everyone because the healers told us we're high risk. I don't know what we've been drinking at these dinners, but we're expecting twins as well. We were hoping to get a girl this time and we got our wish. We're actually expecting one of each."
"And I told Ernie I am definitely done after this. Our one girl will be spoiled with three brothers."
A cheer and toast went up around the table as those closest to the couple hugged and back slapped them. As the room quieted Hermione was about to speak up with her own news when Seamus beat her to it. He had been attending more dinners and Catriona was by his side as usual.
"Well my lovely lass and me have some news as well. Her birthday was last week and I asked her to marry me. Now she's a right smart one, but still she said yes and I'm quite grateful."
"Brilliant mate! So when?"
"No date yet Dean. Shay is letting me decide. Probably this summer when its warmer and of course it will be in Ireland."
The room was toasting again and the group was chatting some more. After another five minutes, Hermione managed to work the conversation back around to her work at the Ministry. Ron knew that she needed to discuss something and got the room to quiet down as their host turned the room's attention to her.
"Alright Hermione, so what's up?"
"Thanks Ernie, I'm thrilled for everyone. My news isn't as exciting and I don't want to bring the mood of the evening down, but I have a new measure set for the next Wizengamot meeting on the 16th and it's going to cause quite a lot of attention. I'm going to be attempting to revoke a law that's been on the books for nearly six hundred years."
Hermione had everyone's attention now as she briefly detailed the archaic law and the room echoed with a few muttered curses as people then sheepishly looked over their shoulders to where the children were set in an adjoining room on blankets with toys. Everyone looked equally aghast. It was Harry who spoke first.
"Alright, well I definitely agree that I don't want that law around. The last thing we need is the neo-purebloods getting wind of that. I don't want the guys to arrest them and then find that we have nothing to hold them on. So, I would hope this would be an easy one to support, but I know better. We don't have a lot of time, what do we do for support?"
"Well there's the paper, but for once I don't think this is something we want to broadcast. At least not far in advance."
"No, I agree with Susan. I'll definitely start from the diplomatic side. Blaise, what do you think the young purebloods will say?"
"Well, I definitely will be talking with Greengrass, Pucey, and a couple of others that I know we can get support from. That's what I think we need to do here. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the old purebloods are already aware of the law. It probably hasn't been acted on basically because it will look bad."
"And I've got a meeting with some of the older crowd for a ball they're planning in the spring. I'll put some feelers out and then mention it if I think they're receptive."
"Okay, so it's the DA underground diplomacy back in the works?"
That brought a few chuckles as everyone nodded at George's statement and the mood lightened once again. Talk shifted to their various businesses, as well as Mike's ongoing potions work, and all too soon the night came to an end.
All of the group of friends was busy over the next couple of weeks quietly spreading the word about the barbaric old law that Hermione was going to be introducing a new bill against. For the most part those who were told about the law seemed stunned that it still existed and were in favor of doing away with it. Blaise did note in a few of his conversations that some did not seem surprised and that the old purebloods did in fact realize it was still in existence, even if they didn't act on it.
Finally, two days before the meeting, Susan herself wrote a small editorial and published it in the Prophet. Hermione knew some publicity was good and with only two days advance warning before the public Wizengamot session it was hoped that no one would act on the law before her bill to revoke it could be introduced.
During the two weeks that all the group of friends were working behind the scenes to bolster support for Hermione's bill, the Auror department in Switzerland was closing in on Davinius Rowle with the assistance of their British counterparts. Unfortunately, the quarry had decided to scurry over the border a bit to France and Harry found himself once again using his diplomatic ties as a third country was brought into the investigation. Gradually though the net was tightened and the three countries apprehended Rowle on Valentine's Day in Montbeliard, just a few kilometers over the Swiss/French border.
When the suspect tried to delay extradition, Ambassador Zabini was quick to expedite his departure via portkey and Harry was on the receiving end, ensuring that his cell was locked down tight the night he arrived, a fact that was not missed by the French media who noted that the friendships built at Hogwarts were still persisting in the political arena ten years later. Not that Harry or Alicia cared, they were glad to have the scum off the streets of whatever country he had tried to flee to.
The Monday following the successful capture of the latest leader in the string of neo-pureblood attacks was the first Wizengamot meeting of the new year. It was also the day that Hermione was going to introduce her bill to revoke the law that allowed physical attacks on muggleborns. As soon as the Chief Witch opened the session, there was a buzz to the air, even though the first items on the agenda were standard budgetary fare. After close to an hour it was finally Hermione's turn and she took her place to concisely detail her bill and the law that it would strike from the annals of magical Britain. There were a couple of brief questions, but in total all seemed quite straightforward and then the vote was called. When the Chief Witch tallied the totals at the end, Hermione held her breath since she had once again added the en perpetuum clause. The final vote was 67% in favor, the exact amount needed for the bill to pass and to do away with the archaic law. Hermione and her friends were relieved, but she was not the only one who was a bit surprised at the narrow margin of victory. To think that a full 33% voted to keep the law was a bit shocking. Setting that thought aside, she focused on the rest of the session that had another hour and a half of tedious work before she could finally leave and meet up with Ron and Harry for a late lunch.
The following day Susan assigned Katie to write the article detailing the outcome of Hermione's bill, as well as an editorial about the slim margin of victory. The article questioned anyone who could have voted against the bill and what their motives could have been. The article tried to be temperate, but it raised enough controversy to cause letters to paper for a solid two weeks.
A short couple of weeks after the fuss over Hermione's bill, the extended Weasley family had even happier news to celebrate when their numbers grew yet again. Ginny and Harry got their wish when Ginny delivered a baby girl on March 2nd. She had quite dark auburn hair and was christened Lily Luna. Once again a majority of the DA family as well as all the Weasleys cycled through St. Mungo's on the Monday afternoon to greet the latest Potter.
All of the extended group of friends was doing well in their expanding businesses and careers, but they were committed to staying connected and the DA dinners still happened twice a month on Thursdays at the larger homes of the various members. Usually at least half the group attended, but on rare occasions they would be blessed to get everyone together and then it felt like a real party. One of these happened on March 12th when Luna and Rolf made an appearance since they were in country to see Luna's new goddaughter. The Zabinis had also caught a floo from France, and everyone was packed into the Potters' home where the dining room sliding doors were open with all the children packed into the adjoining living room and parlor. With the three connected rooms, there was just enough space to spread everyone out. All the kids were in attendance, including both of Zach's, bringing the total to twenty-two children. Andrew was the oldest at not quite eight and he took charge of the older kids in the parlor, while the three and under set were established in the living room. It was a bit of crazy madness, but everyone loved it.
As the year progressed, Mike finished his tests on the blood replenishing potion and it performed flawlessly with the changes he had made using the hairy mud bush sap and wormheel root in place of the hooptang fern spores. While he was still working with quite small batches, he already calculated a cost decrease of eight galleons per phial of potion and expected the cost to decrease even further as production increased. First though he had to present his findings and have the potion approved. Not wanting to tempt fate as the beginning of April approached, he quickly finalized all his documentation and submitted it to the Ministry two days before the end of March. Although it cost him an additional forty galleons, he paid the fee to have his forms expedited. Once that was done, he apparated to Hogsmeade where he was meeting with Professor Longbottom to discuss increasing production of the hairy mud bush and possibly even having it grown by the nursery where Neville used to work.
The money paid off in just a couple of a weeks when Mike received an owl with provisional licensing for his new form of blood replenishing potion. With it he received a request that he call to arrange an appointment with the Director of St. Mungo's at his earliest convenience. All of this was work that he was doing after hours from his main job as a potioneer for Preece Apothecary, but as soon as he could Mike made the time and took an afternoon off on Friday, April the 17th, for a meeting with Marcus Crouch, the Director of St. Mungo's. Marcus had also used his considerable influence to draw Cassius Waite out of his hideout in Spain and Mike was looking forward to meeting the man who had originally developed the first blood replenishing potion sixty-four years previously.
Tony was beyond excited for his partner and took the time to come home to help him dress and prepare for the meeting, dusting Mike's finest dark purple robes and looking proud as a peacock as he gave Mike a last kiss for good luck. Tony had been Mike's rock through a lot of late, frustrating nights of research that at times had seemed fruitless. Now he was there to stand proudly as he watched Mike apparate away to St. Mungo's as he wiped a brief tear away before then collecting himself and turning his attention back to his own afternoon appointments.
Mike arrived at the hospital apparition point and made his way inside to the office wing as he had been given directions for. He had been in the hospital plenty of times as of late with all of his friends having babies, but this was a different side of the hospital. The administration wing was less austere, with wooden paneling, and softer colors to the walls. He presented himself to the director's assistant and was shown to a conference room as he expected. From there everything was no longer as he expected. When he stepped in the room he found seven men and one woman waiting for him, a full half dozen more people than he had expected. Then he noticed the insignia on the robes of the extra half dozen and he couldn't help but pale a bit. The additional attendees were from the ICW Potions Control Board. The Board was the group responsible internationally for deciding on potions and potions ingredients regulations and quality standards, as well as regulating testing standards for mastery applicants. It had been his plan after his potion was approved to begin the process to use the potion to apply for his mastery. Now he wondered if there was an issue with the potion. Then he looked to the man stepping forward with the St. Mungo's insignia on his robe. He was smiling, so that had to be a good thing. Mike took a deep breath as Marcus Crouch introduced himself.
"Welcome Mr. Corner. Thank you for joining us. I'm sorry for not warning you about our additional guests. I mentioned to a friend on the Potions Control Board that we would be meeting today and they asked to join us just yesterday. I've been terribly busy and haven't had a chance to send you another owl. Also, please let me introduce you to our esteemed guest, Grand Master Potioneer Cassius Waite."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Crouch. And a great honor to meet you Grand Master Waite. Your work has inspired me for years. I will admit to being caught a bit off guard with the Board being present, but I'm willing to answer any questions anyone has."
"Thank you Mr. Corner. Please don't be nervous, we're actually quite impressed with your work. Let me introduce myself, I'm Cecile Leblanc. The Board is not here to censure you. Quite the opposite in fact. Now, I have a few questions on some specifics…"
The next hour was spent in detailed discussion with everyone in the room regarding the new potion and how Mike had begun his research to reach his conclusions. Cassius Waite was remarkably spry for being just past the century mark and contributed quite a bit to the discussion. Mike had been a bit afraid that the old man would be a bit territorial with the fact that Mike was stepping into his territory, but the opposite was true. The centenarian actually felt it was past due for someone to improve on his work. All of the members of the Potions Control Board contributed to the conversation, although it was Cecile who was the obvious leader. In a few of the members cases, it was due to the fact that her English was the best.
By the time they passed an hour and all of the questions had been answered, Cecile turned her chair and looked at the other members of the Board before turning back to the other three gentleman for a moment.
"Mr. Crouch would you happen to have another room where we can confer for a few minutes by ourselves? We won't be long."
"Of course madam. My office is open to you. It is just over this way."
Cecile thanked him and the Board led the room. Mike was feeling good as he stood to stretch a bit. Marcus must have been feeling good as he began to query Mike on how quickly he thought production of the new potion could begin and what quantities he thought could be produced. Mike was a bit hesitant, but gave him some conservative numbers, hoping that Neville had indeed been successful in getting some new plants started at the nursery. They talked for a few more minutes and then the Board returned and sat at the table. Once again, Cecile took the lead.
"Mr. Corner, we have finished our discussion and we are quite pleased to offer you a full an unlimited license for the new potion. Per the usual laws, since you are working off an existing potion, fifty percent of profits will be remanded to Grand Master Waite for an additional thirty year period. After that time the full percentage of profits will be yours. Grand Master Waite do you tender any issue with this arrangement?"
"Nay. All quite fair."
"Excellent. I might add as a personal note that given the importance of this potion in saving lives that I hope you can increase production as quickly as possible. Now, there is another matter that we discussed while we were out. You mentioned that you had intentions to file for your mastery in the future using this work as your proof. Normally masteries are reviewed separately, but we see no reason to wait when the evidence is obvious. The Board has unanimously agreed to grant you your mastery today based on this work. Congratulations Potions Master Corner."
Mike sat staring at her for a minute. He was stunned silent. He had his potions patent and his mastery all in one day! After about twenty seconds of silence he finally found his voice.
"My apologies madam. I was stunned silent. Thank you everyone. This is the culmination of countless hours of work and I can hardly believe it."
"We all understand. We've all been there. Now then, I suggest we adjourn. I am sure you will wish to celebrate."
Mike grinned as head began to spin and he tried to remember Tony's schedule for the day. He thought he still had at least one more appointment. Well even still, in a couple of hours they were going out to celebrate for sure. He stood and shook hands with everyone. The Board left first, then Cassius, leaving him and Marcus. He promised Marcus that he would be in touch as soon as he had production started on the new potion. That was something he would have to work out probably with the company he worked for. Which was something else he needed to do. He had taken the afternoon off, but perhaps he needed to go talk to his boss before the day was out. He was a grade three potioneer, but Potions Masters went beyond the grades. With a grin on his face, Mike had a plan as he left the hospital and made his way back to Wales.
April soon passed with Mike's monumental news being the biggest happening for any of the widespread group of friends and May bloomed bringing with it better weather all across the British Isles. Mike had been met with enthusiasm and a promotion at his job when he appeared with his Potions Master certificate. Then he was immediately put to work on starting production of the new potion. Neville meanwhile had managed to get the cultivation of the hairy mud bush begun at the Exeter nursery, but the first harvest wouldn't begin until fall, meaning the first production was limited to the quantities that could be produced with the sap that Mike had on hand. Also there were a limited few bushes that were in the reverse season greenhouse at Hogwarts. It meant a slow ramp-up, but he was beginning to supply St. Mungo's a bit of the new potion in limited quantities. Also, the potion had received publication and several other international nurseries were working on obtaining samples to begin cultivation.
May 2nd, 2008 also brought the monumental ten year anniversary since the Battle of Hogwarts. While the day brought mixed emotions, the Ministry wanted to celebrate it with a ball and all of the Order of Merlin recipients were invited. All of the friends agreed that in some ways it was a bit shocking to think that it had been ten years. Then they looked around at all the children and realized that perhaps it wasn't quite so shocking.
Harry was one who was never fond of the formal gatherings, but he had softened his opinion of them over the years and conceded that he needed new formal robes. He went with Ron and several of the other guys and picked out formal half robes with a dress tux combo that gave him a look that was mix of muggle and magical that he liked. Meanwhile most of the ladies all went to Beautifully Bewitching and selected dresses for the event, with Hermione especially being glad for the option of custom tailoring given the fact that she was going to be eight months pregnant at the event.
The ball was held in the Ministry atrium, which was decorated and converted to host a full sit down meal followed by the formal dancing after. The Minister opened the event with a few words and then each of the OOM First Class recipients were asked to speak. Although Harry tried to nominate Hermione, she begged off given her pregnancy and instead Harry was the one to give a short speech of remembrance for all those who had been lost, but also speaking about how far the magical world had come and how far it still had to go. He spoke specifically regarding the couple of laws that had recently been passed and gave note that he hoped more would be forthcoming in the future. With that he then sat down and the meal began.
The evening from that point actually wasn't bad and Harry had learned to enjoy dancing a bit. He circulated among a number of friends and surprised himself when he lasted a full three hours of the night. Hermione and Ron didn't last near as long, but she had the added issue of her pregnancy. When he and Ginny finally left, he felt that if they had to have an anniversary celebration, it had at least been a good remembrance.
As June arrived so did two new additions to the expanding DA family. On June 4th, Hermione and Ron welcomed Hugo John Weasley, precisely on his due date. The new boy sported the trademark Weasley locks, although with a bit of a curl. Exactly one week later, St. Mungo's was inundated again on June 11th when Gracia delivered her and Dean's second child, a beautiful little girl who thankfully arrived on time and quite healthy. They named her Carmen Enid and she was a carbon copy of her older sister with olive skin, raven curls, and rosebud lips.
The two new babies were welcomed thoroughly at the hospital, but had barely anytime at home before they were once again welcomed by the entire extended clan just two weeks later on the 25th at a rare Thursday night DA dinner at the Zabinis in Paris. It only happened about once a year due to the travel arrangements, but everyone enjoyed the fun of making a long weekend getaway across the water to visit their friends and see the City of Lights.
The trip to Paris was the Macmillans last hurrah before they were preparing themselves to expand their own family. Susan had begun preparing at the paper in early June as she started to delegate tasks to different departments. She and Ernie had also hired a nanny about four months previously. It had been a point of discussion for at least a year, with her mother-in-law denying the necessity for longer than that, but the boys only got rowdier each year and with two more children on the way it was going to be too much to ask a grandmother to handle. She knew that Liza Macmillan would still be active with her grandchildren, but she deserved a break if she needed it.
All of the planning finally came to fruition on July 12th when Susan woke shortly after four in the morning and knew it was time to welcome her babies. A scant five hours later she was a mother of four with the arrival of Ennis Fraser and Evanna Fiona. Both babies gave what the father declared were 'good Highland shouts' upon birth and both were above average size for twins. With Susan delivering at home, St. Mungo's was saved from the usual madness, although all the friends made visits throughout the day. Susan was thrilled with her all her children and declared that it felt like her family was finally complete.
With the birth of the Macmillan twins, the latest DA baby boom had come to an end for a time. Many of the friends declared that their families felt they were complete. One or two may still have tried for an additional and a few couples were still waiting to start families, but it felt that perhaps the flurry was done for a bit.
For the Potters they were definitely done and on July 18th Harry finally managed to wrangle time away from the department to take his family on a long awaited vacation. Lily was now four and a half months and was an easy baby who had been sleeping through the night for close to a month. The boys were wild, but he adored them and he and Ginny planned lots of fun activities as they decided to go to the British Virigin Islands for ten days on what the tour company boasted was a 'pirate's eye tour' of the islands. It sounded intriguing and Harry thought the pirate angle would appeal to his two boys. Anyway, playing in surf and sand with his boys while watching his wife lay on beaches in a bikini while the baby snoozed under an umbrella sounded like an ideal holiday.
The Potters' vacation was actually booked through a non-magical company so the first exciting event for James and Al was their first airplane flight, which was also Ginny's first. It was also Harry's longest. By the end of the long flight with three young children, Harry wasn't sure if he didn't prefer nauseating, but fast portkey rides instead. Still, they arrived next to a gorgeous sun-drenched beach and were soon being pampered and spoiled. The next ten days was spent around a total of four islands with a variety of activities, mixing a lot of lying around with quite a lot of snorkeling, pirate history, fossil hunting, and a whole lot of eating. In total it was a exactly what they needed and Harry and Ginny made a resolution that summer vacations would be the norm no matter what their schedules were in the future. When they returned home, everyone was jealous of their tans.
The Potters had little time to settle back in when they returned home before they were traveling again. This time they didn't have far to go and the travel was purely magical. On August 8th, Seamus and Catriona were married in Clontarf, Ireland, a short ways outside of Dublin. The entire DA family was in attendance, plus the extended Finnegan and Connell families, bringing attendance past the three hundred mark. The ceremony was held at five in the evening, followed by a full meal, traditional music, and dancing. The party went late into the evening and the bride and groom thoughtfully provided a group of young teenage cousins as babysitters for all the children so that their friends could all stay and enjoy the party. The wedding was held at a hotel owned by friends of the Finnegans and all the children were bedded down well before their parents were even back to their suites. Everything was thought of, including hangover potion laced juice provided to all guests the following morning. Everyone had to admit that it was the best party they had been to.
With babies, weddings, and vacations all past, summer died down and life settled in as autumn approached. With it some of the business owners began to look at possible changes in their businesses. Two of these were the Malones, whose business Beautifully Bewitching had been going strong in Diagon Alley for several years. They had the money to expand and had been considering the potential of a Hogsmeade store. Hogsmeade didn't see as much traffic and the clientele was a bit more specific, but they felt that a store with a particular focus could do well there. With that in mind, Padma and Vati rented an empty storefront at the beginning of August and immediately hired a couple of staff to begin the process of cleaning and setting up the new store. The store was half the size of Diagon Alley and would only sell a limited range of items, but the front of the store would include two large couches with full color books showing the full range of products for any who wanted to order additional items. The primary items carried would be the Bewitching Basics and cheaper items that would be more popular with Hogwarts students.
By the third week of August, Beautifully Bewitching: Hogsmeade was far enough along that the ladies invited some of their friends to come and help with the final touches. One of those they called was Dean, who was hired to draw up an advertising campaign for a half page spread in the Prophet. The official opening of the new store was on Saturday, August 29th, just in time to see the start of the new school year. The day was festive and saw all of the women of the DA in attendance at different times throughout the day to support their friends.
While Dean's advertising for the new shop was just the latest work he was doing, all of the businesses being run by the various friends and family of the DA utilized his impressive talents. Wheezes relied on him almost exclusively for their packaging now that he was back in England on a regular basis and they were constantly coming up with new ideas. Harry's businesses with Magical Menagerie and Quality Quidditch both had occasional sales and other promotions that required advertising and Dean was the person that he relied on. It wasn't what Dean had dreamed of doing when he became an artist, but it supported his family and helped his friends. He still pursued his own work on the side and a few of his paintings were commissioned by a small gallery in Vertic Alley, but the money he received from them was sporadic. He also had started to take portrait commissions and, while he had not initially expected to enjoy the work, he found that it wasn't as bad as he had thought it would be.
With the new Beautifully Bewitching successfully launched, August saw no further major events and the new school year began on the first as usual. Professor Longbottom was happy to be back teaching and within a few weeks was discussing with his NEWT students about the new cultivars that he was working with Mike on for the new potion. Many of the Herbology NEWT students were also in NEWT potions and at the end of September Headmistress McGonagall arranged for Mike to come in as a guest speaker and discuss his work with the students, who found the advancements fascinating. It was one thing to be constantly cultivating and brewing and another to see the actual effects with a plant that would go into a potion that could quickly save lives.
Life was proceeding with boring normality until tragedy struck one of the group in early October. It was the 6th, a blustery Tuesday, when Zach arrived at the Ministry Auror offices and spoke to the receptionist. He was quite distraught and was asking to speak to Harry, claiming to be a friend. The receptionist saw no reason to deny him, especially seeing how upset he was and went to get Harry from his office. As soon as Harry saw Zach, his smile faded.
"Zach, what? Hold on, let's go to my office."
Zach nodded and followed Harry the short distance. As soon as he was in the door, he collapsed in a chair.
"Harry, I left the store with Malcolm. It's slow right now anyway. I've been at the hospital with Charlie and Robbie. Robbie is sick. Dragon pox. He's been sick about three days. Charlie is muggle as you know. I see Robbie on the weekends and Charlie thought he had chicken pox, but it got bad and she had him in a muggle hospital. When they couldn't help, she called me. As soon as I saw him, I knew and I had him transferred. He was given the potion as a baby, but some kids are resistant. He's got it worse because of the delay. Charlie feels really guilty, but she couldn't know. She thought they misdiagnosed measles or something. Anyway, I'm on my way back there now. I wanted to tell you that I've got to take time off, I don't know how long. And can you let everyone else know?"
"Of course. Don't worry about the shop, we'll handle it. You haven't taken any time of lately, so you're getting paid leave. I imagine Robbie is quarantined?"
"Yeah. He's in a bubble. I got a booster potion and they even gave Charlie a potion, but we still can't touch him. Even Charlie's parents can't see him. They really hate magic now."
"Alright, well you focus on your son. Please keep me updated. I'll spread the word and take care of the shop."
Zach nodded and mumbled his thanks as he staggered out of his chair. He wasn't the closest with Harry, but Harry still gave him a hug. They were both fathers and Harry couldn't imagine what he was going through.
An hour later at lunch Harry took a long break to send owls off to a everyone. Then he went to the shop to talk to Malcolm and his other staff. Next he stopped by Dean's apartment and Dean agreed to take a couple of shifts to help fill in as well. Finally he stopped at a toy store and bought a stuffed kneazle that rumbled when hugged and had the softest fur. It was an unusual blue-purple color and he hoped that Robbie would like it. On his way back to the office he stopped by the hospital and stopped to talk to Zach briefly about the arrangements for the shop, as well as give him the kneazle.
Over the next two weeks, Zach kept Harry updated on Robbie's slow progress. The first days were the worst, with the healers actually having to put the boy in a coma as the sores swelled and became too painful to withstand while conscious. The healing of the sores after was almost as bad, but eventually he began to heal and was no longer contagious. Unfortunately, magic could only do so much about scarring from the magical disease and the boy was left with large scars across the majority of his body. Still, he survived, which was better than fifty percent of those who got dragon pox. After a full three weeks in the hospital, Robbie was finally released to go home with his mother.
With his son back home with Charlie, Zach returned to his job at Magical Menagerie and soon it was November and he was having to look forward to the holiday season. The weather was turning cold and reminding everyone that the year was starting to wane. Zach had to admit that he had never dreamed back at Hogwarts that he would be a sales wizard one day, but in the long term it wasn't bad. Harry was decent sort who left him to run the place as he saw fit as long as the animals were treated well and the place turned a fair profit. The hours were reasonable and he made a decent living. His kids enjoyed visiting him as well which was a definite bonus. After the latest scare with Robbie he was a man counting his blessings, even if he still hadn't found the witch for him. At least he and his kids' mums were doing well. He and Charlie had smoothed out some things over the days they had spent by their son's bed. It was too bad that it had taken something so horrible to bring them back together.
Soon December arrived and Magical Menagerie and the rest of Diagon Alley were festooned in fairy lights as the festive season was ushered in. The year had been a profitable one and Harry had spoken to his store managers about season specials and the offerings were especially enticing as all of the magical world was prospering and booming. By the time of the annual DA holiday get together on the 23rd, everyone working in the shops was happy but exhausted. For those who had holidays planned immediately following Boxing Day, they were already counting down and planning on catching up on sleep.
Everyone was in high spirits as they gathered at the end of the year for the annual holiday DA dinner. The group all enjoyed the combined dishes offered by everyone and served in the open spaces of the first floor of Mike and Tony's house in Wales. It was the first time they had hosted the full group and the house was bursting, especially since Mike's sister and her family were now permanent residents on the second floor with Mike and Tony on the third floor. Her kids were mixed in with the rest of the madness as all the children ran around and crackers popped and flew, egg nog was poured, and frivolity ensued. By the end of the evening, everyone tiredly hugged all their friends, gathered dishes, children, and gifts and returned home for the last days of the year.