A quick update for all my lovely readers. It won't always happen like this, but here you go. Also, I have something new just starting called Restoration. A different take on a marriage law fic, but with a voluntary twist.

o-o-o-o-o

Chapter 36 – 2009

The beginning of the new year saw the Scamanders heading for the summer climes of Australia where they met with the Weasleys and Grangers. Although they were happy for the social call, they only stopped for a few days in Sydney. The city was nice enough, but the unusual couple wasn't on the continent strictly as tourists. Once again they were tracking down an unusual animal. This time the animal they were chasing was one of the most highly spoken of and most widely rumored, at least in that part of the world.

The bunyip was a well known part of Australian folklore, known by almost every child who grew up there. For aboriginal children especially the tales were passed down from the ancestors. For non-native children the tales came from more fanciful books and cartoons, but the animal was still known. For most it was just a fairytale, except for perhaps a few of the elder aboriginals and a few younger people who had actually experienced the creature. Those were the people the Scamanders were seeking out. First though they did enjoy stopping off to visit with friends in the capital of New South Wales before catching a floo south to Melbourne and the province of Victoria, the center of the sightings.

Once they reached Melbourne, they were once again excited to take off on their research, but the young couple had made a mutual promise to each other several years before. Unless they were chasing an immediate lead that was likely to disappear, they were both young and needed to enjoy life as much as possible. With that in mind they agreed to take a bit of time in each stop along the way and be tourists for just a while before resuming their professional duties. That was part of the reason for their time in Sydney that they had enjoyed so much, and in the intervening years they had both realized that implementing the rule had made their marriage and lives even more happier than they could have dreamed.

With this in mind, the young couple had an additional four days planned in Melbourne and Luna gathered all the tourist brochures as she quickly decided to start them with a bus tour. Rolf laughed at his somewhat predictable wife. She loved the open top buses where she could ride and listen to the narration with the wind blowing in her hair. Not that he minded at all, seeing her happy with the sun shining down on her. The rest of the day was spent all over the city becoming familiar with some of its history. That night when they returned to the hotel after a fantastic dim sum dinner, Rolf could hardly keep his hands to himself. Gods he loved this woman. When they finally collapsed in exhaustion hours later their thoughts weren't on the next day's list of activities, but only on the amazing love that they had found on a little expedition in Sweden.

The following several days were spent sightseeing and at the beach before the Scamanders then turned their attention back to work after a bit over a week of relaxation. The new year was now fully engaged and they were completely ready to chase down the myriad of myths that surrounded the bunyip. With that in mind, Rolf rented a Jeep, they loaded up their gear, and drove east of Melbourne to the first location that was the center of a number of sightings along the appropriately named Bunyip river. Although they utilized magical travel plenty, such as floos between large cities, when they were traveling in the wilds to places they had never been, muggle transportation was often very necessary and both had become quite proficient with driving a range of vehicles. Their trip down the Bunyip river would be the start of a journey that would cover over 3,000 kilometers, 2 time zones, and 3 provinces. They were planning to stay for two months, but didn't realize that they wouldn't be leaving until winter began to arrive on the southern continent.

Meanwhile back in England, Harry was once again left at the controls of the Auror department over the new year holiday. Robards had declared that Harry had done so well the previous year that he was going to make his new year trip to the islands a yearly event. Harry didn't mind so much as long as there were no neo-pureblood muggle massacres. Thankfully this year had been blessedly normal. A few hotheads, but nothing out of the ordinary. Harry had actually managed to handle it all with just his junior Aurors and two seniors who were single and had volunteered to take the holiday. As for himself, Ginny was thrilled that he had managed an entire Christmas home with the family with no emergency floo or patronus calls.

When Robards arrived back at the beginning of the second week of January, he was actually a day ahead of schedule and Harry was surprised as he stood to move from the desk and make room for his boss.

"Sit Potter. I came here early to talk to you."

Harry shrugged and did as bidden.

"The wife and I just got back on our international portkey. We did a lot of talking while we were away and I've made a decision. I was going to wait, but there's no real reason to do so. I'm on my way up to the Minister's office now. You've already got things in hand here and I might as well make it clean right at the new year. I'm retiring effective immediately. The Minister can appoint whoever, but obviously you're the man. I don't know if I should congratulate you, but there you are. You're young, but you're what this place needs. Look, I'm not a soft guy, but I've been proud as hell to watch you develop into what this department needs. I couldn't leave the place with better leadership."

Harry took a moment to collect himself before responding.

"Wow. Thank you sir. I won't say that I didn't see this coming, but I thought it would be a few years. I hope you have a good retirement."

"Oh I will. I've been rather miserly and my wife is good with investments. We actually bought a small house in the islands. Just two bedrooms. Not enough to be overrun with guests, but we'll be spending plenty of time there. No more English winters for me. Well, I need to go make this official with the big man."

Harry chuckled and shook his hand. As Robards left he sat back down and took a moment to let the information sink in. He was going to be the Director of the Auror Department. Well, once the Minister made it official. He wasn't yet twenty-nine. He had thought he had a few years at least. Shaking his head he refocused on some paperwork, figuring he would hear something soon enough. His prediction came true about twenty minutes later when Robards and the Minister appeared at his door and Harry shot up in his seat.

"Minister, hello…"

"Really Harry?"

Harry chuckled.

"Hi Kingsley, please come in."

"That's better. So Gawain just dropped his load of dragon dung on me. Only about three or four years ahead of when I was expecting. At least he doesn't leave us completely in a lurch. I guess congratulations are in order Director Potter."

Harry grinned and shook Kingsley's hand.

"Thank you for your confidence sir."

"Pfft really? Now, I know you've had several assistants helping on occasions. Who are you naming officially? Terry?"

"Yes, Terry is the most well rounded. Also he has the maturity. Honestly, there are still a few of the older crowd who have a problem with me due to my age. It's gotten better, but the underlying feeling is still there. Bringing Terry up will help."

"Alright, understood. I like Terry and I know the two of you work well together. Now, as much as I'd like to stay, my assistant is probably upstairs having a fit over my schedule now as it is. Shall we go make this official with the department?"

Harry gave a nod and they all stepped out to the department. Harry gave the call that summoned everyone who was in office for an emergency meeting at the director's office. As soon as everyone saw Robards and the Minister also standing there, they snapped to attention. As soon as Harry did a quick head count, he gave Kingsley a nod to continue.

"Good morning everyone. I have some monumental news that I wanted to share. As of a few minutes ago, Gawain Robards tendered his retirement papers to myself and he is no longer the director of this department. I thank him for his many years of service. Effective immediately I have promoted assistant director Potter to director of the Auror department. I am confident that he has been and will continue to lead the department with distinction. Director Potter, anything you'd like to say?"

"Thank you Minister. First, I'd like to wish former Director Robards good luck on his well deserved retirement. I know I'm a bit envious of his island. Second, I am naming Senior Auror Terry Dowd as the Assistant Director of the department. He has been assisting me quite a lot lately and I don't believe his promotion will come as a surprise. I am proud of all of you. We've been doing good work lately, let's continue."

"Excellent, thank you Director Potter. Now, please excuse me, I have a plethora of other commitments."

With that Kingsley left the office and Harry gave everyone the signal to return to work. He turned to Robards and said a quick goodbye, promising to stay in touch. Then he turned to Terry Dowd and signaled his new second in command as they returned to his office to discuss details of his new role. It was nearly two hours later when Harry finally managed to send an owl home to Ginny to tell her that he had news and they were going to celebrate if Molly could watch the kids that night.

It would be another week before Harry celebrated with all of his friends at the next DA dinner. Not that his ascension to the position was a surprise, but he had made it there several years faster than had been expected.

Another member of the extended group of friends was seeing his own sudden change in his own fortunes when a unique opportunity became available for Dean. He had been working a variety of various commissions and selling some of his art on the side, but his income had been sporadic. With his recent marriage and fatherhood he had come to realize that he needed more regular income and advertising had provided assistance in this area, even if it wasn't his preference. Still, he looked to the famous Toulouse Lautrec who produced a number of acclaimed advertising posters, using the monies from them to support himself instead of having to rely on handouts from his aristocratic family. He was one of several artists that Dean aspired to. Still, advertising wasn't his preference and in late February he received an offer for a different opportunity.

The start of Dean's change of fortunes actually began with a painting of his that was sold on commission from a small shop in Diagon nearly a month previously. The purchaser was a Spanish businessman in town on one of his many business trips and the piece had caught his eye on the way by. After taking his new artwork home and contemplating it for a while, he had made his decision to contact the artist when he was in London on his next trip in a couple of weeks' time. The shop in question was more than happy to arrange a meeting with Dean and Raul Santos-Tomas, who ended up taking their meeting to a local cafe and talking for close to an hour. By the time the discussion ended, Dean had agreed to take a large mural commission for Raul in Barcelona. The mural was to be inside the atrium of Raul's new company headquarters and would be three stories high. It would likely take close to a year and Raul agreed to a generous salary, as well as a fully appointed flat for Dean and his family while they were in the city. The fact that Gracia spoke Spanish and Dean was learning was an added bonus. Of course the Spanish in Spain was a bit different, but they would adjust quickly. Dean had learned enough in his nearly two years of marriage though to not accept outright and gave an all-but acceptance, with the caveat that he still had to talk to his wife. Raul just chuckled and understood completely.

As soon as Dean arrived back at the modest flat where Gracia was busy caring for their two rapidly growing daughters, he quickly gave her the excellent news. She was excited for him and a bit hesitant about a new country. Still, the fact that it was Spain and she would speak the language made the decision much easier and she gave her husband a hearty acknowledgement. With that agreed, Dean kissed his wife and left again to return to Raul's hotel with the news. A quick two weeks later saw the young Thomas family relocated to Barcelona just a day after a final farewell dinner with all of the extended DA family.

While Dean went east, his good friend Seamus was busy to the west with the Dublin branch of Wheezes. The holiday season had been busy as ever and, after discussion with George, they had decided to expand the shop into a recently vacated storefront next door. Seamus was thrilled since he didn't think he could take another holiday season literally pushing people out the door with lines around the block and angry customers drenched in the cold, wet Dublin December sleet. It also meant that he would have more space to hire more help, which was desperately needed. And he had plenty of Finnegans and Connells around to pick from. Between his and Cat's families there would always be someone who needed a seasonal job.

One positive about the horrendous holiday madness was the profit sharing that George spread to all his employees. It meant that Seamus had seen a very tidy amount at the end of the year and now he and Cat had their nest egg where they needed it to start looking at buying a house. Combined with the increased value when he sold his flat and they could afford a good size cottage outside of the city a bit. Someplace with a floo to get to the shop, but still with a bit of land for kids and Quidditch. Seamus was lost in a bit of a daydream as he thought about it all as he glanced at his raven haired beauty across the shop. She really had changed him. He who once had a different witch every month and now he was looking to buy a cottage and fill it with little Finnegans like his ma and pa. When had he gone and gotten old? Shaking himself Seamus sighed and refocused on balancing the till.

Gradually the months slid by and the Wheezes Dublin expansion went well. There was so much room that Seamus entertained the thought briefly of getting a pair of roller skates to maneuver through the shop at one point. Then he thought about what would happen if he crashed into some of the more dangerous items and decided that he would stick to more pedestrian transit. Still, the new shop was brilliant and George was thrilled. All four of his shops were doing spectacular and George genuinely thought that he had reached his maximum on what he could comfortably keep track of, even with a brother and good friends managing his stores. The Dublin Wheezes was completely renovated well before the summer and ready for the influx of tourists, as well as returning Hogwarts students home on break.

While all was going well at the shop, Seamus and Catriona also finally found their cottage about fifty minutes outside of Dublin and about a half hour from the rest of the Finnegan clan. It had three bedrooms and sat on not quite a hectare of land. It was close enough to family, but still distant enough to give them their own space. It also had a floo that was already on the network, making it easy to hook up to the shop. They moved in on April 24th with the help of a few friends, although not many were needed, as much of the work had been done previously. The following Thursday the 29th of April saw the majority of the DA gathered in their garden for an Irish supper. The temperature was a bit chillier than some would like, but warming charms helped and everyone enjoyed seeing the Finnegan's new home. The meal was just finishing when the hosts stood and Seamus called a halt to several conversations.

"Aye, thanks to everyone for making the trip over to see the new place. We're right pleased to have found such a perfect little spot. Now that me lovely bride and I have a house we thought it was about time to start filling it up. Come late November we're planning to start doing just that."

A cheer went up around the table as several of the women nodded knowingly at Catriona as they had been starting to suspect. The couple was roundly congratulated and then the various desserts were swapped with the now empty dinner dishes.

With the Finnegans well established in Ireland, all the extended group of friends found life as a whole settled into a bit of normality. They were now regularly spread between five or six countries if one counted those who traveled regularly, but they all managed to stay connected aided by the ease of magical travel.

Soon summer arrived and with it came the arrival back in England of the Scamanders. Their research into the bunyip had yielded mountains of evidence and they were firmly convinced of the creatures existence in a few very small communities. They were also convinced that the creatures were magical and had disillusionment capabilities not unlike the demiguise, although in the case of the bunyip the Scamanders theorized that the bunyip had the ability to manipulate subtle time effects since the skin and bone samples they had collected showed no magical traces that would allow for the special capability, unlike demiguise hair. In fact the bunyip samples showed a closer match to the completely non magical ancient diprotodon. With their combined evidence and samples they arrived back in England and began to write a complete summary of all of their work with the plan of publication and hopeful acceptance of the bunyip as an acknowledged new magical species.

Two weeks after their arrival back home, the Scamanders joined the first full Thursday night DA dinner at the Mcmillans on June 18th in Scotland. The weather was perfect and everyone was thrilled to be able to eat out in the garden where all the kids could run and play. Lee had even brought a girlfriend for the first time in several years and she had brought both of her children to join the group. Holly Miller was a recent hire of Hannah's at the Leaky who had been through a troublesome divorce and had had several trying jobs as she tried to support her two children. She had met Lee at lunch several months previously and they seemed happy together. Also at the dinner were the Thomases, who had made the trip from Spain. The days in Scotland were lengthening and the meal went long as everyone enjoyed being back together and having a chance to catch up. As the meal prepared to wrap up, Dean stood and looked around the table as he held his wife's hand and grinned at everyone.

"Excuse me everyone, but we have an announcement. We're expecting again in early February."

As was usual, everyone congratualated the couple, even if a few might have thought that the Thomases were stacking their kids a bit close. Still, everyone adored all the kids and more would just add to the madness. Even the two that Holly had brought were immediately welcomed to the fold.

July came and passed quickly and soon it was August. As the sweltering month lingered ever onward another monumental event loomed in the life of the Potters. By some amazing happenstance Teddy Lupin had turned eleven the previous spring and now his godfather Harry was looking forward to sending his godson off to Hogwarts. Although Teddy had been raised primarily by his grandmother, Harry had remained involved heavily in Teddy's life and he was considered a cousin to Harry's kids. On the occasions when Andi took trips, there was no question, Teddy would come and stay with the Potters. As Harry had arranged, the bequest that Sirius had left to Remus had gone to Teddy instead and was left in trust until he was seventeen. Harry could have left it in an educational trust for his schooling expenses, but instead Harry chose to pay for those himself. So, as September 1st approached, preparations were underway for the big day.

Harry's own children were almost as excited as cousin Teddy for the upcoming send-off. Certainly Teddy would be missed and in a week or two everyone would feel it keenly, but the initial excitement was heavy in the last days of August. The Potters met Andromeda in Diagon for the last weekend of August and saw to all the last minute supplies. The alley was chaos with students and parents buzzing everywhere and Harry felt a unique pride as he put a hand on Teddy's shoulder and helped to usher him through the crowds.

While Andromeda insisted on handling most everything since Harry was paying for the school itself, Harry had one thing he wanted to purchase for Teddy as they made their way to Eyelops. It took a while, but a half hour later, the perfect bird had been found and Teddy had his very own Great Horned Owl that he had promptly named Alexander the Great. Alexander perched on Teddy's shoulder and regally watched everything, seeming unfazed as they finished navigating the crowds and met back up with Andi and the others, who were immediately entranced by the new addition.

Two days after the shopping expedition September the 1st arrived and Harry took the morning off to see Teddy off on the platform, although he claimed that it was actually work as well since he could technically be considered to be providing security. It was a bit bittersweet, even though he felt like a proud father. Then when he thought that James would be going in six short years he had to shake himself.

Once the Express was on its way, so was Harry, back to the Ministry. Thankfully there had been no incidents or concerns on the Express. Not even a late arrival who had missed the train, which in itself was an unusual occurrence.

While Harry was busy at the Ministry, Mike was busy at Preece Apothecary in Wales, where he had catapulted to be one of their Potions Masters the year before after his work with the blood replenishing potion. Since then he had been working with Neville at Hogwarts and with the Exeter Nursery to get enough of the plants necessary to start producing larger quantities of the cheaper, easier to produce potion. Thankfully both Neville and Exeter had greenhouses that had alternated seasons so that the plants could produce what was needed in nearly year round cycles. After hard work by a number of people, the two critical ingredients that he needed were starting to come in on a regular basis and he was able to brew the potion continually. It still had points during the brewing process that it needed to sit and stew, and during those times he was able to work on other items for the apothecary. He considered himself blessed that his employer was amazingly supportive. Of course they would reap a percentage of the profits as well. By September the new blood replenishing potion was being produced in sufficient enough quantities that it was replacing the total volume of the old potion and the cost savings per phial had increased to nearly twelve galleons, bringing the price down from thirty galleons to just over eighteen. No longer would healers hesitate before giving multiple phials simply based on cost. Now he just had to ensure that there would be plenty available.

As autumn progressed and October took over the Scamanders research continued to compile and they closed in on publication of the bunyip research. Already they had published an early article with a general overview for public consumption in the Quibbler section in the Prophet. It didn't go in depth, since its target audience was the general populace, but it was well received and Luna and Rolf hoped that their publication did as well. They had initially planned to publish in a couple of magical specialty journals, but had since decided that they had enough data to put together a small book. It meant more work, but they had enough funds to live off of with Rolf's inheritance alone so they had no concerns.

On October 15th the Scamanders were having dinner with the majority of the rest of the DA at the Potters and were in deep discussion on the book they were working on. Everyone had read the Quibbler article on the bunyip and were all at least mildly interested. Harry always tried to be supportive of all of his friends and knew he had a publishing company that might be able to help, so he promised to put them in touch with the editor when they were ready. Once that was decided, Luna seemed to change topics in mid-discussion as she was wont to to do and looked around the table.

"Excellent, thank you for the help Harry. One other thing we needed to tell everyone. We're expecting twins."

Luna dropped that bit of news and then casually reached for a dish of potatoes as a few people choked. A couple of her friends had wondered if she and Rolf were ever planning on slowing down long enough to start a family. Predictably, it was Ginny who almost exploded.

"Whoa, back that up Luna. Twins? Congratulations, but maybe a bit of warning you think?"

"Why? I mean, I'm married, I have sex with my husband, we got pregnant. So the twins weren't planned, but it happens. We've seen it a few times now."

Ginny shook her head. She hadn't had enough to drink to deal with Luna logic and decided she wasn't going to try. Harry put a hand on hers and chuckled.

"Well Luna, Rolf, congratulations, so when? Are you planning on being in England when they're born?"

"Late May* and we don't know yet. That's a long time from now of course."

Harry nodded. Of course it was. Who knew anything with the Scamanders? Knowing Luna she could be in Antartica giving birth on an iceberg and he wouldn't be surprised. He was drawn out of his reverie as Susan offered a toast and he joined in to toast the latest announcement.

October soon gave way to November that was nothing but sleet for most of Britain. The one bright spot of the month came when Seamus sent word on the 24th via George that Catriona was in labor. Given that it was the middle of the week and that Cat had decided on a home birth, everyone conceded to her wishes and did not make an immediate mass exodus to Ireland. Thankfully later that day word arrived that Aoife Brenna had made her safe arrival. Gradually over the next week the Finnegan cottage would see a flood of visitors, including most of Seamus' friends. When she was three weeks old, Aoife would get the joy of attending her first DA dinner and being formally passed around the table between a host of loving arms.

After the latest arrival, November soon came to a close and the madness of the holiday season began for all those who were shepherding various retail establishments. For Harry he was glad that his employees were now all experienced with handling the busy season and needed his input less since he had more responsibilities at the Ministry as he juggled everyone's wants and desires as far as holiday schedules.

The beginning of December also saw the Scamanders finalize the first draft of their book and Harry put them in touch with the editor at his book publisher. The editor was a bit hesitant about the subject matter, but with Harry's insistence, he accepted the book and began the editorial process. It would take a couple of months before a final copy was ready, but Luna and Rolf were both happy with the progress.

As Christmas approached, the Thomases were finding themselves a bit torn about where they wanted to be. They had fallen in love with Barcelona and Dean still had another month or so of work to finish the mural he had been commissioned to work on. The city itself had a vibrant art scene and he had sold a few paintings on the side as well. Still, they had no family in the city and the friends that they had made were nice, but not the long lasting friends like Dean had back in England. Eventually they decided to return to England for two weeks at the end of the year and then come back to finish the mural and decide what to do after that. They arrived back in England on the 19th of December and went to stay with Dean's parents until the new year. They enjoyed being back, but they did miss Barcelona and they knew they had decisions to make.

On Wednesday, December the 23rd, everyone gathered at George and Angie's for the annual pre-Christmas dinner. Everyone was in attendance and the usual holiday frivolity was at a peak. The two pregnant women were doted on, babies were passed, children ran like sugar crazed maniacs, and fun was had by all. The year hadn't been one of devastating changes, although perhaps Harry's promotion came close, but still even normality was something of note after everything they had all been through. They had fought hard for normal and each year blessed normal was something to be treasured. As was each new and wonderful person that was added to each year's celebration, whether that person was added by marriage or by birth.

o-o-o-o-o

*A quick note on all the birth dates. I use HP Wiki to reference where known. In many cases there is just a time bracket and then I use my own license from there. For example, for Harry's kids the dates are more exact, but for Luna's twins all that we know is that they are born sometime between 2008 and 2014. For a lot of periphery characters, we never find out anything, which is where I come in.