Chapter Thirty-Six – Welcome Home!

Harry looked around the platform as he, Lily, and Hugo waited for the Hogwarts Express to bring the kids home for the summer. He didn't detect Draco anywhere, so his old nemesis must not have decided to come and observe his son's return from school, or hadn't been able to get away without raising suspicion.

He did see Dirk Avery's parents, presumably waiting for their son to arrive. He noticed that they were making a poor attempt at covertly watching him, and his mental alarm was telling him that they were studying him for some reason that was more than casual interest.

The train pulled in, and students quickly began disembarking. Their kids came in two waves, with Al and the Ravenclaw group reaching their welcoming party first, and James, Aaron, and Arianna a few minutes behind.

As Harry welcomed each of the kids, he was staying alert to what the Avery adults were doing. They were definitely watching Scorpius now, and how he was interacting with Harry and the other kids. He didn't need to stop what he was doing as he probed both of them. He'd refined his abilities over the years, and the Averys didn't feel a thing. He could clearly see what was in their minds as they focused on the boy, and what he saw wasn't good.

'Some people just never learn', he thought to himself. It was hard to believe that with all the progress that had been made over the past twenty years that Lucius and his little band of dissenters could still hold on to their stupid bigotry and hate. Their pathetic scheming was almost laughable to him if it wasn't for the fact that that they were now looking to use Scorpius. That they didn't care how much they had to hurt him in the process said a lot about how little they'd changed – Azkaban had done nothing to convince them to give up their old ways.

He put those thoughts aside for now, though, and continued to welcome the kids. He'd figure out what to do with the problem later. When they were all ready to head for the mall, he sent their luggage to the cottage, Rose's house, and Nick and Scorpius' townhouse.

The 'Welcome Home' lunch had been going on every year since Teddy started going to Hogwarts, but now it had become a pretty large family gathering. This year, nearly everyone in the family had come to the banquet room that Harry had reserved, except for the family that was in other countries.

There was an extended round of hugs and kisses, as the kids were embraced by their parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts. Aaron, Arianna, Carolyn, and Brianna all knew that they were as much a part of this as the other boys and girls.

When they all sat down to eat, the kids told the adults all about their exams, and the last few weeks of school. The adults told the kids all about what had been going on in the 'real world'.

Rose, Nick, and Scorpius were getting the play-by-play of the Canons' Championship Finals loss to the Harpies. The kids had watched it on WWVN while they'd studied for their exams, but Ron gave them the 'insiders' view of the game.

"Wait until next season," Ron was telling them. "Dennis and Demelza are retiring after next season, and they're going to want to go out with another Championship. I'll bet with their motivation, we'll have a great year!"

Rose smiled at her Dad. "I bet that makes you think about coming out of retirement for one more season," she told him.

Hermione turned to face Ron. "No."

Father and daughter both grinned at her.

"Definitely not. You are not coming out of retirement. Just forget about it." She turned to look at Rose next. "Stop putting ideas like that out there for your father – he's enough trouble all by himself without your help, young lady." She stared the two of them down until she heard simultaneous 'Yes, Dear' and 'Yes, Mum' responses from the pair, then turned back to the conversation she'd been having with Ginny and Isabelle.

In each of the past three years, there had been at least one of their kids graduating Hogwarts. Since they didn't have that happening this time, there were no extra meetings or trips needed this year. The kids were given the choice of what they wanted to do for the rest of the afternoon, and the majority voted to go play on the island together.

While most of the adults had to go back to work after lunch, Percy surprised his two boys by taking the afternoon off to join them, and Ron was also free to go. The three men and twelve kids, including Frederica, took the TransPortal to the island, and were all quickly changed and out playing on the lagoon, and enjoying a few hours of sun and fun.

"This is a pretty awesome way to start the holidays," Brianna told Scorpius as they were taking a break, sitting in the sand together and having a drink and snack.

"I'm still amazed at this place," he said, grinning at her. "It hardly even seems real that this morning we woke up in our dorms at school, and now we're sitting in the sand on a sunny beach, spending the afternoon playing with our friends and their fathers."

Brianna gave him a hug. "Just enjoy it, Scorpius. Sometimes I don't even really feel like I have a home, since Carolyn and I spend as much time at the cottage, or with Lisa and Marcus, or here than we do at the residence. I wouldn't have it any other way, though. She and I both kinda think that home is wherever we are with the people we love, not where we're sleeping at night."

Scorpius thought about that as they watched their friends playing on the jet-skis, AquaBikes, or just playing in the sand or swimming in the water.

"That's a pretty great way to look at it," he told her.

She flashed him a smile and stood up. "I think so." Holding out her hand to him, she pulled him to his feet. "Come on! We can talk about serious stuff on rainy days – let's get back out on the water again for a while before it's time to go back home."

Harry left for the cottage about an hour ahead of the kids, Ron, and Percy, so that they could play a little longer while he started getting dinner ready for the twelve kids and ten adults that would be coming for the evening.

While he worked, he had time to think about what he'd learned from looking into the minds of Dirk Avery's parents. The Ministry of Magic kept watch over every former Death Eater. Harry had enough connections to know what was going on at any time with them. He knew that they got together and mostly whined and complained, but there hadn't been any real plotting and scheming reported. What they were planning now, though, was obviously the beginning of a new plan to regain power..

The question was, what he should do about it. He could tip off the Aurors, but he really had no proof, and while they tried to gather that evidence, Scorpius could be at risk, not to mention the danger to the Aurors themselves.

He continued to consider all of his options, and by the time the kids, Ron, and Percy got back to the cottage, he'd decided what he was going to do. With that worked out, he put the matter aside again, and went back to enjoying the time with his family.

They had dinner outdoors, and afterward, played a couple of Quidditch matches, and then a game of LaserBroom at dusk. The kids were all playing LaserBroom when Harry asked for all of the adults to go with him into the cottage.

When they'd all taken seats in the sitting room, he told them about what he'd found out at King's Cross Station. Percy was the first one to respond to his news.

"We need to get the Aurors involved," he told the others. "I'm not going to let anything happen to that boy as long as he's in our care!"

Harry smiled at his brother-in-law. "I've considered that option, Percy, but I don't want to put anyone else in danger, and I doubt we could keep Scorpius safe while the Ministry tries to put together a case against Lucius and the others. We are – or more specifically - I am going to do something else instead, and put an end to this foolishness before it goes any farther."

"What do you have in mind, Harry," Percy asked him, not sure if this was going to be something he wanted to hear.

"I'm going to go over there tonight, and crash the little meeting they're going to be having shortly," he told Percy. He watched as everyone else looked at him with concern and worry. "Then I'm going to convince them to stop."

"That's your plan?" Penelope said incredulously. "Did you hit your head today, or do you need one of us to do it for you and knock some sense into it?"

Harry laughed. "No, I'm fine, but thanks for the offer." He looked around at everyone. "This isn't anything that you need to worry about. I can handle this. I just wanted to let you know where I'll be for a while, and I also want you all to stay here just in case there's anything I haven't found out about yet."

Ginny nodded, while the rest of them still looked unconvinced.

Harry stood up. "Look, I'm sure there's probably nothing to worry about here, but I just want to make sure that Scorpius is well protected while I'm away. It shouldn't take me more than an hour or two to explain things to them."

"I don't like this at all," Hermione told him flatly. "If you insist on dealing with them directly, we should all go."

There were several nods of agreement.

"I don't want to start a war, Hermione, and you know I can protect myself, but even I'd be pressed to keep all of us safe. I'm sure this can be ended without anyone getting hurt. If it turns out I'm wrong, then we'll end this the hard way – for them, that is." He looked around at them one last time. "One way or the other, though, Percy is right. We're not going to let anything happen to Scorpius. I'm sure that the best and safest way to keep him safe is for me to do this tonight."

Ginny stood up too. "Come on," she told her brothers, sisters-in-law, Lisa, and Marcus. "Let's go play with the kids while Harry deals with this little irritation. We don't have to like it much, but he is right."

The others all got up too.

"I'll be out in a minute," she added as they all started leaving for the back yard.

She and Harry both went upstairs, and he went into James' room, where he retrieved his cloak from his son's trunk.

Ginny smiled at him. "How did he get that?"

"Al gave it to him. He uses it when he's stopping the bullies at school."

She nodded. "They're going to worry about you the whole time, you know - and so will I."

"Yeah, but this will be easier and safer for everyone if I do it alone."

She nodded and hugged him tight. "I know. You be careful."

Harry looked into her eyes, and then kissed her tenderly. "I will be. I love you, Ginny Potter."

"I love you too, Harry," she told him, squeezing him tight one last time before letting him go.

To avoid having the kids see him leave, he kissed Ginny once more, put his cloak on, and was gone. Ginny hugged herself for a moment, then pasted a smile on her face, and went outside to pretend, along with the other adults, that everything was fine, and that Harry was not going into the dragon's lair to deal with the stubborn remnants of the Death Eaters. That he was going to do that to defend the son of another former Death Eater from the hands of the boy's own grandfather was a very strange twist of fate.