Ch 17 The Day After
Minor changes by Deb, my beta, this time.
(Thursday morning) May 5
It was one in the morning, and Ginny Potter could not get to sleep. Harry would come back frustrated, needing to talk. He was also going to need some loving or he wasn't going to be able to go to sleep.
Ginny giggled. Harry was a good lover, and usually took his time playing with all the parts of her body that turned her on, which was pretty much all of her. Harry was small and not particularly muscular, but he was FIT. All her brothers were a little thick around the middle, Ron more than a little thick, but the exercise program that Harry had instituted for Aurors had kept him thin in the middle and very fit. He was a good person too, and usually took his time pleasing her.
Tonight would be about Harry, though.
Ginny felt down her body, from her breasts to her tummy to her hips. She was far from fit. All her mother's ancestors had put on weight when they had become mothers, and she sure had. The potions that were supposed to make her curvier had worked too well. She was actually a little thinner in the middle, although she was far from thin. When she was at the end of her pregnancy with Minerva she was too big on top, and Harry could still get lost in her ample bosom. Of course more of the extra weigh went to her already substantial hips. She would lose some of the excess on top when she stopped nursing, but she LIKED nursing. It was complex with her schedule, and it could get messy at times, but it felt good. She guessed it was more of the excess of femininity that she shared with her mother. Minerva liked to nurse, even though she was drinking from a cup. Harry liked her breasts, and gladly helped her empty them when intercourse would make them squirt.
Ginny guessed, was reasonably sure after all these years of marriage, that intercourse tonight would be a little frantic, with her working to please Harry. It wasn't the same as Harry taking his time. The pleasure was different. It was the satisfaction of knowing that after intercourse, after love making, that it was making love to Harry letting him, helping him, climax and then relax and go to sleep,
Harry arrived home well after one in the morning, exhausted and frustrated.
"Albus and his friends found the Chamber of Secrets," Harry complained as he sat at the end of the bed, his head in his hands, "and instead of immediately calling for help, went in. Scorpius, with Albus's help, killed six basilisk. Damn it all, they should have called for help as soon as they could see that door starting to open. I don't like heroics. Too many people get hurt or killed."
Harry rubbed his face and started to undress.
"Take a quick shower and come to bed, Harry," Ginny suggested as she moved behind him and rubbed his shoulders. She was worried about Albus and his friends, too, but there was nothing she could do about them at the moment. What she could do is take care of Harry, and as wound up as he was, sleep would not come easily.
Harry took his shower, and walked into the bedroom naked. Ginny was naked, with the bed coverings at the bottom of the bed. Harry climbed into the bed and put his head between Ginny's breasts. She held him, and they turned so they were side by side. He moved up, kissing her, and she responded. Harry felt Ginny's soft, feminine shape, and started to relax. Most of him relaxed; his man parts were rather excided.
Ginny guided him into her, and he did his best to please her, trying to hold off but climaxing too soon. Well, Ginny thought, if it was too soon for an orgasm at least she had enough of a climax to sleep herself. That's all she needed tonight, to know that Harry was going to be able to go to sleep.
"That was fantastic, Harry," Ginny moaned. "That's what you and I needed. Relax, sleep."
Ginny went to sleep satisfied, knowing that Harry had relaxed, and was sleeping.
Despite the short night sleep, Harry was up early and in the office before the start of the normal work day. The first thing he did was call Cindy Base Hudson, the publicist that the Ministry, especially Harry, regularly used.
"I'm guessing something bad happened at Hogwarts, Harry," Cindy guessed.
"I am going to take you and Henry there, and tell you the story," Harry explained. "We need to frame the story a certain way. Come to the office, and we will go to Hogwarts together."
Harry and the Hudsons' took a Floo to the Hogsmeade branch of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Ron more or less ran the store, although he had plenty of help when students were there on Hogsmeade weekends and holidays. There was almost always a clerk at the store, so Ron was free to leave if he had to. There was also a small Department of Magic Law Enforcement/Auror office separate from the store but attached. There were two Department of Magical Law Enforcement officers, a husband and wife, who lived in Hogsmeade and manned the office, although usually it was empty as the DMLE officers patrolled and talked to the inhabitants of the village and the shop keepers. The store and DMLE office shared a restricted Floo connection.
Harry and the Hudsons were met by Ron and the DMLE couple. "What happened at Hogwarts, Harry?" Ron demanded. "I know it is big or you would not have had your team here last night. No one will say anything."
"I had to notify the parents first," Harry explained. "I've told you about Tom Riddle Handley disappearing, and also about trying to find a second way into the Chamber of Secrets. It looks like TR Handley had found a second way in, and was raising basilisks. We are reasonably sure he wanted to kill people he did not consider pure, but instead killed himself, his sister, and two other students."
"Was Rose involved?" Ron snapped.
"Do you have time to come with us?" Harry inquired. "I am going to tell the whole story to the Hudson's, and you can hear it at the same time."
"Just a moment," Ron replied. He pulled out his Magic/Muggle mobile and placed a call. "Hi, Angelina. Can you meet with those vendors from China without me today? … I should be back after lunch, so if they are not coming until noon just have lunch with them, and I should see you right after lunch. … Auror business. I will tell you about it later."
Ron turned to Harry and told him, "I am free until right after lunch."
Harry and his entourage met the DMLE officer stationed at the Hogsmeade gate to Hogwarts, and she promptly let all of them in. Harry explained about TR Handley and their suspicions as they entered the castle and went down towards the Slytherin dormitory. Harry explained what had happened as Henry took photographs of the doorway and corridor, and of Harry telling the story of what had happened to Cindy.
"I would like to get photographs of the students," Henry told Harry. "It would be good to get photographs of the open door as well."
"I hate to get them out of classes," Harry replied. "I know the Auror department has some you could use. I have no idea how to get that door open again, but the Auror department has photographs of the open door, and of some of what is inside."
"It sounds like Scorpius is the real hero of this story," Cindy remarked.
"It took all three of them, Albus, Cleo, and Scorpius, to kill the basilisk, but it is fine to portray Scorpius as the hero," Harry agreed. "The most important thing, as far as I am concerned, is to portray Tom Riddle Hanley as the villain. He is the one responsible for the deaths of his sister and the other two, plus the deaths of the centaurs. Who knows how many Magi he was planning to kill, planning to have the basilisks kill? I would like the story to read 'TR Hadley was obviously planning on having the basilisks kill a large number of innocent people, but his dastardly plan backfired on him, and he ended up killing his self, his sister, and the children of two other prominent families."
"Sympathy for his family?" Cindy asked.
"Sympathy for the other two families," Harry argued. "I do not think this plot started and ended with TR Handley. I do not want any quotes from me, but I would not mind if people started to question what Niles Handley knew about what his son was doing."
"A job for Rita Skeeter?" Cindy wondered.
Harry smiled, but did not say anything.
Mid-morning Harry met with Gray and Lavender (Brown) Blackburn back at his office in the Ministry.
"There is a streak of meanness in some of the old families," Lavender explained. "I've seen just enough evidence to guess that six of the families have something going on that causes the men to be mean, and not to value lives other than the lives of a few so called pure blooded families. The male heirs do not always seem to be affected by it when they first enter Hogwarts, but if they are not mean when they enter Hogwarts, by the middle of their years there something changes. If I had to guess, the families include a branch of the Bulstrode, Hanley, Lestrange, Malfoy, Rosier and Yaxley families. Not all of the members, either. Just one branch, usually the oldest male branch.
"Tabitha did not know much more than she told you. She knew her son was involved in some plot, and that basilisks were involved. She had heard something about the Chamber of Secrets, but was not sure if TR had found a way in. She is reasonably sure that Niles is more involved than he will admit, but she says that Niles keeps plenty of secrets from her.
"Niles mostly let Tabitha raise the children when they were little, but he has dominated them all. He has not been real mean, but I do not gather it is the most loving family either. Niles is beyond furious now. We gave Tabitha a Personal Protective Elf to stay with her for the time being."
Harry was reasonably sure there was some big, not nice, secret that those six families were hiding, but he had not been able to figure out what it was.
"What happened last night?" Patty Finnigan asked Cleo and Rose as the girls arose Thursday morning. "We heard all sorts of wild stories."
"We found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets," Cleo casually announced.
"Scorpius Malfoy killed six basilisks!" Rose breathlessly proclaimed. "They were HUGE, two to three meters long at least, and this big around."
Rose used her hands to make a circle about eight to ten inches (twenty to twenty-five centimeters) in diameter. "He killed them, but not before they killed TR and Bellatrix Handley, Archana Lucy and Tom Higgy. Were they killed Saturday, the day they disappeared? You were in with the Aurors, Cleo."
"They think so," Cleo replied, thinking that the basilisk, although big, were not quite as big as Rose was describing them. Cleo continued, thinking about the horrible shape of the four bodies, "The Aurors thought they had been dead about that long. They sure smelled awful! All four of the Slytherin students had been partially eaten as well. It was a terrible scene."
Rose explained, "They should not have smelled that bad, but basilisk have something in their venom to rot meat quickly."
"Was it exciting, Cleo, Rose?" Hanna wondered.
"At first it was just Albus and Scorpius in the corridor, because only Slytherin students could get in, except for Cleo," Rose answered. "Cleo, how come you could go in? You were the only person not in Slytherin who could go in."
"I was with Albus," Cleo remarked, as if that would explain it, which it didn't.
Rose continued, "They were not in the corridor very long before Scorpius chased a basilisk out of the corridor, cut off its tail, then cut off its head. The basilisk bit him, but Albus had the phoenix come and heal the bite."
Rose continued to talk a little about the previous night as Gryffindor students went to breakfast. Cleo seemed reluctant to say much more.
"What happened last night?" John Nott asked Albus and Scorpius as the students in the Slytherin second year boys' dormitory were getting ready to go to breakfast. "Before I could see anything we were sent back into the dormitory and told not to leave. Did you really find a way into the Chamber of Secrets? Did you find Tom and Bellatrix, Archana, Tom Higgy?"
"We think the passage we found is a way into the Chamber of Secrets," Albus confirmed. "Your father said it looked like the description of the Chamber he had read about."
"My father was there?" John shrieked. "How come he didn't see me?"
"We were pretty busy," Albus replied. "Only Slytherins' seem to be able to get into the corridor, and so your dad was the lead Auror."
"Did you REALLY kill a basilisk with a sword?" Mack Goyle yelled, swinging his arms around like he was wielding a sword. "That must have been wicked exciting!"
Scorpius admitted, "It was six basilisks actually, and it was terrifying."
"You are better than Snakeslayer Longbottom," Mack proclaimed. "He only killed one snake. Where did you get the sword?"
"Thorin loaned it to me," Scorpius explained as the boys left the dormitory. "From what I understand the snake that Professor Longbottom killed was huge. These were just little snakes, well not that little but not huge either."
By this time most of the Slytherin students were out in the corridor heading towards the Great Hall and breakfast.
"MAKE WAY FOR SNAKESLAYER MALFOY," Mack yelled.
"This is really embarrassing," Scorpius whispered to Albus, as more of the Slytherin students took up the chant. Other students were talking among themselves, trying to figure out what was going on. By the time the bulk of the Slytherin students were in the Great Hall most of them had heard some version of the story. When Scorpius sat down someone started to applaud, and the chanting died down as most of the Slytherin students applauded.
Professor McGonagall stood up and asked for quiet. "You are probably wondering what happened last night," she started. "It appears that Tom Hadley found a way into the Chamber of Secrets. He was raising basilisks in the chamber. Over the weekend it appears he took his sister Bellatrix into the chamber, along with Archana Lucy and Tom Higgy.
"Last night Cleopatra Smith and the Elf Galadriel found the entrance into the chamber. Albus, Cleopatra and Scorpius went into the chamber, Scorpius with the Sword of Gryffindor, and Scorpius did kill six basilisks. We called in the Aurors, and they found the bodies of TR Handley, his sister Bellatrix, Archana Lucy and Tom Higgy.
"I want to emphasize that as soon as Albus and his friends found a doorway that started to open they should have called for help. I do not want any students going around trying to be heroic. We lost too many heroes during the last war, many of them my friends, good people.
"The entrance to the Chamber is guarded. Only Slytherin students should go to their dormitory until further notice, and Slytherin students should not go past the entrance to their dormitory to get close to the entrance."
Scorpius and Albus had a hard time finishing their breakfast as one student after another tried to talk to them.
At lunch Al, Cleo and Scorpius were told they were going to eat with a guest in a private dining room. Rose followed Cleo, and was allowed to eat with the group. Lavender Brown Blackburn met with the group. "I understand that Delores Handley knew something about the Chamber of Secrets and the basilisks," she started.
"She was as far away from the corridor as she could have been, and still see what was going on," Rose remarked. "She seemed to know how many basilisks there were. She was ready to tell us more, I think, until her little brother Lucius told her to shut up."
Lavender talked to the students about the dynamics of Slytherin as they ate their lunch. When they were finished Lavender told the students not to talk to anyone about what they said in their meeting. Lavender then found Delores, told her she was going to be excused from class, and spent the afternoon talking to her.
Thursday right after lunch Harry and Minerva met at the door to the Chamber of Secrets.
"I want to look at what is beyond this door Saturday, when students and staff can help," Harry said. "I would like to find a way through those wards."
"I am not sure who can open that doorway," Minerva observed. "We do know that Albus and his friends can."
"It looks like Albus and his friends are going to have to be involved, then," Harry sighed. "I had hoped that none of my children would have to be involved with adventures like I was, not dangerous ones." Minerva patted him on the shoulder in sympathy.
Thursday afternoon Cindy appeared on the Wizarding Wireless Network and Wizarding Television Network, breaking into the regular programming. She read from a prepared statement.
"There have been student deaths at Hogwarts.
"Tom Riddle Hanley was an eighth year student at Hogwarts. He had been disappearing for significant periods of time, and now it appears that he had found a secret entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, the private area Salazar Slytherin made for himself. Tom was apparently using the Chamber of Secrets to raise six basilisks. People who know him guess that he wanted the basilisks to kill Muggle born and others he did not consider 'pure.'
"Tom, his sister Bellatrix, and two other students, Archana Lucy and Tom Higgy, apparently went into the Chamber of Secrets with him sometime last Saturday. They were discovered dead last night, when Albus Potter and his friends found the secret entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Scorpius Malfoy, with the help of Albus Potter, used the Sword of Gryffindor to kill all six of the basilisk.
"The investigation into what happened is still ongoing. If you have any information concerning this incident, or what else TR Hadley and the others were trying to do, please contact the Department for Magical Law Enforcement."
The Evening Prophet and the Wizarding Television Network carried the story with photographs of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. They also had a photograph of Scorpius Malfoy with the Sword of Gryffindor and a dead basilisk.
Thursday late in the afternoon Harry was in his office when he was told that they had released Niles and Tabitha Hanley, and conveyed the bodies of their oldest children to them. Harry was told that Niles was furious when he realized that Tabitha had a Personal Protective Elf with her. At a meeting afterwards the people who had tried to get information from Niles told everyone that Niles was not telling them anything. Lavender told the group, "Tabitha does not know much. She knew that Tom, with the support of Niles, was planning something, and that it involved a secret room or chamber and the basilisks. Tabitha was scared of Tom trying to work with or control basilisks, but she is afraid of her husband, and could not say anything that could be interpreted as going against him.
"This afternoon I talked spent some time with Delores Handley, their daughter. She did have more information about what her older brother was doing. She is very upset with her father and everyone in the family except her mother. We may have to provide Tabitha and Delores safe housing."
"When he was detained I told Niles that he was off the Hogwarts board," Harry told the group. "Minerva and I have asked Theodore Nott to take his place, and Ted agreed. I thought Niles would turn into a basilisk when I told him he was off the board. He has just lost two children, and I'm having a very hard time feeling sorry for him."
"Niles is not a nice person," Gary Blackburn agreed. "Like you, Harry, I cannot prove it, but I am almost certain that Niles knew what his son was doing."
Ginny and Lily Luna were in the kitchen talking to the Elf Mabel about dinner, when Harry came home via the Closet Network. Harry stormed out of the closet, slamming the door, a little of the green powder that the Floo Network and the Closet Network shared floating into the air.
"Niles Hanley," Harry groused. "I wish I had Al VanLente's vocabulary of swear words to describe the son of a boggart."
Ginny laughed, remembering the extensive vocabulary of swear words that the head of the International Aurors possessed.
Harry found himself laughing, despite his frustration.
"Did slamming the door help, Harry, Dear?" Ginny asked sweetly, her intentions broadcast by the big smirk on her lips.
Lily Luna added, "I know some swear words, if you want some help."
"I can see the headlines from Rita Skeeter now," Harry theorized. "Head Auror goes to his ten-year-old daughter for critical help when his urgently needed supply of swear words ran out."
Harry looked at his daughter. "Where did you learn swear words, Lily Luna Potter?"
"Oh, I have LOTS of older cousins, daddy. Besides, Fred Weasley's wife Miriam told me what she was saying as she was giving birth to Barack. I know swear words in two African languages."
Harry put his head in his hands. It was good to be home, with people who didn't take him too seriously.
"Did you see Albus today?" Ginny wondered, when the laughter died down.
"No, but Minerva and I are going to have to get the help of Albus and his friends to open that door again," Harry replied. "I told him yesterday that I do NOT want him opening that door until I have a full contingent of adults around."
"Albus is usually careful," Ginny reassured Harry. "I sure do not want any of our children to have to go through the things we did when we went to Hogwarts."
"We do not always get what we want," Harry observed, as the door to the Closet Network opened and Miriam walked out, a baby in each arm.
"I'm returning Minerva," Miriam said as she handed baby Minerva to Harry. Barack lunged for Harry as well, but Miriam held on tightly to her son.
"Da Da Da Da," Minerva squealed in delight. Looking at Lily, "Li Li Li Luuu."
"How quickly they forget the mother who bore then and fed them," Ginny mockingly complained to Miriam.
Minerva wiggled to get down, stood looking at the table, and then quickly crawled over to the table. Standing up, she looked at her mother and said, "EEEE."
Ginny lifted her up into a high chair and gave her a teething biscuit.
"I understand you helped Lily expand her repertoire of swear words, Miriam," Harry interjected.
Miriam just grinned. "See you Sunday morning?" Miriam asked.
"As far as I know," Ginny confirmed, as Miriam took her leave of the Potters.
Harry looked at his three girls, content. It was good to be home.
2020