Ch 33 The end of the summer 2019

Minor but significant rewrites and additions by Deb, and tweaks by Diane. Good beta readers are a blessing.

Thursday, August 15, Harry came home to Grimmauld Place to find Ginny sitting on the sofa looking exhausted as she had just arrived with the four girls. "Take your bathing costumes up to your bedrooms," she told the excited girls. "We will be at Potter's New Burrow tomorrow and all weekend. The weather is predicted to be great for swimming."

Rose and Cleo went into the Closet, because there was a door from both the Potter and the Granger-Weasley homes in it. Lily and Jane headed upstairs to their bedrooms.

"How was it shopping for bathing costumes for the girls?" Harry innocently asked.

Ginny rolled her eyes and spread her arms in an obvious sign of frustration. "The two little girls are reasonably easy. We purchased Jane another bathing costume, and like the one she already owns, it is a conservative one-piece. I had to insist that Lily needed a more conservative two-piece, not that she has anything to cover up.

"The older girls are another issue. They both wanted wand pockets; they are being very paranoid about always wanting to defend themselves, and I cannot complain about that. Rose has a hidden wand pocket under the built-in bra in her bathing costume. She is big enough on top, and the costume is conservative enough, that the wand pocket is hidden. With Rose everything has to be fashionable.

"Of course , Cleo wants pockets. She has a wand pocket and another pocket in the knickers in her bathing costume. The knickers part of her costume is big enough, and with spells you can minimize the pockets and make them waterproof, but the girl is obsessed over needing pockets.

"Rose is very conflicted about growing up. On one hand, she wants to be stylish and feminine. On the other hand, she doesn't want to show too much. She has a great figure for a young girl, but she doesn't want to draw too much attention to her bottom. She insists that the bottom has a skirt so it does not look like a pair of knickers. I think she learned about sex too early, reading about it, and is just getting over how physical and messy it can be.

Harry came over and sat next to Ginny and pulled her into his side as she sighed and continued, "Cleo does not seem to mind showing her body. She settled on a two-piece with knickers that covers her bottom. It doesn't hide the little belly, but she just sighs and says, 'I'm a little fat.' She isn't really fat, just a little heavy, but Astoria and the grandmothers at the Malfoy Mansion have just been nasty about her appearance. Cleo is really big on top as well. The top part of her costume is basically a really good bra, one that shows a reasonable amount of cleavage. It has excellent support spells, which she needs. I tried to suggest something a little more conservative, but it didn't work. The most frustrating thing about shopping for Cleo is that she ends up looking more maternal than like a young girl. There is some magic at work there, and I am not sure I like it.

"We are having dinner here with the children living in our house, and Hermione and Ron are having dinner with the three children living at their house."

"I'm going over to practice some spells with Albus," Cleo told the family after a dinner with the Granger-Weasley family that same evening.

"I'm going back to the Hogsmeade store to close up," Ron explained. "Hugo, do you want to come with me?"

"Sure," Hugo replied. The two left the dining room laughing about something or other.

When the other people were gone, Hermione noticed a glum look on Rose's face.

"Is something the matter, Rose?" Hermione wondered.

"We purchased new bathing costumes today," Rose grumbled.

"Don't you like yours?"

"Did you get embarrassed when your body started to change?" Rose wondered.

Hermione nodded and smiled, "It is not like your body has just started to change." Hermione proposed and motioned Rose into the living room to talk.

When they got settled, Rose began, "Yes, but I'm bigger on top. Not like Cleo or Victoire, but mine have begun to stick out." Rose pointed to her breasts, which although not large were definitely there. "People look at them. Boys look at them.

"I like fashionable clothes, and part of that is emphasizing your feminine figure, and that is all right, but when you have a dress on you at least have a bra on underneath, but some of the bathing costumes are so thin on top they show everything, and then when you bump up against someone."

Rose gave her mother a morose look.

"Is that all, or is more going on?" Hermione wondered.

"We start dancing lessons this year, and to dance a boy has to hold you, touch you. Not chest to chest, not in dancing lessons." Rose grinned an ashamed grin and Hermione gave a small 'ah'. "Cleo is so big that Albus is almost going to have to bump up against her breasts. I do not think either of them are going to mind, but I'm just not ready to press my breast up against any boy."

"Do you know who is going to be your dance partner?" Hermione asked.

"No," Rose admitted with a frown. "Scorpius seems to have a girlfriend, and I do not think I want to dance with him. If I did people would say we were boyfriend and girlfriend, and I don't want that.

"When did you and dad go from being friends to being boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"I'm not sure, really," Hermione replied. "Our first kiss was at the Battle of Hogwarts, if you can believe it, and we worked on figuring it out after that. Uncle Harry, your father and I were best friends, but as soon as Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry began dating we knew she was the girl for him. I never liked Uncle Harry in any romantic way. He is still a great friend."

"Would you have liked to become boyfriend and girlfriend earlier?" Rose wondered.

"Well, it would have been awkward the year we were on the run and living in a tent together," Hermione suggested. "I never quite knew what to make of your father when we were at Hogwarts, I had a huge crush on him 6th year when he began dating Lavender Brown. We are still very different, but we have become good at putting up with each other. Your father and I have just had to work harder at being happily married than some couples."

"I've noticed," Rose groused. "You and dad run hot and cold. Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny have a hard time not touching and being too romantic."

Hermione grimaced at her daughter's description of Ron and her relationship. They were a lot better than they were at Hogwarts, trying to keep the bickering to a minimum, but it was hard, Ron could be so…. And she could… she was a bit embarrassed at how much the kids noticed and vowed to have a talk with Ron (and Hugo) to try and talk and not bicker so much.

Sunday, August 24, 2019. Ginny was in the garden area between Grimmauld Place and NewBright Street, enjoying being outside. Since Magi had purchased all the properties between Grimmauld Place and NewBright Street the garden area had been treated as common property, to the benefit and delight of almost all the residents. Some residents did have plantings or patios that were private, but there were no walls between the back garden areas.

The whole area was in some magical way climate controlled. Ginny had occasionally seen the HVAC (Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning) units being installed as properties were being upgraded, but she had no idea how much of what they did was Muggle and how much was magical. Harry had admitted that he had no idea either.

Albus, Rose, Scorpius and Cleopatra were swinging on a large swing set in an area that had become a playground. They were acting like the adolescents they were. Ginny sighed. That four were being forced to grow up too fast. They had spent hours each week practicing Defense against the Dark Arts, mostly dueling. They were all very worried about being attack, with good reason.

Ginny wished she could swing on one of the swings, but her balance would not allow it. Every time she began to feel sorry for herself, however, she realized how truly lucky she was. She was part of a large and loving family. Her children were healthy. She loved her job. She had household help, so she never had to do the work that so consumed her mother when Ginny was growing up. Between the children, taking care of the house and the farm, Ginny thought her mother was always working as Ginny was growing up. When Ginny graduated from Hogwarts she had household help, and she could not remember the last time she did laundry, or had to do a thorough cleaning of the house. She had never had any intense desire to cook, although she could, so to the delight of Mabel, Ginny let the house elf do most of the cooking.

Ginny liked her job, and when she was not working, or taking care of Minerva, she was free to do what she wanted. This afternoon Ginny was just sitting down watching children. Minerva was playing in the toddler play area with a slightly older girl, and the other girl's mother was watching them as they ran and climbed, active as only toddlers could be.

Ginny looked at the four older children again. They were growing up too fast, and part of that was physically maturing. Magi did mature a little faster than Muggles, but usually that was only a year or a year and a half earlier. Ginny knew that by thirteen most of the Hogwarts students were closer to three years ahead of Muggles, more like Muggle sixteen year olds, which was worrying. No one had been able to figure out why; it wasn't like that in other magical schools. There were a few parts of the magical world where children matured faster than usual, but that was rare.

Ginny spotted the three Dursley children coming towards her and smiled at them. Perri, the oldest, who would be going to Hogwarts the year after Lily and Hugo, waved. "Hello, Aunt Ginny. Harry and Violet are going to play, but I am meeting Tim Granger and we are going to the workshop."

Ginny knew that Harry Vernon Dursley was two years younger than Periwinkle Pansy (Perri), and that Violet Veronica was two years younger than her brother. Belinda Dursley followed her children, and sat down next to Ginny. Ginny still had to look up to her; Belinda was over six-foot and substantial, both muscular and well filled out, and all of her and Dudley's children were tall for their age.

From the other direction twenty-year-old Tim Granger came striding up. "Hello Mrs. Potter, Mrs. Dursley," he politely greeted the two older women. "I am going to meet Mr. Dursley in the workshop. I am trying to decide if I want to study more magic at Hogwarts, or work for Mr. Dursley at Dursley Potter and Weasley LTD. The machines Mr. Dursley has in his workshop are really fascinating."

"I'm going with Tim," Perri announced. "I am going to go to MIT or some other world class engineering school when I grow up."

Tim waved to Scorpius. It was common knowledge that Scorpius and Timothy shared a father, that Tim was the product of Draco's dalliance with a prostitute. When Lilly Evans had been able to escape from the man holding her hostage and prostituting her, she married Henry Granger, the man who owned several buildings at the opposite end of the street from Dudley.

Ginny spotted Lilly and Henry Granger and the three children Henry fathered. Ginny knew that Lilly was volunteering at the Harry and Ginny Potter Foundation, helping Fleur, and for the Domestic Affairs Department. The two adults sat down as their younger children went to play.

Harry finally came out, holding a tablet and a parchment. "Draco will not use Muggle technology," Harry groused. "I'd give Narcissa a Magic/Muggle Mobil except Draco will not allow it in the house.

"Scorpius and Cleo have to go back to Malfoy Manor tomorrow. They need to spend a week there, and Monday to Sunday September first is seven days, even if two of them are only partial days."

"Petunia Dursley still wants nothing to do with magic," Belinda complained. "Dudley tries to see his mother every month, but the children and I only see her a couple of times a year. She has not been to our house since the day we buried Vernon."

Lilly wondered, "Do you have family you visit, Belinda?"

"We try to spend a couple of weeks with my extended family in California every year," Belinda explained. "All the children have stayed an extra week or two on occasion. Most of my family have been over here as well. Even though Petunia lives not that far away from us, the children are much closer to their Shashaguay relatives."

Monday, August 28, Scorpius and Cleopatra went back to Malfoy Manor.

"You need to be there before noon, to spend over half a day there, for it to count," Ginny informed the two, as they were standing before the Potter's Floo at Grimmauld Place. Albus and Rose waved good bye.

Scorpius went first, dragging a wheeled suitcase behind. Cleo followed, also with a wheeled suitcase. They entered through the formal Floo in the entry hall of Malfoy Manor. Narcissa Malfoy greeted them warmly, wearing what could have been an only slightly old-fashion dress. Scorpius was dressed in khaki slacks and a polo shirt. Cleo wore three-quarter length slacks tight around her bottom, with pockets of course, and a thin short sleeve blouse with a moderately high neckline. You could see the outline of her bra through the blouse, but she was conservatively dressed. Draco was in robes, and looked over the two children with distain. "We dress in robes in THIS house," Draco sneered. "We do not show undergarments either."

Cleo started to respond, but after looking at Mrs. Narcissa Malfoy, who gave her a small shake of the head, decided that Draco, Mr. Malfoy, was not worth the effort.

Scorpius levitated his suitcase up to his bedroom and enlarged it, and found some everyday robes. It just was not worth fighting with his father and mother, and enduring the looks of his grandmothers.

Cleo enlarged her suitcase until it was almost a walk-in closet. Girls needed more clothes, more types of cloths, she thought. At least Rose was trying to teach her how to dress.

Cleo looked at her selection of bras. She did have some she wore when they were exercising, when they were practicing dueling, that held her in and didn't let her wiggle. That just wasn't her, usually. She was somewhat heavy, and all her parts wiggled when she moved, and that was just her. Cleo put on a three-quarters bra that held her up mostly with spells, but let her wiggle. Seeing her move would drive Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy crazy. She put on a short sleeved dress that came to just above her knees, and had a square neckline that showed the start of her breasts. It was tight under her breasts until her natural waist, showing the belly. She was heavier than young Mrs. Malfoy, but so were most women who had become mothers. Cleo did not have the figure of the young, thin teen-age girls. Her hips wiggled when she walked as well, and the dress did nothing to hide the wiggle. There were spells to exaggerate the back and forth motion of the skirt when she walked, and she liked using them.

Cleo moved her wand, handkerchiefs, and her Magic/Muggle Mobil to the pockets in her dress, plus a book she was reading, and did the spell that would hide most of the stuff in her pockets. The Muggle part of the phone would not work at Malfoy Manor, but the magical text messaging would. After their experience with the knight bus at the start of the summer, Cleo wanted to be able to get in touch with Albus and other people. Albus told her that there was plenty of money available to pay for a mobile, so they purchased a top of the line model for her.

Cleo bounced down stairs, aware that her movements would probably cause problems. She didn't care. She looked at Mr. Malfoy staring at her. Mr. Malfoy would stare at her figure, caught between lust and embarrassment.

"Those are not robes!" Astoria yelled.

"It is a dress, Mrs. Malfoy," Cleo responded. "Right now dresses and skirts are all the rage. Everybody wears Muggle clothes in Switzerland, and most do at the Ministry here in Great Britain. We were able to see a dresser in Switzerland, and they recommended several dresses and other clothing combination. Theysay this is a nice dress appropriate for my figure and age. Even Grandmother Malfoy is wearing a dress, a very pretty dress. Besides, Mr. Malfoy likes staring at me when I am dressed like this."

Astoria stared at Draco, who looked away from Cleo and stared at his wife. Astoria muttered, "mudbloods" under her breath.

Narcissa insisted that they sit down and eat.

Meals were tense affairs, and Scorpius and Cleo usually hid in their rooms between meals. They did study their textbooks. Scorpius did find a couple of books in the library that he read. He wanted to duplicate one, but he did not have the skill to duplicate it.

Thursday after breakfast Draco told Scorpius, "You are coming with me today."

"Where are we going, and why?" Scorpius asked.

"I need to teach you some things Malfoy men need to know," Draco replied as he dragged Scorpius into his office.

Cleo ran up to her bedroom, and took out the map of Malfoy Manor she had been given. She saw Draco and Scorpius in the office, and then disappear. She tried to analyze what she saw, but she could not. It was almost like they had a Floo in that room, but she knew, after talking to Mr. Potter when she was given the map, that if there was a Floo it was not connected to the Floo network.

Draco and Scorpius were back before dinner, but Scorpius was just recovering from something and kept quiet at the meal. The next morning Scorpius told Cleo, "I have no memory at all of yesterday."

"This is not the first time your father has taken you someplace, and we do not know where or what you do," Cleo reminded Scorpius. "We need to tell Mr. Potter as soon as we can."

"I am sure we can arrange a meeting as soon as we are back at Hogwarts," Scorpius replied.

2020