Ch 33 A Vacation after Christmas
For all the talk of Lily being Ivana's sister, on Tuesday Lily and James went over to the Lionheart house in the morning, leaving Ivana to play with Minerva. Ivana really didn't mind. "Lily can be rather intense when she is talking about Quidditch," she told Ginny. "I like playing Quidditch, but I don't want to become a professional. It is fun being Minerva's big sister."
The oldest two Lionheart children were back with James and Lily right after lunch. "Mum's in full grandmother mode," Erica told Ginny. "All three of Tabitha's daughters are at our house, and we cannot concentrate with an eight, six, and four-year-old playing all over the house."
"May we use the dining room table, Mum?" James asked. "We are trying to figure out who to try and recruit for the Cannons, and how much we may have to pay them. Uncles Bill and Ron want a budget for player salaries."
Ginny gave her approval. She went up to checked in with Ivana, who was in Minerva's room playing with her. One floor down Albus and the band were practicing in the drawing room. Ginny thought that Rose and Scorpius were next door, probably using the large office on the top floor of thirteen Grimmauld Place. Ginny went up to her office, sat down, and thought.
Donna Lionheart already had three grandchildren. James was only a year and a half from graduating, and she had no doubts that James and Erica would marry as soon as they graduated. Albus was only a year behind. Bill Lionheart was also just a year behind, and he and James were naturals on the Quidditch field. James could not ask for a better field captain to his being the seeker.
The assumption was that Lily would marry Bill when she graduated. Ginny hoped Lily would wait that long. From what Ginny could see, Lily was already all too eager to let Bill into her knickers. At least there were spells at Hogwarts that kept witches from becoming pregnant, actually discouraged intercourse before sixteen. Mum and Minerva had put similar spells over the New Burrow property. She was going to have to think about having Lily take birth control potions once she was sixteen, except that would almost be like giving Lily permission …
It was not easy being a parent.
If they were going to have a family vacation, just their family, they were going to have to do something soon. The children were growing up too fast. Ginny really wanted just a little time with only her family, just James, Albus, Lily and Minerva, and of course Ivana, but none of the future in-laws.
She used her Magical/Muggle mobile and contacted Harry. "Free to talk?" she asked.
"Uncommonly quiet," Harry replied. "Come on over, and I will let Mary Lou know not to disturb us unless it is necessary."
"I will see you in a few," Ginny replied. She told Ivana she would be out for a little while, then told the band members.
"If I see Rose and Scorpius I will tell them," Albus confirmed.
Ginny told James and the Quidditch group, and then took the Floo to the Ministry, where she was greeted by, "Hello Mrs. Potter" and, "Hello Ginny" in about equal measure.
Mary Lou Creevey saw Ginny coming. "Do I need to charm a chair for Mitzi," she kidded.
"Hello, Mary Lou," Ginny laughed. "I'm just here to talk with Harry, thank you very much. Mitzi is going to be in with me."
"You don't talk when you are at home?" Mary Lou persisted.
"It can be a bit of a madhouse at home when all the children are home, and their friends are over, and everybody is busy," Ginny countered. "Albus is practicing with the band, and James and his friends are deep in some sort of plotting and planning. At least Ivana is taking care of Minerva."
"I hear you picked up another daughter, after Charlie died," Mary Lou noted. "I'm happy with our two. You are guardians of Teddy, so that makes six children now?"
"They are multiplying," Ginny admitted. "The older ones have serious girlfriends or boyfriends."
Harry was at the door to his office, and waved Ginny and Mitzi in.
"What is on your mind, Love," Harry wondered once he had closed the door.
"Our children are going to marry soon, and if we want a vacation with just our children we are going to have to do something soon."
"Teddy and Victoire are not going anywhere with us," Harry reflected. "You mean just James, Albus, Lily and Minerva?"
"Ivana too," Ginny replied. "Yes, just those four, five, without their, what is that Muggle term, significant others. Once they are married, even engaged maybe, we will either have the in-laws along or they will stay at home, and that's fine, but I would like just our family before it is too late."
"Are you worried about a grandchild coming a little too soon?" Harry pondered.
"I cannot ask, but I hope Erica starts on birth control potions before they become intimate," Ginny thought. "It is hard to imagine those two not marrying right after they graduate. Albus will hold off because he is noble, like you, but I'm not counting on Lily waiting."
Ginny went over what had happened so far during the day, and Harry could see what Ginny was talking about.
"Let me see if we can get away between Christmas and New Year," he suggested.
Harry asked Mary Lou, and she worked with a travel agent the Ministry had on staff. Within half an hour they had found an island in the Caribbean where they could stay at a magical resort from Monday afternoon December twenty-seventh until Friday morning December thirty-first.
The same morning Molly looked at the jumper she had knit for Ivana. It just was not right, now that Ivana was living with the Potters. She was contemplating the jumper when Victoire, carrying Maria Guadalupe, came into the kitchen, actually into the little sitting area that Molly and Arthur had right next to the kitchen. It was part of the wing of the house that included Arthur and Molly's bedroom, a moderate sized walk in closet, and the most luxurious bath Molly could imagine for herself.
Molly showed the jumper to Victoire, asking her, "How would you change this, now that Ivana is living with Ginny and Harry?"
Molly's jumpers may not have been the most stylish things, but they were hand made to reflect each individual, and no one would ever mistake who a jumper was knit for. Since Victoire had first made a jumper for her grandmother Molly she had been involved in the making of the jumpers.
Molly and Victoire spent most of the morning coming up with just the right design for the jumper. This year it was going to be very important that the jumper told the right story.
Just before lunch Caroline and Pippa came in through the Floo.
"How did it go?" Molly asked the pair.
"There is no question that we are needed," Caroline volunteered.
"It is somewhat of a disaster," Pippa noted, shaking her head.
"The older couple has two children, three grandchildren, great-grandchildren. I'm not sure how many descendants. None of them live in England," Caroline explained. "The wife has told her children that they were managing, but they were not. The husband is not in good physical or mental health, and the wife is overwhelmed trying to take care of him. She is not strong physically either. I'm not sure how strong she is mentally. She was so relieved when their daughter insisted that they needed help.
"They have a large house and enough property, but it looks like nothing has been maintained for months. The family was going to stay in the house, but it needs so much cleaning and arranging that everyone is staying at the Leaky this Christmas. Pippa and I can clean one of the bedrooms and get started right away, and the family is going to try and help over the next few days. Only the daughter can stay after Christmas, and she only for another week or so."
"I hate to leaveMaria," Pippa told Victoire, looking at the child who was playing on the floor, "but I'm not going to be able to be here much for a few weeks."
"I understand," Victoire replied. "We all have our challenges."
For the next few months Pippa would visit about once a week, for a couple of hours, just so Maria would not forget her.
Wednesday morning Ginny announced to the breakfast group that the Potter family was going to be on vacation for four days right after Christmas.
"Where do we stay?" Scorpius wondered. "Cleo can stay with Rose, but I'm not sure I can stay with Hugo."
"You probably ought to stay at Malfoy Manor," Harry told the two young Magi. "I know you need to spend a certain number of days there. I'm sure your grandmother, Scorpius, would like to have you around more. Maybe you can come over to our houses when we are back."
There was a good deal of grumbling, but that was what was eventually decided.
Molly Weasley arose early Christmas day. She detoured to the large living room to look at the ever expanding pile of jumpers. If the family continued to grow she was going to be very glad that Victoire had started to make them as well.
Molly sat and contemplated her growing family, and how the Christmas morning gathering was not going to include everyone as the generations kept getting larger. Bill and his family was in France, had been there since December twenty-second. They were going to go earlier except for Charlie. Appoline's mother and grandmother and Fleur's other relatives in France wanted to see everyone, and it was always a little awkward that Fleur and her family were never there Christmas day.
They were telling the relatives that Victoire was training to be a healer, which was true, and that she was unable to make it to France this year, which was also true, but of course hid that Teddy was back and Victoire was pregnant with Teddy's child and was nursing another one of Teddy's children.
Dominique was going to be there this morning with her husband, 'Frank' du la Fontaine. They were not eager to start a family, from what Molly could tell. Louis was also going to be there, without a girlfriend.
Percy and Audrey had also told Audrey's family that Christmas morning, actually Christmas day, was when they were going to the Weasley's. What was complicated was that Molly was married to Rich Hudson, and the Hudson family wanted to see Rich, Molly, and of course their children Kyle, two, and Scarlet, not yet six months. Molly knew that Rich and young Molly were spending as much time as they could with his family, and as little time as possible with Audrey's at times unpleasant family.
Lucy was bringing Bob Hudson along. That was awkward, them being best friends but not officially boyfriend and girlfriend. Bob was following in the footsteps of his parents, working part time as a reporter and photographer, and studying in Switzerland. Lucy was taking a couple of classes in Switzerland, the minimum she needed to say she was in school, but was really not focused on anything. Little Molly had been the fussy baby, but she had found herself. Grandmother Molly was worried about Lucy, with her lack of direction.
George's schedule was always somewhat difficult, because of the retail store. This year things had become even more complicated, because Fred II's wife Miriam's family was in England and would be until the end of December. The family was several generations large, and Miriam had a couple of siblings with children. Of course everyone wanted to visit with their son Barack, who was four, and their daughter Issa, who had been born in May of this year.
Roxanne was married to Frank Longbottom II. At least the Longbottom family was small, and they had no problem arranging their schedule around the Weasley's Christmas morning. Frank and Roxanne would be able to spend all day and more at the New Burrow with their two, their son Wilkie, two, and their daughter Irma, another baby born last summer. Frank was well into training to be an Auror. Roxanne had taken a few of the Auror courses, but she seemed more intent on making sure there was going to be another generation of Longbottom's.
Ron had the same problem as George with a retail schedule. Hermione made sure that, unless there was an emergency at the Ministry, they spent enough time at the New Burrow. Hermione's only family was her mother, who always came along with Hermione and the rest of the Granger-Weasley family.
Molly and Victoire had decided that this year they would make a jumper for Scorpius, with him and Rose being a couple. They would give it to him just before the children left for Hogwarts after the New Year.
As far as she knew Hugo did not have a serious girlfriend, although he was not very forthcoming about his love life.
Ginny's expanding family were another issue. James was almost certainly going to marry Erica Lionheart, but they were not engaged, and were really too young to become formally engaged. Molly thought it would probably happen next year, their seventh year, because at least James and possibly Erica would become professional Quidditch players the year they graduated. If it happened before Christmas they would give Erica a jumper, and Molly thought they would probably make one just in case, since James could propose Christmas week.
Albus and Cleo were a pair, and Molly had been making a jumper for Cleopatra for years.
Ivana's jumper had been remade to show she was part of the Potter family. Molly didn't know how Ginny had become mother hen to all these girls. Ginny was patient with Rose's clothes obsession, and the complexity of buying clothes for Cleo. She had taken Ivana along, since Charlie could not buy Ivana clothes, and of course she had to buy clothes for Lily as well. Ginny had never been very domestic, and she still was not, allowing the Elves to cook, clean, wash clothes, and do the domestic chores, but much to her surprise Ginny had been good at mothering her brood of teen-age girls.
And of course you could not forget little Minerva. Molly had to admit she was surprised when Ginny had been the witch with a fourth child. Maybe she should not have been. Ginny did play with her doll house, and after exciting adventures she always wanted to come back to Harry and the babies.
Molly thought Albus was Harry's charge. Unlike James and Lily, who could talk to Ginny about Quidditch for hours, Albus had other things on his mind, and Molly knew Albus and Harry spent a fair amount of time together.
Lily worried Molly for another reason. When she had become pregnant with Bill, her sixth year, Minerva McGonagall had explained the history of Molly's female ancestors, and how many of them had become pregnant before graduating from Hogwarts. Last year Molly and Minerva found the spells that were used to make sure that a witch under sixteen would not become pregnant at Hogwarts, and they used them on the New Burrow property. Molly had a hard time thinking that Lily would graduate from Hogwarts a virgin, unless Billy Lionheart had at least all the self-control of Harry.
Well, Victoire was coming down the stairs, and it was time for them to start on breakfast.
"How long is it going to take to get to the vacation island, Mum Ginny," Ivana asked. It was still strange to call Aunt Ginny, 'mum.'
"An hour to an hour and a half, depending on if a Closet is busy," Ginny replied. "Once in a while you have to wait to go from one Closet to another."
"So we will arrive about nine or ten in the morning?"
"More like three or three-thirty in the afternoon, because of the time difference," Albus volunteered. "We will only have about three and a half days' vacation."
"The resort was fully booked Christmas, and is for New Year as well," Harry explained. "We are lucky we were able to reserve these rooms on such short notice."
Harry checked his family into the hotel, including Mitzi, Dobedo, Frerin, Albus's Elf, and Jo and Mo, the family guard Elves. The American Department of Magical Law Enforcement had agreed to provide Auror and other DMLE guards for Harry and his family, but before allowing any of the family to leave their rooms Harry met with the head Auror on the island as well. It was dinner time before Harry felt his family was safe.
Dinner featured fresh fish and tropical fruits, quite a change from normal English fare. After dinner they walked out to the beach.
Ivana whispered to Lily, "The girls are only wearing half a bathing costume! Do you have to?"
"I don't think you exactly have to, but most witches do," Lily confirmed. "We do have support spells."
"Would you like Billy to see you like that?" Ivana asked in horror.
"Oh, sure!" Lily exclaimed. "My bare chest against his bare chest. I think it would be fun!"
Ivana turned to Ginny. "Mum, are you going to wear one of those bathing costumes tomorrow?" pointing towards a couple of women wearing rather skimpy knickers and nothing else.
"My bottom is going to be more covered up," Ginny told the young girl. "Costume tops are optional, and I'm not ashamed of my shape. I'll just make sure my breasts have plenty of sunscreen on them. Lily too."
"You will let Lily go like that?"
"If she wants to."
"I do!" Lily confirmed. "Aunt Fleur's beach house in France is the same way. You get used to it."
Tuesday morning was beautiful. The whole family ate a breakfast in the hotel dining room, with plenty of fresh fruit. They changed into bathing costumes for a day at the beach. Everyone had their wand on them, and the Elves were close at hand, although the Elves all wore bathing costumes as well.
Lily and Ivana spent much of the morning playing with Minerva, just staying at the edge of the water. James and Albus had noticed sailboards, and after asking for permission, they took lessons. After lunch they rented a pair of sailboards and spent a couple of hours going back and forth in front of the beach where the rest of the family was resting.
Eventually the wind started to blow a little harder, and it looked like it was trying to take the boys further out to sea. Harry was worried; he had warned the boys about getting too far away. Suddenly Albus was struggling. It looked as if some wind or spell or something was pulling him rapidly out to sea. He was trying to stop, but the sailboard was obviously out of his control.
Harry looked at the Aurors, and one of them quickly boarded a broom and flew out to Albus. As he arrived a whirlwind appeared surrounding Albus, and Dementors appeared in the whirlwind.
Harry and the other Auror both hit the panic button on their mobile communicators. Harry proclaimed, "Harry Potter at," and he gave the coordinates of his location. "My son Albus Potter is in a whirlwind that looks like it is magic and evil. We are going out to intercept."
Harry took out his Auror wallet and brought out his broom.
"Ginny, ride behind me so we can both cast Patronus," Harry exclaimed.
"Mitzi, take care of Minerva," Ginny told her Elf s she climbed onto the broom behind Harry.
The remaining Auror asked Lily, "Can you cast a Patronus?"
"I have," Lily replied. "Dad taught all of us, and I think I could."
"Get on," the Auror said. "I think we need all the Patronus we can get."
Harry and Ginny flew around the whirlwind, looking for Albus. They could sense he was in there, but it was hard to get too close. They cast their Patronus, but just keeping them formed was difficult. Three more Patronus soon joined them, but nothing seemed to be working.
Harry could see several more brooms flying towards them, he assumed with Aurors on them, but a large number of Dementors were coming to intercept them.
Everybody circling the whirlwind heard very loud roars, and they were forced to retreat.
2021