This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.
Ragnock hosts a holiday dinner for some of Harry's friends and their parents. The families mix and mingle, while conversations begin. Then Harry introduces his friends to the babies.
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Chapter 31 Holiday Dinners*(+++++)*
SCENE: Dinner at GringottsThe regular stream of customers from Diagon Alley dwindled away as London grew dark quickly in late December, and the weather was cold, so wizards and witches made their way home to warm hearths and beds.
"I wonder if they have central heating?" Elaine Granger asked her husband as they entered the Leaky Cauldron with their daughter. The Perks family waited for them inside the tavern and before they left for Diagon Alley, the Finch-Fletchley family joined them.
The six muggle parents were gratified to see their children talking as friends, and the three men noticed the wizards standing around them, providing protection from any curious magical folk.
"Mr. Finch-Fletchley, I'm Mike Pennington from Mr. Lovett's staff. We wanted to make certain there were no problems with your arrival," the wizard dressed in robes that were only slightly out of place in the muggle world.
"Oh, another wizard!" Gwendolyn grinned as she turned to her husband. "It's so exciting!"
"Mr Granger, Mr. Perks, if you will bring your families along, we'll get you to your appointment on time," Pennington said with a graceful motion of his arm toward the hidden doorway to Diagon Alley.
"Will we get to see these dragons tonight?" asked Mrs Perks. "Sally keeps insisting that her friend Harry has dragons here in London."
"I hope we get to see some magic…" Dan Granger said as his wish was granted; their escort tapped on the bricks of the backwall to melt the wall away and reveal the alley. There were few people about as darkness settled on the street but the wizard lights in shop windows were bright enough.
The bank building was bright with lights and the white marble shone against the night sky – a large contingent of goblin guards stood on the steps with their wicked spears and swords evident for everyone to see.
"Is this safe?" asked Mr Perks. "Those fellows look like they could handle an angry biker gang and not break a sweat."
Pennington grinned and explained, "You've just given the goblins a great compliment, sir. They'd love the chance to deal with a band of bad muggles – they don't feel that wizards are much of a challenge."
"Really? Even with magic?" asked Dan.
The goblin with medals on his breast explained, "Get your hands on a wizard, snap his wand, and you can kick him around the room like a sack of potatoes. They got no fight in 'em."
"That's why wizards try to remain respectful of goblins," Pennington explained as the escorts led the visitors into the bank. There were few customers in queues at this time of day but one of them was Alastor Moody, down in London for the day.
"Professor Moody!" Justin called out to his favourite professor.
"It's Professor Moody!" Hermione agreed and the two girls waved as Justin left his party to approach the elderly Auror.
Reaching Moody's side, Justin bowed respectfully and greeted the man, "Professor Moody, I am glad to see you this evening."
"Finch-Fletchley, what are you doing in Gringotts t?" the Auror asked, pleased that his student was demonstrating proper manners in front of other purebloods.
"My family and my friends have been invited to take dinner with Chief Ragnock and his ward, Harry Potter. Can I impose on you for a moment, professor? I would appreciate the opportunity to introduce you to my father and mother."
Certainly, Mr. Finch-Fletchley, take me to your parents," Alastor agreed as he gave up his place in the queue.
A pureblood wizard sneered as the Auror hobbled across the marble floor to meet 'mudbloods' and he whispered to another wizard in line, "You can't go anywhere in Diagon Alley without seeing mudbloods these days."
"Yes, they do seem to have a lot of money to spend in the shops," the other wizard replied. "I have often wondered about…"
"Oh, don't tell me, you want investigate the muggle world?"
The second wizard kept his face closed and his opinions even closer as the first wizard said, "Once you go out there, you'll never come back!"
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As Justin and Professor Moody crossed the floor to the waiting group, Harry ran into the lobby, waving and greeting his friends.
Justin introduced Professor Moody to his mother and father while Harry introduced himself to the Grangers and Perks. Then Justin introduced the professor to Hermione's parents and Sally's parents while Harry met Mr and Mrs Finch-Fletchley.
Once introductions were complete, Harry issued the formal invitation, "Guests, Director Ragnock, chief goblin for all Gringotts invites you to his table for dinner. Be guest welcome within these walls."
Harry grinned at the DADA professor and added, "I invite you to attend Professor Moody. The director will have many questions regarding trolls and headmasters to ask you once he sees you with the party."
The prejudiced pureblood wizard frowned as the mudbloods, muggleborns, and elderly Auror were escorted into the depths of Gringotts. The private chambers were reportedly beautiful and richly decorated, and even more importantly, deals were struck between goblins and wizards at these dinners. An invitation to dine with the director…
'The goblins are making secret agreements with mudbloods,' the wizard decided. 'I'll tell Malfoy and Nott! They'll stir up the ministry against the goblins.'
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Once they reached the director's office, Harry pushed the doors open and waved his guests inside. Justin saw Neville Longbottom talking with Susan Bones beside a table loaded with hors d'oeuvres and drinks for the crowd of humans and goblins. Miss Hedwig flew down to land on Justin's shoulder to chortle for just a moment before returning to her stand in the receiving line beside Healer Grossman.
Then, the newcomers were directed to a receiving line where Harry, Neville, and Susan hurried to take their places as 'hosts' for their classmate and the parents; Harry introduced the Grangers to Ragnock, then Ironstream, Sharpknife, and Sowsbreath representing Gringotts. Next, he introduced them to Healer Grossman, Hedwig Snowy Owl, Jasper Hewitt, Andrew Lovett, and finally to Remus Lupin.
Behind him, Neville introduced the Perks to each individual in the line and Susan made the introductions for the Finch-Fletchley family. Cyrus had met everyone but Sharpknife, the 'owl', and Lupin previously but he gave no indications of the earlier introductions.
At the end of the line, Harry explained, "Professor Lupin just completed a stint at Hogwarts working in the Greenhouses. He works for the guys from the government and will be here at Gringotts a lot so my account manager wanted you to meet him. He'll be one of the people to stay in touch with you."
"Excuse me, I have one more introduction to make," Harry said as he left the Grangers at the hors d'oeuvres table. The boy-who-lived hurried back to the line of guests to escort Professor Moody to Ragnock.
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"Why is an owl in the receiving line?" asked Gwendolyn Finch-Fletchley as Susan made the introduction.
The young witch attempted to explain. "Miss Hedwig is Harry's familiar. She can talk to him and he translates her orders to us when she catches us misbehaving."
"Oh, that's nonsense," Mrs. Finch-Fletchley replied. "The boy's running a scam on you. If he's the only one who can understand the owl, how do you know it's talking?"
"Oh, no. Mom, please don't…" Justin begged, reaching up to touch his mother's arm.
"Justin, I can accept the wizards have powers and that the goblins are real, but talking owls is too much," Gwen told her son.
She looked at the healer and the two men from MI-5 before she asked, "Do you think she can talk?
Felicity nodded her head confidently. "Miss Hedwig and Harry do talk – she guides him very well and I wouldn't make any decision about his care without her input."
"What?" asked the surprized muggle woman.
"Mom!"
"Hush, Justin," Gwen turned toward the two men from MI-5. "And are you taken in by this side show?"
The older man replied, "Mrs Finch-Fletchley, when I turned eleven years old, I discovered that I was a wizard. Since then I have seen werewolves, dragons, elves, centaurs, unicorns… an intelligent owl able to communicate with her wizard doesn't surprize me."
Justin added, "And Miss Hedwig told us we'd learn how to understand her next year after we'd learned more magic."
Cyrus who has been involved in conversation with Sowsbreath and Sharpknife finally paid attention to his wife's conversation and interrupted her, to move the line along. When they reached the end of the line, and Susan introduced them to Remus Lupin, Gwendolyn asked the wizard, "And have you ever met any of these other creatures? Do they really talk?"
Remus who watched Harry and his owl for three months now and believed she did talk to her wizard, took a deep breath as he replied, "Indeed many magical creatures can talk, Mrs Finch-Fletchley. We have thoughts and dreams just like any other person."
Cyrus and his wife were taken aback by the wizard's comments but Susan smiled as Remus continued, "I'm a werewolf and a proud member of Her Majesty's Wolves, a special group in MI-5."
"But… you look like a real person…"
"He is a real person," Lovett interjected. "And he is a valuable member of Her Majesty's service too. Mr Lupin led the breakthrough for a cure for the curse of lycanthrope. He'll be knighted by the Queen this spring for his work."
"Sir Remus Lupin!" Susan grinned. "Can we come to the ceremony? Please! I've never known a knight before!"
Justin hid his face behind his hands as his father led his wife away to the refreshment table. Susan took Justin's arm and said, "Don't worry. So long as Miss Hedwig doesn't decorate your mother's gown, we'll be fine tonight."
"I have to apologise to Miss Hedwig," Justin insisted.
Susan nodded but when she glanced at the owl who turned toward the girl, Hedwig merely winked before turning back for the introduction to the Perks family.
"Miss Hedwig is okay and understands," Susan said. "She just winked at me so she'll not tear out your mom's hair at dinner."
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"Director Ragnock, may I present Auror Alastor Moody to your notice? He's the great professor in the Defence Against the Dark Arts this fall, and my classmates and I recommend him to you."
"Indeed?" the director of the bank asked. "Our ward asked for a dinner to introduce parents of his muggleborn friends and to begin a support group. When I heard he'd asked his account manager to arrange such a dinner, I had to step up and make it a bank event."
Moody's eyes grew wide as Ragnock named Harry as a ward of the bank.
"And now he breaks protocol by bringing an extra guest to the table," Ragnock said as he grinned at the boy. "But Alastor Moody is a wizard with a reputation that proceeds him with tales of battles and fights with Dark Lords and their evil minions."
"Be guest welcome, Alastor Moody," Ragnock said offering his hand to the Auror.
"Thank you, Director Ragnock," Moody said as he shook the goblin's hand. Harry took Moody down the line and introduced him to goblins and wizards alike, leaving the professor with a million questions before they were even called to the dining room.
Across the room, Amelia Bones, Director of the DMLE stared as Alastor Moody shook hands with the bank director. Such a thing was impossible to believe – Moody never shook hands with anyone – the man didn't trust anyone enough to shake hands. First, she was introduced to spies as if they were welcomed guests at Gringotts – MI-5 was an organization she'd never heard of but intended to investigate tomorrow. Now, her mentor from the department was being friendly with goblins – something was wrong in the world.
She moved to position herself near the end of the receiving line so she could assure herself this was truly the Auror who'd trained two generations of magical warriors.
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SCENE: ConversationsWhen Ragnock led the way into the dining room and the guests were directed to their seats, Harry put Alastor Moody into his assigned seat beside Ragnock.
"If you give up your seat, where will you sit?" Moody asked the young wizard.
Harry just grinned. "I'm going to pretend to be Hedwig and fly about the room, talking to everyone."
There were four different tables and each one included a platform on one side where a goblin could sit in a properly sized chair at a table with human guests. Moody took Harry's seat at Ragnock's table with the Grangers, while the Finch-Fletchley family sat with Sowsbreath, and the Perks sat with Ironstream. The various wizards were scattered among the tables though Amelia Bones asked Lupin to change seats with her so she could sit near Moody.
This placed Remus beside Felicity Grossman at the table where the Finch-Fletchley family was seated. Gwen was too overwhelmed to be near to a real werewolf but Remus found himself enjoying the conversation with the healer he remembered as a pretty girl at Hogwarts.
Hedwig flew to the back of Sally-Anne's chair and Harry followed to talk with his classmate and her parents.
"Hedwig wants to compliment your dress, Sally. She says the colour is perfect for your complexion and hair," Harry said. "Does that make sense to you?"
"Yes. Thank you, Miss Hedwig. Your feathers always look perfect!" replied Sally with a grin on her face.
Then they moved to beside Hermione's chair with a similar conversation.
"Hedwig says that she wants you to put your hair up for the next party," Harry said. "What does that mean, anyway?"
Dan Granger asked, "Mr Potter, what's something your owl can tell you that you'd not know about? Something that proves she can talk?"
"Miss Hedwig, don't call him, 'that man', please," Hermione begged. "My father is learning about magic just like I did."
The owl nodded her head toward Hermione but then turned back to Dan Granger and tilted her head, first one way and then another. She hooted at Harry who turned pale before he said, "Hedwig says you just had eye surgery and the left eye is not healing properly. You need to return to the doctor tomorrow morning and have him treat it. You should wear an eye patch for a week or more to let it heal without light…"
Hedwig hooted and Harry continued, "…without light forcing the iris to focus too much."
Hermione looked up from her plate and asked, "What kind of surgery did you have, Daddy? You didn't say anything to me about this!"
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SCENE: ClothesAfter dinner when the families rose from the table to mingle for a while, Gwendolyn Finch-Fletchley approached her husband to discuss something she'd observed; something that bothered her.
"Cyrus."
"Yes dear."
"I thought you said the Grangers were well-to-do," the wife whispered.
"They are; they're both dentists in Crawley," Cyrus replied, a little confused by his wife's statement.
"But their daughter is wearing a dress off the rack, like the Perks girl. And the Bones girl wears a similar dress; nothing special."
Gwendolyn looked around a bit more before she added, "And Mrs Granger is dressed down as well. She and her husband are both dressed far below…"
"Gwen… what's the purpose of this dinner?" Cyrus asked his wife.
"To meet these goblins and other wizards that will help Justin in his career," his wife replied.
The man took her hand and said, "That is one of the reasons that you and I came to the dinner certainly. But this is also a chance for us to meet other parents of Justin's classmates."
He motioned toward the children, standing together to talk about holiday plans.
"The Bones girl has only an aunt who appears distracted and never noticed the girl at any point this evening. Longbottom doesn't have any family present and Sowsbreath hinted that there were recent developments there. The Potter boy has a guardian here at the bank. So, we are important to the students as examples of parents along with the Grangers and Perks."
"But…"
"What do we want for Justin?"
"For him to be happy and be successful," Gwen replied honestly.
"And he will be," Cyrus assured his wife. "But he's at a school in a world where you and I have no experience. His friends are important for his stability and learning to make good decisions."
As Justin's letters from school arrived via the snowy owl or a large brown owl during October and November, Cyrus paid close attention to the information about his son's friends and classmates. Once he had names and general information, he put a private investigative service to use gathering information on each family.
Motioning toward the Perks couple talking with Remus Lupin, Cyrus told his wife, "Perks is a self-made man with a successful car repair business. He works with his hands but is respected by his employees and local merchants. The wife is a nurse in hospital, works in the Emergency Department at hospital most days."
"The Grangers are successful dentists, well-respected in their profession," Cyrus continued.
"But their clothes…"
The banker smiled at his wife and said, "I imagine the Granger girl talked her parents into dressing down to make the Perks feel comfortable. Remember, whatever we wear, it appears strange to the wizards."
"I wish Justin had said something then," Gwen told her husband.
"He's a boy and I am certain it never crossed his mind."
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SCENE: Visit the DragonsAfter dinner, Harry and Neville spoke quietly with Felicity and Ironstream for a moment before the goblin went to Ragnock for a word. The director glanced around the room at the people gathered for the benefit of the boy-who-lived.
"I do enjoy keeping people off balance," Ragnock whispered to Ironstream. "But I do not want all these people to visit the lower levels… Allow me make a suggestion."
After a few moments of discussion, Ironstream bowed to the director and returned to Harry, Neville and Felicity. After more instruction with the boys nodding in understanding, Ironstream turned around and with his knife, cast a spell that sounded a bell in the room and caught everyone's attention.
"Good witches and wizards, ladies and gentlemen, the Director invites all the adults to adjourn to the lounge next door for after-dinner cocktails."
He motioned to the boys and said, "Heir Potter and Heir Longbottom will entertain the children with a tour of the bank. Healer Grossman, perhaps you would act as escort?"
"Certainly, Account Manager Ironstream, but… may I ask Mr Lupin to accompany us? I know he's never had a tour of the bank either," Felicity asked without glancing at the wizard she'd named.
Ironstream glanced back at the director who sniffed but didn't object so Remus would receive the full tour of the bank.
"A tour of the bank? At night?" asked Hermione.
"It'll be very exciting Hermione," Neville promised while Harry grinned.
The adults left, and the children with their two chaperones left just as quickly, hurrying toward the vault carts.
"Where are we going?"
"To meet the babies," Harry explained.
"Babies?" Sally-Anne asked. "Whose babies?"
"The baby dragons," Harry explained. "They're about four months old and I want to introduce you to them."
"I want to see! I want to see!" exclaimed Hermione, Sally, Susan, and Justin.
"Dragons? Real honest-to-God dragons?" Remus asked Felicity only for the healer to grin as his face turned pale.
"They're perfectly well behaved and they love Harry. He's their big brother," she replied.
"How long as Gringotts had dragons in London?" Hermione asked as they hurried toward the carts that would carry them into the lowest chambers below the bank.
"No clue," Harry replied. "We can ask Ironstream tomorrow."
Hedwig watched silently before she flew to land beside Felicity. When the healer motioned him to come there, Harry hurried over and translated the owl's instructions to the healer.
"Excuse me everyone," Felicity interjected into the voices of the excited children. Harry told his guardian what the owl wanted said.
The witch smiled as she addressed the crowd, "Miss Hedwig wants me to tell you that the dragons are very young – only four months old. They will be your friends for many years to come and this is the unique opportunity to meet them while they are very young."
Felicity smiled at Harry and said, "For myself, I trust Harry and Neville's safety with the dragons over Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of their school. Harry was there when the dragons hatched and he was the first person to talk with them."
"Once they learn English, they'll be able to talk with everyone," Harry said. "That's what we want to teach them next summer."
"Whatcha is interested in the multiplication tables," Neville announced. "Hermione, you're right about mathematics being a common language; the concept of ten is the same in Parsel, English and Garfish."
"I knew it!" Hermione said but before she could begin a conversation with Neville about numbers, they were directed toward the carts on the tracks that would take them deep under the back. The party piled into carts driven by expert goblins but the girls and boys still screamed with excitement as the carts flew along the tracks.
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Once they arrived at the 'nursery' and patted down their hair, Neville turned and said, "Hermione, you'll like Whatcha. He's taken to numbers like a niffler to gold."
The children walked toward the entrance of the dragon quarters where a large dog suddenly appeared, his tail wagging to see Harry, Neville, and Felicity. From deeper in the quarters came the greetings of Hagrid and his four 'children'. The owl appeared overhead, flew into the quarters hooting, and being answered with laughter from the dragons.
Hearing that sound of welcome, Harry, Neville, Sally, Justin, and Susan disappeared into the chamber while Hermione hesitated only one moment before running after them.
Once in the dragon pits, Remus glanced at Felicity and the healer answered the man's unasked questions, "The children are safer in there than any other place in magical Britain. The dragons like goblin and human children to visit. Every goblin child takes lessons here as they try and teach the dragons to speak their language."
Remus stared as Justin and Sally-Anne draped themselves over the neck of a bright red dragon, rubbing the creature's scaled neck. The four dragons were the size of small ponies, each a different colour.
Hermione and Neville discussed numbers with a silver dragon, both children touching the dragon's neck. Susan Bones sat on the neck of a green dragon while a gold dragon leaned close as Harry Potter rubbed the necks of both dragons.
A giant man sitting in a huge chair as he called, "Welcome! Welcome, everyone!"
The large dog sniffed each new person and then leaned against Remus's leg. Hedwig sat on a ledge and watched everyone for a long time before she flew down to Harry's shoulder.
"Sure," he replied to a question from the owl. Turning around to the parents, Harry grinned and rubbed the neck of the green dragon.
"Please allow me to introduce my friends to you," he announced.
Smiling at the green dragon, he said, "This is Swampbreath."
Then he ran his hand down the neck of the golden dragon and said, "This is Flatfoot."
Sally-Anne left the red dragon to step closer and hug the golden dragon's neck. Moving closer to the red dragon, Harry said, "This is Deathrider."
"I like that name," Justin said as the dragon rumbled with pleasure.
Now Harry continued to the side of the silver dragon with Hermione and Neville where he said, "And this fellow is Whatchamacallit, the future mathematician."
_)**(_
Remus Lupin grinned watching the four children talking and touching the dragons. From his side, Felicity Grossman said, "Come along, I'll introduce you."
"Swampbreath, let me introduce you to one of children's teachers from Hogwarts. This is Remus Lupin who helped to keep the children safe from the troll," she said as introduction and all four dragons leaned closer to catch the smell of the wizard.
"Hello Miss Swampbreath," Remus said slowly.
"You'll have to touch her neck," Felicity said. "They want to be touched."
"Came out of the shell wanting to climb all over me and Harry, they did," Hagrid said with a smile on his face at the memory. "They slept on top of Fang for a week and still make a dragon and dog pile every night."
His hand trembling just a bit, Remus reached out and touched the green scales of the dragon's neck. They were soft and warm to the touch, he relaxed as a bit of magic reached from the dragon into his core and recognized the wolf therein. Taking a deep breath to capture more of the wizard's scent, Swampy hissed happily in parsel and drew her three siblings, Harry and Hedwig closer.
"Swampy says that your wolf smells good and she wants to meet him someday soon," Harry interpreted the dragon's words. "She wants you as a tutor for English when I go back to school."
Harry glanced at Felicity who shrugged and said, "I will speak to Ironstream about including Mr Lupin on the teaching staff here at Gringotts for the babies."
Felicity smiled and planned to spend more time with the dragons when Remus was present. The werewolf proceeded to touch each dragon and Death lay his neck across Lupin's shoulders which made Harry hiss angrily.
Remus recognized the dominance move by the alpha male of the four young dragons and he responded as if the dragon was a young member of his wolfpack, pushing the head off his shoulder forcefully and growling in a very low tone, the adult telling the cub to behave properly. Death hissed and lowered his head to the floor as Remus reached down and lifted it back up to his side, then stroking the dragon's neck in approval.
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