HLN CH 26 Expected Posting Jan 7, 2021

June ch26

The Grangers still owned their dental clinic in Crawley. Hermione had tried to obliviate their memories, but since she had been young and nervous it just hadn't worked. Instead, they had discussed the problem together, and her parents had agreed that they needed to hide. They had leased out their Clinic and house to a young dentist couple, put their goods in storage, and gone to Australia willingly. Hermione's tearful story giving out false names was one more layer of protection.

They had loved Australia so much they started a new Clinic there, and stayed. Now that the War was over they flew back and forth at least once a year, visiting friends and the Clinic here. They had a huge, home, airy, two stories with an interior balcony around the open Kitchen, Living and Dining areas, similar to the Burrow with six bedrooms and five baths, an open sided but roofed patio suitable for parties, and a huge fenced yard. It had no pool, but one of the baths had a Jacuzzi and another had a huge shower with 6 heads of water! They loved company! They even had an elf, who annoyed Dan continuously by calling him "Lord Granger." Emma Jean simply thought it was funny, though she ordered Mimsy to never be seen by non-magicals. They were busy, and needed the help to keep that house and garden ready for company. She sometimes asked Mimsy to fix a favorite dish, but mostly the elf planned their menus and ran the house (and them).

But, they still considered Crawley their home in many ways. One was their Church, which was the finest Saxon Church in England. They always attended services when they were in England, and still considered the Vicar of St. Nicholas to be their spiritual leader. He had Baptized Hermione, blessed her each year as she went to boarding school (and all the other children), and when they asked him to preside at her wedding he was thrilled! Hermione had always been one of his favorites, even though he might see her only a couple of times a year. He knew about magic, may have been a Squib though he didn't care about that. He had been handed in to a monastery orphanage as a very small boy, and found his calling. At this point he didn't care who his birth parents had been.

He went down the calendar checking for open dates. While there were no dates open for over a year, there would always be a cancellation. He had his suspicions on some couples. He marked those dates down as possible.

June

The first weekend in June Harry and Ginny followed through with their plans. They took both boys, Teddy and James, to their beach house. It was an unusually warm weekend for so early in the season. The four spent almost every minute on the beach. They flew together, with James riding in front of each parent in turn, shrieking as the splash from waves would catch him. Teddy and Harry built a huge sand dragon above the high-tide mark. It took hours, both days, but was high enough that the tides would not sweep away their work that night. In the afternoons they swam, staying close to shore and playing in the waves. Harry deliberately did not hide his scars. Since he made no fuss about them the boys accepted and ignored them. Otherwise he was long, trim, well-muscled, with a long braid, as Ginny knew but tended to forget. She had grown up with the 'Boy-Who-Lived'; a short and scrawny waif with awful hair. The 'Man-Who-Won' (Harry hated all the names) had grown up into something else.

Ginny herself was no longer the rather pudgy child who put her elbow in the butter. She was still small, taking her height from her mother rather than her tall father, but she was an athlete. She wore an assortment of practical one piece suits. Each time they came out she was different, a rainbow of colors and patterns. Her hair was also braided, darkened by the water.

When James took his nap, Harry produced snorkels, flippers and masks.

"Why not simply use the Bubble Head charm? Or Gillyweed?" Ginny was surprised.

"We won't always be on our private beach, or in magical areas. I thought we could have fun learning to use these here." They did. Harry had never used them, either, but he had talked to the man at the shop and bought a small book. He showed them how to spit in the mask lens.

"Ick! That's cool!" said Teddy. Ginny agreed about it being icky, but didn't say so.

Harry continued, showing how the snorkel fastened to rise over their shoulders. "It will get water in it. Waves happen, or you will decide to dive. When you come back up simply blow hard to clear the water out."

"Like a whale spouts?"

"Exactly! Last are the fins, which are really awkward on land. These are full foot flippers, which I can adjust to fit you by magic. There are also fins with straps. If you wear those it is a good idea to wear trainers, because the ocean is full of sharp rocks, broken shells, and coral bits. Many beaches are also littered with broken glass and bits of metal. Oh, and the trainers need to be dark, with dark soles, because some aggressive fish or animals will snap at light colored things flashing past them."

"That's really cool!" Teddy was really getting into this. "What about our hands?"

"We could wear gloves, or hand flippers. This time I thought we would simply use these." Harry pulled out small boxes on lanyards. "Cameras! Now, we will get tired very quickly the first few times we do this. We may be strong and healthy, but it's using our muscles, especially our legs, in ways we are not used to."

Teddy whooped, and headed for the water. It didn't take him long to figure out it was easier to walk backward into the water, where he quickly fell into the waves. He came up sputtering, with Harry's strong hand holding him. "I blew out! Why is it still full of water?" He gasped a bit, spitting out water and sand.

"You do have to be right-side-up and have the snorkel out of the water. Feel with the back of your head. When you break the surface, then blow! I'll hold you for a minute while you practice." He let go when Teddy figured out how to aim the water straight into his face. Laughing, he returned to Ginny, who was wading out more carefully. The waves were really quite gentle, barely more than swells.

"How did you catch him so fast? I was worried when he was in trouble."

"Baby tether. I didn't tell him. It's still on him. He'll probably need to be rescued a few times before he gets used to snorkeling. Now, let's ease you into this. Put the snorkel in, make sure your mask is tight, and then lean back to rest in the water." She did, and found she could still hear him. "Now, roll over and put your whole face in the water. Breath through your mouth.. When you feel secure I want you to go completely under the water, come back up, and blow hard." Having watched Teddy, she managed to catch his face on her first try.

Teddy was swimming circles around them now, finding out just how fast he could go with the fins. Ginny joined him, both circling Harry while he donned his own. Harry dove forward into the water, leading them out past the cloudy, sandy water at the shore. They didn't have to go very far before meeting curious fish. There was no coral here, too cold in the Winter, but the shallow bottom was covered in smooth rocks. Ripples of sunlight caught crystals and bits of colors. Harry dove about 4 meters, picking up a dark one. As he came back up it changed colors, finishing as a dark orange near the surface. Both Teddy and Ginny were amazed at that. Teddy slipped again, forgetting to break the surface to breathe. Harry caught him and lifted him to the top. There he held the child half out of the water, patting his back and being sure the water was out.

Ginny surfaced and spit out her mouthpiece. "How are you doing that? Holding him up? I can barely get my head and shoulders out, and you are holding his weight as well."

"Just stronger legs. Look below." Ginny did, seeing him moving his long legs from his hips, almost straight out, kicking the fins strongly back and forth. At the bottom, meters below them, she could see sand and muck being stirred below him. She tried to copy the motion, finding she also rose higher out of the water.

"I'm getting tired!" she said with surprise a few minutes later. "I don't get it. I'm the athlete, and my legs are exhausted already!"

"Remember I do karate with Ron. That's a very leg-focused exercise. You do use your legs, but it's more gripping and holding so your arms are free. I'm getting tired, and I think Teddy is too. Enough for today. Let's go in."

Harry had to carry Teddy ashore. The waves were small, but they were more than the tired child could handle. On the towels, they peeled off the gear. They left everything for an elf to collect, and ran to the house for showers. By the time they were dressed, James was awake and calling them. Puff didn't like sand so she had stayed in the house. They rode brooms down to the rocky point, for a picnic supper as the sun set.

"Why did the rock change color?" Now fed, Teddy was thinking about the afternoon.

"You'll earn more about it in your Science classes, but the rock was always orange. What happened was the water filtering the colors out of the light as it got deeper. Red is the first one removed, close to the surface, and so on all the way down. Where we were was not deep, but it was enough to change what we saw. I took pictures all the way up so you can compare them. I also took pictures of us. I doubt you noticed, but our swimsuits also changed color! You'll see when the pictures are developed."

The second week of June was Finals at London College. Harry had one class to attend, with the test scheduled for Thursday afternoon instead of Tuesday morning. His online accounting class had an online test, quite a difficult amount of balancing books complete with identifying and correcting errors. Ginny's Journalism test was also online. She had to correct for printing a set text which had multiple errors, including spelling, names, punctuation, and even the spacing (ells and kerning) so the end result would fit a newspaper column. When they finished those, they were feeling wrung out!

This weekend they invited the whole family, and a few friends, to the Manor for a Garden party. The elves would do mot of the work, preparing wonderful dishes. The children could play on their own playground in the butterfly garden while the adults played Quidditch on Harry's nice pitch. The children could play after dinner when it was cooler, after the adults were done.

The flowers were in full glory! While you had to go up to the balcony to see the full castle, everyone thought it was great. Ron and Hermione arrived early to play a round of chess first.

Lunch was served in Ginny's formal garden by the reflecting pool, with the dozen fountains cooling the air.

Walking through the full gardens, Dan and Emma Jean Granger were drawn to the sound of children laughing. They walked over to find them playing on the ordinary park toys – swings, slides, climbing cages of assorted kinds. The elves had a table of treats and fruit drinks set up in the shade, but few of the children were snacking. Instead they were playing with elf children, Puff, and a fat rabbit. Emma Jean picked up the rabbit and stroked it. It nuzzled her, so she scratched its head. The paws ended in neat round nails, rather button like.

"Lady likes our Tyranorabbit? I am sorry we gave away all of the babies this Spring, but we can reserve you one if she has another litter."

Emma Jean felt as if she was in a Monty Python play. "THIS is a Tyranorabbit? But it's so cuddly! I though they were terribly dangerous? You had no trouble finding homes for the babies?"

The elf was shaking her head. "Oh yes, terribly dangerous if you don't know how to take care of them! Elf magic seals her mouth so she can't bite, except when she is eating or on Guard duty. We keep her claws rounded, too. The children love her very much, but she is part of the house defense system at night. The babies all went to Zoos Mrs. Luna knew. They are very rare. She mostly eats tuna fish, but when someone let adders in the yard one night she ate them all. Master has a friend Snakey who lives in the woods across the river. We put a ward on her so Bunny doesn't eat her by accident."

Emma Jean carefully put the rabbit down, where it hopped away, pursued by the adorable tiny elf children (all 5 wearing colorful T-shirt and short sets sold for dolls.) She turned to Dan, "You know, elves keep very weird pets!"

Dan added, "So does Harry, if 'Snakey' is an adder!" He turned back to the elf, and carefully asked, "Do the elves have any more pets?"

"Yes, Lord Granger sir! We have two cats and a large tank of tropical fish in the elfling quarters where the old ones take care of the babies! There is an aviary full of bright finches in the Old Ones sitting room! Puff comes to play often, too!".

Emma Jean spoke. "I think we will need to ask Mimsy if she wants a pet. She could have a cat, or a fish tank, or even a bird without any bother."

"Lady knows Mimsy? Mimsy is Mopsy's sister!"

"Yes, Mopsy, Mimsy works for us in Australia. You may come visit her, or write to her. Ask Harry to help with any arrangements you need."

While they were talking, Ginny was on the balcony carefully looking over the castle design. It was very well done. From up here it really looked like a painting. The huge moon flowers climbing up the stands looked like stars against the dark foliage. When she had first crossed the Loch on the boat, she had already been dazed, under Toms influence, and had not really paid attention to how beautiful it was. This was Harry's first sight of the castle, and in some ways it was now hers. Even though the boats had been available for the students, few had ever bothered. She had never been out in one again.

While up there, she noticed her brother Bill behaving oddly. He, too, was walking around, but he would stop and run what looked like diagnostics every so often. A display of odd runic characters would light up in front of him. He would take a note, then wander further and repeat it. When he finally arrived on the balcony next to her, she asked, "What are you doing?"

He blinked, realizing she was there watching him. "Oh, Harry allowed me to use the Manor to lay out a batch of new wards we designed. They may be used for Hogwarts, eventually. This is the first time there have been many people here since I laid out the stones, so I'm seeing how they are interacting."

"I hope I'm not going to get hurt if I trip one by accident?"

"Oh, no, not that kind of Ward. The Offensive and Defensive stuff is all around the edges. This is protective stuff, like a new kind of fire ward. There's a baby gate on the stairs, too. It's not supposed to stop adults, just children. If one catches you by mistake the elves will be notified. That's why we have to test these before they get used, to find errors. The Manor is great because it's so big, and so empty!"

Those seemed reasonable to Ginny, even useful!

The third weekend was another Garden Party, this one at the Tremblewhites. Harry liked garden parties, so he was wandering the pretty pathways with ice tea in his hand. Jefferson was talking with Ron and Hermione.

Esther and Ginny were standing a bit back from the small crowd around Ron and Hermione.

"Your brother surprised us all! He has shown no interest in anyone we introduced him to. Now we know why! I know he was often escorting her when Harry was escorting you, but we never thought much about it. They are all friends, go way back in school together. This is probably a good match. He's a shopkeeper, and she's a manager working for Harry. Neither will be expecting anything outrageous, and she's not a gold-digger trying to get close to Harry. They should be happy."

"Mom and I were surprised. We thought my brother Charlie was interested in her! She and Ron play chess together, but Charlie was the one sitting with them all the time. Charlie was the first to congratulate them! There will be a family Reception for them next week at the Burrow."

"Where will they be living? At the Burrow? An apartment over the shop?"

"No, she's moved out of her apartment into his. She was on the third floor of a converted house, and thought the neighbors below her were noisy. One had a dog that snored, and the other played the violin all night long, which was actually rather nice. Even the street was noisy, with police cars running up and down to Scotland Yard at all hours. She liked her landlady, who has family in Australia.

Ron found one at the top of an office building on Charing Cross Road, on the mundane side but close to the Leaky. His patio actually overlooks Diagon Alley. Since it's offices below him, it's quiet. It's pretty big, far too big for just him, but that means there is plenty of room for her to put up bookshelves."

Molly and Arthur had insisted on having a Reception at the Burrow. "We didn't have any sort of dinner before the wedding. I know her parents plan to have a big party after the Church wedding, but there's no telling how soon a date will become open at that church. It could be next Summer! We want to have a party before that! We'll invite Aunt Muriel and all the relatives! Most of them have not been here since Bill & Fleur's wedding. That was such a disaster! They haven't seen the house since we rebuilt!"

Percy and Aubrey had married in her family gardens. George and Angelina had eloped to Gretna Green, and refused any sort of party. Harry and Ginny had married at the Burrow after her graduation from Hogwarts, but with it being right at the end of the War it had been a small wedding. They hadn't moved into the Manor for another year. Harry had not realized he even owned the Manor at that time, so they had been living in Grimmauld Place. Even cleaned and redecorated it had been full of sad memories.

Molly was in a whirlwind of preparations, and having a wonderful time. It was a good thing the party was going to be on the last weekend of the month, when they normally had a big family dinner anyhow. If it had been several months Molly might have exploded, or worked herself into a collapse. She invited all of the relatives who had been at Bill and Fleur's wedding, and some who hadn't (the accountant cousin and his family.)

The Grangers brought Dan's tiny French Grandmother, incredibly old and delicate. They were fairly sure she was blind and deaf enough to not notice anything odd, and they knew she would be delighted by being at the party. They were not sure she would live long enough to get to the church or their own party next year. They even hired a French Nurse to travel with her. The Delacours had found her for them, a French Squib so she wouldn't break the Statute.

Molly accepted the elves help with the cooking. She wanted to do it all, but there simply wasn't enough time. Even so, she and the elves spent the entire week cooking, cleaning, and making sure the gardens and the house were absolutely perfect.

A pretty rental pavilion, a tent, was erected on the lawn. Arthur hired the small orchestra and the pretty dance floor again. George promised a fireworks display from the hilltop. Harry sent over hundreds of nice padded chairs, banquet tables and the full supply of dishes needed. "I already own these, so why rent?"

END CH 26 Expected Posting Jan 7, 2021 Next Chapter expected Jan 21, 2021