Harry Potter and the Cantoris Quest(1/?)
Author: Anya
Author email: anya@schnoogle.com
Category: Humor, romance, mystery, adventure, drama
Keywords: Harry, Hermione, Draco, Ron, Ginny
Spoilers: For all the books, just to be safe :D
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The beginning of the end. Harry faces off with the coming
darkness in his seventh year. Contains H/Hr, unforeseen circumstances, a
lost heirloom --- and the quest to find Cantoris. A take on the last book in canon.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. Song fragment is from These Dreams by Heart. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Other citations will be made where necessary.
Author's Note: Hope you enjoy reading this and future chapters... it's been percolating a long time in my brain and just boiled over :p
Chapter 1: In Your Dreams
Lord Richard Flackenthorp was not your run-of-the-mill wizard. He was quite eccentric, often dropping off the face of the wizarding world for long periods of time, only to resurface with a lot of oddities and tales. Which was quite alright, since he was very, very rich and could afford to cater to his own whims. After spending a long time in Asia, he decided to apparate and visit his favorite great-nephew.
Molly Weasley gave a loud shriek that had Ginny almost dropping the bowl she was washing at the sink. She carefully set the bowl aside, thankful that it was not broken. Then she rushed out of the kitchen just in time to see her mother hugging a strange old man dressed in an oddly formal embroidered transparent polo shirt, under which she could see a white shirt.
"Ginny," Mrs. Weasley said to her, "Go and get your father. Hurry!"
Ginny rushed to the back door, nearly knocking down Hermione and Harry, who were coming in. Hermione, who was in front, accidentally stumbled and Harry had to catch her before she fell. "I'm sorry!" shouted Ginny, pausing a little bit to apologize profusely before rushing off again.
"I'm not," teased Harry gently as Hermione extricated herself from his arms, blushing furiously at her clumsiness while straightening her apparel. "Evidently, something's amiss. Why ever would Ginny be such in a rush?" said Hermione, busily brushing off imaginary lint on her clothes.
"It seems that I missed something exciting," Ron grinned as he rounded the corner with a basket full of potatoes. "Children, children," he chided, wagging his forefinger in the air. "No hanky-panky in front of the garden gnomes. Speaking of which, why was Ginny running like a garden gnome was after her?"
Arthur Weasley and Ginny went rushing by, running into the house, with the three staring in their wake. "Come on --- let's find out!" Ron motioned urgently to Harry and Hermione.
They entered the kitchen and went to the living room, where they saw an elderly man shaking Mr. Weasley's hand vigorously. "Sir, this is my son, Ron, my daughter, Ginny, and their friends, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Ron, Ginny, Harry and Hermione, this is my great-uncle, Lord Richard Flackenthorp!" announced Mr. Weasley grandly, a wide smile splitting his face.
"Please call me Uncle Dickie. Whenever I hear 'Lord Flackenthorp' why, I keep on looking over my shoulder to see if my father is there --- rest his ghost. The last time I came for a visit, you had just gotten married to your sweet Molly," Lord Flackenthorp paused to squeeze Mrs. Weasley's cheek fondly between his thumb and forefinger. "Now you have a couple of fine children!"
Mr. Weasley coughed into his fist, his face coloring nearly as red as his hair. "You've been gone quite a long time, sir. I already have 5 other sons aside from Ron, and Ginny's the only girl."
"Have I been gone that long?" wheezed Lord Flackenthorp in surprise. "Six sons and one daughter?!" he gasped out loud as his mind caught up with the rest of the information.
"Yes, sir. Bill is with Gringott's Bank, Charlie is working with dragons in Romania, Percy is with the Department of International Magical Cooperation, Fred and George, the twins, just opened their own business ---"
"Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, the finest joke shop this side of the world," Ron interrupted with obvious pride.
Mr. Weasley continued as if not hearing Ron, "Ron will be in his seventh year at Hogwarts, along with his friends, Harry and Hermione," motioning toward the two with a wave of his hand, "and Ginny is a year below them, in the sixth."
"Looks like you've done very well for yourself, son," said Lord Flackenthorp, wiping away tears from his eyes with an enormous snowy white handkerchief that seemed to appear out of nothingness. "I'm proud of you for personally taking it upon yourself to make sure that our line goes on!" he jabbed the hanky in the air for emphasis.
Mrs. Weasley busily shepherded everyone to the kitchen. "Let's have lunch while we catch up on each other's news," she said smilingly.
"I have no problems with that. Hmmm, is that pumpkin pie I smell?" Lord Flackenthorp eagerly looked towards the oven.
"Yes, sir. Mum has been teaching Hermione and I to cook and bake this summer as we wait for school to open," said Ginny primly.
"Well, she's been trying to teach me and Harry too," interjected Ron ungrammatically. "We can also make decent pies but our real job is to taste-test all finished products."
"You boys and your stomachs," Hermione said disgustedly.
"Who are you calling 'boys'? We're 17, hardly boys," emphasized Ron.
"Children, children," it was Harry's turn to tsk-tsk. "No fighting in front of the food."
"Why, is the food going to wilt in embarrassment if we fight in front of it?" wisecracked Ron.
"Some of us are never going to grow up," Hermione said with her nose in the air and a smirk on her face. "Too bad, it seems that only Ginny actually inherited good manners from your parents. Right, Ginny?
"Truer words were never said," said Ginny, matching Hermione's smirk with one of her own.
Mr. Weasley cleared his throat. "Ahem. It seems you have forgotten the presence of our esteemed guest." He looked at all of them warningly.
"As punishment," added Mrs. Weasley, "you will all spend the afternoon de-gnoming the garden."
"That's hardly fair!" A chorus of voices rose up in protest. "We were supposed to go down to Hogsmeade!"
"Well, you should have thought of THAT before ragging each other," sniffed Mrs. Weasley.
And so the afternoon saw all of them in the garden, whirling gnomes above their heads. Hermione peered at Harry worriedly. After all, he was always doing chores while living with the Dursleys.
"Oi, Harry, are you alright there?" Ron shouted in Harry's direction while letting go of a gnome and watching it stumble about dizzily in the distance. Evidently, Hermione was not the only one worried.
Ginny also had similar thoughts. "Are you sure that you aren't offended that Mum is making the two of you do chores along with us? I mean, we're used to it, but you're our guests."
"I'm okay. Stop worrying about me like a brood of fussy mother hens," Harry said with a grin, taking the sting off his words.
"Are you calling me a HEN?" roared Ron, pretending to be mortally offended. He started lobbing off gnomes in Harry's direction, starting a throwing war.
Harry didn't think it was much of a punishment. He rather enjoyed doing chores with the others, after a lifetime of doing chores all by himself at the Dursleys'. Besides, it was a small price to pay for spending the summer here. He remembered how Mr. Dursley's reaction was upon receiving the invitation from Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Weasley...
Flabbergasted. There was no other way to describe the look on Mr. Dursley's face upon receiving the morning mail from Harry. He pointed a finger shakily at an envelope that was almost suffocated with the amount of stamps stuck to its face. "I will NOT touch THAT!" his voice rising hysterically, remembering the last time he received such an envelope. Harry casually took it from the table and tore it open.
"It's an invitation to spend the summer with the Weasleys at The Burrow. They've also invited my friend, Hermione. I would like to go," he said carefully, remembering the last time as well.
It was as if they could not be rid of him fast enough. Harry had to hurriedly pack amidst his aunt's incessant wailing over how "dear, dear Dudleykins" had suffered when his tongue grew enormously swollen (after greedily eating the Ton-Tongue Toffee Fred had accidentally-on-purpose left behind) the last time "those dreadful, dreadful people" came over.
The next thing Harry knew, he was sitting at the curb in front of the house, while Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley peered worriedly behind the curtains. He was supposed to be picked up by Mr. Weasley the following day but he doubted that the Dursleys would still let him in after rushing him and his things out the door. He took a quill and a piece of parchment paper out of his wooden box and then, balancing them on his knee, started to think of whom to write. He doubted if Pig, Ron's owl, could come accurately and fast enough to suit him and began addressing the letter to Hermione. He affixed the letter to Hedwig's leg and watched as she flew away. He sighed. It was only 9 in the morning after all.
Two hours later, Harry looked up in surprise to see a car pull up smoothly beside him. He got up, dusted the seat of his pants and tried to look as presentable as possible. The driver's door opened and Hermione bounced out. "Harry! I couldn't believe your uncle and aunt did that to you. Come on, let's get your things in the trunk," chattered Hermione, giving him a hug. She looked back at the Dursleys (who were still hiding behind the curtains) in disgust. Harry felt immensely cheered up.
"Mother, you've already met Harry before, right?" One of the back windows rolled down.
"Oh, yes, I remember meeting him at Diagon Alley," said Mrs. Granger, still looking a bit shocked to come upon Harry sitting at the curb with his things gathered about him. "Pleased to meet you again."
"The pleasure is mine," said Harry gratefully. "Thank you for coming on such short notice. I only asked Hermione to furnish me with directions to go to Ron's place without apparating or taking floo powder."
"Hermione told me of your predicament and, I must say, I was so aghast at your uncle and aunt's behavior that I immediately agreed when Hermione asked if we could come over for you. Whatever were they thinking?"
"Actually, they don't think," said Harry with a grin. "That's the problem."
" Let's go, Harry," Hermione motioned to the seat beside her with a jerk of her head.
Harry slid down on the front passenger seat. "I didn't know you got your license already."
"Just this summer," said Hermione proudly. "I had a perfect score in the exam. It was quite easy, really."
"The day you fail something is the day Dudley will start being nice to me." Harry rolled his eyes.
"Would you like to start WALKING to the Burrow?" Hermione said sweetly.
"Never mind." Harry grinned.
An hour later found Mrs. Granger, Hermione and Harry in a very nice café called Nicholson's. Harry hungrily devoured his fish and chips while Hermione daintily nibbled on hers. Mrs. Granger was sipping her coffee ("Black, no sugar please") and absentmindedly toying with the spoon on the saucer while recounting what needed to be done. "Harry, you will be staying in the upstairs guest room. Hermione will prepare some towels and toiletries for your use. Don't be shy, just tell us what you require. I'll be going over to the powder room to freshen up." She stood up and walked away from the table.
"Oh, you're definitely in luck," Hermione said in an undertone. "That's the nicer guest room. The other one is usually reserved for relatives who are out of favor with my parents."
"What's the difference?" Harry wanted to know.
Hermione smiled. "The heater in the upstairs guest room actually works."
After lunch, they went on to the Granger house. Hermione helped Harry settle in his bedroom before commandeering his help in shopping for necessities ("We've got to eat tonight and since you're available, you can carry all the heavy packages."). Harry only had enough time to scribble a fast note on a piece of parchment, sending Hedwig to the Burrow to explain to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley not to pick him up at the Dursleys as he would be arriving with Hermione instead.
Going for the groceries was quite fun. Harry had the list and was amazed at Hermione, who kept on adding things in the cart that were not in the list. Not that he was complaining.
"Uh, Hermione, we've already got everything on the list and a few more besides. Shouldn't we be heading over to pay for all these?"
"We're not done yet! We still have to get a few things like bananas, an extra toothbrush, cucumbers, chocolate, cantaloupes..."
"Ah-hah! Thought you could get that past by me! Since when have you been sneaking chocolate into your sugar-free house?"
A couple who was passing by, overheard bits and pieces of their conversation and thought they were arguing. "See, honey, another reason not to get married. Why ruin a perfectly good relationship?" wheedled the man to the woman.
Harry and Hermione leapt back from the cart. "We are not married!" exclaimed Hermione hotly at the man, who managed to look embarrassed at being caught.
"Why, honey, I never knew you to be such a liar," teased Harry, looping an arm around her shoulders.
"Will you shut up! You're not helping matters at all," Hermione shrugged his arm off, coloring a little.
"I sure will... as long as we get ice cream along with your chocolates," he grinned.
"So now you're into blackmail. How about you sleep on the streets tonight, you, you..."
"Handsome, irrepressibly charming, tall, able-bodied man?"
"Tall is the only truthful thing you've said there. Perv." With that, Hermione flounced off in search of the sweets aisle.
After carrying seven heavy bags of groceries into the kitchen, Harry jokingly groaned. "I think we have enough to last us just in case of a nuclear fallout. Do you always shop for a month's supply at a time?"
"What do you mean a month? Those are only supplies for a week."
"What?! I pity the one who usually carries the groceries in for you."
"Actually, I just took advantage of the fact that you were around to carry the things."
"Oh."
Harry went off to his own room, leaving Hermione to figure out where to stash the illegal booty. Thank goodness I have a personal refrigerator in my room, she thought.
************
Late that night, Harry sneaked down to the kitchen in search of ice cream, only to find that Hermione had beaten him to it. She was already eating from what seemed like an enormous bowl of ice cream topped with marshmallows and chunks of chocolate. "Dig in," she gestured towards the ice cream box.
"Thanks, don't mind if I do," he said, pretending to misunderstand her and grabbed an extra spoon with which he swiped the ice cream in her bowl.
"Hey, get your own!" She barricaded the bowl with her arms in mock possessiveness.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you to share?"
"I know a lazy oaf when I see one and I'm looking at one now."
"Why do I have to get another bowl? At least this way, we do our part for the environment and wash only one." He looked at her earnestly.
Hermione felt herself weakening and stiffened her resolve. It was always hard not to give in to Harry but she gave it her best shot. "I could just magically do the dishes."
"What? And break the over-the-hols rule about not doing any magic? You know we're not allowed."
She sighed. "Well, you have to work for it," and grabbed the bowl, carrying it over her head and running towards her room.
"Not fair!" Harry gave chase.
Hermione was on the other side of the bed, trying to spoon the ice cream as fast as she could into her mouth, eyeing Harry warily for his next move. As he clambered atop her bed, she tried to run around it, only to be captured around the waist and deposited in the middle of the bed, ice cream spilling on her nightgown and the bedclothes. Harry pinned her down with his hands while she squirmed about, trying to break free. "Harry, my things are absolutely ruined. At least you can't have any more of my ice cream, it's all spilt."
"There's still some here." Gently, he pressed his lips to her cheek to remove traces of the ice cream. Hermione became still. "And here. " He licked the corner of her mouth. Brilliantly green eyes met soft brown ones. Harry felt like he was drowning in the pools that were her eyes. He lowered his head again. "And here," finally covering her mouth with his.
Darkness on the edge
Shadows where I stand
I search for the time
On a watch with no hands
I want to see you clearly
Come closer than this
But all I remember
Are the dreams in the mist
These dreams go on when I close my eyes
Every second of the night I live another life
These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside
Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away
End of chapter
