You have suggested me many ways how Harry could have wished himself powers, as I was sure that my clever readers would find ways for Harry to make a wish in which both he and his kids get powers, but truth be told I didn't want him to get his powers back right in chapter 36 – I wouldn't have been able to write a chapter 37, then. So, I just thought: let both Harry and the goldfish be a bit dim and not find the proper wish so that I can write this chapter the way I planned :) Or maybe the fish wasn't even dim when Harry asked her whether there was another way to formulate the wish so that both he and his kids would get powers – as far as I know this fish (and who would know her better than me), she had a reason to make Harry believe that he HAD TO make a sacrifice…
Some of you asked questions that I cannot – don't want to – answer right now. Be patient and wait, you'll get the answers (maybe not in this fic, but in the third one you surely will).
Bucky, C-chan, Indigo Ziona, Sapphire Selia and figgiesblazin: five hundreds points to Ravenclaw. You five definitely belong there – you were the only ones who managed to guess who the red-headed woman was! Congrats!
White Raven: I wish I could get a man like Harry, too :)
Fairy Tale: I'm glad you didn't totally forget about Remy and Sirius :) Aberforth is going to get to know how he got healed right in this chapter, but Remus won't get to know for a long, long time. Only in story #3.
Moony Lover: yes, grandpa is feeling better, thanks.
X-Tow-Naga: my dear friend, you wouldn't be X-Tow-Naga anymore if you didn't come up with at least half a dozen ideas how Harry could have fixed the mess. And that's why I like you :)
Nefertiri: the triplets are two boys and a girl. Ooc means "out of character". Ah, your Hungarian translation was priceless! LOL! In fact 'nagy bonyodalom' means 'great complications', but it also fits, given that my fic is rather complicated :) If you want to say 'great story' in Hungarian, say 'kiváló történet' (you can just type kivalo tortenet, I'll understand that, too.)
Black Ice: yes, the triplets are named already.
NuttyBuddy: wasn't long enough? Don't worry, the chapters of fic #3 will be damn long.
princesswitch: you are going to see Lockhart and his lady in this story, and there will be a lot of Lockhart in fic #3.
nycgal: I don't know any other goldfish personally, so I don't know whether all goldfish are like this or not.
Arif: I'm happy for you, my friend! Don't worry, I'm not going to give the triplets idiotic names. Their names will have the same first letter, but they will be totally normal names. Danny won't be bossy at all, but there will be one bossy character (who won't have too much of a role, so don't worry about that). Dudley and Millicent will have a child, but she won't be mentioned too much, just her name, and that's all. And now, to your German. I hope you don't mind if I correct it a bit. So, it should be as follows: "Guten Tag. Es ist Montag. Es ist vier Uhr zwanzig. Wie viel Uhr ist es in Ungarn? Ich bin vierzehn, wie alt bist du? Hast du eine dritte Story? Ich wohne nicht weit von Fire Station 6. Um die Ecke. Du wohnst in der Stadt. In welcher Stadt wohnst du? Ich wohne in Bloomington, Minnesota. Es ist nicht weit von Minneapolis." Anyway, your German isn't bad at all. How long have you been studying it? Oh, your mum speaks Bengali? Tell me something in Bengali! Tell me, for example: 'How are you?' and 'Good evening'. Oh, how do you say 'may the Force be with you' in Bengali?
The-Girl-Who-Lived: what word? I didn't get that. Don't worry, you'll get to know about Aberforth's story in the last chapter, but it's not a reindeer story, but a goat story.
PepsiAngel: I'm glad you liked the line about Aberforth and Minerva. No one else said that they liked it.
Alexander Pheonix: clever :)
apple-pie: I'm glad you liked the idea of the Encyclopaedia of Parseltongue.
Pamela-potter-24: you're clever, too :)
Lavendar Brown: three chapters, together with this one.
K.C. Hunter: I'm happy for your parents – let's hope they can make up:)
MauiGoddess3: there will be a trilogy, so one more story after this one.
Elfangor19: okay, if you want those 100 points to badly – so be it. *look, I'm playing a wish-fulfilling goldfish!* 100 points to Gryffindor.
xenocide: yea, I know that I do humour much better than romance :) That's why I liked the scandalous ending much more.
jeanine23Dr: IMHO Salazar Slytherin could have had lots of children – but maybe his children didn't have that many children and throughout a millennium the family slowly died out, leaving only Voldemort as his heir.
Lady Mauricia: no, my mum doesn't mind if I write R-rated things, she even read a story of mine that was NC-17 and enjoyed it very much. Anyway, I don't think that this fic is R-rated, is it? My mum is rather modern-minded. I guess I was eleven when I first wanted to read an adult book (there wasn't much sex in it, but a lot of reference to it) and I asked her whether I was allowed to read it and she let me. Later on she gave me books with sex-scenes to read because she KNEW that I wasn't the corruptible type. I don't think that Harry was rude to Mileta in the last chapter. He was just embarrassed that she had seen him naked.
Kit Cloudkicker: did chapter 36 look like a last chapter? I don't think so.
Kristen Michelle: hehe, your idea of Harry having to sleep with Ginny three times to get back his powers is hilarious! But no, it's not that way. I'm not going into any more details on the Parsentongue stuff, I just thought it could be an interesting addition to the story, but there won't be more about it, so if you have a question in connection with it, feel free to ask (probably I won't be able to answer).
Rab: I don't know when I finish the third fic – now that school is back I barely have time to write, and another 9-10 chapters need to be written – 9-10 very long chapters, so I can't promise you a quick 'publishing'.
xxstrangeonexx: I'm glad you think that J. K. would be proud of me :)
Puck: you wrote: "You know how you wrote what the book said about Parselmouth couples? Well how long does it take you? And where do you get the ideas for it?" Um, truth be told I didn't really understand the question. You want to know where I got the idea for the Encyclopaedia of Parseltongue, or where I got the idea for the whole story?
Lupin's Angel: good luck with your test. So, you're studying Greek and Roman mythology? That must be fun.
Also thanks to: baybee_xoxo, Houou, unknown reader (you forgot to give your name), PadmeSkywalker, Whit2005, Lynn, rebkos, Super saya-Jin Gotan, Lady Python, Lana Riddle, jennaration, AmandaPanda, aurora riddle, starheart, Cassandra Anthemyst, Sirius B, teazer, princess Ginny, Aimee, Saphron, Katie Bell, Wood's secret lover, zzxm, Tessa, Incubo Artistico, Ice Kitten, goldenstar555, twinkle-toes, J, Faunix, Dauphin, ErisedLily, the coffee fiend, Teri, GinnyPotter387, Maureen, Lady Schezar, Ronniekin's Sweetheart, music_princess, Myr Halcyon, romina, Any last requests, amazing typo, jen, Harrysgirl, FairyBubbles, Colibi, star queen
Chapter 37
Return of the wizard
Hogwarts, the same nightArgus Filch was furious. Two Slytherin students had broken into a closed room on the ground floor to make a highly illegal potion there, which - of course - exploded and dirtied all the nice, forget-me-not blue walls. That certain room had stood empty since Harry Potter and his wife had graduated from the school. It was empty, save a centuries-old parchment book.
Filch looked around in the room, his anger building by the second. There was some yellow, sticky goo on all the four walls and the ceiling, from where it started to dribble down, dirtying the floor as well.
Nothing was clean in the room, except for the book, that had very strong protecting charms against dust and any kind of dirt on it.
Filch grabbed a mop, dropped it into a bucket full of Mrs. Skower's All Purpose Magical Mess Remover, then started to wash the walls.
"Those students should be expelled, I tell you, my sweet!" he growled as Mrs. Norris smelled a yellow puddle on the floor and mewed her disgust.
The caretaker was so absorbed in his work and his fury that he didn't even notice as the magic quill jumped into the bottle of blue ink and started skating on the parchment book.
Had Mrs. Norris not drawn his attention to it, Filch probably wouldn't even have noticed it.
"Argh, another Hogwarts student…" he snorted. "Let's see… not that I'm interested, but…"
He walked up to the parchment book and his eyes widened in surprise as he read the name the quill had written.
"Impossible! That kid's a squib! A squib like me!" he gasped. "But this damned book is always right!" he kicked the wooden dais the book was standing on. "Damned, damned book!" fury had obscured his vision and mind, all he could do was tear his own hair… and that particular page of the book. "Wretched book!" he shouted, crumpling the paper, tearing it into little pieces. "Damn…"
"Filch! What – are – you - doing?"
Argus turned around, panting, to see professor Snape standing at the doorframe. "I…"
"I only asked you to clean up the room, Filch, not to make a racket… what were you doing?" Severus entered, seeing madness in the eyes of the caretaker. "You've torn out a page of the parchment book? Why?"
Filch still didn't answer – he was speechless with anger.
"Reparo!" Severus pointed his wand at the torn pieces of paper lying on the ground. The page immediately became whole again and flew back into the book, attaching itself seamlessly, as though it never had been ripped out of it. "Now I am interested what got you this riled up." the Potions teacher said, stepping to the book.
His eyes widened in surprise. "How could this be possible? That child was born a squib!"
"That's it!" Filch nodded eagerly, his fists clenched. "You have no idea how happy I was when I got to know that the great Harry Potter had a squib for a son!" he shouted like a man possessed. "It was the most wonderful day of my life!!! And now… I can't believe it! I can't accept it!" he kicked into the dais again. "Life's so damn unfair!"
"Calm down, Filch. I need to think." Snape said, looking at the line the quill had written:
Daniel Leonard Potter, born 5th April, 2000, parents: Harry James Potter and Virginia Potter
"Curious… most curious." he whispered. "Why did the quill write today as the day of birth when that child was born last summer? And how did he become a wizard all of a sudden?" he wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Ah, another Potter I will have to teach..."
* * * * *
Harry was gazing at the woman in awe. She was beautiful, and somehow resembled his Ginny. "Who… who are you?"
The red-haired woman didn't answer – she was standing there in the water, her clothes and hair wet, staring at her hands, feeling her face… clearly unable to speak.
Harry saw that she was in no condition to start talking, so he walked up to her and offered her his hand. She accepted it and let him drag her out of the lake and wrap her into his pogrebin-fur coat.
"Thank you." she whispered finally.
"You're welcome." he smiled at her. "Who are you?"
"I'm… I'm…"
"Desideria!" a voice shouted from behind them. They turned around to see Aaron running in their direction with an enraptured expression on his face. As he reached them, he closed the woman into a firm embrace, now sobbing aloud. "Des… oh, Des, I was told you were dead! Where have you been all along?"
"A… Aaron…" she stammered, clinging to him like a drowning man would cling to the lifeline. "Oooooh, Aaron…" she was also crying, her tears mingling with the water dripping down her cheeks. "You wouldn't… wouldn't believe when I told you…"
"What? What, dear?"
"Your brother… cursed me." she sniffed. "Because I turned him down. He turned me into… a goldfish and condemned me to live in this lake until the end of times..."
"But then… how? How have you come back?" her husband asked, holding her tight.
"This young man here," Desideria pointed at Harry, "freed me."
"Me?" Harry blinked. "How?"
"I was… condemned to live as a goldfish and fulfil wishes… until someone caught me who was devoid of selfishness…. someone who wished for the happiness of others, not for his own… I had already given up hope… I started to believe that no such person existed… then came you." she smiled at Harry. "Thank you. Thank you for having being so generous… your love for your children and friends freed me as well… and gave me back to my Aaron." she turned back to her husband. "Really… how can you still be alive after… eleven centuries?"
"It's a long story, my dear. Let me tell it later. Now we've got to get you into dry clothes." as they left for the castle, Harry felt some incredible warmth engulf his heart. Another couple he helped to happiness… the thought made him feel very, very satisfied. Almost satisfied enough to forget about his lost powers that he'd never get back anymore…
"What? You were living in the lake as a fish?" Hermione gaped as they listened to Desideria's tale in the staff room.
"And you were fulfilling wishes?" Ron interjected. "One just had to catch you and you did whatever he told you?"
"Yes." Desideria nodded.
"And Harry freed you…" Ginny whispered, tears in her eyes. "He freed you by being selfless…"
"I still can't believe that Harry saved my life!" Aberforth shook his head. "Great boy. Wonderful friend."
"And professor Lupin's back to normal?" Fred cut in. "No werewolf anymore?"
"No werewolf anymore." the ex-fish nodded.
"Harry really should have told us about you, you know." Ron said. "I could have done with three wishes…"
"Yeah…" George nodded. "First of all: you should have wished for children with Hermione's nose."
The staff room erupted with laughter – the only one who wasn't laughing was Viktor Krum. He was still hopelessly in love with Hermione – just as hopelessly as Draco loved Ginny.
"I just don't understand why Harry didn't tell us about the three wishes." George said.
"He didn't want any of you to know that it was he who helped…" Desideria said, turning to Aberforth. "He didn't even want you to know that he saved your life by using his first wish."
"Too modest, our Harry." Fred perceived.
Ginny soon excused herself and headed upstairs.
She found Harry in their room, sitting on the windowsill.
"A sickle for your thoughts." she said.
He looked at her, his eyes full of emotions. "Strange… life's so strange, isn't it, Gin?"
"Why?" she sat down next to him.
"Well… everything seems to happen to us." he looked out onto the park. The remaining patches of snow glittered in the moonlight.
"That's true." she nodded, taking his hand. "But not only bad things happen to us. At the end everything turns all right."
"Yeah." he replied with a sad smile. "At least our family hasn't fallen apart. We are together again… forever."
"Yes, and we'll grow old together, seeing our fifteen children, forty-seven grandchildren and one hundred and one great-grandchildren around us." she grinned and kissed him on the cheek.
"Hm… fifteen kids? Isn't that a bit too much?"
"Fourteen, then." she snuggled her face into his shoulder.
"And all of them witches and wizards." Harry added. "No worrying anymore."
"It was your third wish, right?" Harry nodded. "I wouldn't have minded if all of my kids had been Muggles, as long as you're their father." she said.
"You were of another opinion last summer." he reminded her.
"A lot happened since then, Harry. And I've realised that magic isn't everything. Love is what really counts, and not magic abilities."
He kissed the top of her head. "I'm happy that you think so, Gin… Oh, I can't wait to see Lily and Dan again!"
"Neither can I. Mum hopefully took good care of them." she smiled.
"Your mother?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "I thought Sirius was taking care of them."
"No. Dad took the kids to the Burrow, because Sirius was away, as usual. I hadn't seen much of him before coming here…"
"I wonder where he was going all the time…" Harry added.
"To Hogsmeade, so I heard." she shrugged. "But why…?"
"Hogsmeade?" Harry chuckled. "Then I think I know why he spent so much time there…"
Before going to bed they packed their things for the journey back to England.
They were to go to St. Petersburg by floo, then Arthur and the twins would apparate home. Hermione and Ginny, being pregnant, didn't want to risk apparating, so they, Ron and Harry were to travel by the Muggle train to France, then take the ferry over the La Manche.
Ginny packed Harry's suitcase, telling him that he'd only wrinkle his clothes if he packed them and he didn't oppose. She could do it better, after all. He kept pulling his things out of the wardrobe, handing them to his wife who placed them neatly into the suitcase. When he had emptied almost all of his drawers, his hand felt something under a pack of underwear. Something smooth and long. His wand.
He pulled it out of the drawer with a sigh, swirling it in his hands. When Ginny saw what he was holding, she stepped to him, embracing him from behind. He was grateful for her gesture, still he felt a bit of emptiness… as though his heart had also been emptied just like the drawers.
"Put… put this to the others." he handed the wand to Ginny. "It'll be a nice relic…"
* * * * *
Next morning the Weasleys and the Potters said goodbye to the people staying at Durmstrang. Ginny was happy to be going back to her children, the twins were excited to see Angelina (yes, both of them!), and Arthur barely could wait to see Molly and their grandchildren. Hermione had misgivings about going home now - she had had promised McGonagall to play her chaperone until the end of the tournament, after all.
"Just go, Hermione." Aberforth grinned at her. "Minnie doesn't need you to take care of her anymore… now she's got me!"
Minerva turned slightly pink and chuckled. "Go, Hermione. Really. You need a rest after all that has happened. Go home and take care of yourself and your babies."
"Professor McGonagall is right, dear." Ron put an arm around Hermione's shoulder. "As soon as we get home, you'll start attending St. Mungo's PHD."
"PhD?" she knitted her eyebrows.
"Pregnancy-Health Department." Ron replied. "It just opened a couple of months ago but it's already highly successful. All pregnant witches go there to learn useful stuff like anti-morning sickness potions, painkilling charms…"
"I wish I had attended such a department with my first two pregnancies." Ginny grinned. "But I still might do so now. I'll need to prepare for the triplets." she placed her hands on her stomach. "I still can't believe it… three kids at once…"
"You'll believe it when the whole Black Manor will be echoing with baby-cries and you won't know which way to turn – to change their nappies first, to heat their breakfast milk or to call a doctor to your hubby who had already gone mad." George commented.
"What promising prospects." Ginny wrinkled her nose. "I guess we'll have to hire one or two additional house-elves, or we won't manage everything around all the five kids. As for you, George, it's easy to say stuff like this, you're going to foist your child on Fred."
"Not entirely." George replied. "We've discussed it and decided to share the paternal duties."
"And what do you think Angelina will say to this?" Ginny crossed her arms.
"Well… she'll be lucky, of course, to have both of us." George winked at her and picked up his luggage.
"You first, Fred." Arthur instructed and Fred stepped into the flames, shouting 'The Dancing Bear!'.
By the time Harry reached down to the staff-room fireplace, Arthur and the Weasley boys plus Hermione had already left. He, as a judge, could have stayed at Durmstrang, but lacking his magic abilities he saw no point in staying. On the other hand, he felt way too worn after the past weeks' events. He needed some peace. He decided to come back for the third task – by train to St. Petersburg and floo to the castle. But the third task wasn't until June…
"Professor McGonagall… Aberforth…" he dropped his luggage as Minerva pulled him into a motherly embrace, then the old wizard caught his hand and started shaking it.
"Take care, Mr. Potter… and you also take care of him, Ginny!" Minerva said, tears brimming her eyes.
"I will." Ginny smiled, then stepped into the flames. "Good bye!"
"Take care kid, promise me that you'll take care!" Aberforth kept shaking Harry's hand, tears in his eyes.
"I will, Aberforth. You also take care of yourself and of the professor." he grinned at McGonagall who was crumpling a handkerchief. "Okay, I'm going."
As he stepped to the fireplace to shout 'The Dancing Bear', he heard someone call his name.
He turned around curiously to see a panting Aaron burst into the staff room, followed by his wife who was clutching a stitch in her side.
"Haaa-aaarry…" Aaron gasped for breath. "Thank… thank goodness you're still here… How could you think of going… without… saying good-bye to us?"
"I thought you two were quite… er… occupied with each other now…" Harry shrugged. "You have to make up for the lost time… a whole millennium."
"We really have been occupied… but not with that." Desideria panted. "We… we wanted to give you a gift, Harry."
"A gift?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "It's not my birthday."
"We… want to give you something… a thank-you-gift." Aaron said.
"Yes." his wife nodded. "We would like to show our gratitude for giving us back to each other, Harry."
"But…" Harry tried to protest.
"There's not 'but'." Aaron cut in. "Let us explain. Desideria and I… we are quite powerful wizards… our strength lies in our unity. Back when we had been together, we were invincible. There was nothing we couldn't do and there was no one who could harm us. My brother, however, managed to separate us by cunning and lies… separated we weren't nearly as powerful as we had been together. Anor's evilness broke the old magic that united Desideria and me. However, last night we restored it. We didn't sleep a single minute…" Harry looked at the couple's faces – they really looked worn and they both had shadows under their eyes. However, some ethereal light was blazing in their eyes now – a light that hadn't been there the previous evening.
"I see." he nodded. "So you're… united in magic again. That's really… cool."
"Cool?" Aaron blinked. "I fear I don't know this expression."
"I meant…I was happy for your happiness." Harry replied.
"Happiness is exactly what we feel now." Desideria smiled at him. "And we want to give you a bit of our happiness."
Harry frowned. Transferable happiness? He had never heard of such a thing. Was it something like the Cheering Charm? "I fear… I don't understand."
Aaron and Desideria looked at each other, huge smiles spreading on their faces. Harry looked from one to the other, unable to comprehend their expressions. They looked as though they were communicating through a mind-link. He watched as they flipped their wands, touching their tips together, and muttered and incantation: 'restituo vium magicae'. The touching tips of their wands emitted a huge, sparkling, white-hot ball that seemed to have been made of liquid crystal or translucent snowflakes… it was dazzlingly beautiful.
Only by seeing this inexplicably scintillating orb of light, Harry felt happiness flood into his heart – happiness he had never felt before… although the sparkling substance hadn't even touched him.
Aberforth and McGonagall were also watching the process in awe, Minerva grasping her fiancé's hand as Aaron and Desideria slowly lifted their joined wands, pointing them at Harry.
It all happened in the blink of an eye: the blinding white light changed from an orb into a comet and whooshed into Harry's body. In the same instant the black-bearded wizard and his redheaded wife disappeared. They must have been really very powerful wizards if they could leave Durmstrang's anti-apparition area just like that.
Minerva gasped and ran to Harry who had gone unconscious and was lying on the hearth-rug before the crackling flames of the fireplace.
"Mr. Potter! Harry!" she shrieked, patting his face gently, trying to bring him around.
"Kid!" Aberforth shouted into Harry's ear with such a force that he awoke with a jolt.
"What?" he looked around in bewilderment. "What happened? Where are Aaron and his wife?"
"They're gone." Minerva said. "But they… they did something to you…"
"Yeah…" Harry felt his head. "They probably hit me with a wooden club… ooooh…" he sat up, feeling dizzy.
Suddenly someone came through the fireplace, landing in his lap.
"Ginny!" he yelled. "Why have you come back?"
"Harry!" she flung herself on his neck, sobbing.
"What happened?" he pulled away just enough to be able to see her face. "What…?"
"Harry!" she held up her right hand. "Look!"
"Look? What?" he frowned.
"The ring!"
Harry's eyes widened. The gem in Ginny's ring was glowing again. He looked down at his own hand – his gem was also alight.
This could mean only one thing: he was a wizard again.
A/N2: there. Are you happy now? I hope so :)
Do not ask how Aaron and his wife could have given Harry back his powers – let's just say they're really damn powerful and – as I have mentioned – there's nothing they cannot do if they are united. Hm, somehow I've always liked the proverb 'unity is strength'.
The original title of this chapter was "Seeing the light" (it would have referred to the light in the gems), but in the last minute I changed it to Return of the wizard, as a tribute to Return of the Jedi :)
Desideria means 'wish' or 'desire' in Latin, that's why I chose it for Aaron's wife – the goldfish was fulfilling wishes, after all. As far as I remember there was also an Italian fairy tale called 'Princess Desideria and the ring of the dragon' or something.
Restituo vium magicae = to restore the magic powers (though my Latin is still not too good, so sorry if it's grammatically incorrect)
Just two more chapters – next chapter: Dursleys!