Yay, it was so wonderful! Lockhart was simply perfect! That Lockhart painting in which Lockhart was painting Lockhart was… wow. Hilarious.
Ginny was very cute, though she should have had more role. First I hated Dobby, now I like him a lot. I think that putting the sock into the diary was better than putting the diary into the book.
The Quidditch match was cool again, but I think that the first was better. But Harry's boneless arm was so hilarious again!
The tart falling on Mrs Mason's head was superb, better than in the book, so was Vernon falling out of the window :)
I laughed so hard when Harry as Crabbe left his glasses on, Draco asked why, Harry said: I was reading, and Draco asked: you can read? Hahahaha!
Tom Riddle couldn't have been better. Fabulous. The whole chamber scene was breathtaking, the only thing I didn't like in it was that Fawkes healed Harry AFTER Riddle was gone, not BEFORE it, like in the book.
The duel between Gildy and Snape was cool, though I didn't like Snape that much in CoS, because he got fat.
Molly Weasley was also perfect, but I didn't like Arthur at all. Arthur was the only character I didn't like.
Lucius rulez, simply wonderful, that guy.
The Hermione-Ron handshake at the end was a very clear reference for a future Ron/Herm relationship, so let the H/Hr shippers say anything they want, they aren't right!
The cheering-Hagrid was way too cheesy, but cute nevertheless.
The spiders… wow. I loved Ron when he kept whimpering all along in the forest, pointing upwards.
The Harry-in-the-diary scene looked cool with the black and white colours, only Harry being colourful.
I liked McGonagall much more in this movie than in the first one.
Pity that there was still no Peeves, though.
The Parseltongue sounded terrific, but I think they should have written what Harry and Riddle were saying. Of course we know it from the book, but those who haven't read it, didn't have the slightest idea what was told there.
Double kudos to John Williams for the wonderful score.
My very fave scene: the one AFTER THE CREDITS. Have you seen it? All other people had already left the movie when mum and I were still waiting for it, and it was worth! The most superb scene in the whole movie. If you missed it, then next time wait for it, even thought the credits are very long. It's really worth the wait!
Chapter 6
Home, sweet Hogsmeade
"Ooooh, I can't believe it's weekend already!" Daniel sighed happily, stretching on the grass near the lake, watching as the wind chased small, fluffy clouds across the sky. The weather was just as wonderful as the day before – as though it had been still August and not September.
"Yeah, it's cool that we had only one day to study before weekend," nodded his cousin, Kevin. "September the first should always be a Thursday or Friday, so that we can enjoy freedom right after we arrive at Hogwarts. By the way, where's your little Slytherin friend, Norbert?"
"In the library," Dan replied. "He said he wanted to look up some potion," he added with a grimace.
"Already studying for Snape's class? That isn't until next Friday!" Valentine said, scandalised. "Be careful with this guy, Dan, or he'll turn you into a Snape lover!"
"I don't think I'm in any danger of becoming Snape's fan," young Potter smirked.
"Still… he's so creepy!" Viviane commented. "He looks like… a vampire."
"A vampire? Norbert?" Daniel laughed. "Ridiculous."
"Not at all," Valentine spoke up. "It is common knowledge that the Malfoys descend from vampires. That's why they are so pale…"
"We aren't interested in the Malfoy family tree," Kevin grunted. "Anyway, Dan… you should hang a clove of garlic on your dorm's wall and keep a sharp-ended wooden peg on your bedside table… just in case."
Daniel waved impatiently. "C'mon, guys, Norbert's not dangerous. He's a Malfoy, all right, but he's downright nice. He promised me to help me whenever I have difficulties with certain charms – he'll practice them with me. When other people laughed at me yesterday… he defended me and proved that he was a good friend, so leave him alone, will ya?"
"All right," Val shrugged, watching as the giant squid lazily floated on the water's surface. "But don't tell us that we didn't admonish you if this Malfoy stabs you in the back!"
"He won't. I feel it," Daniel said calmly.
"Why are you so sure?"
"I don't know… there's something in him that makes me trust him… something that I cannot explain. As though I had always known him… it must sound silly, but that's what I feel," Dan shook his head, seeing his father cross the Hogwarts grounds, heading for Hogsmeade. Harry waved and the children waved back.
"Where's Uncle Harry going?" Kevin asked.
"Home. To visit mum and my siblings," Dan replied. "…and to tell mum that I have been sorted into Slytherin, I presume."
"Why, hasn't he sent her an owl yet?"
"I don't think so. This is something he'd rather tell mum in person," young Potter said with a hint of sadness in his voice. "I hope mum won't have a nervous breakdown…" seeing the sympathy on his cousins' faces, Dan decided to change topic. "I haven't even told you about my adventure last night!"
"What adventure?" Kevin asked excitedly. "You weren't wandering around the corridors at the dead of night, were you?"
"That's exactly what I was doing…" Dan grinned, pulling out something from his robe pocket. "…with the help of this."
Kevin examined the parchment that Daniel had rolled out on the grass. "What's this?"
Daniel cleared his throat and pointed his wand at the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."
Kevin's, Vivian's and Valentine's eyes widened as the parchment suddenly filled with criss-crossing lines, showing the ground-plan of the castle and the Hogwarts grounds. There were four little dots sitting by the lake and one slightly bigger dot labelled 'giant squid' swimming in the lake.
"Wicked! The Marauder's Map!" Kevin gasped.
As all four of them put their heads together to have a good view of the map, they saw that there were not only four dots sitting by the lake, but also two other dots approaching – two dots labelled 'Lily Potter' and 'Lancelot Weasley'.
"Exactly whom we need now!" Kevin groaned as Daniel slipped the parchment into his robe pocket. The Marauder's Map didn't concern anyone, but the four of them. Lily would surely tell on them and Lancelot would definitely tell on them if he knew what they were hiding.
Lily and Lancelot flopped down on the grass, next to the four of them.
"Hullo, sis," Daniel tried to look nonchalant. "You look particularly pretty today."
Lily crossed her arms, eyeing her little brother with a great deal of suspicion. "What is it, Daniel?"
"What is what?" Dan gave her an angelic-innocent expression.
"You aren't the type to be this nice to me this early in the morning," his sister said. "You must be hiding something…"
"Hiding something?" Kevin laughed. "Yes, Lily, he's hiding the hideous secret that… he has fallen in love with Professor Snape yesterday."
Lily gave Kevin a reproachful look, then turned to her brother. "Really, what was your first Potions class like?"
"Shitty," Dan shrugged. "Snape picks on me."
"Language, Daniel," Lancelot said, but no one listened.
"He picks on me, too," Viv and Val said in unison.
"And on me, either," Kevin added. "But you surely know him already, don't you, Lil? He is picking on you, too, isn't he?"
Lily looked contemplative for a minute. "Not really. I don't know why, but… he's never been nasty to me. On the contrary… he seems to be a little bit nicer to me than to the others… no idea why."
"Maybe because you could tell him what you got if you added bat-blood and phoenix tears to an infusion of fluxweed?" Vivian raised an eyebrow.
"Adding what to what?" Lily laughed in a confused way.
"You don't know it?" Lancelot crossed his arms. "Lily, I'm appalled! I always thought you were good at Potions!"
"No, I'm not," Lily flushed. "But Chris is, and he helps me whenever I need it."
"Oooooh, Chris!" Dan clutched at his heart, mimicking an enamoured girl.
"Talk of the devil!" Kevin pointed at two people walking down the lane from the castle, holding hands: Christopher Wood and Yvette Weasley.
Daniel cast a sideways glance at his sister who looked petrified. She had turned as pale as though all the blood had run out of her face.
"I've got to go," she jumped up and hurried back to the castle, but avoided the path of Christopher and Yvette.
"Even Mr. Dandy Wood is good for something… he rid us of my sister," Daniel grinned.
"Yeah, he should rid us of Lance as well," Kevin commented.
"Eat dung, Kevin," Lancelot stood up to leave.
"Language, Lance!" Dan, Kevin and the twins said in chorus.
As Percy's son departed, Daniel pulled the map out of his robe-pocket again.
"So, tell me, how did you come by this little beauty?" Kevin inquired. "My dads sang endless praises about this… they also said it was confiscated from Uncle Harry."
"That's right," Dan nodded. "But I found it yesterday and we can use it whenever we want."
Viv and Val exchanged impish grins, already seeing in their mind's eye what they'd be doing with the help of such a map.
"We've got to be very careful with this, though… Uncle Harry and mum know how this works," Viviane said.
"Don't worry about my dad," young Potter smiled. "We have his permission."
"What?" Valentine gasped. "Uncle Harry knows that you have the map and lets you keep it?"
"Yeah."
"Your dad's so cool, Dan!" Viv clasped her hands. "But I guess our dad would also let us use it, wouldn't he?" she turned to her twin, who nodded. "Anyway mum mustn't get to know about it, that's for sure."
"So, guys, when should we first use it?" Kevin asked, eager to do some rule-breaking as soon as possible. He really couldn't have denied being the son of Fred and George…
"I guess the weekend would provide a good opportunity…" Dan said. "We could go to Hogsmeade and buy stuff in Honeydukes…"
"…and invite Davie as well!" Kevin added, pointing at their second-cousin, David Dursley, who was walking in their direction.
"We can't go to Honeydukes, it's closed and up for sale," Valentine said.
"WHAT???" the two boys gaped. "NO!"
"Yes," Viviane sighed. "We were so sad when it closed… and so was dad."
"So, should we let Davie in on our secret?" Viviane asked as young Dursley was coming closer and closer.
"I think we should not," Dan said.
"Why not?" the twins asked. "He'd be a great marauder!"
"No doubt of that, but he loves Lily and would spill the beans to her sooner or later."
"What?" Kevin gaped. "He loves Lily?"
"Yes," Daniel sighed, hiding the map again. "The poor guy. Unrequited love sucks."
"Hey, guys!" David sat down on the grass. "What is this gloominess, eh?"
"Come and join the Club of Hopeless Lovers, Davie," Kevin smirked.
"What are you talking about?" the Dursley boy asked, knitting his blonde eyebrows.
"You and Lily…" Viviane started.
"…Dan and that Ravenclaw chick…" Kevin continued.
"She's no chick, her name is Liu!" Dan retorted.
"I guess you two have a good topic to discuss," Kevin said, standing up. "Wanna go and nick some second breakfast from the kitchen, girls? My dads told me how to get there."
The twins hopped up and joined him.
"We'll talk about the you-know-what later, Dan," Val said.
"About the what?" David blinked, his chubby face radiating interest.
"Nothing," his second-cousin shook his head. "Tell me, Dave, how long have you loved my sister?"
"How long have you loved that Ravenclaw chick?" Davie countered.
The two boys exchanged a smirk. "Care to join them in the kitchen?"
"'Course I do!"
With that, they hurried after the others.
* * * * *
Harry decided to drink a mug of butterbeer in The Three Broomsticks before apparating home – he needed a bit of pick-me-up in order to be able to stand face to face with Ginny and tell her (as nonchalantly as possible) that Daniel had become a Slytherin.
Madame Rosmerta, at the age of sixty, still looked as though she had only been 35. She and Sirius had been in some kind of a relationship for about a decade now – a relationship that meant that Sirius spent about one week in a month at Hogsmeade with Rosie.
Sometimes Harry thought it was a pity that Rosie and Sirius didn't have children (Sirius would have made a wonderful father), but if he thought it over and over, he had to admit that six children at Black Manor were more than enough. On the other hand – if Madame Rosmerta had spent her time raising kids, who would have run the pub?
Harry looked around in The Three Broomsticks and immediately spotted a familiar figure: Gabrielle Delacour. The girl whom he had rescued from the Hogwarts lake seventeen years earlier now was a young woman – and an extremely pretty woman at that.
She also noticed Harry at once and came over to his table.
"Hi, 'Arry."
"Hullo, Gabie. Long time, no see."
"Yeah," she nodded, smiling. Harry had the impression that she was even more charming than her sister Fleur. Her face was not as thin and pointed as Fleur's, it was rather round like that of a baby. With her wavy blonde hair and huge blue eyes she reminded him of the Barbie dolls that his female classmates in the primary school used to play with. While Fleur had always been the cold beauty – an elaborate and glittering ice-sculpture -, Gabrielle was the sunray that melted the ice… she seemed to have more heart.
"Um, what are you doing around here?" Harry asked.
"I'm running Fleur's florists' shop in 'er absence," she replied. "I might stay for a while even after she returns."
"Great, then we'll see each other quite often."
"Vairy possibly," she smiled. "'Arry… I guess I 'aven't even thanked you for saving my life…" she turned pink. "I'm ashamed. I should 'ave thanked you ages ago."
With her rosy expression she looked endearingly sweet.
"You have thanked me already, Gabrielle," he answered. "With that stare you gave me when Ron and I fished you out of the lake… I saw the gratitude in your eyes. Sometimes you don't need words to tell someone what you feel."
"You are so understanding, 'Arry," she sighed. "I wish every man could be like you…" a dreamy expression fell over her face as she propped her chin into her palms, gazing out the window – and Harry saw what she was goggling with such infatuation: a huge white-marble building with tall pillars and a triangle-shaped façade bearing the words Malfoy & Malfoy.
Not much later Harry said good-bye to Ms. Delacour and stood up from the table. On his way to the door he was surprised to see Bert Bradley, the new Hogwarts caretaker sitting at a table, deeply immersed in reading a book titled 'From Chemistry to Potion-making'.
Harry had no idea what anyone (besides Snape) could find interesting in Potions, so he just shook his head in disbelief and left the pub.
* * * * *
Harry apparated at the hall of Black Manor. Barely did he make two steps when he got caught in some kind of invisible trap that hung him from the ceiling, upside down.
As he started to look for his wand, three small figures stormed down the stairs, waving sticks, imitating to be holding real wands.
"We got you this time, evil death eater!" one of the three forms shouted.
"Yes, you cannot escape us!" the second one added.
"We are going to set the dementors on you!" the third one – a female – shouted eagerly.
Harry had a hard time finding his wand, because he was practically doubling up with laughter – as much as you can double up when being suspended by your ankles. He flipped his wand and in the next instant he was standing on his feet with crossed arms, trying to look reprimanding. He didn't manage.
The three kids, however, didn't leave the 'evil death eater' alone.
"You are coming with us to Cornelia Fudge, the Ministress of Magic!" Rose Potter said resolutely, pointing her 'wand' at Harry.
"What kind of way is this to greet your poor father?" Harry knitted his eyebrows.
"You aren't allowed to speak, you filthy death eater!" Robert said.
"We are taking you before the Magical Law Enforcement!" Richard added. "Move!"
Harry rolled his eyes, succumbing to the thought that his triplets' new pastime was playing aurors. When those three got something into their heads, there was no force on Earth to dissuade them…
So the patient father let his children guide him into a nearby room, where little Lea was sitting in a huge chair that would have been big enough for Hagrid.
The triplets bowed before the 'Ministress of Magic' who motioned them with a graceful movement of her small hand. "Rise, my faithful aurors."
"Your excellence… we have caught this evil death eater lurking in the hall of Black Manor," Richie stepped forward. "What should we do with him?"
"Take him to Azkaban!" Lea said sternly.
"Should we torture him?" Rose suggested eagerly.
"Er… rather not," Lea shook her head, her long, black locks flipping around her head. When she finished the head shaking, her hair looked just as messy as her father's. She was so cute that the 'prisoner's heart melted.
"Should we also take his wand, Lady Fudge?" Robert asked.
The 'Ministress' seemed shocked. "But… then… how will he persuade the dementors not to kiss him?" her huge green eyes filled with tears. "I don't want the dementors to kiss daddy!" she jumped down from the enormous chair and ran up to Harry, flinging her little arms around his legs. "I won't let them hurt you, daddy!"
"Thank you, princess," Harry scooped her up, fighting down the urge to laugh at his youngest daughter's naivety. It was downright endearing.
"I'm no princess," Lea sniffed. "I'm Ministress of Magic."
"But not a good one," Rose wrinkled her freckled nose. "A Ministress who has mercy on a death eater, should be replaced. I move for a vote of no confidence in the current Ministress for Magic!"
"Where did you learn expressions like that?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
"From Uncle Percy, of course," Rob shrugged.
"Oh, of course," Harry rolled his eyes. "So, what is my sentence, oh great aurors?"
"I guess we might as well dispense with sending you to Azkaban for this once, dad," Richard replied.
"How good for me," Harry sighed and headed upstairs with Lea in his arms. "Where's your mother? And Sirius?"
"Ginny's still asleep, I presume," came the voice of Sirius from the kids' playing room. "Hi, Harry."
"Hello, godfather," the two men shook hands.
"You look… red. What happened to you?" Sirius asked.
"I suppose all the blood rushed into my face when my dear little auror kids hung me from the ceiling. Really…" he turned to the triplets. "Where have you learned such a trap-charm?"
Sirius flushed. "I guess that's my fault. We were having a bit of fun with the kids."
"Fun, eh?" Harry furrowed his brow. "Do you greet all guests by suspending them from the ceiling by their ankles?"
Sirius shrugged. "Not really. The children reserve this kind of treatment especially for you… but don't think that you're the only one suffering in this house!" he added hastily before Harry could comment on the 'treatment reserved only for him'.
"Who else?"
"Well… yesterday they were playing dragon-tamers, for instance… and I had to play the dragon," Sirius admitted.
"You were quite a good little Norbert," Rose grinned.
"Norbert?" Harry's expression changed from annoyed to something else… something unreadable.
"What is it, Harry?" his godfather asked, concerned.
"Come, I'll tell you," the young Charms professor said. "You four go and play something and don't disturb us."
"Okay, let's get Dinky from the kitchen! She'll be the evil hag who robbed Gringotts, and we are going to arrest her!" Robert announced.
"Great!" Rose clasped her hands and the triplets were off to the kitchens.
"Wait for meeee!" little Lea ran after them as fast as her small legs could carry her.
As soon as the children's laughter died away, Harry and Sirius took seats on a sofa.
"So tell me, what's bothering you?"
Harry took a deep breath. "Daniel got sorted into Slytherin."
There was a little yelp and the two men turned around to see Virginia Potter, still in her night gown, standing in the door with a hand pressed onto her chest.
"Gin!" Harry hurried up to her and gathered her into a hug.
"Harry… did I… did I hear it well?" she croaked, disentangling herself from his embrace.
"I'm sorry, but you did, dearest," her husband replied, leading her up to the sofa.
"How… how could this happen?" she asked, practically shaking. "I mean… why?"
"That is something no one knows," Harry shook his head. "I asked Dumbledore, but he has no idea, and I asked the Sorting Hat that refused to answer."
"I don't like this," Sirius commented.
"Why? Do you think I do?" Harry replied in a sarcastic tone.
"Snape is his head of house, then!" Ginny breathed as the realisation struck her.
"Yes, Snape is his head of house and a Malfoy is his new best friend," her husband replied.
"A Malfoy?????" Ginny and Sirius gasped.
"Yeah… his name is Norbert," Harry shrugged and decided not to add that this boy gave him the creeps. It was stupid, after all, to get nervous because of a child… even if that child was a Slytherin, moreover a Malfoy.
Suddenly a bang came from the kitchen – the triplets might have used rather drastic methods to arrest poor Dinky.
"I'll go and have a look at them before they make the whole building tumble down," Sirius said and apparated down into the kitchen.
Husband and wife were left alone.
Harry pulled Ginny into a tight embrace, kissing her temple.
"What… what will be of my baby Dan in Slytherin?" she sniffed.
"He's no baby anymore," Harry rubbed her back reassuringly. "He'll manage it, believe me. He's strong as a lion."
"A lion?" she gave him a sad smile. "See, you named him after a lion and he still became a Slytherin."
"Yeah… how ironic, isn't it?" Harry shook his head. "It won't be easy for him in Slytherin, that's for sure, but he'll manage it. Snape won't dare be too nasty to him as long as I'm around."
Ginny let out a small chuckle. "I'd like to see Professor Snape treating Professor Potter as an equal."
Harry's mouth tucked into a smirk. "Uh-huh… but that wouldn't be the funniest thing to see… I'd like to see Snape treating Neville as an equal."
"Neville?"
"Oh, of course you don't know. Imagine, Neville is the new Flying Professor and Quidditch referee."
"I can't believe it!" Ginny's face lit up. "Neville! That's really wonderful! Ron, Seamus and Dean should also go to teach at Hogwarts and the old team would be together again."
"Ah, speaking of the old team… guess who else came back to teach?!"
"Who?"
"Gilderoy Lockhart."
Ginny gave her hubby an incredulous stare. "Gilderoy? But what is he teaching? Defence Against the Dark Arts is taught by Remus, isn't it?"
"Gilderoy teaches a very new subject – P.E."
"What?"
"Physical Education. A Muggle subject, but Dumbledore decided that it was necessary. According to him all the students need a bit of movement, and I can only agree. But his choice of teacher… ehm… Anyway, you know that all of Gilderoy Lockhart's Beauty Salons have aerobics training among their services, so Gilderoy knows a lot about stuff like that… "
"I understand," Ginny smiled. "Have you had breakfast yet? I'm starving."
* * * * *
Harry spent a nice, more or less calm day playing with his children. After having had to play a rampaging reindeer that got caught by four valiant reindeer-tamers, the family sat down to have lunch, served by their house-elf, Dinky.
The meal was really delicious, but the kids kept complaining that dessert was missing.
"Dinky is doing this all the time nowadays!" Richard said indignantly. "She keeps forgetting her duties! Yesterday she forgot to serve dinner! Today she forgot the dessert!"
"Yes, and she keeps forgetting to wash our socks and clean the owls' cages!" Rose added.
"Dad, you've got to knock some manners into this house-elf!" Rob slapped the table.
"Sshhh!" Harry put his index-finger to his mouth. "Walls have ears! You don't want your Aunt Hermione to get to know what you have just said about poor Dinky, do you?"
"Even Hermione has to admit that Dinky should be punished," Sirius said calmly. "We pay her quite well and what does she do? Sits in her room and writes letters. Even uses our owls when she thinks that we don't see it."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Dinky writing letters? To whom?"
"No idea," his wife shook her head. "I told the children not to ask her… it's her business, after all."
"Hermione would be very proud, dear," Harry smiled at Ginny.
"We still don't have dessert!" little Lea whined. "You promised to bring us sweets from Hogsmeade but you haven't! Bad daddy!"
"I couldn't, sweetie, and there's a good reason for it," her father said.
"Honeydukes is closed and up for sale," Sirius nodded knowingly.
"You knew it? You knew it all along and never told me?" Harry shot his godfather an accusing look.
"Well, of course I knew it – I saw it two weeks ago when I visited Rosie," Sirius replied. "I forgot to mention, sorry."
"Forgot?" Robert knitted his eyebrows. "Forgot something as important as this?"
"Why has Honeydukes closed?" Ginny asked.
"According to Ron the owners got too old and wanted to enjoy the rest of their lives on the Bahamas," Harry shrugged.
"Too bad," Sirius sighed. "Hogsmeade won't be the same without Honeydukes."
"Couldn't we…" Ginny started, then her voice trailed off.
"What?"
"…buy Honeydukes?"
"Buy the shop?" Harry gasped.
"Why not? It's up for sale, is it not?" she asked.
"Well, yeah, but…"
"I still haven't spent a single sickle of my part of the family heritage," Ginny said. Thirteen years earlier Ron's pet niffler Wendelin had found a huge crate of gold in Molly's cabbage patch at the Burrow. That crate had been buried by Harold Weasley, an ancestor of the Weasleys, who lived in the seventeenth century and had a bit of a quarrel with the rebelling goblins. He had buried the family's treasures in the Weasleys' country estate then fled abroad, and the treasure hadn't been found until 1998. "Anyway, there are only four kids left with me at home and they play together all the time, not needing their mother that much, and Dinky does all the housework, so… I'm bored. I need something to do. And running Honeydukes would be a perfect thing to occupy myself with. Can you understand that?"
"Sure, I can," Harry said, "but… Do you really want to buy Honeydukes?"
"Well…" Ginny grinned.
Suddenly all the four children felt invigorated.
"Yes, mum, buy it!" Rose shouted.
"Buy it, mummy, buy it!" Lea added, enthusiastically.
"How cool it is – we are gonna be the dukes of Honeydukes!" Richie yelped.
"Calm down, children!" Sirius hushed them. "Don't influence your parents, let them make their decision on their own."
"Okay…" Robert smirked. "We let dad decide that mum should buy the store…"
* * * * *
The rest of the day was spent in Honeydukes-fervour. The children kept repeating that it was a wonderful idea to purchase the shop, but Harry and Ginny decided to talk about it later, between the two of them.
Although Lea fell asleep after lunch, there was no opportunity for the Potter parents to discuss the topic of Honeydukes until bedtime, because the triplets - to their father's utter horror – decided to play mediwizards and wanted to operate Dinky. Harry had to intervene in order to save the poor house-elf from the terrible fate of disembowelment.
"If I think it over and over… it doesn't sound that bad an idea after all," Harry said as he pulled on his pyjama bottoms and climbed into the bed next to his wife. "The family could move to Hogsmeade and you could be near me all the time…"
"Your dirty little mind at work, Mr. Potter?" Ginny laughed, pulling her husband down to herself for a kiss.
"Dirty mind? Nay…" he chuckled, kissing the tip of her nose. "But I'd really like to have you so close… I could come and visit you almost every evening…"
"Dirty mind, indeed," she grinned. "I'd really like to do something for a change… I love living here, raising the kids, but… I need something else, too. I want to work, Harry. Can you understand me?"
"Of course I can. I'm a modern-minded fellow, you know. I wouldn't mind you working, my Honeyduchess."
"Honey Duchess? That's cute," she pulled down his face to hers and kissed him deeply. "And now… what about those dirty thoughts, my Honey Duke?"
* * * * *
"Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" Sirius growled at three hunched figures standing in front of Harry and Ginny's room, pressing their ears onto the door.
"Ssshhh!" Rose hushed him. "Mum and dad mustn't know that we are here eavesdropping!"
Black crossed his arms. "Would you tell me what the hell you are listening to?"
"Mum and dad… playing," Robert said with a sickeningly innocent expression.
"And what are they um… 'playing'?" Sirius frowned.
"Tarzan and Jane," Richard whispered. "Press you ear here and you'll hear all the jungle noises they are making…"
"I'm not pressing anything anywhere, but I promise I'm going to hang you from the ceiling if you don't go off to your beds immediately," Sirius flicked his wand at the children menacingly, making them scatter. As the three pairs of feet ran off in the direction of their rooms, Sirius indeed pressed his ear onto the door. After the first sentence he heard ('Oh, Harry Potter, you untamed lion!'), he decided to get some sleep – but only after a nice, cold shower.
"Lion? I thought you'd say reindeer…" Harry smiled at his wife, oblivious to the fact that people had been eavesdropping outside. Suddenly his expression changed from happy to scared.
"What is it?" she asked, confused.
Harry gulped, turning ruby red, holding up something... dripping. "I guess it's broken, dear."
"Broken?" she paled, knowing exactly what it meant.
"I… I don't know how this could happen… it hasn't happened, not once…" he stammered. "Damn."
Harry and Ginny – both being Parselmouths – were extremely fertile together. According to the Encyclopaedia of Parseltongue, if a man and a woman were both Parselmouths and happened to make love, it was inevitable that the woman got pregnant – no matter what kind of contraceptive charms or potions they used. Since the day they got to know this, Harry and Ginny had been using condoms every time they had sex, since that was the only way to prevent conception. Not that they were too happy about it… it was better without it, but there was simply no other choice.
Harry still remembered the night when little Lea was conceived – he and Ginny were spending their seventh wedding anniversary in Florida. After a day spent in Disneyworld, Ginny kissed him fiercely and said: "You know, Harry, walking among all those children in the adventure park I thought we could… have another. I haven't been pregnant for four years… I've been kind of missing it."
Harry was more than delighted back then… they could be together 'the normal way' for a couple of months. After the baby's birth they continued using protection. Her last pregnancy wore Ginny down pretty much and they decided that Lea should be their last child.
No such luck.
"I guess we should start thinking of names, then…" the young mother-to-be whispered into her husband's ear.
Harry looked deeply into her eyes. "Do you think you could handle another pregnancy, Gin? And what about the shop? Could you run it in your condition?"
She had to laugh. Harry looked so concerned, chewing his lower lip, resembling a little boy. He looked so sweet that way.
"C'mere," she pulled him into a kiss. "Don't worry, my love. I'll manage it… we'll manage it."
"No doubt we will…" Harry tried to smile, "…but I don't dare imagine the kids' reaction when they get to know…"
* * * * *
"We have made a decision," Harry said at the breakfast table.
"Aaaaaand???" Rose, Richie, Robert and Lea asked in chorus.
"If it's not sold yet, then we are going to buy Honeydukes and move to Hogsmeade," declared Ginny.
"YIPPPPPPPEEEEE!!!"
"We have another announcement to make," Harry said to calm down the over-zealous Potter children.
"What?" Sirius gave them a curious stare.
"Well… Ginny and I…" Harry reached out to grip his wife's hand and squeezed it, "…are going to have a baby."
"AGAIN????????"
A/N: this was very much a build-up chapter, so I'm apologising for the lack of action. The next chapter will be more interesting, I promise.
Notebook Girl: why on Earth would Norbert turn on his dad? He's a Malfoy and Malfoys do not turn each other in. I use Times New Roman size 12 in Word. Why?
FireWulf: I'm glad you liked it.
Kit Cloudkicker: well… Dan might have the heart of a Gryffindor. Who knows?
Houou: Branagh's play was perfect. Simply loveable.
Toby Haine: did you get my mail? I answered your review in it, so I hope you did get it. I'm going to read the next scene ASAP. Btw, I've just seen that you changed your GTnet review you wrote me a bit. First you told me who you were, now there is a 'guess who?' And just a little question: why did you choose such a funny name on the GTnet forums?
AmandaPanda: it's one of the very few unanswered questions. Let Harry keep his secret about what he would see if he looked into the mirror.
King Jasbon: I'll try and read that fic you mentioned as soon as I have some time (which will probably be in February, given that I'm going to have exams soon and have to prepare).
Princess Ginny: Dan and Norb will be good friends.
Indigo Ziona: more Gilda soon, and a lot of darkness later.
C-chan: that's exactly what I'm planning to do. And you'll laugh at it.
Saphron: they DID take the map with them.
jennaration: the map will be kind of important.
AClodhoppingElf: heehee, I love the way so many people have grown to like Norbert, although he's a Malfoy :)
veronik: Have you also seen CoS today? I consider myself a Ravenclaw. And which house would you be in? No, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Hungary.
Mistri: which names are familiar? Besides Norbert, I mean… Gilda, perhaps? It comes from Rigoletto. And Lancelot comes from the Arthurian legend.MauiGoddess3: nice to see you again! :))
Lady Schezar: I didn't think that Snape was so nice to Dan… did he look nice? Oh my…
Wood secret lover: please, be patient till chapter 12.
Pudadingding: you have no idea how happy I was to see you again! I thought you had long forgotten about me, so it was a very pleasant surprise to read a review from you again! :) Actually you made me blush with your comments… I feel honoured. Do not worry about Draco, he'll eventually get laid :) I hope you did well on your exams. *sigh*, I'm also going to have exams soon. They suck.
Zenon Lee: yes, Harry's wish did have side effects, but they will only be revealed in chapter 13. I know that Grindelwald is a Swiss town because mum told me – she has even been there :) I also thought it to be rather interesting that Rowling associated the previous evil with a German name – I had to think on Hitler for some reason, given that Grindelwald was defeated by Albus in 1945, when the second world war ended… No, we don't have The Amazing Race here in Hungary. We have three other reality shows: one of is Big Brother, of course. The second is called The Farm (I never watched a single episode of that), and the third one that I like quite a lot if called 'The Real World'.
X-Tow-Naga: I'm not sure about DADA or DaDA. I thought that 'against' in 'Defence against the Dark Arts' should be written with a small letter, not a capital one. You write 'of' in most title-abbreviations with a small letter, right? For example CoS, PoA or AotC. I thought that 'against' functioned like 'of' or 'the', thus should be written with a small 'a'. I was aware that the Potions class was very similar to the original one in Philosopher's Stone, but I thought that Snape should be acting similarly towards Dan as he had towards Harry. There will be one single scene in chapter 9 that will remind you of a scene of PS, but no more, I promise. History isn't repeating itself all the time.
ShadowChild: what do you mean by backing up the characters' children? You mean that I'll have to characterise them profoundly or what? Well… I guess I have done quite a bit of characterisation in this fic, especially on Daniel. You'll see. No, for the time being I'm not planning on being a professional author. Some time, perhaps. You wrote: "…have plots that most authors would give a hand to have come up with." Hm… well, I guess that there WILL BE a certain plot twist in this one that people WOULD give a hand to come up with – I was very proud of myself when I made it up, LOL :) Thanks for the wonderful review!
K. C. Hunter: I'm glad that a bunch of stuff is catching your notice now. You'll need to remember most of them later, so it's an advantage that you notice them :)
Nefertiri: how many little sisters do you have? I don't know what Harry would see when looking into the mirror. But I doubt that he'd still see his parents.
Lyny: I also like that turkey-on-the-head Mr Bean episode. Very funny :) Have you seen that one in which he decides to cut a window into the kitchen wall and beheads the pictures of Lady Diana and Prince Charles? That was also hilarious. But I liked the Mr Bean movie as well – LOL, Whistler's mother looked so idiotic when Mr Bean re-draw it!
Katrina: I'm glad you didn't think it was boring :)
rebkos: I'm going to keep up the long chapters. Maybe this one wasn't that long, but most of them will be.
sea cucumber: why have you run out of things to say?
Alexander Phoenix: yes, Bert is really exceptionally smart for a caretaker. You think that after the first two fics Harry deserves a break? Oh… poor dear Harry he will definitely not have a break. Probably, if he knew what was going to happen to him, he'd rather commit suicide. Be prepared that this is the fic in which he'll suffer the most. But I promised a more or less happy end, so chin up!
SiriDragon: glad you liked it.
Jeanine23Dr: yes, Harry is definitely a cool dad :) Dan won't need Harry's cloak, though… you'll see why.
Missy: yeah, some scenes in my fics are quite inappropriate for being published in a children's book, LOL :)
Dauphin: Harry already tried to help Dan to get rid of his defeatist streak in the Mirror of Erised scene. But it will take Dan another 8 or so chapters to get rid of it. But after that… hehe, not telling…
spangle*star: see my assessment of the movie at the top.
pamela-potter-24: thanks for telling me the Scottish school system. However, I'm going to leave their timetable as it is, because it is easier for me to keep track of lessons this way. Let's just assume that wizards aren't that over-burdened with classes as Muggles are, okay? :)
Waldomier: thanks.
Sky: really? Hmmm…
Katie Bell: yes, there will be quite a bit of Dobby! :) I decided that he was a shamelessly neglected character in most fanfics, so I put him into this one.
Cassandra Anthemyst: I think that Abu saw a banana split in the mirror. What else would monkeys see?
Rab: I'm glad you liked the cookie I didn't send you :)))))
Blondie in Disguise: I will.
mazipoto: well, who knows? Lots of things that don't seem important at first sight WILL be important.
goldenstar555: no way would I write a mini Draco :)
star queen: yeah, Snape doesn't seem the creative type, does he?
Lapis Lazuli: thanks. Btw, I like your name.
apple-pie: yes, the mirror will return once, at the end.
Neus: hehe, no I didn't fall asleep :) Yes, I heard about that sunken ship, but didn't know that her name was Prestige. Good luck with your exams! As I keep telling my friends when they have exams: May the Force be with you! (Que la Fuerza te accompane! LOL, this is the only thing I know in Spanish!:) The Lockhart cookie was perfect :)
jasper: well, you got some Ginny in this chapter :) No, Dan won't get a cloak. He won't need it.
2Coolio: yes, you are right. Those three are going to be like H/Hr/R. But quite different things are going to happen to them.
Bailey Ballinger: what have I done? Not much, just started Harry's series of torments.
kryptKnight: no, definitely not. But you seem to have a vivid imagination.
I forget ;): I'm glad you found your way back to me and my fics. Btw, what used to be your reviewer name? Have you ever reviewed before? Just wondering, because I can't remember anyone with the name 'I forget'.
Aimee: yes, the caretaker will be important for some weird reason.
figgiesblazin: I'm glad you think I'm good at putting Dan into Slytherin. You're welcome on the review, I'm glad I could be your first reviewer :)
Sapphire Selia: glad to see you here again! I'm updating once a week.
Rowena Ravenclaw II: perhaps Madame Pince wasn't as talented a witch as talented a wizard Sirius had been when restoring Stone Henge's original state. I haven't read the fic you mentioned. I read one in which Harry's daughter was in Slytherin, but I don't remember ever having read one in which his son was a Slytherin.
WolfEyes: yes, there will be a bit about the double triangle later, but the most important romances won't be about those kids. Lots of people are going to fall in love in this fic, and Lily's love for Chris Wood won't be the most important of all.
Squalldaman: I'm glad you think Rowling could get inspiration from me:)
Lainy: are you going to review every chapter from now on? Wow, that would make me very happy! :) No, there won't a sequel to this fic, this is the last in this series. But I might write something different later, surely about Harry and Ginny.
Ice Kitten: I'm going to read your fic as soon as possible, I promise. If I haven't read it by the next time I update, please, do remind me to do so! There will be a bit of Sirius in the fic, but now much.
Myrtle: how nice to see you again! :) I'm glad you like my writing style. It's a great appraisal for someone whose native language isn't English. I bet I could write much better if I were British or American.
chocolate frog: LOL, I love your name! Chocolate frogs are so cute (and delicious, too!:)
Lana Riddle: I'm glad you liked the resurfacing of the map.
LilGinny: I have no idea what laringitis is, but I hope that you'll be feeling all right again soon. (it is some illness, isn't it?) Is your sis feeling better?
Kamatazi Yumi: yes, it will get much better and very, very evil :)
Faith Lynn: I will, thanks :)
Derkaun Zarion: is Alabama some TV series (besides a place)? About the sparks… well, later you'll see why Dan produced red and golden ones. No, the caretaker isn't magical at all, he's a Muggle.