Disclaimer: Duh. If you think I am J.K. Rowling, you need your brain
checked over.
The Unicorn and the Stag
Chapter Six
At breakfast July 31, Rose seemed very quiet.
When she went into the Great Hall, she sat next to the Weasleys instead of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. One Weasly in particular.
"I swear, if she doesn't get her palms of Bill, I will retch," Ron announced.
"What's wrong with you? Bill doesn't seem to mind," Hermione said. She was grinning like a maniac. "I think they look cute."
"Hurl."
"Would you grow up, Ron?"
"Ron, he's got to start dating someday. How old is he? Rose turns twenty in October."
Ron glowered at them. He hated losing arguments.
"Think of what their kids would look like," Hermione said, staring at their hair. "Has every Weasley had red hair? And what did Rose do with hers?"
Rose's hair did look very nice. It had looked like it was reddish-brown and curly when she arrived, but she had apparently washed and combed it. Her hair was auburn, and simply wavy. It fell down to her waist. She was wearing blue robes to set off her eyes.
"Is Bill going to stay here for the year?" Hermione asked.
"I think so. He got a year off."
"I didn't know he could get a year off."
"Quiet!"
They looked like they were having a very important conversation. Suddenly, they got up and left the Hall. Hermione, Ron, and Harry followed. They were going to one of the empty dungeons. The trio hid outside and listened.
"How are your newest phoenixes going?"
"I'm not sure if they know they're phoenixes yet. But they'll figure it out at the first Burning Day."
"It might come as a bit of a shock to him."
"He's used to shocks. Think about where he came from."
Bill laughed. "Of course. And how are you doing, Unicorn?"
"I'm doing fine, Bill."
They stopped talking. When Harry and Hermione chanced a peek from behind the wall (Ron was covering his eyes) they saw Ron's older brother and Harry's older sister kissing.
They grabbed Ron and ran all the way to Gryffindor Tower. When they finally got there, they collapsed into the overstuffed chairs and laughed until they had tears running down their faces.
"Rose and Bill snogging," Ron said faintly. "Not something I need to see again."
"Let's see, Ron," Hermione sniggered. "If they get married, that makes you Harry's brother-in-law."
Harry looked shocked. "She told you?"
"Of course she told us! Actually, Bill told us," Ron said.
"Bill knows?"
"Obviously."
"How long is it possible to keep a secret around here?"
"Factor in Fred, George, the Slytherins, Rita Skeeter, Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, Rose, and Rita Skeeter, about a week."
"Then I suppose that it'll be no surprise to you, Mr. Weasley, that I know that you were dropping Dungbombs in Snape's dungeons last night."
They jumped. Rose had come in with Bill.
*~*~*
Rose smiled. That was one of the advantages of being a teacher. Instead of the caught, she was the catcher.
"And you'll be pleased to know that my best friends from Salem are Alexa and Alice Bernard. I believe that Fred and George have told you about them?"
Ron went pale. Rose's supersensitive hearing zoomed in on his whisper to Harry and Hermione.
"They were Fred and George's pen pals for years. Identical twins. They went to the Salem Witch's Academy. The only pranksters more evil than my brothers."
Rose's smile widened. She was going to enjoy this.
"And you will be absolutely thrilled to know that they will be visiting Hogwarts this year. They recently graduated along with me."
Rose sensed that Harry wanted to talk to her. She opened their connection.
*Yes, Harry?*
*You were best friends with the Salem equivalent of Fred and George?*
*I like to play pranks. My professors learned that the hard way. So did Fred and George's.*
She switched back to spoken language. "Mr. Weasly, you have lucked out. I just came up to bring Harry down to the Great Hall. There are some people there waiting for him."
Ron let out the breath he had been holding.
*~*~*
Harry had agreed to be blindfolded. Rose was leading him into the Great Hall.
*Can I take off the blindfold yet?*
*No! I'll tell you when! Stop asking!*
Harry felt himself being steered down several steps. He had a feeling everyone was grinning like idiots.
*Now you can take off the blindfold.*
Harry untied the knot keeping the blindfold on, and...
"SURPRISE!"
Harry looked around the Great Hall. It had been transformed. Streamers were hanging from the enchanted ceiling. There were white tablecloths with colorful stripes on all the tables. But the thing he noticed most was the people.
Almost everyone he knew was there. Sirius, Lupin, the Weasleys, all of his teachers (except Professor Binns, of course), the Grangers, and to his surprise, Dobby.
"Happy birthday, Harry!" Molly Weasley and half a dozen house-elves came forward holding a cake the shape and size of a lion. It was charmed to change colors, red and gold.
"Oi! Harry! Presents!" the twins called. They were sitting near a gigantic mountain of gifts stacked onto the teachers' table. "Here's ours!" Fred tossed it to Harry, who tore it open. Inside he found two Nose-Biting Teacups, five Dungbombs, a large bag of Cockroach Clusters, and ten Fillibuster's Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks. They had each scrawled a note:
Since this is our last year, we figured you and Ronnykins could take over for us. Fred
Get Alice and Alexa for us. George
Harry then proceeded to open all the presents, taking him an hour. He got textbooks and potion ingredients for this year from all his teachers. Ron had bought him a hundred-pound bag of assorted candy from Hogsmeade. Bill gave him some foreign wizarding currency, some of which had pictures that changed every ten seconds. Charlie had found a dragon hide in Romania and had made him three capes, five sets of gloves, a hat, and shoes for him. Mrs. Weasley had knit him five pairs of socks and charmed each of them. One pair had a picture of him on a broomstick, which chased a Snitch, another had stripes that changed color, another, polka dots that did the same, one pair looked like Charlie had given her some of that dragon hide, and another changed colors from red to gold and had the Hogwarts crest on them. Ginny had given him a charm to clip onto his Firebolt that would make it fly faster. But it was Hermione's present that was the most creative.
"It's a book," he said after opening it, not sure how to respond.
"Read the cover," she said, nearly dancing with excitement.
"The Potter Family: A Biography, by Hermione Granger," he said in awe. "Hermione, this is huge! How long have you been working on this?"
"Just two months. I looked up every Potter ever, starting with your hundredth great-grandparents. I was surprised at how many famous people you were related to."
Harry caught Ron kicking Hermione under the table after she said that.
"It has illustrations. Some of them are actual photos." She seemed very proud.
Harry turned to the last three presents. One was from Sirius, one, Lupin, the third, Hagrid. He opened Lupin's first. It was a book about werewolves. Harry grinned at him and added the book to the mountain beside him. Next, he picked up Hagrid's. Inside was a book about phoenixes. Harry looked up at him, puzzled.
"Summat I've gotta show yeh, after yeh finish with the rest o' these presents."
Harry smiled and nodded. He picked up the last present, from Sirius. It was a leather-bound book with no title. He opened it, and his mum, dad, sister, godfather, and a woman he didn't recognize waved at him.
"That's Arabella Figg. Your godmother," Sirius said, pointing at the woman.
After Harry opened all his presents, they dug into the cake. It turned out to be chocolate. Mrs. Weasley had insisted on making it herself, to the dismay of the house-elves. Charlie entertained them with stories about the dragons he'd seen in Romania. He was telling them about how one of the people he worked with had gotten his toupee burnt off by a dragon when Harry realized Hagrid was holding something behind his back.
"Hagrid," he said nervously. He was afraid he'd bred another creature. "Hagrid, what're you holding behind your back?"
Hagrid nervously pulled his hand from behind his back and gently opened his massive fist to reveal three red and gold eggs the size of a baby's head.
"Phoenix eggs," he mumbled. "Rose gave 'em ter me and I didn't need 'em, so..."
"Thanks, Hagrid!" Harry said enthusiastically. He handed one of the eggs to Ron, and another to Hermione. "I only need one." They both looked thrilled.
Harry looked around to show Rose, but realized she wasn't there. He excused himself to put the egg in his room and went up to Gryffindor Tower, where she would probably be.
He was right. She was sitting in the common room staring into the fire.
*Rose, what's wrong?*
She jumped. *Oh, hello, Harry. I see Hagrid gave you Starsong's kids.*
*What's wrong?*
She sighed. *Nothing.* Her expression suddenly brightened. *Oh, I forgot! I got you something, too. Hold on.* She ran up the staircase. Harry sat down into a chair to wait. When she came back down, she was holding several packages to her chest.
*Open this one first.*
It was a perch for his phoenix. There was a nest for it before it hatched and a box of phoenix grooming supplies.
*They're a dreadful nuisance to groom. They won't let you stop until every feather is perfect. But they get along with owls perfectly. Hedwig will like it.*
The second package was a wand care kit.
*Heard you didn't have anything to polish your wand with. What's your core?*
*Phoenix feather.*
*Hm. Same as Dad. Mum and I both have got unicorn hair.*
The third package was small. Harry opened it slowly. He somehow knew that whatever was inside, it was important.
There was a tiny red box with gold handwriting. The writing said simply "Happy fifteenth birthday, Harry! Rose, Lily, and James."
"Where did you get this?" Harry asked.
"I pulled it out of The Box. That was the box Mum and Dad put all of the heirlooms that would pass to us later in life, at a set time." She sighed. "That's Mum's handwriting. Open the box, now. Gently, it's really old."
Harry carefully cracked the lid. A scent of cinnamon wafted out. Inside, on a red and gold silk padding, was a gold ring. Harry looked quizzically up at his sister.
"Keep it safe," Rose said. "Keep it somewhere very safe."
Suddenly the door banged open. Hermione and Ron stood in the doorway looking panicked.
"What's wrong?" Rose asked.
"Look!" Hermione said breathlessly.
She shoved a note at her. She read it quickly before handing it to Harry.
The littlest Weasley is out of your grasp.
The Unicorn and the Stag
Chapter Six
At breakfast July 31, Rose seemed very quiet.
When she went into the Great Hall, she sat next to the Weasleys instead of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. One Weasly in particular.
"I swear, if she doesn't get her palms of Bill, I will retch," Ron announced.
"What's wrong with you? Bill doesn't seem to mind," Hermione said. She was grinning like a maniac. "I think they look cute."
"Hurl."
"Would you grow up, Ron?"
"Ron, he's got to start dating someday. How old is he? Rose turns twenty in October."
Ron glowered at them. He hated losing arguments.
"Think of what their kids would look like," Hermione said, staring at their hair. "Has every Weasley had red hair? And what did Rose do with hers?"
Rose's hair did look very nice. It had looked like it was reddish-brown and curly when she arrived, but she had apparently washed and combed it. Her hair was auburn, and simply wavy. It fell down to her waist. She was wearing blue robes to set off her eyes.
"Is Bill going to stay here for the year?" Hermione asked.
"I think so. He got a year off."
"I didn't know he could get a year off."
"Quiet!"
They looked like they were having a very important conversation. Suddenly, they got up and left the Hall. Hermione, Ron, and Harry followed. They were going to one of the empty dungeons. The trio hid outside and listened.
"How are your newest phoenixes going?"
"I'm not sure if they know they're phoenixes yet. But they'll figure it out at the first Burning Day."
"It might come as a bit of a shock to him."
"He's used to shocks. Think about where he came from."
Bill laughed. "Of course. And how are you doing, Unicorn?"
"I'm doing fine, Bill."
They stopped talking. When Harry and Hermione chanced a peek from behind the wall (Ron was covering his eyes) they saw Ron's older brother and Harry's older sister kissing.
They grabbed Ron and ran all the way to Gryffindor Tower. When they finally got there, they collapsed into the overstuffed chairs and laughed until they had tears running down their faces.
"Rose and Bill snogging," Ron said faintly. "Not something I need to see again."
"Let's see, Ron," Hermione sniggered. "If they get married, that makes you Harry's brother-in-law."
Harry looked shocked. "She told you?"
"Of course she told us! Actually, Bill told us," Ron said.
"Bill knows?"
"Obviously."
"How long is it possible to keep a secret around here?"
"Factor in Fred, George, the Slytherins, Rita Skeeter, Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, Rose, and Rita Skeeter, about a week."
"Then I suppose that it'll be no surprise to you, Mr. Weasley, that I know that you were dropping Dungbombs in Snape's dungeons last night."
They jumped. Rose had come in with Bill.
*~*~*
Rose smiled. That was one of the advantages of being a teacher. Instead of the caught, she was the catcher.
"And you'll be pleased to know that my best friends from Salem are Alexa and Alice Bernard. I believe that Fred and George have told you about them?"
Ron went pale. Rose's supersensitive hearing zoomed in on his whisper to Harry and Hermione.
"They were Fred and George's pen pals for years. Identical twins. They went to the Salem Witch's Academy. The only pranksters more evil than my brothers."
Rose's smile widened. She was going to enjoy this.
"And you will be absolutely thrilled to know that they will be visiting Hogwarts this year. They recently graduated along with me."
Rose sensed that Harry wanted to talk to her. She opened their connection.
*Yes, Harry?*
*You were best friends with the Salem equivalent of Fred and George?*
*I like to play pranks. My professors learned that the hard way. So did Fred and George's.*
She switched back to spoken language. "Mr. Weasly, you have lucked out. I just came up to bring Harry down to the Great Hall. There are some people there waiting for him."
Ron let out the breath he had been holding.
*~*~*
Harry had agreed to be blindfolded. Rose was leading him into the Great Hall.
*Can I take off the blindfold yet?*
*No! I'll tell you when! Stop asking!*
Harry felt himself being steered down several steps. He had a feeling everyone was grinning like idiots.
*Now you can take off the blindfold.*
Harry untied the knot keeping the blindfold on, and...
"SURPRISE!"
Harry looked around the Great Hall. It had been transformed. Streamers were hanging from the enchanted ceiling. There were white tablecloths with colorful stripes on all the tables. But the thing he noticed most was the people.
Almost everyone he knew was there. Sirius, Lupin, the Weasleys, all of his teachers (except Professor Binns, of course), the Grangers, and to his surprise, Dobby.
"Happy birthday, Harry!" Molly Weasley and half a dozen house-elves came forward holding a cake the shape and size of a lion. It was charmed to change colors, red and gold.
"Oi! Harry! Presents!" the twins called. They were sitting near a gigantic mountain of gifts stacked onto the teachers' table. "Here's ours!" Fred tossed it to Harry, who tore it open. Inside he found two Nose-Biting Teacups, five Dungbombs, a large bag of Cockroach Clusters, and ten Fillibuster's Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks. They had each scrawled a note:
Since this is our last year, we figured you and Ronnykins could take over for us. Fred
Get Alice and Alexa for us. George
Harry then proceeded to open all the presents, taking him an hour. He got textbooks and potion ingredients for this year from all his teachers. Ron had bought him a hundred-pound bag of assorted candy from Hogsmeade. Bill gave him some foreign wizarding currency, some of which had pictures that changed every ten seconds. Charlie had found a dragon hide in Romania and had made him three capes, five sets of gloves, a hat, and shoes for him. Mrs. Weasley had knit him five pairs of socks and charmed each of them. One pair had a picture of him on a broomstick, which chased a Snitch, another had stripes that changed color, another, polka dots that did the same, one pair looked like Charlie had given her some of that dragon hide, and another changed colors from red to gold and had the Hogwarts crest on them. Ginny had given him a charm to clip onto his Firebolt that would make it fly faster. But it was Hermione's present that was the most creative.
"It's a book," he said after opening it, not sure how to respond.
"Read the cover," she said, nearly dancing with excitement.
"The Potter Family: A Biography, by Hermione Granger," he said in awe. "Hermione, this is huge! How long have you been working on this?"
"Just two months. I looked up every Potter ever, starting with your hundredth great-grandparents. I was surprised at how many famous people you were related to."
Harry caught Ron kicking Hermione under the table after she said that.
"It has illustrations. Some of them are actual photos." She seemed very proud.
Harry turned to the last three presents. One was from Sirius, one, Lupin, the third, Hagrid. He opened Lupin's first. It was a book about werewolves. Harry grinned at him and added the book to the mountain beside him. Next, he picked up Hagrid's. Inside was a book about phoenixes. Harry looked up at him, puzzled.
"Summat I've gotta show yeh, after yeh finish with the rest o' these presents."
Harry smiled and nodded. He picked up the last present, from Sirius. It was a leather-bound book with no title. He opened it, and his mum, dad, sister, godfather, and a woman he didn't recognize waved at him.
"That's Arabella Figg. Your godmother," Sirius said, pointing at the woman.
After Harry opened all his presents, they dug into the cake. It turned out to be chocolate. Mrs. Weasley had insisted on making it herself, to the dismay of the house-elves. Charlie entertained them with stories about the dragons he'd seen in Romania. He was telling them about how one of the people he worked with had gotten his toupee burnt off by a dragon when Harry realized Hagrid was holding something behind his back.
"Hagrid," he said nervously. He was afraid he'd bred another creature. "Hagrid, what're you holding behind your back?"
Hagrid nervously pulled his hand from behind his back and gently opened his massive fist to reveal three red and gold eggs the size of a baby's head.
"Phoenix eggs," he mumbled. "Rose gave 'em ter me and I didn't need 'em, so..."
"Thanks, Hagrid!" Harry said enthusiastically. He handed one of the eggs to Ron, and another to Hermione. "I only need one." They both looked thrilled.
Harry looked around to show Rose, but realized she wasn't there. He excused himself to put the egg in his room and went up to Gryffindor Tower, where she would probably be.
He was right. She was sitting in the common room staring into the fire.
*Rose, what's wrong?*
She jumped. *Oh, hello, Harry. I see Hagrid gave you Starsong's kids.*
*What's wrong?*
She sighed. *Nothing.* Her expression suddenly brightened. *Oh, I forgot! I got you something, too. Hold on.* She ran up the staircase. Harry sat down into a chair to wait. When she came back down, she was holding several packages to her chest.
*Open this one first.*
It was a perch for his phoenix. There was a nest for it before it hatched and a box of phoenix grooming supplies.
*They're a dreadful nuisance to groom. They won't let you stop until every feather is perfect. But they get along with owls perfectly. Hedwig will like it.*
The second package was a wand care kit.
*Heard you didn't have anything to polish your wand with. What's your core?*
*Phoenix feather.*
*Hm. Same as Dad. Mum and I both have got unicorn hair.*
The third package was small. Harry opened it slowly. He somehow knew that whatever was inside, it was important.
There was a tiny red box with gold handwriting. The writing said simply "Happy fifteenth birthday, Harry! Rose, Lily, and James."
"Where did you get this?" Harry asked.
"I pulled it out of The Box. That was the box Mum and Dad put all of the heirlooms that would pass to us later in life, at a set time." She sighed. "That's Mum's handwriting. Open the box, now. Gently, it's really old."
Harry carefully cracked the lid. A scent of cinnamon wafted out. Inside, on a red and gold silk padding, was a gold ring. Harry looked quizzically up at his sister.
"Keep it safe," Rose said. "Keep it somewhere very safe."
Suddenly the door banged open. Hermione and Ron stood in the doorway looking panicked.
"What's wrong?" Rose asked.
"Look!" Hermione said breathlessly.
She shoved a note at her. She read it quickly before handing it to Harry.
The littlest Weasley is out of your grasp.