Chapter 19: Final Preparations
The cards had been put away and the chitchat ended. The large classroom was quietly abuzz with purposeful activity.
Bill and Charlie had scouted the school and drawn up floor plans, complete with labels to show where different people were. Remus had then charmed the plans so that every five minutes, a spell went through the school and moved the labels to reflect where the people were at that time. The result was similar to the Marauder's Map, though not as real-time as that venerable creation. The three of them, along with Ron, were bent over the plans, talking quietly and filling in what appeared to be a timetable.
Fleur was not among them at the moment, having had a terrible premonition that something was wrong at home. Fred and George had also left for a while, returning with amazing amounts of certain of their sweets. Harry remembered when Molly Weasley had been utterly scandalized by her sons opening a joke shop. Now she was all attention as they explained to her what the different beans, bars, puffs, and pops did. Occasionally she would make a suggestion. Arthur was sitting nearby, wondering, from the enraptured look on his face, what kinds of machinery he could take apart in the course of the night.
Minerva was investigating what would happen if she transfigured all the legs of the chairs and desks into animal legs. The results were promising – the horse-legged desk was actually galloping around the room. Ginny was working on charming the school's supply of chalk to write rude words on the walls. Harry was slightly surprised by the number of them she knew.
Harry was getting ready to relieve Angelina and Alicia on girl-watching duty when someone knocked on the door. "Come in," called several voices at once.
Harry wondered what would happen if the door opened to reveal a Muggle, one of the professors perhaps, or even a Dursley. Might be funny.
As Percy, Penelope, and Hermione entered, Harry gave himself a mental dope-slap for forgetting. The door had been enchanted so that only a witch or wizard could find it. Very useful spell, Minerva had commented after casting it. I often use it on my broomstick when I travel long distances.
"Hermione, my love, come to me," said Ron dramatically, flinging his arms open wide. "I need you terribly."
"Why?" Hermione asked practically, taking off her damp cloak.
Ron sighed. "Just once, couldn't you play along?"
Hermione gave him a sharp look. "Not in front of your mother."
George choked on the No-Nose Nibble he was demonstrating.
Ron chuckled. "You are our timetable expert, though, 'Mione. How is this looking?"
"Not too bad for a preliminary," Hermione said, scanning the parchment, "but you're going to need to double-check this with everyone."
"I know that," Ron said. "Like you said, this is just for starters. We'll be editing a lot. Harry, this look good to you?"
Harry took the parchment from Hermione. The exact moment of moonrise, 8:53 pm, was noted as the official opening of the prank season. Remus was scheduled to transform, in sight of as many Muggles as possible – the Dursleys if it could be managed – and give them something that looked like "a thunking good howl", but it was in Ron's handwriting and therefore could have been almost anything. The pranks proceeded from there, and the ones Harry could read looked highly amusing.
There was a note in the margin, also in Ron's writing, with Harry's name attached – something about a snake. Maybe they want me to do a Parseltongue demonstration. That ought to scare Dudley's socks off.
"I don't see any obvious problems," he said, handing the timetable back to Ron. "Only, what's 'thunking' mean?"
"That says 'thumping,'" Ron said, looking annoyed.
"OK, doesn't matter," said Harry placatingly. "Looks fine, Ron. Just tell me where I need to be and when."
"Will do," said Ron, looking relieved.
"Harry, are you really sure you're willing to do this?" asked Remus.
"Why? Should I not be?"
Remus shrugged. "Just checking." He looked back at the floor plans, which had just updated themselves, and beckoned Percy over to point something out to him.
"See you in a little while, love," said Ginny, twining her arms around Harry's neck. "You're getting the girls their supper, and I'm putting them to bed, right?"
"As much as anyone can put two overexcited preteens to bed, yes."
"I'll manage," Ginny said. "What's that spell to conjure a sledgehammer again?"
Harry laughed. "Go teach some more chalk how to write POO," he said, kissing his adorable wife on the cheek. "I'll be back in an hour or so."
He Disapparated.
"And he put on a little more speed and... caught it!" Aunt Alicia said, clapping her own hands shut on nothing.
"The crowd went utterly wild, of course," said Aunt Angelina. "Everyone except the Slytherins was screaming for joy. The Slytherins were just screaming."
"Wood made record time up the pitch," said Aunt Alicia. "He was bawling like a baby. Almost knocked Harry off his broom. Then Fred and George nearly killed the pair of them."
"We weren't much better," Aunt Angelina recalled. "We just had less mass. And we yelled all the way to the ground. Percy was jumping up and down, remember?"
"Only time I've ever seen him undignified," said Aunt Alicia, giggling.
"So that's how Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup," Aunt Angelina finished. Helen had heard the story many times before, but she always loved to hear it again, and of course Marie had never heard it.
"Tell us another one? Please?" Helen begged.
"No, I don't think so," said a voice from the doorway.
"Dad!" Helen ran into her dad's open arms. He hugged her back as hard as she was hugging him, which resulted in both of them needing to stop for breath within a short time.
"Dad, this is Marie Elliot. Marie, my dad, Harry Potter."
"Pleased to meet you, Marie."
"Likewise, sir."
"We're going upstairs, Harry," said Aunt Alicia. "See you there?"
"Eventually," said her dad.
"Bye, girls," said Aunt Angelina. "See you in the morning."
They both vanished.
"So," said Harry, sitting down on the floor, "I understand you like children, Marie."
"Yes, sir," Marie said. "I love them, and I'm good with them. I think I want to be a teacher or something like that when I grow up."
"Have you ever thought of becoming a nanny? Living with a family full-time, taking care of their children, becoming like a part of the family yourself?"
Marie shook her head. "I didn't know you could, anymore," she said. "It sounds like something out of Mary Poppins. I mean, old-fashioned."
"Well, wizards tend to be somewhat old-fashioned. I'm sure Helen has told you about us, about her brothers and sisters."
Marie nodded.
"Helen's mother and I have both been offered teaching jobs at Helen's school, Hogwarts. We've accepted. The jobs require us to live in the castle, and for us both to live there, we'll need to bring the children with us. Since we'll both be working, we need someone to take care of them while we're on the job. We have an old family friend who could do part of the work, but she's getting on in years. I thought we might offer a secondary position to you."
Helen's and Marie's mouths were both hanging open by the end of this speech. They both spoke at the same time.
"You're teaching? You and Mum both?"
"A nanny for you? And work at Helen's school?"
"Yes. To everything."
The girls looked at each other with speculation in their eyes. Then they turned back to him.
"I don't know what to say, sir." Marie was unable to suppress her smile. "Except, thank you, and I accept."
"Who else are you getting, Dad?" Helen wanted to know. "Mrs. Figg?"
Harry smiled. "Very good, Helen. You'll make a Ravenclaw yet."
"Psssh." Helen waved her hand dismissively. "Gryffindor or bust!"
"That's my girl," Harry said approvingly. "Now, are you two hungry? I know I am."
Helen nodded. Now that she thought about it, she had missed lunch, and candy was good, but it couldn't really replace a meal.
"Yes, sir," said Marie vigorously. "The food here is terrible, though."
"That's why we won't eat it." Harry waved his wand through the air as if sketching. Marie watched in amazement as a table and three chairs materialized from nowhere. "Accio MREs!" Three packages appeared on the table.
"MREs?" Helen asked.
"Magically Ready Eats. Fred and George got the idea from a Muggle invention, but these are much better."
"Did they use Grandmum's recipes?" Helen asked after she tasted her food.
"Probably," Harry said. "She's warmed up to the joke shop a lot since Fred 'accidentally' dropped the parchment with their profit totals for the year where she could see it."
After supper, Harry told the girls the story of his second Triwizard task, when he had grown gills and swum through a lake full of merpeople to retrieve his best friend. When the merpeople tried to stop him from saving a little girl whose champion hadn't come, Marie gasped aloud, and both girls cheered when rescuer and rescued made it safely to the surface of the lake.
"And now that you've got them all wound up, I'm supposed to settle them down, I suppose," said the red-haired woman who had just Apparated in.
"Mum!" Helen catapulted across the room to hug her.
"Settle down, love, it's not as if you haven't seen me yet today," said Ginny, returning her daughter's embrace.
"She was worse with me," Harry said, vanishing the dinner table and chairs with a flick of his wand. "Probably because she hadn't." He ruffled his daughter's hair and gave his wife a quick kiss. "See you upstairs, love. Sleep well, Helen, Marie. See you in the morning."
"Bed already?" Marie asked Helen in the washroom. "It's not even eight-thirty yet."
"They want us asleep before they start taking this place apart," Helen said. She had experience with her parents' ways. "But they'll take pictures, I bet. And magical photos move."
"Cool!"
Ginny had a bedtime snack ready for them when they returned – cookies and milk, which Helen suspected was laced with some kind of Sleeping Potion. She drank it anyway, knowing that her mum would find some other way of putting her to sleep if she didn't, and she probably wouldn't like it.
Sure enough, within a few minutes, both she and Marie were yawning. Her bed looked very desirable, even if it was rather narrow and lumpy. Anyway, all she had to do was mention that, and her mum fixed it right away, and Marie's too. I'm lucky to have a magic family, she thought sleepily.
"Would you like me to sing to you?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah," said Helen, pulling Griffy up beneath her chin.
"Yeah," Marie echoed. "You have a pretty voice, Mrs. Potter."
Helen saw her mum smile. "Thank you very much, Marie. "Tender Shepherd", Helen?"
Helen nodded. It was her favorite, after all.
Ginny began to sing, and her sweet voice lulled both girls to sleep.
(A/N: Keep your eyes open for Chapter 20: Operation Goldenrod, coming soon to a website near you! Also, notice that Ron's p's look like k's to Harry...
Kraeg001: Hope you'll like him even more when you get to know him. And it's already dead, dude. Or at least hibernating. ;-)
Gyre: Nope, Percy's just a career bureaucrat. But we do need lawyers, despite Shakespeare's words to the contrary. I rather like the idea of Hermione being a lawyer, which I've seen in several fics, but in this world, at the moment, she's an Auror with Harry and Ron.
harryp123: I always enjoy trying to get the most out of your opening adjective. Thanks for the review. :-)
Caprice-Ann HedicanKocur: Yes, I'd say you are watching too much TV. But I would ask all my loyal readers to remember in PS/SS Neville's story about his uncle testing him for magic. Now ask yourselves this: What if no one had tested him:giggles with glee at readers' uncertainty:
Joshua: Yes, the title of Chapter 18 was supposed to be humorous – I finished writing it and realized it was the same afternoon from three Muggle POV's. For answer to your question, see above. And I would like to think that if I had made Marie a witch, I would have used a sophisticated and professional plot device, thank you very much. :grin:
Annikaya: I think magic scares Marie at this point in time. She loves seeing it, but having it would be too much.
Silhouette of Sin: Thanks!
Sorry for late update, everyone. This time the excuse is the other way around – I'm home with my family, so I have to do family things, and we also have to share this computer. The Saturday Resonance update and the Monday Home may be a bit late as well, but they WILL go up ASAP. I promise. And I am planning on updating Extenuating Circumstances, as soon as I get a chance.
Hope to hear from everyone soon!)