Disclaimer: Y'all know the drill by now. Not mine, except the plot. :::huge sigh followed by very naughty word:::
A/N: Just a couple of quick things today. Thanks you so much for all of the kind words that you have sent my way. It means a lot to me. I hope you all continue to enjoy the direction this is going. Just one small warning about this chapter. There is a little bit of innuendo in here, as well as some exceedingly bad puns.
GiGiFanFic: Actually, my wife already knows she has nothing to worry about, as she is completely and utterly stuck with me. As to your age, I would never have guessed. If you really are as young at heart as you sound, your great-grandson is a very lucky young man. "Theresa" was a complete coincidence, though little "Jeanne" Cooper wasn't. I hope you don't mind my taking that small liberty. Thanks again.
Rachel132: I'm glad you like my characterization of Ginny. I can't take too much of the credit for that, though. All I did was take a look at how she has progressed already in Ms Rowling's works, add a dash of things I've seen in some of the other, really good, fics I've seen on this site and others, mix thoroughly, and bake at 350 degrees, for about twenty minutes. :::grins::: Thanks, again.
Xayne: While Cal's was originally the ultimate destination, with an epilogue after, this story has truly taken on a life of it's own. My original intention was for a much smaller story, about five or six chapters or so. Well, we've all seen how that worked out. :::slight head shake::: Interesting idea, about their next destination. hmmm... :::scribble scribble scribble:::
Okay, here I go again, babbling. Sorry about that. On with the story...
Toasts, Laughter, and Tears:
It was Punday Night at Callahan's Salloon, and the regulars were in rare form. On Punday Night, the regulars would gather round, each trying to top the other with the most outrageous puns they could manage. The winner from the previous week would name a topic, and they would be off. Anyone who wanted to participate was welcome, but the first time their turn came round, if they couldn't come up with anything, they were out of it, with the winner's bar tab for the night erased. An observer could tell who was feeling the most confident by what they were drinking. The more expensive the drink, the more optimistic they were. Though all the drinks in the place were only a dollar, it was the spirit of the thing that counted. People moved around, talking and laughing, warming up for the night's contest. The topic for the night was Animals.
Fast Eddie sat at the keys of of the battered old stand-up piano, coaxing sounds out of it that would have made old man Steinway beam with pride. Jake Stonebender, the lean, almost cadaverous guitar player next to him, followed along on the guitar named Lady MacBeth. The Lady was a Gibson, model J-45, red sunburst with a custom neck. She was, simply put, gorgeous. Jake could get sounds from her that would have made Orville Gibson break down into tears of joy. Together, they had musical talents that would have made Beethoven, if he had regained his hearing and somehow shown up at the bar, drive spikes into his ears, to ensure that those last sounds were the ones he carried with him the rest of his life. They could even make folk music sound good. Tonight, one of the regulars, a pretty woman named Rachel, was singing along with Jake, as they worked their way through Ray Charles' Baby, It's Cold Outside. Once they finished, Rachel kissed Jake soundly on the lips, before she went to take a seat, leaving him looking flummoxed and cross-eyed. Those watching laughed as his eyeballs spun for a moment in their sockets. The men were envious of the kiss he had recieved, and the women were jealous of the effect it had on Jake. A moment later, the two musicians gave each other a grin, and launched into a rollicking rendition of Red Palace, by Spider John Koerner. It was a lively tune, fun to listen to, and soon had the place even more merry than before.
Harry and Ginny stood at the bar, enjoying the atmosphere. The joy of the place, while an unfamiliar feeling to them until recently, was something the young couple reveled in. It was clear that, no matter what their jobs might be during the day, no matter what worries they might have, they enjoyed their lives, and each other. Everybody in the place was laughing, smiling, joking, telling bad puns, and, above all, enjoying themselves. It wasn't that no one had troubles. Rather, it was that everybody here knew that, like shrugging off a rain slicker when coming in from a storm, they were able to leave their problems behind them, even if for just a while.
"Merlin!" Harry thought, "If I had only known about this place a couple of years ago." He shook his head at the notion, realizing that he wouldn't have been able to come in and drink here, anyway, being well under the age of majority. Technically, he still was well under the legal drinking age in this state, having not even passed his eighteenth birthday. He had asked Mike about this earlier, wanting to make sure the bartender wouldn't get in trouble for serving him.
Callahan had looked at him thoughtfully, and replied, "Well, son, the way I see it, the laws the government lays down when it comes to alcohol are actually a pretty good idea. For the most part, it's a pretty good idea to make sure somebody's mature enough to handle their drink, and the consequences that go with it. It's a pretty good idea in theory. The only problem with it is that I've known plenty of people well past twenty-one who didn't have sense enough to know when to come in out of a hurricane, much less be allowed in a tavern." He'd paused, giving Harry a shrewd look. "On the other hand, some people, like you and Ginny, are so mature it scares me." He'd grinned. "You could stand to be a bit more immature, at least once in a while."
Ginny looked at Harry, seeing the thoughtful expression on his face. She touched his arm to get his attention, and asked, "Is something the matter?" He smiled and shook his head.
"I was just thinking that Sirius would have loved this place. He probably would have been curled up on the floor in front of the fire, as Padfoot." The young man laughed suddenly. "He'd probably have a big bowl of irish whiskey sitting there next to him, and wouldn't have to pay for a drop." They both laughed at this image.
Ginny pulled her boyfriend close and told him, "I miss him, too, love. He was a lot of fun, and once you got past the facade he put up, he was a tender man. Did you know he wrote poetry?" Harry shook his head, and she continued, "It wasn't anything great, in fact most of it was pretty dodgy, to tell the gods' honest truth. But it was honest."
Harry had to ask, "How do you know this stuff about him? He was my godfather, and I never knew."
The redhead giggled. "Before you got to Grimmauld Place that summer, Ron, Hermione, me, all the rest of us had been there for quite a while. Mum was always working on finding ways to keep us busy and out of trouble. One day, she thought of having us clean out the attic." She shuddered a moment. "If you thought that drawing room was bad, you should have seen the attic. There was years worth of stuff accumulated up there. The Black family really was, and is, I suppose, one of the oldest wizarding families in Britian. Sometime, I'll tell you about some of the truly awful things that were up there." She trailed off for a moment, remembering. "Anyway, in an area close to the stairs, I found an old trunk with the initials SB in gold leaf."
"You don't mean..."
"Yes. Sirius' school trunk, from his Hogwarts days. He was on the other side of the attic at the time, and I was bored, so I got nosy. It wasn't locked, so I took a look inside. Underneath all the texts, old homework assignments (he got quite good grades, by the way), worn down quills, and scraps of parchment, there was a journal. Well, you know my history with diaries and the like, so I hesitated a while, not wanting to take a chance at opening it. After lunch, we were all sitting around relaxing, until we had to get back up there. After a bit, my curiosity got the best of me. I pulled out the journal, and started reading. I read the first entry, and lo and behold, it was a poem. A pretty awful one, at that. Hermione heard he laughing, and asked what I was on about. I read the first couple lines of it aloud. Sirius sat up, knowing exactly what I was reading, and demanded it back. I refused, and he grabbed for it. I ran away, and the chase was on. He chased me through the house. Through the sitting room, up the stairs, through the rooms upstairs, up to the attic, back down the stairs, and back into the kitchen. He never did get that book back." She said this with a proud look on her face. The two of them laughed, she remembering the chase, and he picturing the look that had to be on his godfather's face.
This was the first time, in a long time, that Harry had been able to think of Padfoot without any sense of sadness. It felt good to just enjoy the memories he had of him. He knew he would cherish those memories for as long as he lived.
The two of them talked for a while longer reminiscing about all the people who were longer with them. They did their best to remember the best times they'd had with each person. The two of them had each made a conscious decision to try to celebrate the lives of all the people who had been lost, rather than mourn the loss of them. The only concession Harry made to the sadness he felt was when he picked up his glass a little while later, and walked up to the chalkline in front of the fireplace. As he stood there a moment, watching the flames flicker, the room slowly grew a bit quieter. Finally, he spoke up.
"Over the past few years, Ginny and I, along with a lot of other good people, have had to do things that we aren't exactly proud of. We've seen things that nobody should have to imagine, much less face in person. We've seen people commit the most depraved acts you can imagine, and worse. We've also lost a lot of friends. Too damn many..." This last was added very quietly. After a moment, the haunted look that he wore was replaced by a shy smile. "Just recently, though, I've learned what it was we were really fighting for." He looked fondly at Ginny. "I've finally discovered what true love really is." He finished his drink and threw the empty squarely into the fireplace. "To all the ones who weren't as lucky." After a moment of respect, a veritable hailstorm of glasses flew into the fireplace, everybody in the place echoing his sentiments. From somewhere in the back of the room, he heard a fervent "Amen, brother."
Ginny came up and wrapped her arms around him, laying her head on his shoulder. She still couldn't believe how deep their feelings were for each other. They stood like this for a few minutes, lost in each other. After a bit, they started over toward the bar, where Mike had fresh drinks waiting for them. Along the way, it seemed like everyone in the building shook his hand or gave him a pat on the shoulder. The big bartender gave them both a nod, along with the drinks. Harry asked where Doc was, and Mike looked around a moment. He spotted him and yelled out, "Doc! We need a consultation!" The burly doctor made his way over to where the three others were. "Whattya need?"
Harry reached into the inside of his jacket to pull out a small slim book, in a vinyl case. "I want you to give this to Mr Cooper for me." Doc opened the bankbook and let out a low whistle, his eyes wide. The amount shown in there was easily five times the amount he had mentioned to Harry, earlier.
"Are you absolutely sure about this?" He looked again at the total on the page before him. "That's a lot of money."
Ginny spoke up, as Mike reached for the book, his eyebrows almost disappearing into his forehead. "He's sure. What you don't know is that Harry is probably, though he doesn't bandy it about, one of the five richest wizards in the world right now. His parent's fortune was considerable in and of it's self. Then, when his godfather's will was finally read, once his name was cleared, the bulk of his family's wealth and estates were added to it." She shook her head, "He can afford that like nobody else, I dare say."
Mike looked at Harry, handing the bankbook back to Doc. "Harry my boy, as of this moment, your money is no longer any good here, or at Lady Sally's for that matter. You are now officially comped for life. You so much as pull out your wallet in either establishment, and I will ensure that Ralph bites you on the ass. Got that?"
Harry nodded back at the big man, though it was clear he was a bit confused. "Umm...sure. Okay. Just one question. What the bloody hell is 'comped'?"
Mike explained that it meant that anything he ever wanted, in either place, would be supplied, and he would never have to spend a dime there. "Anything from a drink to a night, or more, with any of the girls."
Harry saw the look this prompted on Ginny's face, and acted quickly to head off the impending storm he saw gathering there. He tightened his arm around her waist and said, "The drinks would be brilliant. I don't think I need to worry about visiting the girls, though. This one is all I need." The stormy look disappeared from her face in a trice, to be replaced by a huge smile. She thought to herself, "Those spells are definitely getting used tonight."
Callahan laughed at this and said, "Never said I thought you would. You've got yourself a firecracker here."
"He sure does." Came a silky, slightly plummy voice from behind Mike. Surprised, he turned to find Sally standing there. "Hello, lover." She gave him a kiss deep enough that it made blood pressure for blocks around shoot up ten points.
"Sal, darlin! When did you get here?"
"Just before I heard you comp this poor boy at both of our places." she said with a raised eyebrow.
Mike explained, and his wife gave Harry such a warm look that cardiac health was endangered for a further twenty blocks around. She looked at Ginny, "May I?"
Ginny grinned and gestured in the affirmative. Sally leaned over the bar and gave Harry a kiss that most likely sent elderly people in Mahnattan into full-blown cardiac arrest. She leaned back and surveyed her handiwork.
Harry sat stunned, with a look like a deer caught in headlights. It was a long while until his eyes were able to re-focus. A while later (or so it seemed), he remembered to breathe again. The first thing he was aware of after this was Ginny, giggling. He turned to her, mischief in his eyes. "So, that was funny, was it, you little minx?" She nodded, unable to stop laughing. "Well, then this ought to be hilarious." With that, he wrapped his arms around her, and planted his lips on hers. This time, the cardiac patients in Manhattan recovered instantly, and some even threw away their walkers, skipping down Wall Street. Even Lady Sally was impressed. She started to think about asking Harry to come and teach a few courses.
Ginny was already mentally reciting the spells for later. She didn't care what happened, she was going to have him tonight, one way or another. In the meantime, he had broken away and was smiling down at her, his hands still on her bum. She realized she didn't remember when or how they had gotten there, or how her hands had ended up on his. They heard the sound of several people clearing their throats. The two of them looked up, to see that most of the people in the bar were looking at them, frank admiration on their faces. Mike's voice boomed out. "So, are we ready to get tonight's contest underway, or not?"
Those who were going to try their hands tonight gathered around in a rough circle. Harry and Ginny stood outside it for now, content to watch. Doc spoke up first. "Tonight's topic is animals, I believe?" At a nod from the assembled group, he started.
"A while back, I had to make a trip into the city. It was for a particularly boring conference. The only bright spot in the whole week was the fact that I'd be passing through the neighborhood where Lady Sally has her establishment."
Jake broke in with, "Looking for a piece of tail, were you?", only to be met with a hail of crumpled bar napkins and peanuts. He accepted the accolades with a tilt of his head.
"Just you wait your turn you young pup! Now, as I started to say, I decided to stop in at Sally's. Well, I went in the side entrance, and set out for her private quarters. When I got there, she wasn't there, but this half-bald mug was." He jerked a thumb in Mike's direction. "He was working on skinning a fox, When I asked why he was doing that, he said it was to try and cover the top of his head. Then I asked him what lengths he would go to, to hide the fact that he's going bald." He took a long swallow from his glass. "He gave me a peculiar look and said, with the corniest southern accent I've ever heard, "A fur piece."." This was met by a chorus of groans, more napkins, peanuts, and the dregs of a few glasses.
Jake next took up the gauntlet, with a rendition of 'Incredible Ewe' that got him booed right out the door.
Long Drink McGonnigle said, "Ewe baaah-d boy. Better take it on the lamb."
"One good tern deserves another." was the contribution from Rachel.
Fast Eddie asked, "Is this what you'd call a round robin?"
It went around the room like this for a while. People started dropping out, as they came up dry. Soon, there were only a few left. Mike looked over at Harry and said, "We haven't heard anything from you, yet? Chicken?"
Harry grinned and said, "No. I do have a story that might fit in here. Back in England, Ginny and I have a very good friend, who happens to be a bit of a history buff." He paused, taking a drink. "It seems there are still some pretty draconian laws on the books, even in this day and age. One of them is that, if a prominent landowner's animals can't be kept under control, he has to give the first born of those animals to the person wronged by them. So, for example, if his English Setter were to bite a neighbor, he'd have to give that neighbor the first puppy that came along. That was thought to make everything alright, and would, somehow, also prevent any sicknesses from the home." He took another drink. "So, it was truly said in those days that there was nothing that fixed everything like the heir of the dog that bit you."
At this, half the room seemed to go into shock, and the other half ran, screaming, into the night. Mike grinned at Harry, one of his odiferous cigars clamped between his teeth. "That's my boy." He looked around. "Looks like we have a winner."
Later that night, after everybody was long gone, Harry and Ginny were in the back, talking over the events of the day. They were sitting together on the couch, watching the flames flicker. The young wizard suddenly sat up straight, remembering something. He got up, telling Ginny he'd be right back, and went over to where his jacket was hanging. He reached into one of the inside pockets, and pulled out a slender wrapped box. He came back over to her and, a bit shyly, said, "I found this in a little shop in the city. I thought you might like it.", and handed it to her.
Ginny opened the box, gasping when she saw what was inside. "Harry, you shouldn't have..." It was the pendant, a silver infinity symbol, like a number 8 on it's side. Inside one loop was an emerald, and in the other was a ruby. The pendant was on a fine gold chain.
Harry took it out and fastened it around her neck. He said, "I told you, get used to my buying the occasional gift for you. I love you, and I will do whatever I can, to make sure you never forget it." He leaned in and kissed her passionately.
The beautiful young witch looked up at her boyfriend and said, "Remember those spells mum insisted we all learn last summer? The ones that made you blush redder than my hair?"
He gulped and asked, "The contraceptive spells?"
"Those are the ones. I've been saying them under my breath all day, since I saw you in those jeans." She licked her lips. "Now, come here, you."
It was a very good night indeed.