Chapter 7

Hidden Treasure

Disclaimer: Own nothing but a few Hobgoblins preparing to come out and play. More mature subject, reader discretion is advised. Thanks for the reviews.

Harry's manor was in a frantic state, with Elves running around preparing the house for a small feast. All the Elves were from Hogwart's, at the request of Dobby, who jumped at the chance to help out Harry Potter; Dobby did have to promise them that they would not be forced to receive gifts of clothes. Dobby had placed Silence Charms on the outside of Harry's bedroom door so as to not bother the sleeping couple. Dobby, equipped with his own whistle, was acting as the foreman, conducting traffic as best he could, but it still looked like one of Rome's famous traffic circles. Platters of food were being prepared, with warming spells cast on the plates to keep them warm. Dobby looked at the large clock in the main room, knowing there was not a lot of time left.

Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong!

Harry willed the noise to stop, and it did. He could feel Ginny smothering him, her nakedness pressing against his flesh, making him feel good and comfortable; he imagined it was like being back in his mothers womb. Most Wizards slept clothed, but Ginny and Harry felt it more natural to be in the buff, especially when the air was cool, which it was even in the middle of the summer being higher up in the mountain. Harry did not want to move; life was perfect just the way things were. Of course, if he shifted her a bit, he might be able cup her breast, maybe even tweak a nipple. A soft moan escaped from her lips, but he was sure she was still asleep, maybe even dreaming. He decided to help her dream along, and kept kneading her breast the way she liked. Soon her body responded, her moans increased, and her breath came in short gasps; it quickly escalated, her body going rigid, and a sweet smile graced her beautiful face. He placed a kiss on her forehead, and lightly shook her, "wake up love, we have to wash up and prepare to receive our guests. I'm not sure your mom would approve of our state of clothing, or lack there of."

Ginny's eyes opened slowly, like she was unsure of the light's effect, but luckily only what filtered through the curtains. She asked Harry what time it was.

"It is six o'clock. Our guests will be arriving within the hour, and from the smell of things cooking, we will be eating a feast tonight. Now, we need to get washed up, as I am stickier then that glue charm your brother tried that time against your mom's garden Gnomes, and we need to be presentable for our guests tonight."

Ginny slowly detached herself from Harry, put on a bathrobe and made her way to the bathroom, still a little shaky from her dream. Harry soon followed and thirty minutes later, they were downstairs preparing to greet their guests, and although most were very close friends and family, she still felt the need to play the part of Harry's wife, the Lady of the Potter household she told herself. She knew that the time would come where etiquette demanded much show, but she also knew that Harry was not Draco, and things like that would be kept to a minimal.

The guests soon arrived and the party, although subdued, was full of laughter and joy, especially with the combinations of the Canons winning the cup, Harry proposing to Ginny, and Harry revealing his business interests to the world. A special edition of the Prophet, which the twins brought with them, indicated that Harry was one of the richest men in England, with the front page claiming 'The Boy Who Did It, Does It Again and Again!'. Harry had made the party a bit official when he handed over a portion of the winnings to his team members, as a bonus. The party lasted late, but the combination of lack of sleep, the booze and the fact it was three in the morning, everyone was leaving. Harry offered Ron and Hermione one of the spare bedrooms (the only other bedroom in a livable condition), as they were in no condition to Disparate.

The next morning saw all four sitting around the small breakfast table quietly eating, except for Ron stuffing himself like it was his last meal.

"So Harry, what did you want to talk about?" Hermione asked, looking disapprovingly at Ron. Ron just shrugged and used some pumpkin juice to help him swallow it all.

"Yeah mate, what's up?"

"Well Ron, this might come as a shocker to you, but I was thinking of wedding bells and rice."

Ron became very quiet, wishing something would happen so that he could escape. He wanted to get married, but was never sure how to do it. Thankfully Hermione broke the silence.

"Well Harry, I am sure that you and Ginny will have some planning to do..."

Harry went to cut her off, and when he looked to Ginny, she gave him a slight nod as to go ahead and proceed.

"Listen you two, I was thinking that since it took Ron forever to build up the courage to ask you out, I would forego the 'forever' and ask the both of you if you would like to do a double wedding? I actually was planning on doing it on September first, at Hogwarts. I mean we practically are of all the same family. We could even ask Neville and Luna and make it a triple, and how about Draco and Susan and make it a quadruple? Just kidding Ron. It would be great, and with security already pretty high at the school, it would not raise any problems for the Ministry. How about it?"

Ron just stared at Harry, then he looked over to his sister who looked quite amused, then to Hermione, who was struggling with her emotions. Ron just sighed, as he knew that Harry had again enabled Ron to follow the path to make things right. Before Hermione could say anything, Ron reached over, took Hermione's hands in his and asked, "Hermione, I don't know what I would do without you, I don't even know why you stay with me, but I do l-love you, and would you, um, marry me?"

Hermione just stared at Ron; having resolved herself early in her relationship to Ron, that things took a great deal of time to be resolved with him; Harry had hit the nail squarely on the head. They had been under some pressure from their respective families to get married, although less so from Hermione's parents as they had lived together before marrying. The Wizarding world still held onto higher moral standards, although they too were changing slowly. Hermione was a little irked that Ron needed Harry to help their relationship, but then she had to admit the end result was justified.

"I love you too Ron, and I would marry you."

With that, the couple exchanged hugs and congratulations.

"Come on Ron give her a kiss at least, and not one of those you give mom, but one that will make her curl her toes." Which he then proceeded to do, making both turn a beet red.

"So, now that we have that cleared up, let me know by weeks end what you decide."

Hermione spoke up, after wiping her tears of joy, "we will Harry. Now, we better be off, as we both have actual jobs and need to change before heading in."

"Yeah mate, not like we can stand around all day counting our fortunes, like someone I know. By-the-way, what do you do all day?"

"Oh, you know Ron, Ginny and I will probably have sex most of the morning, maybe stroll around naked in the garden for lunch, and maybe sex in the afternoon. Who knows?"

Ron just stared at Harry, mouth open and had that dazed look like a deer in headlights. Ginny thought it was great idea, while Hermione chuckled, dragging Ron out of the kitchen. She finally got him to snap out of it, by giving him a very deep kiss, making him turn all shades of red for the second time this morning. As he stammered out a good bye, trying to hide his obvious discomfort in his pants, Hermione told Harry that he was going to have to stop the mental abuse he was causing his future brother-in-law. Harry jabbed back a comment to the effect that his attacks would be twofold for family members. After laughing with them a bit at Ron's expense, Harry and Ginny went upstairs to carry out the idea of having sex most of the day, lounging around the small lake (pond) a good part of the afternoon.

The week went by very quickly, as both fell into a good routine of working all morning on the house, taking a light lunch and a swim in the nearby pond, then going back into the grind of rebuilding the house until suppertime. Harry had let Dobby go and visit friends and family for the next few weeks, so Harry had taken to bringing Ginny to some nice restaurants throughout London, since he did not have time or energy to make the meals himself. They also went to a few dance clubs, but the hard work during day ensured that the couple returned at reasonable hours. On the Wednesday, Harry got an Owl from Mrs. Weasley inviting them over for a Sunday family diner to discuss the upcoming nuptials. Harry decided to go away for the weekend and go down to Nice in France to a health spa that was dedicated to Wizards and Witches looking for a little break. As Remus also pointed out with a smirk, they were very discrete. Harry sent Hedwig with a letter letting the spa know that he would be coming down Friday night. Harry went back to work, not telling Ginny, and making it a surprise. Figuring he could not Apparate there directly, he contacted Tonks at the ministry to see if she could prepare a Portkey for him, as he trusted her to keep this quiet, which of course she teased him about not wanting Dad to know what was going on between him and his little girl.

Friday morning, Harry went back to working on the house, not telling Ginny what the plans were, and keeping them busy until well past there regular diner time. When Ginny commented that she was really tired, the timing could not have been better, as an Auror arrived with a package. Ginny was surprised to see a junior member of the Order arrive, and a little suspicious that Harry wasn't as surprised.

Once the Auror left, Harry approached Ginny with a guilty smile and asked, "You busy this weekend?"

"Well I'm not sure, as my future husband seems to be planning on something? What do you have in mind?"

"Your mom owled us an invitation to diner on Sunday, so I was thinking that we could maybe go away for the weekend and go directly to your mom's on Sunday."

"And where would you take me?"

"I was thinking of a place in Nice, some health spa that is supposed to rejuvenate the person in body, spirit, and magic, or that's what the pamphlet."

"Nice! Oh I heard so much about it. It's supposed to be a very good place for couples to...How do you know of this place?"

"Um, I'm not sure I remember. Does it matter? I thought it would be nice, you know, just the two of us. We could bring back some sand in a bottle..."

"Harry!"

"Oh all right. At the start of sixth year, Marissa Sands and Julia Charles asked me if I wanted to spend the weekend with them in Nice. They left me a pamphlet with information, and that's where I got the information. I had asked Dumbledore about it, and even though their security level was very high, that I should not chance it, but he did say that he had enjoyed that spa often in his days, and recommended that I visit it once things calmed down. So I think now would be a good time."

"Those girls were in seventh year, and you were going to go with them?"

"Hold on a second missy 'I dated more then you did', one, we were not going out at the time, and two, I just wanted to relax. Anyways, just so you know, speaking as a guy, the thought of being with two women is a very powerful motivator, but not nearly powerful enough of being with you and of never talking about it again." And with a low remorseful voice he said, "I love you and always will."

"Actually Harry, I'm just teasing. I already knew they had asked you to join them somewhere, I just didn't know where. I was quite jealous, but could not have blamed you, as they were quite attractive and willing to do anything for you, and growing up with 6 other boys, I know you guys think of sex all the time. Anyways, I would love to go. What about clothing?"

"You are a sneak Ginny. I thought we could just get something there."

And with that, Harry cast an alarm spell, activating the protective spells for his home, and took a hold of Ginny's hand as both took hold of the Portkey and disappeared.

The start of the weekend was quite a bit of a surprise to both Ginny and Harry, as they discovered most people walked around nude. They decided to walk up the beach towards the muggle side and discovered the same thing, or nearly the same. Ginny commented that they might have well been nude as the material barely covered anything at all. Harry never said anything; as he just enjoyed the view and thought it prudent keep quiet about it. The funny thing was, as they were walking back, they stopped at a few boutiques to browse and Ginny ended up buying quite a few different 'bathing suits' and apparels, to which Harry did not complain.

The rest of the weekend went by quickly and Harry and Ginny left for England and the Burrow. They had both gotten a very good tan, although Ginny did have a bit of pink to hers. Both showed renewed vigor that made their skin glow. The rest of the Weasleys were amazed at the way the couple acted as if they had been together for thirty years, often completing the others sentence, like Fred and George did, but at a deeper level. Supper had gone well, with the women making plans to start shopping for dresses and stuff. Although both Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Granger thought September first was a bit soon for the wedding, Harry held his ground. Harry also explained that due to the fact he was a Lord, certain protocols had to be observed, including asking for the Queen herself to bless the marriage. He told them that Mr. Evans would be involved in that part of the preparations, including setting up a meeting with the Queen. Everyone around the table were shocked to know that royalty might be involved, which only seemed to bring things to a more heated discussion as for the preparations. When Harry asked Fred and George if they would be interested in participating in the wedding, they refused, citing that this was a bit more then they wanted, and would look at a smaller venue a little later.

The women discussed the issue late into the night, while the men were outside, trying Mr. Weasley's new muggle toy, a Frisbee. Although Harry and Mr. Granger had no difficulty, the rest of the boys were having difficulty making it go. Ron got bit frustrated when he did not notice the twins casting a weight spell on the Frisbee when Ron would throw it. This caused a lot of laughs, and the night ended when Mr. Weasley took the disk away to his shop before Ron could blow it up. Before Harry and Ginny left, Hermione told Harry that she would have some information tomorrow about his 'locked' door in the lower levels of his house. Ginny invited them over for supper tomorrow night and they could look over the information.

The next day, both Harry and Ginny stayed indoors recovering from the weekend, as the day was filled with rain. They took the time to evaluate the progress they had made with the repairs to the home from the past week. Harry also took the time to prepare the evening meal as Dobby was still out. He was trying out a new recipe he got from a muggle book on French cuisine, as Ginny was fond of the thick creamy sauces that were associated with it. At around six, Harry felt the proximity spell go off indicating that his two guests had arrived. As this spell was attuned to both he and Ginny, both moved towards the reception area. Soon the two couples were sitting at the dinner table talking away, with a good bottle of red wine awaiting the meal. As usual, Ron stomach growled its intention as Harry went to retrieve the meal. Although the meal did not comprise of the large assortment of food usually present when Dobby was around, the meal contained larger portions with three different sauces. Once the meal was done, Harry brought in a couple of cakes and fruits covered in a chocolate sauce. Ron's eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets as he dug into the cakes.

"You know Harry", Hermione said while delicately eating her piece of cake like it might explode, "You'll have to be careful how much of this you prepare, or we'll never fit into our wedding gowns." Ginny snorted a reply warning Hermione to keep away from her deserts.

The couples talked a bit more before the subject turned to Harry's door.

Hermione spoke up, "Harry, I was able to decipher most of the runes. To open the door, the requester must meet three criteria. The door seems to have been imbued with some intelligence, from what I gather, just not at the same level as the sorting hat. It appears that only a descendant of Gryffindor may open the door. This is usually done through a blood test, kind of standard to testing family background. The second will require a pledge to protect the name and honor, similar to a life debt, and third is a bit of a mystery, but I think has something to do about giving up something that was hard to obtain, although I am not sure exactly. Anyways, the first step is to approach the door, say your full name and request the door open for you."

As everything sunk in, Harry quickly made up his mind to try right away. The couples made there way down to the lower levels. The passage was wet and slippery with all the rain that was coming down outside. As they approached the door, Harry lit the area by casting 'lumos maximus'. Harry then stepped away from his friends and came up to the door.

"I am Harry James Potter and I want entry!" trying to speak in what he thought was the way they back when.

As Hermione predicted, a small pin appeared over one of the runes, which Harry made out to be a small bowl. Instinctively, Harry put his hand on the pin and over the bowl, and allowed himself to be pricked. A small amount of blood dropped into the bowl and sizzled. Harry stepped away from the door as the smoke from the blood coalesced into a whispery form of a man. It spoke in an old English, the voice reverberating in the underground chamber.

"Your blood matches that which should be. Do you Harry James Potter, descendant of Godric Gryffindor, swear to uphold the family name?"

"I do."

"Harry James Potter, you must now give up something that you have worked hard to get, whether by defeating a powerful enemy, or from helping King and Country. This item must be the symbol of the menace you destroyed, where your bravery set you apart from the others. Touch the red symbol with your item "

Harry and his friends knew immediately what Harry would choose.

"Accio Voldemort's Wand" Harry's voice carried true, as this was what had started it all for Harry, causing the death of his parents, friends, and many innocents. The wand flew into Harry outstretched hand, and then touched the tip to the glowing Rune. He felt a sharp sting as a small electrical charged was sent through his hand; the the image of the ghost entered his mind, looking for confirmation on the item's importance, and Harry allowed it to read his thoughts, but restricted access to anything else. Then slowly, the door opened.

"Harry James Potter you and your friends may enter the Trophy room. Please set the wand down on the next available podium. You may now have access to this room whenever you require, but your three friends may not enter without you. The only restriction will be that none of your children may gain access until they in turn pass the following tests. Now, I am a simple guardian, programmed to record information, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will answer to the best of my ability."

"Who was the last to enter an item?" Harry asked as he started to look around at the various items. Ron, Ginny and Hermione also entered and looked around.

"The last item entered was the Mirror of Souls, used by the Nag of Rum Island to capture Wizards during the war with Grindelwald. Lord William Augustus Potter entered it in the year of 1945. By the way, I need to know the date of every transaction and that information was not available to me when I retrieved the information out of you? You seemed to be able to 'curtail' my probing"

Not even acknowledging the remarks, Harry answered, "Nineteen ninety nine. Does each item carry the information about who brought them in, and when?

"Of course. If you would just place your wand on its podium, the information will then become available to the next generation to read about it."

Harry and friends went around the room looking at the various magic items, listening at the various reasons they had been placed in it. They spent a few hours looking around, and although it was getting quite late, no one seemed to mind. Hermione was looking at a large spell book that was once owned by an ancient Greek Wizard, wishing she could remove it to read in depth. Once the items had all been looked at, Harry noticed a small door leading out the back of the room.

"Where does this lead?"

"That leads to the Treasure Room. During the last Goblin Rebellion, most of the treasures from expeditions were placed in there, as the banks were deemed unsafe. The room before was the Preparation Room where the equipment for the expeditions was placed."

"Can we go look?"

"Of course, you now own all of this. Any item, except for those placed on the podium may be used. Any item you wish may be placed within the Treasure Room also, with the only exception of any evil item. Those must be sacrificed to the room, as it uses the magic to keep this room protected. Also, there is a portal in the chamber that may be activated by touching the letters that spell your first name. Once activated for the first time, you must give it a password. You may change the password anytime after that by spelling your name again and saying the new password. Of course, anyone knowing the password, which you will give it, will have access to both the Preparation Room and Treasure Room, but not the Trophy room; so be careful whom you give it to. I will be able to describe each item that you look at, as your ancestors enchanted most of the items, and described the rest."

Harry and friends followed the corridor to a small room, similar to the Quidditch changing room at Hogwarts. There they saw swords in scabbards, rope, backpacks, boots, cloaks, rods, staffs, armor, bows and arrows, keys, all sorts of items that may be used. Besides the room was an archway encrusted with gems, with tiny letters underneath each one. Harry went over and spelled his first name using his wand, then spoke the words James and Lilly. The gems flashed and the portal opened. The group were staring at one of the rooms on the main floor that was being used now as a sort of storage space for everything that Harry and Ginny didn't need right away. Soon the portal closed and everyone was staring at the blank wall.

"That was pretty cool Harry," Ron spoke.

"Now I guess we know what that room was for. It must have been used as the gathering place or maybe a 'war room'. No wonder it held up through the years better then most." This came from Ginny.

The group now approached the pair of heavy oak doors. They must have been counterbalanced, because Harry pushed them open easily. What they were greeted with nearly knocked all four onto their backside. The room must have been about fifty feet by fifty feet, with mounds of gold thrown everywhere, chests bulging with gems and jewels, gold armor and weapons made just for show, magic items, books of all sort, and maps. This was just too much for all four as they all rushed to see: Hermione going to the pile of books, Ron going to the Gold suit of armor, and Harry and Ginny going to a pair of his and hers crown resting on a shelf.

The Ghost spoke up as each touched different items, "That belonged to King Arthur and Lady Guinevere. The suit of armor was a gift from King Richard "The Lionhearted" to Lord Henry after his rescue from the witches of Nurn. The books, my dear, have been collected through the ages, going back to priest of Babylon. I would recommend that they never leave as this place keeps them from aging, plus the knowledge they contain could be very dangerous."

A few hours later, the group left the chamber and used the portal to go back upstairs. Once the portal had closed, only the trained eye could spot the faint outline of it. "Harry", Ginny asked, "I think you should change the password to one that people will find hard to break.

"Good idea." After a few minutes, "How about 'I love Voldemort'?"

The group agreed, and the password was changed. Harry asked Hermione if she could look at the possibility of creating another portal to Grimmauld Place, as it is the meeting place of the Order and would make it convenient if items were needed for different situations. She agreed to look into it. The couples split up and went their separate ways. Ginny and Harry went up and talked about the days events, promising themselves to spend more time the next evening to go over what he had. They also discussed transferring the valuables like gems and jewelry to Gringotts. The night passed quietly as both dreamt of the treasures they had found.

The next few weeks had both Ginny and Harry working on the house during the day, and organizing the Treasure Room. Harry had gone down to Gringotts to make arrangements to have most of the valuables transferred to them via a special Portkey so as to avoid going through the front door with a wheelbarrow full of gold and gems. They kept some 'loose' change in the 'Basement Vault' as they had come to call it, just in case of emergency.

Hermione did manage to start on the portal, but was having a few difficulties. On their first attempt, they through in a watermelon, which ended up on the other side inside out. Hermione went back to the drawing board. Also during this time, Mr. Evans arrived with news that the Queen would receive them for a small meeting before her afternoon tea which a ceremony into itself. Harry and Ginny prepared themselves to visit the Queen; Harry decided to offer the queen the pair of jewel-encrusted crowns that they had found to put in the Royal museum. Dressed very conservatively, the couple accompanied with Mr. Evans took a limousine outside of the Leaky Cauldron up to Buckingham Palace. Harry and Ginny were very nervous when they met her, but once she started to talk about Harry's great grandfather, the tension was eased. Harry presented her the matching crowns for the museum; he was amused at the slightest hint of shock the Queen let out from behind her iron curtain of emotions. She would have been good at Occlumency Harry thought. The meeting lasted al of thirty minutes, in which he received the Queens blessing at the marriage. Harry noticed one of the Queens entourage hand an envelope to Mr. Evans on their way out; it contained all the rules of marriage to ensure that the ceremony was done properly, in the eyes of the Court.

Harry and Ginny spent the rest of the week planning things out wit Mr. Evans and his daughter, who would help Ginny and the rest of the women with their part of the ceremony and clothing. On the weekend, Ginny told Harry that she felt a little overwhelmed with all the stuff that needed to be done for the wedding, and combined with the work being done on the house, she decided to go visit her mom for the day on Sunday. Harry agreed and contacted Remus and spent the day with him.

On the following week, while down in the 'Vault', he came across a miniature boat in a sealed bottle. He was told that it was magical and that if placed in the water and the activation word was uttered it would grow to full size version of itself. The nice thing about it is the ship was magically enchanted to also sail itself, with very few direction required from the captain. Harry decided that with his birthday coming up, he would like to go sailing. He took it upstairs to show Ginny.

A/N I have had this chapter written for over two weeks and had a lot of trouble cleaning it up. I decided that it was good enough and I can always come back later to clean it. I hope it doesn't hurt too many sensitive eyes.