Chapter 17

Just then, Tonks, Church and the Grangers walked in, with looks of total surprise on their faces. Harry's anger was instantly displaced with concern over his friend's family. There were a lot of healing potions and the like left over from when the Order was using the home. Molly cast a healing charm over the gash, and got a blood restorative potion from the kitchen. Fifteen minutes later, Arthur was resting comfortably in one of the rooms upstairs.

Molly returned to the kitchen to find it full of people. Hammer and the rest of the Weasleys had arrived. Kingsley arrived a minute later. The burrow was nothing but ash, but no one had been killed or seriously injured.

Dumbledore arrived a moment later. He saw her and asked, "Is everyone OK, Molly?"

With tears in her eyes she nodded, and replied, "Arthur will be all right. He's upstairs resting."

Kingsley mentioned that the burrow had been destroyed and none of the Death Eaters responsible had been apprehended.

Harry and Hermione listened in sadness, holding each other's hand. The twins noticed, but didn't say anything.

Dumbledore replied, "Molly perhaps Harry would allow you to stay in his excellent home?"

Harry nodded. Ron looked over to see and saw Harry and Hermione. She had her arm around his waist. Ron walked out muttering loudly, "He's got everything. I've got nothing." A moment later, he slammed the back door behind him while walking outside.

Harry was about to go after him, but Emma said, "Harry, leave him be for a moment. I'll go look after him. Perhaps you can find appropriate rooms for everyone who needs one. People need to be fed and have something to wear."

Harry and Hermione led Ginny upstairs and put her into the room between Ron and Dan and Emma. He asked her if she was OK.

Ginny's eyes welled with tears. "We're fine now. It was really terrifying. I was amazed that the floo worked. I was so scared."

They could easily relate, having watched Malfoy and Snape try and torch the Granger home. Hermione brought her a spare set of clothing and pajamas. Harry gave her a hug and said, "We'll get you everything that you need, tomorrow."

She whimpered, "Thanks, Harry. Thanks, Hermione. I love you both."

Hermione nodded and replied, "We love you too, Ginny. Goodnight."

---------- ----------

Emma found Ron an hour later. Sitting down by him, She asked, "Why did you choose to treat your friend so badly back there? He was only trying to help."

"It's not fair. He's got everything, and now he's got Hermione too."

She thought, 'So that was it. Trios end badly.'

She looked at him and said, "From what I was able to observe in the last six weeks, I'd more accurately describe it as she's caught him, but we're getting off track. Neither one of them did anything to intentionally hurt you. I think they both were hurting so badly that they needed to heal each other. I don't think it makes them bad people."

They both sat there for a few minutes in silence. Ron kept trying to think of rational endings to the phrase "But he's…" and couldn't think of anything that would fit. Finally Emma asked, "Are you uncomfortable knowing that my daughter loves Harry or that Harry's murdered relatives have left him with some assets?"

Ron answered, "Yes."

Emma took that to mean yes to both questions. She asked, "Ron, how many brothers and sisters do you have?"

"Six."

"If your parents had been murdered today and you and your brothers had been left with a hundred Sterling, I mean a hundred Galleons each, would you be happy?"

"Of course not."

"A thousand each?"

"No. I'd never…"

"A hundred thousand each?"

"No. I don't want their money."

With a sad look on her face, she replied, "Either does Harry. How many people did he lose? - Parents, grandparents, godparents? Dan and I took him into our home and became his guardians before we knew that he had anything. Money doesn't make him a better person and not having piles doesn't make you or I lesser people. Let's take that one off of the table OK?"

Ron looked at her and nodded.

Emma continued, "At the birthday party, you were interested in a very attractive young witch, Lavender. Did Harry react badly when he saw you two together?"

"No."

"Hermione says that she's a popular girl."

Ron nodded. Lavender was a popular witch.

"Was Harry jealous when he found out that you two were seeing each other?"

"No." Ron thought for a moment and realized, 'He looked happy for me.'

Emma said, "Ron, things change. My life will never be the same. After our home was attacked and Harry and Hermione were forced to take those lives, I was certain that all of our lives had changed forever. Later I realized that I wasn't worried about losing our home. Heaven only knows if it's still standing. That's why we're all here. We're refugees on the run. The only difference was we had a day to pack our things."

Ron wasn't entirely convinced and muttered, "But he's got everything…"

Emma was getting frustrated at the bull headed boy. "What he has is a death sentence on his head with that damn prophecy. Are you so sure that you want to trade lives with him?"

"What?" Ron was flabbergasted at her words.

Emma replied, "That prophecy, the one that almost got Hermione killed in June. It said that Harry had to kill that Voldemort wizard or die trying. That sort of makes a three-day root cannel sound like a day on the beach in comparison to me."

Ron was almost speechless. He stammered, "How do you…?"

Emma replied, "He told us about it so that we would understand the danger associated with having him in our family."

Not giving up while he still had a shred of dignity, Ron whined, "Why didn't he tell me?"

Emma responded, "I suppose he wasn't ready to share that information at the time, and it probably isn't something that you'd just drop into the post. It does take some getting used to. Maybe it was a need-to-know consideration. It doesn't matter, except that he believes that it's real."

For once, he didn't have a comeback.

After a moment, she asked him, "Shall we go back in now?"

The tall red-headed young man nodded and they walked back inside. Bill, Charlie, Kingsley and Hammer had already left. Dumbledore was talking quietly with Tonks in the library. Church and Dan were waiting in the kitchen.

Few wizards maintained any sort of homeowners or personal property insurance. It wasn't a concept that had ever caught on in the wizarding world. As such, except for the little money that Arthur had saved in their Gringotts vault, the Weasleys were, in fact, penniless. At that moment, Molly couldn't care less. She was upstairs caressing Arthur's brow. She still had her husband and all of her children.

---------- ----------

Ron had had the good grace to go off to bed. Dumbledore finally left, leaving Harry, Tonks and the Grangers downstairs. Emma asked, "Would anyone care for a late desert?" Instantly Winky appeared with plates of apple pie and whipping cream.

"Thank you, Winky," they all said. The little elf beamed at them.

"I wonder what they'll do," said Tonks more to herself than anyone.

"What do you mean, Tonks?" asked Emma.

She replied, "My dad was telling me that non magical people usually purchase an insurance policy on their home to help cover the expenses in the event of damage. It is a contract where…"

"We know what it is," replied Emma, "but what did you mean?"

"There isn't anything like that in the wizarding world. Well maybe at Harry's level, but not for regular wizarding folk. In most cases, it wouldn't make any sense, since witches and wizards can repair most things, but to have your whole home burned out like that – I suspect that they're in a bad way."

The enormity of their loss quickly sunk in. What little the Weasleys had was gone. Hermione looked at Harry, who nodded, and asked, "How much would it cost to build them a new home?"

Tonks was no expert, but had some experience in filing damage reports in her work as an Auror. She considered what he was really asking her and replied, "Perhaps ten thousand galleons."

Harry nodded. Going to Gringotts in the morning and giving them the gold would be the easy part. Getting them to accept it would be almost impossible.

After Emma had gone to bed, Harry asked the young Auror, "Tonks, how did Dumbledore know that we were here?"

'The fit's gonna hit the shan,' she thought. She replied, "Harry, I told him that we were coming back early from Nice, and I told him that you and the Grangers were coming here. I'm certain that's why Dobby and Winky had been sent here."

Dan asked, "Is it normal procedure in bodyguard duty to reveal your client's movements ahead of time?"

Tonks hair turned blue, reflecting the guilt of her reply. "No, but Harry's…"

Dan cut her off. "Harry's my responsibility. If you felt that there was a legitimate reason to keep his schoolmaster appraised of our holiday plans, you should have mentioned the need and the logic to us, don't you agree?"

Harry added, "I really don't want him dictating my…"

Tonks cut him off saying, "Harry, he just asked to be kept informed."

Harry was getting hot under the collar. "It's not his damn business. He should have asked me to tell him, not get someone else to write a surveillance report about how I spend my days and nights."

Tonks angrily replied, "That's not for you to say." Immediately she regretted her words, knew that she was wrong, and also knew that she had gone too far. She walked out of the room and went into the loo.

To say that Harry was mad didn't begin to describe how he felt. He was sick of people nosing into and interfering in his life. He knew that tonight wasn't the time to make a stand on the issue, and that Tonks was simply doing what she'd been instructed to, but he wouldn't forget about it.

---------- ----------

Dan went upstairs and Emma was still awake. She looked at him and softly observed, "It got a bit loud down there. Is everything all right?"

Dan replied, "Apparently Tonks has been reporting our activities to the schoolmaster."

"Really? He's a nosey old goat. I'd like to get him in my chair for an hour."

Dan smiled in agreement at her little joke. "Needless to say, Harry's more than a bit miffed about it."

Emma was miffed too and wondered out loud, "Why doesn't he transfer?"

Knowing that his love was on a roll Dan nodded, "Keep going."

Emma continued, "It sounds like there are nearly as many witches and wizards in Britain as dentists. It can't be the only wizards school in the world. Tuition obviously isn't an issue. Do you know what he left on our bed this afternoon?"

Without a clue where the conversation was headed, Dan replied, "No idea."

"A briefcase full of fifty pound notes. There's a case with a million in Sterling under our bed. There were some dollar notes in there as well."

"For what?"

Giving her husband a curious look, she reached under the bed, picked up a parchment and said, "He left a note. Take a look at this."

Dan took it and began reading.

Dear Dan and Emma,

Thank you so very much for taking me into your home and your lives. Words cannot express how much your love and kindness mean to me. Hermione and I had a wonderful time every day this holiday, both at you home and in Nice.

We feel very bad that you have to interrupt your lives so much and spend a year in the States. We asked the Gringotts goblins to exchange a bit of gold so the two of you would have some spending cash to enjoy your time. Please accept it and use it in the spirit that it was intended.

We love you both and your safety means everything to us.

Harry & Hermione.

PS - Mum, please don't make a big deal about this. Harry and I are in complete agreement on this.

Dan didn't know what to say. No quips, no clever comebacks. He looked at the note a second time and handed it back to Emma.

The irony if Harry's life was amazing to Dan. His parents were billionaires and he's the prophesized savior of their wizarding world. They get murdered, and a schoolmaster takes it upon himself to snatch their son away from his rightful guardian, and pawns him off to a home where he wasn't even wanted. The guardian goes off the deep end, gets thrown in a hellhole prison without a trial, and the nosey schoolmaster apparently doesn't bother to check up on someone who's supposed to be so very important. He ended up being abused, starved and forced to wear rags his entire childhood. It didn't make sense. Why did he do it? Why did the wizarding government allow it? Why didn't anyone help him?

Neither of the dentists slept well that night, not due to the accommodations, which were fine, rather as two parents worrying about their children.

---------- ----------

Harry woke early and asked Auror Church to accompany him to Gringotts. He explained that he wanted to have done and left the Head teller's private office carrying three sacks of gold two minutes later. Using a portkey, Harry and Church were back home before the others had awoken. Harry was met with the smell of delicious food being prepared. "Good morning, Master Harry," said Winky softly. "Here is a cup of coffee. You can have breakfast now or wait until the others have woken up."

Harry replied, "I'll wait a bit to eat."

"Hi Harry," said Hermione. "Can I talk with you for a few minutes?"

"What's up?" he asked, as she let him into the library and closed the door behind her.

Hermione took Harry's hand as she spoke. "Could we, I mean could you help the Weasleys out?"

Harry gave his love a kiss and replied, "We already have. As far as I'm concerned, it's your money too, at least as much as I have control over yet. You're authorized to take any amount out of my vault. You don't have to ask. To answer your question, I transferred 50,000 galleons into their family vault this morning and also withdrew enough gold, so that they could get things to wear today. I was hoping that you would help me with something."

"Anything. What can I do?"

Harry handed her the three sacks, and said, "Make them take it. The larger sack is for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, the smaller sacks are for Ron and Ginny."

"I see," she said. "How much is in here?"

"The little ones are five hundred each and the bigger one has two thousand galleons."

"Can you, can we afford that much?"

"The money that I transferred to them is a week's interest on the cash that the goblins have invested for us. I don't want to rub their faces in it, because Ron gets offended so easily, but the money means nothing."

Hermione kissed his forehead and said, "They're in the kitchen. Let's go talk with them." They walked in to see that Molly was on a losing end of a battle of wills with Winky over the kitchen. Hermione said, "Please have a seat, Mrs. Weasley and join us for breakfast."

Reluctantly, Molly sat down between her and Arthur. As Winky was serving the plates, Hermione asked, "Mr. Weasley, could you do us a favor today?"

Arthur looked up from his plate and replied, "Of course Hermione. How can I help?"

Hermione met his eyes for a moment and said, "Can you please give these to Ginny and Ron. They'll need to get new things today, and Harry and I don't want to embarrass them."

Arthur looked at Molly who was about to say something in protest. He shook his head to stop her and replied. "Yes. Thank you."

Hermione smiled, and said, "Thank you. We also have one more for you. We know that you lost everything last night, and this won't come close to replacing the memories and love that you lost with your home, but it will help with shoes and robes. Please accept it with the love that Harry and I send with it."

Again, Arthur said, "Thank you."

Molly was stunned by the generosity that the two had shown them, but knew if the circumstances were reversed, she would have done the same for Harry. With tears in her eyes, she said, "Thank you, dears."

Harry said, "We also want you to stay here until your new home is ready."

Arthur said, "It may be a while to arrange some loans. Are you certain that we wouldn't be an imposition?"

Harry said, "I could never begin to repay the love that you've shown me over the years. The goblins at Gringotts will help you with anything that you might need. Just go see Griphook when you are ready."

"Thank you both," said Arthur, at a loss for words. They had no idea of the extent of his wealth.

Hermione and Harry gave them each a hug, and said "We have some arrangements that we need to work out with our parents today. We know that you have a lot of shopping that needs to be done. "We'll have dinner at six if that would work for you?"

The two Weasleys just nodded in stunned appreciation.

---------- ----------

Minerva was sick when she read the news that the burrow had been torched the night before. She had come to love an entire generation of the red-headed children roaming around the school and knew that Arthur didn't have the means of getting his family back on their feet. The thought of two more students coming to school in a week dressed in third hand rags made her angry. In fifty-five years of teaching, she had managed to save some money. Helping them seemed like a proper way of using some of it. She told Dumbledore that she would be back in an hour.

She saw Kingsley at Gringotts, who apparently had had the same idea. She filled out the little transfer form and waited at the teller window. She had given them 5,000 galleons, about a year's net salary. As she was walking out the door, she saw Hestia walking in.

On the way back to the castle she thought about the cruelty of the wizards and witches who had attempted to murder the Weasley family and had destroyed their home. It made her sick to think that she had most likely helped teach most of them and that they had turned out to be killers and arsonists.

---------- ----------

Late that afternoon, Arthur, Molly, Ginny and Ron walked into Gringotts, each carrying bundles and packages that had been shrunken and lightened. Molly said, "We've gotten enough to get started with. We should put most of the rest into our vault. "We'll each keep twenty five galleons and put the rest away toward rebuilding our home." Ron and Ginny counted out the coins and dutifully gave the half empty sacks to their mother. The money in the sacks would cover the first term tuition.

They waited in the lobby as Molly and Arthur took the cart to visit their vault and see what they had to their name. They'd been able to save a bit over the summer, and had nearly a thousand Galleons in their account. The gold in the sacks would nearly double what they had. Arthur handed Griphook the key and he opened the door to the vault. When she looked in, Molly nearly fainted. Arthur asked, "How much is in there, and where did it come from?"

Griphook took a look at the balance sheet and said, "You have 62,212 Galleons. Witches and wizards have been making transfers into your vault all day."

"Who?"

At Harry's instruction the goblin gave no clue as to the specifics, only replying, "I'm not allowed to say. There have been quite a few. Will that be all?"

Arthur put the Galleons that Harry and Hermione had given them into the vault and got back into the cart where Molly was waiting. They took the trip back up to the lobby, and silently handed Ron and Ginny their bags back. Ginny asked a question, but Arthur just said, "I'll explain later."

---------- ----------

A/N

Thanks for the great words of encouragement. It's good to be writing again.

Would McGonagall leave her position to help Harry?

Would the board of governors allow the school to take a position that it's not alright to be a junior Death Eater and stay in school?

HermioneTumbleweed has a great start to a story Raising Phoenix. 2907343