Chapter 15: Day of Excitement
Harry was running, running down a stone corridor. His feet hit the cold stone rhythmically, in time with the music he was following.
How did I get here? I remember going to bed. Ron was going to stay up and read a while, Hermione and Ginny were still giggling next door...
But that didn't matter. He had to get where he was going. His clothes didn't help – he was wearing dress robes, but not the green ones he'd worn to the Yule Ball, no, these were red, heavy red material that weighed him down and made it hard to run...
He rounded a final corner and saw the open door to the dance hall, flanked by a pair of stone gargoyles. Couples were already dancing inside, twirling briskly around the floor. He saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley go past, followed by Remus with a brunette woman he didn't recognize, and then Cho dancing with a tall boy whose face Harry couldn't see.
He was late, he had to get in, she would be furious with him...
He hurried through the door.
Or tried to.
The gargoyles' arms shot out, barring his way.
"I have to get in!" Harry snapped. "Let me through."
One of the gargoyles sniggered. "Oh, I don't think so."
"You can't go in there," said the other.
Harry spotted Ron and Hermione halfway across the floor. He waved, but their eyes were locked on each other. "My friends are in there. Let me in!"
"You're not allowed," one gargoyle explained.
"Though I'm sure you wish you were."
"That dance is only for the dead."
"And you're not dead. Not yet." Both gargoyles laughed.
"The dead?" Harry stared. The people in the room didn't look dead. They looked alive, alive and happy...
But even as he thought that, the music slowed into a parody of the gay waltz tune it had been, and the movements of the people in the room slowed with it. Their faces, a moment ago alight with laughter, lost all animation and became slack and dull. Cho turned with her partner, allowing Harry to see his face – it was Cedric Diggory, staring over her head, directly at Harry.
"You let me die," he said coldly. "You didn't even try to help me."
The dance swept them along, another couple took their place – a woman Harry didn't know, and –
"Sirius!"
"Go back to your life," Sirius said with a sneer on his face. "You don't care about me. You never did. You're worse than Snape – at least Snape didn't try to hide how much he hated me."
They were gone, but the Weasleys were right behind them.
"We welcomed you into our family, and you gave us death." Mrs. Weasley scowled at him.
"We should have known better," said Mr. Weasley sadly, shaking his head. "You bring death everywhere you go."
They danced off as Ron and Hermione came into view.
"You stood my sister up," Ron said angrily. "You told her you'd come, and you didn't." He waved across the room to where Ginny sat, her face woebegone, her hands in her lap.
"They won't let me in!"
"You could always find a way," Hermione said distantly, sounding a bit like Luna Lovegood. "A potion, or a knife, or your enemy's wand. There's always a way in. If you're brave enough to take it..."
"Do you like it, Potter?" said a cold, sneering voice from behind him.
Harry spun around on his heel and found himself face-to-face with Lord Voldemort.
"What is this?" he demanded.
"One of my favorite places to come," Voldemort said with just a hint of laughter in his voice. "Of course, ideally, you would be in that room as well. Do you want to go in?"
Harry glanced behind him. Ron and Hermione were gone, lost in the mass of dancers. He saw flashes of faces, movements, figures he could almost name, but a moment later they were gone in the crowd again. Only Ginny still sat against the wall, eyes fixed on the floor.
Everyone I care about is in that room. Why shouldn't I go too?
"Why? Can you get me in?"
"Easily," Voldemort said. "But not from here."
He snapped his fingers. The room, the walls, everything vanished. They were standing on top of a precipice.
"A test of your courage, my proud young Gryffindor," Voldemort said almost lazily. "Jump from this cliff. If you have the courage to fall all the way to the ground without screaming, you can take your place in the Dance of the Dead."
Harry stepped up to the edge. The wind ruffled his hair, pulled at his robes.
Just get it over with. I'll be with everyone again, and nothing bad can happen to us – what could be worse than being dead?
He was about to leap when he heard something. One clear, true, sung note, echoing as if in some enclosed space. In a voice he knew.
Ginny!
"Sounds good," said another voice, a girl's voice he couldn't quite place, followed closely by a splash.
A splash?
"What are you waiting for, Potter?" Voldemort asked.
"Shut up," Harry snapped, listening more closely.
Another splash. Someone sneezed. "This stuff burns!"
"Of course it burns, Ron, it's got chlorine in it – "
Several doors seemed to slam open in Harry's mind, and he realized all at once what was going on, and what he was about to do.
This is a dream. It has to be. Ron and Ginny and Hermione aren't dead, neither are the Weasleys, and Cedric and Sirius wouldn't want me to blame myself for what happened.
And Voldemort almost got me to kill myself! Even in a dream, that wouldn't be good – it might transfer over into real life, and I'd die just because I thought I should!
"This is your last chance, boy," Voldemort hissed. "Are you going to go or aren't you?"
I think I can turn this to my advantage. He doesn't know I know it's a dream. Maybe I can play with that.
"I'll go," Harry said slowly, thinking furiously. "I just want to get ready first."
He kicked off his shoes and began to pull his robes over his head. It was a matter of moments to strip to his boxer shorts.
But this is the wrong material. It needs to be more... I don't know, more plastic, maybe?
He concentrated on what he knew about what he needed, and felt the shorts change a little on him, becoming a different fabric, with more of a sheer feeling to it.
That's right. And I won't need my glasses, either.
He pulled them off and threw them carelessly on top of the pile of his robes.
"Excellent," Voldemort said with a triumphant sound to his voice. "Any last words?"
"Yeah," Harry said. "Go jump in a lake."
Thinking hard about where he wanted to be when he landed, he turned, took two running steps, and leaped, yelling.
"YAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
He fell through darkness into light, through cold wind into warm and humid air, and landed with a huge splash in the deep end of the Carrington College indoor swimming pool.
He came up next to Edith, who was treading water, and pushed his hair back from his face, elated. It worked! It really worked!
"Not too bad," Edith said, giving him an affectionate shove. "But you didn't yell right. Don't you know what to yell when you go off a diving board?"
"No," Harry said, paddling a bit awkwardly to the ladder. Ron and Ginny, he noticed, seemed to be trying to drown each other at the other end of the pool.
"Let me show you." Edith climbed out behind him and went up the diving board ladder like a monkey. Once there, she balanced on the edge a moment, then leapt up and slightly out, pulling knees to chest, wrapping her arms around them, and screaming like a mad thing.
"CANNONBALLLLLLLLLLL!"
The wave reached the other end of the pool.
"Very nice," said Lanie, who had come out of the locker room just in time to see the splash. "I wonder how many Waldos are in this pool?"
"How many what?" Ron asked, surfacing beside them just in time to hear this.
"Waldo is her pet water molecule," Edith said, rolling her eyes.
"Should we even ask?" said Ginny.
"I do chemistry," Lanie said. "So I have a molecule model kit. I made a water molecule, and it was so cute that I wanted to keep it for a pet. And I named it Waldo."
"And she claims it can bite," Edith chimed in. "It hasn't got a mouth! How can it bite?"
"He can bite if I say he can," Lanie growled, catching Edith in the face with a handful of water.
Edith's retaliation got a bit boisterous, and Ron and Harry couldn't let it go unchallenged. A full-scale water fight developed, with no clear teams or rules – simply splash your neighbor before he, or she, splashes you.
It was exactly what Harry needed. By the time they got out of the pool, he had almost forgotten his earlier dream. After all, he can't come here. He doesn't even know about it.
His mind was occupied for the rest of the evening with simple things, such as reading two acts of Twelfth Night for his theater course, taking a shower before the 10 o'clock rush, watching Star Wars with his friends, and getting his fair share of the peanut butter chip cookies Lizzie had made.
He went to bed with no feeling of peril, no sense of warning, nothing, which he would later remember as decidedly unfair...
-----
"YOU GOT WHAT?!"
Mrs. Weasley's scream echoed through the house. Harry almost fell out of bed. Ron actually did.
"I DON'T BELIEVE IT! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS WITHOUT TELLING US?"
Harry only stopped for his glasses, not even bothering to put on shoes.
"HAVE YOU NO CONSIDERATION WHATSOEVER?"
He pelted down the stairs, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny seconds behind.
"I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT YOU WOULD BE SO CALLOUS – "
Harry flung the kitchen door open.
" – AS TO GET MARRIED WITHOUT EVEN INFORMING YOUR OWN MOTHER!"
"Married?" Ron repeated incredulously into the silence which followed this. "Who got married?"
Harry stepped aside so that Ron could see, as he could, Fred and Angelina, standing hand in hand and looking distinctly unhappy with the situation.
"Oh," Ron said.
George and Alicia were hovering a safe distance away, appearing torn between wanting to help and wanting to stay as far away as possible from Mrs. Weasley in her current mood.
"We would have told you, Mum," Fred said soothingly. "Honestly, we would. George and I had it all planned out."
George nodded vigorously. "We were going to propose right after the Grand Opening, and then have a double wedding sometime in September."
"But, well, Angelina and I kind of had to speed things up," Fred finished.
"And why is that?" Mrs. Weasley demanded.
"Angelina... well... we, er..."
Fred faltered, blushing, and Angelina squeezed his arm.
"Let me tell it, sweetheart?" she asked. Fred nodded gratefully, stepping back.
Angelina smiled at the older witch. "Mrs. Weasley – I'm pregnant."
Hermione gasped, Ginny squealed, Ron stared at Fred in shock, and Harry bit his lip to keep from laughing in Mrs. Weasley's face – she looked as if someone had dropped a brick on her foot.
"Oh," she said dazedly. "Oh. My. Well, that does put a different light on things. When, dear?"
"April," Angelina said, caressing her stomach. "Some time in April."
"This is wonderful!" Ginny said excitedly, hugging her. "I'm going to be an aunt!"
Mrs. Weasley embraced Angelina as well. "A grandchild," she said, beginning to smile. "My first grandchild. Congratulations, my dear – my dears," she corrected, pulling Fred into the hug. "But none of you are to do anything like this to me ever again!" she added over Angelina's shoulder to the other children.
"Way to go, Fred," Harry said, shaking the twin's hand after his mother let him go.
"Mum's taking it awfully well," Fred confided. "I'm a little worried. D'you think we've upset her for good?"
"Your mum's pretty strong," Harry said. "It's Ron I'm worried about."
Ron hadn't spoken since the second announcement. He was staring from Angelina to Fred and back again, as if trying to correlate something.
"But," he finally stammered. "But... if she's... then you...you'd have to be..."
"That's right, ickle Ronniekins," Fred said, pulling Angelina into a tight embrace. "You do know where babies come from, don't you?"
Ron reddened and fled the kitchen precipitously, followed closely by a scarlet-faced Hermione.
"They're really going to have to get over that," Ginny said. "Or any child of theirs will be born with a permanent blush."
Everyone laughed as Remus came down the stairs into the kitchen in his outdoor cloak, newspaper under his arm. "Where were Ron and Hermione going in such a hurry?" he asked.
"I think they're trying to hide from the facts of life," said Harry, grinning. "Angelina and Fred just got married."
"Congratulations," Remus said, shaking hands with Fred. "On such a historic day, too."
"Historic?" Mrs. Weasley said sharply.
Remus smiled, with more than a hint of predator in his eyes. "Have a look."
He unfolded the Daily Prophet to the front page. Thick black headlines met everyone's eyes.
VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE IN MINISTER FUDGE
General Election to Be Held Today
In a move which stunned the wizarding world, Madam Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and Madam Athena Fleming, Secretary for National Defense Against Dark Wizardry, today published a petition, signed by a majority of sitting department heads, which constitutes a vote of no confidence in Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge.
"We feel that Fudge's actions, first in allowing the wizarding community to believe that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had not returned when in fact he had, and second in taking a bribe from a known sympathizer of said Dark wizard, are foolish at best, treacherous at worst, and in all cases inconsistent with the trust we need in the holder of such a high office," Madam Bones said when interviewed.
Minister Fudge's office declined comment.
A general election for Minister of Magic will be held today at all wizarding polling places. Contact your local authorities for more information...
"YES!" George shouted, pumping his fist toward the ceiling. "Death to Fudge!"
"Political death, at any rate," Remus agreed. "He'll never get re-elected, not with the Malfoy bribery story all over."
"But – I thought Athena Fleming was helping him," Harry said, confused. "What's she doing kicking him out?"
"I have no idea," Remus said. "Far be it from me to judge the actions of Hell-Raiser Theenie."
"Who?"
"That was her nickname at school. We were in the same year, but she was a Slytherin. Never a Death Eater, though," Remus added quickly. "She was one of the decent Slytherins. They do exist, believe it or not."
Fred and George were doing a war dance like they had done the previous summer, only now the chant was "Fudge is out, Fudge is out, Fudge is out – "
"I wouldn't begin celebrating just yet," said Albus Dumbledore from the kitchen doorway. "The election is yet to come."
"Yes, Albus, I wanted to ask you," Mrs. Weasley said. "If you're elected again – "
"I will refuse to serve, as I have in the past, Molly," Dumbledore said. "I have already informed the polling places to distribute information to that effect."
"All right, then, who would you recommend?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"As it happens, I have an expert on that subject with me," Dumbledore said. "Some of you may have already met her."
He stepped out of the doorway, revealing a tall, brown-haired witch who appeared to have her nose permanently in the air, and who looked annoyingly familiar to Harry.
Ginny gasped and took two quick steps back.
"Miss Weasley, I am not in the habit of hexing innocent children, however it may seem to you," the witch said crisply. "I must apologize for my actions of last month – your presence nearly disrupted one of the most crucial missions I have ever been on, and I was extraordinarily annoyed. You have suffered no ill effects, I trust?"
Ginny shook her head wordlessly.
"Good." The witch turned to the rest of the kitchen. "Athena Fleming," she said. "Former Secretary for National Defense against Dark Wizardry."
"Former?" said Fred.
"I have resigned from my post, for reasons of my own," Madam Fleming said, pinning him with a don't-ask look. Fred gulped a little and nodded.
"Molly Weasley," said Mrs. Weasley, moving forward to shake hands. "And my children, Fred, and his f..." She caught herself. "His wife Angelina, my son George and his fiancée Alicia Spinnet, and my daughter Ginny, and this is Harry Potter."
"Harry Potter." Athena Fleming surveyed him coolly. Harry had a feeling he was being analyzed, taken apart and put back together, and he didn't like it at all. "A pleasure," she said in a tone that indicated it was anything but.
"It's good to see you again, Theenie," Remus said from behind her.
She turned partway toward him and smiled, a slow, deliberate smile. "Well, well, well. The Full Moony."
Remus' eyebrows lifted. "I can't believe you remember that," he said in a very, very polite voice.
"Oh, I remember," Madam Fleming purred. "I remember it like it was yesterday."
"Pardon me," Remus said in a strained tone, and left the room abruptly.
What was that about?
Harry didn't realize he'd spoken aloud until Madam Fleming said sharply, "Not your business, Mr. Potter. Now, I believe you wished my help in informing the adult members of this Order about the candidates for the election, Headmaster?"
Somehow I think I'm not wanted here. Harry headed for the door out of the kitchen, Ginny behind him.
"What was she talking about?" Ginny said as soon as the door was shut behind them.
"I don't know, but we can always ask," Harry said, climbing the stairs.
Remus was sitting at the desk in the study with a quill in his hand, frowning at a piece of parchment. "Are you busy?" Harry asked, sticking his head through the door.
"No, not really. Let me guess – you want to know what she meant?"
Harry and Ginny nodded.
Remus sighed. "This goes no farther – well, you can tell Ron and Hermione, that's inevitable, but no one else, especially not the twins – understand?"
A trickle of glee ran through Harry's mind. This should be good.
"When we were at school together, I played a prank on Athena once that turned her hair red and yellow and made it stand on end like a candle flame for a full day – to tease her about being called 'Hell-Raiser'. So she took advantage of my nickname." Remus closed his eyes, his face reddening. "She bribed Peter to take a picture of, shall we say, a pertinent portion of my anatomy, blew it up, made copies, and posted them all over the school."
Ginny had both hands clapped over her mouth. Harry felt as if he might explode if he didn't laugh soon.
"The music room is soundproofed, if I recall correctly," Remus said, smiling slightly and turning back to his work.
Ginny beat Harry there by a fraction of a second. Harry slammed the door shut; they looked at each other and proceeded to laugh themselves sick.
"What's so funny?" said Ron's voice from somewhere in the room.
"Ron!" hissed Hermione's voice from the same general direction. "Shut up!"
"What are you two doing in here?" Harry asked when he'd caught his breath.
"None of your business," said Hermione as haughtily as she could manage while crawling out from underneath a grand piano.
Harry and Ginny took one look at Hermione and Ron, also emerging from under the piano and rather red-faced, and burst out laughing again.
"Did we miss anything important?" Hermione asked with dignity once Ginny and Harry were at the teary-eyed, sighing stage.
"Oh, nothing really important," Ginny said with a perfectly straight face. "Just that little thing about Fudge, right, Harry?"
"Yes, that little thing about elections," Harry agreed, nodding in his best impression of Percy. "General elections for Minister of Magic happening today. So no, nothing important."
"Oh yes, and an important Ministry official in the kitchen telling my brothers and mother who to vote for," Ginny added. "That's all, you didn't miss a thing."
"No, wait, one other thing," Harry said. "Wasn't she the one who turned you into a cat?"
"Oh, that's right," Ginny said, as if Harry had reminded her to get milk at the store. "Thanks, Harry, I almost forgot about that. Yes, Madam Fleming is the witch who turned me into a cat."
Ron got a look at Hermione's face and started laughing, setting Harry and Ginny off again, and finally even Hermione had to admit the whole thing was rather funny. She insisted on getting a fuller report, though.
Harry's recounting of how Madam Fleming had pranked Remus at Hogwarts had Ron rolling on the floor howling and Hermione sunk weakly into a chair, unable to stand. Harry and Ginny held out for a few moments, then met each other's eyes and succumbed a fourth time to fits of laughter, Harry more grateful than ever for the Silencing Charms on the walls.
"Why isn't Remus down in the kitchen?" Harry wondered aloud after everyone had recovered. "I mean, I know he doesn't like Madam Fleming all that much, but he'd want to know about the candidates for the election, right?"
"Ah, Harry," Ron said, "he's a werewolf, remember?"
"Yes, of course I do, what does that have to do with anything?"
"Well..." Ron looked pleadingly at Hermione.
"Werewolves can't vote, Harry," Hermione said.
Harry sighed. Should have known. "Umbridge again?"
"No, this is older than her," said Ron. "Goes back to probably the Middle Ages some time, everything seems to."
"1351, to be exact," Hermione said. "Honestly, we covered this just last year in History of Magic, weren't you listening? The Proclamation Regarding the Disenfranchisement of All Part-Human and Sub-Human Beings Residing Within the Isles of Britannia."
"Do you ever forget anything?" Ron asked, looking at Hermione in bewilderment.
-----
When they returned to the kitchen, they discovered Remus had preceded them, along with Mr. Weasley, Bill and Fleur, and Lee Jordan and Katie Bell. Madam Fleming seemed to be just wrapping up.
"... personally, I plan to vote for Amelia Bones," she said. "She's tough and fair, which is what we need in difficult times like these."
"Why didn't you stay at the Ministry, Athena?" Mr. Weasley asked. "You would have made an excellent Minister."
"I have another commitment, Arthur," Madam Fleming said. "One which I doubt you'd encourage me to turn down. But I'm not at liberty to discuss it at the moment, or in present company." She seemed less than pleased to see the four of them, Harry realized.
"Very well, only asking," Mr. Weasley said politely.
"If you don't need me for anything else, Headmaster?" Madam Fleming asked Dumbledore.
"Not at the moment, Athena. Thank you for your time, though."
Madam Fleming nodded to him, fastening her cloak on. "Ministry of Magic," she said, tossing a pinch of Floo powder into the fire and stepping in. It roared green, and she was gone.
"Well," Bill said, standing up, "now that she's gone and it's just the family, and friends," he nodded to Lee and Katie, "I think it's time. What do you think, little brother?"
"I would agree," George said, also standing up.
"Time for what?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"Well, mother dearest, you informed us earlier today that none of us were ever allowed to get married in secret again," George said.
"So we've decided to make it as public as possible," said Bill.
In tandem, he and George turned to Fleur and Alicia and knelt down in front of them.
"Fleur Delacour, queen of my heart..." Bill began.
"Alicia Spinnet, love of my life..." George started.
"Will you marry me?" they finished in perfect unison.
Harry had no idea what Fleur and Alicia had said, because he hadn't been able to hear them over the excited squealing of Ginny, Hermione, Angelina, and Katie. From the way the two couples were kissing, though, it seemed very likely the answers had been yes.
Congratulations were offered all around. Professor Dumbledore had the words Harry thought everyone would remember longest. "What you have done today is a victory for our side in this war. As long as we continue to have love and joy in our lives, the darkness can never fully overcome us. I congratulate you, and I thank you."
The rest of the day, except for the breaks the adults took to go out and vote, was spent in noisy, happy planning for a double wedding, which was finally scheduled for August 27th. After dinner, which was a noisy event due to Ginny and Hermione's insistence on tinging their glasses with their spoons to make Fred and Angelina kiss, Remus went out to get the election results.
The ensuing ten minutes seemed far too long to Harry. He washed the dishes, Ginny rinsed, Hermione dried, and Ron put away. Fred, Angelina, George, and Alicia discussed decorating plans for the apartment above Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, where they planned to live, with Lee and Katie as consultants. Bill and Fleur, aided by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, looked through the Daily Prophet classifieds for wizard-friendly apartments in the London area.
The small pop as Remus Apparated into the kitchen was nonetheless attention-getting. Harry turned around from the sink to see his former professor grinning and holding up a copy of the Evening Prophet.
CONGRATULATIONS MINISTER BONES!
New Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones, calls for unity among wizards, alliances with non-humans
It was a good thing the neighbors didn't know the house was there, Harry thought, because otherwise there would definitely have been noise complaints.
I would say this has been a classic example of an exciting day.
-----
(A/N: I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! The homework monsters ate me, I swear!
But anyway... here it is, and I'll try to stay on schedule from now on!
Remember, more reviews mean sooner updates...
Lanie: No, I will not hit you on the head with Billy. Do it yourself.
Lady Cinnibar: Well, that depends on what you consider "seriously into" it. And congratulations, you got a 90 percent on the Home At Last Challenge! What would you like your character named?
emikae: Agreed, Metamorphmagus Mints do sound like fun. They'll be back, never fear.
MAndrews: I'm so glad! B/c we've all read chapters that drag on forever... that was my worst fear.
Caprice-Ann HedicanKocur: Yay, you're back! I will update Extenuating Circumstances as soon as I possibly can, I promise!
Telos: Oh my gosh. ::major blush:: Whenever I felt bad over the past week, I just reread your super excellent review and I felt all better. Thank you so much! Concrit appreciated but not necessary – if you liked it all, I'm perfectly happy to hear that!
See you all on Thursday at the latest, I promise!)