Chapter 14

Harry returned home the next day after spending a pleasant morning with Susan and Amelia. He learned more about wizarding politics spending a day with her than he had acquired in all of the first summer living with the Order.

Harry had given Susan a vault key before he left, again claiming that his Godfather had left him some money to pass out to his friends who were helping the cause of the light side. In reality that money was long gone, but Harry wanted to provide some parity for her with the witches that she was living with. It would provide her enough money to pursue a career in art if she elected to. As he had been with Katie, Harry was vague about the details of the account. She thanked him and didn't press as to the details.

The Weasleys were still there when he returned home at noon. He sat down and joined them for lunch. They seemed to have adopted a grim determination to fight on. Harry invited them to stay with him for the remainder of the holidays. They didn't have to be back at the castle for another week.

Ginny had asked her mum if she could go to Paris for New Years Eve. They had compromised by saying that they would all go. Harry said that he would have the reservations made. He would ask Remus to make reservations for six rooms at one of the small hotels that Harry owned an interest in.

Eventually it was decided that Molly and Arthur, Harry and Ginny Fred, George, Angelina and Alicia, and Remus and Tonks would go. Harry made two sets of reservations at a little cafe that he had seen with Remus when they had been out shopping, Harry's New York Bar. It was in a crowded section of the city and they would feel safe there. He also made reservations at the Hard Rock that was in the next building.

At ten AM on the 31st they apparated to the wizarding entry point of the city. They crowded into three cabs and were seemingly given a tour of all of France to get to two miles distance from the apparation point to the hotel. It was enjoyable and enjoyable ride, but Harry was glad that he'd brought a lot of French currency with him.

The weather was unseasonably mild and they had a great day walking around. Molly and Arthur needed some time alone together and the others were more than willing to comply. They agreed to meet back at the hotel at six. Harry added a bit of gray to his hair and aged his looks a few years. Ginny kidded him, "People will think that I'm your trophy wife."

Harry replied, "Then I must have won first place. I feel so lucky every minute that I get to spend with you. Shall we explore Paris together, or shall I explore every inch of your delicious being?"

Ginny took his hand. "Hopefully we can do both. Maybe I'll draw you a treasure map. Lets walk around for a bit first." They walked eight or nine miles and enjoyed the undeniably beautiful sights. Harry had meant what he'd told her earlier. He would have been just as happy sitting in the back garden at the burrow watching the brook with her.

Harry was glad that he'd had the idea to go to Paris for the night. To be honest, he was happy that all of them had gone together. The thoughts that Ginny might have had feeling bad about her parents staying home on New Years Eve had been eliminated.

Katie said that she was going to visit one of her girlfriends that had graduated the previous year, so she hadn't been left alone. KJ had gone back to the dragon colony.

As they were walking along Harry sensed that something was wrong. Ginny had been fretting about this long enough, and had to ask, "Did you have a good time at the Grangers?

Shite, thought Harry...I'm walking down the streets of Paris with my girl on New Years Eve and we're going to get into a row over nothing.

"It was fine. We mostly played cards with Hermione's mum and dad then came up with an explanation for being gone all night when we got back. Her mum took the news pretty calmly after the initial shock." Harry thought, That went OK. What's next?

Ginny didn't say anything. He hadn't sounded like he'd had too good of a time. She didn't know why, but suddenly she was feeling very possessive of him right now. After what she thought was a reasonable time, she asked, "Did you have fun at the Bones?"

Harry'd had a few minutes to prepare this answer. "Actually I did. I talked with Director Bones at length on the state of the war, and classes for next term. After dinner, we went bowling with Dumbledore. She was pretty candid in her views of how I could best help the cause in general and your dad specifically."

If Ginny had subconsciously been looking for a reason to pick a fight, Harry hadn't provided her with one. She had become somewhat sensitive to the tittering within the castle about Harry's harem. At the same time, she had seen the multiplication power of a spell cast by a witch who had feelings for Harry. She knew that the six of them would have to continue together if they were ever to defeat Voldemort and begin their own lives. Her parents were alive specifically because of that multiplication effect.

The wave of frustration and jealously that she had felt passed by as quickly as it had come on. "Let's go back to our room, Harry." They got to their room without any embarrassing meetings in the hallway with her parents.

Ginny saw the look of concern on Harry's face and asked, "What's wrong?"

"There's no sofa, just a table and a few chairs."

You should mention it to the owner. You gave away the biggest rooms to my parents, Remus, Tonks and the twins, she thought. "The room looks perfect to me," said Ginny. "Can you help me with this?"

Harry looked over and noticed that Ginny was asking him for help removing one of the little things that she was wearing.

"It would be my pleasure, dear lady."

Though we won't go into the details at this time, suffice it to say that Harry gave at least as much as he got from Miss Weasley. She learned that while he could be an extraordinarily violent man, Harry could also be kind, loving and had amazing manual dexterity. Ginny discovered that her breasts could be used to give as well as receive pleasure. Two hours later, they emerged from their room, showered, dressed, and relaxed.

They all met in the bar at six and had a glass of champaign together. Tonks and Remus had gone to the Louvre together. They told Ginny how it had once been the royal palace and a young wizard named Leonardo da Vinci resided there as the official painter for many years in the early 1500s

Fred and George had visited several wizarding joke shops with the idea of exporting some of their merchandise for resale.

They all had a fun time at Harry's New York Café, kidding Mr. Potter that it was neither his nor in New York. At 11 they made their way to the Eiffel tower, and apparated to the upper observation platform. Harry would have been content to take the lift, but Mrs. Weasley seemed to think that it looked dangerous and dreadfully slow.

They looked around for a while until midnight. They all wished each other a happy new year. Harry hoped that it wouldn't be their last.

-

The rest of the week went by too quickly. On Sunday, Molly and Arthur returned to their home. They bid Katie goodbye, as she had to take the train then apparated back to the castle. They reviewed their second term objectives with Dumbledore, Flitwick and the other heads of house before the students arrived.

-

Four hundred miles to the south, a different conversation was taking place. "The plan seems perfect, my lord."

"Let us hope so Narcissa. Perhaps a few smaller victories will have a greater impact than a single larger one."

"Is Scotland the right place, my lord?"

"No. An attack in London will have a much greater impact, and perceived impact is at least as important right now as the actual damage to their side."

"When will this happen?"

"The thirteenth. I have other business now. Make your arrangements."

"Yes, my lord."

-

About an hour before the students were to arrive, Dumbledore came and visited the apprentices again. Settling himself in with a cocoa, he said, "Good afternoon. I am pleased and relieved to see you all here. I read of your exploits over the holiday in the newspaper and inferred the details based on other conversations that I have had. I have gathered that the duel itself successful largely due to your efforts and prior planning regarding use of the excellent armor that Miss McVie created for you. I saw the original article with a rather large slice missing, and am only happy that it wasn't you that ended up in the Ministry morgue."

"Regardless of my personal concern for your safety and the overall priority, you in fact did the wizarding world a great service eliminating a mad dog that killed largely for pleasure."

"Due to your insight and doubtless with the help of your good friends, you were able to capture the three intruders that had planned to spoil the event. Your planning and execution are to be commended."

"I will ask that you address the student body before dinner and tell them properly with an appropriate level of detail. That will eliminate much of the hall talk and save you from having to retell the story four hundred and fifty times. Without minimizing the efforts of your friends, I ask that you not identify anyone other than Alastor as having been there. I can not insist on this aspect, but believe that it will be for the best."

Harry said, "I agree that there were participants that would prefer to remain unnamed, but I would not be here if my three friends here and others had not helped me. I will not name Order members or Ministry officials, but Susan downed a Death Eater. Ginny downed a Death Eater. Another witch downed a Death Eater; all due to the fantastic charm work that Hermione did to help locate them. Sir, there were five Death Eaters that day. We were able to stop four of them. It wouldn't be right to ignore their work."

"Perhaps you are correct. Use your best judgment. Were you able to identify the fifth Death Eater?"

"Yes sir. Narcissa Malfoy was there. It is my belief that she also led the raid on the burrow the next evening."

The others were stunned. No one knew that Dobby had seen his attacker and told Harry about it. Dumbledore didn't even know that there had been a fifth attacker.

Dumbledore said, "I agree with your assessment." He looked at each of the others, but said nothing.

"Again, I am glad that you each are back and ready to settle in for another term. We each need to get ready for dinner. I will see you at the head table in fifteen minutes." He left.

Ginny said, "Harry, when did you find out that Narcissa was there?"

Harry made an attempt at damage control. "He mentioned it the second or third time that I visited him. She was the one who tried to blow his arm off."

"Why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell me?

"Tell you what? There wasn't much to tell. You saw her there. I nev…"

Harry knew that he'd said the wrong thing. Ginny walked up and slapped him in the face hard enough to knock him over.

Getting up Harry said, "I'm sorry Ginny, I didn't mean to say or imply that anything." She slammed the door shut and left for the feast.

Susan said, "That wasn't fair of her Harry. We each did everything that we could that day. We need to go now."

Gathering his things Harry said, "I don't blame her. That was an incredibly insensitive thing to say, and I'm sorry that I said it."

Hermione said, "No one meant to hurt Ginny's feelings."

The student all gathered at their long tables. The murmuring was different at the Slytherin table. Many of the older students knew or thought they knew Pucie, Betchly and Bole. Their names had come out a few days later. Katie looked at Ginny who was sitting on the same end of the hall, and saw the tears in her eyes.

Dumbledore stood and addressed the students. "Welcome back students. It is a delight to see that you have all safely returned. Many of you probably read that Professor Potter was involved in a legal duel on 27 December. It seems appropriate to let Professor Potter tell his story. After he has shared his story with you, I ask that you do not pester or bother him about it again. Professor Potter."

Harry stood up to speak. Looking at the Ravenclaw table Harry said," I challenged a man that I knew to be a Death Eater and believed responsible for the deaths of Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood, and others to a legal duel. He accepted and I filled out the necessary paperwork and filed it with the department of magical law enforcement. The duel was properly refereed.

Harry took the miniaturized execution ax out of his pocket, and returned it to its full size of five feet. It was indeed a formidable looking weapon. "My opponent, Walden McNair was properly armed with this ax and fought a fair fight. I believe that unbeknownst to him, several other Death Eaters tried to sneak into the area and ambush me if I were to win the duel. They arrived under the cover of invisibility cloaks with the intent to harm me. Fortunately the other apprentices and others that were there to make certain that it was a fair and legal duel spotted the Death Eaters and they were apprehended. For their help, I offer my sincere thanks and gratitude."

Dumbledore stood and applauded Harry and the witches. Immediately every student and staff member did the same.

Dumbledore concluded, "Thank you all for making our world a safer place. That said, tuck in." The food magically appeared, and to everyone's delight, was pizza.

After dinner, Harry hurried back to his room and finished his prep work for his classes the next day. Ginny had realized that he hadn't done anything wrong, and that his telling her as soon as he'd heard the news wouldn't have changed anything. She quietly read in front of the fireplace. Katie was sketching a drawing of Ginny reading.

Desperately trying to help her friends, Hermione continued her reading in the restricted section of the library.

In Ravenclaw and Gryffindor towers, the students were toasting Harry Potter for avenging the murder of one of their own. Many of the older students secretly wished that they could switch Defense professors for the second term.

In his office, Dumbledore was beginning to believe that the power to defeat Riddle really was at hand.

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