JadePhoenixdt- I won't say who will end up with who. You'll just have to keep reading. :)
Safire Cappy-The chapters get longer when the story gets darker. The first few chapters are light and happy.
Angel3ve- Yeah, it's been a long time since I've updated this story (blushes), but I hope you keep on reading.
music213- Here's the next chapter!
WhiteWizard101- I hope you keep on reading. This story is a lot more complicated than the TLP because there are so many more characters in it. However, I hope you enjoy it.
JB Hannah- lol. Updating is the hardest part sometimes.
Marikili68- Yes, I'm back and here's the next chapter!
Noompjuh- Thanks
El Permanente- Thanks for your compliment. I will try to keep all the main characters from the first story on to this story without any major complications.
quiddich7- Thanks for catching my mistake! I corrected it after I read your review.
Chapter 5- The Burrow Under Prospect
Harry arrived at the Auror Training Hall with Seamus. They were excitedly talking about the Quiddich World Cup when Luna Lovegood, walking down the same corridor, spotted them. She was clutching a large, wooden animal that resembled a badger. Harry didn't know what it was.
"Hello, you're Harry Potter." Luna said. She wore a crown of stars on her head.
Seamus nudged Harry and grinned. "You're Harry Potter."
"Good morning, Luna." Harry replied. "This is my friend Seamus Finnigan."
Seamus reached out his hand to shake Luna's, but she continued to clutch her wooden animal.
"I know who you are. I've seen you at school. You laughed at the lion's head I wore to the Quiddich games."
"Er…" Seamus said, at a loss for words to respond.
Luna focused back to Harry. "There is a large number of Quikkers on the loose. They're very bad luck. They were thought to be extinct, but I guess they just hid themselves. It's really strange because they feed on Huppers and Huppers live in the ocean. You might want this for protection." She gestured to her crown.
"What in the name of merlin," said Seamus. "are you talking about?"
Luna looked at Seamus quite confidently. "I suppose you wouldn't know. You never really showed any concern for safety."
Harry stepped on Seamus's foot to stop a retort.
"Thanks for the warning, Luna," Harry said politely. "But we have to go to training now. See you."
"Good-bye, Harry Potter. And Seamus." She added in afterthought.
"Good-bye," Seamus called cheerfully, waving his hand and then muttered under his breath, "you crazy nutter."
Seamus and Harry arrived at the Training Hall and stopped abruptly. Snape was the only Auror trainer there so far, having arrived very early, and he was talking to a witch with dirty-blonde hair. She had a kind face, thin lips and slightly square shoulders. Snape was running his hand through his greasy hair. The witch smiled as she spoke to Snape. Snape looked nervous and kept swallowing. He wasn't making direct eye contact, his eyes kept darting around the room.
"----well I think it's very nice for you to help us out. We're so busy restoring order." The witch said.
"Not a problem," Snape answered in a strange voice free of threat, anger and hatred as Harry was used to. "Just trying to do my job, you know. It's summer and I don't have to work until the fall."
"You work at Hogwarts, don't you? Teaching Potions?"
Snape nodded. He opened his mouth, but then spotted Harry and Seamus standing at the doorway.
"What are you doing!" Snape shouted in a fury, a faint redness emerging on his cheeks. He took a step back and almost tripped over his own feet. Harry heard the familiar anger in his voice again. Scowling, Snape spat, "You're late!"
"Late?" Harry replied calmly. "I thought we were fifteen minutes early."
"Why, you….you…" Snape sputtered.
"It's alright Severus," the witch said gently. "I'm about to go anyway. I don't want to disrupt your lesson. See you later." She gave a small wave, smiled once more and walked off.
Snape looked at her hopelessly as she disappeared behind the door.
Snape swore loudly. "POTTER!"
"What did Potter do?" Moody asked. He had arrived in the Training Hall.
"He…he…" Snape said.
"Disrupted your attempt at flirtation?" Moody asked casually.
Snape froze in shock. Harry and Seamus had to bite their tongues to keep from laughing.
There was a pause, and then, "FINNIGAN! Come over here! We are going to be working on curses today!"
Snape strolled over to the farthest corner away from Moody, muttering, "Ridiculous…strictly professional…rudest interruption…" under his breath.
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Fleur Delacour Weasley woke up nestled in a soft bed next to Bill. Sunshine was streaming through the windows. She could hear ocean waves splashing against the shore. She rose quietly, not wanting to wake her new husband (and she was so proud to say the word 'husband'), and went to the window of their hotel room. She looked at the beach down below and the shining waters reflected droplets of the sun. Fleur sighed. She felt so peacefully content with life. Here, on her honeymoon, she felt no fear of murders from angry, vengeful Death Eaters. She felt no stress from work and the chaos of wedding planning have finally been lifted off of her shoulders. She looked off to the distance and saw a strange silhouette flying toward her at a rapid speed. She had just gotten her wand out when she realized it was an owl carrying a large package with a bow on top. She opened the windows to let the owl in. The owl dropped a package onto Fleur's outstretched hands and then flew over to a desk for some rest.
Fleur heard movement from the bed and a sleepy Bill Weasley call out, "Come back to bed, I'm cold."
Fleur carried the package over to the bed and nudged Bill lightly. "Et iz almost twelve, darling."
"What's that?" Bill asked, pointing to the package and rubbing his eyes.
"Oh!" Fleur exclaimed. "Et iz from your muzzer. Madame Veasley."
"My mum?" Bill asked in alarm. "Is something wrong back home?"
"No…" Fleur replied slowly, pulling out a gingerbread cookie from the package. "Look at zis."
Bill examined the gingerbread cookie before putting one in his mouth. He grinned. "That's mum for you, always trying to give subtle hints."
Fleur nodded and took a cookie for herself. She looked at the shape and took a bite.
"Vell, speaking of children, Bill. How many do you think we should have?"
Bill shrugged. "I've always been partial to a smaller family since mine was so chaotic. But I don't mind having a handful of children."
Fleur nodded. "I vaz sinking maybe two."
"Two?" Bill asked, almost choking on his third cookie. "I was thinking three or four! Think of how boring two would be." He reached over for his wife's hand, but Fleur pulled it back and looked at Bill with a serious expression on her face.
"Bill Veasley, I have a job! I do not have as much time as your muzzer to take care of ze children."
Bill gave this a thoughtful consideration and nodded his head. "Well, I guess we can start at two and see if we want more from there. So anyway, enough talk of our kids. How are we supposed to have any if we are not trying to have them?" He grinned at Fleur again, but Fleur was busy pulling back the curtains and letting in a stream of sunshine.
"I am not ready to have children." Fleur announced, now brushing her hair. "I sink ve should wait at least three years."
"Three years?" Bill asked with a look of incredulity. "I'm old! I cannot wait that long! I thought we'll have a honeymoon baby."
"You are not old." Fleur replied with an impatient tut. "You jus' vant to start having children right away, but I am still busy vis my job. Perhaps, after everything settles down, ve can start. I do not think it is a good idea to bring a child into zis world at ze moment."
Bill stroked his chin and looked thoughtful. "You're right, there's too much confusion going on. I don't mind waiting."
Fleur got dressed in her swimsuit and turned to her husband, smiling, "How about ve stop sinking of zat and go swimming?"
"Sounds good to me!" Bill replied, eagerly pulling the covers off.
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Percy Weasley walked briskly into the Burrow. He pushed his glasses up his nose and stopped when he saw Mrs. Weasley standing outside, feeding the chickens. When she saw Percy, she gave a small squeal of surprise and dropped her basket of grain.
"Good morning Mother," he said promptly. "I haven't much t----"
But Molly had seized him into an embrace and kissed his cheeks. "Oh Percy, are you alright?"
"Yes, yes," Percy answered trying to smooth his robes. "Mother, I am here to inform you t-that…" Percy cleared his throat. "The Ministry has noticed an ideal amount of space here at the Burrow and it being in such close proximity of the Muggle town…I…" Percy cleared his throat again.
He hesitated slightly. Then he spoke rather quickly, "The Ministry have decided to take these grounds that you own (they will pay you a large quantity of galleons for it). It's all to do with building a Quiddich field for the new efforts of joining hands with International Quiddich teams. I---"
"What are you talking about?" Mrs. Weasley interrupted, her eyebrows narrowed in suspicion. "Taking away my grounds? Building a Quiddich field? I did not put the Burrow up for sale."
"Yes, I know that, but---"
"Did you see the Burrow on any real estate magazines? Magical Houses? Wizard Homes?" Mrs. Weasley continued as she gave her son the famous 'don't mess with me' look.
"Well….well, you see…" Percy stammered, suddenly losing his memory of the speech Lucius had gone over with him.
Another crack. Arthur Weasley arrived at the Burrow. "Molly! Molly! The Ministry---!" He stopped at the sight of his third son.
Percy looked at his father for a second and then cleared his throat again, a faint pink arriving at his cheeks. He gave a small nod toward Mr. Weasley and then spoke very quickly, "I'm here to inform you that you have a month's notice. Oh, and the Ministry will be paying you five thousand Galleons, a considerable amount." He then Disapparated.
Mr. Weasley's hand was clutching his wand so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
"That---that ingrate---" Mr. Weasley sputtered through clenched teeth.
"Arthur…" Molly said, her voice shaky. She looked worriedly at her husband. "What's going on?"
-----------------------------
"So Lucius Malfoy decided to 'embrace international friends' and build a large Ministry sponsored Quiddich field for the teams to practice on for the World Cup?" Ron summarized slowly, his head thinking it all over.
"Malfoy 'suggested' to the Ministry to ask Mum and Dad for their land. Talked this big story of how Mum has trouble running the place and how she and Dad were looking for something new, something smaller with the children gone. And since the Burrow already has a number of enchantments to block Muggle spotting, it would be nice to 'ask' Mum and Dad to buy it from them. Of course, he went straight to Percy---" Bill Weasley frowned at his brother's name. "---and asked him to 'encourage' Dad which led Percy here. Promised him a promotion if he was successful."
"Percy worked with Lucius Malfoy?" Ron asked, surprised.
"Has no means to know boundaries!" Arthur said suddenly. "I cannot believe…my own s---" Arthur stopped speaking and his lips became tight.
"But all you have to do is refuse!" Ron responded.
"It's not that easy, Ron." Bill said, smiling slightly at Ron's expression. "Lucius wasted no time in boasting about how generous Dad is and how nice it is to have an opportunity to strengthen International Relations---"
"So?" Ron interrupted. "That's nonsense! The Burrow has been our home! It can't just be taken away."
"Of course not, Ron." Mrs. Weasley replied. "Nobody wants to give it up. We just need to think of a tactful way to refuse."
A screech from the window led them all to look up. A large, brown owl flew in and presented a letter.
Arthur opened it with a look of hesitation. As he read it, he groaned and handed it over to Mrs. Weasley.
Mrs. Weasley read the letter with Ron and Bill looking over her shoulders.
Dear Mr. Weasley
We are delighted to know of your contribution! Let us express our gratitude by giving you nine free tickets to the World Cup. They're good for box seats, our very best! You are also welcome to watch the teams practice a week before their match and we are sending you a brand new Lightning 3000 with autographs from all of the players. If you need anything else, just let us know!
Ludo Bagman
Department of Magical Games and Sports
Derek Rugourd
Department of International Magical Cooperation
Ministry of Magic
Mrs. Weasley sighed and looked at her husband, "We've better do it sooner than later, Arthur."
Mr. Weasley nodded. "I'll go to the Ministry and sort this out right now."
"I'll go too." said Bill, getting up.
"So am I." said Ron, downing the last of his pumpkin juice.
A/N: This is the last chapter before the attacks start. Please review!