Harry Potter and the Silver Dragons
Chapter 5: Life Goes On
By the time Harry, Ron, and Hermione returned to Privet Drive, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had already returned with Dudley. They were told they had just missed dinner. Harry didn't believe this even before they heard Dudley complain he hadn't eaten since they left Smeltings earlier that day. However, since Mrs. Figg had offered them some leftover pizza from the night before, he didn't care very much.
Most of the next few days were spent reading, visiting Mrs. Figg, who always welcomed their company, wondering around Privet Drive, or watching Dudley squirm whenever they entered a room. Harry and Ron particularly like the latter activity. At the end of the week, Harry felt he had lived up to his promise to Dumbledore about returning to Privet Drive. He decided it was time to head off to Grimmauld Place to figure out what their next step would be.
That Saturday morning, Harry, Ron, and Hermione packed up their trunks. Hedwig and Pigwidgeon were sent to Grimmauld Place, and Crookshanks was secured safely in his basket. They carried their trunks down to the sitting room where Hermione, after removing the boards from in front of it, started a fire in the fireplace and pulled out the container of Floo Powder.
Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley all watched in horror as Hermione held the container out for Harry and Ron to take a pinch each, then took one for herself. Harry turned to the Dursleys and gave them a hard stare, "What!" Uncle Vernon demanded.
Taking a deep breath Harry spoke, "Since I was only one year old, this is the only home that I knew until I was old enough to go to Hogwarts. I wanted to say thank you for taking me in and raising me for all these years." Harry gave them a weak smile, then immediately took on an expression of loathing, "Now that that has been said, I have to tell you that you have made living here a living hell for me, and I hope I never have to see any of you ever again. Despite all of the signs to the contrary, you could not accept me for what I was, a wizard, just like you could never accept my parents for what they were." Harry looked pointedly at Aunt Petunia, "Despite what you may or may not think about my parents, I have learned they were brave and noble people.
"They sacrificed everything, including their own lives, so I would survive, so you would live as well, and how did you repay them? By treating me like I was more of a bother than anything else." Tears were now coming out of Harry's eyes as he spoke. Uncle Vernon made to say something but Ron pulled out his wand at that moment and pointed it right at him. "Instead of treating me like your own as Dumbledore had intended for you to do, you let this spoiled fat lump," he indicated Dudley, who was eyeing Ron's wand with a great deal of concern, "get away with bullying me for years. Always covering up his deeds with crap like 'Boys will be boys', and 'He's just going through one of those phases'. Even when I saved his worthless hide from those dementors two years ago, you still could not except the fact that it was thanks to me he was saved, though you quickly came to the conclusion it was my fault everything was happening."
"You had better bloody well believe it was your…" Uncle Vernon began jumping up out off the sofa as he did so, but this time Hermione pulled out her wand as well, and he immediately sat back down.
"Maybe it was," Harry told them, "but he could have had a worst fate than being dieing had I not been there." He then turned away from the Dursleys and walked over to the fireplace, "I hope Dudley will at least understand now that there are far more dangerous things out there than freaks and weirdoes, and that he will use that knowledge to better himself before it is to late for him." Harry looked back at his Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin over his shoulder, "After all we are as much a part of this world as you are, and you never know when you will bump into one of us." Harry then threw the Floo Powder onto the fire. He then walked into the green flames and called out "Number twelve Grimmauld Place!"
Harry didn't even notice the journey to Grimmauld Place after stepping into the fire. He didn't even realize it when he had arrived in the kitchen fireplace. Feeling both joy and relief, he would never again have to return to Privet Drive for any reason, not to mention he had finally told the Dursleys exactly what he thought about them and the way they treated him ever since he had been found on their door step.
When he finally looked around, he realized where he was and quickly moved out of the fireplace so he was not in Ron or Hermione's way when they came though. Sure enough, no sooner had he gotten out of the way than the fireplace burst into green flame and Hermione stepped out of it carrying Crookshanks basket. Crookshanks was hissing and spitting inside of it, and Hermione was dragging her trunk…a few moments after that Ron came through with his trunk and Pidwegon's cage. "What did they have to say when I left?" Harry asked as they dusted themselves off and Hermione let Crookshanks out of his basket.
"Your Uncle was not to happy when I came through," Ron said, "but that might have been because Hermione and I wanted to repay them for their hospitality toward us over the last week."
"What did you do?" Harry asked unable to keep his curiosity at bay.
"Oh," Hermione picked up, "I just transfigured all of their furniture into a wide variety of different colors and styles."
"And that's not all," Ron said, "I used an everlasting stick charm to glue a picture of you up in their hallway."
Harry looked at Ron in disbelief, "You did what?" he asked barely able to contain his laughter.
"I put a picture of you up in their hallway just before I brought my trunk down to the sitting room." Ron said, "That way they could never forget you for as long as they own the house."
Harry could not hold it in any longer and burst out laughing, which prompted Ron and Hermione to join in. They were still laughing hard when they stepped into the hallway and several people shouted out "SURPRISE!"
This was enough to startle all three of them back to the moment. Harry was about to pull out his wand when a streak of red slammed into him wrapping her arms around him hard. When Harry looked down, he saw it was Ginny. Looking around, he saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were both there, along with Lupin. "What's going on?" Harry asked a bit more shocked than anything else.
"Well Harry," Mr. Weasley began, "Remus here let us know you were going to be leaving Privet Drive today to come live here so…"
"So we decided to come here and surprise you," Ginny finished finally letting him go from her hug but wrapping her arm around his.
"Not only that Harry Dear," Mrs. Weasley began, "but we also were hoping you wouldn't mind if we stayed here for a while."
"Why?" Harry asked out of both concern and suspicion as Ginny steered him into the sitting room were there was a meal all ready to go.
"Somebody broke into the Burrow two days ago." Ginny said
"What!" Ron said out of shock, "Did anyone get hurt?"
Mr. Weasley shook his head, "Thankfully your mother and Ginny were both out at the time."
"Was anything missing?" Hermione asked.
"No," Mrs. Weasley said as she indicated for everyone to sit down at the table, "but the place was a real mess. Pots and pans everywhere, furniture torn up, not to mention the Grandfather clock was destroyed."
Harry immediately knew what clock she was referring too. This clock didn't tell the time like any other clock would have, it had nine golden hands on it, each one was engraved with the name of a member of the family, and in place of numbers it had slots like 'Home', 'Work', 'School', as well as others that told the state of the members of the family. The last time that Harry had seen it all of the hands were pointing at the 'Mortal Peril' slot.
"So where were you and Ginny when this happened?" Ron asked.
"At St. Mungo's visiting Bill." Ginny said, "He and Fleur went there after the funeral to see if they could do anything about his injuries."
Harry remembered all to well the injuries Bill had sustained during the battle with the Death Eaters at Hogwarts. While trying to defend the castle from the invaders, Bill had been savagely attacked by Fenrir Greyback, a werewolf that had developed a taste for flesh and blood that could not be satisfied once a month anymore, not to mention Voldemort's biggest supporter in the Werewolf community. But since it had not been a full moon that night, and Greyback had not been transformed, Bill did not have to worry about becoming a Werewolf himself. Greyback was thankfully now in the custody of the Ministry of Magic, thanks in large part to Harry, and would hopefully not do any harm for a very long time.
"Why is he at St. Mungo's?" Hermione asked.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave each other a look, "Bill and Fleur decided to move the wedding up to next Saturday." Mr. Weasley explained. Heading off a flow of questions Mr. Weasley continued, "They were invited to stay with a friend of Fleur's family for their honeymoon. When he heard Bill had been attacked by a Werewolf, he apparently realized their original wedding date was around the full moon."
"And even though he knew Bill was not attacked at the full moon, he still didn't want to take any chances." Harry finished.
"Unfortunately that sort of thing will become all to common for Bill now." Lupin said, "Even though he is not a full Werewolf, he will still have to live with this condition for the rest of his life."
"So where will the wedding be?" Hermione asked
"Hogwarts," Ginny told them, "Professor McGonagall will be performing the ceremony, with Madam Maxime assisting her."
Anticipating Harry's question Mr. Weasley told them, "It was decided several years ago that a Headmaster or Headmistress should be able to marry any of their former students if they wished to. Professor Dumbledore had originally agreed to do the ceremony, but when he was killed that honor fell to Minerva McGonagall."
"It was Dumbledore that performed the ceremony for your parents Harry." Lupin added.
They continued to talk about wizard weddings for a while longer, but eventually broke off into other conversations. When they had finished off the food, Hermione and Ginny helped Mrs. Weasley to clear the table while Lupin, who had heard about Ron's Patronus from Tonks, began to ask him about it. That left Mr. Weasley and Harry to discuss things. "So Harry," Mr. Weasley said, "Ginny told us about what you tried to do."
"I know, Fred told me when we were at the joke shop the other day." Harry told him.
Mr. Weasley gave Harry a warm smile, "Molly and I appreciate what you tried to do, and if you two want to continue in secret like you intended on, you have our full support and blessing."
"Thanks," Harry said, "I was really hoping you would approve of us going out together."
Mr. Weasley gave Harry another smile, "I am kind of surprised to hear you say that Harry. Molly thinks the world of you. I think if she could have we would have adopted you into the family the first time you met her." Harry smiled at this. "Just promise us whenever we decide to return to the Burrow that you will take care of Ginny to the best of your ability to do so."
Harry nodded, "You have my word on that."
The following week at Grimmauld Place went by all to fast. Lupin and Mad Eye had begun training Harry, Ron, and Hermione in all sorts of advanced jinxes, hexes, and curses that would give them the upper hand in any type of duel, not to mention Harry and Ron had finally begun to learn properly how to cast their spells without saying the incantation.
Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were always popping in and out of Grimmauld Place. After all, since the wedding had been moved up a few weeks and since Ginny was a member of the wedding party, Mrs. Weasley had far too much to do and far too little time to do it in.
Hermione had been working hard trying to figure out not just where the next Horcrux was located, not to mention what enchantments and other protective spells were guarding it. Also, there was figuring out the issue of where they could cook up two cauldrons of what she had begun to call the Reversal Potion.
Fortunately, they had let Ginny in on at least some of what they were going to do, and she had come up with a solution to this problem. "The way I figure it," she had told them one day, "you need somebody to help make this potion that knows what they are doing, plus you need to brew it somewhere Voldemort can't find it. So what about asking Professor Slughorn for help?" Ginny had paused for a moment to let the idea sink in before she continued. "Think about it, Slughorn is at Hogwarts right now. I overheard McGonagall telling dad about it last week, and he just so happens to like three out of the four people in this room."
Harry had looked at both Ron and Hermione, and after they had decided to throw in a box of crystallized pineapple, Slughorn's favorite sweet, they had decided Harry and Hermione would approach him before the wedding.
Finally Saturday morning came, by the time Harry and Ron had gotten out of bed, Mrs. Weasley and Ginny had already eaten and headed off to Hogwarts to get ready. Around ten o'clock, they had their dress robes on and were headed down to the kitchen where they would tandem apperate with Lupin and Tonks. Hermione had already gone to Hogsmeade to pick up the crystallized pineapple for Slughorn.
When they got to the kitchen, Lupin and Tonks were sitting at the table talking about something in a low voice. They quickly split apart when thy saw Harry and Ron. "Where's Hermione?" Tonks asked.
"She had to pick something up in Hogsmeade and said she would meet up with us at the gates to Hogwarts." Harry told them.
Lupin seemed to accept this explanation and motioned for Harry and Ron to stand next himself and Tonks. "Now remember we are only going to assist the two of you to apperate to Hogwarts." He explained. "Harry you will come with me and Ron will go with Tonks." When Harry and Ron took up their positions next to Lupin and Tonks, Lupin explained, "Now you will take hold of our arms, not to tightly now, and on the count of three you will apperate with your partner. Tonks, why don't you and Ron go first and Harry and I will be right behind you."
Tonks nodded her head in agreement with this suggestion, "Ok Ron, you ready to go?" she asked, and Ron gave a slight nod as he closed his eyes in concentration. "Ok then, 1…2…3." With a crack both Rona and Tonks disapparated.
Lupin then looked at Harry, "Ready Harry?" he asked. Harry nodded and like Ron did he closed his eyes, focusing on his destination, the front gates of Hogwarts. "Ok then, 1…2...3." Harry took a step and felt the same horrible sensation of being forced through a small rubber tube, but the feeling only lasted a few seconds and when he opened his eyes he saw the familiar statues of winged boar's that greeted any and all visitors to the castle.
"Harry, Ron!" came as familiar voice from the other side of the gates. It was Hermione looking very pretty in the same blue robes that she had worn to the Yule Ball three years earlier and carrying a box that was wrapped in brown paper. "I was beginning to wonder when you were going to get here." Hermione said.
"We're here now," Ron told her, "isn't that all that matters?"
Hermione was about to say something when Lupin cut her off, "Let's just head up to the castle, Arthur and Molly are probably waiting for us.
Sure enough when they got to the oak front doors of the castle, Mr. Weasley was standing there with another man who Harry didn't recognize right away. As they approached Mr. Weasley spotted them and waved them over. "I want all of you to meet Fleur's father Pier Delacour." Mr. Delacour gave a slight bow to them, "Pier, I want you to meet my youngest son Ronald, and his friends, and practically members of the family as well, Hermione Granger and …."
"'Arry Potter!" Mr. Delacour said stepping forward and grabbing Harry's hand, "I 'ave of course been wanting to meet you ever since I 'eard about what you did for Gabriel."
"Thank you sir." Harry said a little taken aback.
"I helped too you know." Ron told him enthusiastically, ignoring Hermione's snort.
"And this," Mr. Weasley continued as if he had not been interrupted, "is Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, close friends of the family." Mr. Delacour shook each of their hands.
"If you will excuse us," Hermione said, "we have something that we have to do before the wedding." Before anyone could say anything, she hurried away with Harry and Ron inside of the castle.
"What was that about?" Ron asked Hermione as the three of they began to walk up the marble staircase.
"We don't have that much time before the wedding begins, and I just thought we needed to get moving."
"Besides Ron," Harry added, "it will probably take you a while to find the book in the Room of Requirement." The day before they had decided it would be best to retrieve Harry's copy of Advanced Potion Making, which they now knew had once belonged to Snape. "Do you have the directions I gave you?"
Ron pulled out a piece of parchment from his pocket and held it up, "Got it right here."
"Good luck then." Hermione told him as they reached the floor that Slughorn's office was on. Harry and Hermione watched as Ron headed up the stairs to the seventh floor were the room was, then turned and headed down the corridor.
When they reached Slughorn's office Harry knocked on the door. "Just a moment!" came Slughorn's voice through the door. A moment later, the door opened and there stood Professor Horace Slughorn. He was a short wizard with a bald spot on the top of his head, which Harry knew was once straw colored, and proceeded only by his gut. It was apparent he was in the process of changing into his dress robes for the wedding, but his face lit up when he saw them, "Harry, Hermione it's good to see you again. No doubt here for the wedding of young Ralph's brother." Slughorn often got Ron's name wrong.
"It's Ron Professor," Hermione said, "and yes, we are here for Bill's wedding."
"Wish I had had the chance to have taught that one myself," Slughorn said as he let them in, "from what I have heard he was a bright one when he was in school, Head Boy and all…"
Slughorn trailed off as if regretting his decision to leave before Bill had attended Hogwarts, when Hermione handed him the box, "Here you are Professor, and we got this for you."
Slughorn took the box and opened it, "Crystallized Pineapple, you shouldn't have." He then took on a serious look, "But I have to wonder what this is all about."
"What do you mean Professor?" Harry asked hoping that Slughorn had not seen through their attempt to butter him up.
"What I mean Harry is that most of the time students don't give me this unless they want something from me." Before either Harry or Hermione could respond to this Slughorn added, "I know that you got that memory from me Harry, somehow."
Harry cursed under his breath as Hermione asked, "What memory would that be?"
"The one that Dumbledore asked you to recover for him Harry." Slughorn said.
Figuring that there was no point in denying it Harry asked, "How did you find out?"
"Priori Incantatem!" Slughorn told them
"Oh." Hermione said. Harry remembered Amos Diggory using that spell to find out if Harry's wand had been the one that had cast the Dark Mark at the Quidditch World Cup three years earlier, and it had been one of the factors that helped Harry to escape from Voldemort the night that he had returned.
"Yes, I always make sure to check my wand after I get drunk to make sure nothing happened with it, and that nobody took advantage of me." Harry felt his stomach sink a little when Slughorn said this. Seeing the look on his face Slughorn said cheerfully, "But I guess it was only a matter of time before Dumbledore got hold of the memory."
"Well," Harry said his spirits raised a little from what Slughorn had told him, "this is your chance to make up for what you inadvertently did."
At this Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment from her pocket and gave it to Slughorn, "We need you to brew up two cauldrons this potion for us." She told him.
Slughorn took the parchment and looked it over, "This seems like a rather complicated potion to prepare." He told them, "Plus if this stuff does what I think it will do, then I need to brew it in secret, not even I can know about it until it is time to do something to it." Slughorn looked down at the parchment again as if considering it. After a moment of this he looked back up at them, "I have a few suggestions about how to keep it a secret, but where can we brew such a potion at without the entire school knowing?"
"That much we can answer for you," Harry told him, "have you ever heard of the Room of Requirement?"
Slughorn nodded, "Yes I have, but I was never able to locate it." He eyed them suspiciously, "But I take it you know where it is."
Both Harry and Hermione nodded, "We can also tell you how to get in there and to make it the perfect place to brew any type of potion you can think of." Hermione added.
Slughorn thought about it for a moment, "Ok, I will need one of you to fetch Professor McGonagall for me, while the other one stays here and tells me everything that I need to know."
Hermione rushed off to find McGonagall while Harry stayed and told Slughorn everything that he needed to know about getting into the room. By the time he had finished, Hermione had returned with McGonagall, who was wearing robes of what appeared to be pure gold. "What do you need Horace?"
Slughorn stood up, "Minerva I need you to do cast some spells on me."
McGonagall gave him an odd look, "What kind of spells?"
As if he was trying to resign himself to the task at hand, he told McGonagall almost everything Harry and Hermione had told him, "In closing I think it would be wise should I be captured by You-Know-Who's supporters that I not know anything. I need you to first to put a mild memory charm on me in order for me to forget about what I have told you."
"But that won't protect you against really powerful magic." McGonagall told him.
"No it won't, "Slughorn agreed, "but then I want for you to use the Imperious Curse on me." McGonagall looked shocked at the suggestion even being made, but before she could object to this Slughorn raised his hand, "I know what you are going to tell me Minerva, but I did something terrible in my past and by helping these two out maybe I can make up for it in some way. So please don't try to talk me out of it."
McGonagall still had a horrified expression on her face, but that soon turned to one of understanding, "Very well Horace I will do it." She looked at Harry and Hermione, "But only because I can't help but think that Dumbledore would have approved of it being done just this one time." McGonagall pulled out her wand and pointed it at Slughorn, who in turn closed his eyes, "Obliviate!" she said. After a few moments she held up her wand and said with more power in her voice, "Imperio!" She then turned to Harry and Hermione. "I did as I was asked to, but what has happened here is not to be discussed outside of this room. Do I make myself perfectly clear?" Both Harry and Hermione nodded. "Good, now tell him what he needs to do, I am going outside."
Leaving Hermione to give Slughorn his instructions, Harry stepped out of the classroom, deep in thought. He couldn't get over how Slughorn had let himself be put under the Imperious Curse just so he would not have to worry abut Voldemort learning about Harry's search for the Horcruxes. This was defiantly not the same Slughorn he and Dumbledore had visited not much more than a year ago in order to convince him to return to his old post, or the same man that boasted about his famous former students or the members of the Slug Club that he had founded before Voldemort had even come to the school.
Harry's thought were interrupted when he saw Ron walking down the corridor towards him, under his arm was the copy of Advance Potion Making that he had hidden in the Room of Requirement. "It took me a little longer than I had anticipated to find it," Ron told him when he reached Harry, "but it was right were you told me it would be." Ron then looked at the door to Slughorn's office, "How did it go with Slughorn?"
"He agreed to do it," Harry said as the door opened and Hermione stepped out of the room to join them, "but we will fill you in on the particulars later, right now we have a wedding to get to."
When they got to the setup of chairs on the west wide of the castle where the ceremony was to take place, they quickly found three seats up front with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. On a small stage off to the side, Harry saw the Weird Sisters were standing there. They were more than likely there to provide any music that was required.
Up on a platform in front of everyone McGonagall, who was looking rather happy despite what she had just done, stood there dwarfed by Madam Maxime, who was wearing robes of what looked like pure silver. Bill, whose scars looked better than the last time that they had seen him, stood there off to the side as did Fred and George. Harry moved a little closer to Mr. Weasley, "I thought Charlie was going to be up there." He whispered.
"Charlie had a last minute crisis come up at the reserve just before he left." Mr. Weasley told Harry in a whisper.
At that time McGonagall stepped forward, "Will everyone please rise as the bridal party approaches the platform." She called out, and everyone immediately rose up out of their seats. Through the crowd of people that sat behind them, Harry was able to spot Ginny's red hair which appeared to be tied up on top of her head. When they got closer to the platform, Harry saw she was walking next to Fleur's sister Gabriel, who had her silvery hair done up the same way, and both of them were wearing matching emerald green dress robes. When they reached the platform, Fred and George stepped forward and took their arms, George and Gabriel taking up a position on McGonagall's left, Fred and Ginny to the right.
It was at that time that the Weird Sisters began to play what sounded like a wedding march, though the combination of bagpipes, drums, and guitar were what really killed the music. This, and Hermione elbowing him in the ribs, helped Harry to take his eyes off of Ginny, and look to the back were Fleur was being escorted up to the platform by her father. She had on a set of silvery robes that complemented her hair which was topped by a beautiful tiara, obviously the one that Mrs. Weasley had told her about several weeks earlier.
When they got to the platform, the Weird Sisters stopped playing and Bill stepped forward and took Fleur's hand, they then faced each other hands held out and laying palm in palm. McGonagall stepped forward and pulled her wand out at the same time. "It is good to see everyone here for a happy occasion, particularly the marriage of William Weasley and Fleur Delacour. The honor of marrying their students has been a tradition for headmasters and headmistresses for centuries, and though I wish another could be here instead of me, I am more than happy to perform this most sacred of magic in our world."
Holding her wand just inches above their hands, McGonagall first addressed Bill, "Do you William Weasley swear to take this woman, Fleur Delacour as your partner in all things that you do? Will you raise any children you have with the same love and commitment that your parents showed to you? Will you protect her from all dangers? Will you promise to always be there for her and to never stray from that love?"
Looking into Fleur's eyes Bill said, "I will!" At these words a small golden fireball came out of McGonagall's wand and encircled one of Bill and Fleur's hands. Madam Maxime then stepped forward and pointing her wand in the same way as McGonagall was asked the same thing of Fleur and when she said "Oui!" a second flame, this time silver in color came out of the wand tip and encircled their other hands.
Madam Maxime stepped back and McGonagall stepped forward again, "It is with the greatest of pleasures that I pronounce this Union to be completed, and I present to all of their friends and family Mr. and Mrs. William Weasley."
The Weird Sisters began to play again as Bill and Fleur led the way up to the castle were the celebration would be held in the Great Hall. "You two go ahead," Harry told Ron and Hermione, "I will catch up later." Nodding they walked up to the school with the rest of the guests.
Harry headed out the other way to where the white tomb that Dumbledore's body was encased in sat. Sitting down in the grass in front of the tomb, Harry looked out over the lake, then back at the tomb. He thought about all of the advice and wisdom Dumbledore had given to him over the last six years. Harry had not always agreed with the way he did things, particularly the fact that he trusted Snape, he still had more than a little respect for the man that had been so much like a father figure to him. Even after he had met Sirius and had learned the truth about his godfather, it was Dumbledore that had been there to give him his own brand of wisdom and advice.
Harry stood up and walked over to the tomb and placing his hand on top of it he said, "I swear I will finish what you started and defeat Voldemort once and for all, so that no more good wizards or witches will have to suffer the same fate that you, my parents, and Sirius had to."
He didn't know how long he had been out their when he heard somebody walk up behind him, "I had a feeling I might find you here." Ginny said as she placed her hands on his shoulders.
"Sorry," Harry said, "I only intended to be out here for a short time."
"Doesn't matter," Ginny told him as he turned around to face her, "you didn't miss much, to tell the truth, mum was more worried about you than I was."
"Then let's head in." He told her, and holding out his arm to escort her they walked back up to the castle, "After all, we don't want your mum to get worried." Ginny just smiled at him.
