Chapter Thirty-six
Maysong
Saturday June 6, 1998 (Seconds after the attack)
At the Quidditch Stadium, Hermione, telephoned Shacklebolt, who told her, they'd be right there. When he arrived, he dashed up the stands. Harry pointed out, "They're the assassins. Please send someone to get Poppy."
They finally got to Anne. Hermione said, Harry, wake her up." As she moved her forward, she could see blood all over the back and seat of her chair. Little D brought three bottles. Hermione said, "Please, go get another six, Dobby."
Emma checked. There was no pulse.
Amanda said, "Administer CPR while I get these into her stomach."
Nothing changed.
Amanda administered a fourth, fifth and sixth dose. There appeared to be as much dripping from her chair as they put potion into her.
"Close the wound as best as you can," directed Crabtree. She was far too shaky to pick up her wand and perform detail work."
"Potter, cast Enervate again."
He did.
She blinked.
Poppy arrived and asked, "What's been done?"
"She was given six units and temporarily sealed up. She was cut through the right lung."
Poppy said, "Move over a bit, Hermione. Hold her there; very still. Potter cast Finite, right there." He did and Hermione's sealing charm came undone. Poppy worked as fast as she could and hoped that Chambers would still have some blood to pump when she was finished. She resealed her and asked, "What happened to the others?"
Pointing from one end of the row, starting with Amelia, Harry said, "Two killing curses, two diffindos, two diffindos, one, one and pointing at Hermione, "Two diffindos." At Poppy's perplexed look he added, "These three were wearing their basilisk vests."
In the meantime, Flitwick had quietly placed portkeys on the ten assassins. A few minutes later, they disappeared. He vanished a few seconds after they disappeared.
Shack was busy trying to arrange transport for the wounded when he turned around and noticed that the assassins were gone. He shouted, "Where'd everybody go?"
Harry had seen Flitwick. He looked at Hermione, glanced at Emma and Dan and mouthed, "Gringotts." He walked over to Amelia, held her and accessed his portkey. A moment later, Hermione, Windsong, Dan and Emma also disappeared.
Shack shouted, "Son of a bitch."
… - …
They arrived at the front of the bank and called the guards for help. The bank was already abuzz with the arrival of Wick and the ten prisoners. A dozen guards helped the others to the infirmary. Harry pointed to Windsong and explained, "She exhausted herself healing others." Pointing to Amelia, he said, "She was hit with two killing curses." Pointing to Emma and Hermione, he said, "Two cutting curses each. Those three were wearing armor vests that comes undone on the right side."
Maysong and the others shooed Harry and Dan from the room and went to work. They met Ragnok. He handed Harry two memory cubes and asked, "One from the events leading up to just after the point of the attack and one after until you arrived here, please." He had someone lead them to the Gold Room, where they were fed and offered several bottles of Orange Crush and a bottle of Single Malt.
… - ...
In the meantime, Flitwick magically searched each of the assailants for anything and everything that they might be carrying or have swallowed. He added everything that he'd found to the bags that Shacklebolt had started. He'd marked their foreheads 1-10 and marked the bags to match. Eight of them were still unconscious. The other two apparently died from Michelle's piercing hexes. As they were securely locked up and devoid of their possessions, he went up to find Ragnok.
… - …
Shack was initially angered. Ten suspects, the Minister, two other victims, a witness and Potter disappeared in the span of a minute. Then he realized they'd effectively removed the distractions and left him some seriously wounded people to transport. He asked Poppy, "Who needs to be moved?"
She replied, "Amanda, Augusta and Anne Chambers should all go to St. Mungo's." She looked around and said, "I assume Potter took the others to Gringotts?"
He nodded and replied, "I'll get a few people to send the students back to their dorm rooms."
Michelle, who'd finally been awoken asked, "How many were killed?"
He replied, "To my knowledge, none. We don't know about Anne Chambers and some of the assailants yet."
"What about the two assassins who I hit with piercing hexes?"
He said, "I didn't personally look at them other than to bag their wands and mark them 1-10. None of them were moving. Potter must have stunned the whole lot of you." Just then his telephone rang, It was Amelia. He answered, Good. OK, I see and I will a few times before he ended the call. He said, "They were taken to Gringotts infirmary and checked on, With the exception of their Head Healer, who'd been watching the game with them and fixed Amelia, Longbottom, Emma Granger and Crabtree before succumbing to magical exhaustion, they're in good condition and resting. The assailants are in their holding cells and are still unconscious. Two are dead. Potter and the Grangers are with her. Harry asked that his broomstick be collected."
… - …
Windsong awoke in her own infirmary. Sitting in the two chars by her bed were Emma Granger and her granddaughter, Maysong. She made eye contact with Emma for a minute as the wandcrafter gave her hand a small squeeze. Finally Windsong said, "I'm glad to see you alive. I saw the man and woman curse you. Were you wearing your snake vest?"
Emma nodded and replied, "Hermione and Amelia were wearing theirs too."
Windsong replied, "They are very useful. What of the others?"
"You did an amazing job healing Augusta Longbottom."
"She was in very poor condition. Her spinal cord was severed and one of her lungs punctured. Did she survive?"
"I'm not certain. You also saved Amanda Crabtree."
"No. I merely assisted in resealing her lung. Your daughter, Hermione saved her life. She has the gift but not much practice. Healer Crabtree will have much scarring. And the other woman?"
"I don't know. The others were attending to her when we all left."
"I expect she may not have survived. She lost too much blood. I'm sorry. I could not have treated her. My magic is similar but different than what you wield. It's tied closer to the Earth. We have far greater finesse with it but our... stamina is far less than what you possess. As for Harry Potter, we could never have cast such a spell. He is an honorable hero. Why is he so slow in marrying your daughter? Maysong's suiter, Redeye is the same - far too slow."
Maysong, who had heard their exchange came by and said, "I'll walk you back to the lobby so Grandmother will sleep rather than gossip. Does your back still hurt?"
"No. Your treatment was wonderful. Thank you again." As they were walking back, Emma asked, "What's holding Redeye back?"
"He's only 59. Young men of our race don't get married until they're at least 60."
Emma nodded and said, "He's a good man."
Maysong nodded. Some things were universal.
… - …
A few hours earlier;
Ron shut off the magical megaphone and scolded Lee. "Harry does those sort of things; you don't talk about them."
They turned the megaphone back on and directed, "Everyone remain seated." Remarkably, most of the people in the stadium complied.
… - …
In the mean time, things were chaos at St. Mungo's. Chambers had been hurt as badly as Longbottom but there was no Master Goblin Healer available to save her. In order to prolong her life, she'd effectively been given a lethal dose of blood replenishing potion. At this point, she barely had enough red blood cells in her body to remain alive.
Roberta Evans, the Primary School nurse was there on other business, saw her and immediately suggested a blood transfusion. It simply wasn't done in the magical world.
After hearing their ridiculous reasoning, she fired back, "Either she gets a transfusion now or best case, she'll lose her magic; more likely she'll die." None of the others wanted to be on the line for having the new head of Hogwarts die on their watch. They quickly found other things to do.
She called the only sane person that she knew – Cindy. She arrived a few minutes later. Roberta told the others to stay out of her room for an hour. Roberta portkeyed back to the school and got the emergency transfusion kit and returned to the room. Cindy had a type O blood type and as such was a universal donor. They hurried before the incensed staff would return. Within the hour, her blood was in Chambers and the transfusion paraphernalia had been vanished.
Associate Head Toftland sneered at her as he banged the door open. He retested her vitals and didn't comment as nearly everything had improved. He'd wanted his niece to be assigned to the primary school.
He threatened, "You'll be out of a job by the end of next week." He walked out of the room and slammed the door shut and ran into the last person the he expected to see – his boss.
She'd seen the entire exchange.
"Healer Toftland, your services are no longer needed here. Find something to do and somewhere else to do it. You're fired." When he'd stormed out of the room, she asked, "Did it work?"
Evans replied, "I think so. Her vitals are improving. Thank you for that."
"Don't give it a thought; his brother was a Death Eater. How much blood did you give her?"
"One and a half units. I only had one donor. How are you?"
Crabtree admitted, "Feeling lucky to be alive. Walk with me; we'll go check on Augusta Longbottom." Like Crabtree, she'd received three units of blood replenisher potion. She was sitting up in her bed with Neville and Luna nearby.
… - …
Back at Gringotts, Amelia was sitting in her bed. Shacklebolt had sent Susan and Hannah to the Abbotts when the distraught teens had heard a rumor that she'd been hit with two killing curses and had died.
Maysong walked in and ran some diagnostic tests. She tested clear of the curse and was about to be released when Ragnok knocked on the door. Maysong opened the door and Ragnok asked, "May I come in?"
Amelia answered, "Please."
Concerned over what he'd heard but relieved at what he'd seen, he asked, "How are you?"
"Happy to be here. The vest that Harry had made for me absorbed two killing curses and I have little more than a burn mark on my back."
Nodding at her, he replied, "Perhaps it is time to retire that vest and have a pair of shoes or boots made. I have serious doubts that it would absorb a third curse."
She smiled and replied, "That's good advice. What's the news?"
He glanced at the visitors who were escorted out of the room and the door closed. "Ogden and Mclaggen succumbed to Hitwitch Wood's spells. I recommend that they be tried as soon as possible."
She asked, "What do you have In mind?"
"He replied, "Fine them forty million galleons and distribute the proceeds among the victims – Anne, Hermione, Amanda, Augusta, Emma and yourself. I would be hard pressed to find a more deserving group."
"What about the other eight?"
"I believe that it would be best to have them tried, through your court system."
Amelia asked, "Why not let the normal estate process handle their estates?"
"All six of you deserve to be compensated. Sirius Black doesn't need eighteen million galleons and if I had my way, neither does the eventual next Minister of Magic."
She asked, "How would that work?"
"No one outside of this building knows his true wealth, The fine of Cormac MaLaggen was widely published. Lynn McLaggen had perhaps ten million of her own. When Ogden's estate is evaluated, I expect that even after the fines, he'd still have forty."
"Please proceed. What about the other assailants?"
"I'll have the transcripts hand delivered to you. They were all paid well for their work. They were all asked if they willingly participated. There will be no successful claims of Imperius curses."
"Good idea. How's Windsong?"
"Her magic regenerates far more slowly than when I was a young goblin in her care. It was quite dangerous for her to heal several seriously wounded patients at once."
"Wouldn't that make her one of the victims?"
Ragnok appreciated the suggestion; especially as Amelia was aware that it would cost her (or specifically, Susie) gold. "I believe it would. Her Granddaughter would like to be married soon, Hopefully she'll enjoy being a grandmother in the next few years."
… - ...
As they walked towards the lobby, Maysong said, "Thank you for thinking of Grandmother by having her name added to the victim's list. Far too often she accepts no payment for her services."
Amelia replied, "It was the right thing to do." On the way out, they met Barchoke, who asked, "May I speak with you for a few minutes, Minister?"
"Certainly. How can I help?"
"Should you go and check up on Anne Chambers, please offer her our best wishes and let me know how she is doing."
"I'll do that. Thank you for thinking of her."
… - …
Amelia's first stop was at the Abbott house where Susie and Hannah were waiting. Susie saw her, and gave the closest person in her life a hug that Hermione would have been proud of. She quietly asked, "Are you all right? I heard the wildest rumor."
Suppressing a cringe, Amelia gently hugged her back and asked, "Which one this time?"
"That some people cast the killing curse at you, Headmisteress Chambers died and Harry Potter..."
"OK, that's enough. Yes, no and I've heard that he can do anything that he sets his mind to do. Specifically, the basilisk vest that Harry gave me did stop two killing curses. Healer Crabtree, Augusta Longbottom and Anne Chambers were hurt quite badly. We were attacked by a group of ten people. Hermione, Emma, and I were wearing our vests. Harry Potter managed to stun 25 people at once. None of these things are to be spoken of until you read them in the Quibbler. Witch's word. Susie, you need to be at the manor by 9 pm tonight. I'll take you back tomorrow morning at half eight. I need to go check on Augusta, Anne and Amanda. I love you."
… - …
Her next stop was at St. Mungo's. She asked to see Head Healer Crabtree. Her office was on the first floor. Amelia was led to her office and announced. Amanda opened her door. The two looked at each other. Finally Amanda asked, "How was your day?"
Amelia smiled and replied, "Better now that I see you're up and about. How are the others?"
"Amanda admitted, "From everything that I know, I should be in the morgue, or best case, paralyzed for life."
Amelia replied, "Windsong credits Hermione Granger for saving your life. She does literally incredible work but lacks the stamina that she had a century or two ago. How's Augusta?"
"She had the same wounds that I had – lung damage, sliced arteries and a sliced spinal cord. If it had happened here, it would have taken me three weeks to get her back on her feet – best case. To have done those procedures out in the field is absolutely brilliant."
Amelia asked, "How's Anne?"
Amanda acknowledged, "She's alive due to a non-magical procedure. No one gave her much hope. Roberta Evans happened to be in the lobby when she was brought in and got straight to work. She's in a healing coma for the night and is expected to wake up tomorrow evening. I expect that we'll keep her 2-3 days after she wakes up."
Amelia asked, "Are you available tomorrow at noon for a few hours?"
"I can be. What do you need?"
"The goblin Nation is trying Lynn McLaggen and Tiberius Ogden. If they're found guilty, the attack victims will likely come into a bit of money. Please be in the bank lobby tomorrow at noon unless I've called you to say not to."
"OK. Augusta is being released in fifteen minutes. She's on the fourth floor."
"Thanks. I'll find her."
She did and made the same arrangements. Next, she called, Emma and asked if she could come over. Ten minutes later they were having a glass of wine in the back garden.
"Emma asked, "How are you? How are the others? How's Windsong." (Hermione had to get it from somewhere)
Amelia replied, "I don't expect that any of us are up for jumping jacks this evening. Amanda and Augusta are up and walking around. Windsong needs a couple of days bed rest. Maysong is looking out for her."
Emma pressed, "How is Anne?"
"She had a nonmagical procedure."
"A transfusion?"
Amelia replied, "I believe that is what Amanda referred to. Hopefully it will allow her to keep her magic. If she makes it through the night, I'm told that she'll recover."
Emma replied, "Her red blood cell count is probably dangerously low. Was she on oxygen when you saw her?"
Amelia admitted, "You're at the edge of my medical understanding."
"The red blood cell component of a person's blood carries oxygen to the rest of the body. Since she lost so much of her own blood, she's critically low on the red blood cells. That's why she had the transfusion which was another magical donating a pint or two of their own blood and placing it into Anne's body. A way of further compensating for the shortage is to allow the red blood cells to carry more oxygen by means of having the patient breathe pure oxygen for a while."
"OK, on another subject, I need the four of you to come to the bank lobby tomorrow at noon. I expect that we'll be done by three."
… - …
Sunday June 7
They arrived at noon and were quickly led into the Silver Room. Barchoke outlined the proceedings. After five minutes, he asked, "Are there any questions?"
Dan suggested, "I recommend that Lynn McLaggen and Ogden's estates be combined since they were probably co-owners of the distillery. Further, I recommend that the enlarged body of the combined estate to be distributed also go to the victims of the crimes that Ogden funded. In plain words, seize Lynn McLaggen's cash estate and split it into to pieces – half for the 900 victims, if they can be found; designed to get them off to a good start and half for the outstanding efforts of the healers who are removing those ugly binds on their ability to wield magic. Do this over and above what Windsong chose to sacrifice yesterday."
Amelia clarified, "The Ministry does not object to Dr. Granger's suggestion and agrees with it in principle."
Barchoke replied, "That is an excellent suggestion, Dr. Granger. Please excuse me for a few minutes."
… - …
When Barchoke went to Ragnok's office, Lockjaw, Ogden's Account Manager was there. Ragnok said, "Lockjaw suggested that based on the success that Sirius Black's group has had with the rental properties, Ogden's rental properties be re-estimated, as they were similar. In summary, his estate holdings, excluding his vaults are likely to be worth 20 million galleons. That by itself is a large enough number to dampen anyone's questions regarding the supposed size of his estate. Are the Assault victims ready?"
Barchoke replied, "Yes, except for Anne Chambers, who is still in a coma from the attack."
He added, "Dr. Granger had an interesting suggestion regarding Lynn McLaggen's vault balances. Essentially he wants it to be considered as a part of the Ogden Estate and added to what is fined. In short, he is proposing that the additional funds should be used to compensate the magical binding victims - both for their stress and for the excellent work performed by the healers."
Ragnok replied, "It is too visible of a claw back. Add her twelve million to the original part, distribute it as originally stated and privately suggest that they each make a two million galleon donation to the two programs. Who is representing Anne Chambers today?"
"Minister Bones agreed to."
"Call Ted Tonks instead. That gives her a degree of separation."
Ted arrived five minutes later and was briefed. He readily agreed with the plan.
… - …
The hearing itself didn't take anywhere near as long as the pretrial preparation. By two pm the paperwork was signed and the vault transfers completed As they were getting ready to leave, Emma suggested that they spend the rest of the afternoon out at one of the beach houses and enjoy the warm weather.
That's how they came to be sitting on comfortable chairs on a spacious deck overlooking the ocean, listening to the surf.
Harry asked. "Were all of the basilisk vests that you purchased given out?"
Amelia replied, "Heavens no. There's still enough skin left to make ten more. Several others also suggested that I retire mine. I'll have a new one made." They all thought that was an excellent suggestion.
Dan asked, "When will the trial for the other eight take place?"
"I'll bring it up to be scheduled at the next meeting. Perhaps they can be held at their current location until then. Their trial brings up new problems; I have little interest in reopening Azkaban."
He suggested, "Leave them where they are. The prospect of cleaning up after dragons for two decades can't be attractive, should they last that long."
She nodded in agreement and asked, "So what's next?"
"Harry replied, "We're making wands to take to Austria."
Hermione announced, "Come September, I'd like to take another healing class. I'm hoping that Healer Pomfrey will add Healer three or four sessions."
Amanda observed, "I'm certain that she would if you ask. If I might offer a suggestion, also contact Roberta Evans. She has some great ideas and techniques that you'd never learn at St. Mungo's If I might offer another, see if you could talk Poppy into two more classes with her and one from Roberta. The order wouldn't matter. That would get you up to full accreditation and save you a year of cleaning bedpans."
Amanda asked, "How about you, Emma?"
She smiled and replied, "As Harry mentioned, there are wands to make and places to visit. I have 320 elflings to spend time with, as well as those absolutely adorable baby unicorns. They love to be brushed."
Amanda smiled at the thought and asked, "And you, Dr. Granger?"
"Harry and I have taken up fishing on Sundays. I was hoping that we could make a few trips to the Caribbean this year. How about you?"
Crabtree added, "If it would be possible, I'd like to visit Windsong's Infirmary a few times and see what we could learn from each other."
Windsong replied, "I'd like that. After that, I'm hoping to have a wedding to assist with."
Amelia asked, "Augusta, how about you?"
"It's time for Neville to take his place at the Wizengamot. He's talked about the possibility of bringing Frank and Alice to visit with the elves. As for me, I'm hoping to help plan a wedding, or at least be invited to one. Later, if I'm lucky, I hope to have a great grandchild to spoil. What about you, my dear?"
Amelia observed, "I believe that we've all seen that money can be a useful tool or it can be deployed as a deadly weapon. I'd like to have the ministry assist the returned witches and wizards start new businesses; actually any witch or wizard. I'm convinced that the businesses that will eventually balance out monthly revenue against modest levels of essential spending haven't yet opened their doors. We need to find them and help them develop."
Dan remarked, "I could find you some information on micro-loans and forgivable loans. They're essentially loans that become grants if specific conditions are met." He asked, "Whatever happened to those folks who ran the advertisements, Have Wand – will travel?"
She replied, "The short answer is, they did very well for themselves. I'd have lost all three of them except I more or less forced the last two to promise to return. Mick's Charm Repair made piles of gold helping people. I couldn't be happier for him; the same for Macmillan's remodeling business. These are the sort of micro sized business that the ministry should help launch. They had a good business concept, worked hard and saved lives. He's been fixing up homes for a lot of people."
Harry remarked, "That's a great idea. I helped the Weasley twins start their business with 5,000G. There are loads of businesses that could get started with that five to twenty thousand in capital startup. It doesn't mean that they're guaranteed to be successful. Most of the wandmaking businesses that Gringotts funded failed in less than a year. You'd need a well written agreement, so your efforts wouldn't just become handouts.
"All jokes aside, Hermione and I received a lot of excellent advice. Barchoke, Emma and Dan helped to get us off to a really good start. The Wandmaster that we trained with was a huge help. We used some of that advice to help Sirius launch his business. I don't know how many people have those sorts of resources at hand. It's certainly not something that's currently taught at Hogwarts."
Augusta replied, "Perhaps it should be, Professor Potter, or maybe in a few years. Neville and Luna's experiences were similar. Actually, I believe that you played more than a small hand in getting Bright Moon off the ground." Harry smiled.
… - ...
Saturday June 13
After thanking him and his mum, Harry side-along apparated Seamus back to school and went back to the Finnegan residence, where Jim, the old unicorn was patiently waiting. Looking at him, Harry thought that Jim was very well equipped to perform the task of adding new blood to the growing herd. There were thirty-five mares of breeding age and Jim seemed to have a gleam in his eye.
… - …
Friday, June 19 1998
It had been a fun three days of selling in Naples. They had sold the 5,000 wands that they'd brought by Thursday evening and had spent the day relaxing and sightseeing. Not for the first time, Harry mentioned, "This is a nice area. It wouldn't be horrible living here.
"It's lovely here. We could come here as often as we wanted to. I think we need to be careful where we go."
Harry asked, "What do you mean?"
"The other 10,000 gotta-make-a-quick-Euro idiots that are out there. Harry, do you love me?"
"Of course. I tell you that I do a lot."
"Should we get married?"
"Tonight?"
"Not tonight but soon."
"Yes! We could get married on your birthday."
"I'd like that. Then what?"
"For a honeymoon, or after that? What would you like? Either topic." This was one of those conversations that he'd been expecting for a while and had put some thought into. He hoped it went well.
"I want to be a healer."
"As a skill, or as a profession? I get the idea of wanting to do meaningful work. We're doing meaningful work The changing and improving of peoples' lives allows us to do that. Your saving Amanda Crabtree's life was pretty damn cool. How much fun would it have been telling Susan that her aunt died? I'm sure that healing has it's own version of sanding – cleaning bloody or poopie sheets, popping boils off of Crabbe's arse or whatever. Then there's the issue of working the night shift for fifteen years or so to get enough seniority to work days.
"I expect there are people who are going into Auror training this September who are thinking it would be pretty cool to go out and catch dark wizards for a living. Bless their hearts; we need them but how many would see my memory of fighting Riddle, crap themselves and decide that they'd rather go to work with Ron Weasley?"
"But..."
"Hun, keep taking classes with Poppy, Roberta, Amanda, or Windsong if she'll allow it. Then spend a month at the primary school, or with Poppy, or at St. Mungo's. I bet delivering healthy babies would be an absolute rush. I also bet that telling a new mum that her baby died would be seven steps on the other side of devastating.
"I talked with Dan a few times when Emma started to work with us. He thought it was cool. Later, the reality hit that their work wasn't getting done. He held off forever on hiring another dentist. He could have ranted and raved. I don't think that he ever blew up at her over it. Then they started bringing home briefcases full of Euros. Now I think they need to decide on either hiring a second dentist, or selling their practice. OK, your turn."
She admitted, "I never looked at it from the viewpoint of healing as a skill vs. a profession before. Your analogy about sanding is sobering."
"So take another few seminars, get licensed and offer to substitute for Poppy for a week or a weekend. She must have things that she wants to do and we owe her. She could come along when Dobby and I come back here for a few days and see how the different water looks. She might like it and she deserves a break.
"There are a lot of different things that fit under the umbrella of meaningful work. Hagrid is supplying the wand core for Germany and Norway. The fact that he's making more money than Anne Chambers is strangely satisfying to me. Dumbledore hardly paid him anything; 200 galleons a month. I've a good mind to find his portrait and piss on it after eating a few helpings of goblin food.
"So tell me about our wedding and honeymoon, Mrs. Potter."
She replied, "Not so fast, lover boy. You'd best ask my dad and there was something else... I remember; you could find a ring and ask me properly."
"Would you like me to find you one, or should we pick it out together?"
"Together, if you don't mind. I've never really even looked at the styles."
"OK. I'll ask him tomorrow; we're going fishing."
"Fun. Where are you going?"
"Jamaica."
"Fun. Can I come with? Oh, that wouldn't work so well. OK. You ask him."
… - ...
Sunday June 20
Hagrid called Harry. The unicorn that had come from Mrs. Finnigan had died last night. Hagrid commented, "Must have been a heart attack or sumthen."
Harry replied, "I'll come over and trim his tail." They were almost all full-length hairs between three and four feet in length.
Hagrid brought the remains of the poor thing to the spiders. They seemed delighted.
… - …
Saturday, June 21
Harry had found a reef that stuck out a few feet above the water line, not too far from the sunken part of Port Royal on the south side of the Island. Dobby was enthralled with the brightly colored fish that he could see in the clear water ar their feet.
After they had cast Accio Sunken Treasure a few times and done pretty well, Harry said, "Hermione told me that I should ask you for her hand in marriage."
Dan asked, "What do you think?"
Harry replied, "I think you should say yes. She and Emma probably have the entire thing planned out by now."
Dan asked, "Have the two of you talked over the healer thing?"
"We talked about it in terms of her learning a useful skill vs. having it as an everyday profession. I suggested that they take a few more classes and offer to substitute for a week, or fill in at St. Mungo's for a month."
"Good idea, Is she pregnant?"
"There's no reason that she would be." He wisely didn't add (unless she wants to be)
Dan asked, "When were you thinking?"
"Her birthday."
"That is a great idea. Did you ask her yet?"
"No but we talked about rings. She wants to pick one out with me."
Dan remarked, "Good idea. Let's save some for next time. We already found one chest today. How do we get home?"
"Let's stop at Salem for a minute, then home."
Dobby vanished, then a moment later, the reef was deserted.
… - …
A/Ns
Several things this time.
The next chapter (37) has been written by Apprentice Tom and is available to read right now on his page. I wanted to give him the opportunity to show his abilities a bit. I ask that you remember that he is a new storyteller and leave him a kind note.
While I designed it as a stand-alone piece, it is a part of this story and will be included next week as a part of this tale.
Chapter 38 will be posted in two weeks.
Tom and I are currently well into writing another tale together.
I also have a clever idea drafted for a short story that I would like to write with someone else. PM me if you are interested and available for the next three weeks. It's designed to be a four chapter story and you would write either one or two of the chapters. I would like to post it in late in February.
Mutt N Feathers has a handful of chapters posted to her Wandout Challenge tale, In the World Around Us.
Last but certainly not least, thank you for reading, leaving little notes and following, or listing my little stories as favorites.
cheers
