May 19, 2003

The Hollow

"Ginny, get in here…."

Molly's voice carried across the crowded yard. Her daughter briefly thought about selective deafness as her boyfriend was about to make a series of bad choices. But she could hear the urgency in her mother's voice. She picked her way between bodies and over legs.

As she left the yard, Harry could barely contain himself. He had spared a moment to look at her arse and he truly appreciated the squat work-outs that she had embarked on. But he had far more important things to do than check out his lover's beautiful behind. He had a broom.

And even more importantly, he had his godson hopping up and down on the ground. Teddy's hair was bright red today. He usually had it black when he was with his Harry, but that common rule was always thrown out whenever he was with Aunty Ginny and her family. Now he was a red head just like all of them. His little giggles filled the yard. He had the undivided attention of his Harry and his Ron and his Minie.

Harry bent to a knee and held the broom steady. He reached out his hand. Tiny, chubby and very confident fingers reached into his palm. Teddy tried to jump onto the broom as he had seen all the big people do so many times. He fell flat on his face. Harry went to both knees, picked him up and threw him in the air. As Teddy reached his apogee, giggles broke out. Soon he accepted Harry's help in placing his brand new broom between his legs.

Teddy was flying now. His toes were eight inches off the ground and he was moving at the pace of Aunt Muriel at a discount breakfast buffet, but he was flying. His inchoate words of joy made everyone stop and look at him - his natural state of attention - even as Harry guided him forward and Hermione kept a finger on the straws at the end, ready to catch him just in case. They sedately walked, and then Teddy leaned down and tried to be just like Harry. He took off. He was now three feet off the ground and moving at a sprint, the wind pushing back his now black hair and squishing his face. Giggles turned into a screech as the broom went over the small duck pond. He let go and dropped into eighteen inches of water. Even before his shirt was wet, three adults were picking him up. Little arms locked tightly around Harry's neck

"Again Harry, Again?"

"Again!"

Molly was peeling potatoes underneath the kitchen window. Her daughter was now mashing them. The older woman smiled at the younger woman. Her eyes were brilliant as her hair:

"Ginny - you've got yourself a good man, he'll be a good father to your children… just practice your cushioning charms… Took us so long to get them right; probably why Charlie was never quite right; a few too many concussions…."

She stopped. Her hands plucked another potato.

"Mom, I know, but don't talk about that yet. No grand kids from us for a while, we're still just enjoying ourselves. Anyways you have the twins and Victoire and Teddy to spoil rotten now… I am enjoying watching you play with the kids and be a grandma now mom…. Things have changed, and you can enjoy yourself instead of making sure that every Knut stretched as far as possible… someday, me and Harry will bring kids home for you, but just enjoy George and Angelina's contributions to your clutch of grand kids. Or harass Percy as he said he is bringing someone over this afternoon…"

Her mother smiled. Her daughter was right. Harry would be the father of her daughter's children. And they would come when the two of them were ready for parenthood. She started to dump the potatoes into the boiling water sitting in a large, copper pot sitting on the stove. It was a gift from Ron and Hermione for her and Arthur's thirty second anniversary. The battered iron pot was no longer used every day.

"So Percy has a fancy? Just like him?"

"Not at all. She's a muggle and if there is a stick in her ass it is there only for foreplay." Molly gasped at the image as Ginny continued. "But she makes him the best Percy possible if that makes sense. Still Percy but less of a prat, you know what I mean…."

Molly smiled. "Yeah, Percy has always been Percy. He had to be different in order to get any attention from us; he was fussy even in his crib, needing to be swaddled just right to fall asleep. Probably kept George and Fred from being born for at least a year, no chance to even try…"

"MOM!"

The two women giggled. Each were seeing each other as women instead of mother and daughter. Usually this took a glass or two of fire whiskey to happen but they smiled at each other and allowed mutually unspoken and unspeakable thoughts to squeak through the other one's minds.

"Mom, just give her a chance… Me and Harry like her. We've gone out for lunch and dancing with her a couple of times. She actually can make Percy dance. Not well, that is asking too much, but he actually tries to dance something that is not old fashioned when you and dad were caught by Mr. Filch. And Mom, keep the babies in Dad's arms.

"Why, you think Percy will be embarrassed by dad?"

Ginny laughed. Molly joined her. It would be a money spinner to take action on when Percy's face would match his hair once Arthur met a new Muggle.

"No more than normal. But mom, we're just a bit much…. And Dad is a lot…"

"And you're the one always telling me to have more faith in the Muggles.." Molly was just about ready to get going when she saw her daughter shake her head.

"We're a bit much… and it is not because Meredith is a Muggle…we're just a bit much. Eight Weasleys, Harry and Hermione and Angelina, and Fleur plus half a dozen children, a few neighbors, and at least one or two people who someone invited over but no one is quite sure who. At least Luna is not here this afternoon. That is what Meredith will be seeing; her boyfriend's big, rambunctious family who all happen to be witches and wizards. Percy's broken the secret to her already so she knows she will be seeing magic and everything is just going to be weird.

But think about when Charlie brought over Stefanie from the year behind him… she was not just seeing her boyfriend's family, she was seeing the GOLDEN TRIO, THE RESISTORS OF HOGWARTS as Neville and Luna were here that afternoon, the VANQUISHER OF LESTRANGE and VEELA TRIWIZARD CHAMPION. Everyone fighting for a second helping of dessert had capital letters in Stefanie's eyes. We're a bit much…"

A bell rang.

"Dear, get the rolls from the oven, I'll make sure Arthur has at least one baby in his hands at all times…."

Two hundred feet away, Harry handed Teddy back to his grandmother. He was covered in mud and his pants were soaking wet. He was shirtless after the second fall into the pond. Teddy looked exactly like his uncle except he had no pants on, an advantage of being a child. Andromeda smiled at the young man who relished his role as a godfather. Harry made sure to steal Teddy weekly. Usually he and Ginny would find a way to take Teddy to Grimmauld Place for a completely boring but intensely loving Tuesday or Wednesday night each week. Teddy had his own room there although he refused to nap in it on his frequent weekend afternoons as there was too much fun to be had with his Harry and his Ginny. Harry at least had the energy to outlast the three year old. The older woman needed the breaks.

Ron's hand engulfed Hermione's. He, too, had lost his shirt in the quest to keep Teddy out of the pond. Harry flanked her, and both men placed their arms around her shoulders. She did not mind two well built shirtless Aurors engulfing her.

"Can we go talk by the tree, I need your brains Hermione and your strategy Ron"

"Anything dangerous? I only consult if we can lose our lives or, even worse, get expelled."

The friends laughed as they walked.

"Nothing too dangerous, just have to get a good answer back to Proudfoot soon, and I'm not sure what the question is." Harry had been trying to figure out how to be invisible in the Muggle world and he had nothing. The trio sat under the shady tree. Hermione leaned into Ron, and he leaned against the trunk. His arm wrapped around her waist and his free fingers played with her hair.

"How do we become invisible to Muggles? " Harry led with the easy question that he knew would produce the wrong answer.

Ron was the first to speak.

"Why not just use your cloak? You still have that Hallow" Ron had borrowed the cloak to prank George just two months ago. It was lying in the chest at the foot of Harry and Ginny's bed at Grimmauld Place.

"Standard spells, disillusionment charms, forget me nots, apparating where there are no cameras…" Hermione had taken her time. Her forehead had crinkled like an old sheet of parchment and her voice could barely be heard as she thought.

"That's the wrong question, you're asking us the wrong question…."

"Yes, I am. We can hide temporarily from Muggles. And if we can't then the Obliviators cover for us. But how do we hide that we're hiding something?"

"What you mean?

"When I'm under my cloak, I'm still there, I can be found by watching people bump into an invisible obstacle, or dust can settle on me, or they can listen for my breathing. I'm hidden but i still can be found. How do we hide completely?"

"Are we breaking into Gringotts, again? They've updated security; hell they're basically paying the rent on our apartment, Harry, with the retainer fee." Ron had discovered that he had a talent for breaking the security of a building. It was a combination of his experience on the run, Auror training and asking how Fred and George would have pranked the building owner. Hermione was a co-owner of their specialized consultancy as she provided the charms and warding knowledge to fill in the gaps that Ron had identified.

"No, different question from Robard and Proudfoot. How do we keep the Muggles from noticing that they normally don't notice us?"

Hermione closed her eyes. This was a good question.

"We're too good at tactical hiding and that gives us away strategically. I don't know how to fix that today, and I don't think we can as I see Percy and Meredith have just arrived…"

In the village of Ottery St. Catchpole

"Thank you ma'am for your time…"

"You're welcome in. Would you like a cuppa, I'm making one for myself." The older woman smiled at the two young adults in dark blue suits standing in front of her door. The taller one was wearing a tight pencil skirt that complemented her legs while the shorter man was ill ease in the off the rack clothing. Everything seemed awkward as he moved.

"We're good, we just have a few questions, and no one is in trouble."

"Very well, please take a seat while get the kettle going."

The two civilians from MI-6 sat down on a plastic covered love seat. A grey Persian cat soon made herself at home on the lap of the junior investigator. One room over, the kettle began to sing with steam.

"Are you sure dears, it would be no bother to make some tea for you both."

"Thank you Mrs. Henley but we're good"

The old woman lumbered into the room. She had her tea cup in her left hand and placed the ceramic mug down on a cat and mouse coaster. Visitors were always pleasant, even when they were merely official and governmental visitors.

"What can we talk about?"

"Could you tell us about the Weasleys?"

"Are they in trouble, they're such a nice family..."

"No, not at all, we're investigating something that might touch on them but they're not in trouble."

She closed her eyes for a moment. The red headed family was always on the periphery of her world. The village was small, and everyone knew almost everyone. She was the old woman living down the lane who paid attention to the coming and goings. She knew the barrister was having an affair with the town's doctor. She knew that the young Pennington boy was a little light in the loafers. She knew that the Arringtons were having marriage trouble. She mainly just watched and fed her cats.

The Weasleys however, she never knew too much about. They were boisterous, but nice. They were numerous but never present. They had some land half a mile outside of the village and rarely did they ever leave it.

"There are a lot of them. I think there are some grandchildren now. Molly has shown me pictures with the biggest smile possible whenever she talks about them all. They keep to themselves, when the boys were younger, they were in town more, but since the youngest, Jenny, turned eleven, I almost never seem any of them during the school year. Some type of boarding school somewhere they all went. Outdoorsie and back to the earth, back to nature types. Not sure what they all do for a living, but from what I've seen, now that the house is empty, they are doing better for themselves. Molly and Arthur will come down to the village for a pint and a pie every now and then. Still can't keep their hands off each other."

The junior investigator was taking notes. The slightly more senior agent shifted slightly and pressed down on her skirt.

"Anyone ever around their property?"

"Some young adults, nice folks, a man and a woman. They have to be friends. Both are dating the youngest. I think they all live in London and come out to visit every month or two. A few years ago, there was a nasty fire, and the place seemed deserted, or at least I did not see anyone for a while, but that was that…"

An hour later, the two investigators thanked the older woman for her hospitality and her stories. The notebooks were getting filled. A few moments later, the old woman moved a chipped ceramic yellow bird from an end table to front window sill. Molly would see the signal and come in for a cup of tea the next time she was out for a walk.

The Burrow

Midnight was a while ago. Meredith looked at her slightly drunk boyfriend point out the security challenges of hiding the fireworks from Muggle eyes. She just smiled as she knew that her eyes were the primary eyes for the display that was about to happen. He had been uptight for the first hour until he realized that he and Meredith were second fiddle. There were babies. And they were adorable. Two adults could never compete against that. After Georgina threw up on Percy's shoulder after he bounced her too hard, he relaxed. And his family was a lot, but really nice. The entire magical power thing was something that she was still processing. She only was just realizing how vulnerable Percy had made himself when he told her this truth. She had seen his wand work in her apartment a week before after she vowed secrecy, but that was almost childish compared to the omnipresence of magic at his parents' house.

Another sip of fire whiskey warmed her throat as the first firework went off. A green and gold dragon now chased a red and orange fire bird across the sky. She could get used to this.