Harry stared at his cousin what is he doing here? And in my house!!! Why did Dumbledor bring him into my house, he had no right to bring him here. What's Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia think of their boy being here? Harry wondered.
Dumbledor must have seen the look on his face because he said "Harry, Dudley here, has no where to stay. Death eaters attacked their house and killed your uncle. When we arrived they were playing with your aunt. She's at St. Mungos right now and sense he has no parents right now I thought he might be able to stay with you, at least until his mother is well again?" Harry thought about it for a minute
Should I let him stay? I should just have him sent to Aunt Marge. That'll show him for all the times he's bullied kids. But they were only attacked because their related to me. Do I have a responsibility to him because of it? Harry sighed.
"Fine he can stay; I'll have a suite set up on the third floor and assign Dobby to watch him." Harry called Dobby and asked him to take Dudley to the kitchens and get him some food, then have him shower and his rooms should be ready by then.
After Dudley was gone Harry turned to Dumbledor "I'm gonna need another House elf or two. How long is he gonna be staying here?"
"Honestly Harry I don't know. Their home was destroyed, he just lost his father and his mother is in the hospital with critical injuries.
That was a very nice thing you did Harry."
Harry snorted "Yea, I just allowed the biggest bully I know to move in." he rolled his eyes but Dumbledor just smiled at him.
"Harry do not blame your cousin for his short comings. Know them, accept them and help him try to fix them. He has never had any discipline. Anything he has ever wanted has been stuffed in front of him. He needs someone to tell him no, now I do have some interesting information I trust you will not abuse. I am sure you are aware he turned 18 this summer" When Harry nodded he continued
"So your aunt and uncle no longer have to support him. When your uncle told Dudley he would have to get a job after he graduated Dudley refused to listen. He claimed it was his parent's responsibility to provide for him. Anyways Harry my point is even though you're younger you are still an adult and he is staying in your house. Instead of fighting him, try teaching him" Dumbledor winked at Harry
"Now Mr. Potter I will leave you to enjoy your summer or what's left of it I should say." Dumbledor walked out the front door and was gone.
Harry found Ron, Hermione, and Ginny in the library pouring through the history texts he had brought from the vault.
"I have to go remodel some rooms for Dudley, would you mind helping?" When he saw the confused look on Hermione's face Harry quickly filled her in on what had happened. "That git is going to be staying here?" she looked at Harry in disbelief.
"He'll be on the third floor and Dobby is gonna be watching him, that should keep him out of our hair." Harry said dismissively.
"Harry how could you do that to poor Dobby? After all he went through at the Malfoy's you're gonna put him through that?"
Harry was scared, the look in Hermione's eye would have quailed a dragon. "Hermione it's because of what he went through at the Malfoy's that I need him to watch Dudley. However this time I have specifically told Dobby that if Dudley tries to harm him then he is allowed to defend himself." Harry gained a little confidence as Hermione's anger seemed to drain from her face, to be replaced by a smirk. She shocked everyone by saying "Oh I would pay good money too see the outcome of that."
Then she stood up and said "Well let's go then, maybe we could even get Fred and George to help us. You know, to help discourage him from entering unwanted areas." she was grinning from ear to ear now. Ron beamed and said "Didn't I tell you I had the most brilliant girlfriend in the world!" Hermione blushed at the praise but she did give him a kiss, to thank him as she put it.
The four went down to the third floor and found that Dobby had already seen to having the rooms re-modeled.
The suite now had two bedrooms, a small sitting room, a small kitchen and of course a restroom. Satisfied Harry asked
his friends what they wanted to do now.
"I'm going back to the library. I have found an interesting paragraph referring to a door behind a statue of a griffin. Supposedly this statue is in a stairwell above a study." Hermione looked rather thoughtful. Ron turned to Harry with his eyes wide
"You don't suppose that's in that stairwell you took me and Ginny down do you?" he asked. Harry thought about it for a minute before he answered "Ya know Ron it might, I've never check to see if that stairwell goes up or not. Why don't we go back and check it out?"
Hermione looked rather interested in this idea "The only thing the book said on opening the doorway was a riddle of some kind. None whom I see may enter." Ron looked absolutely clueless, Ginny had a thoughtful expression and even Harry seemed to be thinking rather hard. "I swear, it's not that hard a riddle. It simply means if the statue can see us it wont move." Hermione scolded
Harry suddenly had a thought "My invisibility cloak!" Hermione nodded her head, so Harry took off to his room to get it.
After retrieving his cloak Harry met the others in his study, Apparently Ginny had opened the door when Ron couldn't make it budge.
Harry led them through the door into the stairwell and they found it indeed did go upwards. They followed the stairs upwards until they came to a dead-end directly above where they entered. There was a small corridor just big enough to hold a life size statue of a griffin.
Harry looked closely and saw that the left eye was scratched out. They walked back out of sight of the statue and donned the invisibility
cloak and stood in front of the statue, nothing happened. "Open" Harry commanded, still nothing. Frustrated Harry got out from underneath the cloak and studied the statue. He looked closely at the scratched out eye "That damage looks like it was done on purpose when the statue was made." he commented. "Why would an artist make a perfect replica of a griffin and then damage the eye?"
She asked critically "I mean if it was a real griffin then it would be smart to blind it while you run aw..." sudden comprehension had just dawned on her face. "Harry look at that other eye and tell me if there is anything funny about it" Harry didn't know what she was going on about but he looked anyway "Looks like a normal stone eye to me" he said. Harry noticed a deep groove around the perimeter of the eye, he raised his hand and gently traced the groove with his index finger. Harry was startled when he felt something move, so startled he jumped back thinking the statue had come to life. When the statue didn't so much as twitch in the least Harry walked back to it and examined the eye more closely. "Hermione, when I touched this groove around the eye I felt something move. I thought it might have been the statue but now I'm not sure" he looked at her and could practically see the gears turning in her head. "Harry, assume for a moment that a griffin can see through invisibility cloaks and spells. What would be the best way to make sure it can't see you?" she continued talking, not even giving Harry a chance to answer her "Take out its eyes Harry, it can't see you without them. And the artist left us a clue. He scratched out one eye; it was an example to follow. Harry, I think you felt the eye move backwards. I think the eye is a button."
Ginny watched as Harry had pushed the eye inward and the statue had slid into the wall off to the right. Harry was the first to enter, followed by Ron then Hermione, Ginny followed last. She looked around the room and couldn't help but shudder. Everything in this room was dark, dusty and covered in spider webs. There was a door on each of the four walls, one obviously led back out to the stairwell but where did the others go she wondered. She heard Ron squeal and turned to see him clutching himself to Hermione, who was rolling her eyes at him. "Honestly Ron it's only a spider". That was when Ginny noticed a small spider hanging from the ceiling about a foot from where Ron had been standing. Harry proceeded to cast a few cleaning spells he had learned from Tonks. The room wasn't spotless but it would now be useable.
Harry opened the far door and found he was in a stone hallway. It very similar to the hallways on level nine and ten at the Ministry of Magic, except there were more spider webs. Harry started to walk down it when he saw a shadow of a large leg on the wall he was heading towards. Just as Ron was coming up behind him a rather large acromantula came walking around the corner. Ron screamed and bolted out the door to find Hermione. "Spider...enormous...Harry" he gasped to the girls then collapsed into a chair.
Ginny was through the door in no time followed closely by Hermione; both witches had their wands in their hands. Neither of the two young women had been there when Harry and Ron had gone to see Aragog otherwise they would have known what Ron meant by enormous. By Ron's standards Aragog was huge, and this spider was even bigger. Ginny gasped as she saw it, and Hermione screamed. Hearing their voices Harry spun around "What are you doing here, get out!" he cried before spinning around to fire off another couple of spells.
Harry couldn't believe they were here, what if they get hurt? I won't let it happen he said to himself. The spider was proving more resistant to magic than Harry would have thought possible, but who knows how long its been in here. In fact it must be very old Harry thought, and he could indeed see that all the spiders fur was gray. But he's not blind like Aragog that was when Harry remembered something the spider had said to him. Spiders feared snakes. A memory of his duel with Dumbledor came back to him and he shouted
Immensus Serpensortia! A huge snake burst from his wand. The snake was easily as big around as Harry's waist and had a large open hood, the fangs were almost 2 feet long and there was a weird bumpy thing on the end of the tail. "Attack!" Harry hissed at the snake. The snake slithered toward the spider, who had stopped advancing when the snake appeared. Harry heard a strange rattling sound and noticed it was coming from the bumpy tail. The snake chased the spider down the hall and Harry followed at a safe distance. He followed the spider and snake until the spider entered a large chamber, Harry noticed there were no doors out of this chamber and the only way in was the hall they had just come down. Unfortunately there wasn't a door Harry could lock to keep it in so he called the snake back and he summoned a wall and sealed the entrance that way. Harry released the enchantment and the snake vanished, then he walked back down the corridor and into the room where his friends were waiting. "I locked it in a chamber with no way out." he told them. '' I think we should tell Dumbledor about this area, after this morning he's gonna be looking for a new place to use as headquarters. And if he does this right no one would have to know where headquarters is." Ginny was looking a little bit skeptical
so Harry explained "If he creates a portkey for them to use, one that will only work for that person, then they can go directly to that floor, and if Dumbledor really wanted to fool anyone he can put up some windows like in the Ministry, and have them show the London skyline from some other building." Hermione beamed at him, causing him to smile back and Ron simply said "Brilliant! I think Hermione's began to rub off on you mate!" he winked at Harry as he put his arm around his girlfriends shoulders.
Back downstairs in the study Harry quickly scribbled a note on some parchment telling Dumbledor his idea and then he sent it off with Midnight.
It was one week after they had discovered the secret floor and the friends had finally explored the entire house and grounds. Ron and Ginny were downstairs in the dungeons practicing Quidditch so it was just Harry and Hermione sitting alone in the library. Harry had been thinking a lot about his and Ginny's relationship. There was no longer any doubt he wanted to marry her, and give her many children. He just wasn't sure what to do now that he had decided he wanted to marry her. Should he wait until she graduated before asking, or should he ask now and spend as much time as possible with her while he could? He just didn't know how one went about this kind of thing. His parents had gotten married right after school, which meant they were his age, but Ginny was a year younger than he was and she also wasn't legally an adult yet. So far he had distracted himself by reading up on how to magically create enchanted items. He had resolved to create her wedding band himself and had begun reading every book on the subject he could find, which wasn't hard considering that his family had at one point in time been the best at crafting enchanted items. Indeed his personal library had a huge array of books. When he had first started reading so much Hermione had been worried but when she saw him reading a book titled
A wizard's guide to enchanting rings she had simply smirked and been quiet. Harry looked up from his book and rubbed his eyes, why does this text have to be so small? He asked himself. Then he saw Hermione smirking "what's so funny?" he asked her defensively. "Nothing Harry, I think its cute." she said as a wide grin crossed her face.
"What's cute?" he was thoroughly confused until she pointed at the book he was holding and she said "Rings Harry? I honestly don't know how you think you're being subtle by reading that book. So when do you plan on doing it?" she was very excited now.
"erm...well..actually Hermione I haven't even decided to yet." he paused and she raised an eyebrow at him "Oh?"
"I mean I want to, I definitely love her and all. But I'm not sure how to go about this. See, she's still underage and in school and I do have someone trying to kill me. I'm just not sure asking her to marry me is the best idea right now. And even if it is how do I go about that? I don't know how wizards handle marriage. Do I need her parents permission before I ask her, or do I ask her first and then we announce it to the family? I'm just not sure about all this. And what if she says no?" he looked down at the ground as he finished.
He looked up when he heard Hermione snort.
"Harry, Ginny is absolutely mad about you, the day you ask her to marry you is going to be the happiest day of her life.
And really I think you should ask her as soon as you talk with her father. Normally you wouldn't need anyone's permission but because she is underage you need her fathers permission." she smiled at Harry "Oh Harry Mr. Weasley adores you and you know Ginny will say yes. And you can't allow Voldemort to control your life; if you let him stop you from being happy then he's already won. Besides Harry, if Ginny finds out you didn't ask her because you were trying to protect her she will never forgive you!"
"I'll think about it Hermione, and don't you dare tell anyone, not even Ron! My plan was to ask her at Christmas anyway so I have plenty
of time to figure things out." he said, then they both went back to reading their books.
Harry was woken up to a quiet knocking on his bedroom door. It was the night after Harry had talked with Hermione, and he thought everyone else was already asleep. Harry got up, put some pants on and opened the door for Ron. "What is it Ron?" Harry asked after they had sat down on the sofas. "Well...erm..there's something I've been needing some help with Harry, something concerning Hermione." He glanced nervously at Harry but continued when Harry nodded "well..um..you see I've noticed you've been reading on how to create enchanted items, and I was wondering if maybe you could help me make one..?" Harry's face broke out into a grin as realization of what Ron was asking just hit him. "Are you asking me what I think you're asking me?" he tried to keep the laughter out of his voice. Meanwhile Ron was turning a very deep red "I want to ask her to marry me Harry" he said quietly while still looking at the floor. Harry walked over and clapped him on the back "Good gods man of course I'll help you, have you asked her yet?"
"No, I was going to wait until she turned seventeen before I asked, well that and I haven't figured out how too yet. I've asked dad how I should do it but he wasn't much help, just said I'll know when the time is right. And mum was against it at all, she said this was not a good time to be getting married and starting a family, not to mention the fact that were too young" Ron rolled his eyes at the mention of his mothers comments. "Ya know, Dumbledor and I have made a few plans and I think this might be an excellent time for you to do it."
Harry leaned close and told Ron all about his and Dumbledore's plan.
Today was the day they were supposed to head back to school. Harry and Ron had spent the last three days in the training room creating the ring he was going to give to Hermione. Their trunks were all packed and Harry placed Hedwig's cadge on top of his trunk. He felt a little guilty for giving her any post this second half of summer but he figured she might like a break after the almost continues post from the first half with the Dursley's. They sat in the ground floor sitting room chatting and drinking tea while they waited for Dumbledor to arrive. This year they were to take a portkey directly to platform 9¾. Dumbledor arrived with Fawks who immediately flew over and sat next to Midnight. "Harry, I think Midnight might be a female phoenix." and there was no mistaking that twinkle in his eye. Then in a much softer tone so that only Harry could hear "Thank you for allowing us to use that place for our headquarters. I took your advice and had some very realistic windows placed around the halls, mainly on the outside walls so they don't attract attention." he winked at Harry then cleared his throat and in a much louder voice began saying "Well before we leave I'd like to ask a favor of young Mr. Potter and Miss. Granger. Unfortunately Professor Snape has had to go into hiding. It turns out Voldemort was using legilimency
on him and then using a memory charm to prevent Professor Snape from knowing what was going on. This means that we once again are short a Defense against the dark arts teacher. I have talked it over with the governors and the staff and I have convinced them to accept my appointment. I would like to formally request at this time that both Mr. Potter and Miss. Granger accept the position of DADA teachers. Miss. Granger if she is willing will teach the first through fourth year's general knowledge and the such while Mr. Potter will be responsible for the fifth through seventh. Harry will be teaching the students dueling techniques and of course how to deal with certain powerful dark creatures. Unfortunately the ministry decided that if students are going to be teaching then they need an advisor from the ministry, he will sit in your classes and observe and report to minister Fudge. Well do you accept?" Harry and Hermione both had their jaws wide open, this was definitely not something they would ever have expected. "You want us to...teach?" he managed to stammer.
Dumbledore's eye twinkled as he answered "Yes, you have shown a remarkable talent for teaching with the DA. Let me tell you, no one was happy to hear my suggestion but when I showed them the O.W.L scores from the DA students compared to the students who didn't go, well lets just say they were shocked. I will tell you one secret but you must not tell anyone I told you everyone who was in the DA that year scored an O in their defense O.W.L." Harry couldn't help but feel proud for them all, especially Neville.
"Of course I'll do it professor, you will to right Hermione?" she merely nodded, still trying to cope with the thought of being a teacher...