Beta: None, as AriArlene is busy with classes.
Original Release Date: 11/27/15
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the canon Harry Potter universe or any other universe.
Author note: Thanks for making it to the two year anniversary of this series! :D
Chapter Thirty Seven – Summer Break and Extra Lessons
"Are you two ready?" inquiries Remus from behind the centrally placed counter in the Marauders Emporium.
Standing tall the twins chorus, "Yes sir!"
"Good. No slouching when working, no obscene language, and ALWAYS be respectful and helpful. With that done with, you two will learn how to run the register" states Remus.
The next few days pass by in a whirlwind of activity as Harry, alongside the twins of course, learn how to run the register, stock shelves, how to PROPERLY demonstrate items and not just show the pranking side of things, where the stock is kept, and how to reset the register for the next day.
"Do you all think you've got all of that?" inquiries Sirius as they shut down the store for the weekend.
"If not, Remus said that he added instructions to our Omni Play" answers Fred.
"Hmm...oh now I remember! He and I talked about adding a 'Books' section for things such like that. Good, reference that, and if you two still have questions while we are gone, then please contact us" remarks Sirius, smiling.
Going to their respective homes, the large and somewhat dysfunctional pranking family disappears from the store, eager to continue to the next phase of their plans.
Early Monday morning Amelia asks, "Does everyone have everything that they will need for this coming week? International portkeys aren't the cheapest this time of year."
Seeing the nodding of heads, Amelia smiles before saying, "Then let's go to the ministry, grab our portkey, and head to France!"
Some time later the odd family of five arrive in France, more specifically the French Ministry of Magic. Dropping off their used portkey, they walk into non-magical France, all using a magical trunk with their belongings in it instead of any other form of luggage. Pulling two cameras out of his magically expanded pocket, Sirius hands one to Susan and then one to Harry saying quietly, "These are our magical cameras, but with a twist. They are disguised as normal cameras, but they shoot video and take pictures. These cameras will send your captures to our servers, in which only you will be able to view. Think of it as an automatic backup of your pictures so if you lose the camera, you still have the memories."
Looking over the cameras, very similar to the one Colin Creevey had been using, Harry notices a small, metal, rectangular plate with rounded edges attached to his camera, with his name on it.
"Are our names on them just so we don't mix them up?" asks Harry.
"Yes, because they are essentially the same, we felt that some indentifying piece was needed. Once get back we can get new cases for the camera, to make them more unique" answers Remus.
"Thank you" states Susan smiling.
"No need to thank us, it was your aunt's idea in the first place, so you two could remember the fun times you've had with whomever and wherever" answers Sirius, also smiling.
Walking around the city, both magical and non-magical sections, the family stops in many shops, taking photos, and simply enjoying the company of one another.
Back in London, the twins handle the store most professionally, cleaning and straightening the shelves, making certain everything was taken care of. Working a reduced five hours a day for five days, the twins still find plenty of things to do when not handling the sparse few customers that do come in. On Friday at half past noon, a family of four enters the store, seemingly unfamiliar with the store as they walk slowly around the magically expanded store, shelves bursting with various merchandise.
"Can we help you with anything?" inquiries George coming from behind the counter.
Turning and facing the twins, the father, the only male amongst the family, states with a slight accent, "We were just perusing. There is much chatter in our ministry about your products."
Pausing over what the gentleman had said and how he said it, Fred asks slowly at first, "You aren't French, are you?"
Chuckling the man answers, "We certainly are. I am Monsieur Delacour, this is my wife, Apolline, and my two children, Fleur and Gabrielle."
Fleur and Gabrielle curtsy when mentioned, causing Fred and George to bow and chorus, "We are Fred and George Weasley", with Fred slapping George on the back lightly in a brotherly fashion.
"Ho ho! I must say you two have caught me off guard. I'd better make certain you two don't steal my daughters hearts."
"Papa!" groans the eldest daughter, Fleur.
"I do wish to make an inquiry. I have heard talk about a new ward, something about house-elves?" asks Monsieur Delacour.
"Unfortunately we don't know a lot about it. But, give me a minute and I'll see if I can find some information" comments George, pulling out his Omni Play and looking through the virtual pages of information.
Furrowing his eyebrows, Monsieur Delacour asks curiously, "What is that you hold?"
"It is an Omni Play, sir" answers Fred.
"Omni...Play? Can you explain, please?"
"It is a fantastic device that allows you to watch video feeds from connected cameras, listen to your music, even content from the non-magical world, to play games with friends or even in a different country, as long as you're in range of one of the servers. You can also read books that you've given the Omni Connect. Let me show you sir" answers Fred walking over to a shelf with half a dozen Omni Connects sitting on it, pointing out the drawers.
The women of the Delacour family continue oohing over various items on the other side of the room.
"Sir, the information I have access to states that the House Elf Ward is considered a double sided ward, meaning it blocks all house elves, unless said house elf is on the 'white list'. If no house elves are on the white list, then all house elves are unable to pass through this ward, being caused great pain if forced through, quite possibly leading to death. However, no deaths have been recorded at this time" states George as he arrives in the general area that the Fred and Monsieur Delacour occupy.
"Very intriguing, very intriguing indeed. You two wouldn't be able to come back to France with my family and I and do such a set up, in addition to some of these cameras, would you?" jokes Monsieur Delacour.
"They would not be able to, however, I am quite able to and willing to" comes a new voice, male.
Turning around, everyone pauses as Sirius strides into the room, a smile on his face. Walking up to Monsieur Delacour, Sirius says, "I am Sirius Black, co-owner of Marauders Emporium. I'm glad to meet you sir."
"Monsieur Delacour, my wife, and two children, Fleur and Gabrielle" answers Monsieur Delacour with a smile.
"Sirius, I didn't think you'd be back until Saturday evening?" asks Fred confused.
"That was the plan, until I couldn't get a hold of you two and your mother hadn't a clue where you were either. Worried about you two, I came back to make certain you all are ok" answers Sirius, relief evident in his voice.
"My apologies sir, anyways, is there anything we can help you with?" offers Sirius.
Opening his mouth to speak, Monsieur Delacour is interrupted by Fleur calling out, "Papa! I vant one of zee trunks."
Turning around and looking at his wife and daughters, Monseur Delacour chuckles and nods his head, motioning for them to bring it over.
"Along with the trunk, I'd like to get four of these Omni Plays, one Omni Connect, half a dozen cameras, and I think that's it. The boys have sold me on the amazing products you have" states Monsieur Delacour.
"We'll upgrade you to our newest Omni Connect – Family, which allows up to four people to have their own drawer for content, and a fifth drawer for content that everyone can access, for free" comes Remus's voice as he comes from the direction of the workshop.
"Why thank you sir" comes Monsieur Delacour.
"No problem. I am Remus Lupin, the other owner of the store."
Many minutes later with another round of introductions and general chatter, the girls join the group at the counter, each carrying a slim and silver PRT bracelet.
"Aha! Three PRT bracelets, excellent choice" states Sirius.
"PRT...bracelets?" asks Monsieur Delacour.
"Yes, Personal Reusable Transport bracelets. As long as you own one of the Omni Connects, the wearer can go to one of the owned units in an emergency or for frequent travel" answers Remus.
"Emergency? Such as what?"
"If you were to be kidnapped, got lost somewhere, etc, you can activate it, and as long as you're within range of one of your personally owned units, you'll be transported to whichever one you have set as your default location. We are working on making it so as long as you're within range of ANY unit, it will transport you to YOUR default location. But we still have a few bugs to work out" answers Remus.
"What is the range?" inquiries Monsieur Delacour.
"Well, we aren't exactly certain, but we arrived from northern France, so it's a fair ways we say" answers Remus.
Ending their conversations, the Delacours disappear, followed by the shutting down of the store. "Good job, George, Fred. We appreciate your assistance in manning the store this week. Go home, relax, and enjoy your vacation" states Remus kindly, as Sirius hands them each a small bag of wizarding funds.
Arriving home, Remus begins to pen a letter pausing to check a calendar before continuing and attaching it to one of the two family owls, a brown barn owl named Skipper. Watching Skipper fly out of the window and into the sky, Remus waits until he can no longer see Skipper before going to the workshop in the basement of the house, and straightening up.
/*weeks later*/
Grabbing the four badges off of the table, Remus throws some floo powder into a fire place and disappears in a crackling green flames fire. Popping out of fireplace in the back of the Marauders Emporium, Remus exits and verifies that the door is indeed locked, and heads to The Leaky Cauldron. Entering the building, Remus looks around before spotting the two individuals with long, flowing, blond hair in the back and heads towards them. Taking a seat across from the two individuals, one being a young female and the other clearly her father, Remus is asked right off of the bat, "And why would I want Luna to go with you, Mr. Lupin?"
"Please call me Remus, almost everyone does. To answer your question, I'd like to teach Luna, in addition to a few others some more advanced magic, more specifically the Patronus Charm."
"If I understand correctly, you are the professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts this fall, so why not teach her and everyone else then? Are you trying to say that my Luna and these others are in need of some form of remedial classwork?" asks Mr. Lovegood suspiciously.
"It is in fact the opposite; Luna alongside the others are some of the highest ranking students in all of my classes. I know she'd take to the extra education quite well. In addition to just simply learning more, I think it would give Luna a chance to freely interact with others her own age" answers Remus calmly.
Thinking over Remus's explanation, Mr. Lovegood looks to Luna and asks quietly, "What would you like to do?"
Without any hesitation Luna answers, "I'd like to go."
Turning to Remus Mr. Lovegood asks, "How would she get to and from your establishment, and where exactly are you going to be taking my daughter?"
"I will be using our educational center in Hogsmeade to teach everyone. For the matter of getting to and from the center, I have a badge that will transport her to the center's Omni Connect, alongside the others. And then to return home she can use the badge to return home to where your Omni Connect is. I do believe you all have one if records are correct."
"Yes, we do have one at our residence. And this...badge...is it a portkey?" asks Mr. Lovegood.
"It is very similar, yes, but it uses our network to allow the holder to access any of the authorized Omni Connects, such as the one recently added at St. Mungoes and then the holder's own Omni Connect(s). Otherwise the user can not access simply any Omni Connect that they wish to. This acts as a pass into and out of a Fidelius charmed location, without giving the location out. These passes can be restricted and removed from the system, disallowing the holder access to any private Omni Connect, only allowing them to publically accessible nodes" answers Remus.
Pausing to think about it, Mr. Lovegood finally answers, "I'll allow this then."
Retrieving one of the badges out of his pocket, Remus hands it to Luna before pulling out his Omni Play and tapping a few things before handing it to Mr. Lovegood, explaining, "If you will sign below that you are giving me permission to bind Luna's badge to your home Omni Play, I'd appreciate it. If you don't sign, then I will gladly bring her home to you or any place of your choosing instead of making the badge accessible to your home."
"This is strictly for record keeping?" asks Mr. Lovegood hesitantly.
"It gives us a record that you have given myself and Sirius Black, permission to link one badge to your home location. That way if someone, including you, decides to bring charges against us, we have a record of who and when signed for badge creation/authorization. But despite that we doubt anyone would do such a thing, we'd still like to keep appropriate records. Only you and anyone you authorize, outside of myself and Sirius Black, are able to see your records, unless the Department of Magical Law Enforcement appears with an order from the Wizengamot for records" answers Remus.
"I want a copy of this agreement, and my signature" states Mr. Lovegood, still having not signed.
"Certainly" smiles Remus.
Mr. Lovegood uses the offered stylus and signs his name, the screen flashing once before a message appears, "Copy of agreement sent to home Omni Connect successfully."
"Thank you for your time Mr. Lovegood; I know you're very busy with the Quibbler" thanks Remus.
Inclining his head, Mr. Lovegood answers, "And thank you for wanting to include Luna in your group", smiling at the end.
"Luna, if you will hold your thumb on the badge for three seconds, it will take you to the center where Harry, Susan, and the Weasley twins are waiting. I have a few more stops to make before I arrive, but Sirius is there if you need anything" states Remus kindly.
Wordlessly Luna presses her thumb to the badge and disappears a few seconds later without a sound. Accessing his badge, Remus disappears as well, before appearing in a gray slate hallway. Hearing voices down the hallway, Remus makes his way into the room and is assaulted by a voice, "There you are. You took your time getting here, Remus."
"It took me longer than expected to get Mr. Lovegood to sign on, Alice" answers Remus, smiling.
"Mum, dad, this is Mr. Remus Lupin, my Defense Against the Dark Arts professor" states Hermione excitedly.
"It is quite nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Granger. You can call me Remus instead of Mr. Lupin" states Remus, shaking the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Granger respectively.
Going through the same signature process as before but with the Grangers, Remus smiles as the screen flashes and the message stating that a copy had been successfully delivered to the Granger's home Omni Connect. Remus hands Hermione her badge, who promptly skips over to Neville who activates his badge at the same time as Hermione, both disappearing while holding hands.
"Thank you Alice for letting me intrude upon your time" begins Remus before Alice interrupts, "Oh no, I've just been talking with the Grangers, seeing as Neville seems almost as enamored with Hermione as she is with him."
"I see", turning to the Grangers, Remus bows slightly before explaining, "I must be off to get the last member of the group. It was nice meeting you two. Have a good day", before disappearing.
Appearing in homely living room/den, Remus barely takes three steps before Mrs. Weasley appears, an excited Ginny beside her, and a tired looking Ron arriving shortly after her. Going through the authorization process once more, Remus hands Ginny her badge who disappears seconds later, followed by Ron. Turning to leave, Mrs. Weasley states quietly, but firmly, "You better keep my Ginny safe."
"I shall. She's with Harry, Neville, Susan, Luna, Hermione, Fred, and George, not including Sirius. In addition to that, she's in the secure section of our training center, and no one can access that without a badge, and all badges are accounted for. Don't worry so much Molly, it will all be fine" Remus reminds gently.
"I...I know. It's just as a mother I get worried."
Giving Mrs. Weasley a smile, Remus answers, "I understand a bit. While Harry isn't my kid, he is a part of me, and if he was hurt or killed, it would destroy me inside."
Nodding her head, Mrs. Weasley says nothing causing Remus to take his leave and appear in the training center.
"Welcome all to the Marauders Emporium Ward Education and Training facility. Due to no one being interested in our warding program so far, it is only us. Now as you all know, Peter Pettigrew escaped from Azkaban a few months ago, and as a measure to keep him away from Hogwarts the ministry has decided to send some Dementors to the boundaries of Hogwarts, and are currently floating around the outskirts as we speak. But worry not, they are unable to enter the grounds, and if they do, we will be informed quite quickly. Moving on, I'd like to thank you all for deciding to join us for these last two weeks before classes resume in September. While we will cover details around the Dementors, the Patronus Charm, and possibly other concepts, that will just be a portion of our time. We'd like to offer any tours of the location, in addition to allowing you all the option to just be kids" states Remus.
As the gathered students take their seats, Remus begins, "Now to begin with the lesson. Dementors are soul sucking entities that force you to relieve your worst memories. They make the room's temperature drop to freezing temperatures, and that's without even touching you. Their worst ability, the Dementors Kiss, is to suck your soul out through your mouth. However, the Patronus Charm will chase the Dementor away from you. With that in mind, there is no none way to kill a Dementor. Any questions so far?"
"Sir, where do Dementors come from?" asks Hermione curiously.
"That's a good question, Hermione, and I'm not quite certain. But I'll look into finding the answer for you. Any other questions?" asks Remus.
Seeing and hearing nothing, Remus continues, "The Patronus Charm is highly advanced magic, and many adult witches and wizards are unable to perform this spell. With that in mind I'm not looking for a corporeal Patronus from you all, but I would like to at least teach you all how to do cast the spell. To begin with, you must have a REALLY happy memory in mind and you must focus on it while you incant, 'Expecto Patronum'. Let me demonstrate, Expecto Patronum!"
From the tip of his wand, a wolf bursts forward and stands beside its caster. Scratching the wolf behind the ears, Remus stands up and smiles, "This is a corporeal form of a Patronus Charm. To begin with, I would like you all to think of some of your happiest memories. Take a few minutes or more if you need, there isn't a rush."
As everyone closes their eyes and sifts through their memories, Dobby enters the room and very quietly puts two platters of sandwiches and three jugs of Pumpkin Juice onto the table, and a clean goblet at each person's seat. Opening his eyes, Harry murmurs firmly, "Expecto Patronus", a silvery mist appears, attempting to take shape before reverting to a shapeless mist. Minutes later as others attempt the same, no one manages to produce a corporeal Patronus. After many more attempts, all resulting in failure, the students sit down and munch on the refreshments.
"One perhaps tasty tidbit is after encountering a Dementor, I recommend eating some chocolate, it will help you" offers Remus with a smile as everyone eats.
A week and a half later Remus announces, "Today will be the last day we shall meet, as in two days' time we shall meet once more at Hogwarts. You all are free to keep the badges. Are there questions about anything that you all would like answered?"
A few hours later the group reluctantly disperses for the final time for the summer break, somewhat eager to get back on the train and go home, back to Hogwarts.
Author note: As of writing this, 11/9/2015, there are ~ 105,000 words, and over 127,000 views to this series. Thank you all for helping me hit my end goal of 100k words and of 100k views. Obviously this fanfic is no where near done, especially with my plans for fourth year [hehehe], so here's to making this an even better, longer, and popular fanfic! Here's to you all, the readers/fans, etc! :D
I have a Word document with all of the chapters so far, and it also contains some extras like ideas of where I was going with things, sections that didn't make it in, more in depth explanations of things, etc. More of what I was wondering was if anyone would actually want me to make it available through Google Docs and let you all read it.