Author's Note: It's been a while with this one. I got blocked on what I wanted for the last scene, dumped about six one paragraph starts, three different ideas for what I wanted in it, before settling on this. The usual suspects are to be thanked for looking over this, including the indispensable Jim Trigg. As I've actually gotten a start on the next chapter and it doesn't look like it's going to be that complex to write, you should expect the next one much sooner. Of course, I'm a big believer in Daz™ Soon so don't ask me when soon is. It will be ready when it's ready.

Chapter Fifteen: Connecting

Albus Dumbledore found himself at the Ministry in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement early on the morning of Draco, Baron Amesbury's, marriage. The Governors had asked him to have all the new and recent hires as well as a few applicants investigated in something called a background check. He had been hoping that there would not be too many problems. Now he was hoping that he'd get back to Hogwarts in time to change for the Baron's Wedding.

"There are unconfirmed rumors that your current Creatures Professor, Hagrid, may have traded in illegal dragon eggs..." The investigator with the DMLE was a former Hufflepuff prefect, that Albus knew was quite through, which is why he had been happy with the assignment, until he got the report. He was beginning to think the man had been mis-sorted.

"I'm aware of that rumor," Albus said. "There is some evidence that he may have recovered stolen goods and returned them to the Reserves."

"Then there is your proposed new assistant potions professor," the investigator reported. "You are aware that since she left Hogwarts, Penelope Clearwater has been working as a barmaid outside Oxford?"

"I see no issue with that," Dumbledore said. "She applied for a post in International Cooperation which she was greatly qualified, but didn't get. It resulted in somewhat of an acrimonious break up, and I'm afraid that she chose to get higher education in the muggle world. That doesn't come cheap, so working as a bartisa, I think she called it, to finance it is not exactly unexpected.

A screeching alarm went off, interrupting the drone of the report. "Azkaban is under attack. Azkaban is under attack."

Harry Potter was quite nervous. He'd almost turned down Draco's request to serve as one of his groomsmen, but it was apparently tradition for Wizengamot members and their heirs to serve as groomsmen for each other. Draco was also rather desperate, it seemed that most of his Slytherin friends were unavailable due to their parents being active Death Eaters. That was evidenced by the fact that Malcolm Baddock was serving as his Best Man, and his groomsmen were Harry and Neville.

There was a bit of worry at the moment, as Draco awaited the arrival of his bride. This morning Voldemort had released all of his Death Eaters from Azkaban. That's why Harry had his wand concealed in his sleeve.

He and Neville were the only two Gryffindors still in school attending the wedding. He'd asked Ginny, but she apparently had something else to do. He'd ended up with Tracey Davis, but only by last minute arrangement by Pansy, who didn't want her Maid of Honor to be unescorted.

Harry watched, standing on Draco's side as Pansy came up the isle in rather simple white dress. She wore a tiara of white flowers holding up her veil. Something was making Harry nervous though. He wasn't sure what it was, so he began to scan the cathedral, hoping to spot what was triggering his nervousness. He thought he heard a spooky laugh from up near the ceiling.

"Should anyone here present know of any reason that this couple should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace."

A deep black smoke appeared on the altar, and quickly resolved itself into the image of the insane Death Eater Bellatrix LeStrange. "I and the Dark Lord object." Her insane laughter followed.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted. His aim was right on target. It was obvious that LeStrange had not expected such a quick response. Off the altar she fell but she kept hold of her wand.

Right in front of the altar, Harry saw Draco pull his wand out. Beside him, Neville hadn't been that far behind Harry. "LeStrange," Neville said. "Amesbury! I do hope you didn't send her an invitation."

"Are you kidding!" Draco replied as he responded to a bolt of a electric blue spell with a silently cast red spell of his own. "The only relative I invited here is my mother, Longbottom, and I'm damned lucky that they let her out of Saint Mungo's. And I didn't think anyone would go after my wedding."

"Apparently you were wrong," Harry said, dodging another spell. "Where is Malcolm? Expelliarmus" It clipped LeStrange, knocking her out from behind the altar.

"What are you, a one hit wonder?" Draco asked. "I told him to hide if things went wrong. Incarcerous." His aunt disappeared in a puff of smoke, only to appear on top of the lectern.

"Oh little Draco and his friends think they can capture a big bad Death Eater," LeStrange said, "Avada Ke... umph." Her attempt at casting the unforgivable ended as the tip of a sword emerged from her belly, then slid out her left side. "Owie." The Death Eater fell of the lectern, blood pumping from the wound she'd received.

"Incarcerous!" Draco said again, binding his evil aunt up.

She wasn't dead yet, but Harry was sure she was going to bleed out rather quickly. He looked up at the lectern. Standing with his sword still thrusting in the air, and looking like he was surprised to have succeeded, was Malcolm Baddock. "Malcolm, you can put the sword down now," Harry said. No one was moving to assist LeStrange.

Malcolm lowered the sword. "Anyone got something I can wipe this off with?" he asked, looking like he was barely able to hold his last meal in.

"Eric," the Archbishop said, standing up from where he'd sought shelter in the front room and addressing one of the altar servers, "there are some towels in the baptistery. Please obtain one for Sir Malcolm." Malcolm returned to his position next to Draco. Harry had no idea how the boy had made it from there to the lectern so quickly, but he was glad the soon to be second year Slytherin had.

"Now, as I believe that all the objections have been satisfied, shall we proceed?" the archbishop asked.

Dudley Dursley slid on to the chair next to his best friend Piers' bed. It was the first time he'd been able to come and see Piers. That morning he'd been moved out of intensive care into a private room. He still had a cast around his ribs, as well as one on his right arm. The rather impressive bruise on his forehead had faded to a yellow discoloration, from the deep purple that Porta had described.

"You're dead, Dud," Piers said, the moment the door to the room closed. "The moment I get out of here."

"I didn't think you were that serious about killing anyone who dated your sister," Dudley replied. "Not that it would have stopped me, or more importantly your sister. I believe she kicked you in a rather sensitive place after you punched me for giving Porta her first kiss."

Piers winced, "She kicks worse than the Ford that hit me. Don't tell her I threatened you. But I really want to know why you didn't meet me at the park the day you came home."

"I missed the first train," Dudley said, shrugging. "It wasn't my fault though. My boxing coach kept me late going over what he wanted me to do for the summer. I didn't even get to shower before taking the last train from school. Harry actually got to King's Cross before me."

"Harry? Since when do you call Potter by his first name," Piers asked, as he tried to adjust his position on the bed. He winced before he found a better position.

"I kind of got my eyes opened," Dudley said. "You know he got on the Queen's Honor list this year? He's Sir Harry Potter, KCVO."

"Knight Commander of the Victorian Order," Piers expanded. "How did he get that?"

"Apparently he faced down some sort of terrorist leader near the end of the school year, which was brought to the Queen's attention," Dudley said. "He says really didn't want it. One of his classmates was killed in the showdown. He thought that, I think his name was Cedric, should get all the honor, and he deserved none. He even arranged a bunch of honors at the school for Cedric. You know that painting of King George V's laying in state, 'The Princes' Vigil: 12:15am, January 28, 1936?' He and his friends set up groups to stand guard overnight over Cedric's body."

"You remember the full title of the painting?" Piers stated.

"Mum showed me a picture that one of Harry's classmates took, there is apparently a painting too, that's going to go up in the school's entrance hall. Anyway, my roommate lost his younger brother this year, and was devastated. He told me that I'd never understand about how that made him feel. I know I lost a sister, but I was a toddler, I didn't know Dahlia, so when he tried to explain it, tried to make me understand, he told me to think about what it would be like if someone I grew up with, suddenly wasn't there. Someone that you knew you should have been better too, someone that you should have.

"I couldn't help but to think about Harry. It was kind of spur of the moment, but I wrote him a letter, kind of apologizing for what I'd done. My letter sort of caught him at the right moment, and we exchanged a couple of letters. Apparently our chemistry teachers are both right bastards. Though I think I learn more from mine than he does from his.

"Since we got home, I've been helping him put a water garden in the front garden, and we've talked a bit more. He went into real effort to get the angels to look just like his parents and Dahlia."

Dudley went silent as he recalled the blond little angel with a cute smile and a little dimple on her left cheek that now sat next to the waterfall, opposite of the red-head pigtailed girl and mischievous dark haired angel about to pull those pigtails that represented his aunt and uncle, Harry's parents that he'd never known, really. There were two other angels that had just been added to the garden, at his mother's insistence. She did not want it to just be a memorial for the dead, but a memory of the living, too.

The first one to be installed was supposed to represent Dudley. It was a bit bigger than Dahlia, and was in a running pose, somehow looking like it was puffing as it got up to speed. Dudley had spotted it when they'd gone shopping, and it had reminded him a bit about when he hadn't been in shape. It had been placed right near the outer edge of the garden, as if he was running to find his place in the garden.

That was a bit how Dudley felt. He had outgrown the role of the spoiled only child. He had another sibling on the way, who he suspected would take the role of spoiled little sister soon enough. He'd gone away to school thinking he'd automatically be on top. That had been wrong, and some lessons had been taught along the way. He'd taken up boxing to get in shape and maybe find something that he could do well. He could box, but he didn't see that as his future. He was not ready to rest in the garden, yet.

The other statue was of Harry. It was a little bit like his father's angel, without the mischievous grin. No Harry's was different, it reached, but not for a girl's pigtails, but for something that just seemed to be just out of reach. At first Harry had put it peeking out right around the edge of the house, as if he didn't think he really deserved to be in the garden, even though he was the one who had spent the most time on it.

Porta had noticed it, and commented on it to his mother. The next morning Harry found his angel not hidden, but on the peak of the rocks behind the waterfall, now reaching not for the family that Dudley knew he and his parents had never tried to be for him, but for the world above and beyond.

"You got to see the garden when you get out," Dudley said after the silence. Dudley knew that Piers wouldn't really understand the garden. Dudley wasn't certain that he understood everything in the garden. There always seemed to be something new to discover, and Harry wasn't quite done with it yet. "It's amazing, and it will be even better once all the plants are grown."

"Okay," Piers said.