Disclaimer: I am making no profit out of this fan fiction and do not own or claim to own any familiar characters.
"I've pictures of Ted." Hermione said as Harry entered the kitchen, hair still wet and sticking up in the back after his shower.
"Yeah?" He said with a smile as he sat across from her at the well scrubbed table.
With a nod, Hermione pushed the pictures of the baby with turquoise hair across the table at him. Unable to help himself from smiling at the image of the toothless infant that had gone cross eyed watching the stringless mobile of magicked tiny brooksticks zoom overhead.
He grinned at Hermione, recognizing the gift he had asked her to deliver to the baby.
"Thanks." Harry whispered, feeling a little better knowing that the infant was being well cared for, unlike Harry'd been when he was orphaned.
"The Ancient House of Black still survives." Kreacher whispered wistfully as he glanced at the photo and placed mugs of tea before Hermione and Harry.
Harry gave a little jolt, realizing Kreacher was right – Nymphadora had been Sirius's cousin, and Ted was the last remaining member of the house of Black – not including Narcissa and Draco Malfoy – which Harry didn't.
"As does the house of Peverell." Hermione added in an undertone, giving Harry a wink behind her mug.
Harry didn't reply, choosing instead to sip at his coffee in companionable silence as Twinky and Kreacher worked in the kitchen, providing them both with an assortment of sandwiches to choose from for lunch.
"Mr Potter sir, Twinky made sandwiches since it is so late." Twinky said, her enormous eyes blinking up at him. "If Mr. Potter would like, Twinky can make eggs?"
Harry gave her a wan smile, unable to make himself look at her too long and see the similarities between her and Dobby again. "No, thank you Twinky – sandwiches are fine." He said, clearing the lump of sadness from his throat with a gruff noise. "I'll remember to get out of bed earlier if I want eggs."
Satisfied, Twinky gave him a little worried smile, and drifted off to help Kreacher clean and sort through the house, to make it live-able again.
The silence dragged on as the muffled sounds of the two house-elves as they worked, the gentle clinkings and various other muted noises in the house seemingly distant before Hermione broke the silence.
"I thought we could share a cab." She said, putting down her mug. "Something different then apparating."
Harry looked up at her in surprise. "A cab?" He echoed.
"Yes. To King's Cross." She replied, looking a little worried.
The sadness and guilt rose afresh in his stomach. "I don't know if I'll be going." He whispered, admitting to cowardice after everything he had been through the past few months.
"Don't be silly. Of course you're coming." Hermione replied in a voice that sounded vaguely reminiscent of Mrs. Weasley, brooking no argument. "Kreacher's packed your trunk and you are ready to go."
Harry licked his lips nervously, thinking of seeing Ginny again.
"But the funeral for Fred?" He asked, lifting his eyes to hers to try and communicate how out of place he knew he would feel at the Weasley's now. How uncertain he was about attending the funeral and sharing in the sorrow or the eyes he knew would fall on him.
Hermione knitted her brows together, her lips tight for a moment before she spoke. "Yes? What of it?"
"I don't – I'm not certain I –" Harry started and then let the sentences trail off.
"You are being a stupid git." Hermione snapped, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms angrily over her chest. "Do you think that the losses would have been any less if you hadn't faced Voldemort?" She asked. "Do you think that more lives wouldn't have been lost if you didn't?"
Harry felt his throat tighten up, remembering the long list of people who had died, the stone in his stomach became heavier with each remembered face and name.
"I don't know."
Hermione made a noise in her throat somewhere between irritation and sympathy. "You can't hide in here forever you know." She pointed at the stack of Daily Prophets and Quibblers which sat at one end of the table, obviously unread. "You have to go out and face what has happened, everything that has been done."
Hermione reached out and snatched up the top paper, opening it and turning it toward Harry so the words could be read.
Voldemort Vanquished!
The photo of the funeral pyre which had the vague outline of a body flickered to life below the headline.
Ministry Restored!
Below the headline was the face of Kingsley Shacklebolt standing before the fountain at the center of the Ministry.
Renaissance of the Wizarding World Imminent!
Xeno Lovegood, Elphias Doge and several other more eccentric wizards stood grinning from ear to ear at him and waving from beneath that blurb.
"See Harry?" Hermione said, pushing the paper closer. "No one blames you. We all knew what could happen, would happen – and we choose to do it anyway and make a better world – a safer world for muggles and wizards alike."
When Harry pushed the paper away, she made another noise and rose from the table, coming around to his side and cupping his face in her hands, forcing him to meet her eyes.
"Have you forgotten the Muggle world Harry? Have you seen so far in to Voldemort's head, and spent so much time with the Death Eaters through him that you don't understand we are human? We have free will?" She asked softly as the kitchen around them went quiet. "We all knew what we were doing Harry. We knew the risks and we took them anyway. This is no way to show gratitude to the people who stood behind you, who battled alongside you, who followed you."
"Free will." Kreacher echoed softly behind Harry in the opened kitchen door. "It is a wondrous thing."
Harry swallowed the lump that had risen in his throat, nodding a little between Hermione's hands. "You're right. I'm being a stupid git."
Hermione lifted a brow and gave him a smile. "Of course I'm right." She said, rising from the bench. "Eat up, it's almost time to go."
The cab pulled up to curb at King's Cross station, Harry extracting his and Hermione's trunks from the boot as people filed past them toward the entrance of the station.
Wiping the sweat from his brow and wondering what Hermione had packed in her trunk when she could have used her beaded purse, Harry paused and looked around at the outfits on the people who silently made their way inside the station.
Recognizing the eccentric dress of wizards and witches as they passed by him, he was given a few small nods of acknowledgement as they caught his eye.
The cab pulled away from the curb as Hermione joined him, tearing his attention away from the people who passed close by.
"Reparo." Hermione whispered at a trolley near them, the broken wheel fixing itself so Harry could load their trunks, impressing him since he hadn't even seen her wand emerge when she whispered the spell.
"There's a lot of people." Harry said to Hermione, his eye following a few top hats and pointed witch's hats in the crowds.
"Yes. There are." Hermione mumbled, distracted.
Loading his trunk atop Hermione's, he glanced up to find her eyeing a long, black sedan sitting beside the curb.
"All right Hermione?" He asked, pulling his dark brows together.
Hermione pulled her eyes away from the American auto, turning toward Harry and nodding.
"Yes, just wondering what that car is doing here." She replied, coming up behind the trolley to push it toward the doors of the station.
"Why?" Harry asked, not seeing anything particularly interesting about the car other then the steering wheel being on the wrong side.
"Strange for it to be parked in that zone when it clearly states no parking." Hermione mumbled, glancing over her shoulder at it once more before they entered the doors to the station.
Harry chuckled and shook his head at her. "You're being overly suspicious Hermione." He replied, giving her a grin. "I thought that was my job."
Hermione smiled back, giving him a lifted brow. "Yes, well – someone has to carry on tradition, don't they?"
Shaking his head at her again, he gestured for her to cross the wall to 9 ¾, where the Hogwart's Express would be waiting.
The whoosh of the barrier filled his ears as he followed her through, blinking in the light that reflected off of the shiny red engine before them.
Normally seeing the area filled with happy students and parents seeing them off, the subdued atmosphere of the platform, filled with parents and students alike that were boarding the train in silence felt foreign and unreal to Harry.
All the faces of the people he saw were sad and drawn, letting him know that he did not mourn alone, the entire wizarding world mourned the losses along with him.
It was oddly comforting to him in some strange way – but before he could examine the feeling, he was called from the direction of the train.
"Hermione, Harry!" Mrs Weasley shouted from an open window of the Express where he could see George and Mr. Weasley further back in the compartment. "We've saved you a seat. Hurry along!"
Taking the trolley from Hermione and pushing it toward the train, he managed to ask Hermoine in an undertone where Ron was at.
"I suspect sulking." Hermoine replied, giving a secretive smile. "Victor wrote to tell me he was coming to the Memorial Service." She said this last with a sad glance at Harry as Ginny came up alongside them.
"Ron isn't taking it too well." Ginny finished as Harry pulled the trolley to a stop beside the steps of the coach the Weasley family had obtained.
"Well, he knows what he can do about it!" Hermoine replied huffily as Ginny opened her mouth to defend her brother.
Harry, remembering the kiss Ron had given her, gave Hermione a grin and a nudge with his elbow. "He does know how to stop you from talking, doesn't he?"
Hermione colored quickly and snapped her mouth shut as Ginny gave him a quizzical look. It felt good to smile after a week of wallowing in his sadness, even if it was almost foreign feeling to grin at Hermione's red cheeks, he still savored the feel of it.
Speaking quickly to avoid the questions he could see forming in Ginny's head, he pushed the trolley faster.
"The letter said Dumbledore's family will be giving the memorial." He put in, changing the subject. "Who is there other then his brother Aberforth?" He asked, lugging the trunk from the trolley as Ginny picked up Hedwig's cage.
"It's silly not to suspect he doesn't have other family you know! All those strange disappearances over the past years, owls all the time and such." Hermoine said, clapping a hand to her mouth as Harry and Ginny turned interested eyes toward her.
"You sound as if you know a lot about that Hermoine." Ginny said, snatching the information up quickly. "I thought Skeeter's book only named Dumbledore, Aberforth and Ariana. Two of them are dead Hermione, and that leaves only Aberforth."
Hermoine mutely nodded, darting a quick look at Mrs. Weasley. Detecting this as the cause of Hermoine's silence, they gave her looks of understanding as Harry hefted the trunks and mounted the steps to the train, Ginny leading the way to the compartment where the Weasleys had assembled.
George and Mr. Weasley took Harry's burdens as soon as they entered the compartment, quickly stowing Harry's belongings alongside their own as Mrs Weasley enveloped Harry in a hug - giving Harry a start of surprise when he realized not only did Mrs. Weasley's head fit perfectly beneath his chin, but that there were other people in the compartment he didn't know.
Two girls wearing navy blue robes were talking in low tones to each other near the window. The blonde one reminded him vaguely of Hermione with her wild hair that vaguely resembled hay, the other dark with long spirals of hair that kept falling in her face as they huddled together over a book Harry recognized as 'Hogwart's, a History'.
Before he could ask Hermione who the two girls were, Mrs. Weasley was talking.
"Your just Ron's height - both of you too thin for your own good and need some feeding up." Mrs. Weasley pronounced as she released him and Mr Weasley shook his hand. "But we've the entire summer to accomplish it. I daresay there will be no more brawling around the country now that everything…"
Harry felt his heart twist as Mrs. Weasley broke off, quickly dabbing at her tears.
"Nice to see you Harry." Mr. Weasley interrupted, giving him a warm smile.
Harry gave the Weasleys a warm grin in return, feeling his face heat with the attention Mrs. Weasley was giving his rumpled sweatshirt.
"Ron's just in the other compartment, George will you go and get him?" Mrs Weasley asked as Harry settled in beside Mr Weasley, his eyes straying to Ginny, who purposefully avoided his gaze.
"I'll do it." Hermoine said quickly, weaving her way through the little crowd of people in the compartment.
"How was the taxi ride?" Mr Weasley asked as Percy joined them in the compartment, giving Harry a nod before sitting beside the two girls.
Before Harry could answer, George piped up. "Did you see that car at the curb outside the station?" He asked Harry. "Fred and I were trying to get our hands on one for months before – well, just before."
"But Muggles are touchy about their cars being borrowed." Percy finished with a smile so reminiscent of the twins that Harry's heart twisted again in his chest.
"What would you need with a Muggle car?" Mrs Weasley asked, pinning George with a glare.
"Moving things mom! You're the one who told us to quit scaring the Muggles with magicking things from one place to another." George replied.
"What sort of things are you getting from Mundungus that require moving? They must be large enough that Muggles would notice them suddenly disappearing or floating in the air!" Mrs. Weasley asked, her eyes narrowed. "You haven't been accepting stolen cauldrons from that sneak thief, have you?"
"Mum!" George gasped, his hand to his heart as if injured by the suspicion. "How could you think we'd be associating with him in that way? Besides, Whizarding Wheezes has no use for cauldrons - unless of course, they were joke cauldrons, that might melt or something when mixing a potion. Really mom, how could you think we'd be consorting with the likes of Fletcher?" George asked as Mrs. Weasley poked her head out of the compartment, Harry assuming she was looking for Hermione and Ron.
"Because they were." Mr. Weasley whispered to Harry, reminding Harry that he had a bone to pick with Mundungus over the property he had stolen from Sirius's house. "He's a load of questionable silver the twins were interested in returning to its proper owner."
Harry turned to look at George in surprise, and George gave a meaningful nod. "It's the least we can do Harry, after all you've done for us." George whispered as Mrs. Weasley called out for Ron. "We recognized it straight away, and we know how you felt about Sirius." George patted Harry roughly on the shoulder as Harry opened his mouth to thank him. "Doesn't sit well with us that greasy old git with his grubby hands all over Sirius's belongings while he was at the Ministry that night."
Harry felt his stomach twist in rage. "Is that when Mundungus knicked it?"
George shrugged. "Not certain, but it would have been the perfect time, wouldn't it? Especially considering there was no one from the order around that night - seeing how they were all busy."
Rage, hot and heavy bloomed in Harry's chest at the thought, and unbidden, his eyes turned to Ginny, as if the sight of her would calm him, only to find she was still avoiding Harry's eye as she sat quietly in a corner opposite the two girls.
Silently willing Ginny to acknowledge him, Harry barely noticed the train had moved until Mrs. Weasley ended up gripping the door in order to prevent herself from falling backward.
Abandoning the hope of Ginny turning to look at him, Harry let himself be pulled in to a conversation with Mr. Weasley regarding the petrol situation in the Muggle world.
"Shame really, those motorcars belching those toxic vapors in to the air, don't you agree Harry?" Mr Weasley asked politely.
Harry however, had just noticed Hermoine had been gone for a while and Ron still hadn't turned up.
"Huh?" Harry asked, pulling his eyes away from Ginny for the hundredth time. "Oh yes - terrible things - motorcars." He replied, thinking instantly of Uncle Vernon and his preoccupation with owning the largest auto possible to impress the neighbors.
"Oh, where are my manners?" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed loudly, making the two girls who were pointing and reading from the massive tome look up in surprise.
"Harry, come and meet two of Hogwart's newest students." She said, gesturing to the girls opposite Ginny. "This is Devin. Devin Fitzpatrick", the girl with the blonde hair nodded and gave him a small wave and smile.
"Hi." She said with a broad grin.
"– and Ann Bauer." Mrs. Weasley continued, smiling down at the girls from behind her ample bosom.
Ann didn't speak, merely looked up at him from behind the thick fall of black curls, giving him a small nod.
Seizing the opportunity to sit beside Ginny, Harry slid onto the seat next to her as he said hello to both of the girls.
"What year will you be in?" He asked, trying to stop the eruption of butterflies in his stomach. "You certainly aren't first years."
"I'm a third year." The blonde replied, his distraction at her American accent momentarily taking him off guard as she cocked her head at him, so the sun through the window reflected off her hair, making Harry note the reddish highlights within it. "I should be a fourth year, but my birthday is in the winter. I missed the cut off."
"What cut off?" Ginny asked, leaning forward a little so her thigh brushed Harry's, making the butterflies in his stomach take flight again.
"In the US." The brunette said, "they have a cut off date for enrollment."
Harry turned his eyes toward Ann, looking as surprised as she was that she had spoken.
Ann, face coloring slightly, swung her eyes away from his and ducked her head. "I'm in fifth year."
"Do you know what houses you will be in?" Ginny asked. "Or will you have to be sorted like the first years?"
"Oh no." Ann replied, her face still hidden behind the fall of hair, making Harry think she might be in Slytherin for her behavior and refusal to meet anyone's eyes. "We were sorted before we left the states."
"I'm in Gryffindor." Devin said proudly. "At our school though I was in XXXXX. " She wrinkled up her nose, looking up at the ceiling of the compartment a moment as the train began to move, making them sway in their seats. "Though, that is kind of funny, isn't it? My house being one named after the man who helped America during the Revolution? And here I am – in the very country that they were trying to gain independence from?" She looked at Harry and Ginny, gave a little shrug and chuckled to herself.
Harry stared at the blonde, the image of Luna Lovegood in his head.
Ginny however, didn't think the blonde was anything like Luna from the way she laughed. "It is a little strange."
"I'm in Ravenclaw." The brunette whispered, her dark eyes looking up at Ginny from behind her fall of hair. She looked at Harry, as if she was as surprised by speaking as he was at hearing it.
"Lot of good people in Ravenclaw." Harry said with a nod, his hand itching to reach out and take Ginny's.
"Hey." Devin said, pointing at the book the two of them had been reading. "Is this thing accurate?"
Ginny glanced at the book, nodding. "I believe so – Hermione read it and seems to think it is." She frowned. "But you haven't met Hermione yet, have you?"
Devin shook her head, tucking some wild hairs behind her ear as she glanced over the book. "No, I haven't met her yet." She agreed, stabbing with her finger at a piece of the book she and the other American girl had been reading. "It said here before we left the US that the artifacts from the founders are still at Hogwarts, but now it says they were destroyed."
Harry swallowed nervously, remembering how they had destroyed the horcruxes, and wondering how much these foreign students knew about the battle that had been waged on the grounds of Hogwarts.
"Did you do that?" Devin asked, fixing Harry with her blue eyes.
"Er –"
"Yes, he did." Ginny replied, relieving Harry from having to tell the truth.
Devin merely looked at Harry for a long moment, making him aware that Ann was watching him too with her dark eyes. The two of them were such a contrast to each other, he wondered how they managed to stay within one another's company for so long without arguing.
"Yeah, I thought so." Devin finally said with a nod, glancing at the book. "I wonder if it will end up saying Harry Potter destroyed the horcruxes."
Harry jerked a little, surprised by the knowledge these two students had when they hadn't even been in the country at the time.
"I don't think so." Ann replied in an undertone to Devin as she scanned down the page with her finger. "Remember, our Defense teacher was telling us – "
"Oh!" Ginny exclaimed, far more interested in the two Americans then he was, "you have a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher too?"
"My mom."
"Her mom."
Both girls said at the same time with a huge grin, looking very proud.
"Best Defense teacher there is." Ann whispered to Ginny.
"I don't know about that." Harry said, loyalty to Remus and Mad Eye swelling in his chest. "We've had some pretty good ones."
Devin looked up at him again, one pale brow lifted as a smirk played on her lips. "Maybe. We'll just have to see, wont we?"
Ginny laughed a little, making Harry feel like a git for arguing with the two younger students. "I'm sure your mother is a fine teacher." She looked at Harry and shrugged. "And I'll be able to decide for us Harry, since you wont be at Hogwarts this year."
His ears burning a little in embarrassment, Harry glanced around the compartment, noting that George and Percy were scanning over a list of Weasley's Wizarding Wheazes newest products while Mr and Mrs Weasley were discussing something quietly in their corner bench. All of the survivors of Voldemort were looking a little ragged around the edges, as if they would shatter into a million tiny pieces at the faintest mention of one of the fallens names. The buoyancy and youth in the eyes of the two American girls underscored the sadness in the compartment because they had not been touched by the war as the others had been.
"Excuse me a moment, I'm going to - er, going to look for the - er, going for a little walk." Harry replied, feeling guilty but wanting very much to get away from the people in the compartment who were just as depressed as he was at what awaited them at the end of the line in Hogsmeade.
Slipping as quietly as he could manage from the compartment, Harry bounced along the narrow hall of the train, coming up on the compartment beside the one which he had been crowded in beside the Weasley's to find Ron and Hermione sitting across from a figure swathed in a long black cloak, looks of trepidation on their faces as they tried to scan the face beneath the hanging black hood.
Spying the cloaked figure, Harry's stomach rolled when he thought of how much the figure resembled a death eater and it brought to mind Voldemort's Death Eaters as well as what had been taken from everyone aboard the train.
Rage, hot and familiar, ripped through him and he wrenched open the compartment door, his eye on the figure which had not moved or acknowledged the door rattling open and his hand on the wand that stuck up from his back pocket.
"Everyone's looking for you two." He felt the lie come easily to his lips, darting a quick look at Ron and Hermione as he silently urged them to their feet.
"Right." Ron whispered, Hermione's hand clasped in his as he stood and they both slowly edged their way out of the compartment.
Still watching the unmoving figure, Harry slid the door shut, gesturing silently for his two friends to follow him past the compartment where Percy was regaling his family with the new order at the Ministry and Ginny still questioned the two American students.
"Who is that?" Harry asked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of the compartment with the silent, cloaked figure.
"Don't know." Ron replied, suppressing a shudder. "Was sitting there thinking when Hermione came in to needle me some more about Krum – "
"Ron, I told you – we are just friends!" Hermione interrupted in a hissed whisper, pausing to roll her eyes.
Ron cast her a scathing look before continuing. "And that person apparated right there in the compartment – sitting and everything. Hadn't moved at all."
Harry glanced over his shoulder, a shadow of the pain he used to feel in his scar dancing through his memory as he thought of Voldemort and his Death Eaters. "Did you see their face?"
Hermione shook her head in the negative. "No."
"Can't tell if it is a man or a woman." Ron agreed, giving another shudder. "Though why anyone would want to wear robes and a hood like that after what the Death Eaters had done – " He broke off as a compartment door behind them rattled open.
"What are you three doing out here?" Mrs. Weasley shouted at them down the hall. "Ron, come meet the new students."
"Why would I want to meet some ickle midgets?" Ron mumbled, stifling a groan, but rolling his eyes as he started off in the direction of the compartment as Harry held Hermione back with a hand on her arm.
"Hermione, I forgot to ask you if you figured out the Sorting Hat's riddle." He looked hopefully at her, noting the small smile that came to her face.
"No, but I did find out something that I've been meaning to check, especially since we saw that car earlier." She replied, preparing to launch in to her suspicions when Mrs. Weasley called to them.
"I'll tell you later." Hermione promised in a whisper, her eyes beseeching Harry for patience as she slipped past him toward the opened compartment and Mrs. Weasley.
jealous-of-Kags : Thank you for reviewing! -stands over pot of boiling story- -stirs- Doesn't Ron always? lol. -adds ron into pot-
Read and Review oh readers!
