After Hogwarts

Chapter 8

Harry woke up and remembering suddenly why he wasn't wearing any clothes, and neither was Hermione, they had gotten married yesterday, for the second time in two days. They had gotten married first as a muggle couple on Saturday, then yesterday they had gotten married in a magical ceremony at Hogwarts – downstairs since they were in the Gryffindor Quarters now. Harry eased out of bed and headed to the bathroom, he really needed to pee.

When Harry returned to bed he woke Hermione, "Morning Mrs. Potter, ready to go on your honeymoon?"

"Good morning Mr. Potter and I will be as soon as I go to the bathroom, who knew last nights activities would cause such a disparate urge the next morning. Now move out of the way or start swimming" Hermione replied as she rushed to the bathroom.

While Hermione took care of her needs Harry called Daisy to request breakfast for the newlyweds. By the time Hermione returned and crawled back into bed, Daisy was back with their breakfast. "Good morning Miss Hermione and congratulations on being mated to Lord Harry Potter. sir. Will there be anything else you be needing before you leave? Both of your luggage is ready and your traveling clothes are laid out" Daisy said before she popped out of the room.

They enjoyed their first real breakfast as newlyweds, they had not been able to eat together yesterday as they were to be married later that day. Harry remembered all the confusion yesterday, Hermione had stayed in the Ravenclaw quarters with Lizzy Saturday night, after the muggle reception. Lizzy had been one wide-eyed little girl ever since she had been picked up for the weddings, seeing all the wonders of Hogwarts and London. But last night Lizzy had been sent to the Ravenclaw quarters and Luna had stayed with her so she wouldn't be alone.

After finishing breakfast the couple enjoyed each other for a little while before going to the baths and then getting dressed. Hermione still didn't know where Harry was taking her, he had only said she would see new things and have fun. She had been told to pack light weight clothes since where they were going was warm, and only a few robes as they would be in muggle areas most of the time. The plan was to pick Lizzy up and drop her back home before they started their honeymoon.

Once they were dressed Harry shrunk their luggage and they went to see if Lizzy and Luna were up yet, they should be it was 9am. When they got to Luna's quarters they found the two girls looking over some of the books in Luna;s library. You could tell Lizzy was related to Hermione as she was always ready to look at new books and learn new things. "Morning you two, about time you got up, Luna and I got up and ran this morning already. Do I have to go home right now? Luna said she would take me home later, if it was okay with you" Lizzy said when she noticed them.

"First off young lady where is my hug this morning?" Hermione asked and Lizzy was up and hugging both Harry and Hermione almost instantly.

"Now what's this about waiting until later to go home? I'm sure your parents want to spend some of your break with you, and you with them. Besides Luna was nice enough to stay with you last night so you wouldn't be all alone and she needs to spend some time with her dad too." Harry said.

"Well, Luna and I were talking last night about a lot of things and she mentioned that she had got to see real live dragons and I want to see a dragon too. Besides if you don't have to take me home you have more time for your honeymoon." Lizzy replied and tried to look at Harry and Hermione with "puppy dog" eyes.

"What do you have to say about this Luna? We don't want to impose on you" Hermione asked.

"It really isn't a problem and like Lizzy said it would give you a little more time together alone. The only thing is that Harry would have to speak with Fawkes to make sure she wouldn't mind flashing us there and me back. You did know Fawkes was female didn't you Harry?" Luna replied with her best "Looney Luna" look.

Harry and Hermione started laughing and Lizzy had a very surprised look on her face. "Luna you know we know better than that so wipe that 'Looney Luna' expression off your face. Where are you going to find dragons, since Charlie Weasley is spending a few day with his family. You know that Harry won't allow anyone to visit the reserve unless either he or Charlie are there to watch over you" Hermione replied with a smile, she had a pretty good idea what Luna planned. Luna planned to ask Charlie to take them to the reserve for a few hours.

After a little back and forth Harry said that if Luna could convince Fawkes to handle the transport then he didn't see any reason to say no. Luna called Fawkes, changed into her eagle form, and got Fawkes to agree to take Lizzy home and to bring Luna back to her house. With that settled Harry hugged both Luna and Lizzy, changed into his phoenix, and he and Hermione flashed out of the castle.

Hermione didn't recognize the place where they landed, she had never been here before or so she thought. Harry changed back and escorted the two of them to the immigration desk. When asked Harry pulled two passports out and handed them to the clerk. "What is the reason for your visit?" was the next question. "We are on our honeymoon" was all the answer Harry gave. "Congratulations, and welcome to Naples. Please present you wands for inspection and registration" the clerk replied. After their wands were inspected and registered they took the floo to their hotel.

Check-in at the hotel was very quick and they were shown to their suite. Hermione couldn't believe Harry had brought her to Italy for their honeymoon, and they had the "Bridal Suite" too. Harry suggested they rest today and start the tours tomorrow, Hermione was all for that. After a short nap Harry took Hermione down to the spa and had them give her "the works", Hermione spent the afternoon soaking in mud, and just generally being pampered. The two ate supper in the hotel restaurant and retired early.

Hermione was the one to wake up first the next morning, after taking care of her morning duties she woke Harry and suggested they work out in the exercise room before breakfast, and they did. After a nice combination English and Italian breakfast the two started their tour of the area and it's attractions. Hermione was impressed with the visit to old Pompeii and they even went to see Mt. Vesuvius. The two spent several days in the area and even visited a few other places like Rome.

Hermione did discover that Harry had been wrong about the climate, it was cold during this time of the year, and she told him so. "Just an excuse to go shopping for you" was his reply. After three days Harry said it was time to move on and that they would leave after breakfast. This time Harry had purchased a portkey for the next leg of their journey. When they landed Hermione was surprised to see nothing but desert as far as the eye could see. "Where are we?" was the first question asked. "We are standing on top of the Great Pyramid, I had to pay a little extra to get us here and the portkey will only let us stay for 10 minutes then take us to the regular landing point so we can tour the pyramid just like the other visitors do" Harry replied just as the portkey reactivated. They spent the rest of the day touring different parts of the pyramid and surrounding area. The night was spent in a hotel not far away, for magicals only.

The next morning it was time to travel again, this time when they landed it wasn't as warm as the desert but was warmer than Naples. When Hermione looked around she saw many brightly colored paper lanterns hanging all over the area. Once again Harry presented their passports and had them stamped so their visit was official, in the mundane world as well as the magical world. Once again their wands were weighed and registered. Once outside Hermione was surprised to see that they were in Hong Kong China. Harry explained that they would be there for that day and one more before they had to travel again.

The next time they traveled they ended up in Japan, in the city Osaka. "We will be here for one month of compressed time and three days of regular time. The compressed time starts tonight, but when it ends we will have a day and a half to explore and see some of the sights" Harry explained. After checking in with immigration and the wand weighing they were taken to a nice size "palace" for their stay. They had supper in a traditional tea house that night and the next morning Harry had Hermione change into a white Gi before they left their room. When they got downstairs Harry explained that for the next 30 days they would be training under a Master to improve their skills and maybe getting an official rating in the Martial Arts.

The days were split into sessions, the first was physical conditioning, followed by hand-to-hand training, after lunch endurance training, followed by instruction on the use of a staff – both magical and non-magical, the last session of the day was focused on the Arts of the Mind. By the time the first day ended Hermione and Harry were wiped out physically and mentally. They had both been rated as semi-advanced students instead of beginners, as such they had both been given a colored belt to replace the white belt they had worn at the start of the day. That night Harry left Hermione soaking in the tub and went to study with the Japanese Master of wands and staves.

Harry had been instructed to bring only those wands or staff that he had made himself. The master was surprised to see the wand and staff Harry brought. "These were based on the work of Grimstead, there are many of his ideas found. But, there is much of yourself in these items. While you are here we will attempt to create a truly unique wand or staff for you. You have been taught much, but there are a few things yet to learn from the Japanese way" was the opening statement of the master craftsman. When asked why his wand and staff was linked to two elemental forms Harry said he could call both types of elementals, the master doubted that statement until he met both Firebeard and Windford.

It was the evening of the final day of time compression and after the evening meal was an awards ceremony for all of the students. Several of the students were given another belt, only one step beyond what they stared with. Hermione was surprised to find she was considered a Brown belt now by international standards, but Harry received his Black belt. The surprise was when the Masters called Harry up and presented him with a Journeyman Certificate in oriental wand and staff creation. "While in the non-magical world it is not unusual for a female to study the Arts, it is very unusual for one to do so in the magical world. The fact that she is not Japanese is even more unusual. The British witches and wizards are not known for their physical abilities and this couple has shown that even they can excel if properly motivated and trained. The art of crafting magical aides is a dying art and yet here we find one who would carry on that art. Potter-San is known to many as the one who defeated Voldemort' was the closing statement by The Master of the school.

The next morning Harry and Hermione left the "school" and made like regular tourists for the next day and a half, they visited several places of interest like Mount Fuji and several other places of interest. But now it was time to move on they only had two days until school started again. It took several hops but the next major stop was at San Francisco and from there it was a simple jump, or flash, to Peaks to say hello to Alana. After a brief visit the two headed to Lizzy's house to say hello and to see how she was doing. The Nelsons were sorry that Harry and Hermione couldn't stay a little longer but they were short on time and long on distance to travel. The final stop was the Gryffindor quarters and a well deserved night of rest since students would return the next night.

It was Sunday morning when Harry and Hermione went downstairs to see the headmistress and the rest of the staff. They spent a few hours showing the staff pictures of some from their travels and adventures. Soon it was time for the train to return and Harry and Hermione had drawn the duty at the station to welcome the students back. The return feast was as noisy as usual, but Harry and Hermione were hounded by several students afterward wanting to know all about their honeymoon, like where they went and what they saw – if anything besides the inside of their bedroom. That night Harry hung his new certificate up in his office at Hogwarts, right beside his certificate from Grimstead.

It was 530am Monday morning when Harry, Hermione, and the rest of their friends met for their morning workout, but overnight there had been a snow storm move in and it wasn't fit weather to go outside and run. The group went to the room of requirement and had it take the form of a gym and worked out on the machines there. Harry's first class was Defense for 1st years and he was glad to see that they had all done their homework and had their papers on elementals ready. Harry had a few of the students read their papers and was surprised when several of them had what amounted to mini-books to hand in. If the Gryffindor and Hufflepuffs had that kind of report to hand in then Harry was dreading the Ravenclaw reports.

It was after supper that night when McGonagall asked Harry to meet her in the hospital wing as Poppy had something she needed to tell both of them. When they got to the hospital wing Poppy was just finishing up with a student who had been involved in a potion accident. "Minerva, Harry, as you might remember during the summer session it was discovered that a couple of students had a binding on their cores. While this isn't that unusual for magically raised students these two weren't raised magically, but are muggle born. I'm not sure how to put this, but both were fathered by the same man. The mothers are two different women and the students aren't related except through the father. Someone needs to tell Draco Malfoy he has a stepbrother and a stepsister" Poppy said once they were alone. Both McGonagall and Harry were speechless for several seconds.

"Poppy, are you sure about this?" was the first thing out of McGonagall's mouth once she got the power of speech back.

"That is why it took me so long, I had the tests run several times and not only here but at St. Mungo's and didn't give them any information other than that the samples were from the results of a possible rape. As you know Minerva, in the magical world rape of a muggle results in a life sentence to Azkaban. It was St. Mungo's that determined the name of the father, a little late since Lucius is dead. I suspect it was he who placed the bindings on these students but can't be sure. The results were not made known to the students, but I felt you two should know as the results were recorded at the Ministry, and sealed from public view" Poppy continued.

"At least the records are sealed, there is not a good reason to condemn the students because of their 'father's' actions or reputation. I assume that the male was Tom, if so that might be why he is as strong as he is. Headmistress, is it necessary to inform Draco of these results? I think it would be in the best interests of the students to keep this information very quiet", Harry interjected.

McGonagall thought for a few seconds before agreeing with Harry. "Yes, it would be in the effected students best interests to keep their parentage a secret. There is no use in ruining the reputation of any woman by saying she was raped, especially a muggle woman by a wizard. That might only cause more problems for the magical world if it was known to happen too often and covered up. But, the Malfoy estate should have to cover their education and they should get something out of the incident", McGonagall concluded.

When Harry mentioned the new information to Hermione, she was ready to dig Lucius up and kill him again. Her question of whether or not Draco would follow in his father's footsteps made Harry think. Harry didn't want to think about that and had hoped that maybe Draco could be "saved" so to speak. "Hopefully, that was a learned behavior and not something in his genes. Maybe the DMLE should keep an eye on Draco for a while, just to see that he doesn't continue his father's actions" was Harry's final thoughts on that subject.

A/N: Well the honeymoon is over and school has started back. Now we know why some of the kids had their cores bound. It does raise the question of some of the muggle-born students heritage though. What is next for our group? Due to a computer melt down the next chapter will be a while coming - my desktop crashed and it had all the work on it, sorry.

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