Chapter 13 Ceremonies
As fast and surprising as the news about Harry and Hermione being married and already having two children, or about Neville and Ginny being betrothed or the fact that Ginny had tried to kill Hermione, nothing was more shocking or surprising than Draco Malfoy dating 'Looney' Luna Lovegood. The day after Harry's victory over Nagini, the entire school got their socks blown off when Draco arrived, holding Luna's hand and led her over to the Ravenclaw table and sat down beside her for breakfast. And the stares continued the rest of the day. Many of Draco's housemates asked if he was crazy or checked to see if he was under a spell or love potion. He very carefully told them all no that it was good old human love and to leave them alone and mind their own business. Pansy, it was reported, cornered Luna in one of the girl's bathrooms and told her to leave Draco alone and Luna had calmly told her that 'her dragon' would never return to her or stray from herself now that he had found his true mate. When Pansy tried to hex her, Luna simple stepped out of the path of the spell and cast one of her own, placing the Slytherin in a spider's web and hung her from the ceiling. After that no messed with 'the keeper of the dragon'.
Harry had a good laugh over hearing that bit of news and teased Draco about having a keeper. Draco finally asked Hermione to shut her husband up or that husband wouldn't be of much use to her for a while. Harry only stopped when Hermione threatened him with the sofa for a few nights.
Saturday morning dawned beautiful and during breakfast the Weasleys, Moony, Tonks, and Narcissa arrived for the blessing ceremony and the naming of the godparents. The babies were bathed and dressed in gowns that Narcissa had given them as their surrogate grandmother. She and Tonks carried them through the school to a small room that Harry thought was a chapel to the castle at one time. Tonks handed Robbie to George and Narcissa handed Raven to Luna. The two sets of godparents then turned and went towards Professor Flitwick, who was performing the ceremony. Harry held Hermione's hand through the whole thing and felt some relief in the knowledge that if anything should happen to them his children would be taken care of. Even the one on the way was provided for. Harry had approached Bill and Fleur asking if the would be the new child's godparents when it was born in May. They were happy to and promised to keep an eye on the mother back in London. Harry had already had had a report on Sarah Brown for Mr. Prewett telling him that she was doing fine, seeing her doctor regularly, that she had found a flat to live in and that she was even taking a few courses from one of the universities. Hermione couldn't wait for the child to be born and poured over names, making lists of both boy and girl name seeing what sounded and looked good together.
The tea that followed the ceremony was rather quiet considering that Fred and George were both there. They presented their godson with a watch for Harry and Hermione to keep until he was older. The watch not only told regular muggle time but also cosmic wizard's time. Draco and Luna presented their goddaughter with a beautiful gold locket engraved with her namesake.
It was quite a sight to see Narcissa talking to Luna. It made Draco extremely nervous since he wasn't allowed to join in their talk and he didn't trust his mother with his unorthodox girlfriend but was slightly relieved when she told him that she approved of his choice. Before leaving Narcissa pulled Harry aside and told him that Snape had figured out a possible way to destroy the 'problem' and wanted to know if there was some way that Harry could come to the house soon. Harry told her that he would be there right after breakfast.
"Bring Hermione and the babies. I haven't seen then in so long, today doesn't count."
That night Harry mentioned what Narcissa had said and told her that he was going in the morning. "She wants you and the babies to come and spend the day with her."
"It would be nice to get away for the day and Narcissa would enjoy spoiling the children." As they prepared to leave the following morning Draco found out and insisted that he and Luna come as well. Since there was no reason not to Harry agreed. They waited for Draco to return with Luna before heading out of the castle and apparating to Godric's Hollow. Draco had already revealed the secret to Luna so that she could come.
Narcissa was happy that they came so early and that Draco and Luna had come with them. She immediately started spoiling her 'grandchildren', and the look that she shared with Luna made Draco feel uneasy and was thinking that he should have left his girlfriend back at the castle.
Harry led Draco down into the cellar and into the potions lab where Snape was working on a very violent potion. It reminded Harry of a miniature volcano. Both waited until Snape was ready to talk.
"Harry, Draco, thank you for coming. I started thinking and thanks to Dumbledore's memories, have come up with a possible potion that will destroy the Horcruxes. Now Harry if you could turn into your snake form, I would like to milk some venom from you. Draco if you could hold him during this I believe that Harry would be more comfortable."
Harry transformed and allowed Draco to pick him up while Snape held the container to catch the venom.
"I believe that I have enough Harry, You can change back." Draco placed him on the floor and Harry returned to normal. "Now I need to find two more venoms, from different species to make this work."
"Would spider venom work? Or a Black Phoenix?"
"Both would be very helpful but where would we find a Black Phoenix? I understand that the spider's could be found in the Forbidden Forest, but I doubt that there is a Black Phoenix there."
"Actually I can transform into both of those forms as well but I had no idea that a Black Phoenix was venomous."
"Unlike a regular Phoenix's tears, a Black one causes the wound to worsen and the victim will die as there is no known cure for it. Can you truly change into that as well?"
Harry nodded and transformed into his spider causing Draco to jump. Once Snape had enough venom from the spider, Harry changed into his Black Phoenix. Both Snape and Draco stepped back away from the table while Harry flew over and cried tears into a container. When he thought that there was enough he flew back towards the others and transformed back into himself. Draco was in awe at what he had seen Harry just accomplish. Seeing Draco's look he asked "Would you like to try and become an animagus, you and Luna? It might help one day. I'll talk to Hermione about the potion that she made to help with our transformations."
Snape added all three venoms to the potion. It bubbled and hissed worse than before. Each venom made the color of the potion change. When he was done, Snape levitated the cauldron to the dueling room while Harry levitated the container that held Voldemort's soul. They went there in case there was an explosion so that none of the delicate potion ingredients would be damaged. Once the cauldron was placed on the floor Harry lowered the soul container down into the potion and just before it touched he opened it, releasing the soul fragments. The moment they hit the potion the most god awful scream erupted from the cauldron and a huge explosion that knocked all three of them into the wall behind them. Hermione and Luna came running down the stairs, wands drawn, trying to find out what happened. Snape ignored the girls as Harry and Draco explained what had happened to their respective women.
"Did it work" asked Harry.
"I believe so."
"Then that just leaves old Tom to deal with."
"Don't forget about his faithful followers."
"As if I could" snorted Harry. "I still need to deal with Trixie and her gang plus Wormtail. I also think that Draco wants to deal with his daddy but I think I'm allowed a little sigh of relief with this out of the way."
"I didn't mean it like that and just so you know I believe that we are further ahead of schedule than Dumbledore figured on."
They returned to Hogwarts after spending a pleasant afternoon at home with the 'family'. Harry helped Hermione take the sleeping twins back to their rooms before heading up to the Headmistress' office. Again the stairway started moving as he approached. Once inside the office Professor McGonagall fire called Moony. Once Moony was there, Harry updated them on what had happened earlier that day. Both were shocked and pleased with the news. Moony relayed the news that Wormtail had been sighted near Godric's Hollow. It seemed that he was trying to determine if Harry was living there or not. He would pass the information on to Narcissa and Snape when he left here. Lookouts were being posted and a trap was being laid out, hopefully to catch the rat.
The days that followed were happier ones for Harry and Hermione. The strain of the Horcruxes was lifted from Harry's shoulders, making him smile, laugh, and tease more that he had in months, lightening the mood all around him. Five days after the visit to Godric's Hollow Moony sent an owl that Wormtail had been captured and had been turned over to the Ministry for trial. A second owl, from the Minister himself, requested Harry's presence at Wormtail's trail on the following Monday. McGonagall happily gave him permission to attend.
On that Monday, Harry made sure he had all three wands before kissing Hermione good-bye. Flooing from the Headmistress' office to Grimmauld Place where he and Moony went outside and apparated to the Ministry building, going through security to the same courtroom that his own trial had been in. The room was packed to capacity, including several reporters, even Rita Skeeter, and photographers. Rita was trying to get Harry's attention but he ignored her and all the others and sat down next to Tonks, who was saving them seats. Headed by Amos Diggory, the Wizengament found in no time that Peter Pettigrew was guilty and sentenced to the Kiss immediately. They also found Sirius Black innocent and made the recommendation of awarding the medal of Merlin First Class posthumously.
Just as the Dementor was about to administer the kiss all hell broke loose as Bellatrix LeStrange arrived with fifty Deatheaters. Harry realized that one of the reasons for the attack was to cause mayhem while the other was to rescue Wormtail, which Harry was not going to let happen. Drawing his snake wand he fired an "Incarsorus" and Wormtail was bound in ropes made of snakes, hissing at him. Harry hissed at the snake telling them to hold on to him and not let him transform into his rat form. By the time Harry attention returned to the rest of the room he saw several bodies on the floor either dead or unconscious. Bellatrix was in her element, causing pain and destruction in her wake.
"If it isn't little baby Potter, missing the muggles yet, baby? I'm sure that they suffered before they died. Too bad about the boy. Who knew that a body could explode that much" she taunted, wanting Harry to either be scared or angry. When he didn't show either emotion she got angry instead.
"CRUCIO" but Harry sidestepped the curse and fired "Incarsorus" with the snake wand. She was quickly subdued by the snake ropes and one made its way up to gag her with its body. She struggled as Harry hissed to the snakes to make sure that she couldn't move. Harry took great pride in snapping Bella's wand right in front of her face. When the rest of the Deatheaters saw that their leader had been captured most tried to leave and by the end of the skirmish over half had been captured. After a brief word with Amos Diggory, it was decided that Harry would order his snake ropes to bite their victims, injecting them with their venom, and holding them until they died. It was gruesome to watch and Harry got very little satisfaction out of it. Once they were dead Harry released the spell and the snakes fell into ashes. Now Voldemort had two less leaders for his Deatheaters.
It took less than an hour for Voldemort to find out about had happen and Harry was hit hard with a wave of anger due to the connection in the scar. He nearly passed out from the pain before he was able to cut off the connection. He returned to Hogwarts, told McGonagall what had happened, and went to see Madam Pomfrey for a pain relief potion before going to his rooms, making a quick sweep as he made his way. Hermione noticed immediately that Harry looked like he had been in another battle. As he ate his dinner that Dobby brought him, Harry told Hermione what had happened. Hermione wrote a quick note to Narcissa explaining Bellatrix's death and sending Winky to deliver it. She then got Harry into their bedroom and gave him a massage until he fell asleep. She and Draco made a final check on the castle while Hermione informed him about what had happened.
The Daily Prophet, the next morning, told the riveting story in all its glorious detail and by the end of the first period, the entire school was buzzing about it. Harry was asked several times to retell what happened but he remained closed mouth about it. Only to Neville did he tell the entire story to, feeling that his friend deserved the truth and now could go on with his life with Ginny. Harry jokingly told him that it was an extra wedding gift.
True to his word Neville had moved the wedding date to Halloween and had received permission to have the wedding and reception at Hogwarts. Ginny was still doing her detention with Filch every night and most of Gryffindor house ignored her for what she had tried to do to Hermione. As the wedding day moved closer and closer Ginny tried to tell anyone who would listen that there was not going to be any wedding and that everyone would come to their senses before Halloween. Neville made sure that Ginny stayed away from the Potters, especially after Ginny had said that Harry was going to stop the wedding and run away with her. But Halloween arrived much to Ginny's horror and she was prepared for her wedding.
Harry's part was simple. He was one of the ones escorting the bride down the aisle along with Bill, Fred, and George as an honorary brother. Neville had wanted Harry to stand up with him but agreed that Harry should help escort Ginny down the aisle, so he asked surprisingly Draco who surprised everyone by agreeing . That had everyone in shock. Luna had been asked by Fleur to stand up with Ginny, since Ginny had refused to deal with anything with the wedding.
The guests were seated. Neville was waiting at the altar with Draco. An old wizard stood behind the altar waiting. Harry took his place in front of Ginny beside Bill with Fred and George following behind her mostly to push her into moving or to catch her if she decided to try and run. As they walked forward, each step made Ginny hope that someone would stop this farce. She had begged and pleaded with Bill to stop the wedding all last night but he refused. Her last hope was that someone, namely Harry, would stop the ceremony and sweep her away, but it wasn't happening. They stood behind her as she was made to marry Neville. No one objected or tried to stop it. She was doomed to her fate.