Chap 3: Chocolate Frogs
When Hermione and her parents arrived at the Burrow, they were very surprised. Mr. and Mrs. Granger had never been there and were very curious to finally see the house where their daughter wished to spend all her vacation and probably her future as they had been happy to hear she was FINALLY dating Ron, the younger red-headed boy they had been hearing of since she had started attending Hogwarts. They had seen a couple pictures and been told by their daughter that the house had been destroyed during the war, as well as their old townhouse in London. But Hermione did not know that Harry and the Weasleys had been working on improving the house since they had politely kicked the parents out of the house. What greeted her was a clean stone cottage with a pile of debris on the side and what they could salvage on the other side.
After greeting each other, the Grangers asked if they could lend a hand, wanting to help the family who had been so generous with their run-away daughter. They had accepted her reasons for leaving them in security but were still a bit touchy on the fact their daughter thought all right to erase any memory of their only daughter.
The boys and Fleur were happy to have Hermione with them, she was after all a very gifted witch and were quickly giving her instruction to how she could help, under the impressed watch of her parents who had rarely seen their daughter doing her art.
"This is basically the house we finished" said Ron showing the roughly-handled plans to his girlfriend. "That will be the new kitchen, bigger so that the whole family can sit. That by the main fireplace will be the sitting room and we added a smaller lounge that can serve as library and office. We added smaller fireplaces to heat the place in winter but only the one in the sitting room will be connected to the Floo."
That was followed by an explication to the Granger to what was the Floo, as they were not too sure.
"Now on the first landing you have the master suite for Mum and Dad, a smaller suite for guests and the bathroom. So we have basically everything that the two of them will need when they are alone in the house."
"I sense a but" said Hermione watching the tired but happy faces on her surrogate family.
"Ve vish to make ze house az family-oriented az possible" said Fleur hugging her husband.
"Harry had the brilliant idea that we could all have our own room and so that we could visit Mum and Dad whenever, which will thrill them." said Charlie, sporting a nasty sunburn on his naked shoulders.
Harry felt the need to explain or maybe he did not want the credit but his opinion was not to be heard as Percy shut him up with a look and addressed Hermione, after all, before the war they had gotten along fine. "What do you propose we do? We do not want to give Mother the impression she is living in an empty haunted house but we are planning to use this house as a place where she can receive all her grandchildren, starting with Theodore Lupin. Also, Father really like the way the Burrow like before, I do not think he would enjoy living in something that would remind him of a Manor like the Malfoys."
Always so tactful, Percy had not noticed the flinch from the trio or the sad look Bill and Fleur gave them. After all, it had been decided that as a celebration to the new house, every member would tell the family what had happened on their side.
Hermione stopped rubbing her old scar on her neck and started to work, listening to all the advices her parents, boyfriend, his brothers and her best friend told her.
They finished their evening sharing a meal prepared by Kreacher in Grimmauld Place.
The following days were spent creating what Hermione had planned, then placing the furniture. They had to buy quite a few new things, as Ron did not want to still be sleeping on a bed he knew Charlie had shagged in and Ginny had asked for something other than a camp bed.
The Grangers decided that as they were to live without their daughter once again, they rather stay in somewhere quieter than the city and Ottery St. Catchpole was a nice countryside village where dentist could still be useful. The fact that they were still quite close to their daughter helped immensely.
As her husband took care of their new place, Mrs. Granger lend a hand to her daughter in decorating the kitchen. Together they had found in Muggle London a set of old wooden chairs and the older lady used her time to repair each and everyone of them; painting them and adding cushions. As she was asked by the boys, there wasn't two identical chairs. you could guess they were the same basic chair but Mrs. Granger had made each as unique as the person who would use it, making Charlie's with Dragon hide handles, Percy's a dark wood that gave it a serious look, Ginny's with brooms painted on the back that Hermione charmed to fly around, Harry had small sniches and George's was painted a multitude of bright colors and had a Muggle joke product installed in the seat so that everytime he sat down, it sounded like he had farted.
That chair brought the first laugh out of George since the Battle, but he still turned to his side waiting for a comment he would never receive. As he left the kitchen, Hermione asked her mother if she could do a replica of that seat and add the initials F and G to their back.
Harry had been the one to follow George. He found him at the edge of the garden sitting by the gnomes hole. He wasn't tricking them, or throwing them or even teaching them swear words. No, he was just sitting down watching his own two feet in front of him.
"It's weird, I have my two feet, but I never considered them my own, one was Fred's one was mine. As they were identical we joked saying that maybe during birth we switched and no one noticed."
George was not waiting for a reply and Harry knew that. He knew that when you lose someone dear, you do not want other people to tell you what you feel. Because every case is different, losing Sirius had felt different than losing Remus, yet he had both considered them his godfathers. So what did he know about losing a twin, and not any twin, Fred Weasley, the life of a party, half of a renowned duo.
So Harry let him talk, not saying a word. George told him how Fred had asked Angelina out for the Yule Ball because he knew his twin fancied her and it was the only way to show him that she was not unaccessible. How they were picked by Oliver Wood to join the Quidditch team, by using their brooms and bat to send stink bombs all over the main staircase aiming at the ghosts. How Fred had joked about cutting his own ear too so that they could tease their mother again. How when they had nightmares as children they never went to their parents' bed but seeked the other. How they could be differentiated by a freckle on the inside of their wrist. How they got the Marauders Map and learned so much out of it that when they learned Sirius and Remus invented it, they worked twice as hard to get their approval, which they got quickly with a prank involving a bikini clad Snape and a blond Snuffle. How they then made the twins honorary Marauders, him as Mssr. Rapier and me as Mssr. Rodent, names they later used in Potterwatch, though even then they were mistaken us.
When he heard that last tid bit of information, Harry took the Map out of his trousers' pocket. He gave it to George, who ruefully gave the incantation.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
As the ink appeared both boys reveled in the treasures that Map had brought them.
"Did you know which Marauders were Remus and Sirius?" asked Harry, knowing the two late wizard had liked to keep the twins guessing.
"Well Lupin was obviously Mooney. Or maybe Padfoot, if you consider a werewolf sneaky. And Sirius... well Padfoot seems a nickname that would fit a black dog animagus, but as I do not know the other members maybe he was Wormtail; you know he had a tail and could worm his way out of tricky situation." The prankster sighed. He hated not knowing that tidbit of information. Harry traced the names with his finger as he explained to the older man.
"Remus Lupin was indeed Mooney, due to his little furry problem. His three best friend, aside from pranking the school at every possible occasions, did something to appease their friend during the full moon, they ALL became Animagi. Padfoot was Sirius Black, as he transformed in the form of a shaggy black dog. I always thought he looked a bit like a grim." Harry added with a chuckle.
"Wormtail was Peter Pettigrew." At George's look, Harry told him the full story, to be sure he knew everything. "He was their friend and Sirius got thrown in Azkaban for his murder as well as the murder of 13 bystander. However that had been a setup by the rat. Yes, Pettigrew's Animagus form was the one of a big fat rat. He cut his toe to fake his death and escape as a rat to a Wizard family."
George's eyes could have fallen out of its sockets.
"You do not know how shocked Ron was when he realized that Scabbers, who slept in his bed and chew on his sheets was actually a human hiding from Azkaban. He was the one that brought Voldemort back at the end of the Triwizard Tournament, coming back in the good books of his lord after failing 14 years before. He died this spring in Malfoy Manor when we were captured. Ron and I were wrestling with him and he was about to strangle me with the hand Voldemort had created for him after he had to cut his own during the ceremony. But I had saved him when Remus and Sirius told us the truth. I had stopped them from murder, saying that we should bring him to the Dementors in the castle. We never did but the fact that I had first spared his life made him hesitate in killing me when he could have. I guess Voldemort had charmed his new hand not to show pity and Ron and I could not stop it from killing its owner."
George was awestruck, learning how much one of his idol had been turned to the dark side and done so much harm to Harry. But there were still holes in the story.
"Why would you spare him, when you know he is the reason your godfather was in prison? Why would he hesitate to kill you if he was working for Voldemort? How come he turned bad? Why did Sirius want to kill him the first time?"
Harry found those questions easier to answer than he thought they would be. It was very personal and started with one name.
"You did not ask who was the last Marauder."
"I figured if you knew, you would have told me."
With a small smile, Harry conjured his patronus. "Prongs"
George had a hard time wrapping his head around the name, the stag and the relation to Harry.
"Did I never tell you the significance of my Patronus in the DA." At the negative answer, Harry elaborated. "When I saved Sirius from all those Dementors third year, I had first thought I had seen my own father conjure a unicorn. Quite silly thinking back about it, though the image does not stop making me laugh. Long story short I had seen myself because we had a bit of an adventure with a time-turner. When we discussed it with Dumbledore later he told me all the Marauders had ran over the grounds that night; Mooney the werewolf, Padfoot the dog, Wormtail the rat and Prongs the stag. He had meant my patronus."
"So Prongs was a stag Animagus, I still do not see the relation to you."
"How could I know, even unconsciously, what Prongs looked like if I had never met him?"
"So you met him, who was he?"
"My dad."
George almost choked on his own saliva. Harry laughed at him continuing his tale.
"James Potter met Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew on their first ride aboard the Hogwarts Express. My dad and Sirius were much like you and Fred were." George grimaced at the past tense, but tried not to let get to him as he was compared to his idol, his friend's father it appeared.
"I could tell you stories about them, but since I did not grew up with my own father I do not know everything about him, just stories someone else told me. Basically, he was in love with my mother instantly though she could hardly stand him and they only dated when they were in their final year at Hogwarts while being Head Boy and Girl."
"P-pp-p-prongs was Head Boy." Harry laughed, knowing how much he had teased his brothers about that title.
"Yes. They got married and had me and left to go into hiding." Harry did not want to elaborate on that sadder part on his parents' life. He was the reason they were hiding though he understood it was their choice and Voldemort had killed them, not Harry. "But trying to be cunning they had not made Sirius Black their Secret-Keeper as he was sure to be targeted but Peter Pettigrew, not knowing he was already a spy. When Sirius learned Pettigrew was the reason my parents were gone he tried hunting him down, and that's how he got tricked and sent to Azkaban. Trust me, if there was one man I hate almost as much as Voldemort, if not more it would be Pettigrew. You saw me after your accident with your ear, I refuse to believe a friend could betray me, I inherited that from my father apparently. But when Sirius and Lupin had their wand raised at him, I simply could not watch them kill their own old friend. Even if the feelings were not there anymore, they were before" Harry pointed at the map, proof that the four boys had been friends. " and I refuse to stand by and watch all I had left of my father become murderers. In the end that act saved me."
The two sat in silence, watching the stars, wondering if the four- three friends were together now, happy at last.
"Have you tried talking to them?" asked George out of the blue.
"Snape did, when he caught me once. It was hilarious how he got insulted."
"Well when we talked to them with Fred, they gave us a lot of tip. Look."
George cleaned the Map and tapped it saying; "Mssr. Rodent and Mssr. Prongs Jr. wishes to salute our dear idols."
"They usually like it when we are overly-polite"
Mssr. Mooney expresses his thanks to Mssr. Rodent and applauds whoever came up with Prongs Jr.
Mssr. Padfoot would like to add that he is proud of them both, though Mssr. Prongs Jr. could do a bit more pranking according to his favorite godfather.
Mssr. Prongs is forced by his lady to say that his son will not act as childishly as Mrrs. Padfoot, we will love him no matter what.
Mssr. Wormtail is pointing out it is soon time for dinner.
Mssr. Rapier will finish by pointing out to Mssr. Rodent that someone who does not laugh once a day is someone that should to listen to his brother sing under the shower.