Chap 4: Pumpkin Pasties

The highlights of his days were the small notes Pig brought him all throughout the day. Hermione had chastised Harry many times that such a small fragile owl should not have to go back and forth between the Burrow and Hogwarts just so that he could share part of his day with Ginny. Once again, the topic of owls came up at dinner.

"Why don't you go to Diagon Alley and get a new owl?" asked Ron, a bit peeved that his pet was constantly on the move.

"I can't get myself to replace Hedwig." And once again Hermione reminded him of his old broom. "You couldn't replace your Nimbus, yet you were more than glad to receive the Firebolt from Sirius, which you also need to replace." But a broom was not a pet.

His surprise came one late night.

He had been unable to go to sleep and met with George in the now pristine kitchen. George was playing with the Marauders' Map, as he had been found doing a lot recently, either showing Harry a weird note from his godfather or a student that was out of bed. This night, George was reading the Marauders Code.

"Article 28: Never look under Padfoot's bed" Harry chuckled imagining what bizarre things could have hidden there after seven straight years of neglect from his godfather.

As he was about to read another one, he noticed a bright light outside. Drawing his wand, he motioned to George to follow him outside on the street. Both wizards ready for an attack, they made their way to the park where a small flame was dying out.

"Fawkes?" Harry was more than surprised to see his old Headmaster's phoenix in a London park during his Burning Day. Scooping the featherless chick up, Harry went back inside 12 Grimmauld Place.

Quickly telling George that it was Dumbledore's phoenix, the latter asked him why it was hanging out there.

"I do not know. Last we saw of him was at his master's funeral. Remember the song." The older man did remember the event and together they found a perch and cushion to put the small bird to rest.

"Quite ugly, if you ask me" said George, going back to the Map he had left in their hurry to save the phoenix. "Look at this: 'Article 5: Do not EVER say that Lily Evans is a know-it-all. The consequences are quite painful, ask Padfoot."

Harry smiled, imagining his father defending his mother from his best mates. Thinking it was a good time to retire to bed, Harry left George, barely overhearing the older wizard's whisper "'Article 13: A Marauder will never be left behind.' so why am I here?"

They were all waiting impatiently at the station. Ron and Harry having a pang of nostalgia, both thinking of how they could have been on that train and how they never will again. Kingsley had seen them days prior and after deliberation, the trio had made their choice for their future.

Hermione could not be swayed out of going back to Hogwarts and would be attending starting on September 1, along with Ginny, for their seventh year.

Many students had picked this choice, from Muggle-borns who had been in hiding, or older who needed strong OWLs or NEWTs results for their career, or simply people who had been expelled by the Carrows. Headmistress was encouraging every youth to comeback, saying that they would use this year, and this year only, to bring everyone up to speed and rise the school's reputation to its former glory.

Ron had an excellent point made, much to his brothers' amusement (though not his mother), asking what was the point in defeating Voldemort if he had to go back to homework anyway. According to him, he proved himself to everybody else. This new-found confidence elated his girlfriend who had simply jumped in his arms and snogged him in front of his and her family and the Minister. When Harry cleared his throat, Ron shot him an amused look. "You can't say anything, mate. There isn't a battle happening now." Hermione said she would miss him, but after many promises that he would find time to go to the Hogsmead weekends, she let him go. Ron was therefore starting Auror training in September.

Harry's decision was harder than his friends'. Hogwarts had been his first home. Years ago, he would beg to live there, even during the summer. But he had a new home now; the Burrow. And not even the prospect of being Quidditch Captain, being with all his friends (especially Ginny) and have other people make decisions for him could erase his unease.

Ron was right, after all they had been through, could he really just go back to being an ignorant student whose life was around homework and exams? Charlie then said that he should "screw school, you can play for England". Harry had received proposals by Quidditch teams who had seen his talent at Hogwarts and who wanted also to have the famous Harry Potter play for them. It was a dream come true. Yet, it was not HIS dream. He loved Quidditch, but how could he focus on the Snitch when he knew in the back of his head that some ex Death Eater was still wondering around.

Really, there wasn't really a choice. He had told McGonagall years ago he wished to be an Auror. Her defense for his dream against the old toad was still one of his fondest memory. He did not want it to make his parents proud of because he wanted to follow his grandfather's footsteps as Sirius had told him when 15-years-old Harry went to him with his dream. He did not want it because it was expected of him ("After You-Konw-Who, Harry Potter could vanquish any Dark Lord" said Rita Skeeter). No, Harry was good at Defense Against the Dark Arts, and he knew he could help people this way. As his Ginny said, he was nothing more than a "Noble Prat". So Harry Potter would join his best friend in Auror training in the Fall.

And now here they were, the Golden Trio. They had just met up Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, who were arriving back from France, and were now waiting for the Hogwarts Express to bring Ginny back so they could all see the Burrow as a family.

When the train arrived, the students ran to their family. The euphoria of the end of the war was still present, as people found members of their family who had been in hiding, maybe supposedly dead. Many people had approached the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione to thank them, or congratulate them.

Ron was surprised to see Mrs. Cattermole. She came to thank him for helping her family escape.

All those people had scared the baby in Mrs. Weasley's arms. Harry had been taking care of Teddy often and the baby was to have his first sleep-over with his godfather tonight at the Burrow. But with the crowd of people swarming around the young man, Mrs. Weasley had taken the baby from Harry. Teddy, who was very fond of his godfather, made a fuss until his hair face and eyes turned a bright crimson, and Mrs. Weasley gave the baby back to Harry. Teddy calmed right away, his features changing slowly to match his godfather's.

"What a lovely family picture" said Ginny miming taking a photograph as she approached her family. Still smirking at Harry, Ginny hugged every member of her family, stopping at him last. Expecting a hug like everyone else, he put Teddy in one arm and extended the other. What he wasn't prepared for was the force with which Ginny threw herself in his arms before snogging the daylight out of him.

Between catcalls and wolf-whistles from Hogwarts students who knew about their previous relationship, her brothers' groans and her mother's surprised squeak, Harry had the decency to hand the laughing Teddy to Hermione so that he could greet his maybe-not-an-ex-anymore-girlfriend like she deserved. As he pull back to catch his breath, Ginny gave him her most radiant smile before hitting him repeatedly on his head.

"That should have happened the minute you arrived back in May. I should not have had to wait weeks for my boyfriend to kiss me more than was absolutely necessary and even then, you could have at least owled me when you three were gone. I was really scared for you. How would you feel if I dissapeared like that and never gave you ANY information about my whereabouts. I'm really mad at you Harry James Potter." The redhead had finished her rant by embracing Harry once again, hiding her face in his shoulder. It told him a lot about how hurt she really was, when he started feeling tears seeping through his shirt. Knowing how she hated showing weakness though, he acted as if it hadn't happened and held her until he was sure she was done crying. Discreetly drying her tears, Harry took her face in his hands and kissed her once again before they faced her family together.

"Guess Lil' Ginnikins isn't our baby anymore, boys." Said George patting Percy and Bill's shoulder before turning around. The Talk would wait until they were safely back at home.

small chapter, I know I am sorry. I am moving and do not have internet. Rest assured, I'll keep on writing, you'll just have to wait until I visit someone like today so that i can post anything.

Til then, I have a question for you.

Audrey Weasley, Percy's future wife has basically no past. I'm letting you choose whether she is a Muggle or a Witch. If any of you has a burst of inspiration, you can even do a character profile (name, age, appearance, bio...)

bye