Author's Notes: Once again, thanks to all my readers out there who read my story in the past week who have helped push this to over 4,500 hits. You are all so awesome, thank you very much. And a special thanks to all my reviewers.
ProfessorChris: Thanks for your continuing support. Just remember that power in and of itself is not good or evil. It is the way it is used that makes it good or evil. The Killing Curse in and of itself is not evil.
Okay, last week's Monty Python reference was, of course, Ron's fake spell at the beginning of the chapter. Romanes eunt domus is from a very memorable scene in Monty Python's "Life of Brian," where Brian (played by Graham Chapman) has completely butchered every rule of Latin grammar and a Roman centurion (played by John Cleese) puts it right.
This week's reference will be from something that everyone has at least heard of, so it should be easy to catch.
Okay, lets change gears a little for now. By the way, there's a bit of a mature situation in this chapter, so be aware of that.
Chapter 11: A Daydream to Remember
It was noon on Saturday, September 6, 1997, and as the Muggle world mourned, work on renovating Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place continued unabated.
Harry sighed as he lowered his wand. "That was the third boggart today," he commented out loud in the drawing room as he slipped his wand into his pocket, "Have they been breeding in here since we last cleared it out?"
Gary Gryffindor sprayed the last Doxy that was flying around him with his spray bottle filled with Doxycide, causing that pest to fall to the floor of the room with a small thud. "That is a distinct possibility," he replied to Harry, "But I think this room is finally clean. About bloody time, too. Help me with these Doxies."
Harry nodded and walked over to Gary, picking up two of the Doxies that lay on the floor as Gary grabbed the other two after attaching his bottle of Doxycide to the left side of his belt. Harry and Gary were both wearing blue jeans and short-sleeved shirts, as the work that they needed to do was rather tiring.
"What does Geoff do with these things, anyway?" Harry asked as they left the drawing room.
"Well, he'll probably give them to Madam Pomfrey so that she can make something out of their venom," Gary guessed, "Perhaps he'll give some to Slughorn so that he can make something out of it. I'm not totally sure what he'll do with these damned things."
Suddenly, as the two were walking down to the ground floor, a commotion came from one of the floors above. "KNOCK IT OFF!" Gary shouted at the top of his lungs toward the ceiling, then lowered his voice again, "That damn ghoul kept me up half the bloody night. I'm going to make sure Geoff does something about it when he gets here tomorrow afternoon. I'd do it myself, but it seems that bullets don't have much effect on ghouls and I'd rather not start blowing up the house."
"The neighbors might not appreciate that," Harry pointed out.
Gary laughed at that. "I wonder if the neighbors would even notice if I did set off a grenade in that upstairs bathroom," he wondered aloud, "I guess it's better not to find out if we don't have to."
"Agreed," Harry assented as the two walked into the kitchen in the basement, where a modified bird cage was resting on a table in the pantry. Gary opened the cage and put his two Doxies in it, with Harry following suit before Gary closed the cage again, making sure that the pests would be secure once the cage's new occupants recovered from the effects of the Doxycide.
"Well, that's all the unwanted guests from the basement to the first floor," Gary said, "I just wish there was some way of getting rid of the portrait of that damn hag."
"Have you tried shooting her?" Harry asked.
Gary shot Harry a glance. "Harry, just because I'm a Squib doesn't mean I'm a bloody idiot," he replied indignantly, "The bullets would have no effect on her. I've tried burning the thing away, but it's enchanted against that. If she did something other than screaming her pure-blood nonsense whenever someone walked by her, I wouldn't be so focused on getting rid of her. But all she ever talks about is how the Wizarding world is falling into decay because of the Muggles. I mean, even if you do believe in pure-blood supremacy, that rhetoric has to get old after a while."
Harry shrugged. "You're asking the wrong person about this sort of thing," he pointed out, "I'm not even a pure-blood."
"Not that blood status matters much," Gary stated, "It never has to the Gryffindors. I suppose we have been called blood traitors by some, but that's as far as the insults go. Any farther than that, and you risk drawing some real attention from us. And that is attention that you really don't want to have on you."
"Your family has that much power?" Harry asked.
"We always have," Gary explained, "The Gryffindor Family has always held a lot of sway in Wizarding Britain, although that power has waned a little bit in recent times. Back when Geoff was in Hogwarts, sane Death Eaters would never even think about attacking a member of the family directly unless they could prove without doubt that they were working for the Order of the Phoenix. Otherwise, if you killed a Gryffindor, you would be in deep trouble with the rest of the family."
"Didn't Geoff work for the Order back then?" Harry inquired.
"Not officially," Gary denied, "Our parents wouldn't allow it. The entire family wouldn't allow it."
"The family didn't support the Order?" Harry inquired.
"Don't take that to mean we supported Voldemort, because most of the family members at that time hated him," Gary said, "But at that time, most members of the Gryffindor Family saw the Death Eaters as just a bunch of hooligans with a political edge, a bit like the Muggle neo-Nazis. But now my family is firmly on the same side as the Order."
"Why is that?" Harry asked.
"Well, once Geoff became the recognized leader of the Gryffindor Family some years ago, he informed us what the Death Eaters were really all about," Gary explained, "And as most of the members of the family today are not pure-blood, they did not like the prospect of being wiped out for the sake of a purity they did not agree with. The change in stance has resulted in the loss of our vulnerability, but even the few pure-blood supremacists in the family agree that the Death Eaters go too far with extermination of half-bloods and muggle-borns."
"Then what do they feel should be done about them?" Harry asked, "What would they do to me?"
"Well, they take a more practical view about the so-called problem," Gary stated, "They feel that half-bloods and Muggle-borns should be relegated to lower positions in the Wizarding world. If they had their way, the Minister for Magic would always be a pure-blood. A kind of caste system, you get the idea. Of course, I think those people are stuck in the Middle Ages for the most part."
Harry nodded as his stomach began to growl rather forcefully. Both he and Gary smiled.
"I don't suppose it would hurt to ask about lunch now," Harry remarked.
"How about a few ham sandwiches?" Gary inquired.
"Sounds good to me," Harry replied, "I think I'll have two."
"Two sounds good to me as well," Gary replied as he walked into the kitchen area and began to make the sandwiches.
--
About an hour later, Harry was back up in his bedroom on the second floor of the house, lying on his back on his bed. His hunger had been satisfied by the sandwiches, but there was still something that grumbled from inside his chest.
It was the monster again. It had been troubling him ever since the end of Bill Weasley's wedding almost a month ago, but most of the time he had something important to focus on to distract his attention from its frustration. But now he was in a state of self-reflection, a state in which even the smallest sounds would reverberate inside his mind. And the growls of the monster within Harry had never been very quiet; subtlety was not one of its strong points.
I'm getting sick and tired of you, Harry thought, trying to talk to himself, You know that if everything turns out as it should, we'll have plenty of time with Ginny. But you still badger me constantly. What can I do to make you shut up for a while?
Almost as if in response to this question, Harry's head turned to see the desk in the room, on which a number of Harry's items rested. One of them was a small box that Harry had acquired from Fred and George Weasley over a month ago. Harry stood up and walked over to the box. After hesitating a moment, he picked it up and read the description, although he knew perfectly well what it would probably do to him.
"One simple incantation and you will enter a top-quality, highly realistic, thirty-minute daydream, easy to fit into the average school lesson and virtually undetectable (side effects include vacant expression and minor drooling)," Harry read to himself, "Not for sale to under-sixteens." Not for sale to under-sixteens, and I think I have a good idea why that is.
Harry opened the box as he lay back down on the bed and pulled the instructions, written on a small piece of parchment, out of the box, along with what appeared to be a small pink sphere. Harry read the instructions first.
"The sphere inside the box with these instructions is the source for the Daydream Charm," Harry read, "It can be easily hidden inside a pocket of any kind. This sphere can produce either two non erotic daydreams or one erotic daydream. Both kinds of daydreams will last for thirty minutes from the moment the dream begins and cannot be interrupted except by physical contact with another person. If the daydream is interrupted, it cannot be resumed or restarted unless it is the first non erotic daydream, in which case it can be restarted with no penalty. Once the sphere has been used for two non erotic daydreams or one erotic daydream, the sphere will disintegrate. In order to initiate a non erotic daydream, hold the sphere in one of your hands and say 'Dormio.' If you wish to initiate an erotic daydream, you should say 'Engorgio' instead. Note: Neither Fred Weasley nor George Weasley, the owners of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, will take responsibility for the improper use of this item. By purchasing this item, you have consented to be responsible for your usage of it."
Harry took the pink sphere in his left hand and looked at it for a moment. I suppose I might as well try it out and see what those thousand Galleons actually ended up making, Harry thought, I hope this satisfies you.
"Engorgio," Harry said clearly.
The effects of the charm began almost immediately.
--
Harry surfaced from the water at one end of the huge bathtub in the prefects' bathroom on the fifth floor of Hogwarts. Some of the bubbles that now filled the tub clung to Harry's skin and his green swimming trunks as he lifted himself out of the end of the tub opposite the diving board. The candlelight from the chandelier illuminated the white marble interior of the room in a way that seemed very magical, even for Hogwarts.
Harry began to walk over to the corner of the room where the towels were stacked in order to dry himself off. Halfway there, however, he heard a small splash from the far end of the room that made him stop and look toward the direction of the sound. After a few seconds, he saw a mane of flaming red hair break through the layer of bubbles, followed by a female face that was filled with freckles. She took a deep breath as she broke through the surface, her bright brown eyes looking toward the sky. As her lungs filled with air, she looked back down toward where Harry was standing and a big smile crossed her face as Ginny Weasley swam toward him.
Harry smiled as well as he walked over toward the edge of the pool where Ginny was coming to. His smile broadened when he saw her climb out of the pool, the bubbles around her trying to cling to her skin and her red two-piece bathing suit that made sure that she caught Harry's undivided attention, although she knew her face was enough for that. The bubbles seemed to fight with each other for the chance to hang onto any part of her as she rose out of the water and stepped into Harry's arms. And as the two embraced each other, they also shared a long kiss as their lips met with their eyes closed. Indeed, Ginny had grown up from that little girl who was ten years old and into the very fruit of young womanhood. And she was his to love and cherish for the rest of time.
After what seemed like a lifetime, the two young adults opened their eyes again as their heads moved away from each other a little bit.
"Oh Harry," Ginny said with desire in her voice, "This is so wonderful. Everything has turned out as it should have."
Harry nodded silently in reply. Everything had turned out well for him. Voldemort was destroyed, his Death Eaters either dead or powerless, scattered to the winds, never to bother anyone again. And all those he loved had survived the trials and tribulations. Ron, Hermione, Luna, Fred and George, Geoff and Gary, and especially Ginny. Voldemort had tried to capture Hogwarts when it appeared weak, but it was a brilliant trap orchestrated by Geoffrey Gryffindor, who knew that Hogwarts was a target that the Dark Lord simply couldn't pass up. And the plan worked to perfection. Some good people fell, but in the end, good triumphed over the forces of evil.
And now, it was time for the Chosen One to celebrate his victory.
"You're right Ginny," Harry replied, still holding her in his arms, "After all we've been through, it's time for things to settle down."
"Oh, after all you've been through, I'm afraid my life must seem very dull and quiet compared to yours," Ginny retorted, "I am but a single young redhead, somewhere between the ages of sixteen and nineteen-and-a-half, cut off in this castle, with no one to protect me. Oooh. It is a lonely life . . . bathing . . . dressing . . . undressing . . . making terrible poetry."
"Well, I don't know if I can get used to that kind of a quiet life," Harry said, "But I'm willing to give it a try." Indeed, ever since Harry learned he was a wizard to the aftermath of his defeating Voldemort, events flew right at Harry at the speed of light and he had no real chance to simply stop and think about things. And he was used to that kind of life now. But he was sure that once he adjusted to a slower life, he'd find it much more to his liking.
Both Harry and Ginny shared a smile again. Then Harry glanced over to the door for a moment, checking to make sure that he had bolted it shut. Indeed, it was locked from the inside of the bathroom.
"Harry," Ginny said, causing Harry to look at her again. He saw there was passion in her brown eyes and she saw the same in his green ones.
"Yes, my love?" Harry asked.
"Take me," she replied, a slight amount of desperation slipping into her voice, "Please take me."
Harry didn't need to be asked twice as he brought Ginny close and kissed her again. For a few seconds, Harry kept his hands on the back of Ginny's head as she did with his. Then, his hands moved down to the back of her neck. There, he felt the strings of her bikini top come together in a well-tied bow which held the piece of clothing up.
"How do you tie such perfect bows without being able to see them?" Harry inquired quietly as he twirled the strings around his fingers.
"Come on Harry, you could tie your shoes without looking, right?" Ginny replied teasingly, "It's basically the same thing. It just becomes second nature after a while."
"I'm sure it does," Harry agreed as he slowly began to untie the bow, "Then you wouldn't mind if I untied it, would you?"
"Not at all," Ginny answered, making Harry kiss her again as he finished untying the bow.
At that moment, another sound that Harry had not heard yet entered his attention. It was the sound of a woman giggling, but it was definitely not Ginny. In fact, this sound was coming from behind Harry's back. Harry turned to see what it was and saw that the flirtatious mermaid had been watching all the events in the room from her portrait.
Harry smiled in spite of himself. "And for once I thought we could be alone in this castle," he commented, "How much of an idiot am I?"
"Well, you're not going to let her watch us, are you?" Ginny asked, holding up the strings that Harry had just untied.
Harry shook his head as he kissed Ginny again. His hands went around her back this time, fingering the other bow of Ginny's bikini top momentarily before he untied that bow, causing the top to fall off Ginny's chest. Harry, however, kept a hold on the bikini top as it fell off Ginny. After a moment, Harry glanced at the mermaid again and tossed the top at her. Somehow, the piece of clothing got hung up on the portrait in such a way that most of it was covered, effectively blinding the mermaid as she quickly tried to catch a glimpse of the embracing lovers again, though that was pretty much hopeless now.
Ginny looked and smiled at Harry's handiwork. "Nice toss," she complimented.
Harry chuckled. He then looked down at the floor for a moment. "The marble might be a bit uncomfortable," Harry pointed out, "Want me to conjure something like a mattress?"
"I'm sure I can manage just fine," Ginny assured as the two kissed again, "What about Myrtle?"
"Don't worry about her," Harry replied, "Natalie is distracting her for us."
Harry and Ginny shared another kiss as Harry slowly leaned forward, forcing Ginny to lie down on the marble floor below her as he stayed on top. Once on the floor, they began kissing more quickly and more passionately, each running their hands up and down each other's body. Their blood pumped through their bodies faster and faster, their bodies becoming more and more heated by the minute. Ginny moved her hands down to Harry's swimming trunks and began to pull them down off of his hips. Getting the hint, Harry got up on his knees and finished the job himself before doing the same to Ginny's bikini bottom. He then laid himself on Ginny's body again and kissed her again.
--
After thirty minutes, Harry finally sat up on his bed, a smile practically fixed on his face. The ashes of the charmed sphere now rested in his left hand. However, the first thing Harry did after waking up was to reach down and feel his pants. He sighed with relief when he felt no wetness anywhere, although he wouldn't have been surprised if there had been some.
"Bloody hell, that was no normal daydream," he muttered as he rubbed his eyes clear and wiped a bead of drool from his left cheek, "That felt like it was actually happening." The daydream was so vivid that Harry would have trouble forgetting it even if he wanted to.
I hope you're happy, Harry thought to the monster within. There was no response. Indeed, it was satisfied for now, as its grumbles had ceased. However, Harry had a funny feeling that, sooner or later, even with more Daydream Charms, the monster would demand to have to real thing. I just hope that can wait until this war is finished, Harry thought.
He fell back on his pillow and rested a few minutes more before getting up and leaving the room. There was always more work to be done around this hidden abode.
--
Author's Notes: With all the gloominess about everyone feeling down, I had to do something to brighten the mood a little bit. I think this chapter did the trick nicely.
Well, that's all for now. Until next week, read, review and enjoy.