Three days later, Harry and James returned to England, as Harry's divorce was to be finalized later that week. Arabella remained in the United States, having decided that it would be a good time for her to visit her Tavington relatives in Charleston, SC. Though she wished she could go to court with Harry to provide him with moral support, Lucius assured her that remaining in America until it was all over was the best thing she could do to help him. Once it was all over and done with, she and Harry could bring their relationships out into the open, after a reasonable interval.
At he sat at the dinner table at Grimmauld Place that evening, able to sit and think for the first time in several days, he thought about what Hermione had told him concerning her thoughts on Ginny's behaviour, which had helped him to put it all into perspective.
"Harry, you do realize that Ginny might have known that she was being followed and decided to give the photographer a real eyeful," Hermione pointed out.
"Why would she want to embarrass me in public like that?" he asked, completely confused. "I know we're getting a divorce and all, but I'd thought we'd come to an understanding and pretty much settled things between ourselves."
"I don't think it was about you at all, Harry," she said. "She might have done this as a message to her mother; as a way of telling her to stop meddling into her business and telling her how to run her life."
"Ginny always did have a problem with being direct with her mother," he conceded. "She always used to complain about how her mother was trying to run her life, but she could never get up the courage to tell her to just sod off and leave her in peace." Frowning, he continued, "But I wish she hadn't chosen such a public way of making her point. She never stops to think of how her actions will affect other people."
"That's part of the reason why you're divorcing her, Harry," Hermione gently reminded him. "She's never been able to think before she acted."
"And she's never put her relationship with me first," he said. Heaving a gusty sigh, he added, "But it still hurts, even though I'm ready to move on and know it's all for the best."
"It takes time," Hermione agreed, patting his hand in support. "But I'm sure that Arabella will be a great help in making that time pass quickly."
"Too right you are," Harry said, smiling broadly this time.
As Harry continued to mentally review his weekend in Massachusetts, Kreacher came in with a thick stack of owl messages, with a fair number of them having the telltale red envelopes of Howlers.
"Master has quite a bit of mail," the elf said, unnecessarily.
"Let me see the Howlers first," Harry decided. "I might as well get those over with."
"They are all from Mistress Weasley," Kreacher told him. "She tried to call by floo when you were away, too, and called Kreacher some very ugly names when I said you were not available."
"You didn't tell her where I went, did you?" Harry asked, alarmed.
"No, Master Harry," the elderly elf assured him. "Kreacher would never do that. You told me never to tell that woman any of your business and I have not."
The first Howler had begun to emit smoke, so Harry waved his wand at it, muttering "Reducto Sonorus".
The Howler burst open a moment later and Molly's greatly reduced and barely audible voice began:
"Harry Potter! How dare you hire someone to follow Ginny around taking pictures...."
Pointing his wand at the Howler again, he reduced it to a pile of ashes, not wanting to hear the rest of the predictable tirade. He pointed his wand another time, similarly disposing of the rest of the waiting Howlers.
"No need to read those," he muttered, grinning wolfishly at the pile of ashes in front of him.
Moving on to the next stack of envelopes, he picked up the one on top. Ripping it open, he read:
Dear Mr Potter
Witch Weekly would like to interview you about your post-divorce plans...
Harry tossed it to the side, then reached for another envelope:
Dear Harry,
I don't know if you remember me, but I was two years ahead of you in Hogwarts in Hufflepuff.
Anyway, I think you're quite sexy and now that you'll be a free man again, I thought you might like to visit my flat and...
Harry stopped reading as a picture fell out of the envelope, featuring a very buxom and very naked blond gazing up provocatively at him as she masturbated with widely spread legs.
He stared in slack-jawed wonder at the animated photo for a few long moments, then tossed this letter onto the reject pile, amazed at the nerve of some people.
After reading the next one and finding yet another proposition, he riffled through the rest of the stack, seeing that it was more of the same: interview requests and sexual propositions. With a rueful expression, he thought that not if for Arabella, he might have considered responding to one of the less tawdry propositions.
Pushing the rest of the messages away to deal with at another time, Harry turned his attention to James. After giving him a bottle, he gave him a bath, then sat with him for awhile in the rocking chair before putting him down for the night.
A few hours later, after writing Arabella a long letter, Harry turned in for the night, falling asleep almost immediately.
---
In the end, Harry's divorce turned out to be a simple and straightforward affair. Three days after returning home from Massachusetts, Harry arrived early at the Ministry of Magic, flooing directly to the Vital Statistics floor, where marriages, bondings, and divorces were conducted. This floor also contained the record keeping offices relating to these and was also where births and deaths were recorded.
His lawyer, Duncan Rosier, met him at the floo, giving him an encouraging smile. "Don't worry, Harry," Rosier said. "This will all be over shortly. You'll soon be going home as a free man."
"It can't happen soon enough," Harry told him as they walked down the corridor to the courtroom.
To Harry's dismay, no sooner had they turned the corner leading to the courtroom than multiple flash bulbs began going off, creating a blinding glare. He was quickly surrounded by reporters, all shouting questions in a cacophonous jumble.
"Mr Potter! Did you know that your wife was a lesbian?"
"Mr Potter! Did you drive your wife into the arms of a woman?"
"Mr Potter! Did you and your wife have threesomes with other women?"
"Mr Potter! Have you already picked out another wife yet?"
Seeing that Harry was gobsmacked, Duncan Rosier stepped forward and said, "Mr Potter isn't answering any questions at the present time. Please stand aside so that we may enter the courtroom!"
After the two had run the gauntlet of reporters and curious busybodies, they quickly entered the courtroom, where Rosier directed Harry to an anteroom to wait for the hearing to begin.
No sooner had they sat down than they heard a loud commotion out in the hall. Turning to Harry, Rosier, said, "Wait here. Let me handle this."
As the lawyer stepped out into the hall, he was confronted by Molly Weasley, who was loudly complaining to the court officer who barred her way into the courtroom. Ginny stood half-hidden behind her, looking as if she wanted to sink through the floor.
"Let me by!" she bellowed. "My daughter is getting divorced today and I'm going in there to give her moral support!"
"I'm sorry, but this is going to be a closed session," the court officer explained in a bored tone of voice. "Only the divorcing couple and their legal representatives will be allowed inside."
"That's nonsense!" she exclaimed, eyes narrowed, hands on hips. "Step aside, young man!" She was oblivious to the presence of reporters hovering nearby, Quick-Quote Quills rapidly taking down her words and the photographers feverishly snapping photos of the confrontation.
"Allow me," Rosier said to the harried court officer. "Mrs Weasley," he addressed the witch in an oily tone as he extended his hand to her. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Duncan Rosier, Mr Potter's lawyer."
Molly Weasley looked at the well dressed wizard as if she'd suddenly caught a whiff of rotting garbage.
After seeing that the Weasley matriarch wasn't about to shake his hand, he continued, "Your daughter's lawyer and I agreed that this would be a closed session, as our clients wish to conduct their business quickly and quietly."
"That's right, Mrs Weasley," Barnaby Bumbershoot said coming up the corridor accompanied by Arthur Weasley. Bumbershoot, an old friend of the family, had been hired to represent Ginny in court. "I was just explaining it to Arthur here."
"Come on, Molly," Arthur said. "Why don't we go across the hall and sit in the waiting room until it's all over."
Ginny gave her father a grateful look as she watched him lead her mother away, then quietly accompanied her lawyer into the courtroom.
After all the heartache and recriminations, the divorce itself was anticlimactic. To Harry's surprise, Ginny agreed to all his conditions, with neither of them saying much during the procedure. Their divorce was granted within five minutes, without fuss or fanfare. Harry and Ginny were now free to go their separate ways and resume the threads of their lives.
"Ginny!" Harry called out as the group moved to leave the courtroom. After she turned and waited for him, he said quietly, "I just want to thank you for being so reasonable."
"I don't hate you, Harry," she told him. "I'll always have a place in my heart for you." Taking a deep breath, she added, "And I didn't see any use in prolonging this. We just made a mistake by getting married, and I didn't want to make it any worse."
"It wasn't a mistake," Harry said. "You gave me James and I'll always love you for that."
"Take care of yourself, Harry," she said with a sad smile, as she reached up to kiss him on the cheek. "Take care of James."
"You can be sure of that," Harry told her emphatically. "Good luck with your Quidditch career."
Ginny gave him one final smile, then turned and left without another word.
Harry was free at last.
---
Thanks to everyone who has taken interest in this story. I couldn't have made it this far without you!
Next chapter as yet unnamed.