Disclaimer: I could own it. Would someone lend me a few billion?
Chapter 15
Rebecca and Harry finished the dishes and packed all of the cloths he had bought and they were just sitting down with a couple of drinks.
"Can I ask you a question?" Harry said.
"Sure, what do you want to know?"
"Why did you choose to live as a muggle?"
She took a moment to answer "I just couldn't take the magical world anymore. My fiancé was killed just before the end of the war. He was killed by mistake by an Auror who had just been in a fight with a bunch of Death Eaters. The Auror heard something behind her and just shot a cutting curse. Her adrenaline was really high and she was scared at the time. I found out that she had just lost her brother and his wife and that she now had their newborn to take care of. She almost quit after that, until I told her that I didn't blame her."
She gave him a small smile "We've been friends ever since. I would have stayed in that world and probably taken a job at St Mungo's but a few weeks after the last of the Death Eater trials the muggleborn prejudices were starting to come back. No one was doing anything about it, saying that it was just talk and didn't really mean anything. I just didn't want to deal with that while still trying to come to terms with Jake's death, so I left.
"I always wanted to be a doctor and had just changed that to a healer when I went to Hogwarts. My parents helped me get into college. Talking with Amelia and trying to make her realize that it was just a mistake and could have happened to anyone got me interested in counseling so I took some courses in that while I was there. I convinced her to stick it out but couldn't do it myself. I always wondered about how that worked out, just always seemed kind of backwards to me." Her voice drifted off.
Harry waited a second before asking "Why does it seem backwards?"
She shook herself a little and gave him a big smile. "Because I really loved magic. Every time I turned around something else was amazing me. Jake used to tease me that my natural look was my mouth hanging open, because it would each time I saw something new."
Harry laughed "I know what you're talking about, I do the same thing." He sobered a bit "It's weird that I don't really want to use it anymore, I really did love it. I don't hate it now; I just don't think it really helps anything anymore. At first it made it so that I wasn't the freak anymore, I was just like all of the other witches and wizards, normal, and I finally had something that connected me to my parents. Then I found out that even among them I was a freak, something to be stared at and talked about.
"I think I had to much time to think at the beginning of summer because my way of looking at a lot of things has changed. I think last night I finally accepted I won't ever be normal no matter what I do. There's always going to be people who see me as the freak. I just don't want that Boy-Who-Lived garbage following me everywhere anymore."
"What about the connection to your parents?"
He smiled at her "Something Sirius said to me before he left on Buckbeak finally sank in this summer. He said that the ones who really love us never leave us; he said they were always with us. I realized that I am my connection to them, everything about me is. I still want to know more about them but I can live my life the way I want and not worry about losing that connection."
She hugged him "I think you put that time thinking to good use."
"What about your parents are they still alive?"
"No, my Dad had a heart attack while they were on vacation a few years ago, my Mum died in her sleep a little over a year later."
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright; I think my Mum just missed him too much. I know they're together so I'm happy. And I like your way of thinking about it, I am my connection to them so they're always with me."
They talked about her life until Tonks popped in.
"How did it go?" Rebecca asked her.
Tonks shrugged "Kind of mixed." She looked at Harry and said "Sirius first wants you to know that the only way your parents would ever not approve of what you do with your life is if you weren't happy. He wants to meet with Rebecca and me before he sees you to get to know her, but he does want to see you."
"He wants to meet with us first?"
She shrugged again "I made it as clear as it could be that as far as you're both concerned, you're his Mum, he wants to get to know the people in Harry's life." She smiled sadly "Remus on the other hand may be scarce for a while. I kind of laid into him pretty hard after I found out the he told Sirius that we were sleeping together."
"He what?" both Rebecca and Harry yelled.
"It kind of pissed me off too. When I asked him why he wasn't part of your life he first said that Dumbledore didn't think it was a good idea. After I called him on that he said it was too dangerous because he was a werewolf. I asked what the difference was now compared to when you were younger, I think I may have suggested he'd been neutered or something, but he didn't have an answer. I'm not sure he'll come around for a long time.
"Sirius was in pretty bad shape when we got there, I don't think he's had anything to eat except firewhiskey since Remus told him what you said at the café. I know he hasn't bathed since then at least. He was overpowering my Mum's cleaning charms."
Seeing the look on Harry's face she said "It's not your fault Harry, drowning yourself in booze every time you're depressed about something is a personal choice. The only one he can blame for his condition is himself and I'm sure Mum is reading him the riot act about it right now. From the look in her eye she was planning a spring cleaning party and was going to start with him. After she's done with him he'll stay clean and sober out of self defense."
"Did he tell you why he didn't write to me?"
Tonks' brow furrowed "I don't think he did. When I asked him I also told him what you were thinking when no reply's came. He said your Dad would be bursting with pride over you, he also mentioned that your Mum would have been proud of that threat you gave Remus. But things kind of went to different questions and I never got back to that one. Would you like me to ask him again?"
He shook his head "No, I can ask him when I see him. How'd he react when you told him about the adoption?"
"Shock, I think I overloaded his brain with everything before I got to the adoption. I was yelling most of the time I was there because of Remus. I pretty much told him to shut up then asked him a question just to yell at him again. Anyway, by the time the adoption came up Sirius was already a bit wobbly in the sanity department. I think that when I told Mum what your new job was brought him back to reality a bit, the fact that Mum said you were an excellent cook seemed to focus his eyes a little better for some reason. He said he would accept both of our conditions for him seeing you again, which is why he wants to meet your Mum first. He promised to be on his best behavior for the meeting."
She reached over and took his hand "He's going to make the effort Harry, with everything that he was told today, including that he should be a free man by Wednesday the one thing he really did focus on was seeing you again. I think his biggest problem with the adoption was that you wouldn't be coming to live with him, but he'll get over it."
"What were the conditions that you set him so that I know what I need to add?" Rebecca asked.
"That he accepts not only the adoption but everything else about Harry's new life without reservations or criticism or I wouldn't let him anywhere near Harry."
"That should cover it pretty well, cuts out all the loopholes quite nicely." Rebecca said with a grin.
"He would like to meet when ever is good for us after he's freed, I told him I'd let him know."
A tapping noise at the window had Tonks waving her wand to let an owl in which flew to Harry and stayed put while he read the letter.
"Hermione would like to see me Monday."
Everyone was silent for a few moments before Tonks asked "Well, are you going to see her?"
"Yeah, I just don't really know what I'm going to say when I do."
Rebecca rubbed his back "It will come to you. Just try not to get to angry when it does."
Harry laughed "That makes where to meet easier to decide. I think I should have some of the special blend handy just in case."
He got up and walked over to the desk and wrote his reply. Once he had the owl on its way they loaded Rebecca's car and began the move.
XXXXXXXX
Hermione sat biting her bottom lip as she read the second letter from Harry; she had sat there for about twenty minutes reading it.
"Is everything ok dear?" her Mother asked.
"I don't know, Harry wrote to me this morning and said he wanted to talk to me. I was really happy when I got the letter, but now he's sent a reply to my letter and I don't know what to do."
"What does this letter say?"
"He said we could meet at a café. Do you know where this address is?" She handed her Mum the letter.
"I know where the area is, it's not that nice of a place. Why would he want to meet there?"
"I don't know but Harry wouldn't have me go someplace that he thought was dangerous."
"All the same, if you're going to meet him there I want to take you. I'll feel better if I'm there to keep an eye on you. Now are you going to meet him?"
"Yes, I really screwed things up and I need to apologize to him."
Beth Granger sat down next to her daughter. "Honey, you've told me that you made a couple of mistakes but haven't told me what they were. I can't really help you if I don't know what happened."
Hermione started biting her lip again. "Mum, I need to tell you some things first; I haven't told you everything about school that you should know. I didn't want you to pull me out because I finally had a friend."
"It must be bad if you think we'd pull you out of school."
Hermione thought for a moment "I want you to know that none of this is Harry's fault. He's had a murderer after him since he was a baby. His name is Voldemort and he killed Harry's parents and tried to kill him when he was one, nobody knows how he survived. He's tried to kill Harry several times at school and last term he killed Cedric Diggory when he kidnapped Harry and Harry saw it happen. The magical people have a war starting right now and Professor Dumbledore told us it would be dangerous to write anything to Harry so I only wrote once and told him we couldn't say anything to him. He wrote me several times and his last letter said he needed to talk to someone and needed help.
"Mum, I'm the one who kept telling him that he needed to talk about his problems and I ignored his plea to do just that."
"Did your headmaster tell you why it would be dangerous to write to him?"
Hermione just shook her head.
"Do you know why you agreed to it?"
"He's supposed to be the greatest wizard alive, he's the headmaster so he should know what the right thing to do is shouldn't he?"
Beth sighed "Honey, just because he's done some great things or is the headmaster of your school doesn't mean that he knows everything. We have to question what people in power do because they aren't perfect. Did you feel that you were doing the right thing by not writing to your friend?"
She shook her head again "No, his letters sounded really desperate for help. I wanted to write to him but didn't want to disobey Professor Dumbledore."
"Have you tried to explain all of this to him?"
She looked down at her feet "No, the last time I talked to him Professor Dumbledore had just had him kidnapped and hurt two friends of his. The only thing I did was accuse him of doing some really bad things.
"I don't know why I did it; I just thought that with the way Ginny was acting Harry had to have done something bad to her. I still don't know why they can't be near each other, only that it's dangerous. He just ignored me after that.
"When I met his friend Rebecca she told me that Harry plead guilty in court this week and got expelled from Hogwarts. She said he wanted to be expelled."
Hermione had tears in her eyes "He's the only real friend I have there, I don't know if I want to go back if he's not going to be there."
"What about this Ron we've heard about?"
"The only reason we're friends is because of Harry, that's all that we have in common. He seems to hate everything I like to do. I don't think we can be friends for very long without Harry trying to keep the peace between us."
They were silent for a couple of minutes before Beth asked "What would you like to do?"
"I don't know, I don't want to leave Hogwarts but I also don't want to go if he's not going to be there."
"Is there a chance that you can go to the new school he'll be going to?"
"He's going to get a tutor and catch up on his muggle education Mum. He's quitting magic; I don't want to quit doing magic."
"Ok, is this Rebecca friend of his magical?"
"Yes."
"What school does she go to?"
"She's an adult Mum; she's a muggle doctor at a clinic. I met her because she's giving counseling to Ginny for what happened to her our second year."
Beth's eyebrows drew together "She works at a muggle clinic?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I think I might know why he wants to meet in this neighborhood; if I remember right there's a clinic not far the address of this café. Several clinics will occasionally send patients to different dental offices so that we can all spread the cost around. We've taken several patients from them over the years."
"Do you know Rebecca?"
"The only ones I really talked to were the receptionists and nurses. We'd send the records to them in case they went to a different dentist the next time. But I think I remember seeing that name on some of those records."
She took a breath "It's probably too late to transfer you to another magical school, but we can check into it if you want. Before you make any decisions talk to Harry and see what he has to say, then you'll know more and be able to make a clearer choice."
Hermione just nodded.
"Now, what else aren't you telling me?"
"I don't know, what makes you think I'm hiding something else?"
"First you tell me not to blame Harry for anything and then don't say anything about him that sounds like he could be blamed. This Voldemort person has tried to kill him several times and both him, and your headmaster have kidnapped him. A student was murdered last term that Harry watched and we weren't notified about it, and another student, a friend of yours is going through counseling because of something that happened two years ago.
"Then you say that Harry plead guilty in court this week without saying what he plead guilty to and that he's going to quit using magic completely.
"Honey, there's a lot more you're not telling me about your school. Let's start with your first year and we'll move on when I've heard everything."
XXXXXXXX
Bill couldn't believe his little Princess could do this to him. He was happy that Ginny and Gabrielle had hit it off and become quick friends, but that was not a good reason to subject him to this torture. Ginny was going to have to pay for this and the twins were looking like the best option at the moment to help him.
Ginny had invited Gabrielle and her family to the Burrow and now Bill was enduring the family grilling about his dating Fleur. The only reprieve he got was when he told his Mum to just sit and relax; he would handle dinner that night.
Fleur had told him what Harry had said about his needing to expand his cooking experiences and went out that morning and bought a couple of muggle cookbooks that had several dishes that caught his eye. He was going to surprise his family with one of them as a way to try to make peace.
Things had been shaky between him and his mother since the day he had hit Dumbledore, and when his Mum had found out how close Harry had come to dying and that he had played a part in it didn't help. The real problem arose when she found out that Ginny had seen Harry almost die.
Several things were said by both of them that shouldn't have been and it looked like things were going to get worse long before they got better when Princess tried her hand at peace maker.
She had told their Mum that with everything Harry had done for her she would be damned if she'd let him go through something like that alone and that there was nothing Bill could do because he was outnumbered by the people who felt the same.
His father had arrived shortly after that and did something that Bill couldn't remember him ever doing before. He lost his temper.
His Dad had yelled at the whole family for what seemed to be a few years worth of complaints, but the main theme of it all was that the family seemed to be trying to get on each others nerves on purpose. He had had enough and it was going to end, anyone who didn't like it was welcome to leave.
He then declared that anyone who had secrets that affected the family would no longer be keeping them, from his way of looking at things most of the mess they were in was because of secrets.
That led to tonight's dinner which was supposed to just be the family. Ginny's thinking had been sound at the time, invite the Delacours and postpone the great revealing of secrets. If only it had worked out that way.
Both his Mum and Dad took his arrival with them to mean that he and Fleur were very serious about each other. While he really liked her, they hadn't even talked about more than dating; they had only really been on three dates at all. And now his Mum and Dad were thinking that he was looking to pop the question. Their reactions were quite different though.
After talking with the Delacours his father was happy with his choice, he found Fleur was not only beautiful but quite intelligent and she had a sense of humor that he really enjoyed.
Arthur also seemed to form an instant friendship with Jacques, both being very easy going men who just wanted to see their families happy.
Bills mother on the other hand thought the entire thing was happening to fast, something Bill was actually in agreement with. She thought that they were both to young to be thinking about marriage and blamed the war for it.
Both Bill and his father said they would reveal some things about the war at dinner.
Ginny and Gabrielle set the table and Bill called everyone in to eat, when his mother came through right after Ron, he hugged her and said he was sorry for everything he had said. She apologized to him also while trying to break some ribs, then got a look at the table.
At one end was everything that she would normally serve for dinner, and at the other end were things which she could only identify the main ingredients.
Once everyone was seated Bill told them about the meal in which the main dish was a beef fillet in a red wine sauce and invited everyone to dig in.
After they had all eaten he served dessert, a raspberry and whiskey cheesecake much to the delight of everyone.
When dinner was all finished and the table cleared Arthur stood and went around the table asking about secrets. He got his first one when on his third try, having both his wife and youngest son say they didn't have any secrets. The twins however looked at each other like they were silently planning their escape route.
Bill spoke up. "Guys, I already know where you got it from; he'll understand if you tell everyone. Though he won't be happy if you blow up Diagon Alley and he gets part of the blame.
They stared at him with their mouths hanging open and he laughed. "Who do you think is responsible for me trying my hand at different recipes? He told me all about it when I helped him cook dinner one night. If you don't tell them I will, he really won't be upset."
They both stood and cleared their throats.
"Some of you"
"Might have noticed that"
"We've been inventing a little
"More frequently than"
"Previously."
"We owe it all"
"To our business partner"
"Who until now has wanted"
"To remain anonymous."
"Would you two get on with it, and try to each say a complete sentence before the other speaks." Ginny huffed.
"Spoilsport"
"Ahem, our financial backer for our future joke shop is Harry."
"He gave us his Tri-Wizard winnings so that we could make the whole world laugh."
"We know big plans on a small budget."
"But he's given us the inspiration to try for the really big picture."
"Yep, we want to invent fireworks so large that one going off can light up both sides of the planet at once."
"Thank you, thank you; we will now entertain questions about our obvious brilliance."
Both Molly and Ron started to speak at once and were interrupted by Arthur and Bill. After looking at each other Arthur went first.
"Dear, it's what they want to do with their life, and you know as well as I do that they're good at it. If they're half as good as I think they are they'll give Zonko's a run for their money." He looked at the twins "I'd like it if Bill and I could go over your business plans with you, I'd like to make sure you're accounting for everything that you could run into if that's all right."
"Sure Dad"
"We could probably use"
"Some help with it anyway."
"I'd like to set up an appointment with one of our business goblins; they deal with small businesses only and could probably give you a lot of advice on how to make it work. You'll need to open a business account with them but as long as they can see some profit in your plans they'll help you." Bill added.
"Brilliant" they both said together.
Bill then looked at Ron "The reason Harry gave away the money to begin with is because he thinks of it as having blood on it. Cedric should have had a share of that money. He decided to give it to the twins because he thought that they would be good at a joke shop, and that people would need something to make them laugh because of the war with Voldemort. Don't get angry with any of them for this, Harry was doing what he thought was right and I think using the money to make people laugh is a good way to spend it."
Fred and George looked at each other for a long moment as Bill was talking.
"We never thought of the money that way before."
"It didn't occur to us that was how he saw it."
"We'll do something to honor Cedric in the shop when we open it."
Arthur smiled "I think Amos and his wife would appreciate that. Now, Ginny do you have anything you'd like to tell us?"
"No, everyone here already knows the secret I had and it's all over anyway. The only other secrets I have Bill has agreed to tell everyone."
"Why don't you go first Dad, I have a feeling that we have a lot of the same news to tell."
"Alright, on Monday Minister Fudge and Madam Bones are going to give a press conference. What they're going to tell everyone is supposed to only be loosely based on what really happened this week. Apparently You-Know-Who was killed on Thursday, that's supposed to be the part that's truth. The rest of it is going to be about how everything that's been in the paper about Harry was part of a ruse to lure You-Know-Who into a false sense of security before they attacked him. So the war is over."
He was surprised to see that not only Bill and Ginny didn't look surprised but none of the Delacours did either.
"Uhm, Bill would your news be something that's going to shed more light on the truth part?"
"It should. Most of what they'll say is part of a deal that he made with Madame Bones, her and Tonks were blackmailing him to get the funding and approval for the attack among other things. Making it look like it was his plan all along is part of the deal. Mademoiselle and Monsieur Delacour, along with Gabrielle originally came here because he organized a contingent of one hundred Aurors from the Continent to help us in finishing off Voldemort. He and Madam Bones coordinated things with the goblins so that we could perform a ritual just before the attack to rid Harry and some artifacts from his influence." He looked at his mum "Ginny went through a similar ritual. Do you remember how much pain she was in when I brought her home?"
Molly nodded and Ginny spoke.
"Harry's was a lot worse. From what Rebecca said her scans showed he had gone through a prolonged Crucio."
Bill continued. "During the ritual Harry could see through Voldemort's eyes and talk to him. The attack happened early and Harry was able to distract him long enough for Madam Bones and the Aurors to finish the job and the goblins to finish the ritual. They captured only two Death Eaters at Malfoy Manner, but got another four at the ministry. As far as we can tell the only ones still alive other than that are still in Azkaban from the first war.
"Harry's scar split open at the end of the ritual and he almost bled to death. That was the real reason that Ginny stayed at Tonks place."
Jacques took it up from there "We took turns sitting up to watch over him and make sure he didn't get worse during the night. He was doing better before that whole thing at that little restaurant, I believe he might have overdone it and took a turn for the worse."
"Overdone it?" Gabriel asked him with a shocked expression.
Bill cleared his throat "That brings us to the next part of our news, it will probably be part of the press conference but I doubt they'll tell what really happened. Snape ambushed the four Aurors taking Dumbledore to Azkaban. They somehow found us at the café and tried to take him again. The owner of the café killed Snape by hitting him with a metal pipe in the back of the head. Harry killed Dumbledore by beating him to death. It wasn't a good afternoon."
He looked at his Mum "It might have had something to do with how I acted yesterday when we got home. I think I was still in shock."
"You mean"
"That the greasy git"
"Was hit by a muggle"
"And died?"
Ginny gave them a look "Well he is a pretty big guy and it was a metal bar that he used to hit him."
They both started laughing
"This is not something to be laughing about; if you two can't show more decorum than this you'll be spending the rest of the holidays in your room." Molly scolded them.
Jacques cleared his throat. "A much happier thing happened two nights ago. One witch and two wizards were honored by the goblins by having their names spoken at the goblins victory feast.
"One William of Clan Weasley was honored for the artifacts that he brought to them. They all had been previously owned by three of the founders of Hogwarts and are priceless.
"One Harry of Clan Potter was honored for his being a true warrior in battle.
"And last but most importantly, the first witch to have her name spoken at the goblin feast. One Ginevra of Clan Weasley was honored for her being a true warrior in battle."
He stood and raised his glass before looking at Arthur "If I may be permitted."
Arthur stood and raised his own glass and had everyone but a blushing Ginny and Bill follow. "Please"
"To Ginny, Bill and Harry; the honored ones."
