7
After the Battle
Chapter 17: An Unexpected Meeting
Molly Weasley sat at the kitchen table pondering her most pressing problem, the disappearance of her daughter Ginny.
She had convinced herself that the poor girl was being held against her will by being under a Love Potion. It's the only reason that she could come up with why her loving daughter would have run off and married Harry Potter.
She sighed sadly, remembering just how much she used to adore the boy but that was before he had absconded with her daughter, proving he was nothing more than a scoundrel of the worst sort.
She knew it had to be because of the influence of his Godfather, Sirius Black. After all, he had been nothing but a playboy during his time at Hogwarts if all the stories were to be believed and Harry had certainly worshipped the man.
Plus she was sure that her daughter-in-law, Fleur, that French Tart had to have been involved. She was a partial Veela and everyone knew what kind of creature they were.
She was sure her son, William, would never have gone along with helping to abduct Ginny if he wasn't under the spell of that woman. He adored his sister and never would have knowingly helped someone take her away from her family.
The thing that was bothering her the most at the moment was she had no idea where her darling little girl was at the moment. She'd been making discrete enquiries in Diagon Alley, The Leakey Cauldron and Hogsmeade but to no avail. No one had seen any of them at all.
Frustrated by the fact that avenue hadn't produced any results, she knew she needed to change her tactics if she was to find and rescue Ginny.
With that decided all she needed to do was come up with was a concrete lead.
Her eyes brightened as a thought popped into her head. The only people who she knew were in contact with her daughter were those residing at Shell Cottage and if that were the case, that's where she needed to be to find her precious little girl.
She knew that if she just appeared there and demanded Ginny's return, it wouldn't get her what she wanted. No, she needed to be much more sneaky than that.
Her only recourse was to stake out Shell Cottage and hope that Ginny would wander outside of the wards, preferably alone and then she'd be able to rescue her and take her some place secret where she'd have the time to brew the proper antidote to the Love Potion and then everything would be set to rights.
And she knew just where to take Ginny that fit the bill. Her brothers, Fabian and Gideon, had built a small shack that was their refuge when they were young and over the years turned it into more of cabin where they went to discuss Order business so that none of the family could overhear. It was also a place they went to relax and drink Firewhisky, knowing that their mother wouldn't approve.
Yes, that was the perfect place as she was sure none of the other Prewetts ever went there any more. She'd have to go there first and clean it up and make sure she had everything she needed before she brought Ginny there but once it was ready there would be nothing to stop her and she'd get her daughter back.
Glancing at the clock, she saw she had a couple of hours before Arthur would be returning from the Ministry.
Well, there was nothing to be gained by waiting, so with a smug smile she rose, grabbed her cloak and walked out to the Apparation point.
She couldn't believe how good it felt to finally be able to do something and with a little luck, she'd have her Ginny back real soon.
With a self-satisfied smile, she disappeared with a pop.
Harry and Ginny
Harry and Ginny were sitting out back of Shell Cottage on the bench that overlooked the sea. They were ostensibly going over the list they had made of everything that they needed to set up their household but in reality were spending more time snogging than actually going over the list.
That's not to say they hadn't done anything at all on the list, it was just that since they didn't think they'd be moving any time in the immediate future, they allowed themselves to get a little side tracked.
Ginny sighed contentedly as Harry kissed her deeply and the fact that somehow his one hand had made its way under her jumper and was currently massaging her one breast, only added to the wonderful sensations she was experiencing.
Only the fact that Bill was due home soon and they'd be heading out sight-seeing once again kept her from dragging her husband up to their room where she could have her way with him.
They jumped apart when they heard someone chuckle and glancing up they saw a very amused Bill looking at them.
"I though Fleur said you were working on your list," he grinned humorously.
"We are," Ginny protested, glancing around and finally locating the list, held it up for her brother to see.
"Sure you are," Bill laughed, eyeing them dubiously.
Ginny glared at her brother until Harry whispered to her "Busted," causing her to break out in laughter too.
"Come on, Love Birds, Fleur has lunch ready," the older redhead remarked as he turned and headed back into the cottage.
As the three entered the kitchen they found Fleur just placing the platters of food on the table. As Harry and Bill sat down, Ginny grabbed the tea pot and poured some into each of their mugs.
"Thank you, Jinnee," Fleur smiled at the redhead as she sat down.
The four tucked in to the fabulous meal that Fleur had prepared. Silence reigned for a few moments as they took the edge off their hunger but once they had Bill looked at Harry and Ginny.
"I talked to my friend Jack, this morning and he'll be more than happy to put together a list of properties for you to look at," he said happily.
"Thanks, Bill / That's wonderful," Harry and Ginny replied at the same time.
"He said if you're available he could start showing some to you tomorrow morning," Bill added with a grin.
"So soon?" Ginny asked in surprise, her eyes glowing and a huge smile on her face.
"Time is Galleons," Bill and Harry parroted and then with matching grins, they laughed at one another.
Ginny shared a warm smile with Fleur, both loving at how well their boys got along.
"Will you be able to join us?" Ginny asked hopefully.
"We'll have to wait and see," her bother replied with a shrug, unsure if he'd be able to manage it. He knew he'd have to get pretty creative to explain why a Senior Curse-Breaker needed to accompany a young couple going to look at houses.
"But I'm sure Fleur would love to accompany you two," he added, trying to take some of the sting out of it if he couldn't arrange to be there with them.
"Oh, Oui," Fleur gushed, looking quite eager.
"I thought that was a given," Harry remarked, smiling at his sister-in-law.
"I'll let him know when I go into work tomorrow morning, say about nine-ish?" Bill asked tentatively.
Harry and Ginny shared a quick glance and nodded at one another. "That sounds fine," Harry replied for the both of them.
"I'm sure we'll have a great time," Fleur stated with a wistful sigh, glancing around the kitchen.
When Harry and Ginny looked at her questioningly, she gave them a smile. "We didn't get to go looking at places to live when we got married," Fleur added, giving Bill a soft smile.
"Yes, with Shell Cottage being a wedding gift, we never had the pleasure of looking at homes," Bill agreed with a smile.
"I use to love coming here," Ginny sighed happily.
Harry gave her a puzzled look.
"Our parents use to bring all us children here when we were young," Bill explained. "We always looked forward to it," he continued, smiling at his sister.
"It was the only way they could afford to take us on holiday to the ocean," Ginny sighed a bit sadly.
"I'd have given just about anything to be able to come to somewhere like this," Harry mused softly.
Ginny felt her heart go out to her husband, knowing that he would have given just about anything to enjoy something as simple as a visit to the seashore.
Once again she and Fleur exchanged hard looks, something that Bill noticed and wisely decided not to comment on. It only reinforced the notion that his wife and sister were planning something and he still didn't want to know what. Whatever it was, he was sure it didn't bode well for Harry's relatives and no matter what it was, he knew they probably deserved it.
"Well, you two are always welcome here any time you want. It doesn't matter if it's for an hour, a day, a week or forever. You'll always find our door open to you," Bill stated fervently, with Fleur nodding her head in agreement.
Ginny felt her eyes tearing up as she saw Harry's eyes misting over with his emotions.
"Thank you," Harry breathed emotionally, finding himself fighting the lump in his throat. "I can't begin to tell you how much that means to me."
Ginny hastily brushed the tears from the corners of her eyes as she smiled at her brother and sister-in-law.
"It means just as much to me," she cried softly, feeling her heart swell from the love she felt from Bill and Fleur.
Bill and Fleur smiled warmly at the Potters but didn't say anything, letting them regain control of their emotions.
It didn't take long before they were all eating again, wanting to finish lunch so they could head out to do some more sight-seeing.
While they were finishing, Bill looked at Harry, wincing slightly. "Harry, I know you said you wanted to see Stone Henge but I learned from Jack that this late in the day the place will be packed with Muggles. After about 10 o'clock is when all the carriage tours start arriving along with school trips and hordes of tourists," he explained somewhat hesitantly.
When Harry glanced at Ginny and then back at Bill, looking disappointed, the older man gave him an encouraging smile. "From what he said, Avebury should be fairly deserted and if you like, I can take us to some other ancient stone circles that I know about and I can almost guarantee they'll be deserted," he informed the raven haired young man.
"Really? Where?" Harry asked, looking quite curious.
"Actually many are located in Dartmoor, not that far from the Burrow. Charlie and I used to hike to them when we were kids," Bill said with a wide smile.
Harry quickly glanced at Ginny, who smiled at him and nodded her head enthusiastically, eager to see where her brothers had spent time as kids.
"That sounds great," Harry replied to Bill.
"I will warn you, they aren't made with massive stones like Stone Henge but they have a magical feeling just the same," the tall redhead explained, hoping that it wouldn't change their minds.
"I don't think that will matter. In fact I think it will be better to visit some place far from the crowds," Harry marvelled happily.
As soon as they were done eating, they all rose and after Fleur sent the dishes to the sink with a flick of her wand, they headed out, the blonde witch only pausing for a moment as she summoned a rucksack.
"I've packed some bottled water and a few snacks, just in case we want something," she explained.
"That sounds like a great idea," Bill smiled, taking the rucksack from his wife.
The two couples proceeded past the wards and when they had all joined hands, Apparating away.
Unseen by the foursome, someone observed them leave.
Molly smiled as she watched Harry, Ginny, Bill and Fleur Apparate away. She now knew where Ginny was and though she knew she wouldn't have stood a chance at getting her daughter away right then, she was confident that if she remained vigilant, an opportunity would present itself.
Feeling quite smug, she Apparated back to the Burrow to finalize everything so that she'd be ready when she was able to rescue Ginny.
Harry and Ginny
Harry, Ginny, Bill and Fleur appeared near the Avebury Stone Circle and Henge.
As they walked toward the Circle, Bill pulled out a small guide book. "Avebury is the largest Stone Circle in Great Britain, with the outer circle being 1,088 feet (331.6 m) in diameter. Inside are two smaller circles, with the northern circle being 322 feet (98 m) in diameter and the souther circle being 354 feet in diameter (108 m), all enclosed by the Henge which is about 3270 feet in diameter (1000 m), it being not quite round. Archaeologic findings show that the cove located in the northern circle was built first around 3000 BC," Bill read to them as they headed in that direction.
"The inner circles were constructed around 2900 BC and the henge and large circle around 2600 BC," he continued.
"Wow, that's really old," Harry commented idly as he took in the large bank and ditch that was the henge.
Ginny glanced at him and snickered as she silently teased him with her eyes for stating the obvious.
Harry blushed sheepishly, but the corners of his mouth were turned up as his eyes were locked on Ginny's.
"Pur'aps that's enough of the 'istory lesson for now," Fleur whispered to Bill as she smirked at Harry and Ginny, who had joined hands and where whispering to one another.
The foursome spent quite a while wandering around the ancient site, marvelling at the size of many of the stones and what it would have taken to move and erect them. They even didn't object when Bill gave them a little more history. How once Christianity had come the Britain, the stone circles had fallen out of favour and how many had been destroyed.
Even Avebury had been subject to some destruction until it seemed that one of the men helping overturn and bury the standing stone had been crushed beneath one as it was toppled the hole that had been dug. From the items found with his skeleton, it appeared he had been a wandering barber/surgeon who just happened to have been visiting and must have decided to help, much to his misfortune.
From that time period on, it seemed the stones were left alone and shortly after that the Black Plague arrived on the shores of the English Isles and the church records for the village showed that approximately half the population had died and the work of eking out a living from the soil occupied there time. They didn't have the time or manpower any longer to worry about the Stone Circle, even if the Priests still considered them the work of the Devil.
Bill found it interesting that of their small group, Harry was the one who could feel the old magic the strongest, with Ginny only a little behind, while he and Fleur could feel, . . . something, an uneasiness or that crawling feeling on the back of your neck, like you were being watched.
He and Fleur had a whispered conversation about it while Harry and Ginny had wandered away a little, spending some time standing in the cove at the centre of the northern circle.
They were tempted to ask what they had been doing but decided not to when they saw how solemn Harry and Ginny were when they finally stepped out of the circle.
They decided to walk the eight-tenths of a mile to the West Kent Avenue, a wide mile and a half ritual walkway leading from Avebury down to the Sanctuary, another large Stone Circle formation.
Off to the west they could see Silbury Hill, the largest man-made prehistoric mound in all of Europe. Since no one was allowed on the mound itself, they decided to by-pass going over to it.
From there they walked the remaining seven tenths of a mile to the Sanctuary. While they found the site interesting, they were disappointed to find that none of the original structure remained. The places that originally had stones or wooden posts now had concrete markers in their places. The site having been destroyed in 1723 by the farmer who owned the land. Fortunately before that was done they site had been mapped allowing for the the restoration as it was now seen.
Harry murmured that he could only feel the barest of traces of the old magic, being the only one who did so.
Satisfied, they headed off the the West Kennet Long Barrow, a walk of about three quarters of a mile to the west.
At 328 feet (100 m) it is second in length to the nearby East Kennet Barrow. It had been used for burials from around 3650 BC to 2000 BC before it was closed, the passageway and chambers being filled with rubble and the entrance blocked with sarsen boulders and a false entrance of twin sarsen uprights constructed.
Once again the party found the barrow interesting but even Harry couldn't detect the slightest trace of magic.
Deciding they'd seen enough at Avebury and they were secluded from view in the barrow, they Apparated away to Brisworthy stone circle at the southern edge of Ringmoor Down in Dartmoor. It was a slightly flattened circle of twenty four standing stones, being from about 78 feet (24 m) to 88 feet (27 m) in diameter.
Harry was surprised when he could feel a soft tingling of old magic when he stood at the centre of the circle. No one was really surprised when Ginny said she could feel it too, though they were the only ones who did.
Bill was somewhat saddened by that fact as he remembered that he and Charlie had definitely felt something when they had visited as young teens.
From their location the group could see about 1000 feet (300 m) off to the west-northwest the small stone cairn that marked the southern end of the Ringmoor stone row.
Since it wasn't that far, they walked over to it, not wanting to risk being seen of anyone was about as they weren't that far from a nearby road.
The cairn circle had an outside diameter of just over 41 feet (12.6 m) and the inner cairn was about 31 feet (9.5 m) and about 1 1/3 foot (.4 m) high.
The stone row stretched out to the north for about 1200 feet (365 m) sometimes as a single row of stones and sometimes they were doubled.
Bill explained that the site had been partially restored in the 1800's and the double sections weren't know to be historically accurate.
With nothing really better to do and just because Harry and Ginny wanted to, they walked the row to its northern end where a 3 plus foot (1 m) standing stone marked the terminus.
While an interesting neolithic site, neither Harry nor Ginny could feel any magic associated with it.
They all took a pause to have some water and some of the snacks that Fleur had brought along.
While taking their break Bill started telling some stories about his and Charlie's adventures. When he brought up about going into Ottery St Catchpole, Ginny happily jumped in, adding her memories of going into the little village.
Fleur noticed Harry's wistful look. "What iz eet, 'Arry?" she asked out of curiosity.
"In all the times I visited the Burrow, I never got to visit the village," he sighed. He looked up at Bill. "Do you think it would be safe to pop in for a little bit? I'd love to see where you and Ginny had such good times," he asked hopefully.
Bill looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think it should be okay, I guess the odds are pretty slim that we'd run into Mum as she usually sends one of the kids into the village if she needs anything and with Ron being there, I'd think she'd send him. Plus she usually sent whoever in on Saturdays," he explained with a small smile.
Ginny beamed at her brother because of the smile that broke out on Harry's face. She thought it was a wonderful idea to show him someplace that held so many happy memories for her.
Their plans set, they all joined hands as Bill guided their Apparation to a small grove of trees just outside of the village. As the neared the village, Ginny pulled Harry by the hand.
"Come on, I want to show you the apothecary. We used to get the best ice cream there," Ginny cried enthusiastically.
Harry chuckled "Don't let the Muggles hear you say apothecary, to them it's a chemist or pharmacy."
Bill and Fleur smiled when Ginny rolled her eyes. "Muggles sure use the strangest terms for things."
It didn't take long for them to arrive at the small shop and Ginny dragged Harry inside. She steered him quickly through the shop, ending up in front of a small display case filled with large tubs of different ice creams.
"Oh, goodie," Ginny cried happily. "They have my favourite, Strawberry/Vanilla."
Harry glanced where Ginny was staring and saw the large tub of Vanilla ice cream that had chunks of strawberries mixed through it.
"Umm, that does look good but I think I'm going to have the Chocolate, Chocolate Chunk," Harry smiled.
"Well, if it isn't young Ginny looking all grown up. It's been a while since I've seen you in here," a kind looking elderly man said, giving Ginny a smile.
"Hello Mr Peterson. Yes it's been a while," Ginny replied with a huge smile of her own. "And I'd like to introduce you to my husband, Harry," she added happily.
"It's nice to meet you, Harry," Mr Peterson said, offering his hand to Harry. "You must be a pretty special young man to have won Ginny's heart." And if he thought that Ginny was a little young to be married, he kept that opinion to himself.
Harry smiled as he shook the man's hand. "I guess, cause I know just how special she is," he replied sheepishly, his face colouring slightly.
As Ginny and Harry placed their orders, Bill and Fleur finally caught up. Mr Peterson greeted Bill and he smiled when Bill introduced Fleur as his wife.
Mr Peterson made just as much fuss over Bill as he had done with Ginny and Harry couldn't help but feel happy about the friendliness displayed, guessing it had to do with the charm of the little village where everyone seemed to know everyone else.
Harry paid for everyone's ice cream as he was the only one who had any muggle money on him, Bill having failed to bring any because he didn't know they'd be stopping in any Muggle places.
Ice cream cones in hand, they all said goodbye and headed out to wander through the small village.
Harry listen to Ginny, totally enthralled by the stories she had. Really just little snippets of different visits over the years. Some kindness by a shop keeper or something exciting that a small young girl noticed in one of the shops, things that Bill and Fleur noticed brought a wistful smile to his face and a look of longing that couldn't be ignored.
Something that they both filed away to discuss later after seeing the look in the other's eyes.
As they finished their walk through the small business district in the village, the last of their ice creams disappeared and since they were going to be heading back to Shell Cottage they decided to head to the greengrocer's and the butcher's shop.
Along the way Harry and Ginny were still window shopping and Ginny drew to a halt in front of an old antique shop, staring through the window. She sighed with a small smile on her face.
"What do you see?" Harry asked out of curiosity, seeing the look of longing on his wife's face.
"Just look at that old table. Don't you think it looks a lot like the one at the Burrow?" she said wistfully.
Bill and Fleur stopped with Bill shading his eyes to cut the glare on the glass. He smiled, "Yeah, it does look very similar."
Turning with a knowing smile he gave his sister an amused look. "Want to go inside and check it out?" he asked, though from the look on his face, he knew what the answer would be.
"Oh can we?" Ginny asked excitedly, her eyes giving Harry that sad puppy dog look that he knew he'd never be able to deny.
Ginny grabbed Harry's hand and almost pulled him off his feet as she pulled him through the door.
Bill and Fleur followed at a much more leisurely pace, both chuckling softly, with Fleur glancing up at the weathered sign above the door, reading "Fawcett's Antique Shoppe".
By the time they caught up to Harry and Ginny, his sister was running her hands lovingly across the table top as she checked it over. While not quite as worn as the one sitting in the Weasley's kitchen, it had obviously been well used and well loved.
"Can I help you?" a middle-aged woman said as she came over.
"Um, my husband and I were interested in this table," Ginny said a little unsurely, taking a quick glance at Harry before looking back at the woman.
The woman looked at Ginny and smiled. "It doesn't surprise me as your parents have the other one," she chuckled.
"Excuse me?" Ginny asked in shock.
"While not really a pair, they are very similar as they were made by the same man for his two daughters, if the story behind them is true," the woman explained.
"My name is Mary and you're Ginny, but I'm figuring you're no longer a Weasley, technically, from what you said," Mary stated with a smile.
"Yes, it's Potter now," Ginny explained as she gripped Harry's hand, "And this is my husband, Harry," she added proudly.
She was surprised when Mary's eyes quickly flitted to Harry's forehead as she extended her hand to shake his.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Harry," Mary said genially.
"Um, it's a pleasure to meet you too," Harry said a little unsurely as he'd seen the quick glance too.
Mary glanced at the price printed on a small card that was attacked to the table. "Tell you what, since you're newly weds, I'll let you have it for 250 pounds," she said with a smile.
Ginny was doing some quick maths in her head, converting it into Galleons.
"That sounds wonderful," Harry replied before Ginny quite got there. She gave him an ecstatic look before it morphed into a small frown.
As Mary went to write up the sale, Ginny leaned into Harry, whispering "How are we going to get it back to Bill's and Fleur's?"
"We'll figure something out, don't worry," Harry whispered in reply.
Ginny was a little worried, knowing how helpful everyone was in he small village, she knew they'd have an exceedingly hard time trying to shrink the table down without any Muggles noticing.
It was then she saw the amused look on Bill's face but before she could ask him what was so amusing, Mary came back and at the same time a girl stepped out from the back of the shop.
"Mum, I have that box all unpacked," she called out.
Mary gave an irritated look but before she could say anything, Ginny gave the girl a startled look. "Sarah?"
"Oh, Hi Ginny," Sarah said in surprise at seeing Ginny.
Harry gave Ginny a bewildered look.
"Sarah is in Ravenclaw," she explained. "I've met her a few times when I've studied with Luna."
Harry just looked at her blankly, not recognizing the girl at all.
"I'm a year ahead of you Harry, so I wouldn't expect you to remember me. In fact we've never even spoken before," Sarah explained to the still bewildered looking Harry.
"Since we've never had any classes together and I don't play on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, we've never really spent any time together," she added when she saw he felt bad about not recognizing her.
While Harry, Ginny and Sarah were talking, they didn't notice that Mary had shrunk the table down to the size of a shoebox, wrapped it in bubble-wrap to protect it and put it in a sack.
"Now, do you want to pay in Pounds or Galleons?" Mary asked with an impish grin.
Sine he had the option, Harry paid in Galleons, leaving 50 of the shiny gold coins, thankful for the newly wed discount.
They left the Fawcett's Antique Shoppe after saying good by to Mary and Sarah and headed back through the Village.
Ginny and Fleur headed into the greengrocer's while Harry and Bill went next door to the butcher's. Almost as if they planned it, both groups met up outside at the same time.
As they walked back toward where they had Apparated in, Bill laughed and looked at Ginny.
"I was a little surprised when you didn't know that the Fawcett's were magical," Bill observed.
"I guess I never noticed or thought of it. It's not like we went into their shop very often, though sometimes Daddy did let me wander through when he came along on Saturdays," Ginny replied.
She got thoughtful for a moment. "Though now that I think on it, Mum did seem a little friendlier with Mrs Fawcett. I remember her saying hello whenever we passed by when going to the butcher's or the greengrocer's, though I was probably only three or four at the time. After that it was usually, you, Bill that I'd accompany," she added, eyeing her brother speculatively.
Bill stared off for a moment, thinking hard. "Yeah, that sounds about right. Before that Mum wouldn't let you come with me and Charlie, though once and a while Percy did come along, though not that often," Bill chuckled.
Then he gave a soft groan. "Of course it was totally the opposite with the twins. Charlie and I used to try and sneak away without them," he sighed, shaking his head, though he did have a soft smile on his face.
"Even back then they were a handful," he muttered, a bit sadly.
The mood turned sombre for a few moments as they all thought of Fred.
They hadn't gotten very far up the street when they heard a strangled, "Ginny?"
Turing in a flash, they saw Mr Weasley standing just outside the butcher's shop staring in their direction.
"Daddy!" Ginny squealed as she rush her father, almost knocking him off his feet.
"Hey, Spitfire," Arthur cried emotionally as he crushed his daughter to himself.
After what seemed like an eternity and no time at all, he held Ginny out at arms length, taking a good look at her.
"Well, it seems married life certainly agrees with you. I don't remember ever seeing you looking so happy," he sang happily. "Unless I count that birthday when you received that Harry Potter doll," he teased with a huge grin.
"Daddy!" Ginny screamed in protest, her eyes shifting to look at Harry to see his reaction.
She was surprised when instead of his acting like he'd just been given some great material to tease her mercilessly with, his eyes were warm and filled with love.
Keeping one arm around Ginny, Arthur extended his hand toward Harry. "Harry, it's good to see you too," he added genially.
As he shook the raven-haired young man's hand, he gave him a look over too. "I see married life is agreeing with you too," he said with a grin.
"Yes, sir," Harry replied, though Arthur could hear a tenseness to his voice. He glanced around and saw the others we frowning.
"What am I missing?" he asked in trepidation.
Ginny immediately slipped out of her father's grasp and went over to Harry, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. Glancing at Bill, she began to lead Harry away.
Arthur looked at Bill, totally bewildered.
Bill sighed as he watched his sister lead Harry away and after a moment he turned back to his father. With Fleur's help he explained what Harry had gone through after he had left Hogwarts after the discussion that they'd all had.
Arthur had tears in his eyes and he felt devastated at hearing about Harry's ordeal.
"I should never have left him go," he moaned, chiding himself.
"You didn't know, Dad," Bill said sympathetically, hugging his father.
"Doesn't matter. I knew he didn't really have a place to go. I should have stood up to your mother more," he whispered hoarsely.
"Dad, if it's one thing I've learned from Harry while he's been staying with us, it's the past is just that, the past and we can't change it. Let it go but make sure it never happens again," Bill stated softly.
Arthur gave his son a wan smile. "He's a pretty smart young man," he murmured.
"That 'e is," Fleur interjected, giving her father-in-law an encouraging smile.
Bill took a quick glance at Harry and Ginny and seeing they hadn't gotten that far as they were walking slowly, he turned back to his father. "How's Mum?" he asked bluntly.
Arthur sighed deeply, his face becoming quite sad once again.
"It's been a trial and while she hasn't been as vocal as of late, she's acting a bit strange and I think she might be up to something, though I have no idea what," he groaned.
Bill and Fleur exchanged glances, neither happy at what they'd just heard.
"We'll try to be extra vigilant but if you find anything out, we'd appreciate it if you'd let us know," Bill implored.
"Of course and please let Harry know how sorry I am . . . about everything," Arthur said sadly.
"He knows, Dad," Bill replied.
"Still," Arthur stated with a sad smile.
Bill and Fleur glanced up the street and saw how far Harry and Ginny were getting. "We should be going," Bill said with a touch of regret.
"Me too. It wouldn't do to have your mother ask too many questions," Arthur replied.
After a round of hugs, Bill and Fleur hurried after the retreating Harry and Ginny. Arthur stood there for a moment, watching them all go before he sighed and entered the butcher's shop, knowing it would have been hard to explain if he forgot to get a roast for that night's dinner.
Harry and Ginny
A/N: So Harry and Ginny are making plans and still enjoying the remainder of their honeymoon. At least they got lucky in Ottery St Catchpole and saw Arthur and not Molly.
As always, a review would be greatly appreciated.