CH 23 "A Difficult Christmas Eve"
We have a couple more chapters close to being ready. As always, FriendofMolly and I love reviews.
Harry and Ginny always went to the Hogwarts Christmas Ball as chaperones, as did Bill and Fleur. From her first year at Hogwarts Victoire went to every dance with Teddy, but they made it obvious that they were just going as cousins.
This year Teddy and Victoire were among the first to enter the great hall. They went right over to Bill and Fleur, and Ginny whispered to Harry, "Something is going on between those two."
Teddy cleared his throat, and then said, "Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Sir, Mam." This was unusual; he always called them Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur. "Victoire has always been my best friend, but, well, it is like this." He looked to Victoire for support. She squeezed his hand. "Well, Rose Sprout talked to me …"
Victoire stared at Teddy and said, "It's NOT about Rose Sprout, it's about US."
Teddy said, "It is just that if I want to be an Auror and go on an overseas assignment, Victoire might have to wait and wait, and I'm just worried that maybe something will happen to me while I am on assignment, and that wouldn't be fair to her, and, but, …" Teddy turned to Victoire again, and said, "Torie …"
Victoire said, "Teddy is worried that he may be hurt if he is in the International Aurors. He may not be as pretty as he is now, or something else may happen. And I told Teddy about how, after Daddy had his face shredded, Grandmother Molly did not think Mum would want to marry Daddy, but Mum said she would just have to be pretty enough for both of you. I told Teddy that if he comes back to me I would just have to be pretty enough for both of us, and I didn't care what would happen to him in the International Aurors."
"We are not engaged, or anything like that," Teddy said, "but I did let everyone know that I was inviting my girlfriend, my one special girlfriend, to the Christmas Ball this year."
"And I made it clear to everyone that I was not in the market for another boyfriend, because my best friend in all the world was my boyfriend now,… too, …as well, ….so there!" Victoire said.
"I am so grateful for your mother," Bill said. "I often marvel at us, the prettiest girl in the world married to one of the ugliest men."
"You are beautiful inside, where it counts, my hero," Fleur said to Bill, and she kissed him. She turned to Victoire and said, "Your father gave me my life back. I do not think I ever told you the story. Sit down. It is time."
"Why?" Victoire asked as she and Teddy sat down.
Fleur said, "My last year at Beauxbatons I was raped, publicly, in front of a small crowd. I was abused and humiliated. I filed charges, and the SOB had to pay a dowry price as a fine, like I was a piece of meat that could be purchased. I was angry and humiliated. I thought I was ruined, and that no self-respecting wizard would ever want someone as ruined as I was. My boyfriend at the time did not know how to handle it. I fled to England, but hid my shameful secret. I went out on a few dates, but I was always too angry and ashamed to want to go out with a boy a second time."
Harry and Ginny knew the story, but Victoire and Teddy were horrified.
'Oh Mum," Victoire said. "I had no idea."
"It is not exactly something you tell a young child," Fleur said. "Then I met your father. He was so patient with me. He let me rage. He let me tell him just how I felt. He let me cry, and eventually, one night, I cried and cried and cried, and he cried with me, and something broke, or healed, and I saw that I could be loved again. I saw that I could love that amazing man who listened to me, and loved me, and didn't judge me."
Fleur was crying now. "The face, that's a little thing. Your Daddy, Victoire, your Daddy gave me back my LIFE."
By this time everyone was crying. "I've made you ruin your makeup," Fleur said. "We had better go to the ladies room and fix up Teddy's beautiful girlfriend."
"I'll help you, Aunt Ginny," Victoire said. Ginny's house elf was not with her, and she was still unsteady on her feet. Together the three women left for the ladies room, Victoire helping her Aunt Ginny with her balance.
"She is always so nice, so helpful," Teddy said, as he watched Victoire helping Ginny.
"I'm still Uncle Bill, Teddy," Bill said. "Is it different when she is your girlfriend?"
Teddy's hair color changed to the 'I am really embarrassed' shade, and he nodded yes.
Bill said, "She is only fourteen. Keep your pants on. I know she wants to have your babies, but we don't want any babies until after you are married, I hope nine months after you are married."
Harry said, "You do not get overseas Auror assignments if you are married, OR if you have a child."
"Don't start, or you will not be able to stop," said Bill. "And don't even think of asking me about birth control before you are married. I'd throw you out of the house. Ask Uncle Harry."
"Thanks, Bill," said Harry. Harry was not looking forward to Teddy being an undercover Auror. He sure was not looking forward to teaching him about birth control before Teddy and Victoire were at least engaged.
Teddy sat there with Bill and Harry waiting for the girls to come back.
Meanwhile the Fleur, Victoire and Ginny had arrived at the ladies room.
Ginny sat down and started to fix her makeup, and listened to Fleur and Victoire.
"How did this happen, you and Teddy?" asked Fleur.
"It really was Rose Sprout," said Victoire. "She told Teddy that lots of boys wanted to date me, and lots of girls wanted to date him, and if we were not dating each other, it was past time to go to the Christmas Ball with other dates and announce that we were available.
"I think Teddy thought about it overnight, but he said it just didn't work. Except that he is worried about how long I will have to wait, and he is worried that he will get a dangerous assignment, not that he doesn't want one, but he is worried what that will do to me, to us.
"You heard what I told him, Mummy. I will wait for my Teddy."
Fleur looked at Victoire's dress. "You are showing a lot of bust."
"I have a lot of bust," Victoire said, pointing out the obvious. "It's not like Teddy doesn't see more of me when we are at the topless beaches in France." Victoire was obviously a little embarrassed, but she was not about to change the way she was dressed.
Fleur said. "I want a wedding before grandchildren, and not a last minute wedding. I like Teddy, but I would hope you would graduate from Hogwarts a virgin."
"Teddy said the same thing, Maman," Victoire said. "He said the alternative was to ask you and Daddy about birth control, and he could not see doing that."
"I cannot imagine Teddy asking your Daddy about birth control, so he can bed Daddy's oldest daughter," Fleur said.
"I'll just ask Aunt Ginny," Victoire said, trying unsuccessfully to imitate a Ginny Potter smirk. When she saw the expression on the faces of her mother and aunt the grin was gone.
"You are fourteen, Torie. Keep your knickers on," said Ginny.
Victoire said, "Do Dominique and Louis know about you getting … Oh Maman, it must have been so horrible. Do they know?"
"I do not think so. We will have to tell them over Christmas break," Fleur said.
The three women went back to the table where Bill, Harry and Teddy were sitting. People were still coming in, and the music had not started.
"I think you can join your friends, Teddy, Victoire," Ginny said. "Us old people will just watch you, and gossip about you."
Teddy and Victoire left to dance, as did Fleur and Bill. Harry and Ginny joined for a couple of slow numbers, and then sat down.
Ginny said, "Fleur is elegant even when dancing the very fast numbers."
Harry looked at Teddy and Victoire, who were quite vigorous, but not exactly graceful, when the music and dancing became very fast. "I think Teddy inherited his dancing skill from Tonks. He knows how to do it, but he is not the smoothest dancer out there."
About this time Teddy and Victoire bumped into each other, and then into another couple, almost falling, and laughing. Ginny said, "Teddy and Victoire dance well together, but Victoire is about as coordinated as Teddy, not as elegant as Fleur. Between that, and her shape, and the red hair and freckles, she is a very different creature than her mother."
"Look at Dominique," Harry said. Despite Dominique only being a first year, and obviously still a little girl, she was already quite elegant, and an older boy had asked her to dance.
As the children had gotten older and more of the younger Aurors had children Harry had adapted the difficult Christmas schedule, and this Christmas of two thousand and fourteen Harry was working Christmas Eve. Because Bill and Fleur, George and Angelica went to the wives families Christmas Eve, Harry decided that he could work on Christmas Eve, getting out of work an hour or so before the late church service. The Magi Church that they usually attended had at five PM service for young children, and a more adult eight PM service, plus one instead of two services on Christmas Day. The Potter and Ron Weasley children were old enough that they were going to go to the eight PM service, and this year the Christmas Eve shift change was going to take place at about seven PM.
Harry woke up as he usually did at six AM, put on a pair of boxers, and went to the loo. He did a shaving spell, and turned back to the bedroom. Ginny was stumbling out of bed, wrapping a bathrobe around her. Although the children were older, and not in the bedroom without warning, and the Potters had gone back to sleeping without any bed clothes on, they still needed something close at hand for when the children did want to come in. Ginny came over to Harry, opened the bathrobe, and rubbed against Harry, saying "Time for a little me before breakfast?" Harry needed no more incentive, and delayed his getting dressed for a brief interlude of lovemaking before getting down to the kitchen at about ten to seven. Harry was the only one there, but before seven AM Albus and Teddy had appeared at the floo. "I went over to get Teddy," said Albus.
Mable, the old house elf, was making breakfast for the three of them, and Harry said. "Prayers before breakfast, boys?" The three held hands, and Harry said, "Thank you for my family. Help me with my work this day before Christmas." Teddy said, "Thank you for Grandma and all the family that has adopted me."
Albus said, "Thank you Lord for Teddy and his grandmother, for my family and all the Weasley family. Help keep daddy safe at work, and all the Aurors. Help dad with … a … problem." Al stopped holding hands, looked at his father, and said. "I have a feeling, like I sometimes get. Something about a three year old girl, her one or almost one year old brother, something real bad. Something about their mummy and … and daddy but … something you may have to do today. I don't know, dad. I just get these things in my head."
Al had said things like this four times before. Twice it was very obvious that something that had happened at work was prophesied or foreshadowed by what Al had said, and a third time Harry could see what Al's prophesy, if that was what it was, was talking about, but only later as he was reviewing what had happened that day. The fourth time was just a mystery. So Harry said "I'll remember that, Al." After breakfast, Al and Teddy went back to the New Burrow property to map some more.
Harry went into work. Both of the department's Administrative Assistants were working from home, having set up a couple of virtual offices using the best Muggle and Magi technology. This both allowed them to spend a little more time with their small children, and gave Harry and the staff access to some of the information at odd hours that otherwise may have been hard to find. Usually one of them was in the office most of the working day, but the department was going to be short staffed over the Christmas Holidays. For most of the day very little happened, and Harry and Jeanne, the young female Auror, just a year out of training, spent most of the day visiting various retail establishments run by Magi, just to show that the Auror Department was still staffed the day before Christmas.
They were back at the Ministry of Magic about six thirty PM when the receptionists gave them a call. An older Witch and a very young girl were asking for the Aurors. Harry though of Al and his prophesy, and got worried. When they got down to the entrance the elderly witch said, "Melody Colburn ran outside in the snow with her story. Colburn's again! I'm leaving." She turned on her heels and left, leaving the little girl behind.
Melody Colburn was a very scared little girl, about three years old. She was wearing a thin shabby dress, quite dirty and with at least a little blood on it. Her feet were bare, blue and cold, and she was shivering. Harry took her in his arms and said, "What's the problem, Melody?"
"Daddy's mad and drinking and Mummy is asleep and can't wake up and baby Philly and I hungry and scared," said Melody.
Harry had run into the Colburn family before. If there had been a domestic violence unit at the Ministry the Colburn family would have been one of the chief concerns. Although last Christmas was quiet, both of the previous Christmas holidays the Aurors had problems with the Colburn family. Beth Colburn, Harry knew, was an orphan, one of the many who lost all their family in the last war, and was traumatized by the experience. She grabbed onto Phil Colburn like a lifeline, even though she sort of knew he had a temper. It was hard to tell if she regretted the marriage. Phil's heritage was bad, with at least one relative in Azkaban, and more documented cases of spousal abuse, and even murder. Harry had to get Melody somewhere quickly, and then get to the house before something happened to Philly, Phil Jr. All of the usual support staff was gone, and the only one Harry could think of was Ginny. He had Jeanne, the other Auror, stay at the Ministry, while he took the floo home with Melody in his arms.
Harry ran upstairs, and found Ginny and the children in the drawing room. Harry said, "I need you to take care of Melody Colburn until we can find someone to take her. Get her cleaned up, take her to church. I need to get her little brother. Bad things, I'm scared, Ginny that we are going to find bad things." Harry put Melody in Ginny's hands, went downstairs, and took the floo back to the Ministry. He took Jeanne along by side along apparition to right outside of the Colburn house. They could hear Phil Sr. yelling drunkenly inside, and a baby crying inside. Harry told Jeanne, "Cover me," and he peered inside, stunned Phil Sr, and did a spell to tie him up. He told Jeanne, "Stay with Phil," and went over to pick up the baby, but as he did he saw Beth lying on the floor. He went over to check, and almost immediately saw that Beth had been dead for some time.
Little Phil was in much worse shape that Melody, with nappies that were dripping wet and messy, and the filthiest shirt that Harry had ever seen on a baby, with mess from the nappies all over everything. Harry quickly took little Phil over to his house. Ginny looked in horror at little Phil. Harry looked at the two children and said, "I'll get help." He sent a Patronus to Ron and Hermione, asking them to come over right away, with Jean and the children, that he and Ginny needed help. When they appeared at the front door Harry said, "I need everybody, Jean, Rose and even maybe Hugo. I have a big problem. It looks like one of our problem couples, the Colburns, well, Phil Colburn killed his wife Beth, and I have a crime scene to secure, we need to find a home for the two children, and Ginny needs urgent help cleaning up two filthy and scared little children."
"We'll all help," said Hermione, and all five of them followed Harry into Harry and Ginny's house.
Harry led them all up to the drawing room, and said, "Could I have Ron help me at the crime scene? Hermione, could you find a place for these two," pointing at Melody and little Phil. Ginny said, "Jean, could you and Rose and Lily clean up Melody and get a pretty dress on her. Please use Lily's bathroom." Jean took Melody's hand and led Melody upstairs with the girls.
Ginny picked up little Phil and headed to the boys bathroom. "I'll see you at church if I can make it," said Harry.
Hermione said, "I'll go over to the ministry and see who I can find who might take the two little Colburn children."
"Come with me to the Colburn house," said Harry to Ron, and together they apparated to the house. Jeanne was standing around sort of stunned. Harry said, "Ron, take Phil to the jail. If you can, get some sober up potion in him and see if he can tell you what happened. Jeanne, you and I are going to test these wands and see what we can find out, plus take photographs of the house and see if we can find any other evidence."
It took almost an hour, but they had plenty of evidence to prove that Phil had used the Cruciatus Curse on Beth until her heart stopped. Ron had less luck with Phil, who, even when mostly sobered up, was not very cogent. Hermione had absolutely no luck finding any relatives. The only ones were a couple of Phil's less desirable relatives, one locked up, the other with old domestic violence complaints that would keep her from ever getting custody of any children. Then the question became who else could take the children. There was one family. Burton and Rose Berry had one eight year old daughter. Rose had almost died having Xenia, and could not have any more children. They had taken in a few foster children over the years, but Magi children did not come up for adoption very often. Everybody was almost done about nine PM, just in time to meet the families at the end of church services, except that Hermione had still not been able to contact the Berry family.
Jean Granger took Melody up to Lily's bathroom, along with Lily and Rose. They gave her a bath, and found one of Lily's old dresses that Ginny eventually shrunk to fit. All Melody could say was, "Daddy hurt mummy bad." There was a lot of hugging, and a lot of crying.
Ginny and Albus washed up little Phil, which was quite a job. They found some small clothes that Ginny had put away. James watched Hugo while Ginny and Albus were taking care of little Phil. Harry called just before eight PM to say that they would be maybe another hour, but hoped to get to church before it let out. So the group that took the floo to the church for Christmas Eve services were Jean Granger with her grandchildren Rose and Hugo Weasley, Ginny with Teddy, who appeared at the last minute, James, Albus, Lily, Melody and Philly.
Xenia Berry told her parents before they went to church, "All I really want for Christmas is a new brother and sister. I am going to pray real hard tonight." Her parents had seen this prayer for three Christmas's now, and there was going to be a fourth Christmas of disappointment. Not being able to have any more children was hard sometimes, but somehow it was harder around Christmas. Rose Berry found that she was spending most of the time before Christmas praying that Xenia's prayer, and to be honest her prayer too, would be answered. There were enough songs and stories about Christmas miracles; maybe they could have one.
There was a big pew in the back of the church, and the Berry family slid in one side of the pew. They noticed this big family coming in, with lots of children. It looked like a grandmother and mother with eight children. They really were not looking too closely. The two adults and eight children slid into the pew next to the Berry family, led by Albus who indicated that they should take this pew.
Ginny sat down next to Rose Berry, holding on to a now sleeping Philly. You could see Ginny was tired and upset, with tears right on the surface. All the children looked more tired and concerned than happy. Rose asked if Ginny needed any help, and Ginny gladly gave Philly to Rose. Xenia edged over to Albus, who was holding Melody on his lap. They did not say much, but just having Rose, Lily and Xenia around, Albus with Melody on his lap in the middle, seemed to help somehow. Ginny did not see how this group of children had come together, but even in the silence of watching a church service something was happening.
Albus was very aware of everybody's emotions that night, and felt like he was almost reading minds. He knew that he was projecting comfort to Melody, and projecting something to this new little girl next to them. Albus worked real hard trying to read Melody's mind, and projecting comfort and peace to her.
Just as the church service was ending Harry, Hermione and Ron showed up. They sat at the end of the pew until the service was over. Rose Berry was still holding on to a sleeping Philly, and she was almost falling asleep, just thinking how nice it was to hold a little child again. As the pew in front of the Potter Weasley Berry pew emptied Hermione walked in, looked over at the Berry family, and then did a quick double take. There were photographs of the Berry family in the documents she had been reading, and there was no doubt this was the family she had been looking for. The mother Rose, (same name as her daughter,) was already holding young Phil; this was good, Hermione thought. She started right in with, "I see you are holding Phil already. I have a copy of his birth certificate and one for his sister Melody. I see she has already met her new sister Xenia. I also have temporary custody papers until we can get all the legal issues worked out. If you want we can sign them right here."
"Who are you?" asked Burton. "What is this all about?"
"You are Burton and Rose Berry?" said Hermione.
"Yes," said Burton.
"You have been looking to adopt a child or two. I have just talked to several people who said you seemed quite anxious to adopt."
"Who are you?" asked Burton again. "Just as church starts this rather large family that we've never seen sits down next to us, and when the church service is over, before we even know who anybody is, a new group comes in and starts talking like we know what is going on."
"Didn't Ginny tell you?" asked Hermione, looking at Ginny.
"Are you Ginny?" asked Rose. Ginny nodded yes, and then said, "I came into church exhausted after getting Philly cleaned and ready to go. He was very thirsty and gulped down some milk. By the time we got here I was exhausted. This nice lady next to me offered to take Philly, and I just handed him over, and he has been sleeping ever since."
"You haven't said anything to them?" asked Hermione. Ginny shook her head no.
"Who are you, and who are these people," said Burton again.
"I'm Hermione Granger Weasley, and I am a department manager at the Ministry of Magic, and have been involved in … never mind. This is my husband, Auror Ron Weasley. My mother Jean Granger is over at the end of the pew. Then we have Teddy Lupin, James Potter, Hugo Weasley, Rose Weasley, then Melody Colburn sitting on Albus Potter's lap, then your daughter Xenia, next to her Lily Potter," said Hermione.
"I'm Ginny Potter," said Ginny, "and my house elf Mitzi. The man talking to the children is my husband, Harry Potter. Maybe he ought to explain everything."
As Hermione and Ron were heading over to the Berry parents Harry sat down on the pew in front of Albus. "I'm Harry Potter, Melody," he said in a quiet calming voice. "Do you feel any better now that you have clean clothes on?"
"Is mummy going to wake up?" asked Melody.
"No," said Harry.
"I didn't think so," said Melody. "I have to go back Daddy? He hurts people. He hurt mummy all time. He hurt me."
"No" said Harry, "we will make sure your daddy never hurts you again."
"Can I stay with you?" asked Melody to Harry.
"She can stay with us!" said Xenia. "Would you like to have MY mummy and daddy and ME to take care of you?"
"Does your daddy hurt you?" asked Melody.
"No," said Xenia, "but if I'm bad I have to sit in the corner some times. No one hits at our house."
"I guess I could come stay with you," said Melody. "I'm Melody. What's your name?"
"I'm Xenia Berry, and I've wanted a sister for so long, and prayed, and … Melody, that's a pretty name" said Xenia.
"What's your name?" asked Melody again.
"Xenia" said Xenia.
"Zeen ya" said Melody. "Zeen ya."
Xenia clambered over the pew to the one Harry was on, with a little help from Harry, and ran over to her parents shouting "Mummy, daddy, I have a new sister! Her name is Melody and she is going to be living with us and she is … come over and meet her! God heard my prayers and I have a new sister and everything!"
"A new brother too, it looks like," said Rose Berry, looking at little Phil, who was waking up.
Xenia ran back to look at Melody over the pew, and asked, "Is that your brother?" Melody nodded yes. "He's coming to live with us too. Isn't this exciting!" said Xenia.
"I want MY mummy," said Melody, the tears starting to pour. "I want my mummy to wake up and be happy." Melody looked at Harry again and asked, "Is mummy going to get better?"
"I'm afraid not, Melody. Daddy hurt your mummy so bad she died," said Harry.
"Does dead mean she is never going to wake up and love me?" asked Melody.
Teddy Lupin started to cry, thinking of more children without a mother or father, and said, "My mummy and daddy are dead too, and sometimes it's real hard. Even though they are dead I know they still love me, and I'm sure your mummy loves you."
"NO!" Melody cried. "I WANT MY MUMMY!"
Teddy held on to Melody and said, "You can cry for your mummy and I'll cry for mine," and then he sobbed and sobbed, and Melody held on to Teddy and the tears and sobs came and came. They held each other for several minutes before they both regained some composure.
Xenia looked at Teddy and Melody, and then looked at Harry with concern on her face and said, "Is it my fault that Melody's mother is dead, because I wanted a new brother and sister?"
Harry said, "No, Xenia, none of this is your fault. We have been having problems with Melody's daddy for years."
After Teddy and Melody had stopped crying Harry said to the assembled crowd, "Do you all want to come to my house. I can tell the adults as much of the story as I know, and Hermione and Ron may be able to add to it. We have enough room for the children, and I will have the house elves make sure they have a little to eat and are taken care of."
Burton took a good look at Harry and realized who he was. "You're the famous Harry Potter, the head of Aurors." Burton stood there with his eyes wide opened, amazed at what was going on.
Harry chuckled and grinned, and said, "I can't escape it. I'm the famous Harry Potter. Being head Auror is one of the best jobs in the world, except sometimes like tonight it feels like the worst. Domestic violence cases are always hard. Come on over to our house for a brief time."
"Lead on," said Burton, and the assembled crowd walked out of church. In the narthex of the church there was a modest size meet and great area. There were two fireplaces so you could go to and leave church via the floo. Ginny led the way, holding on to Harry for support. Harry saw Father Jack Lewis and asked, "Do you know the Berry family?"
"Real good people," said Jack. "I hope they find a couple of children to adopt."
"We have a couple for them," said Harry "but it's a real tragic case, dad killed the mum. I'm sure they are going to need your help."
"Thanks for letting me know," said Jack.
Al and Rose's house elf friend Martin, and his parents Dobedo and Harriet, were waiting for the crowd coming into the Potter's large kitchen and eating area.
"We'll watch the children," said Harriet.
Al was already doing a juggling trick using his ability to levitate things. Al could keep up to twenty tennis balls in the air, using much more levitation than normal juggling skills although there were some of those as well.
The adults went up to the drawing room, and Harry told everybody what he knew of the situation. Ron did not have much additional information, but Hermione went into the Colburn's family situation. If they wanted the children, and it sure looked like they did, then they would have custody starting right away, and permanent adoption within six months.
Finally Harry said, "At least we got the children before they were hurt."
Jean Grainger said, "Harry, Melody has scars all over her body, just not on her face. She even walks a little funny. I am sure that she needs to see the healers as soon as possible."
Ginny said, "Little Phil has some scars too. I'm sure those children have suffered."
Hermione said, "I'll document what we have heard here, from Jean and Ginny, so there is a record of the children's injuries before Burton and Rose even saw them. You," looking at Burton and Rose, "need to get the children over to St. Mungo's for a thorough evaluation as soon as possible after Christmas." Both of the Berry's nodded in agreement. The meeting broke up, and the Burton and Rose took their, what had suddenly become three children home.
Albus was getting ready to go to bed. He looked around his bedroom. His bedroom was a comfortable place, one place in the house that was uniquely his. He had been given a chance to decorate the room any way he liked. It was a light green, almost an off white, with some darker green accents. Al thought the green accents were similar to the dark green that was one of the colors of the Holyhead Harpies. The woodwork was all light, and any metalwork, sconces for light, door handles and the like, were chrome. James called anything that looked like chrome "silver" and said that Albus' room was decorated in Slytherin colors, although that was certainly not Albus' intent. Albus had charts on the walls, things that he could know with certainty. He had a periodic table of elements, a chart of all the kings and queens of England, another chronology of English history, and still another chronology of world history. Albus had a lot of maps, of England, of Europe, of North America, of the world. There were maps and charts and lists from some of his magical books too, including a large chronology of Magi history going back almost 6,000 years. Anything he could put on the wall that was certain helped Albus feel like he could control his world, or at least know what was in the world. There were also lots of books, a good working desk and a couple of different comfortable reading chairs, with lots of light. It was about as different from James Red and Gold room as possible, no Quidditch posters on the wall, nothing about Harry Potter or Ginny Potter on the wall. Lily's room was, Al knew, pink and white and looked like a pampered little girl's room.
Albus knew he was smart and an unusually good wizard for his age. He also knew he was doing things that he really should not be doing at his age. As new skills came to him they were not only a source of great satisfaction but a worry. Al was worried about his future; why was all this happening to him. This fifth incident of prophecy was not exactly welcome. Al was not looking forward to being a prophet, although he liked talking to the prophets in Switzerland. Al was always good at reading people, but he knew the difference between a natural reading of people and legilimency. What he did in both reading the minds of Melody and little Phil and in calming them down was legilimency, not just a natural sympathy. This was a very handy talent this night, but it was a scary talent. It wasn't just that he could almost read little Phil and Melody's mind, and calm them down. He saw more than before how worried his mother was, and had some additional insight into Teddy's awareness that he was different. Al was going to have to talk to his dad about this new skill. This was something else to worry about, being a legilimens at such a young age.
Al knew that his father was upset that the Auror department and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement that his grandfather was head of could not do anything about the Colburn family until Mr. Colburn had killed Mrs. Colburn. Al knew that was not right. Al just did not understand why people could be mean, would want to hurt anyone. It just wasn't right! And then what about the Colburn children? From what Albus could sense little Phil would probably be all right. His mind was full of a lot of confusion, but his memories were not all that clear. Al hoped he would be all right. Melody was another matter. She remembered her mother as the one who tried to save her from her father's beatings, and saw her mother's death. She was going to have a much harder time getting over what she had seen and experienced. Albus knew there was really nothing more that he could do, but he still felt bad for the children.
Harry and Ginny put the children to bed and kissed them good night in reverse order, youngest to oldest. When Harry and Ginny went into Albus's room this Christmas Eve Albus asked his dad, "Could you come back and talk to me. Please!" Harry could tell it was important and agreed immediately, and as soon as he and Ginny had finished with James Harry was back in the bedroom of Albus.
Harry was upset. They knew about the Colburn family, but no one was responsible for that type of problem until someone was hurt, and they could prove it. He knew that one area he had made very little progress with might be called "family law." No one in the Ministry of Magic was really paying much attention to families in trouble. There was one healer working out of St. Mungo's, who had about 50 families she was working with. One family took a day every week; the parents had their own problems, and both children were having a hard time. There were a couple of other families that she tried to see for part of a day each week. Before she was done with the people who she felt she had to see there was way too much left to do and way too little time left to do it. Harry and Arthur had tried to recruit more people, and have a liaison with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Harry was beginning to think he was going get Cindy Hudson to tell the story of the Colburn family. Most of the families that needed help did not want to have publicity, and most family matters were confidential, so getting any publicity was difficult. Harry always had a hard time getting to sleep whenever he felt that there was a failure of any kind in the Department of Law Enforcement, even when he was not officially in charge, and he felt the Colburn family was a major failure. All this was on his mind as he walked into Albus's room that night.
"Tough night, dad," Albus said.
Harry looked at his son; he didn't know what to say.
"It's not your fault, is it?" Albus asked.
"Domestic violence cases are hard, Al," Harry said. "You don't want to take children away from their parents, but some parents are not good to their children."
"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley weren't nice to you, were they, dad?" Albus asked.
Harry looked at his son and the big bedroom Al was in, and remembered going to bed one Christmas Eve and Christmas night after another not letting the tears show until he was in his closet under the stairs, and then bawling because life seemed so unfair.
"I'm sorry, daddy," Albus said, sensing the pain in his daddy's past, and Al started to cry, going over and hugging his father hard. "I'm sorry you didn't have nice Christmas's when you were a little boy. I hope I can grow up and make sure everybody has a nice Christmas!"
Harry started to cry too, and he was not sure why. Albus was such a good boy. "You are a good person, Albus," Harry said. More than any of the other children Al was worried about good and evil, and, maybe like his father, Albus was upset that the world was not a nicer, fairer place for everybody. "We can't solve all the problems of the world, Al. Remember. It feels awful when you think you should have done something but you couldn't or didn't, but you just have to do your best."
"I'll try, dad," Al said. "I love you and mum." Al gave his father a big hug, "I just needed more hugs from my dad tonight," he said. He would talk more about what had happened later; his dad had enough on his mind. How come the bad guys were always men? Albus wanted to ask his dad, but he could sense that his dad was having a really hard time this Christmas. He was just going to have to ask later.
Ginny was worried about the Colburn children, but she was also worried about Harry, who she knew was going to have a hard time over the next few days. She was also a little concerned about Albus, who seemed to be taking the situation of the Colburn family quite personally. It was amazing how he seemed to be able to help calm down both of the children.
"What did you and Albus talk about?" Ginny asked Harry as they were lying in bed.
"Al said he was sorry I didn't have nice Christmas's when I was a little boy," Harry said, tears in his eyes. "That was long ago, and it shouldn't affect me now."
"It still does, doesn't it, though," Ginny said. "Time for another good cry?"
Harry pulled Ginny into him and he started to bawl. He was hoping that for the Colburn children there would be sort of a happy ending, with loving parents to take the place of their dead mum and drunken dad. At the same time, every time something like this happened he was reminded of the ten awful years with the Dursley family.
Ginny did her best to comfort Harry. She was not sure if she believed in a Heaven and Hell, although she did believe in an afterlife. If there was a hell she was sure Vernon Dursley was in it, and she didn't know if there was enough torture in the afterlife to make up for the meanness he had shown her poor husband. And Petunia had never really apologized. Dudley had, over and over. Dudley was why you forgave people, even if it was hard, but Vernon, NEVER!