Almost Happily Ever After
Ch 13 Classes and Trials
"Oh Harry" said Ginny. "I had no idea your childhood was THIS bad!"
Tuesday morning, Kreacher made breakfast as usual. Harry and Michael told Kreacher that he was going to have to come with them and leave the dishes to the people staying home. Kreacher was not happy to be leaving the house. But Michael said that Kreacher was needed, and so he left with Harry and Michael.
There was a message later that day that Molly and Rosemary should make dinner and that Harry, Michael and Kreacher would be back at about 8:00 PM. They were also to set a place for Kreacher at the table.
That evening at the dinner table, Harry announced, "From now on Kreacher is going to be going to work with Michael every weekday morning and coming back with him. I have ordered him to allow Molly and Rosemary to take care of the house and to make meals so that he can concentrate on the Harry Potter Estate matters. Please do not ask Kreacher to do anything. If something needs Kreacher's help, talk to me or to Michael."
Kreacher sat on one side of Harry, and Ginny on the other of Harry. She heard Kreacher say, "Is hard. Kreacher is house-elf, not huge-estates-manager-elf."
"We need you. Michael, Bill and the goblins trying to straighten out the estates need you," said Harry, smiling at Kreacher's reluctance. "Bill's wife Fleur talked about how hard it was to let her house guests make meals for her while she went to work with Bill. And they've said that you've been such a huge help at the bank."
"Is true, but is hard," agreed Kreacher.
Ginny asked, "Is Fleur working with Bill? I thought she was helping the healers."
Harry replied, "Fleur has some training in healing, but there are enough healers now. Most of her advanced training is in banking and finance. She was working at Gringotts, had kept working there part time after she and Bill were married. She is helping Bill and Michael with the estate. And since she is my 'sister-in-love' because we are engaged, she can do things that some other people cannot do."
"It's a good thing we're engaged then," said Ginny.
Harry responded by giving Ginny a little kiss, right there at the dinner table.
Harry left every morning with Michael and Kreacher to meet with Bill to try to solve estate problems every day except Sunday from Tuesday May 19 until Friday May 29. He left at about 8:00 AM and got back between 6:00 and 8:00 PM. Arthur Weasley left for work and came back at about the same time. Dinner was always interesting, as Arthur shared what was going on at the Ministry, Harry and Michael explained what was going on with the Harry Potter Estates and Molly and Ginny told them what was going on with the new house. There were also usually stories about what the children had been doing. Of course, Teddy was growing like mad; little babies grow faster the first year than in any other time of their life, and every couple of days, Ginny and Molly noticed some evidence of Teddy's growth. It was Harry's greatest regret about having to work such long hours, missing the amount of time he had been able to spend with Teddy previously.
hr /
Thursday the 21st, Kreacher was not at the dinner table. Michael said that Kreacher needed to talk to Aristotle and some other house-elves about some things. He said to Ginny, "Your friend Hermione has been helping us read some of the documents relating to the Harry Potter Estate, especially ones written in runes. She is one of the smartest people I've ever met but not always the most tactful."
"Was she promoting elf-rights again?" asked Ginny, guessing at the situation.
"Everybody wants to do the right thing for elves and goblins as well as wizards," said Harry. "It's just that justice and doing the right thing is not as simple as just giving all elves freedom."
"Harry is being too humble," said Michael. "Elf rights are very tricky because they have been charmed to want to belong to wizards and to be connected to somebody or something. Harry is trying to make things better for house-elves without being as dogmatic as Hermione."
"Hermione dogmatic?" asked Ginny grinning at the description of one her closest friends. Harry just shook his head.
"She put her foot in her mouth about goblin rights as well," said Michael. "Harry has made a lot of progress by insisting that goblins be treated with respect. And when it comes to his money, any errors or questionable funds should be decided on the side of the goblins. As Harry rightly points out, we would not know about a lot of this money and other estate properties without the goblins. It wouldn't be fair to try and cheat them out of their share. Harry says we should be more than generous with them. It makes sense, but that's not the history of wizard and goblin relations. Of course, every time Harry makes sure the goblins do very well in one of these estates, they seem to find another estate or more assets in one of the estates."
"Hermione complains about that?" asked Ginny.
"Not exactly, but some of the issues between goblins and wizards are a little more subtle than she realized," said Michael.
"Today was her last day working on the estate," said Harry. "At least until she is back from Australia with her parents."
"Will that solve the problems?" asked Ginny.
"Not really," said Harry. "Maybe with Kreacher not here, we can talk about some of the issues. Kreacher is talking to Aristotle because of how complex some of the problems are. Sometimes we think it is just a problem of the witches and wizards, but there are other problems."
"Like what?" asked Ginny.
"Wizards sometimes think that the only thing that matters is the way wizards relate to house-elves, how wizards relate to goblins," said Michael. "We were very involved in a most complex estate. There were four goblins: Kreacher, Aristotle and two different house-elves related to the estate in question. Harry asked, 'Why do goblins trust house-elves?' Hermione said, 'Because house-elves did not take sides during the goblin wars.' This resulted in a great deal of discussion and posturing."
Harry chimed in, "I finally asked if Hermione was wrong. Aristotle asked for silence, and then said, 'Are many histories of that time. All are a little true, none are all the truth. Who does telling truth help, and what is truth? Complicated.'"
Michael continued the story. "It turns out that not only is there a history of conflict between goblins and wizards, but also a history of conflict and disagreements between house-elves and goblins. House-elves are not as isolated or as subservient as some wizards think they are."
"I've asked Kreacher to always do what, in the long run, will be best for house-elves and goblins as well as for wizards," said Harry. "I've asked Kreacher to live his life as an example of how house-elves should be treated. Kreacher always says, 'Is subversives.' I'm asking him to be subversive."
"Kreacher subversive?" asked Ginny.
"I think Kreacher means he is helping change the relationship between us and house-elves," Harry pondered. "He complains a little and then grins. I think he is enjoying being subversive, even though it is against some of his deepest instincts. It's sort of like being giving permission to do something that was otherwise forbidden."
"And he is enjoying it?" Ginny asked.
"There is more to Kreacher than anyone expected, me included," Harry said, trying to think through the situation himself. "Kreacher really wants to please me, to do what I want. He knows that I want house elves to be, maybe not free like Hermione thinks of it, but equal partners, fully respected members of the Wizarding community. Maybe more like a loyal employee with a really good job and respect, not an abject slave. We've talked about it, actually quite a bit when we have both had time, and Kreacher is trying really hard to understand what I want. He's trying really hard to want what I want. Sort of like ordering a slave to want to be free, or to want a better future for his kind or something like that."
"That IS kind of hard to understand," Ginny said, recognizing what was giving all of them headaches over the situation.
"It's kind of hard to talk about, because just saying that you want house elves to be free isn't the point," Harry said. "Free like Winky, free but miserable?"
"No," Ginny replied, having met the depressed elf.
"Freer, happy, and respected as equal beings with Wizards, goblins and centaurs, well, not all Wizards are very good at respecting those beings either."
"You only want to change everything." Ginny grinned.
"Well, only for the better, and not all at once, and I sure don't want to do it all by myself," Harry said. "After all, I'm not very important."
Ginny looked at Harry, put her hands on her hips, and started to lecture Harry. "Not important! Be serious! You really haven't done much, just defeated the worst dark wizard ever before you turned eighteen. And in addition to that, I have a list about seven parchments long of all of the things you have done."
Harry shut up. The last thing he wanted was for Ginny to list all of the things he had done. He still didn't feel as special as so many people were telling him he was. It was a lot to live up to. But he knew better than to contradict Ginny too loudly.
Friday morning May 29, Harry was at a meeting with Kingsley and several other witches and wizards. There was going to be a Wizengamot session that afternoon, and they wanted to plan what they were going to do. One of the first things they wanted to do was to install Arthur Weasley as a member, because of the seat Harry had given to him and because he was Head of Magical Law Enforcement. Kingsley expected some dissent, but in the end, Arthur became a permanent member rather easily.
There was quite a bit of discussion about the prison at Azkaban and whether or not they should continue to use dementors in the prison. Harry, as by far the youngest person at the meeting, kept quiet until he was asked his opinion. He finally said, "I would be happy if the dementors were banished from the earth. Most of you know some of my story, how much I've suffered because of Tom Riddle and the gang of people we are trying to put in Azkaban. I still don't want them tortured by dementors. Not even people who gave me or the people I love scars."
"It's going to be a hard job to convince people that we should keep the dementors out of Azkaban," Kingsley said, but Harry indicated that he would try.
The afternoon session went well. The only trials were of reasonably low level people, and most of the sentences were fairly mild.
Saturday May 30, they went to the Longbottom wedding, which was held at the Longbottom mansion. Both families were well represented, and Neville's parents were even there. When the time came in the ceremony for Neville's parents to provide a charm, they even vaguely repeated the words of the charm after the wizard leading the ceremony slowly talked them through it. Afterwards, Alice gave Neville another wrapper of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, which Neville kept like he always did. Hanna's father said the charms for her side of the family, Hanna's mother having been one of the many victims of Tom Riddle and the Death Eaters.
Sunday May 31, Hermione left for Australia to find her parents, restore their memories and bring them back.
Monday morning June 1 at about ten minutes before 8:00 AM, Harry and Ron walked into Professor Slughorn's Potions classroom. Harry had always hated the dungeon, and the classroom always reminded him of Snape. Remembering how Snape had loved his mother, and what Snape sacrificed to save the magical world, Harry's feelings were more mixed now. Harry and Ron both had the required seventh year Potions text and cauldron. There were already two students in the classroom when Harry and Ron walked in, and by the time the last student rushed into the classroom at one minute past eight, there were a total of ten students.
"How many of you are staying at Hogwarts during the week?" Slughorn asked. Six hands were raised. One more timid hand was raised. "Yes, miss, who are you?"
"Withywhittle, Winona Withywhittle. I'm taking the Floo from home every day, but I should be here five days a week. I just have to leave by four thirty so I can be home before my husband leaves for work at five."
"You were supposed to be in seventh year last year," Slughorn said.
"If the Death Eaters hadn't killed my sister, leaving my brother-in-law with three little children, and if he and I didn't, well, with another one on the way, we thought I should finish up my education as soon as possible," Winona said, getting very fluttery.
"Seven with a regular schedule. That leaves Potter, Weasley, and Jones, Megan Jones. What's your problem, Megan?"
"I have to be gone all day Thursdays to take my dad to the hospital. Mum never learned Muggle transportation, and she has to stay at home with the younger children," Megan said.
"What's the problem with your dad?" asked a suddenly more sympathetic Slughorn.
"He's a, well, sort of a squib. He can do a little magic, but he's mostly Muggle and he got hurt in a Muggle construction accident," Megan said. "He fell and hurt his back and now he can't do almost anything. We're on the dole, which is all right I guess. Money goes a lot further when you're a witch. But I did not go to school last year because of the troubles, and I need to earn some money to send my sister, she's going to be twelve, she started last year, if she's back, and my brother, he's eleven, to Hogwarts. Between taking care of the baby and Dad, Mum can't work, even if she was a better witch, which she's not, except for some domestic spells."
Harry turned to Megan and said, "There is scholarship money available for all seven years, including books and supplies, if needed, Megan. See me after class sometime in the next two weeks."
Megan looked stunned. "After what I tried to do?" she whispered, looking frightened that Harry was even speaking to her. "I'm lucky I'm not in Azkaban."
"You were only trying to protect your sister. I can understand that. See me after class!" he replied gently, with an encouraging and sympathetic smile.
"Weasley, what's your schedule?" Slughorn inquired.
"I may have to leave in the middle of the afternoon to help tend the store or miss a couple of sessions. I should be here almost every morning," Ron responded.
"Potter?" asked Slughorn.
Harry took a deep breath. "I'm going to have to be gone some Tuesdays and Thursdays on estate matters. I can ask Bill Weasley if we can do as much as possible in the afternoon or evening so I'm here in the morning when everybody else is here. Then I'm on the Wizengamot, and we have trials every Friday. I'm free Saturday. We have a potions room in the basement of our house."
"You are going to be a challenge, Potter, but don't worry; we'll figure it out," Slughorn said. "I'll give you tomorrow's assignment and Wednesday's before you leave."
Harry was back to the house on Grimmauld Place at a little before five. "Easy day?" asked Ginny.
"Look at this homework," Harry said, pointing to two tightly written paragraphs of things he needed to read, essays he needed to write and potions he needed to make. "Since I am not going to be there tomorrow, I have to make these potions tomorrow night and bring in samples Wednesday morning. I hope I have a chance to work on this homework when I'm working with Bill tomorrow."
"There is something else bothering you, Harry," Ginny said. "I can tell."
"Megan Jones is in the class," Harry said. "I cannot help thinking about her poor sister. She still hopes that Nora will be back in class, but no one I talk to has much hope."
Friday morning, Harry had to go to the Ministry. He did get a chance to ask Arthur Weasley, "Do you know anything more about Nora Jones?"
"No, Harry. I will let you know if we find out anything. It looks grim, and I would rather not talk about it back at Grimmauld Place."
"What about Pansy Parkinson?" Harry asked.
"The Parkinsons won't talk to us, and I'm really worried about that situation too," Arthur said. "There is nothing we can do about it, however, if they won't cooperate."
"Anything else?" Harry asked.
"Lot,s" Arthur said. "It's still not nearly as safe as it should be. You're not an Auror yet. I'll do my best to fill you in during the evening, if you have any spare time."
"Spare time is getting to be hard to come by," Harry said, as he took his leave of Arthur.
Arthur frowned. He and Molly had hoped that the end of the war would lift a lot of the burden off of their children, most particularly Harry. Instead, the opposite seemed to have occurred. Everyone now wanted a piece of him, and it was all they could do to give him as much assistance as possible. Arthur knew that Harry's shoulders were strong, but he wished there were something more they could do. But things were calling Arthur's attention, and he couldn't dwell as much on the problem as he'd like.
Saturday morning, Harry walked into the Potions classroom with the last of his homework. "Done," Harry said.
"Let's see if we can make up Thursday's potion that you had trouble with Thursday night," Slughorn said. By noon, the potion was correctly made, and Horace Slughorn said, "Well, Harry, you're all caught up. Three more weeks of this and you will probably pass your NEWTS."
"Probably is not good enough," Harry replied tightly. "If I need more study, let me know."
Harry got back to Grimmauld Place in time for a late lunch. After he finished, Ginny looked at the tired young man in front of her and said, "Harry, why don't you take a little nap?"
Harry shook his head. Never mind that he had almost fallen asleep at the table. Ginny helped Harry get up, walked him up to their bedroom and put him in the bed. She kissed him lightly and went back down to the kitchen where she and her mother were looking over house plans for maybe the hundredth time, trying to pick out colors, trying to stay on top of all of the details that building a new house entailed.
"I'm worried about him, Mum," Ginny said. "I'm worried about us. Harry needs to find some time to relax."
There had been a full docket of trials in May, but they were all rather straightforward cases. Most of them were low level allies of Voldemort, almost more common criminals than major Death Eaters. Many had been ordinary Ministry workers who had sympathized with the pureblood cause and then supported the seized government by enacting Voldemort's reign of terror.
The first major trial was on Friday June 5, that of Lucius Malfoy. He looked like an utterly defeated man, and his defense wizard pointed out that "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" had confiscated Lucius's wand, which was subsequently destroyed by Harry Potter on the night that he'd left his aunt and uncle's house the previous summer. He had played no part in the last battle.
Kingsley Shacklebolt reminded the defense attorney to say "Tom Riddle" and not "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." Harry almost chortled at that; it was a small victory in his favor and endeared Kingsley more strongly to him.
Most of the first part of the trial consisted of what, for Harry, seemed like a recitation of all of the known facts of Lucius's history. Harry learned more of what Lucius had done during the first war, how he had gotten such a short prison sentence after Riddle disappeared, and what people knew he had done during the second war. Harry was called on to tell what he had witnessed in person, but the prosecutor did not ask about the times Harry could see what Riddle was thinking.
Finally, the defense wizard asked Harry, "Is it true that you could tell what He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was thinking?"
Harry immediately replied, "I defeated the man Tom Riddle. He may have called himself Lord Voldemort, but he wasn't the lord of anything. And he's gone; there's no sense in calling him "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." The sooner we call him by his proper name the better. I ask, plead, that the Wizengamot insist on using Tom's proper name in these trials."
"No one but you had the foolishness to call him …Tom… Riddle," the defense wizard said.
"Professor Dumbledore called him Tom," Harry countered with. "I heard him at the Battle at the Ministry. Besides, Riddle's dead. His body, what pathetic excuse he had for a body, lies here in the Department of Mysteries. Riddle is dead! Tom Riddle, who used the name Lord Voldemort to incite fear and suffering, is gone, and the sooner we stop fearing him the better!"
Kingsley said, "The Ministry is trying to enforce a rule that, if at all possible, we use Tom Riddle's name. You will do the same or we will call you out of order."
The defense wizard restated the question. "Is it true that you could tell what …Tom … Riddle was thinking?" One could tell that it was very difficult for the wizard to say 'Tom Riddle.'
"Sometimes, when there were very strong emotions. Yes, there were times when I had some insight into what Tom was thinking. It's not like I could read his mind and knew everything."
"Did he trust Lucius, consider him a trusted ally?"
"I don't think Riddle trusted anyone or anything," Harry replied. "I certainly did not have enough insight into the workings of his mind to tell you who he distrusted more than anyone else."
"As far as you knew, Lucius only obeyed Riddle because he feared him," the defense wizard said.
"I don't know that," Harry countered with. "As far as I could see, Lucius Malfoy was eager to carry out all parts of Riddle's agenda, even the most repugnant of them."
"But you don't know for sure," the defense wizard replied kindly. "You really didn't have that much insight into Tom Riddle's mind."
"My impression of how eager Lucius Malfoy was to help Tom Riddle and his kind has much more to do with how I saw Mr. Malfoy act over the years than to any special insight into Tom Riddle's thinking. As far as I can tell, even if there never was a Tom Riddle, Mr. Malfoy would have eagerly participated in and even directed crimes against Muggles and witches or wizards with Muggle blood in their ancestry. When Riddle resurrected his body, he mentioned that Mr. Malfoy was 'still ready to take the lead in a spot of Muggle-torture. He insulted my infant godson just after the battle. I don't believe he has really learned anything."
"And you know this as a child observing the actions of adults?"
Harry looked at the defense wizard trying to figure out how to respond to this question. Finally, he said, "I have not felt like a child for a long time, not after all the things I've been through."
"I guess killing does that to you," the wizard sneered.
"I haven't killed anyone, except Tom Riddle, and I didn't really have a choice there. I parried his killing curse and it killed him," Harry answered.
"I find that hard to believe, but I have no more questions," the defense wizard said.
Harry looked like he was not through, and the prosecuting witch asked Harry gently, "Do you have anything more to say, Harry?"
"It's just that I've seen way too much death," Harry said. "I saw people killed in front of me. I saw through Tom Riddle's eyes as he killed without remorse. It still haunts me. I've had a chance to kill, and except for Riddle, I have NOT killed anyone. That's one of the things that most concerns me about Lucius; he does not seem to have any reluctance to kill.
"I do not fear death, and when my time comes, I will not stay here as a ghost but gladly go on. I do fear for those like Riddle and Lucius Malfoy, who kill without remorse."
After all of the evidence was presented, everyone but the Wizengamot was excused. Opinions on Lucius Malfoy's guilt and the proper sentence were solicited. There were not any members of the Wizengamot willing to vote that Malfoy was innocent, but a number of them were not all that willing to sentence him to life in prison. Harry was learning of several of the members of the Wizengamot, Anton Avery and Victor Vaisey prominent among them, who voted to convict only with reluctance and fought for shorter sentences for people Harry thought enjoyed what they had done the previous year. They were important and persistent in pleading for mercy for Lucius. Several people commented on the charitable work that Lucius had done, although to Harry, almost all of the 'charitable work' had consisted of giving money to causes in hopes of buying influence.
Al VanLente spoke up, saying, "There are a lot of bad things and people in places other than Great Britain. I do not want to reveal my sources, but I have information that Malfoy has been in contact with some of the worst of the dark wizards and witches out there. I want him put away for the rest of his life."
Harry, as the youngest, was asked last.
"I really don't trust Lucius," Harry started out. "I don't think we have begun to find out all of the criminal deeds he has committed. My recommendation is life in Azkaban, no possibility of release. I never want him in a position to influence other prisoners or guards. I'm not exactly suggesting solitary, but close to it."
In the end over seventy five percent of members voted to sentence Lucius to life in Azkaban, although the conditions of his confinement were not announced.
Arthur Weasley announced that the Department for Magical Law Enforcement was still working with Draco and Narcissa, and that they wanted to keep them under supervision but delay trials until later.
The trial and sentencing were done by four thirty. Kingsley Shacklebolt spoke to Harry and said, "I would like you to accompany me and a couple of the Aurors to Azkaban with Lucius. Even though you are the youngest member of the Wizengamot, I think that you are going to influence the sentences, and I think you ought to see the prison and meet the warden."
Harry thought of all of the homework he had to finish but had to admit that Kingsley was probably right, so he agreed.
Harry and Kingsley went down to the holding cell where Lucius Malfoy was being kept. Standing to one side were Narcissa and Draco. A middle aged wizard was waiting for them. "Harry, this is Zeke Zeller, formerly a guard and now the warden of Azkaban. He is going to accompany our prisoner to his new home.
Harry went into the holding cell. Lucius was sitting down, his hands confined behind his back, shackles on his ankles. "Last time I was taken to Azkaban they had some respect for the nobility," Lucius said. "I expect the same treatment this time."
"I saw what you and your kind did to innocent people last year," Zeke said, fists opening and closing. "I am not inclined to be merciful."
"I at least need an owl and the ability to manage the family investments," Lucius said, somehow managing to hold his head up despite his disheveled appearance and imprisoned status.
"There's no way in hell you are going to be allowed to communicate freely," said Kingsley harshly. "Anything you need to communicate, you can give to Narcissa and Draco in the next couple of minutes, while we all watch and record what you say. They are not going to be able to visit you or communicate in any way for at least a couple of months. Private communication of any kind will be strictly forbidden."
Narcissa and Draco were led in. They were told to sit down at a table a modest distance away from Lucius. Zeke said, "If you have any last minute instructions to your family, say them now. It may be months before you can see them again. Narcissa, Draco, private communication of any kind is going to be strictly forbidden."
"It wasn't this way last time," Narcissa protested with her eyebrows raised.
"No dementors roaming the cells but no privileged prisoners either," Zeke said.
"You have the keys I gave you, Draco?" Lucius asked. Draco nodded. "One opens my private desk. You are going to have to study what is in it. You MUST look over the instructions on how to take over the farm and follow them, like your ancestors have done for over a thousand years. You MUST marry a pureblood and produce a male heir, as must your son and his son. I do not intend to stay powerless, and if you fail me, I promise you will pay dearly."
Lucius turned to Narcissa. "Voldemort did not understand that certain things were out of bounds. When I get back in power, I will see that any person left alive who … we won't talk of it here. I intend to get out, regardless of the sentence. Do you understand?"
"You never were a quitter," Narcissa said.
After a brief painful period of silence, Narcissa and Draco were led out. Two bailiffs took hold of Lucius and walked him over to a special cell, where a Portkey took them to the shore overlooking Azkaban Prison. Zeke went before the Bailiffs, Kingsley and Harry following. A boat was launched, and the assembled group took it to the prison.
Harry walked down with Lucius to one of the lower levels of the prison. The cell was well below sea level, but there was a tiny slit that went up many feet, finally ending about a hundred feet above sea level. The only way one knew if it was night or day was if there was any light shining through this tiny slit.
"Dementors used to use those slits, but we have forbidden them to come into the prison. They still guard right outside the prison walls, however," the warden said.
Harry went up to a tower with Kingsley and Zeke. "This is the Tower of the Dementors, Harry," Kingsley said. "This is where we talk to them as best as we can. And if we tell them something here, they pretty much have to obey." He then said, "Produce your Patronus," and Harry and Zeke added their Partonus to the one of Kingsley as he announced, "The rules are the same. You are forbidden to cross over into the body of the prison, but must stay outside of the prison walls keeping those out from getting in and those in from getting out, except by charmed boat to the shore."
The dementors howled, but Harry could also feel that they acknowledged the power of Kingsley, Zeke, and indeed his own power too.
There was a small sense of victory in keeping the dementors out of the prison itself, but Harry was still not happy that they had to deal with them at all. Harry never quite got used to dealing with the dementors, although his career would bring him into contact with them occasionally.
When Harry got back at 9:00 PM, Ginny had the remains of dinner for Harry. He ate and worked on his homework, spending some time down in the potions room. He was in bed by two in the morning and up at seven, tired but with all of his homework for Potions finished.
A little over a week after Harry started classes, Ginny was talking to Harry at dinner. "I started practicing Quidditch yesterday. Andromeda is watching Teddy and even changing nappies. She is all right for a couple of hours at a time, until he cries. She has a very hard time when Teddy starts to cry."
"Who are you playing with?" asked Harry.
"A couple of members from the team from a couple of years ago and some witches and wizards you probably don't know, younger students who wanted to try out for the team," Ginny replied. "I can usually contact them with the Floo, and we should be able to get enough to at least practice some. It's better than nothing."
"As the summer goes on maybe you can get more students," Harry hopefully interjected.
Ginny smiled. "I'm working on it."
A couple of nights later, Ginny got the 'I want something' look on her face, shyly saying, "I've got more people who want to fly, but we really could use a good practice set of Quidditch balls. What we are using now is really sad."
"Get yourself a good set," Harry promptly replied, unsure of why this was a problem.
"An adequate set is almost a hundred Galleons," said Ginny. "And I have spent some of the money you gave me treating the people who have been practicing, taking them to lunch or for treats. I hate to ask you for gold, but I do need a little more, just a few Galleons."
"How much is a really good practice set?" asked Harry.
"Harry, I'm not asking for a really good set, a professional set," Ginny said softly.
Harry looked quizzically at Ginny and remarked, "I thought you wanted to become a professional. How much is the ideal set to prepare you for a professional career?"
"Two Hundred and Twenty Five Galleons," whispered Ginny, obviously frightened that it cost so much.
Harry reached in his pocket. Kreacher had made sure Harry always had about 500 Galleons on him, in case he needed to buy anything. Harry gave Ginny 300 of them.
"Harry, that's … that's … can we really afford to spend that much gold?" asked Ginny.
"Your brother Bill says even after we give most of the money away, I'll still be an extremely wealthy wizard," said a grinning Harry, "making you a rich witch. If you want to spend too much, if you want to buy a bunch of mansions or something, I'll suggest you be a little more careful with the gold, but this is not a lot of money from what Bill says. Besides, it would be silly for us to get a cheap practice set and then go out later and get a better one. We may as well start out with the best. It's an investment, remember?"
"Oh, Harry, thank you," Ginny said, and she gave him a lingering kiss, the biggest smile on her face.
Ginny made time to fly most days. She and Harry had several discussions about what position she should play. Finally, it was agreed that she should practice for two positions, seeker and chaser, and see what kind of players she was going to have next year. Meanwhile, Ginny did get the professional practice set of Quidditch balls, including a special practice Golden Snitch.
In the middle of June, the Dursleys were finally allowed to go home. Harry had looked into the records of memory modifications done on his aunt and uncle and Dudley. Amazingly, Dudley had very little memory modification done. Vernon was another case. They had to do a lot of memory modification with him, as well as work hard on his physical health. They were continually surprised at the amount of anger and ignorance in the man. Aunt Petunia was again a different case. Harry saw that they had taken her memories of both his parents wedding and funeral, which made Harry both sad and a little mad. He asked that no memory modification be done on Dudley or Petunia. After no little discussion, and partly because Harry Potter had asked, the Ministry agreed not to modify the memories of Petunia or Dudley. No one worried about modifying Vernon's memories.
Healers told Harry that Vernon was a heart attack waiting to happen. Both his father and grandfather had died of heart attacks before they were 50, and Vernon was going down the same road, being both very overweight and very angry most of the time. At least he had a job to go back to, and the story was that he had taken a leave of absence for his health, something that was not too far from the truth since the potions he had been given had improved his health if not his disposition.
Saturday June 13, Harry arranged to have some time off so that he could get everything he owned out of the Dursley house. He told the Weasley family at dinner on Friday, and Ginny really wanted to go with him. Ginny thought to herself that she should be able to get a much better idea about how Harry had spent the years before he went to Hogwarts, and maybe that would help her understand him better.
Right after lunch on Saturday, Harry and Ginny Apparated to a spot that Harry knew was hidden, not too far from the Dursley house. One of the Aurors Apparated there first, and another one followed. They walked over to the house, and an Auror went inside and checked everything, then indicated that they could go inside. The two Aurors stayed outside, making sure no one else went near the house.
The grounds of the house were rather shabby, although the lawn had been mowed. Whoever had taken care of the house had not gardened like Petunia; that was for sure. The inside of the house was dusty, but Harry and Ginny did some quick cleaning spells and got the house looking at least dust-free and neat. They went upstairs and cleaned the other bedrooms and then went to Harry's bedroom. There were deadbolts and a padlock on the door. Ginny was horrified. She looked at Harry and said, "Did they lock you in your room?"
"Yes, sometimes," said Harry. "My uncle really does not like magic or me."
"That must have been horrible, Harry," said Ginny.
"Your house was such a relief after living here. It was almost odd that everyone seemed to like me," said Harry. Ginny wondered if he realized how horrible that sounded and was one again thankful that her family (or Ron rather) had found him when they had. They went into the bedroom. In one corner was the small table on which Harry had kept Hedwig's cage. There were some owl droppings that had escaped at some point and a crumpled up package of owl treats. Harry looked at it and started to tear up. "I just cannot bring myself to buy another owl," he said. "I know it's just an owl, but she was my only companion many a lonely day and night, and I miss her. I feel funny using Fawkes as an owl. There is something majestic but not very comforting or cuddly about Fawkes. Riddle and his Death Eaters tried to take all of the joy out of life for everybody."
Ginny did not say anything, but she had tears in her eyes as she looked at Harry. They picked up the few clothes and other personal possessions. Then Harry said, "You have been learning a little about decorating a house. This used to be Dudley's second bedroom. Could you turn it into a guest bedroom that could also be an office or study?" Ginny did some wand work and the room had a bed, empty shelves and a desk. It looked somewhat masculine. She had Harry help her with some of the spells because she knew that the more wands involved, the more permanent such changes would be. Considering Harry's increased spell-power, she reckoned that the new furniture would be there long after both she and Harry had passed on.
As they left the room Ginny said, "Did that room always have locks on the outside?"
"Only when I moved into it just before I went to Hogwarts," said Harry matter-of-factly.
"You did not live in that room until just before you went to Hogwarts?" asked Ginny with a frown of confusion when she counted the number of bedrooms and what Harry had told her the function of each one was.
"No," said Harry tentatively, wondering if he should show her or not.
"Then where did you live?" asked Ginny.
"I guess I'd better check the cupboard," said Harry. "Maybe there is something there, and I definitely do not want to come back here again." They went downstairs, all of the few possessions that Harry had shrunk stuffed in a pocket. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Harry turned and went to the cupboard, which was about four feet high, which led to the little space under the stairs. He opened it up and lit his wand. On the floor was obviously a thin crib mattress, with some really shabby blankets on it. There was a pair of the ugliest pair of pants that Ginny could imagine, gray and obviously badly altered, on the floor in front of the bed. "That's the type of clothes I wore," said Harry. "Those are some of Dudley's too-small clothes that Aunt Petunia dyed gray and altered to fit me, but not well. She didn't' usually dye them gray, but this was supposed to be my uniform for Stonewall High. I always looked ugly and unwanted in the clothes she made me wear."
"Oh Harry," said Ginny, her temper winding up in his defense. "You lived in a cupboard? A CUPBOARD! I had no idea your childhood was THIS bad!"
"Not very nice, until I met the Weasley family," said Harry, his eyes lighting up. "Especially one cute little redhead who put her elbow in the butter."
"You still remember that?" asked Ginny, her face and neck turning bright red, which clashed gloriously with her hair. "Well, I remember it as well. Not very bold when I was 11, was I?"
"Oh, you were plenty bold. Just not where I was concerned. And by the time you had become bolder and a beauty, I was busy trying to save the world, and you had a jealous and overprotective older brother as my best friend." Harry's tone was full of irony.
Ginny looked toward the back of the cupboard. It was bare studs, not at all finished. Way in the back she saw some papers and pencils and pens, and she got everything she could out. All of the pencils were short, and some of the paper had printing on one side and had a child's drawing on the other side. There was one elaborate drawing of a knight on a horse riding up to a castle, with what looked like a dragon head in a wagon behind him. On a tower was a redheaded girl waving.
"Didn't exactly happen like that, did it?" said Harry.
"No," said Ginny, smiling at the thought that Harry's nobility couldn't be suppressed by anything, even by this pig-headed lot. "But you got your redheaded girl anyway, even if she has ugly scars. And your redheaded girl loves her knight in shining armor."
Ginny packed up the drawings. Then she looked at Harry and said, "What do you want to do with this room?"
Harry said, "I want to put a charm on it so that no one will want to open it and just leave it. I'm not ready to remove the evidence of the way I spent so many years. The rest of the house looks good enough, but this I want to leave." After closing the door and putting charms on it, Harry and Ginny left the house and went back to Grimmauld Place. Ginny wasn't sure if she would ever be able to get the images of that house out of her head. If she ever met the Dursleys, she couldn't be held responsible for her actions. How could anyone treat another person that way, especially family? She thought that she would be furious had it been anyone, but the fact that it was Harry made her see red.
Hermione wrote to Ron almost every day while she was gone in June, and he wrote back almost every day. Finding her parents only took a week. But restoring not only their memories but also telling them about her adventures took weeks. They were all going to fly back to Britain June 24, and Hermione was going to be at the Grimmauld Place Sunday June 28. Meanwhile, Ron was at class Monday through Friday from early morning until the middle of the afternoon, then had the WWW shop in Hogsmeade open every evening and all day Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Harry had never seen Ron work and study so hard. "Not going to fail just 'cause Hermione isn't here," he would say bravely. He would straighten up tall and add, "Have to make her proud of me."
During Tuesdays and Thursdays, Harry usually had a chance to talk to Al or one or more of his family. Al's father had been involved in amazing adventures during and after the Muggle WWII, and Al could only hint at the adventures with which he had been involved. Most of the dramatic or unusual magical happenings around the world over the last 35 or so years Al not only knew about but was usually involved with in some way. He had known Albus Dumbledore for almost his entire professional career, as had his father before him. Al hinted at a lot of what was going on in the Ministry. Harry did find out that Al had wanted the D.A. people to start Auror training right away, but Robards insisted on the trainees having the classes and starting September 2nd, the traditional starting date.
Toward the end of June, Harry and Ginny asked Arthur and Molly if they could talk in the living room while the rest of the people living at the house were scattered, many in the Drawing room but some in other parts of the house. Hermione was, of course, gone, but Ron came along. Harry started by saying, "I have been talking to Bill about the estate, and although he is a little apologetic, he says that it really would be best for him and the Ministry and the estate if Ginny and I got married on Tuesday August 11."
Arthur knew of the discussions on the estate, but Molly had really put the whole subject of Ginny getting married mostly out of her head. She was frantic with decisions on the house. Molly looked at Ginny in horror. "How can we plan a wedding, on top of everything else?"
"It's going to be a very modest wedding," said Harry, hoping that he wasn't incurring Molly's wrath. "We are not going to announce or publish the date of the wedding, and we want to keep everything as small and low key as possible. I've been approached by a couple of the more prominent members of the Wizengamot and they want to be involved in our 'royal wedding.' To quote one of the members, 'Harry, you are as close to royalty as we have, and we are eager to put on a big fancy wedding for you.' They are talking about well over a thousand guests, maybe two thousand. I don't want that! It looks like there are going to be too many honors and fuss over me as it is."
"How are we going to keep it secret?" asked Molly, thinking of the sheer number of people who would have to be in on it.
"It's going to be a combination housewarming party for the New Burrow and birthday party for me, which would explain having much of the family and all of our friends there," Ginny replied. "At some point during the celebration, Minister Kingsley will get up and marry us. Ron and Hermione have agreed to stand up for us. And then I'll live here with Harry when I'm not at school."
"You are going back to Hogwarts, then?" Molly asked with relief. "Good. Where will you live? In the girls' dorm?"
Ron had a funny look on his face, and Ginny was not sure if he knew of the apartment, so she sweetly said, "I thought maybe Harry and I could share his bed in the boys' dorm." This comment produced the desired reaction of horror on Ron's face, along with guffaws from Harry, so Ginny continued. "I know you want to watch over your baby sister, and this way when you come over to visit Hermione, you can check up on us." Ron got an even more horrified look on his face, and Harry was laughing so hard that he was holding his sides. Arthur was smiling, but Molly just looked confused.
"Maybe Professor McGonagall will let you sleep in your old bed so that you could supervise us every night," Ginny continued, with a snarky smirk on her face. It hadn't seemed possible, but Ron's horror deepened. "No telling what your baby sister and her husband might be doing. Of course, we can always close the curtains. That way all you will be able to see is the bed rocking. At this point, Harry literally fell off his chair. Ron was totally flustered in a typical Ron Weasley way, and Molly had a look on her face like she knew there was more to this story, and maybe Ginny was not serious.
"You're not really going to sleep in the boys' dorm, Ginny," said Molly, although she'd started to cotton on to the joke.
"Well … I guess … there is an apartment … that McGonagall said we could use," a beaming Ginny replied. Harry couldn't understand how she'd maintained a straight face throughout the ridiculous conversation. "Ron's not going to be able to come in uninvited, though. I guess he is just going to have to trust his little sister and best friend."
"You were just trying to get a reaction out of me?" Ron asked, his ears turning a dangerous red.
"And it worked!" replied Ginny. "Ron's the one who keeps calling me his baby sister. He deserves it!"
"I know you have to get married, legally anyway, for the estate, but you're going to sleep together?" asked Ron, wondering how he could get back at his sister without getting a bat-bogey hex in the process. He got even more frustrated when he realized that that would probably prove impossible.
"We're sleeping together now," Ginny said, raising her voice. "We're just not in the same bed. I don't thinking it's sleep that's bothering you."
"You're going to? You're going to?" asked Ron.
"You'd better believe we're going to, lots!" Ginny replied.
"Tell me about the apartment," said Molly, trying to change the subject. She could always spot a sibling quarrel amongst her children from two counties away.
"It has a study with a big desk for two against one wall, a window and a fireplace that we can connect to the Floo network to go to and from Grimmauld Place," Ginny said. "That room also has some comfortable chairs. There is a bedroom with a big bed, storage for clothes and a private bathroom. There is actually another apartment there that the Longbottoms are going to be using, both connected to a passageway that goes to the Gryffindor common room and direct to an outside hallway. It's really nice!"
Harry had time to talk to the American, French and Chinese Aurors. Al Van Lente spent a lot of time with Harry. But everybody wanted to talk to the famous Harry Potter, and Harry asked questions of everybody. He wanted to find out how to build the best Auror Department in the world. There were a lot of magic/technology interface issues. Also, many of the Aurors had regular exercise programs for both physical fitness and dueling. There were so many great ideas from different places that he started to jot them down in a notebook that Hermione had charmed to be small enough to fit easily in a pocket and unfold when he took it out.
On the first of June, the foreign Aurors and the Potter Estate office moved into a three story old factory building. It was connected to the Ministry by several fireplaces, and during the day there was even a special magical passageway that you just walked through, a shortcut. There were several well-guarded places for Apparition. It was also wired for electricity and internet, with several levels of shielding so that magicians could be there without interfering with the electricity. There were also plenty of magical monitors around to help the witches and wizards keep their magic under control.
Harry was usually able to spend at least half an hour in physical fitness exercise and another half an hour in dueling on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The physical exercise was getting Harry into the best shape of his life. Of course, everybody wanted to duel Harry Potter. Between his natural abilities and the extra power of the wand, he was excellent: an extraordinarily difficult dueler to defeat, and the practice was making it harder and harder to beat him. As much as he had loved the D.A., he had mostly spent his time instructing and not enough in mock duels. He found himself enjoying the challenges. Sometimes Harry would just laugh on the rare occasions when someone got the better of him, bringing smiles to anyone who witnessed it. They were getting to see the real man behind the legend and finding that he was fun and interesting to be around.
The discussions with Al continued. Al complained that the British Auror department was basically useless. Robards was a bureaucrat who followed the rules but was terrible at solving difficult crimes. Dawlish was bonkers. He was okay at one on one duels, but impossible when it came to being a team player. He also had a tendency to go in the wrong direction, a possible side effect the number of Confundus Charms to which he'd been subjected over the last few years. The other eight members of the department were pretty good when it came to minor memory modifications or simple "follow the rule" stuff but were so traumatized by all of the changes over the last few years that their potential for growth and change was limited.
Al said, "That leaves you and the D.A., Harry. I have been talking with Minerva McGonagall, and one of your key duties as an Auror, even before you finish training, is going to be to get the D.A. up and running again with younger members."
Harry was also getting insight into his future father-in-law, and some of his strengths and weaknesses. He was loyal, good, and a very hard worker. He was a very good magician, particularly against the dark arts. Harry found that interesting, since Arthur's original position at the Ministry wasn't in that field so much, but he supposed that everyone in the Order got a pretty good foundation after a while. He was a reasonably good tactician, like a chess player but not as good as Ron. He was hopeless when it came to Muggle science, despite his eternal enthusiasm for the subject. He really needed to live in the Muggle community for a couple of years to understand it, a luxury he was not going to get because the Ministry was so shorthanded. He was also not a natural politician, knowledgeable about what was going on but not comfortable with any wheeling and dealing. Personally, Harry thought that was an asset, and guessed that this one of the reasons that Kingsley wanted Arthur on his team, aside from the fact that he was incorruptible.
Ginny was taking care of Teddy and helping her mother as the house was being built. It would have been easy to make a modern Muggle house with magical additions, with white or pastel walls, looking very sterile. The old Burrow was about as quirky and different from the sterile modern house as was possible, and Molly needed a lot of wood, a lot of decorations and a lot of character.
Harry had insisted on having a budget for buying furniture and fixtures, and Molly was fussing over how much money Harry wanted her to spend. For all of her married life, they had got by with purchasing broken objects or finding them in the muggle trash, and magically fixing them. The idea of buying a complete new or even good condition used bed or dresser or a complete set of dishes was just hard for her to comprehend. Molly talked about money and how hard it was for them to raise the seven children for the first time to Ginny, and she began to understand why buying things was so hard for her mother. "Your father never made more than 5,000 Galleons a year at the Ministry, usually much less. He is making 7,500 now, 50% more than he has ever made, plus thanks to Harry, we are not paying rent or paying for the house. I feel so rich!" said Molly. Ginny was in shock over the difference between her parents' financial status and Harry's, and she also realized hers. Harry had bought her a broom that cost 15,000 Galleons! That was three years wages for her father! Yet she knew, without having to ask, that her family's life on such a meager salary had been a thousand times better than Harry's, despite all of the Galleons in his vault.
Harry finished his potions during June. July was Charms, starting Wednesday July 1 and running through Friday July 31. The schedule was similar, with a lot of late nights. Harry was going to be taking Transfiguration with McGonagall during the school year, both of them hoping to find some time to work together amidst all of their other obligations.
The house was done July 17, but then it needed furniture and people needed to move in. Harry and Ginny had not had a chance to work on what they wanted to do with their house. In fact, although they were sleeping in the same room and usually spent a little time talking almost every morning and every night, they really had little time to themselves. The only thing that kept Ginny sane was that the wedding date was getting closer and closer. Saturday August 1, when the New Burrow was finished and furnished, Ginny and Teddy moved into a room at the Burrow. Harry stayed at Grimmauld Place. Michael and Rosemary and their children moved into rooms at the New Burrow while their house was being finished, which should be soon since they were putting off renovations on Grimmauld Place. It was more important for everyone to have a home of their own first.
Hermione finally came back in July and moved back to the apartment she shared with Ron. Ginny helped just enough to know that Hermione moved back into her own bedroom, not the one Ron was sleeping in, although she did look sort of longingly at the other bedroom.
Harry's schedule was so busy that he saw very little of Hermione. Ginny saw more of her, and they tried to have lunch or a mid-morning tea a couple of times a week.
"Minister Shacklebolt has me helping him figure out how the Ministry is organized," Hermione told Ginny one day. "I told him about organizational charts and lines of command and lines of influence, formal and informal organizations. He is asking me to figure it out.
"The problem is that I'm pretty good at writing it down but not very good at tactfully asking people and finding things out. Percy is a big help. If you are nice, most people are helpful but some are really mean or totally unhelpful. Managing people is a lot harder than getting good grades on homework, that's for sure!
"Besides it looks like some people set up the Ministry, or certain departments any way, to make them impossible to manage!"
Ginny and Hermione would talk about the politics of the Ministry from then on.