Chapter 28 : Old Home Week

As the door to the parlor opened, those gathered in the hallway turned as one, to face the returning travelers. Sirius, being the closest to the door, spread his arms wide in greeting.

"Welcome back you lot! Welcome to my home!"

He grabbed Emma in a bear hug, lifted her off her feet and spun around as she squealed in delight. Dan and Harry flung their arms around each other in greeting, as did Ron and Rupert. Hermione stopped Sirius spinning and rescued Emma from his clutches, only to wrap her own arms around the slightly dizzy young lady and hug her again. Then Ginny took her turn giving her new friend a hug. Tom and Draco shook hands and then laughed and joined in the hugging and backslapping that was happening all around them.

Everyone was talking at once, laughing and greeting each other. Draco made his way over to Emma, smiled at her and gave her a chaste peck on her cheek and then a hug.

"Welcome back, Emma. It's been a long wait, but worth it . . . you haven't changed a bit!" he teased.

"I should bloody well hope not, Draco!' she laughed, giving his arm a squeeze.

"Okay, everyone, before the rest descend upon us, let's sit down for a few minutes so we can give you a brief summary of what's happened since you were here last," Sirius suggested, as he led the way back into the parlor.

"We admit to being a bit curious," Dan answered, with a grin and wink at Harry, as they settled on the chairs and sofas. "We did see Harry's family photo over there on the side table, so that eased my mind a bit," he remarked, pointing to the framed picture.

"Yes, Ginny and I have the same kids," Harry told them, his arm around his wife.

"And, we've got a lovely cottage in Godric's Hollow as our home, now," Ginny added.

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Emma exclaimed. "Hermione, Ron, how about you two?" she asked, turning to the couple sitting next to her on the sofa.

"We've got the same two as before," Hermione replied, smiling.

"And Fred and Alicia have twins; Rupert and Thomas," announced Ron, laughing at the stunned looks on Rupert and Tom's faces. "So you will be meeting your namesakes in a bit."

"Fred did survive, then! Great!" Rupert grinned.

"How about Albus?" Tom asked. "Did our fake Dumbledore work?"

"We'll let him tell you all about that," Harry said. "Which in itself tells you he's still with us, doesn't it?"

Emma turned to Draco, eyebrow raised. He gazed at her for a second and then shook his head ever so slightly, before clearing his throat.

"I, however, am not married to Astoria. She and Gregory are happily married and have a son, Gaylord, to whom I am Godfather and a little girl, Anna. I'm still single, much to my mother's despair." He smiled, shrugging his shoulders. Emma was studying her hands, clenched in her lap, but then she relaxed, took a deep breath and looked toward Harry, who had started speaking.

"Remus and Tonks are fine, too. In fact, there were no casualties on our side, apart from a few victims of isolated Death Eater raids, way before the final battle." Harry informed them.

"So, there was a battle? At Hogwarts?" Dan inquired, sitting on the edge of his seat.

"Yes, we managed to lure Voldemort there, when we were ready for him, not when he wanted to appear, in order to have the situation under our control. The younger students were evacuated safely, structural damage was kept to a minimum, and it was over fairly quickly, truth be told," Rupert replied.

"Who did die? If you don't mind me being so bloodthirsty as to ask?" Tom added, with a grin and shrug.

"Well, Voldemort is dead, obviously. Let's see, Fenrir . . . " Hermione started ticking off names, counting on her fingers.

"Remus took him out . . . paybacks being what they are," Ron told them.

"Peter Pettigrew."

"But not at the battle, that's another story," Ron supplied, winking.

"A bunch of Snatchers and Death Eaters when Seamus took out the wood bridge, again," said Ginny, rolling her eyes.

" 'Use a little too much dynamite, there, Butch?' " Harry injected, causing Tom, Rupert, Dan and Emma to stare at him for a second and then laugh.

"What?" Ginny turned and looked at Harry.

"Never mind . . . Muggle movie reference," Harry explained, as he motioned Hermione to continue.

"Oh, alright . . . well, let's see, who else?" Hermione frowned.

"My aunt Bella," Draco supplied. "It was Neville's finest hour."

"Neville?" "Seriously?" "Go Neville!" "How'd he off her?"

"We'll let him tell you, don't want to steal his thunder," Sirius injected, holding up his hand. "Okay, that's the basics . . . everyone wants to tell you ALL about what's happened and about how their part in your plans worked . . . or didn't. SO, I have to signal them and then we will be up to our necks in celebration. BUT, not here; too many people . . . we're going to Hogwarts . . come on!"

Sirius stood and led the way to the kitchen, which closely resembled how Ginny and Harry had redone it, but the colors were a bit darker, more masculine.

Kreacher came forward and greeted the returning four Muggles.

"Kreacher is happy to see you again. Welcome to the House of Black." He stood tall and proud.

"Is Master Sirius behaving himself, Kreacher," Dan asked, bending over to talk with the ancient House Elf.

"Oh, yes, Mister Dan, him is a good Master and treats Kreacher like family. Even old Mistress is talking to him, again, now that everything is been made right and Master Regulus has been avenged."

"Excellent!"

Holding out the jar of Floo Powder, Sirius smiled. "You all do remember how to do this, don't you?"

"We should go in pairs, just in case," Draco suggested, as he stepped forward, put his arm around Emma's waist and guided her to the edge of the hearth. Looking down at her, he smiled. "Ready?'

"I think so," she whispered, gazing up into his ice blue eyes.

"Headmaster's Office!"

'POOF!'

X X X

Minerva and Albus turned toward the fireplace as the green flames billowed up just before Draco and Emma emerged.

"Miss Watson, how splendid to see you again!" Dumbledore came forward and greeted Emma, as she and Draco moved away from the hearth to allow the others to come through.

Emma went to greet Minerva as Harry, Dan and Ginny, then Ron, Rupert and Hermione walked into the room. Tom and Sirius were the last ones to emerge.

"Splendid, splendid," Albus shook hands with Dan, Rupert and Tom. "Are you alright? No side effects from you trip?"

"None that we've noticed, so far, Albus," Dan answered. "Just excited to hear about what all happened after we left; sixteen minutes for us, sixteen years for you! That's a lot of territory to cover!"

"Well, most of the events were happening in the three years after you left, the rest was just waiting to catch up to you in 2012! And here we all are!" Albus was beaming.

"We understand that we're going to be told all the good bits, that is after we greet everyone else," Rupert injected. "Great Hall, maybe? or Gryffindor Common Room?"

"In the Great Hall, Rupert," answered Minerva. "I'll escort you down, while Sirius and Albus get the word out that you all have arrived safe and sound. Come along!" she ordered, leading the way out of the Headmaster's Office.

As the young people left, Albus and Sirius started sending their Patronuses out to the various groups waiting word to assemble at the school.

X X X

"This place is HUGE, Minerva. There was no way we could have imagined," Emma said, as they descended the staircases, holding on tightly to the railings when the stairs shifted. "Even with the large sets we filmed on at Leavesden."

Looking around, they realized that all of the people in the paintings on the walls were waving at them and clapping, so they waved back, shouting hellos.

When the group arrived at the doors to the Great Hall, everyone stopped. Dan, Rupert, Emma and Tom silently lined up, arms around each other's waist, in order to walk through the door together. The others stood back to give them their own moment of entering the Great Hall, for their first and only time.

"I can't wait to see the enchanted ceiling!" giggled Emma, as the giant doors swung inward.

The Great Hall looked exactly as it had when they were 'on set', except for the ceiling: beyond the beams blue sky and fluffy clouds were to be seen, plus an owl or two swooped by on the way to or from the owlery. The long tables and benches looked just the same, as did the teacher's table on the dais at the front of the room.

"Wait a minute." Dan stopped in the middle of the room, as everyone halted their progress toward the head table. Dan looked around and grinned. "DOBBY!"

'Pop'

"Mister Dan! Missy Emma! Mister Rupert! Mister Tom! You is all back!"

The House Elf jumped into Dan's arms and then went to the other three to give and receive a hug , plus he was the recipient of a kiss from Emma, which made Dobby blush to the tips of his ears

"We're SO glad you're alive, Dobby. Thank goodness!" Emma sat on a bench and picked up the House Elf and sat him on her lap. "How are you doing? Still working here at Hogwarts?"

"No, Missy Emma; Dobby is back at Malfoy Manor, taking care of Missy Cissa and Master Lucius. They are very glad to have Dobby back as their House Elf and is even paying Dobby now!"

"Really?! That's wonderful!" Emma smiled and then looked over at Draco. "You don't live at the Manor, Draco?"

"Merlin, no! I have a place in London, nearer the Ministry," he replied, then winced as Ron threw his arm around his shoulder.

"Tell her the real reason, Draco," teased the red-head, laughing.

Giving a big sigh and with a shake of his head, Draco admitted, "Also to avoid having to listen to Mother go on about me not being married . . . self preservation, basically."

"I do not go on about it, Draco," rang out a voice from the doors to the Great Hall.

They all spun around to see Narcissa striding down the center aisle toward them, Lucius following right behind her.

"I just worry about your happiness, darling," she added, patting his cheek as she passed her son, on the way to giving Tom a big hug. "Hello, Tom!"

"Narcissa, you look wonderful! Glad to see you here!," he replied, then turned to face Lucius. Tom put out his hand. "Lucius. Glad to finally meet you. I'm Tom Felton, who portrayed your son in the movies."

"Tom. . . a pleasure . . . ah . . . I'm slightly at a loss for words . . . Narcissa said your were very like Draco, but Merlin! If your hair was blond, I think I'd have a hard time telling you two apart, well, at a distance, perhaps."

"Oh, I had the Malfoy blond hair in the movies; dyed, most of us had to change little bits about us to look closer to the descriptions we had of all of you. Jason Isaacs wore a long, blond, itchy wig to portray you!"

Draco laughed at the look of surprise on his father's face

"Father, let me introduce you to the others; this is Dan Radcliffe, who was Harry."

Lucius and Dan shook hands.

"Dan."

"Lucius"

Lucius looked back and forth between Harry and Dan for a few moments.

"So . . . no glasses or scar. But how?"

"Makeup department put the scar on every day we were filming, and the glasses had clear lens in them, I don't need them, myself," Dan explained, smiling.

"Ah, I see."

"This is Rupert Grint, and he really is a ginger."

Rupert shook Lucius' hand and then swatted at Ron, standing behind him, who was laughing and ruffling Rupert's hair.

"Good to meet you, Lucius." Then he turned to face his tormentor. "Sod off, Ron!"

Lucius laughed and then turned back to Draco.

"And this is Emma, who portrayed Hermione." Draco pulled Emma over but kept his hand around her waist. "She did not wear a wig, but chopped her long hair off after the movies were finished," he added, giving her waist a squeeze, causing her to giggle.

"Stop it, Draco!" she admonished, then turned her attention to the Malfoy family patriarch. "How do you do, Lucius. It's good to finally meet you."

"Miss Emma, that pleasure is all mine." Lucius bent and kissed the back of her hand.

Emma's eyebrow shot up and she turned to Draco. "Well, now it's a certainty where your suave manners were acquired! The apple didn't fall far from the tree!"

Everyone laughed at that.

X X X

Next to arrive were Neville and Luna, who were chatting away as they came through the door.

"Neville!" Dan called, waving.

"Daniel!" Neville strode forward to throw his arms around Dan, even as he waved to the others. "Rupert!, Tom! "

"Hello, Emma," Luna smiled as she hugged Emma. "How do you like Hogwarts?"

"It's marvelous! How are you Luna?" Emma released the former Ravenclaw.

"Oh, I'm just fine . . . I'm engaged."

"Really? Oh, wait, is it Rolf Scamander?"

"How did you know? That wasn't in the books, was it?"

"No, Jo Rowling had a bunch of 'after the books' facts she told us when we asked what happened to everyone."

"And who did she say I married?" asked Neville, as he walked up and planted a kiss on Emma cheek.

"Hannah Abbott and she runs the Leaky Cauldron. Hi, Neville," Emma laughed, putting her arm around him and returning his kiss.

"That's right! Wow, Jo Rowling really is something . . . gives Professor Trelawney as run for her money!"

X X X

"Oy!"

A shout from the doorway caused everyone to turn, once again, to see who had arrived. Fred and George Weasley were coming into the Great Hall at the head of the Weasley family contingent: Angelina, Alicia, Thomas, Rupert, Daniel and Roxanne following their parents, Molly and Arthur, Bill and Fleur with their three children, Percy and Audrey with their two, plus Ron and Hermione's two and Harry and Ginny's three entering last.

"Blimey, it's a Weasley Tsunami!" Tom laughed, as George grabbed him in a bear hug and Fred lifted Rupert off his feet. Then Dan and Emma were greeted in similar fashion, as the rest of the family gathered around. Bedlam ensued for several minutes, as the kids were introduced to the newest generation of the family.

Then Tonks, Remus and Teddy came in, took one look at the mayhem and just laughed as they waded into the crowd.

Lucius was looking slightly disconcerted, until Arthur Weasley took him by the arm and pulled him gently aside.

"Well, Lucius, it's times like these that make all the things we survived worth it, don't you agree?" Arthur smiled, looking around at everyone and then turning to the aristocratic figure standing next to him.

"Arthur, I can't help but agree with you on that statement; it was, indeed, worth what we endured to see our families alive, well and prospering. I'm trying to get a head count, but that's nearly impossible . . . how many grandchildren DO you have?" Lucius asked, as Hugo ran around his grandfather and then ducked under the nearest table to avoid his cousin Albus catching him.

"At last count . . . fourteen."

"Last count?"

"Hermione is pregnant again . . . with a girl . . . they're naming her Emma." Arthur confided, then held his finger to his lips. "It's going to be announced, but what's a little secret if you can't tell someone!"

"Well, in that case, I appreciate your confidence in me, Arthur," replied Lucius, smiling. "But, seriously, how does Molly cope?"

"Ah, having Winky helping around The Burrow makes all the difference; frees Molly up to enjoy all of them when they come to spent the night."

"What, all of them at once?" Lucius was gob-smacked, with that picture in mind.

"Certainly!"

"Merlin!"

"Yes, it does get a bit hectic at times, although I think the grandkids are easier to handle than their parents!" Arthur informed him, with a poke in the ribs. "Although Fred's twins look to be chips off the old block!"

"Paybacks always are amusing to watch, though, don't you think?" Lucius replied as Arthur nodded and laughed.

X X X

Dan glanced around and then stiffened, as he saw a tall figure in the entrance of the Great Hall . Without a word, Dan worked his way thought the throng and started walking toward the end of the massive room. Emma, Tom and Rupert saw him, turned to see what Dan was looking at and immediately excused themselves and followed him. Silence descended on the assembled friends and family as they watched the four Muggles approaching the man standing at the open doors.

"Severus," Dan greeted the Potions Master, as he drew near the somber figure.

"Daniel," replied the Head of Slytherin House, in his usual drawl, but then he walked forward, with a smile on his face, as the two threw their arms around each other and pounded the other's back in greeting. Pulling away, Severus was just quick enough to brace himself as Emma flew into his arms.

"Severus! You're alive!" she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Of course I'm alive, you silly girl! Wasn't that the plan!" he laughed, as she pulled back, swatting him on the arm, and then digging in her pocket for a tissue.

"Yes, that was the plan, Emma!" chided Tom, as he gave Severus a hug and then turned him over to Rupert to be greeted. "How quickly you forget!"

"Shut up, Tom! You were as worried about Severus as any of us, admit it!" Emma shot back. "Probably more so, considering he's your Head of House and all!"

They all laughed and then began to walk with Severus, back toward the throng of people who were settling themselves at the tables, ready to tell the four what had happened since they'd last seen them.

Emma had her arm through Severus' and looked up at him with a wicked gleam in her eye.

"So . . . are you married, Severus. Would we hear the pitter patter of little feet if we ventured down to the dungeons?" she asked, innocently batting her eyes at him.

"No, Emma, there are no little copies of me running amok in the Potions classroom," Severus answered her, rolling his eyes. "I am, however, currently seeing someone."

"Really?" Emma stopped short and then motioned with her hand for him to continue with more details.

"She is a Healer at St. Mungo's, whom I became acquainted with while I was recovering," he started to explain.

"Recovering? From what? What happened? When were you hurt? Are you alright?" The questions tumbled out of her mouth.

Holding up his hand, Severus smiled. "I am fine, Emma, totally recovered and you will learn the details, along with your friends, as the whole story unfolds. Perhaps you should have a seat . . . this might take a while," he added, as he waved her to one of the four chairs Albus had placed in front of the dais, facing the House tables.

"Reminds me of the Sorting Ceremony," Rupert whispered to Tom, who nodded and grinned, as they sat down.

"Wonder if the Hat would actually sort us?" Tom pondered out loud.

"Maybe we can ask Albus to try it before we leave," Dan whispered, as he made his way to his chair. "But right now, we'd better get comfortable, as I can see a long story unfolding!"

"You are correct in that assumption, Dan," replied Albus. "But we've had time to work up a 'presentation', if you will, everyone getting to tell their part in the saga. And in, more or less, chronological order, too, I might add."

"Splendid!" Dan looked out at the eager faces. "Who's first?"