Chapter 42 – Party Times
Harry had calmed down by the time he and Severus arrived at the door to the reception room in which his birthday party was being held. The low rumble of voices that could be heard in the hall told them that others were already in there and the celebration had begun.
To Severus' mild surprise, Harry had snaked his arm around his waist as they walked side-by-side from their rooms, essentially forcing him to put his arm around Harry's shoulders. Perhaps it was an over-developed sense of propriety, but Severus tended not to initiate such contact with Harry when they were in public, although he certainly did not shy from it when Harry reached out to him.
Severus looked down to study Harry's face as they approached the door. "You are alright now, Harry? I cannot believe your friends will know or particularly care about your sex life – I fully expect that each of them is totally absorbed in their own."
Harry smiled weakly at that, suspecting it to be true. He was sure he'd have no problem at all sharing this sort of information with his best friends and former roommates, anyway. At least the general outlines of the situation would have been fair game for their late-night conversations, back when he was part of those conversations, at least. And Ron and Hermione had been acting a bit funny today. He hoped it might have something to do with the progress of their relationship – maybe Ron finally used the Room of Requirement as he'd suggested?
It was the sheer publicness of this private matter that had overwhelmed him. He could deal with his close friends. But the Headmaster? The press? The Minister of Magic? Everybody else in the world? Sometimes, he hated his life. Although, as he felt the magic pulsing beneath the hand that rested on Severus' waist, there were some compensations here. A mischievous thought entered his mind.
Severus sensed what he thought was Harry's inner distress, and gave his shoulder a squeeze as he prepared to release the young man when they opened the door. As he opened the door, he was surprised to feel Harry's hand slip down his backside, delivering a small but firm pat on his bottom just as Harry stepped into the room.
Naturally, Harry was immediately engulfed in a swarm of students, mainly Gryffindors, but members of all Houses were in the mix. As he disappeared into the noisy throng, Severus carefully schooled his features from the mild surprise prompted by the pat to annoyed boredom. He inched his way around the periphery of the crowd toward a large bowl of what he speculated was spiked punch. He was also looking for a good spot from which he could keep an eye on Harry while not being noticed himself. Old habits die hard.
Once he determined that a particularly vile brand of cheap firewhiskey had found its way into the punch, he vanished the offending liquid from his cup and quietly inched his way back to the wall. One of the ever-present house elves had watched Severus take a tentative sip of the punch and vanish it with a look of disgust, and he popped into view with a cup filled instead with Severus' favored brandy as Severus settled into a doorway half-hidden by a tapestry.
Severus scanned the room first to determine if there were any individuals in the crowd about whom he should be particularly concerned. Sinistra had not shown, although he noticed most of the other professors were scattered about the room. That was good. The dogfather and his wolf were here, of course, off in another doorway, but Lucius was not in the room – even better. There was an absolute gaggle of redheads, to be expected, as all the Weasleys were here. He realized that he was actually very comfortable with that family, to his quiet surprise. The squib princes were on the other side of the room. Potentially an issue, but as likely not. And there was a particularly tight knot of students – mostly male students – in one corner. It took Severus a few minutes of surreptitious surveillance to tease out the attraction. That beauty in the middle had to be Pharaoh Nitrocris, once again favoring Longbottom, of all people, with her attention. A pang of remembered jealously flittered in his gut, but it died there.
Turning his close attention to the little parade that had attached itself to Harry as he milled through the room and accepted well-wishes from his friends, Severus noted a few annoyances, but nothing of significance. Those Patil girls couldn't just give Harry a kiss on the cheek – no, they had to hang all over him, and they kept patting him for some reason. Pansy Parkinson, ever the optimist, looked like she might be ready to pounce, as well. Even Miss Greenglass seemed to be angling her way in. However, Harry was graciously pressing forward and no one really had the chance to cling to him too long. The only ones Harry seemed intent on keeping with him were Weasley and Hermione. Severus was accepting of that.
In a doorway of their own on the other side of the room, Remus was trying to calm Sirius down.
"That bastard! I saw what he did! This is a school, Remus! How could Dumbledore allow something like this to happen here? I saw Harry give him a smack on the butt - -!" Sirius was sputtering away, to the mild amusement of his bondmate.
"Yes, I saw that too. Severus' arm was around Harry's shoulders, and Harry gave him a pat on the butt when they parted as they entered the room. I suspect that only you and I were looking when that happened, as we'd just entered ourselves and were near the door. What's your problem?" Remus chided, draping his own arms around his lover's shoulders.
"How inappropriate! That sort of thing should absolutely not be allowed!" Sirius continued to sputter. He was not going to allow anyone, including Remus, to distract him from his snit.
"Sirius, listen to yourself, will you? You saw Harry pat Severus on the backside. Harry did the patting, not Severus! If anything, I'd say Severus was rather startled by it, too. Severus did nothing but get his butt smacked. Harry was the one who touched him, not the other way around. Calm down, for Merlin's sake!" Remus whispered. His breath against Sirius' ear caught Sirius' attention (and interest), enough to break the rant.
Sirius spun around in Remus's arms to face the room and inhaled sharply as if to speak, but found he had nothing to say. He looked rather puzzled as he scanned the room, finding Harry along among a small crowd of students. Severus was nowhere to be seen, although he had to be lurking someplace. Remus leaned down again to whisper "Don't be angry with Harry, Sirius. It was just a playful pat, nothing to get your knickers in a knot about. Calm down."
Of course, Remus realized that Sirius was not the least bit angry with Harry, at least not yet. All that vitriol was for Severus, as it usually was for Sirius. The suggestion that he might be angry with Harry for that inappropriate display drew Sirius up. He did not like seeing any display of affection, especially anything intimate, between Harry and Severus, but Remus was right – Harry had initiated what he'd seen.
Remus broke Sirius' train of thought, suspecting it was better derailed at this point, by pulling Sirius toward him gently, and grinding into him playfully from behind. "Come along, let's mingle for a bit."
A very distracted Sirius pushed back into Remus for a second, but finally allowed his partner to take his hand and lead the two of them into the fray, to get to Harry to wish him a happy birthday.
X X X X X X X X X X
Albus had welcomed his friend Amelia Bones into his office a short while earlier. He'd spent many hours that afternoon researching the meaning of the light that Severus described to him, and had come to some conclusions; he was interested to see if she accepted his ideas.
Her visit was not exactly official, but after several owls had flown back and forth during the day, he suggested it might be preferable (and easier on the owls) if she paid a short visit to Hogwarts that evening. They could speak freely, and she could stop in to the party to give Harry her best wishes for his birthday. She was most likely persuaded more by the latter opportunity than the former, but Albus was glad she'd come.
"Thank you for inviting me, Albus. This is getting complicated. A number of seers around the world have made statements to the effect that the bond between Mr. Potter and Professor Snape is now fully matured. We've been contacted by a few newspapers, but have declined to comment on speculation about what is a completely personal matter. I am hoping we worded our declination strongly enough to shame the newspapers into dropping the story, but I have always suspected that it is not possible to shame most those people, under any circumstances." She named the seers who had been quoted in the press requests, and Albus was pleased to realize he'd never heard of any of them.
"I am sure you've done your best, Amelia, and I appreciate that. The newspapers will write what they write, and make things up if they want to. There are a few seers whose records are so well documented that their pronouncements alone would be sufficient basis for a news article, but the ones you've named are not among them. Possibly, at least the more widely-read newspapers will not be willing to risk their own reputations on the musings of an unrecognized seer."
Of course, they both realized that statements by some unknown seers would not be regarded by the Minister as "complicated." There was clearly more to this.
"I got several other owls this afternoon, Albus, from my counterparts in other wizarding governments. The insights of a seer might be ridiculed, but the empaths are involved now. Several empaths reported sensing a burst or shift in the magic of the world that appeared to have come from northern England or Scotland. There does not seem to be agreement as to what exactly happened or what phenomena they sensed, but the information was passed along through channels. At least four heads of wizarding governments were concerned enough to dispatch owls to me today."
Albus sighed. He had expected that the sages and seers would be abuzz about this – actually, he'd heard that they'd been discussing the state of Harry's bond for some time now. He'd not thought of the empaths, those with a particular sensitivity to the ebb and flow of magic in the world. His mind raced to consider this new source of input, and how best to deflect any troublesome questions.
A saving grace was that he was sure this particular event was exceedingly rare, certainly something far beyond the actual experience of any empath living today. It had taken him hours of poring over very rare and very ancient manuscripts that were not available to anyone else to even formulate a theory about this, so it was most unlikely that they'd know that they sensed. He was unlikely to face very pointed or on-target questions, should the empaths even be in position to pose them.
Beyond that, the talent of an empath was not one with which one could make a living in the business world. As a result, most empaths who wanted to use and develop that skill were in the service of their governments, usually part of high-level and secretive parts of those governments. On further thought, it actually wasn't surprising at all that their concerns would be presented to the British Minister of Magic by Ministers of other countries, in less than a day.
An approach to diffuse the empaths' observations suddenly dawned on Albus.
"As it happens, Amelia, I was awakened myself last night from a sound sleep by just the sort of phenomena that the empaths reported." Albus waved off her reaction with his hand. "I am far more sensitive than many, but no, I am not an empath. I was awoken by something that occurred in this castle, so it was very close by. I first checked the Hogwarts wards, as you'd expect, but found nothing amiss. Then I asked the house elves if they'd detected anything."
Albus either didn't notice, or chose to ignore, the look of indulgent amusement that his admission garnered from his guest. Albus was well-known for his unusual attitude toward house elves. "They basically confirmed what the seers are now saying, Amelia. It appeared that Harry waited until the clock struck midnight to welcome his 17th birthday to inform Severus of his decision to mature their bond." He looked up now at his guest to gauge her reaction to that news, and saw surprise.
"Oh, yes, Severus was adamant that the bond would not be fully matured until Harry was of age. If Harry decided that he wanted to annul the bonding, Severus wanted him free to do so; he did not want to limit Harry's options. He would never take advantage of circumstances, despite what everyone thought."
At this point, Amelia looked rather abashed. She had been among those to assume the very worst of Severus Snape. She said nothing to anyone of her suspicions, of course, but it shamed her to admit to herself that she'd entertained them.
Albus continued. "In any case, their bond was exceedingly strong before – we heard in the Ministry after the attack that Harry could touch his magic already, and there were other signs of a very powerful bond. But now it has been fully matured. I spoke to Severus about that this morning."
Amelia's face now registered blatant astonishment. She'd had some difficult conversations in her day, but she could not fathom anyone, not even Albus, broaching this delicate subject with his exceedingly forbidding Potions professor. The man had more nerve than she'd realized. The serious look on Albus' face began to worry her, though.
"There was light, Amelia. Their joining produced a golden glow, that enveloped them for what Severus thought was as long as an hour."
In all fairness, Albus could not blame the Minister for the look of confusion she now wore. He himself had not fully understood the significance of the light when Severus first mentioned it.
"I had never heard of light, either, but I recalled that Rowena Ravenclaw had done a great deal of research in her day about wizarding kingship. She amassed a most fascinating collection – if you recall your history, the wizarding world acknowledged three kings during the span of her lifetime, so it was less rare an occurrence, and there was more research done on it then. The Headmaster's Library here is assembled from the collections of every Hogwarts Headmaster going back to the Founders, so it contains an absolute treasure trove of truly ancient and one-of-a-kind material. I was able to find Rowena's manuscripts, and they were most illuminating."
Albus couldn't help himself – he had to share a tidbit he'd learned as he worked his way through the dusty sheets of ancient parchment that comprised her portfolio. "I found some later notes that speculated that two of the manuscripts she collected were penned by Merlin himself. A most fascinating afternoon, if I do say so myself."
"Did you find anything about pulses of magic or light, Albus?" Amelia was as fascinated by ancient history as anyone, but she had a bit of a crisis on her hands right now.
Albus hadn't expected to be able to give free reign to a description of his research and the manuscripts, so he was not insulted, but pressed on. It was a most fascinating story even without the details of its discovery.
"I don't think the light is a function of sex, nor is it a function just of Harry's status as king. This might be an instance of a most unique phenomena, observed two, maybe three times before in our recorded history, and it was already a matter for the history books back in Rowena's time. It is referred to as Merlin's Favor, and there were mentions of light associated with it."
Amelia did not look convinced by this. Albus appreciated that he was about to share the part of his story that represented the greatest leap from the little he'd found in the manuscripts that seemed to explain their current situation. It was the best he had to offer, it explained what had been observed, and all he really needed from her and the Ministry right now was support in deflecting intrusive questions. He had to hope for the best.
"Just as our world finds its king when it needs one, that king is uniquely suited to the challenges that he must face. Our world has need of a king now because of a madman in England, so it is not surprising that the king is found in England, for example. But our need at this moment is not for galvanizing leadership, or inspired field tactics. We are presented with a shockingly personal situation – it has been prophesized that Harry must fight this madman himself, that is the only way our world can be saved. I theorize that Harry has been given Merlin's Favor to help him do what he will be called upon to do. He will need magical power, and I suspect that Merlin's Favor was shown to him in a way that connects his and his bondmate's power, maybe amplifies it. That would explain why it occurred when the bond was fully matured, the burst or shifting of magical power that the empaths report and that I felt here, as well as the light."
Amelia leaned back in her chair, momentarily quiet as she collected her thoughts. Albus was always full of surprises, but this evening, he'd surpassed himself.
"I don't know what to say, Albus. It all seems so straightforward when you lay it out like that, but I get the sense that this is a conversation that is going to remain just between us, and I don't understand that element," she finally ventured.
Albus nodded. He was pleased that she'd caught that subtext. This had to remain completely confidential.
"You are right, Amelia. This is and must remain just between us. But I wanted you to see what I believe I see, so you will understand the requests I am going to make of you. First, I think it is in our world's best interest that Voldemort not know that Harry has Merlin's Favor, and that it is connected in some way to his power level. He knows he is going to fight a powerful, but very young and inexperienced wizard when the time comes, which he believes is to his advantage. He doesn't know that Harry has been shown Merlin's Favor, and that will be an advantage for Harry. So, my speculations about Merlin's Favor and what it might mean to Harry has to stay strictly between us."
It did not surprise him at all that Amelia was already nodding as he began to outline how she could help Harry in his task. The boy did inspire profound loyalty.
"Second, I am concerned for Harry in the longer term. He is already hugely powerful, and you know that many in our world become suspicious and fearful about those favored with significantly greater power than they. Imagine how they will react if they realize that Harry's existing power has somehow been amplified! I do not want Harry and Severus ostracized or persecuted, or even inconvenienced, because of this. Another reason that this is so confidential."
Albus suspected that Amelia was his ally at this point, so he proceeded.
"I appreciate the way you deflected the inquires about what the seers are saying. That was perfect. I must ask that you help us similarly in the way you reply to the inquiries you've gotten from your counterparts in other lands, although we'll share some confidential information with them, I think. You might deem it appropriate to share, in strictest confidence, that you believe it was the maturing of the bond between Harry and Severus that sent out the ripple that some of their empaths detected. The extremely personal nature of that information will focus reaction to what the empaths felt in a very different direction, and discourage chatter. How would you feel about that?"
Amelia smiled, finally. "I am quite comfortable doing what you've asked in response to the inquiries that have come to me. And I agree with your assessment of how the leaders of foreign governments will respond to the private information that I share confidentially with them. Spot on, Albus. But ought I be worried about Harry? Can he control himself? He's already lost control twice at the Ministry."
"Severus and I are working with him, teaching him wandless magic," Albus allowed. He'd anticipated this question, and had his deflection strategy all ready. "He was provoked both times at the Ministry by murderous attacks on his bondmate, so I don't see this as a control issue, but I worry about the wandless aspect. That can hurt Harry, and creates the possibility of collateral harm, although to date, only those intent on harming Severus have been impacted. Once he has a firm handle on wandless, this will cease to be an issue. Who could blame anyone from stopping a murder?"
"I did see Augusta's latest article in the Daily Prophet – she mentioned the use of defensive spells in general, and dropped in a short bit about intention spells," Amelia replied. "I suspect this is not the right time to share that with my counterparts."
"No, no, I don't think this is the time, or that you are the right person to do any such thing. I think this is better shared at the law enforcement level, our Aurors speaking to their colleagues in the foreign law enforcement organizations. The word will get where it needs to go, I suspect. Would you mind if I asked Kingsley to have a word with Auror Darmut, in a few days?"
"Of course not, go right ahead. Drop my name, if you or Kingsley feel that's necessary." Amelia was reeling from all she'd learned, but she was comforted by having a defined role to play in this unfolding series of events. She hated feeling powerless or removed from the events that so significantly impacted her world, and Albus had helped her find the right place for her to be.
"Has Mr. Potter's reception begun yet? Ought we be heading down there, Albus?"
X X X X X X X X X X
Harry was still amazed, nearly an hour into the party, at all the people who had assembled in the reception room and who were very sincere in their good wishes for his birthday. Hermione and Ron had hardly left his side, and were really helpful when he needed to extricate himself from someone who wanted a bit more of his time than was appropriate, or in the case of the Patil twins, someone who was a bit too physically clinging. Harry hated having to excuse himself from a conversation – it always felt awkward to him. While he hadn't seen Severus since they split up at the door, he assumed he was being watched, and really did not want to hear about "passes" from Severus later.
For someone who had never had a birthday party before, it was nearly overwhelming that he had so many friends, true friends. Oh, that description hardly applied to everyone in the room, Harry knew that. But a goodly percentage of the people who'd shaken his hand, hugged him, or kissed him on the cheek were his friends. Sirius and Remus were there, as were all the Weasleys – he'd go so far as to claim them as extended family, along with Hermione.
And not one of them looked at him strangely, or seemed to know that something had changed for him. It would appear that Severus was right: his sex life was not of concern to them. What a relief!
"Hey, kiddo, congratulations and happy birthday. Enjoying your party?" Sirius whispered in greeting as he crushed his godson in a hug.
"Best ever, Sirius. This is excellent. I still can't believe . . ," Words failed Harry, as he looked around at the throng with wonder on his face. Sirius chuckled and squeezed Harry's shoulders, as Remus leaned in for a hug and to extend his own birthday wishes.
Molly Weasley wanted to smother Harry in a hug, you could tell, but her large belly got in the way. "Oh, well, Harry, lean in and let me give you a quick peck on the cheek. I can hardly get you close enough, what with the baby." Harry obliged, and happily accepted the kind of fussing he suspected a mother might give her son on a day like this.
As Harry made his way across the room, he was intercepted by Neville and Nitrocris, escorting Mrs. Longbottom, who wished to extend her best wishes. Harry took a few minutes to speak to his friend's grandmother, and accept her clipped and formal words of congratulations, all the while wondering about the younger woman in his friend's company. When it was clear that Mrs. Longbottom had said her fill, Nitrocris offered a kiss and warm wishes for Harry on his birthday as well, and Neville awkwardly punched Harry on the arm.
Harry was hoping he'd have the opportunity to find out how things were going for Nitrocris in Egypt before the evening was over, but he was immediately pulled along to accept the greetings of the princes, who had flooed over from Balmoral Castle for the evening.
"This floo network is outstanding, Harry," the other Harry observed. "No time at all, and here we were! We wanted to wish you the best on your birthday, and thank you again for the role you played in saving us."
Wills added, "Our grandmother wasn't able to attend, but when we told her that it was your birthday and that 17 was the age of majority in the wizarding world, she asked that we give you a note from her." He slipped a small cream-colored envelope from the pocket of his jacket and handed it over to Harry, who accepted it with obvious pleasure as he thanked them for coming.
He was almost immediately on the move again, shaking hands, getting hugged and kissed as he went. Harry cringed inwardly as the Headmaster came into view, with the Minister of Magic by his side.
"Good evening, Madam Minister, Headmaster. I am flattered to see you here this evening," Harry offered as he accepted a kiss on the cheek from the Minister. He was hoping against hope that he wasn't blushing as they chatted.
"I needed to speak to Albus about some Ministry business, and had the good fortune to find myself upstairs just as your reception was getting under way, Mr. Potter. Of course I wanted to extend my best wishes to you for your birthday before heading back to London," the Minister explained.
The small group split up soon after, as Hermione spotted an unused alcove for a quick chat with Harry, and Albus spotted the muggle princes and wanted to introduce the Minister to them.
Hermione and Ron were able to get Harry into the alcove for a welcome breather from all the attention. Harry perched on the edge of a table as he rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"That was a bit more than I expected, guys. Thanks for spotting this place – I needed a break," Harry said as he took a glass of pumpkin juice that had just appeared on a tray on the table. "I just can't believe the crowd."
Hermione wanted to call Harry on the fact, clear to everyone else, that there were many people, in this world at least, who loved him and regarded themselves as his friend, and he needed to get past the nonsense his so-called family had been spewing all those years. For once, though, she held her tongue on that, and just changed the subject.
"So, Harry, you told me at breakfast that you got the most amazing gift from Professor Snape this morning, and I've been dying to see it! Can you show me now?" she asked instead.
Ron perked up with interest too. He'd wondered himself what the gift might have been as it appeared that Harry had it with him when he mentioned it – he really could not imagine what Snape would have given him that was that portable. Not that he'd have admitted that, of course.
Harry fished under his shirt, and pulled out the platinum disk, offering it at the length of the chain still around his neck for her inspection.
"This is beautiful, Harry – I've never seen anything quite like it. The workmanship is extraordinary. What's the engraving?" she asked, while leaning close for a good look at the intricate work. Ron peered over her shoulder for a look as well. Somehow, he would never have guessed that Snape would have given Harry a necklace for his birthday.
"That's a coat of arms, or family crest. Severus commissioned it from Gringotts," Harry explained.
Ron looked more closely, and recognized some of the symbols that would be part of a family crest. He gave Harry a funny look. "As the head of the Potter house, you already have a coat of arms – that's a really ancient house. As is the Snape house, so Snape has his own coat of arms, too. Is this your coat of arms then, or his?"
"He commissioned this for us. He said it has elements of both of our family coats of arms, but it's unique to us. Registered at Gringotts and everything."
Hermione looked at Harry with eyes bright with tears. "That's wonderful Harry!" she gushed, as she pulled Harry into a hug. "You've made your decision, then. You are going to stay with him?"
Ron was a bit confused by Hermione's show of emotion, but nodded with acceptance as Harry confirmed that he'd told Severus he was not going to annul their bond.
Harry smiled and continued the conversation, more with Hermione. "He had to have commissioned this some time ago, before he knew for certain what I'd say on my birthday. As thrilled as I was with the medallion itself, the fact that he'd had this made up in advance – that was awesome." Harry looked down at the gleaming engraved disk himself, shaking his head slightly as he did so.
His observation earned him another hug from Hermione, who he suspected recognized the romantic gesture for what it was.
Ron suddenly blushed, as he contemplated what Harry's decision meant on a really personal level. It was hardly a proper question to ask in front of Hermione, although he had to admit, not one that she'd hold back from asking of Harry in front of him if she was curious. "So . . er . . um . . Harry, well, I mean to say . . have you and he discussed . . "
Harry would not have understood that question just from the words he used, but Ron's deep blush and inability to look him in the eye told him that this question was the big one, about sex. The question he'd been dreading all day, and it was Ron, not him, who was mortified!
A big smile broke across Harry's face, accompanied by a small laugh. "At midnight last night, as soon as I was officially 17, I told Severus of my decision and insisted that we mature our bond." With a much softer voice but the same big smile, he added "And we did."
Hermione laughed at the news, clearly happy for Harry and he got another hug from her. They both laughed at Ron, who was now turning a most unbecoming shade of purple.
X X X X X X X X X X
The Minister was quite tickled when Albus presented her to the squib princes, and they seemed rather pleased to meet her as well.
"Now, I understand that you boys live at Balmoral Castle, is that so?" Amelia inquired, after the introductions were done.
"Not full-time, ma'am, but we spend holidays there usually. It's our grandmother's personal home, and she loves it," Wills explained.
"That's very understandable. Were you aware that the castle had been the family home of a wizarding family for many centuries, and that one of its members had actually once been the king of muggle England?" she offered.
Albus looked surprised. "We discovered that the house elves were particularly pleased to have the chance to go there – they explained that there was magic in the place, and they were sure their kind had lived there before."
The younger prince wasn't entirely certain about house elves, but remarked "We're being provisioned from this castle, I understand. We didn't have to call in our staff while things were getting back to normal in London. Are house elves behind that?"
"Yes, young man. That's how we're doing it," Albus replied. "We have at least a hundred house elves here at Hogwarts, and when we opened the floo to Balmoral so you boys and Harry could tape that message, they recognized the magical signatures there immediately. They go back and forth regularly now, sharing food, whatever. They are apparently very fond of the place."
Amelia hadn't been aware of that, but was quick to get back to her story. "That castle had been in the Woodville family for many years. They obviously weren't the original owners – it was a Scottish castle, of course. But the Woodvilles loved it up here, and being magical, loved the proximity to Hogwarts. One of the women in the family, a beautiful young thing named Elizabeth, married into the muggle royal family four or five hundred years back. That might have worked out, but her husband became the king, and the two sons she bore were both wizards. When her husband learned about their magic, he was furious. He tried to control their education, wanted them to know nothing about magic. They were magically strong, though, and they really needed to learn how to control their gift. Their father passed away suddenly, so the oldest boy became king. Elizabeth took advantage of the fact that her husband was no longer there to strictly limit her access to her sons. She was able to get her sons back to Balmoral, and her late husband's brother took the muggle throne, which he'd been itching to do all along anyway. An awful scandal in its day, as it was thought that something terrible happened to the boys, and most people assumed their uncle was behind it. But this story has a very happy ending, just one that the muggles never knew about. The boys took the Woodville name, and became part of the magical community here. Had long, happy lives, too. Their descendants kept the castle for a few hundred years more, but finally the Woodville interest in Scotland petered out. After the castle had gone unoccupied for years because the family preferred to stay in London, it was sold. A muggle queen saw the place and loved it, and bought it a hundred or so years back. How nice that the current muggle queen loves it."
The princes were agog. Of course, they recognized the story of the Princes in the Tower. The princes hadn't died in the Tower of London at their uncle's hand? And Queen Victoria bought Balmoral Castle from one of their descendants?
Albus was rather surprised that Amelia knew all that history, especially since he'd never heard about it, and it involved a castle not all that far from Hogwarts. He directed a very questioning look at her. "How in Merlin's name did you come to know all that about the history of Balmoral Castle, Amelia? And about the family history that went with it?" he ventured. The princes were clearly as interested in the answer to that question as the Headmaster.
"That story has been passed down in my family for half a dozen generations, at least! My mother was a Woodville, Albus. While my family never got too wrapped up the pure-blood nonsense the way some did, one never actually went on about one's muggle ancestors. However, my mother thought it was an interesting tale, and she made sure that my sisters and I knew the story of our muggle ancestor. It is a lovely story, isn't it?" she concluded, as she patted the prince standing nearest her on the arm.
The two princes shared a look. The magical world held one big surprise after another.
X X X X X X X X X X
The Dursleys' first day back on Privet Drive was not entirely the "welcome home" they might have hoped it would be.
The trip via portkey had left Vernon terribly nauseous, to the extent that Petunia had to give him some of his stomach pills and set him up to rest out on the covered back porch. While their house was intact, and the food in the larder and refrigerator still fresh, and the plants in and out of the house looked healthy, everything was covered in dust. Dudley's dust allergy acted up immediately when he arrived home. He had to go out on the porch with his father, after taking several of his own pills and becoming very drowsy.
Once those two were settled, Petunia spent the day washing, dusting, vacuuming and cleaning every surface in their home, stopping only to bring sandwiches and more medications out to Vernon and Dudley and finally, to put a roast in the oven for dinner. At least by the time the Dursleys assembled at their dining room table for their first dinner at home in quite a long time, the house was dust-free and spotless.
Petunia was distressed when her attempt to use her own silver left her with burning pains in her hands; she'd really hoped whatever that awful man did to her, it was not going to follow her home. She had tucked one of the little daggers into her bag, just in case, and got it out. Vernon gave her a look, which she answered with a shrug, but nothing was said.
It was an early evening for the family. Just a few minutes after Petunia had cleared the dinner dishes, they all turned in. Petunia was exhausted from all her cleaning, and Vernon and Dudley were still feeling the effects of the medications they'd taken during the day.
Sunday was thus the first full day for the Dursleys at Privet Drive, and it started out fine, if quite late in the morning. The sun was shining brightly, birds were chirping. A fine day.
Vernon was miffed that the newspaper had not been delivered, as he enjoyed his Sunday paper over breakfast. He harrumphed as he stormed back into the house; he'd be calling the Circulation Department to complain. He was not aware that Charlie, the young man from three streets over who had been delivering the paper for several years now, was among those who had not survived the casting of the spell months before. He'd been riding his bicycle at the time and was struck as he fell by a car careening out of control.
As he waited for Petunia to get the coffee and start the eggs, Vernon went to turn on the television to catch the news of the day. As the set warmed up, he reflected that he hadn't seen a newspaper or gotten real news for an awfully long time. He was sure he had some catching up to do.
He was interrupted by a knock on the front door. It was Walter Cavendish from across the street – a man with whom Vernon shared morning greetings but not much conversation. In fact, Vernon did not think the man had ever actually been to his front door.
"Dursley, old boy – good to see you back! We didn't see your family's name on the lists of injured or deceased, so we hoped all was well with you," Walter began. Vernon was completely puzzled – lists?
"The news has been absolutely astonishing, really, hasn't it? My Dolores and little Junior have been soaking up all the programs, and announcements, and they are just so thrilled about it all. We have several of the neighbors over at our place. Why don't you and the missus, and young Dudley, come on over? Just sitting in the garden, platters from the bakery, nothing fancy."
Petunia had come to the door from the kitchen when she heard voices in the front hall, and Dudley was just coming downstairs. All the Dursleys were puzzled to hear that people were "thrilled" by what had gone on, but frankly, food was food. Petunia was fine with going across the street – she and Dolores knew each other from Garden Club, and while Junior was a year or two older than Dudley, they could visit if there were no other youngsters there.
The Dursleys were surprised to find twenty or so people from the neighborhood milling about the Cavendish garden. They were welcomed rather more effusively than one might have expected, too, almost as if they were celebrities, but none of the trio thought to question it. Vernon helped himself to a couple of gooey sticky buns and Dudley piled a plate high with helpings of pretty much everything. Petunia eyed the eggs and salads, but was worried about her ability to use even the plastic utensils. Until she knew exactly how her problem was going to impact this, she opted for finger food and went with a cheese danish.
After most of the food was gone (a process to which Dudley contributed significantly), the conversation was directed to the Dursleys.
"We've been so thrilled to see your nephew on the telly, Vernon – he actually appeared with the Queen herself last week, in a message from Balmoral Castle! And of course, he's practically a regular with messages taped with the young princes. They say he's a king, of the wizarding world, of all things! Did you know?" Dolores cut right to the heart of everyone's curiosity.
It wasn't entirely benign curiosity, however. Everyone on the block was very excited to learn that they'd had a king in their midst, but they were also aware that most of them never saw the boy doing anything but tending Petunia's flowerbeds and running chores. They'd paid the boy no attention, assuming him to be a poor relation of the Dursleys, and now were wondering if they'd missed out on their chance to know a true celebrity.
Surprisingly, it was Dudley who refocused the conversation. Granted, it was an inane observation, but people were suddenly a bit less annoyed at his parents.
"We were up at Harry's school in Scotland. Dad and I were in the infirmary there, and we spent the last week living there since we woke up. It was a neat place."
Maybe the neighbors would not be able to tell their coworkers and friends about their personal acquaintance with the young man appearing so regularly on the telly these days, but the chance to have some insights into his school, his day-to-day life? That could be just as impressive.
It was late afternoon before the gathering in the Cavendish garden broke up, with Vernon and Dudley sharing what little they had observed during their brief (and rather hostile) stay at Hogwarts, with Petunia offering some of her own observations when she could get a word in edgewise. The neighbors of Privet Drive lapped it all up – travel via fireplaces? Flying on brooms? Food just appearing on the table? Little tents that were actually, inside, the size of actual homes? Oil paintings speaking to you?
To Vernon's annoyance, the story that seemed to capture everyone's attention the most was Petunia's recounting of one of the spell castings, as she called it. It really grated on him that Potter's freakishness was being celebrated like this, rather than vilified, as he believed it ought to be. But he was also keenly aware that people had never hung on his every word as they had been this afternoon, and he did enjoy that, a great deal.
Life just wasn't fair.
[A/N: My thanks to Miserichord who made a comment about the possibility that the Princes in the Tower had magic. I had not considered that, but it turned out to be a good story for Minister Bones to share with the squib princes. Elizabeth Woodville was indeed the mother of Edward V and his brother, but all the rest of it, including the connection of their story to Balmoral Castle is fiction. It is nice to think that the sad story of the Princes in the Tower might actually have had a happy ending, just one that we muggles just did not know about.]