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Chapter 34

Sue turned toward the Hufflepuff table with a sigh, hoping a reply from her aunt would be in the morning mail. The rumor mill had gone into overdrive when Granger and Lovegood left Hogwarts. Rumors ranged from Harry soul bonding to both girls, to they had been expelled for cheating and had had their magic bound (this one seemed most popular with some purebloods).

She had thought about trying to talk to Fleur, but never had the chance, about the letter she had received from Harry. Hers had been nice, questions about her and school… thanking her for her help. That alone made her question most of the rumors.

What she hadn't expected was her aunt to be seated at the table helping herself to breakfast. "Auntie?" she asked sitting.

Amelia gathered the girl into a hug. "Morning Suzie. I have some business here this morning so I thought we could have breakfast together."

Sue smiled up at the older woman. "Thank you." She hugged her again. "Did you get my letter?" she asked.

"I did. It is one of the reasons I am meeting with the headmaster… I need you to tell me everything that you know about Ms. Granger and Ms. Lovegood, then I need to hear all about these rumors."

The younger girl nodded as she took a bite of her breakfast and began her tale.

It was not until near the end of breakfast when Dumbledore made his appearance in the Great Hall. When he saw an additional person sitting at the staff table he grimaced. Amelia Bones sat talking with Minerva and for a fleeting moment he considered returning to bed, but dismissed that thought when the head of the DMLE turned her steely gaze on him. It was almost as if she was daring him to try.

He cursed silently at himself, he should have been awake earlier! He should have not been caught unaware like this in his own school! But lately he had been so busy, the paperwork from The ICW and Wizengamot had been bad enough… but he had had no idea how much paperwork he had pushed on his deputy headmaster over the past few years. There had not been a night in the last week he had been to bed before three in the morning!

He placed his best grandfatherly smile on his face and proceeded to the front of the room. "Madame Bones I did not know you had joined us this morning, I hope you enjoyed your breakfast?"

Her eyes were as hard as the stone they took their color from. "It was excellent as always, Headmaster. I thought I would drop by and speak with you about a few things." She laid a button on the table in front of him. "Imagine my surprise when I found this when I was sitting with my niece this morning."

He had seen some of the students wearing them, but he had paid little attention. It was a button with the slogan 'SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY, HOGWARTS CHAMPION!' It was a nice, if simple bit of charms work as the colors of Cedric's name changed between the colors of the Hufflepuff house, black and yellow.

He smiled gently, and glanced around the Great Hall seeing many of the buttons spread around among the students. It seemed all of the houses were supporting their champion. It made his old heart proud. "A wonderful showing of school pride! I must endeavor to find the student responsible so he may be recognized."

He was surprised when he looked back at her and her scowl had darkened. "I think that would be the last thing this particular student would wish." Her wand was suddenly in her hand and she tapped the button with it. The lettering shifted and changed till it read 'COME WATCH HARRY POTTER THE NEW MAD MUGGLE!' in blood red lettering.

He winced slightly. The Mad Muggle had been a cartoon popular at one time depicting a non magical trying to do some of the things that wizards and witches did, and failing in… painful ways. "I'm sure it is just bit of playful banter, I do not think anyone means any harm."

"Playful banter?" she asked, amazed. "Do you think this sort of thing is appropriate? What will Harry and his family think about this type of thing when they return? Do you want to be the one to explain it to them? Or Headmaster Chinthliss? I haven't seen any of the students from the other schools wearing anything like them!"

He turned back toward the hall and looked at the students again, some of the students from Beauxbatons were seated at the Ravenclaw table, as expected, but had gathered tightly to one end leaving seats between themselves and the Hogwarts students as if they did not wish to be associated with them.

His eyes then moved to the students at the Slytherin table to find the students from Durmstrang had done much the same. This was not the way it had been a few days prior, he was sure of it. The students had been rather friendly then.

He sighed, "You may have a point Madam Bones… Minerva? Why did you not draw my attention to this?"

Minerva bristled at his question. "I would have if you had bothered to show up at the staff meetings! I have sent you multiple messages! You have been holed up in your office for days! Other than meal times, and you have made it abundantly clear that you do not wish to speak of school things during meal times! I have chastised my cubs for wearing those, and you will not find any of them wearing them now! I was all for a showing of support for Cedric till Angelina Johnson brought the 'other' button to my attention! At first I thought this was some of the Weasley twins' work and confronted them about it, but they assured me it is not something they had done and I tend to believe them. They have always owned up to a prank once they have been caught."

Albus pondered that a moment, it was true he had seen a few messages from Minerva in the stacks in paperwork about a discipline issue but had dismissed them quickly thinking he would speak to her about it face to face. Had he been so out of touch lately? When was the last morning staff meeting he had been to? Three days? Maybe four? Five, possibly?

He had to agree with her though; the twins may have been true hellions but they always took their punishment when they were caught, it seemed they felt it was deserved if they were caught.

"They would have been my first thought as well Minerva," he said quietly. "Have you asked where the buttons came from?"

"Of course I've asked! A box was left at each table several mornings ago!" she growled back at him.

"Please ask all Hogwarts students to be in the Great Hall fifteen minutes before it opens at noon. I will speak to them then," he said sadly. "I am disappointed in the students that have chosen to continue wearing these once they had seen the other face." He sighed deeply. "But I suspect this is not the reason you are here today Madam Bones."

"It is not, but I think we need to have the remainder of this discussion in private. Minerva, I suggest you accompany us as Deputy Headmaster." She then stood and exited the side door leaving Albus and Minerva to follow in her wake toward his office.

Albus shut the door to his office and walked toward his desk. "Now Amelia, please enlighten us as to why you have chosen to join us this morning?"

"We can start with the rumors you have allowed to propagate about Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, and Ms. Lovegood. Why in the name of Merlin have you allowed them to run wild?"

Albus looked at her confused. Minerva, aggravated by his foolishness, spoke up. "I put it in the same messages as the ones about those horrible buttons!" She rifled through a pile of papers on his desk till she saw her own handwriting. "Here!"

He looked at the pages then up at his deputy. "It would…" His voice died off as she crossed her arms and glared down at him. He sighed and began to read. He had to chuckle at a few of the rumors; some were so outrageous, sold to a Persian Prince indeed!

He looked up to find both women glaring at him, a cold shiver lanced down his spine. "And what do you wish for me to do about them? It is not the place of the staff to take on every little piece of idle gossip."

Minerva was incensed. "Some of those rumors have already made their way into the Prophet Albus! Are you just going to let those two girls and Mr. Potter be spoken of like this?" She pointed to a particular piece in the morning paper that speculated Harry had slept with the witches in question and they had been sent home due to pregnancy. "How are you going to explain this to them when they return?"

"They are just baseless rumor, Minerva," he said trying to brush her feelings on the matter to the side.

"So you will let this… this… drivel continue?" she asked. "When it would be simple for you to make a statement to the paper about the situation, you choose to do nothing!"

"And what would happen if I did make such a statement Minerva?" he asked, his frustration showing for the first time. He stood quickly and began to pace. "What would you have me tell them? That the brightest witch to walk the halls of this school in generations left our school? Did you want me to tell them why she wanted to leave so badly that she and her parents had to be talked out of removing her? More than once?"

He turned suddenly. "And then there is Ms. Lovegood… Despite her quirks, she is almost as brilliant as Ms. Granger, the way she sees things gives her such amazing insights into magic, despite what her grades say about her! And with Ms. Granger's help that has had changed as well!"

His shoulders dropped. "Together they are… You should see the wards they had placed on their things, and around their beds… They had created their own runic warding arrays… they were things of beauty… and they were portable. I wished to continue to watch them over the remaining years here, and if they had continued to develop as I expected, offer to sponsor them into an apprenticeship with Armando Cyrillic. The styles they were developing were so simple and elegant, yet powerful." Sadness filled his eyes.

"Now all that they could have accomplished will be lost."

Minerva looked stricken by that news, till Amelia spoke. "What are you on about Dumbledore? They will have every chance to learn and progress in their new school and you know it!"

He turned to her and snapped, "Do you really think they could learn there what they would have here? This is the premiere school for magic! This is where they and Mr. Potter should be to learn magic!"

"Did you not listen to what Headmaster Chinthliss said at breakfast?" she asked almost stunned. "Did you even listen to anything he said? Harry is learning magic!"

Minerva's head spun in her direction. "He's learning… but he said he didn't have a wand," she said in confusion.

Amelia nodded. "According to Headmaster Chinthliss, he doesn't use one." Minerva's eyes widened, and Albus scoffed. "How did he do the first task Albus?" Asked Amelia.

His brow crinkled, that was something that he had puzzled over for quite some time. "I am not sure," he admitted, "but I doubt it was done with wandless magic! If he is learning magic he must have had a wand hidden on him!"

Amelia shook her head, finally understanding. "You just don't believe that anyone else could do something you can't."

His brow furrowed and his mouth opened to refute her, but she didn't let him start. "You weren't there yet, but Harry's headmaster can do wandless magic. He did a couple of things I have never seen anyone do. He paralyzed my hands with just the barest of gestures. Then cast some form of concealment spell I've never heard of, making our conversation sound as if it were in another language, the same way.

His face grew more strained as he heard that bit of news, had that been what he felt when he approached the table? He shook his head, no that wasn't possible…

"He even told you as much!" she continued. She looked at Minerva. "When Harry was here did he ever seem surprised by anything he saw? I didn't think about it till Headmaster Chinthliss said something about it, but he wasn't even afraid of a DRAGON! Fully trained Aurors are afraid of them, but he walked out there like he was out for an afternoon stroll! Then he walked all over this castle! Saw talking portraits, moving stairs, ghosts! Did he have a single issue? A question? Anything?

Minerva shook her head, Amelia continued. "Seems a little odd does it not?"

Now that she thought about it, it did seem odd. Most muggles would have been scared to death by what he had seen.

Amelia moved on. "Now let's think about his mother Shar, and Lady Ako. Neither of them were the least bit surprised either. They even flooed with ease! I want you both to really think about it; did Harry ever say he didn't know about magic? I've thought about this a lot, and as far as I remember he didn't. What about the rest of his family? Did he, or they ever say they didn't know about magic? Or give any indication that they didn't?"

Albus looked at Minerva as she shook her head slowly, he then re-ran every interaction with Harry and his family through his mind. He hated to admit it but she was right, he had just assumed that Harry's family was muggle. Had he been wrong… again?

Amelia went to her next piece of evidence. "I talked to Suzie this morning, she met Harry not long after he arrived, before he had contacted his family. He was scared, not for himself mind, but for everyone here. She said it was important for him to get a message to them to keep them from coming and retrieving him. He told her they would come for him and seemed almost frantic to make sure they knew he was ok and safe."

She paused as they thought about that, then began again. "Then there is this thing with Ms. Granger. I'm going to ask you this once Albus, and I expect a full answer. No hedging, no ignoring, no pushing it off. I am asking you this as the head of the DMLE and if you do not answer it, Merlin help me if I don't haul you down to headquarters, throw you in my smallest cell, then fill you to the brim with veritaserum to get my answers!"

Albus looked at her, his mind quickly gauging whether she was serious. She was, he decided. Returning to his chair he began to tell her of Hermione Granger's accident.

The Grangers, Luna and Sirius could hear music and smell food before they knocked on the back door, which a smiling Shar answered a few moments later. "Good morning. You're right on time, breakfast is almost ready." She then whispered, "Tannim's parents are here, they decided to pop in early, so no magic talk please," and said in a normal tone, "Come on in."

Once inside they found Harry and Tannim in the kitchen making breakfast like a well oiled machine, and an older couple sitting at the bar looking in at the pair, cups of coffee in their hands. "Trevor? Janet?"

The older couple turned to face them. They were slim and had the look of satisfaction in the lives that they led. Trevor had thinning silver hair, his skin was tanned from working in the sun, while Janet's smile seemed to brighten the room and her hair shone the same silver. "I'd like you to meet Robert and Lisa Granger," she gestured to the couple. "These are their daughters, Hermione and Luna, and this scruffy looking guy is Sirius… Harry's godfather." She looked at the now worried man. "We told you how he only recently learned that Harry survived after the fire… and how he was framed for the murder of the man that started that fire."

Trevor looked at the man appraisingly, and after a time stood from the barstool to approach him. "You didn't kill him?"

"I didn't… I wanted to but…" His voice trailed. "He set off an explosion… Killed thirteen people, they found his finger. Witnesses heard him say I did it, when I woke up I was on my way to prison… I didn't care… I thought I had lost everything… James and Lily... Harry's birth parents were the only family I had… Peter, the person who killed them, finally slipped up a couple of years ago. He was captured… and I was released, soon after I was told Harry had survived… I've been searching for Harry ever since."

"And now that you've found him?" he asked, his eye searching Sirius's face for deception.

Sirius smiled broadly. "I think he has found an amazing family. He was lucky to find them and have them take him in… I was lucky like he was when James's father, Charles, did the same for me. I'm just grateful to have the chance to get to know him and them."

The tension that had building in the room seemed to evaporate, as the men tentatively shook hands.

Harry smiled from behind the stove, and announced, "Now that that is settled, breakfast is served!"

The table was soon filled with as much conversation as food. Plates of eggs; one over easy, one scrambled, made their way around followed by homemade buttermilk biscuits, sausage, sawmill gravy and grits with cheese.

Lisa sat at the now full table and asked, "Shar? Is your mother joining us this morning?"

Shar shook her head. "No, unfortunately she is busy. She will join us later in the day."

Janet shook her head. "All of you are always so busy. I don't know how you do it."

Tannim laughed at that. "Like you and Dad aren't? You've got quite the reputation as a horse breeder."

His dad smiled. "Yep, and with the help of that Al Norris fella with his insights into the breeding stock we were looking at last year, we will only do better."

"Al?" Tannim asked.

His dad nodded again. "Met him at an auction in Dallas, he pointed out a few problems in the new stallion I was going to bid on. Good fella, nice, I felt bad that he had to leave the auction before the one he wanted went on the block. I offered to proxy bid for him but he didn't want to stand in my way if I wanted him… Said it was his bad luck."

Tannim glanced at Shar, and mouthed, 'Alinor." She nodded in agreement. 'That pointed eared…' he groused mentally.

Tannim then addressed the visitors. "Be sure to eat up, we won't be having lunch till around three."

Luna watched as Harry dipped his own and passed them on. When they arrived at her place she did as he had, but with much smaller dips, including covering the eggs in an odd red mixture of tomatoes, green peppers and onions. When the last plate had passed she took her first bite of the eggs, a smile blossomed across her face and it wasn't long before the entire plate was empty. Meanwhile Hermione took a different approach; she took a little of everything, tried each in turn then assembled a larger plate.

The rest of the day passed just how Harry said it would. They spent the morning with Harry's family while they took part in one of their favorite traditions, decorating for Christmas.

It seemed a little early for decorating, but when Harry explained about his foundation, what they did the week leading up to Christmas, and that this allowed them to enjoy the holidays even being as busy as they were, they readily agreed. They even went so far as to offer their help with the foundation.

As for the actual Thanksgiving meal, Hermione and Luna equated it to the welcoming feast at Hogwarts, but had to admit the selection was much more varied. Prime Rib, Salmon, something called a New England Boil, not to mention Turkey (cooked both traditionally, and Fried), and the most succulent roasted pig, were only the beginning. There were over two long tables with nothing but desserts!

The entire garage had been emptied, and was filled with people and food. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming to them! By the end of the night they all returned home exhausted.

Harry had been right. They loved it!