"Welcome back to Tir Nan Og, Harry." Roxy welcomed him with open arms as he stepped through a portal that opened up in the main hall of the royal palace.
Harry hugged her tightly and gave her a quick kiss. "It's been a while."
"Two weeks isn't that much of a while, especially when we've been talking on the phone nearly every day..." Roxy pointed out.
"I know, but it's been a while since we've seen each other in person." Harry also pointed out.
"Point taken." Roxy smiled. "My aunt wants to see you before we do anything else."
"Oh? Am I in trouble?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, not at all! She loves you!" Roxy waved off the very notion.
"Really?" Harry looked sceptical.
"Really. Besides, afterwards, the Springsteens and family want to see you too." Roxy smiled.
"Oh right. They're all still here and doing okay?" Harry queried.
"Most of the family came. Andrina's brother and his family decided to stay put in Britain for now and so far, they're okay. We've got something in place for them, just in case though. Rebecca- Andrina's middle child- is safe in Israel with her family, so we don't have to worry about them." Roxy explained. "Besides, she's married to the grandson of the Israeli Minister of Magic, so an attack on them would trigger another foreign power besides us moving against them, which they probably can't take right now..."
"That's good to hear." Harry nodded. "So..." Harry offered her his hand and she took it. "Why don't you lead the way?" He gestured down the corridor in front of them.
"I think I will."
As Roxy led him off, they began chatting about light hearted things and generally catching up.
"Welcome back, Harry. I trust things are well for you right now?" Nebula asked him as he entered the throne room with Roxy, himself, his girlfriend's mother, his girlfriend and the queen herself the only ones present.
"For now, yes, Your Majesty." Harry straightened up from his bow. "From all reports, Voldemort has been fairly quiet since the damage we did to him during the summer."
Harry had to repress the shudder that ran through him at the slasher smile that briefly appeared on the Fairy Queen's face at his words.
"What about the status of the Soul Jars... Horcruxes as you call them?" Nebula queried.
"They have been mostly destroyed at this point, I believe, Your Majesty. A source that Dumbleore has within the Death Eaters apparently, has confirmed that Nagini was indeed destroyed by the Trix."
"Wonderful news." Nebula's smile this time was less slasher, but nonetheless, still rather disturbing.
"Indeed, Your Majesty. We do believe through research and reviewing some memories that Dumbledore managed to obtain from various people about Voldemort's childhood, that we now of at least one object for certain while the other we only have reasonable guesses on."
"I see..." Nebula mused.
"So Voldemort... Tom rather, has been quiet, you say?" Morgana spoke for the first time.
"Indeed, Your Highness. It has been some time since he launched a major attack. There are still some disappearances and murders recently, but nothing of massive proportions." Harry turned to address the former queen. "He's bound to be angry... no... he's going to be absolutely furious right now. He's seething at his recent defeats. At the losses of many Death Eaters. At the loss of Nagini. When he comes back... It's going to be horrible."
"You will be prepared for that. You've easily made many allies and friends in the relatively short time since you returned to the Wizarding world that have you taught you many things and would be willing to fight alongside you. Don't dismiss them." Nebula advised him.
"Indeed, Your Majesty. I certainly wasn't planning on doing so." Harry nodded.
"Also, remember this, Harry. You are fighting an abomination who believes himself to be a Lord. He has not a single bit of noble blood in him in any sense. He is the way that he is because a lost sense of morality and an eagerness to get too powerful. Don't lose yourself, Harry." Morgana said to him, her tone serious. "It would be a pity if you won the war against Tom Riddle, only to become a Dark Lord yourself."
Roxy glanced at him in concern and even Nebula looked at him concernedly.
"He won't do that, Mother." Roxy put a hand on his shoulder and Harry squeezed it, grateful for the reassuring touch. "He's much too good at heart to go evil."
"You'd better hope so, Roxy. I remember what it was like to have my heart turned by wrath and darkness and it was not a pleasant experience for any of us, as I'm sure you remember." Nebula looked at Roxy pointedly.
Harry had only heard vague stories of the Earth Fairies' quest for revenge against humans and their brief standoff against the Winx Club, but he was sure it was something there that the fairy queen was referring to.
He'd have to ask Roxy about it at some point.
"Well, all of our current concerns have been addressed. You may go now, Harry." Nebula dismissed him.
Harry bowed to the two older royals and left the throne room with Roxy.
"So, what do we do now?" Harry queried.
"We'll go to the part of Tir Nan Og that the Springsteens and their family members are. You've never been to that part, but it's really beautiful and even the children love it there!" Roxy exclaimed as they made their way out of the palace.
"Really?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "Are there any Hogwarts aged children among them?"
"Yeah, there's one. Rachel. She's a bit excitable, but she's a nice enough girl. She's getting some tutoring in the Hogwarts subjects from her parents, her grandparents, her uncle and her aunt. They're hoping that when you end the war and crush Voldemort, she'll be up to scratch to enter whatever year she's supposed to be in at Hogwarts when it happens." Roxy explained.
"I see. That makes it all the more important that I beat him then, right?" Harry said. "Can't have her, her siblings or her cousins missing out on all the near death experiences Hogwarts has to offer, now can we? Plus Snape. And Professor Binns."
"Ah, the tales you've told me about those two..." Roxy nodded. "What about your other teachers? And life there generally? I'm sure you have plenty more stories to tell that I haven't heard yet..."
Courtesy of Roxy's own Transportus spell, Harry and Roxy arrived in what could best be described as a tropical village, judging by its appearance.
All of the houses in the area looked to be holiday homes, like the ones that Harry had once seen in a Muggle magazine at the Little Whinging Public Library where he'd gone to hide from Dudley years ago before he even knew he was a wizard, knowing that his cousin would never set foot in it.
"Some fairies actually live in Tir Nan Og too, Harry." Roxy explained. "After they were freed from imprisonment, some of the Earth Fairies who were born outside of Tir Nan Og came to live in this area. Of course, many chose to stay in their own birth countries or wherever else they were living before, but this part of Tir Nan Og- and others since this isn't the only inhabited part of the island- are finally starting to come alive and flourish again."
"Glad to hear that. So, where are the people we came to look for?" Harry asked her.
"Andrina and Isaac live right here." Roxy stopped in front of one of the smaller houses. "Let's go, shall we?"
They walked up the little pathway and Roxy knocked on the door.
"Who iiisss iiittt?" they heard a young girl ask in a sing-song-y tone.
"Patrice! Step away from the door!" Harry and Roxy could hear Andrina hiss.
"Sorry, Gran-Gran!" the girl called back, not sounding sorry in the slightest.
Harry and Roxy chuckled.
The door opened and Andrina stood in the doorway.
"Ah! Princess! And Harry! How nice to see you here! Come in! Do come in!" Andrina waved them in.
"As you can see, Princess, it's a full house here..." Andrina gestured to the living room, where five children were sitting together on the floor, working together on a giant magical puzzle, the picture on it being an animated shot of some sky bound dragons.
"All of the grandchildren accounted for then?" Roxy asked.
"Indeed, Princess." Isaac stepped into the room, followed by his son, daughter and their spouses. "And quite fully distracted too..."
Introductions were made between Harry and the spouses of the Springsteens' son and daughter and soon they found another room to sit in and talk.
"So... How has it been here since you all escaped Voldemort's clutches?" Harry asked.
He noticed that none of them flinched when he spoke the name.
"We couldn't have asked for a better place to seek refuge." Jacob smiled. "If we couldn't have come here, we likely would have joined my sister Rebecca in Israel, but I think it is much nicer here. It's more comfortable, the children can openly practice magic here without the underage magic restriction back in Britain.. It's great."
Leah nodded. "Oh yes. Even here, we managed to find materials that could make wands and Queen Nebula managed to find a fairy who could make that wand for my daughter Rachel. If the war extends long enough, we'll get the others started on active spell casting as soon as possible, instead of just learning the theory behind them."
Her husband Ian- a tall, blond haired, blue eyed man, spoke up, a Scottish lilt gracing his words. "I've learnt a lot more about magic myself. I am sorry for the way that it came about- us being here," he glanced around the room "but I am glad we are here."
"I agree." Jacob's wife Catherine, who had shoulder length reddish-brown hair, spoke up. "Susannah and Aaron love it here. She's even showing a propensity for wandless magic. The fairies think it might be something more than that though..." she glanced at her husband.
"What? She might have fairy magic?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
"We don't for sure, Harry," Isaac answered. "but they certainly seem to think it's likely..."
"It's true." Roxy confirmed for him. "I was there at the testings. They did a check on all of them when they arrived to make sure they were okay after everything that happened and in the course of that, she apparently displayed a bit of magic that was unusual for your kind of witch..."
"We don't care either way. What matters is that our family is happy, healthy and safe. We wanted to say thank you. For all that you've done for us." Isaac looked Harry in the eye as he spoke.
"It was no problem, really..." Harry rubbed the back of his head nervously, causing Roxy to chuckle.
"Look at him, being all nervous and modest..." Roxy smiled. "He's such a big time hero now both here and in Magix and he's still not used to people showering him with thanks..."
"We would love to hear the story... or stories behind that someday, if you don't mind, Harry..." Andrina smiled.
"Someday..." Harry nodded.
"Would you mind meeting the children? They've been asking about you, ever since they heard about the role you played in saving our family..." Isaac asked.
"Why not?" Harry shrugged.
"That wasn't so bad..." Harry said to Roxy as they left the Springsteens.
"It wasn't... Not a bad way to spend a morning, really. Seeing the people that what you're doing actually helps... talking to them and their children..."
"And what a perky bunch of children they are!" Roxy exclaimed.
"Indeed... That oldest one, Rachel... She's definitely Gryffindor material, I'd say..." Harry remarked.
"Anyway..." Harry changed the topic. "We have somewhere to be, because as I hope you remember, today is a very special day for us..."
"I do indeed remember..." Roxy smiled at him as they arrived in the area of a lake, surrounded by forest and lush, green grass.
"Hard to believe it's been a year since we paired off, isn't it?" Harry smiled back at her.
"A whole year since we started dating... So much has happened since then..." Roxy nodded in agreement.
The two of them sat near the edge of the lake, taking their shoes off- Harry rolling up the legs of his trousers as well- and the two dipping their toes in the cool water.
Harry's hand found hers in the grass and he clasped it.
"We've got a long road ahead of us. Me, with dealing with all the problems dear old Tom is giving me, you with all your princess duties and your realm helping mine with its Tom problem, both of us are studying and have to maintain top grades... All without going insane..."
"Weaker men and women would have cracked long before now..." Roxy mused.
"I guess that it's a good thing that both of us aren't weak, isn't it?" Harry smiled. "Strength is more than just being a magical powerhouse, or being able to lift heavy weights, as I've discovered over the years..."
"Well, hopefully we'll be strong together for a good, long while..." Roxy leaned on his shoulder.
"I hope so too, Roxy. I really hope so too..." Harry replied contentedly, before kissing her.
The couple spent the rest of the day simply enjoying each other's company in one of their favourite spots in Tir Nan Og, temporarily forgetting all the problems they had as they did.