AN: So the last 10 months since I have been promoted have been a bit of a blur and my writing has been completely neglected. I have been in 5 different locations since promotion, but my shop finally opened at the beginning of September so hopefully as things settle into a routine I will have more time for myself and my writing. Sorry for keeping everyone waiting for so long for an update, I can't give guarantees on when the next one will be, but hopefully it won't be as long, I also have other projects to update and a tonne of comments to get through.
Harry returned to Grimmauld Place after his trip to the races with Lucius filled with enthusiasm for the sport. There weren't many magical sports that he had encountered, definitely not as many as in the muggle world. It was nice to see another sport, broomsports were great fun, but you were limited to just broom racing and quiddich in Britain as you daren't mention quodpot in the British Wizarding World. Harry was rather excited by the idea of helping Lucius organise a charity race to help fund the orphanage, as he would no doubt have to attend multiple races as part of the planning stages.
He had enjoyed Lucius' company that day, and he was sure that they were becoming friends, he hoped so at least. He had thought so when they were talking over lunch, and when Lucius had taken him to the Henge. While the other man had been filling him in on the history of the area and various wizarding rituals it definitely hadn't felt like a mentor/mentee sort of situation, but rather Lucius talking to Harry about a subject he was passionate about.
Harry had barely started up the stairs to his rooms when Winky popped onto the stairs in front of him, her head cocking to the side a little as she appeared to sniff him. "Master Harry be needing a cleansing ritual. Winking be meeting you in the bathroom."
Harry looked a bit bemused as she popped out of the hallway, no doubt going to get supplies for the ritual. Lucius had explained what he needed and how to conduct the ritual, and while Harry was a bit unnerved at the idea of Winky seeing him naked he was glad of her help and guidance. He entered his bathroom, removing his clothing and dropping it into the basket that Winky had charmed to transfer his clothing to her domain for washing. He had no sooner disrobed than the little elf was back and setting things up on the small ritual surface that Harry had never taken much notice of before.
Mere seconds later the door opened and a chair floated through the doorway followed closely by Hermione who was carrying a pen and a notepad. Harry chuckled a bit at the sight, he should have known that Hermione would not be far behind their elf if she was at home, his sister never gave up a chance to learn something new. He raised an eyebrow at her, but she just shrugged and smiled back at him a bit sheepishly, it wasn't as if she hadn't seen Harry in a state of undress before, they had certainly walked in on each other multiple times when they were first learning to cohabit Grimmauld Place without the entirety of the Order hanging about.
She directed her chair to the corner and sat down, beginning to take notes as Harry started to follow Winky's directions. First she had him prepare a mixture of herbs while invoking the element of Earth, before placing them in a stone goblet and using his magic to set the herbs ablaze, invoking the element of Fire. He then passed the goblet around himself, allowing the smoke to encase his body as he breathed it in while invoking the Air element, she then directed him to douse the flames with his magic before stepping into the shower, invoking the Water element to cleanse his skin as the water rushed over his skin. Winky's final direction was to invoke his magic, to allow it to encase his body and cleanse his skin of any lingering traces of foreign magic that remained.
Winky vanished with the ritual components returning to remove the chair as Hermione stood, "Master Harry have a nice long shower now, Winky will cook tonight." Hermione followed the little elf out of the bathroom, but not before giving him a look that he managed to translate through years of exposure to his sister. After his shower he would be grilled about the ritual, how it felt to do, and why he had needed a cleansing ritual in the first place no doubt. For now though Harry intended to just revel in the feel of his magic and enjoy his shower.
Hermione was waiting for him when he left his rooms dressed for dinner a look on her face that never boded well. "We got a letter from Ron, it is addressed to both of us, Winky wouldn't give it to me, she says she is checking it for curses and hexes first as she doesn't trust the Wheazy boy. She said that it was definitely from Ron and not Ginny, but she wouldn't let me have it until it had been thoroughly checked."
Harry chuckled at that, he had to love the house elves that he had the acquaintance of, they were all quirky in their own ways. Winky had become more protective of them than Dobby had been of Harry in his younger years and she was a lot more efficient at it than his old friend had been. "I'm sure she will give us it when she is assured it is safe, and if it's not she will tell us what it said." Harry commented before heading down the stairs.
Winky popped into the small family dining room with their food as they took their seats before disappearing without making any mention of the letter. Harry smirked a little at the look of annoyance on his sister's face, knowing that she wanted to know what that letter said now and not later, but she was also unwilling to order Winky to hand it over.
Harry decided to distract her with the tale of his day, he knew that she wanted to know why he had needed a ritual cleansing anyway, and he wanted to speak about what he had experienced as well. The things that he and Lucius had spoken about were fascinating, he had started to study magical history as it had interested him, that he could get a Mastery in the subject and further his magical education was a bonus, but now he wondered about other aspects of the magical world. Lucius had been teaching him the law and customs so as to help him fit in with the rest of the House of Wizards, but there was a whole rich culture of the magical world that he didn't know much about.
He had read mentions of bits and pieces while looking into different historical epochs in the wizarding world, but there were huge chunks of knowledge that he was missing, the rituals and ceremonies of the wizarding world for instance, he had known next to nothing of the magic involved in the rituals of the world. The feeling of the magic lingering in the air after the ritual had been performed had been a heady experience and the cleansing ritual he performed had made him feel closer to his magic than he had ever been before. He had thought the rush of magic that he felt performing the Patronus was something incredible, it barely compared to the feel of his raw magic purifying him of foreign magic.
He would have to write to Lucius to ask if he had any specific recommendations for him to read about wizarding culture, and maybe include an invite for him to come over and discuss the books once he had read them. It would be nice to deepen their acquaintance with a shared interest on an intellectual level as two individuals with an interest in a subject. Harry was finding out more about himself and his own interest in academic pursuits the more he learnt. He would never have worried about having an intellectual conversation with anyone but Hermione before, and even then that would have been more of a listen to what she was talking about and asking if he didn't understand something rather than being able to contribute much himself. Now that he had topics he was interested in and causes that he himself wanted to champion like the orphanage he was more interested in intellectual debate and conversation that didn't revolve around the quiddich scores, that was not to say that he didn't still have those conversations, he was sure that Winky was a more avid follower of the quiddich league than he was, something that was rather surprising considering her fear of heights. He had however recently heard of a legal gambling association that was being set up by house elves and he wouldn't be surprised in the least if their Winky was in charge.
Hermione seemed to have been distracted by their conversation for a while at least, offering her own observations of the ritual he had performed and stating her intention to perform it herself in order to cleanse herself of any lingering foreign magic. When Winky popped back in to take away their plates she had the letter with her, she handed it to him much to Hermione's consternation, "No nasty magic or nasty words." Winky confirmed before she popped out of the room.
Harry handed the letter to Hermione allowing her to open it as he stood and came to stand behind her to read it over her shoulder.
Harry and Hermione,
Lord and Heiress Potter,
Hi, I'm not sure how to write this but you probably don't want to see me after everything that has happened. I'm not sure where everything went wrong really, and I know we will never be as we were before, you have both grown up a lot recently and I haven't done much at all, but I do miss our friendship.
I wanted to let you know that I am leaving the country, I am going back with Charlie to Romania in a few days, I am looking to maybe try a career in the magical creatures field, and Charlie knows a Master not far from the reserve that may take me on.
Hopefully in the future we can maybe get together for a Butterbeer and a chat if those muggle words about healing time are right.
Ron
"It seems that being away from his mum might be helping him, Muriel Prewitt doesn't seem like someone who would allow Ron to slide by and the fact that he seems to be looking for a career now is no small thing for him." Harry observed, watching his sister for her reaction. Many people had seen Hermione and Ron as being the couple of the Golden Trio, and although he knew Hermione had no romantic interest in Ron him leaving the country was a definite ending of a what could have been for her.
"Hopefully Charlie will be able to get him to grow up some more, that has been one of the biggest problems in recent times, we grew up and he hasn't, we outgrew his friendship, maybe in time that could change, but I doubt that Ron will ever be our close confidant again." Hermione mused. "His letter was better than I expected though, I was expecting something about how we had abandoned him and that everything going wrong in his life was our fault."
Harry agreed, he had half expected Winky to be burning the letter and sending Ron a howler when Hermione had told him that they had received a letter from him, perhaps Ron was beginning to take responsibility for his own life. It would be nice for them to sit down together for a Butterbeer or Firewhiskey in the future without it turning into a blame session. Ron had been his first friend after all and it would be nice not to lose that friendship completely, but even if Ron never spoke to him again he would be okay, he had his sister, he still had other friends and he was making new friends as he grew as a person.
Winky appeared with some parchment and quills, Hermione taking the lead in writing Ron a reply wishing him luck in Romania while Harry quilled a short note to Lucius asking for some book recommendations on the topics they had touched upon that day. Harry thought about it for a moment before adding the invitation to a future discussion and drinks when Harry was a bit more versed on the subjects. It felt nice inviting Lucius to join him at his home in his library, rather than the other man inviting him over all the time, or inviting him out, Harry was taking the opportunity to grow himself and allow people into his world. He hoped that Lucius would agree, it would prove to Harry that there was more to the relationship between them than just mentor and student, that Lucius did want his friendship too.