Chap. 44: The next day, singing in the shower, Sunset, Pizza, Dolohov, and Snape.
It was now the 24th, and Tracey was sitting beside Harry and Daphne in a lounge chair beside the pool that morning at ten o'clock. Both Tracey and Daphne were wearing swimsuits, and Harry was wearing a pair of Bermuda shorts.
"What do you think of my bristols in this swimsuit, Harry," Daphne asked, as she pushed out her chest.
"Oh, dear, they're just fine, believe me! Nice and perky, they are!" Harry said with a quick lick of his lower lip as he gawked at her bikini-covered breasts. After another moment, and after Tracey was speaking about aeroplanes since one was flying overhead, he asked, "Can you think of what the muggles have to go through just to travel here?"
"Yes," Daphne replied, "they have to get jabbed with several vaccines in the jaxie!"
"You two, I swear!" Tracey remarked with a huff. "And where did you learn those words, Daph, hmmm? That's Cockney, that is!"
"Oh, and I'm not coming to wake you two up again, either," Tracey continued with a scoff as she crossed her arms under her breasts, and pushed them upwards. "I saw more of you two, especially Harry's hairy 'jaxie,' than I ever planned on seeing this morning."
"Well, you should have just knocked and not flung the door open," Daphne replied.
Here, Harry let out a loud chortle as he smirked at the young witch. "You need a boyfriend, Tracey. You really need to get laid."
"You're sex mad, you are, Harry," Tracey said. "Why, I'm going to lock my door every night!"
"Too right you are, Tracey," Harry quickly jabbed back. "After all, we wouldn't want someone coming in to disturb you and I, now, would we?"
Tracey stuck her tongue out at Harry's dry joke, stood, took two steps forward, and dived into the pool with a splash to hide her blushing cheeks. Daphne, of course, laughed at her best friend.
Just at that moment, Astoria walked outside with a cuppa and sat down by her sister.
"What's with Tracey's sour look?"
"Harry bested her at wordplay, and you know how she hates that," Daphne explained. "How are you this morning?"
"Oh, I'm fine, Daphy," Astoria replied. "I woke up this morning and just had to laugh aloud about what occurred at supper yesterday evening."
"Which part?" Daphne inquired.
"The wine pitcher," Astoria said with a snigger.
Here, Harry snorted. "Yes, that did have everyone wanting to rush to the loo, didn't it?"
"Oh, dear," Daphne said, "wherever did they obtain such a demented piece of glassware?"
"They're called a 'Porron Wine Pitcher,'" Harry explained with air quotes, "and whoever designed it must have been demented. The spout's opening could have only been the size of a pencil lead, and all I could think of, as the waiter was pouring Cyrus' wine, was taking a whiz over the small stream that it was emitting.
"They're really for pouring wine directly into your mouth, so pouring it into a glass from one creates the sound of using the loo."
"I noticed Daphy crossing her legs while the waiter poured," Astoria said with a chortle.
"You did as well, sister, dear," Daphne retorted, "and so did Mum."
"I noticed Cyrus squirming in his chair as well, and so was I," Harry said. "If the waiter had taken much longer, I'd been in search of the loo."
"It sort of reminded one of one of those statues," Tracey said from the pool, "you know, the ones with the little boy taking a whiz in a fountain."
"Taking a what from where?" Cyrus asked as he stepped from the covered rear porch along with Helen. They had been finishing up with decorating the Christmas tree when Harry and Daphne had left for the poolside.
Hearing Cyrus' question, Tracey took a huge breath, who was now embarrassed and sunk back underneath the water.
"We were discussing the wine from yesterday evening, and the charming pitcher that it was poured from," Harry dryly replied.
"Oh, er, well, yes, that," Cyrus gruffly said as he cleared his throat and took a seat. Helen looked rather embarrassed, herself. "Great day, isn't it? When's lunch?"
"Let's head over to The SeaCat close to the Colony Club, or we could drop by the Horny Ram?" Harry inquired before quickly standing and making his way toward the back of the house.
"I think your first choice is fine, Harry," Cyrus said gruffly, as he thought about the Horny Ram's name. "As a matter of fact, I would like a good seafood meal today, myself."
Helen quickly nodded at this as well.
Just after lunch, and after they returned, Helen found Daphne outside the bathroom that Harry and Cyrus were using, which was close to the master bedroom, and her daughter was listening to someone bathing inside.
"Daphne!" Helen hissed in a low and scandalized voice.
"Shhhh," Daphne shushed her mother and placed her index finger up to her lips, "just listen."
Both listened intently as Harry sang aloud from within the shower.
.
.
"Well, you never know just who you're goin' to meet,
"When you're walkin' down a busy St John's street;
"Mrs. Corbet or Mrs. Brown,
"Any subject of the Crown,
"Oh, you never know just who you're goin' to meet."
.
"So, you better hold your topper in your hand,
"Just in case you meet a lady on the Strand;
"Girls will think you're kind of sweet,
"And your day will be complete,
"Oh, you never know just who you're going to meet."
.
"Now, a gentleman is judged by his appearance,
"Yes! a gentleman is judged by how he talks;
"Now, he's much better off,
"When he's speakin' like a toff,
"Especially if he's takin' him a walk.
"Oh, you never know just who you're goin' to meet."
.
"Well, you never know just who you're goin' to meet,
"When you're walkin' down a busy St John's street;
"So you better wear your vest,
"And try to look your best,
"'Cause you never know just who you're goin' to meet."
.
"So, you better keep your manners right in view,
"Just in case a lady gives, "How do you do?"
"Keep your trousers in a pleat,
"Shine your shoes and keep them neat,
"'Cause you never know just who you're goin' to meet."
.
.
"Was that...?" Helen whispered.
Daphne took her mother by the arm and led her back toward the sitting room with a smile.
"That was my Harry, Mum, and even though he sings a little off-key, that's why I love him."
Helen studied her daughter for a moment, and she knew, then, that her daughter was really head over heels for her husband, and that stripped away every worry that she had once had. However, neither witch overheard Harry's next song.
.
.
"Ohhhh, There were three drunken maidens,
"Come from the Isle of Wight.
"They drunk from Monday morning,
"Nor stopped till Saturday night.
"When Saturday night would come, me boys,
"They wouldn't then go out,
"And these three drunken maidens,
"They pushed the jug about."
.
"Then in comes bouncing Pansy,
"Her cheeks as red as blooms.
"Move up me jolly sisters,
"And give young Pansy some room,
"For I will be your equal,
"Before the night is out.
"And these four drunken maidens,
"They pushed the jug about.
.
"There's woodcock and pheasant,
"There's partridge and hare.
"There's all sorts of dainties,
"No scarcity was there.
"There's forty quarts of beer, me boys,
"They fairly drank them out,
"And these four drunken maidens,
"They pushed the jug about.
.
"But up comes the landlord,
"He's asking for his pay.
"It is a forty-pound bill, me boys
"These gobs have got to pay!
"That's ten pounds apiece, me boys,
"But still they wouldn't go out.
"These four drunken maidens,
"They pushed the jug about."
.
"Oh where are your feathered hats,
"Your mantles rich and fine?
"They all got swallowed up, me lads,
"In tankards of good wine!
"And where are your maidenheads,
"You maidens frisk and gay?
"We left them in the alehouse,
"We drank them clean away!"
.
.
Here, Harry laughed out loud as he turned off the taps, and started to dry off. They had a Christmas tour at Bridgetown to do tomorrow, and it would be a long day. Today, though, they were going to visit a public beach to watch the sunset, and then he would pick up some pizzas for them to dine on after they returned home.
Harry and Daphne were sitting beside each other on a beach towel, and staring off at the horizon toward the Gulf of Mexico at sunset. Her mother and father were beside her, and Astoria and Tracey were sitting on a towel beside Harry looking on with awe.
"It's beautiful," Astoria muttered as she gazed at the sun, which looked like it had almost sunk into the sea in the distance. The sky was a mixture of colors, from a dark to light blue, then, a pink and orange, and the few sparse clouds seemed to glow as the sun sank even lower. Tracey just hummed as she stared at the horizon; completely taken in by it.
"Yes, to see a Bajan sunset is one memory that will always stick with you," Harry said as Daphne nodded.
"I'll say," Cyrus replied, as he looked on in wonder while noticing a slight wind rustling the palms overhead, causing him to wrap his arm around Helen's shoulder.
Finally, Daphne yawned and gave Harry a peck on the lips, and began to stand. "It's time, Harry. I'll see everyone home while you order the pizzas. Get the same as we had the last time, yea?
Harry nodded, stood, shook off their towel, and handed it to Daphne before he made his way off the beach to apparate.
Harry was making his way down a beach path to apparate, when he heard a movement behind him, causing him to pause. He was behind one of the hotel restaurants along the shore at that time, and at the end of a street where a rubbish dumpster was located.
"Well, well, we finally meet again, Potter," came a rough and gravelly voice causing Harry to slowly turn around.
"Dolohov," Harry said with a slight snarl, "you should have never come here." Harry noticed that the dark wizard looked as if he had already been in a fight.
"Big words for a wizard without a wand, Potter," Dolohov remarked as he began to aim his wand at Harry. "Now, turn around, and walk straight ahead."
Harry held up his hands about head high but waited until Dolohov poked him in the back with his wand, which gave Harry the excuse to look over his shoulder to determine which hand Dolohov held his wand in. It was his right, Harry noticed. Yes, Harry thought, Fairbairn's Defendu training would pay off soon.
Harry made to step forward, making Dolohov smirk, but the dark wizard didn't expect Harry to suddenly spin on his left heel, and trap his wand hand under the young wizard's left arm.
Harry quickly bent his left elbow up, trapping Dolohov, before he stepped forward and kneed the dark wizard in the groin. Then, using the heel of his palm, Harry suddenly, and violently, connected with the bottom of Dolohov's chin with an upward thrust, which sent Dolohov to the pavement below, though Harry still had control of his right arm.
Before the dark wizard could blink the stars from his eyes, Harry had him in a reverse wrist lock, where he brought the bottom of his fist down, hard, on Dolohov's elbow, forcing him to release his wand, and then, with the continued wrist lock and arm bar, Harry had the dark wizard's arm behind him, forcing him to roll onto his stomach, where the young wizard sat straddle of Dolohov's back afterward, and with Dolohov's twisted arm pinned underneath. Harry, then, placed both hands under the dark wizard's chin.
"I'll kill ya, Potter," Dolohov bloodily spat through gritted teeth.
"Say goodnight, Mr. Dolohov," Harry barked before violently pulling the dark wizard's neck backward, and with a quick jerking motion to the right, by using his right hand gripping the older wizard's chin, he snapped Dolohov's neck, which emitted a loud pop. Immediately, the life left the dark wizard's eyes, he went limp, and he quit breathing.
Harry, who was now breathing heavily from his actions, stared at the dead wizard underneath him for a moment, before he shakily stood, and stared at the corpse. Next, he picked the man up, throwing him over his shoulder, where he tossed the body into the dumpster and slammed the lid closed with a resounding clang.
Harry held his hands up, then, which were now slightly shaking, and looked at them. They were now the hands of a professional killer, and he knew it. The training that he had taken had paid off, and it had, most likely, just saved his life. His wife, he also knew, would never let him hear the end of it if she ever found out.
With a sigh, Harry picked up Dolohov's wand and started to make his way down the path to apparate. He needed a stiff drink.
With one final look back at the dumpster, Harry remarked, "What a cracking day!"
Severus had done his best to defend himself from Voldemort on the front grounds of Malfoy Manor, but he had failed. As he lie there broken, and staring at the dead werewolves all around him, he was waiting for his demise as the Dark Lord stepped over their bodies. However, in that one instance of clarity, he remembered the gift that Harry had given him during their meeting.
With a shaky hand, he removed an old white pawn from a chess set resting in the pocket of his robes, and clinched it tight in his fist, before saying, "Padfoot and Prongs." Before he could scoff at the trigger words, the pawn, which was an international portkey, whisked him away from what he was sure would have been his death.
Voldemort screamed in outrage.
Harry was sitting at the table on their covered porch and was finishing off his third slice of pizza. As he stretched back in his chair, he smiled at Daphne, who was discussing Christmas dresses with her mother, just as he lifted his Bajan Rum Punch to his lips to take a drink. That was when he saw a flash of light, and heard a loud thump in his sitting room.
Helen screamed as Harry quickly stood, drew his wand, and made his way to the French Doors leading to the sitting room. What he saw made him grimace, as there lie Snape, and he was a bloody and broken mess.
"Snape! What the hell happened?" Harry questioned as he rushed to his old potions professor's side.
"Werewolves..., all dead," Snape said with a wheezy cough and a loud groan.
Well, that explained Dolohov, Harry thought. Voldemort must have moved them early since Harry thought it would be the following day.
"Lie still, Snape," Harry said, "and let me help." Harry gave a flick of his Mayhaw wand, and a black canvas bag came sailing toward him from he and Daphne's bedroom.
"That's an Auror's Medi-Kit," Severus said through a pained grunt.
"Why, yes, it is," Harry dryly replied as he sat the kit close to Severus on the floor, and proceeded to withdraw a white and blue, muggle, cardboard box from inside, which made his old potions professor's eyes grow wide. "However, I've upgraded it a bit."
"That's... that's...," Severus stuttered with a grunt.
"It's a modified kit, Snape," Harry explained. "I keep two at home; one for my family, and one for the Minister in case of an emergency, and yes, this is Diamorphine Hydrochloride, 10mg for injection, which is also known as Heroin. The NHS still uses it for severe pain and trauma. Now, I'll have to split your sleeve open to give it to you."
As Snape started to splutter, Harry continued. "I ran into your friend while collecting our Pizza earlier, and shall I say, I took care of the matter."
"Who?" Severus asked, and grimaced as Harry slit open his sleeve at his shoulder using his wand tip.
"Dolohov, of course," Harry dryly replied as he removed a cotton ball and soaked it in alcohol.
"Harry! You never said a word about this after you came back," Daphne complained with her hands on her hips, while the others were looking on in disbelief. "You will tell me what happened at once!"
"We'll speak later," Harry told her. "Snape, first."
"What did you do to him, Potter?" Severus asked with a grunt, as Harry started wiping down Severus' deltoid with the cotton swab.
"Let's just say that I left him dead on his feet and in the dumps," Harry replied as he vanished the cotton swab, and removed the plastic sheath from the hypodermic needle with his teeth. "Now, don't move, as this will sting a bit. I'll give you 1 CC, which is 5 milligrams, to see if that takes away your pain. If you need more, I'll give you the rest in a few minutes."
At Snape's nod, Harry pinched up the flesh of Snape's deltoid and jabbed the needle quickly into the muscle, where he injected the dose, and then recapped the hypodermic, which he placed on the top of the box he had taken it from.
"Try to relax, Snape," Harry remarked as he wiped the injection spot, again, with another cotton swab. Afterward, Harry began placing a bandage on Snape's bloody and mangled leg.
They all watched Snape take a deep breath and relax. In about a minute, they noticed their old potions professor's eyes start to grow a little heavy.
"How's the pain, professor?" Daphne asked.
"Much better, Mrs. Potter," Snape replied, but then he tried to move around.
"Stay still, Severus," Cyrus said. "You're pretty banged up, and we don't want you hurting yourself further." Helen nodded at this as Cyrus wrapped his arm around her shoulder. She was a nervous wreck, and already wringing her hands, which she was want to do on such occasions.
"Cyrus," Harry said, "do you think you can apparate close to our ambassador's home, and let him know about what has happened? See if they can send us a proper healer as well, and I'll move Snape over to the sofa. He needs a hospital, that I'm sure. Tell him that Snape is working for me and that he came here seeking my help. Also, tell him that I'll answer any questions he may have."
Cyrus nodded, gave Helen a quick kiss, and left out of the rear French doors, where he disapparated from the rear lawn by the pool.
"Now, husband dearest," Daphne waspishly remarked, "what was this about Dolohov?"
"Well, shite..." Harry muttered, as Helen finally smirked, and Astoria and Tracey sniggered. Snape even seemed amused through his pain. Harry thought about purposely dropping his old professor while he was levitating him to the sofa.
A/N: A new chapter after a long wait. I caught up my work, and left on a three-week vacation to Florida during the Thanksgiving holiday. When I arrived back after the first of the month, I figured that since this was a Christmas story, then I would wait to publish the last remaining chapters during the Christmas holiday. There are only a few more to go.