Chap. 45: Merry Christmas, a surprise, Bridgetown, a hospital visit, and planning for an island tour.
It had been a long night, the night before, as they had to wait for the ambassador, a Bajan ministry official, and a healer to arrive to depart with Snape, who was being transported to their small wizarding hospital just outside Bromefield at the north of the island in the Saint Lucy Parish.
Harry and Ambassador Brathwaite had also had a private conversation, where Harry told him about Dolohov, and where the body was. Brathwaite assured him that "the right people" would find the body, and state that the death was by an accident that occurred somewhere else. The ambassador understood the war, telling him that Rufus had him fully informed, and said that he knew why Snape was there, which led to him telling Harry about Snape being there not long back. That made Harry chortle out loud.
None of them made it to bed until midnight. Worse, after going to bed, Harry had to inform Daphne of what had occurred with Dolohov. It was gruesome, but Harry would not hide anything from his wife, since he had intended on telling her about what occurred after returning to Britain. Snape showing up scuttled that plan.
Even though the entire family was dragging the next morning, they woke at seven, and everyone made their way to the sitting room after their morning ablutions. All the witches were wearing new, green, plush-velvet housecoats over their sleepwear, courtesy of Harry and Cyrus. Harry was wearing a red satin smoking jacket, and Cyrus, a green one.
Harry and Daphne made everyone hot chocolate, as well as tea, which they brought to the dining table that sat just over from their Christmas tree, which was between the French doors leading out to the rear porch, and the door leading to the small sitting room, where Tracey had been sleeping on Daphne's daybed.
As everyone began drinking their hot chocolate, Harry and Daphne began handing out presents. Everyone waited until Harry and Daphne were seated before they started opening them, which brought several whoops, squeals, cheers, and thanks for what they had received.
Most everyone received clothes, though Harry and Daphne bought Astoria an expensive pearl necklace, and Tracey a gold charm bracelet.
When it came to Harry and Daphne, where they had two presents left, each, everyone sat back in anticipation, since they were the newlyweds' gifts for each other.
"Go on," Harry said with a huge smile, as he nodded at the large wrapped box in front of Daphne.
Daphne, carefully, opened the package, which was wrapped in bright red metallic paper, and a golden ribbon and bow. She smiled as she lifted the lid off the box, but everyone noticed her blush red to her roots as she quickly placed the top back onto the box.
"What was it?" Astoria eagerly inquired.
Daphne's mouth moved a few times, but said nothing before she cleared her throat, and quickly blurted out, "Sleepware."
"Really?" Tracey said, who quickly snatched the box, opened it, and withdrew a dark green, bow front, lace trimmed, satin nightie before Daphne could stop her. It had floral lace see-through over cups and a bottom that was pretty short. Neither end would hide much, and the lace would expose both breasts' nipples. Luckily, Tracey didn't take out the others, as six more, with different colors, were in the same box.
Harry heard a gasp from Helen, who was now fanning herself, while Cyrus was blushing as red as a tomato. Astoria, though, couldn't help herself and cackled out.
"Oh, Harry," Astoria said, "I do hope that I'm as lucky as Sis, and can find myself a husband like you. You do know how to treat a lady!" Astoria was dead serious with this statement, as well.
Cyrus scowled at his youngest daughter. She was too young, by a long shot, he thought, to be thinking about wearing such items, even in the privacy of her bed chamber. Also, he could hear Helen, now, wondering when he would buy her something similar. She had been awfully frisky on this vacation, too. He had no problem, at all, with his soldier standing at attention when he and Helen were alone, but he thought that he was getting too old for that.
Harry looked over at his wife, where he saw that she was staring at the table, and still blushing, so this required attention. Harry knew that even though his wife had changed a lot, and was no longer cold and aloof, she hated being embarrassed before others.
Here, Harry stood from his chair, walked over to his wife, tipped her chin up with his index finger, and gave her a chaste kiss with a smile. "Happy Christmas, darling," Harry said in a whisper. "No need to feel embarrassed, dear, since you're that beautiful and you will look like a million galleons in it. Now, open the other."
Daphne sniffed as a happy tear ran down her right cheek before she wrapped her arms around Harry's neck, and gave him a long and slow snog surprising everyone at the table. "I love you, husband of mine."
"I love you too, dear," Harry said and then kissed her on her forehead before he retook his seat.
Tracey, neatly, but quickly, folded the garment, placed it back in the box, and gently slid it back across the table to Daphne. Now, she was embarrassed over her stunt, because she had to admit, Daphne would be a knockout when wearing it. Damn, she really did need to find herself a boyfriend and wondered if Harry's friend, Neville, was available. He had grown up to be quite the dashing man. She would apologize to her cousin later.
Daphne's next package was a small box, wrapped in the same paper, and it was about four inches square.
Daphne untied the golden ribbon and bow, and then lifted the lid from the small box. Inside was a slightly smaller box, and on the outside, in gold letters, it said Tiffany & Co. This made Daphne gasp before she gently withdrew it, and placed it on the table in front of her. She glanced over at Harry, who give her a huge smile and a nod, so she opened the hinged lid.
Inside, and to her extreme delight, was a Tiffany & Co, by Baume & Mercier, 18k gold, ladies wristwatch. The watch was semi-octangular in design, and the band was made up of small, rectangular, solid gold links. She was too nervous to lift it from the box.
"Oh, Harry," Daphne exclaimed in an almost sultry voice, "you wonderful man! Put it on me, will you, please?"
Harry, still smiling, gave her a quick nod, stood, removed the watch, and carefully wrapped the band around her left wrist where he closed the dainty clasp. Suddenly, it resized itself, just right, to fit her wrist.
"I had a few spells placed on it," Harry said, "and one was a resizing spell. The others are..."
Harry, however, was suddenly cut off when Daphne shot up from her chair, threw her arms around her husband's neck, lifted her left foot from the ground, and began to snog Harry senseless before everyone at the table.
Finally, an embarrassed Helen cleared her throat, which made Daphne finally release him where they both blushed bright red.
"Ur, um, yea," Harry gruffly said before retaking his seat after Daphne and adjusting the lapel of his smoking jacket.
"I'll say it again," Astoria said with a longing sigh, "that you two will have to find me a boyfriend, and I mean one that is marriage material. I want a husband like you have, Sis!"
Daphne gave her sister a smile full of white teeth before she pointed toward Harry's two boxes.
Harry really didn't care for the presents, as obtaining that smile, and a response from his wife, who had changed so much since they met, was the only present that he needed.
However, Harry opened the largest box, and inside was a new brown tweed hunting coat, with leather shoulder and elbow patches.
"Thanks, dear, as I was wanting one of these," Harry said as he held it up to himself.
"I thought you might," Daphne chirped, "since Minister Scrimgeour invited you and Da' on a hunting trip with him and Bertie Higgs.
"The next present, well, you might want to place it in the middle of the table, since it has a shrinking charm on it that's tied to the ribbon for release."
Harry studied the wrapped box for a moment, which he noticed was much longer than it was wide and tall, so he did as Daphne asked, and slid it to the center of the table before he tugged the knot of the ribbon loose.
As soon as he did, it expanded, becoming about ten inches wide and tall, and about forty-four inches long. He unwrapped it and opened the cardboard box, where he found a highly-finished English Walnut case inside, which he gently lifted out, and placed on the table before him.
Harry studied it for a bit and noticed that it was hinged on one side, and had two brass latches on the other, along with a leather carrying handle, so he flipped the latches up and raised the top half open.
Inside, to Harry's surprise, and laying on a bed of red velvet, was a Westley Richards "Sidelock Ejector," 12 Ga., side-by-side. It also included a custom gun screwdriver set and oiler, and he noticed that the sideplates were finely engraved with scenes showing a stag and hart. On the bottom of the fancy walnut stock, and toward the butt, was a gold shield that had been inlaid into the wood, and it was engraved with the initials HP.
Harry had a huge child-like smile on his face as he gently lifted the shotgun from its velvety nest, where he pushed the lever on its top to the side, with his thumb, causing the gun to break open. He quickly held it up to the light, looked down the bore of both barrels, and then snapped it closed.
"Daphne, I don't know what to say," Harry said, stunned, but very pleased, "so, thank you so very much! You've made your husband very happy since I had been worried about obtaining one for our hunt!"
"You really like it?" Daphne asked as Harry handed it over to Cyrus for him to inspect.
"Let me show you," Harry said as he walked swiftly forward, picked Daphne up, spun her around with a laugh, and soundly kissed her after he sat her back onto her feet.
Tracey looked over at Astoria, with a pout, and remarked, "Where do we obtain one like him?"
Harry looked at his watch and noticed that it was close to the time that they should be leaving. They were to apparate to their embassy on King's Street, where they would then take muggle mini-vans, with the Brathwaites, a few blocks over to Queen's Park for the festivities.
"I think it's time for us to be leaving," Harry said as he stood from the sofa.
Daphne, though, glanced at the clock and gave Harry an incredulous look at this, but she stood as well. Harry was up to something, she just knew it.
"We'll leave through the garage if you don't mind," Harry continued as he started making his way toward the kitchen.
Daphne scowled, shrugged her shoulders at everyone in the room, grabbed her purse, and followed Harry.
When everyone followed Harry into the garage, and after he pushed the garage door opener's button, causing the room to light up, Daphne gave out a rather loud squeal, before running to the center of the room in glee.
"Oh, Harry, you didn't!" Daphne exclaimed as she was as happy as a niffler in a pile of gold coins.
In the middle of the floor, and wrapped with one huge green ribbon, which was finished off with a huge green bow, sat two, new and white, Honda CMX250 Rebels. On the seat of each were two new matching helmets as well.
"Motorcycles?" Tracey questioned.
"Yup," Harry proudly said, "as we were thinking about buying a car, but the Barbados government wants an arm and a leg for import duties making them highly expensive for no more than we would use one. These are much easier to drive around on this small island, and much cheaper to operate. I promised Daphne that I would teach her to drive, so, it will be on these, where we can both have one to go anywhere we wish, when here. I fully intend on enchanting them for safety, too, as I will not have Daphne being hurt on one.
"You'll never believe," Harry said with a huge grin as he looked around at a gawking Cyrus, "how hard it was to sneak out here last night to set this up."
"Harry, I, I..." Daphne said before her lower lip started to tremble, and a tear dripped from her eye, just as she shot toward Harry, almost bowling him over, where she threw her arms around him, again, and started snogging him as hard and fast as she could.
"So," Harry said at the end of their kiss, and after catching his breath, "you're not upset?"
"Upset?" Daphne questioned. "Far from it, love! I've been thinking about proposing this very thing to you but was wondering how to broach the subject. Oh, Harry, I am so glad that we found each other because I couldn't see myself with anyone else but you!" Here, Daphne wiped her eyes and gave a sniff as she stood on the tips of her toes and kissed Harry, yet, again.
Finally, Helen cleared her throat. "Daphne, honey, you'll have plenty of time to thank Harry when we come back, as we do need to leave so we can meet the ambassador."
"Oh, of course, Mum. Da', you take Astoria, and Mum can take Tracey. I'll go with Harry."
After everyone apparated, except for Harry and Daphne, she clutched onto his right forearm, but before he could apparate, she gave him a very sultry look. "You are going to become very lucky tonight, husband of mine; count on it!"
When Harry apparated them away, he was sporting a huge goofy grin on his face.
After arriving at the embassy, everyone crawled inside two mini-vans that were taxis, where they made their way down Kings Street to Gill Road and followed it over to Roebuck Street, and then, around to the entrance of Queen's Park at the gates. They quickly deboarded the two mini-vans, passed through the black wrought iron gates, and made their way up the steps to the park proper.
It was already becoming packed, and the Bajans were all dressed in their Sunday finest. There were three-piece suits of every color, and the women all wore the finest dresses and hats. Everyone was friendly to everyone else, and Harry caught a sight across the field that he pointed out to everyone. On another field, a game of Christmas football was being played between two Bajan teams.
However, the group was making their way to the gazebo, where the police department's brass band was set up to play. On the way, they saw booths selling every kind of Bajan food, and one could also buy drinks, which they did, Bajan Punch, before finding themselves a seat around the gazebo in the folding chairs set about. Once seated, the band started playing "Deck the Halls."
Daphne noticed Harry having a conversation with the bald Bajan beside him, who happened to be their neighbor. The man was retired from the Barbados Police and had gone into business for himself after leaving with an injury.
As they continued to listen to the band, the music changed to a fast Calypso Christmas song called Maizie, where they had a singer. Harry, to Daphne's surprise, stood and held his hand out to her, where they joined the locals dancing around the Gazebo. Harry, dressed in a white dinner jacket and slacks, and wearing a light yellow dress shirt with a white silk tie, cut a striking figure as he danced. Helen, to the two's enjoyment, stood, and pulled Cyrus up to join them, while two young Bajans asked Astoria and Tracey to dance. It was going to be a fun day, Daphne thought, especially when two small Bajan girls about ten years old, and dressed in their frilly Sunday dresses, joined them to dance. They were cute as a button, Daphne thought.
That afternoon, and after having something to eat at the park, they made their way back to the embassy, where they obtained a portkey that would take them to the hospital where Severus was recuperating.
After they arrived, and after Harry caught Tracey before she fell, again, they made their way across a manicured lawn, with tall palms giving shade here and there, and inside the long, white-painted, single-story, and tin-roofed building, where they asked about Severus at the front desk. They were informed that he was sitting outside, and taking in the view at the rear of the hospital.
The group made their way from the small reception area down a hall and by a pair of white swinging doors that led to a single ward holding a dozen beds, and then, to the rear entrance. Here, they made their way out onto a covered veranda, where two medi-witches were having a cuppa, down the steps, and out onto the manicured lawn and gardens where they spotted Severus lounging in a dark green, wooden, Adirondack chair. Beside him, and on a small table, sat a mug of steaming tea.
"Severus, ol' chap, how are you?" Cyrus said as he shook Snape's hand. While he was doing this, Harry conjured six, white, wooden folding chairs for them to sit on.
The view was very nice, where it looked out at the Caribbean, and there were small gardens containing tropical flowers there about, as well as more tall palms giving shade. They all noticed the hummingbirds around the flowers, as they all took their seats.
"I've been better," Snape drawled in his very Snape-like way. "I did not expect visitors."
"Severus," Helen said, "you may not realize this, but people do care about you, and you are a Slytherin." Here she studied the man, who was wearing a blue terrycloth bathrobe over a pair of old hospital pajamas. His leg was splinted and wrapped in bandages, and his right arm was in a sling. They knew it was dislocated last night, and his leg was broken.
Here, Snape closed his eyes and emitted a sigh. "Thank you, Mrs. Greengrass, it does my old heart good to hear that.
"Potter, did you get things squared away about what happened?"
"Oh, yes," Harry said with a slight and serious nod. "Ambassador Brathwaite took care of that for me, and in the paper, this morning was a small article stating that Dolohov must have taken a nasty spill on a cruise ship, and then fell to his death in the sea. The article claimed that he washed ashore in Bridgetown. His body was sent back by portkey to St. Mungo's.
"Now, Snape, what happened, and how did he know to come here?"
"Ah, that," Snape said before taking a sip of his tea. "I did as you told me, and tried to take him out while in France, but he had a portkey on him, which took him directly to the Dark Lord.
"I had to wait, of course, for the trap to work, so I delayed my trip to Malfoy Manor. When I did appear, all the werewolves were clutching at their throats, and dying from the mist. Here, Dolohov, of course, had blamed me. He then told the Dark Lord that Mrs. Potter was overheard, at Hogwarts, talking about coming here for Christmas, so, the Dark Lord sent him here just as he attacked me. I did my best to fight him off and escape, and if it hadn't been for the portkey that you gave me, I doubt that I would now be alive.
"Thank you for that," Snape said with a nod, even though it looked like it pained him to say it.
When Daphne started to ask her old potions master about his pain level, mainly because she was embarrassed about spilling the beans about their location at school, there was a flash of red fire where Dumbledore appeared with Fawkes about fifty yards away.
"Oh, for fuck's sake," Harry remarked with a scowl. The rest were gawking at the old Headmaster, who looked ill, but was wearing a woman's satin purple dressing gown sporting a white feathered collar, and white furry bedroom slippers. He acted as if he was out for a leisurely Sunday stroll in the park, while Fawkes lighted in a Mango tree by the cliff leading down to the shore.
"And for a man of his age," Helen hissed in a scandalized tone causing Cyrus to smirk.
"Severus, my boy," Dumbledore loudly announced from about thirty feet away, "I came as soon as I heard, and, I was also told of Mr. Dolohov by the way." Here, he stopped to take in his surroundings and to smell one of the peacock flowers growing under one of the palms. "Wonderful day, isn't it?"
"Oh, for double fuck's sake," Harry muttered after leaning over toward Daphne, which caused her to snort and giggle. Harry really did love how Daphne had changed for the better.
Next, Harry's Mayhaw wand flew into his right hand from the sleeve of his white dinner jacket, where he conjured the old headmaster another wooden folding chair painted in bright neon chartreuse and purple. It stuck out like a turd in a punch bowl among the other chairs, and this actually made Severus smirk.
After the pleasantries, and after Dumbledore inquired of Dolohov, where all of them lied about what actually occurred, quoting today's paper, Dumbledore looked over at Harry, though he knew better than to try Legilimency around the Greengrass women.
"So, young Harry, what do you, your wife, and your family have planned for the rest of your vacation on this lovely island?"
Harry gave Daphne a sly eye roll before retrieving a brochure from the inside pocket of his dinner jacket.
"Oh, we're going to tour, now that you mention it," Harry replied, and in an exaggerated manner, he unfolded the brochure.
"Let's see," Harry said after clearing his throat, where he began to read:
"At the heart of Barbados lies one of its greatest wonders - the magnificent Harrison's Cave." Here, everyone looked at Harry with a raised eyebrow over the cave's name. "Located in the central uplands of the island, this crystallized, limestone cave, is characterized by flowing streams, deep pools of crystal clear water, and towering columns. Gaze in wonder at the white flow stones, and in awe at the beauty of the speleothems, which adorn the cave. Harrison's Cave is a gem of an experience. Then, we head over to the Mount Gay Visitor Center. Mount Gay's roots can be traced back to the processing of Barbadian sugar cane three centuries ago, making it the oldest rum and continually produced spirit in the world. Through centuries of experimentations, the blending of single and double distillates has become an art form for Mount Gay — passed down from generations of master blenders to successors."
Harry continued to read from the brochure, and when he finished, Snape was snoring in his chair. That was when the medi-witches came to collect him, and take him back to his bed, despite Dumbledore's complaints about taking him back to Hogwarts. The hospital had been told to not release him to anyone, except the Potters, who were footing the wizard's bill.
A/N: For a bit of trivia, in the last chapter, at sunset, I mentioned them staring in the direction of the Gulf of Mexico, and there was a reason for that since the Caribbean is the sea at the west side of the island, which merges with the Gulf. The Gulf is slightly northwest of Barbados, and here, I wanted to show which direction the sun would set. I wasn't sure exactly where it did, in the west, before writing that, since it's different between the northern and southern hemispheres, but they're in the tropics, just north of the equator. Thus, I had to look that up, and in the winter, the sun rises from the southeast, and sets in the northwest, according to what I could find, thus, one would look toward the Gulf. Also, it seems to proceed differently in the tropics than it does in either hemisphere during the seasons.
Lastly, I had another religious complaint about the story. Here, I have to disappoint that reader with the quote below, from MTV, when they were covering a presser of JKR's in 2007:
"'That was the plan from the start,' Rowling told reporters during a press conference at the beginning of her Open Book Tour on Monday. It wasn't because she was afraid of inserting religion into a children's story. Rather, she was afraid that introducing religion (specifically Christianity) would give too much away to fans who might then see the parallels.
"'To me [the religious parallels have] always been obvious,' she said. 'But I never wanted to talk too openly about it because I thought it might show people, who just wanted the story, where we were going.'
"But if she was worried about tipping her hand, narratively, in the earlier books, she clearly wasn't by the time Harry visits his parents' graves in Chapter 16 of 'Deathly Hallows,' titled 'Godric's Hollow.' On his parents' tombstone, he reads the quote 'The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death,' while on another tombstone (that of Dumbledore's mother and sister) he reads, 'Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.'
"While Rowling said that 'Hogwarts is a multifaith school,' these quotes, of course, are distinctly Christian. The second is a direct quote of Jesus from Matthew 6:19, the first from 1 Corinthians 15:26. As Hermione tells Harry shortly after he sees the graves, his parents' message means 'living beyond death. Living after death.' It is one of the central foundations of resurrection theology."
"'They're very British books, so on a very practical note, Harry was going to find biblical quotations on tombstones,' Rowling explained. '[But,] I think those two particular quotations he finds on the tombstones at Godric's Hollow, they sum up - they almost epitomize the whole series.'"
End Quote.
Now, my readers know why the Wizengamot Lords really dress as they do, what the symbolism means, why the magical government is structured as it is (somewhat matching the muggle with the Lords Spiritual, Lords Temporal, and the divine right of kings), and why I wrote their marriage as I did. Those, that hate religion, but still read HP, even though it speaks of Christmas being celebrated, ghosts, souls, the otherworld, magicals buried on hallowed ground at a C of E church, Harry's soul visiting the in-between, Harry being a Jesus figure, and even resurrection, seem to wish to deny it, and complain about any inclusion of it while accusing we FF writers of "pushing our religion on them," when we're trying to write the story as she actually envisioned it. They don't know JKR as well as they thought they did, and might ought to research the ideas behind what she wrote as I and others have.