Ch. 23
26 July 1998
The next day was Family Sunday. The Weasley's (except Ron) and their significant others, Augusta, Xeno, Andi, Ted, Minerva and Brianna all showed up. The news of the events last night spread like fiendfyre. Harry was getting sad looks from the twins, delighted squeals from Molly along with a rib-cracking hug, pats on the back from most of the men with a 'Welcome to the Club' speech. What was most interesting was the long, emotional hug Augusta gave him.
"Are you okay Gran?"
"Yes. I just can't believe one of my boys is getting married. Your parents would be so proud of you. And they would adore Hermione. She and Lily and Alice are three peas in a pod." She looked into the man's, who should've been her grandson, eyes and was amazed at the strength behind them.
Harry didn't know what to say so he just took her in another hug as they both silently wept for the time stolen from them.
Meanwhile, most of the women were seated on the terrace talking about plans.
"Hermione, dear, why don't you seem to have more in mind about when and where you'll be doing this?" Molly asked, concern on her face.
Hermione took a deep sigh. "Well, let's see. He proposed around 11 last night. We came home and promptly dropped into bed nearly fully clothed. This morning, he woke up with Teddy and we haven't really had the time to talk today. We probably won't be getting married until next summer anyway, so we have plenty of time."
"You could get married at the Burrow if you wanted?" Molly offered.
"I think we might get married at one of the Potter properties or at the orphanage. It's really beautiful there." Hermione didn't want to get married at the Brrow. She remembered how horrible Bill and Fleur's wedding was (or at least the run up to it) but she couldn't exactly tell her no-it would hurt her feelings.
"I'm sure Augusta would let you do it at Longbottom Estates." Luna proposed.
"Yeah. That might work." Hermione nodded.
At dinner that evening, Hermione and Harry were sitting together. "We really need to decide on a date." Mione groaned softly to Harry. "I'm getting hit from all sides on our wedding. Mum is even getting into the action."
That night, everyone left by half seven and the family went up to the game room. Harry's family had expanded by leaps and bounds since the end of the war and sometimes it took him by surprise how much he loved it. It amazed him that so many people loved him when he'd never been loved before.
First, there were Hermione his love and Sirius, his uncle/dad. Then Dora, his older sister/ aunt, and Teddy, his godson. Next, there were his siblings Neville and Luna. There was also Gran. And of course, his other parental type figures Dan and Emma.
To him, when he started thinking of The Family, he thought of those that lived in the house. So that night, it was The Family plus Emma and Dan.
As Sirius and Dan were playing pool against Harry and Nev, the women of The Family were talking weddings.
"Luna, you'll be my Maid of Honor, yeah?" Mione asked.
Luna smiled happily and nodded enthusiastically as she shot up to give Mione a hug. "I'd love nothing more."
As they sat down, Mione asked, "Dora, you'll be my bridesmaid yeah?"
"I'd love to." She smiled wickedly. "That means we plan the bachelorette party Luna!" Both women high-fived as Mione looked nervously at them.
"Wait! I want to help plan it too!" Emma whined.
"Of course, Em. The more the merrier!" Dora agreed.
As Mione and Harry were getting ready for bed, Mione said, "You better ask your groomsmen because I've already got two bridesmaids."
He looked over at her. "Who?"
"Luna and Dora." She grinned.
"Makes sense," he returned as he got into bed next to his fiancée. "Guess I better ask Nev and Sirius." He chuckled. "Don't know which will be best man though."
Mione picked up her latest book as she said. "You might want to ask Nev since Luna's going to be my Maid of Honor."
Harry nodded. "Good idea. When do you want to get married?"
"I'd say in August of next year. What do you think?"
"I think that's great. If were going for our masteries in History and Defence, we'll need to be back by September 1st." He laid his head on her shoulder as they enjoyed just being together.
HP
The next morning, as Harry and Teddy were making breakfast, Sirius and Nev came in. Thinking this was the perfect time, Harry asked, "Guys, I wanted to know if you would both stand up with me at my wedding, yeah?"
Nev got a huge grin on his face, "Of course. I'd be honored." He slapped Harry on the shoulder as Harry looked to his godfather.
"You mean that kid?" he was shocked.
"Yes, I mean it. Would you?" He asked a little hesitantly.
Sirius just stared at this young man. How did he go from the toddler who used to ride on Padfoot to a grown adult about to get married? Sirius wondered. "I'd be honored." Sirius said as his voice broke. "Your dad would be so proud of you Prongslet."
"I hope so."
HP
"Hey Gran." Nev said as he came out of the fire. "I'm going to be Harry's best man."
"I could see that coming from a kilometer away." She smiled as she hugged him. She looked at her other grandson and granddaughter-in-law. "You know, you can get married here if you would like."
"Thanks Gran." Harry smiled. "We're considering it."
Augusta led them to the sitting room. "So today we are going to talk about how the government is actually run." She got a notepad out and made three copies of a list. "Now, you'll notice that there are seven main departments in the ministry. These seven are comprised of all the smaller departments within them. For instance, the DMLE encompasses the Auror Office and the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. Each smaller office has a budget that is part of the budget for the larger Department. Arthur submits his proposed budget to the DMLE head, as each of her smaller departments do. Then, when she comes up with an overall budget, it is submitted to the Budget Committee in the Wizengamot. They decide how much of that budget Amelia will get and submit it to the whole Wizengamot for a vote."
"Do you have an equivalent of the HMRC?" Hermione asked.
"What is that?"
"Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs office. These are the people who collect taxes and decide how much money the government has."
"No. Our government does not tax the working folks directly. The government runs on donations from the pureblood faction. That way they get to decide where and what the money goes to." She looked disgusted. "My father-in- law and your grandfather Potter tried to spread the taxes out over all of wizarding Britain but got nowhere. They campaigned that if we had a more even spread of taxes—taxing everyone according to how much they made each year, everyone would feel more represented. One of our greatest weaknesses is that the everyday wizard doesn't care about what we do here. That's because, as Fleamont constantly said, nothing ever came out of Wizengamot to help everyday wizards. What came out always helped the pureblood faction. It's true. I've been fighting for years to get a more unbiased way to collect and distribute taxes."
"And my dad would give me lessons every summer that the government was run for and by the purebloods and you, Augusta were the bane of his existence!" Sirius chuckled.
"Quite." Augusta looked at Sirius sardonically.
"We have the power now in Wizengamot." Harry threw out. "Can we change at least how taxes are taken in to make it more fair for everyone?"
Sirius and Augusta looked at each other for a minute. "Do we think we have enough votes for something like that?" Sirius asked Augusta.
"I can talk to some of the more neutral families, if you can talk to our alliance, Sirius?"
"I can do that. It may take a while because we'll have to come up with a valid plan we can all agree on." He grinned at Augusta.
"We might also try to make the Minister more than a rubber stamp machine." Harry suggested. "If the post had more power and was voted into office directly by the people, we'd have a minister that was more than the puppet that Fudge was."
"Boy, you just want to change the world, don't you kid?" Sirius laughed at his godson going Weasley red.
"Sirius Black!" Augusta admonished as the younger man imitated his godson. "These are very good, valid ideas. We should all be thinking this way."
Harry grinned at his godfather, who looked a little intimidated. "Are you scared of Gran, Sirius?" He, Nev, Hermione, Luna and Augusta all burst out laughing when Sirius nodded fervently.
"You have to understand Harry. This is not the same woman Frankie used to talk about. That woman would never burst out laughing. She was strict and, well, formidable was the term I heard most often from Fleamont."
"He's right Harry." Nev grinned at the woman who raised him. "The Gran from before the battle was much more formidable—I like that word for her—than the Gran you know. I like this Gran loads better by the way." He reached over and hugged her.
"Maybe it's because the bitch who took away my Frank, and by extension my Gerald, is gone from this earth!" She growled as she thought of how Gerald aged so dramatically after Frank and Alice were hurt. "I'm just grateful Molly was able to do it."
"So, the departments never get the actual budget they want out of Wizengamot, is that right?" Hermione asked, trying to bring the conversation back.
"That's correct. From talking to Amelia, I'd say she gets about three-quarters of what she asks for. I understand she now pads her budget request and usually gets almost what she needs." Augusta explained.
"The more I learn about this, the more I see that our government works more like muggle governments in the 18th and 19th centuries." Hermione grumbled. "Everyone's making the government work for the wealthy, or in our case the purebloods, who are a small percentage of the population. Meanwhile, everybody else scrounges in unsafe work environments with little pay. This philosophy went out the window a century ago." Hermione sighed. "Somehow we've got to get the people to care about what goes on in the government and to want a say in it."
"Yes, but we have to do it a bit at a time, otherwise we'll end up with a mess." Augusta agreed.
"I'm going to do some research on governments around the world and see which one seems to work best. Maybe we can take a little from each and implement it into ours." Hermione said as she bit her lip and thought through what she needed to do.
HP
They went back to the Madhouse for lunch. As they sat down, Mione was still in her thinking mode, so Harry asked, "What are you thinking of love?"
"I was just deciding whether to go to Waterstone's or the library to research this government business."
"Why don't you go to the library and if you find books you like call Waterstone's to see if they have it?" He suggested.
"That's a good idea." She smiled and leaned over to kiss him.
"I'll go with you." Luna offered as they grinned at each other. They really had a good time in bookstores so this shouldn't be any different.
So, after lunch the girls apparated to the Crawly library. Harry spent time playing with and taking care of Teddy while Nev went over the two applicants they were going to interview for the Head of the Nursery. He was almost positive he was going to ask Dirk but wanted a backup in case Dirk didn't want it.
He had found a young man he remembered from Hogwarts a few years ago. William Cason was a seventh year when Neville was in fourth year. He had graduated with O's in the Herbology OWL's and NEWT's.
Later that evening, Hermione and Luna came home with her beaded bag full of books. They took them up to the library and dumped them on three of the large tables there.
HP
The next day, they interviewed William Cason and really liked him. He had good instincts when it came to raising plants, was an affable man that just wanted to work with plants again. He was currently working in the apothecary in Hogsmeade to make ends meet.
"Would you be willing to work as the Assistant Head if we chose someone else?" Nev asked.
"Yes. As long as I get out of the retail business." He laughed. William left and the next person in the room was someone Harry hadn't met but Nev had.
Nev went up to the older man and gave him a hug as they began talking as the old friends they were. When Harry joined them, Nev said, "Harry, I'd like you to meet an old family friend and an amazing Herbologist, Dirk Frisbie."
"Hello Mr. Frisbie." He shook hands with the man as they sat. They began catching up with Dirk and how he'd survived the war. Then they started talking about the greenhouses they were planning.
After all the explanations, Dirk smiled at Neville. "So I take it that you're offering me the job?"
Nev looked a little nervous. "I'd really like it to be a success and I know you could do it."
"Well, I s'pose I could elevate Robert to Head of Frisbie Nursery." He said as he thought all the ramifications through. "Yeah. I'll do it. Let me just run it by Helen before I say yes officially." He grinned. "Don't want to make a move without discussing it with the wife first!" He got out his mobile. "Do you blokes have one of these?" He asked.
Harry and Nev just laughed. "Yeah. My fiancée and Nev's girlfriend created them. We got the first two." Harry got out his own phone to put Dirk's number in.
As they were all headed out of Gringotts, they said goodbye and left for home. When they got home, their women were still up in the library sorting the books they'd bought and putting them away. They were also adding them into their Omni-Reader.
HP
That afternoon Wizengamot met to have another presentation. It also adopted Neville's Committee of Award Nominees as was. It was decided that they would be awarded at the ball at Hogwarts for the fourth month anniversary of the Battle.
It was a long and trying afternoon and Harry was extremely glad to finally be at home playing with Teddy. After dinner, The Family went upstairs to watch a movie. The girls chose Aladdin to watch. The men just groaned.
Harry looked down at Teddy and said "You'll either grow to love Disney movies or hate them, little man." He smiled. "Is it just me or does Teddy want to do the sleep routine earlier at night, Dora?" He asked as the movie was put in.
"You're right. And his sleep schedule for the day is getting more regular too." She agreed. Then the movie began and Harry knew he wouldn't hear from her for some time.
For most of the movie, Harry and Teddy played. They did tummy-time, playing on the play gym and in the bouncer. Around half nine, Teddy began whining to go to bed. The movie wasn't nearly done, so Harry took Ted downstairs to get ready. After getting him ready, he read a book to him. Dora started doing that a few weeks ago and Harry loved reading to his godson. Of course, Teddy fell asleep towards the end of the book.
HP
The next morning at breakfast, The Family plus Emma and Dan were eating together.
"So, what are you doing today pumpkin?" Dan asked.
"Well, we still need to finish putting our current crop of books in the Omni-Reader." She smiled.
"I was wondering, how are you going to produce the Omni-Readers? I mean, if they are just glass and rune and charm work, can you have them done in your shop? Are there wizard glass manufacturers? That way you could cut out the deliveries to here."
"I don't know. I just thought we'd do it the way we've been doing it." She frowned.
"You need a business manager." Emma put in. As she was the one that took care of the business of the dental practice, Hermione was listening carefully. "Do you know of any business people that work in both worlds?"
"No. But Ted might." She jumped up and got her phone out and walked into another room. A few minutes later, Hermione came back bouncing on her toes. "Ted has got three people in mind and wants us at Gringotts at 8." She grinned in excitement.
"Sit down and eat dear." Emma smiled at her daughter. "I would suggest that you form a company that is divided into three. One for the retail side. One for the manufacturing of the inventions and one for the inventions themselves. But it may not work that way in the Wizarding world."
Hermione looked at her watch and bounded up. "Luna are you coming with me?" Then she went still. "Oh Merlin." She looked at Luna who was just grinning.
"Forgot I was a part of this, didn't you?" At the totally embarrassed look on her best friend's face, she started laughing. "I've thought we should do this for a while, so yes I'm coming. There is no way we are going to be able to be a day to day influence in this business, so yes we need a business manager."
She got up and both girls were headed to the floo when Harry yelled out, "Wait for us! We're going to the same place." as he and Nev jumped to leave. Once the teens left all the adults started laughing.
"Is it just me, or are those four hard to keep up with? They seem to go from one subject to another so fast I can't keep up." Sirius complained.
"I know but we're used to it with Hermione." Dan laughed at the stunned look on the non-Grangers in the room.