Ch 19 The Day After the Battle
Molly was up early, getting breakfast ready. She thought about the previous night, when Teddy showed up with Josefina and all these children. She had never wanted a simple life, and was grateful for all the children and grandchildren, but this was getting crazy even for her.
Andromeda Tonks was next into the kitchen. "Did Teddy get back last night?" she wondered.
"Yes, and he was not alone," Molly replied. "Maria was apparently not the only child he fathered on the island."
"Another one!" Andy exclaimed.
"More," Molly replied.
Andy looked toward the entrance to the kitchen, wondering just who or what Teddy would be bringing. A short time later Teddy walked into the kitchen, wearing his leg but not putting much pressure on it, a crutch in one hand, Maria, not quite two, in the other. Victoire followed with Venus, and then a striking looking young lady followed with two more infants. A young child, maybe about three, Andy was not quite sure, followed, and bringing up the rear was a surly looking boy and a very self-confident and determined young Elf.
"These are not all yours, Teddy?" Andromeda wondered.
"Well, it is complicated," Teddy replied, chagrin showing in his voice and bearing. "I want to introduce you to Josefina, who is holding our daughter Rosario and my son Javier.
"This is Javier's sister Juana; She was born to the witch I was living with on the island. She came over here with Jezebel, and we have no idea if she is alive or dead.
Josefina looked both scared and worried. "I love these children," she volunteered. "I hope I get to take care of them."
"I have to agree," Teddy replied. "At least from what I saw when I was living on the island, Josefina may be the better mother.
"The young man is Fernando, the half-brother of the other two, and he has to be watched all the time to keep him from harming others."
"I'm Keystone," the Elf said in introduction. "It is my job to watch Fernando."
"I don't need watching, and I will do whatever I g** d*** want," Fernando replied. Fernando proceeded to throw a temper tantrum, but the Elf silenced him and levitated him out of the room.
"I didn't want to say too much with Fernando in the room," Josefina whispered to Molly, "but Veronica is just an awful person, and it looks like Fernando is working on being the same sort of person. It is really sad, and frightening."
"What is your family name, Josefina," Andromeda wondered.
"I don't have a family," Josefina frowned.
"Who raised you?" Andy gasped.
"I was, I don't remember, on the street, until some men found me because some men like little girls, and then I was sold until two of them and four of us girls were taken to the island. I saw Jezebel kill the men and the other three girls, but I made myself attractive and a couple of the wizards took me in as a plaything. It wasn't all that bad. Not like when I was sold before, mostly, mostly. Well, some of the men on the island are rough and want to hurt you, but it wasn't quite as bad as before. Then I found out that mothers were seldom killed, but most of the men on the island were not, just, well."
Josefina looked at Teddy. "Edwardo was one of the few men on the island that wasn't awful as a father, so I tricked him into thinking I couldn't, he didn't have to use a condom because I'm a No-Maj and cannot use the potions, and then he, we thought he was killed but he escaped.
"And I ended up nursing Teddy's Javier as well, and taking care of Juana, because their mother Veronica isn't much interested in being a mother, and by being a mother I was safer, mostly, except for men who want to do it with a nursing mother, but it wasn't too bad."
Molly, Andy and Victoire looked on in horror at the story Josefina was telling.
"Edwardo, Teddy, he says I'm safe here," Josefina whispered, as she started to cry.
"You are safe here!" Molly exclaimed, giving Josefina a big hug.
Teddy told the others, "I need to go over to the Ministry, to try and help talk about sixty of Jezebel's followers to surrender their wands. I know many of these people."
Molly served Teddy breakfast first, and he quickly ate and left via the Floo.
Harry was up at 7:00 AM. By 7:15 he was at the Ministry. Neither Ron nor Hermione could sleep late, and they had both gotten up about 7:00 AM as well. They ate a little breakfast and had coffee while they were going over the situation.
Ron explained, "The Aurors are saying that our guests do not believe that Jezebel was killed. Do you think it would make a difference if we had Jezebel's dead body, and Cleo with her wand, over here?
"I'll ask the Department of Mysteries about the body," Hermione replied.
"I probably ought to go back home and check on Al and Cleo," Harry thought. "They were utterly exhausted by the time they went to bed. Do you have any report on Scorpius?"
"Narcissa came over just before you did, Harry," Ron told Harry. "She said that it was really bad until Al and Cleo showed up. The curse wounds were almost miraculously healed after Al and Cleo showed up, but the stab wounds will take longer to heal. Scorpius should be out tomorrow to get ready for the wedding. It's probably a good thing he does not have to walk down the aisle; he may be in a wheelchair for part of the wedding. How such a nasty git like Draco could produce such a great kid like Scorpius I'll never know, but I could not be prouder of him if he was my own son."
By 8:00 AM Harry was back at Potters New Burrow. Everybody but Al and Cleo were up. Harry briefly talked about what was going on. Ginny and Mitzi had made breakfast.
Just a little before 9:00 AM Al woke up with a start, moving enough that he woke up Cleo. Al had to use the loo, so he got up and headed towards the bathroom. As he walked Cleo admired his shape, turned on by his cute little butt and the way he walked. There was a great deal of satisfaction knowing that she was going to spend the rest of her life with that little man. He was making her feel SO SEXY.
Al walked back into the bedroom. Sometime during the night, he had used the loo and taken off his boxers, and Cleo stared at his bottom from the front, loving the physical evidence that he was noticing her.
Albus came back into the bedroom and looked at Cleopatra. Albus could not imagine a sexier body. She wasn't beautiful like the Veela and part Veela, but sexy and beautiful were not the same thing. Al ignored Cleo's odd proportions and just focused on the sexy part, to Cleopatra's delight.
Cleo arose and headed towards the loo, her hips moving up and down in that sexy motion that Al loved, and he projected to her all the love and lust he could, projected to her just how sexy it was when she walked. Cleo responded to the emotions Al was sending to her by wiggling her butt even more, and by enjoying being sexy.
Cleo turned as she entered the bathroom, and again Albus was struck by how sexy Cleo was, how she stuck out in front on top and stuck out in back on the bottom.
When Cleo came back out of the bathroom, everything moving and bouncing and wiggling Albus again projected into Cleo's mind absolute amazement at how sexy, how over the top feminine, she and her body were.
Cleo reached for her wand and said, "This is supposed to be the sexiest wand in the world, but it has been used for sex without love. Touch my wand with yours, Al." When Al did they saw that the two wands fit together. Al's wand had some round balls on it, very unusual for a wand. Cleo's new wand was curvy (just like Cleo, thought Albus.) There were balls at the same place, but just a little larger, and hollow. Al noticed that there was a little slit on one side of Cleo's wand, and a modest protrusion running up one side of his wand. When they put the two wands together the balls on the female wand opened up to allow the male balls to go inside. The male wand was taller, and the handles looked like they merged. The two wands fit together in a way that could not have been accidental. Cleo proclaimed, "May this wand never be used for sex without love. May it and all the powers that it has be used for good love, for the love of a husband and wife for each other, and for the love that conceives and cherishes children." When she said this both wands glowed. Al and Cleo looked at the wands again.
Al and Cleo put the wands together again, and together they held the wands and kissed. Almost without thinking Cleo fell back into the bed and pulled Al on top of her. They coupled with both wands still in both of their hands and glowing, and although the love making was not long it was more intense than they could possibly imagine, and when they climaxed together they felt like the whole universe was rejoicing with them.
They were both shaking when they pulled apart. They each took their own wand. They quickly dressed. Cleo looked at her skirt. It had a wand pocket sized just right for her unusual bamboo and sandalwood wood wand, and she moved that pocket over to the right side of the skirt and charmed another pocked for the Wand of Circe. Cleo put both wands in their pockets, looked at her skirt and the two wands, and got a satisfied look on her face.
Cleo took out the bamboo and sandalwood wand and charmed her hair. The two little plaits in front fell down into her cleavage, and the big plaits in back came almost down to her waist. She wore a white blouse that was just low enough in front that the braids could lie between the breasts, and it was reasonably form fitting showing off all her shape. The skirt was a deep Christmas red, with winter decorations and the, for Cleo at least, inevitable nursing baby animals and pregnant or nursing witches on it. The skirt was full and came down almost to the floor. The two wand pockets were in contrasting Green and White, very noticeable. The whole outfit was flamboyant in a way few women could wear and look natural, but somehow over the top was natural for Cleopatra.
Al said, "We'd better get down stairs."
Cleo just nodded. You could see she was still stunned by the power of their love making.
As Al and Cleo were at their most intense every couple at the Potters New Burrow kitchen had an urgent desire to make love. Every couple excused themselves and went back to their bedrooms for a brief but intense interlude of love making. Only Lily, Hugo, Natasha and Minerva were in the kitchen eating area. Lily said, "It's probably a good thing Billy Lionheart was not here or I would have had him in my bedroom! I would have had him in me! What happened?"
Hugo replied, "Something happened. I've been happy just meeting girls but suddenly I want to find one. It's strange!"
Harry and Ginny could never remember sex so urgent, or a climax so intense for both of them. Within fifteen minutes after leaving the table they were looking at each other, a little shaken by the intensity of their love making. "What happened?" Ginny wondered.
"I don't know," Harry admitted. "We should not have left our guests."
"I do not think I have been that eager for sex since our wedding night," Ginny thought. "I think all of them were leaving for the same reason."
"Do you think is has anything to do with Al and Cleo?" asked Harry.
"That would be MY guess," Ginny replied. They quickly dressed and went back to the kitchen eating area.
James and Erica were the next ones back at the table, looking a little embarrasses. "A little urgent," Harry kidded the couple.
"Merlin!" James gasped, both delighted and a little embarrassed. Erica did not say anything, but agreed, shaking her head up and down with her eyes wide open, a lopsided grin on her face.
Hugo had kind of a knowing look on his face, and he said to his aunt and uncle, "It's a good thing Billy Lionheart was not over here or Lily may be having a baby too."
Lily's eyes shot daggers at Hugo. Ginny looked at Lily and asked, "Was the feeling that intense?" Lily avoided her mother's eyes. Ginny told her daughter, "You do not have to be afraid of telling us how you feel. You get in trouble for what you do, not what you feel."
"I never felt quite like that!" Lily admitted. "It was a nice feeling, though."
"It's a fantastic feeling," Ginny agreed, "at the right time and with the right person."
Ann and Orwant came back to the table. Almost immediately following them Albus and Cleopatra came into the room, hand in hand. Before they could sit down Orwant looked at them and asked Cleo, "You have grandmother's wand. What did you do just a few minutes ago?"
Cleo was very excited as she said in a breathless tone, "We made love, and …the wands were touching, they fit together, they were sparking, and …Oh Mum, Dad, it was, I mean it always is but it was SO much more, Oh mother!" Cleo's eyes were wide open and she was leaning against Albus, obviously extremely in love mixed in with a delightful measure of lust.
Ann said in a measured tone of voice, "You have an extremely powerful wand, and it has been used for a many bad things."
Cleo replied excitedly, "But I do not want to use it for anything but good things, men and women loving each other, and babies, lots of babies and loving families."
Ann insisted, "Marriage first, Cleo, and then not always lots of babies but the right number of babies."
"The wand cannot make you have babies, can it?" asked Cleo, obviously a little concerned. "I mean I want babies, and children, and a huge family, but I don't want, the wand can't, make other people? How powerful is this wand?"
Ann explained, "That wand was used for orgies, and many many people have been ashamed of what they did under the influence of that wand."
"Oh mother, I would never want that. I want marriages and babies and nice families," Cleo insisted in a determined tone of voice.
"That is a pagan wand, with immense power and no judgment, Cleo," Ann continued, a little more forcefully this time. "Unless you are careful you will cause there to be too many marriages and way too many children, to people who should not have any or any more children."
"I cannot imagine too many children," Cleo quietly admitted.
"Cleo," Ginny forcefully countered. "It was a curse, not something nice, that caused all we think twenty-one of you girls to become pregnant last fall. How many of the girls thought that being pregnant was a good thing?"
"I don't know, exactly," Cleo admitted. "None of them are excited like I am. Well, I know that some of them are very upset. Very."
Ginny continued, "I know most of them are marrying the father of their baby, but one girl is marrying her steady boyfriend, but because of that spell or curse her boyfriend is not the father of her baby. Is that a good thing?"
"No," Cleo replied in an even more concerned voice. "And many of the marriages are, I've examined enough of them, they will be good enough, with the spells and, but, I know they really are too soon. And sometimes less than ideal, although good enough."
"And one girl is pregnant but has no desire to have a baby and is very unhappy. Is that a good thing?" asked Ginny.
"No," Cleo admitted. "That's not a good thing at all."
"I love you, Cleo," Erica told Cleo, "but I really wanted to play Quidditch and not be nursing a baby the year after I graduated from Hogwarts. I wanted to be like my mother and play Quidditch first, and then become a full time mother. That's not going to be possible."
Ginny insisted, "You are the only one thrilled to be pregnant, Cleo. You need to keep that wand from making underage girls, like you and Rose and Erica and the rest, wanting to be married and pregnant!
"Lily has a boy she likes, and if he had been here she might have lost her virginity and maybe become pregnant. That's how powerful and indiscriminate that wand is. That power is what Jezebel craved and used against people and forced them to do things they would never do or want.
"We had an obligation to be here with our guests, and as delightful as it was running off to have a quick shag because of that wand, it was wrong, forcing us to do something we should not have done."
"I don't want that!" Cleo thought. "I didn't think. Lily? Too much power?"
"From the little I have heard and seen I think I am going to like the woman you are becoming," Ann thought, looking at her daughter, "but that wand is a powerful pagan artifact. Be careful."
"I'll try to be careful," Cleo muttered. "I mean, what I know and what I feel are not always the same thing." She took the wand out of the pocket on the left side of her skirt, looked at the wand carefully and thought. She was going to need to learn more about this wand, and make sure she did not do bad things with it. She and Al put their two wands together again, then pulled them apart and both put them back in the wand pockets, Al on the leg of his trousers, Cleo in the left pocket of her skirt.
"Remember how we had to teach you to use your wand the right way," Albus reminded Cleo. "We are going to have to be very careful using our wands together, and be careful with what we do when we are using those wands."
Cleo nodded yes to Albus.
"Too much is too much, Cleo," Albus quietly told Cleo.
"I'm sorry," Cleo sniffed. "I just like Albus and when we, it is just so wonderful, and, but, I need to control what I project."
Ginny looked at Cleo and the skirt with the two wands. "What are you going to do with the other wand?" asked Ginny.
"Oh it's just the best wand in the world for scents and making perfume and shampoo and it's just different," Cleo responded.
"I don't know anybody who carries two wands," Ginny answered back.
"I'm going to! I will," a beaming Cleo replied. She took both wands out, holding one in each hand, put them both back, and with a big grin insisted, "This just feels right!"
No one had an answer to that, and from then on Cleo carried both wands.
After breakfast Harry called Teddy over, and then he told the group about the Magi being held at the auditorium at the Ministry, and asked Teddy, Cleo and Al to help talk to them and see if they could get most of them to surrender without fighting. Annatole and Orwant said they knew many of the witches and wizards and thought they could help. By 10:00 AM the whole crew was at the Ministry. Hermione had talked to the Department of Mysteries, and two of Magi from the Department were there with Jezebel's body.
Cindy and Henry Hudson, as well as their son Rich, were there documenting the holding of the sixty, and were going to follow Al and Cleo for the rest of the day if they could.
When they were all together Harry asked, "What do we do now?"
Orwant replied, "Let Ann and I talk to them first. Keep Jezebel's body visible and everybody stand around us. I know most of the witches and wizards."
Ann added, "I know most of them too."
Teddy told the group, "I know quite a few of them as well."
They went up to a group of fifteen, and Orwant proclaimed, "Jose, Hector, Rosendo, and all of you, I want to introduce you to my daughter Cleopatra. She now has the wand of Circe and is head of the island. I would strongly suggest that all of you surrender your wands. You will be well treated. Here in Britain no one is tortured or killed."
Cleo held up the wand, a big smile on her face.
Harry added, "I am Harry Potter, head Auror here in Britain and one of the heads of the International Auror Association. We want you to put all your wands down here," and Harry pointed to one corner of the area that the wards enclosed, "and then all move over to here."
"Edwardo Wolfman?" asked Rosendo, looking at Teddy.
"I'm actually Teddy Lupin, Harry Potter's godson," Teddy replied, who was back on crutches. His stub was way too sore after the previous day to wear his artificial leg all day.
"Shit," Rosendo cursed. "This isn't good."
There was a great deal of discussion. The man identified as Hector asked, "How do we know Jezebel is dead and Cleo is really the new heir?"
Harry looked over to the Department of Mysteries Magi, and they brought out Jezebel's body. Harry then looked at Cleo and Al.
Albus Potter spoke up. "I am Albus Potter, the middle son of Auror Harry Potter. I am also engaged to Cleopatra Desiree. Yesterday we fought Jezebel and killed her. We then went to the island and captured it. We destroyed the knife of sacrifice. Look at Jezebel's body." Albus gestured at the body, which was levitated by the Department of Mysteries Magi. Albus then said, "Cleo."
Cleo took out the wand again and showed it, waving it around and showing all sides of it.
Another witch spoke up. "You're just children! How can we believe that you killed Jezebel?"
"Aurora," Annatole asked, "does Cleo look like me, like her grandmother and great grandmother?"
The witch identified as Aurora responded, "Yes, she sure looks like your daughter."
"Does Albus look like his father Harry Potter?" asked Annatole.
"You're really Harry Potter?" Aurora wondered, looking at Harry.
Harry pulled up his hair and showed the famous lighting shaped scar. "I am Harry Potter, and Albus Severus is my son. I can tell you that Al has the Elder Wand, the Deathstick. I can also tell you that the wand chose Al."
"How can we believe those are the wands you say they are?" asked Hector.
Albus and Cleo looked at each other. "I don't think you want to make them mate," Al suggested.
"I don't know how to control this wand that well," Cleo agreed. "Using the wand that way would be real dangerous. Could we just do some fireworks?"
"We've practiced you adding power to my wand," Al proposed. "I would think that we could use your new wand as well as the old one."
"On three" said Al in elfish. "One, two, three."
Cleo touched Al's wand, and Al did something. Sparks flew out of the wands and around the entire top of the Ministry auditorium. The sparks gently settled to the Floor, and when they touched the Floor
BOOM!
Everybody in the room jumped. Al looked at Cleo and told her, "I think that wand is a little more powerful than your other wand. I wanted a boom, but nothing like that!"
"I need to practice with this wand," Cleo suggested, "just like you needed to practice when your wand first came to you."
"When my wand was repaired by the Elder Wand I needed to practice with it. It had become more powerful," Harry added.
Hector spoke up, "The discussions more than the fireworks make me believe those are the wands you say they are." Turning to the other Magi in the wards he told them, "We might as well as give up now."
Harry pointed to where he wanted the wands, telling the group, "Wands over here, please." One by one the Magi confined put their wands where Harry wanted, and moved away from them to the other side of the wards.
They approached the next group. Looking at them from the other side of the wards were another fifteen of the people Jezebel had follow her to England. One of the witches spotted Teddy and started to yell, "Edwardo Wolfman, you g** d*** son of a b****, you f***ing b******. You captured me and raped me and ruined me. They ought to cut your f***ing b***s' off."
"Hello, Tina," Annatole broke in with. "I would like to introduce you to my daughter, the current holder of the Wand of Circe and the new Pirate Witch Queen of the Caribbean, Cleopatra, and her intended and betrothed Albus Potter."
"Where is my son?" Tina snarled.
"Once you surrender we will work to reunite you with your son," Harry told the angry witch.
"In some g** d*** prison cell?" she wondered.
"No," Harry replied. "Ann and Orwant and several others are trying to figure out how to best take care of people who have been living under Jezebel's rule. If you want to forgive and be forgiven, we are going to do our best to forgive what people on the island were forced to do."
"My baby's father had his head in a noose when I left the island," Tina mumbled.
"He is dead, then," Ann told the witch. "Just like our daughter Natasha. I'm sorry."
"They were dead before we killed Jezebel," Albus added. "We didn't have a chance to rescue them."
The witch threw her wand down, gave everybody an obscene gesture, but obeyed the Aurors, tears running down.
The rest of the Magi who had come with Jezebel were disarmed with few problems. Many of them were transported to the Continent, the holding facilities in Great Britain being too few to handle the large number of detainees.
Before they had a chance to walk out of the auditorium Dan VanLente was there. "I need Teddy, Ann and Orwant," Dan implored. "We urgently need help telling who are the good people, or at least people we can allow to be free, and who needs to be confined."
"You don't need Al and Cleo, then?" Harry questioned.
"We really could use them," Dan countered. "There are a couple of things that ought to be done to secure the island and make sure Cleo owns it. I think you do not want to delay it until tomorrow, since I understand the weddings have been rescheduled for the day after."
Al and Cleo were holding hands, and they squeezed each other's hand, looked at each other, and nodded. "We'll go," Al agreed, and Cleo nodded her acceptance.
The Hudson's had been recording the activities of the day, and Dan suggested that they come along. "We could use to have the news that the island is in totally different hands, and under the supervision of the North American ministry, broadcasted."
"Do we have time to see Scorpius and Rose first?" asked Cleo.
"I'll take Teddy and the Smiths," Dan agreed. "Follow when you can."
Orwant added, "We still need to bury our daughter Natasha, and we want Cleopatra to see her first."
Orwant and Ann hugged at this, both trying to contain their sorrow.
Rich Hudson followed the first group to the island.
Al & Cleo, accompanied by Ron and Hermione and followed by Cindy and Henry Hudson, went to St. Mungo's. They were greeted with some reverence, and promptly led up to where Scorpius and Rose were. Scorpius was in a hospital bed, sitting up looking cheerful, although obviously in some discomfort. There was a witch healer there doing something with her wand over Scorpius' middle.
Rose greeted them, explaining, "There is still some concern about one of the deeper stab wounds. If it does not heal right it could cause real problems. They have been working on it on and off all night."
"Have you been here all night?" asked Cleo, with a concerned look on her face.
"They brought a bed in for me last night," Rose told the group. She still looked tired. "I guess I some slept some, but will probably take a nap this afternoon."
"You were hurt too!" Al observed, looking at the two large bandages on Rose.
"Cursed knife," Rose explained, "so they will leave big ugly scars, but otherwise they will be all right."
"She's still beautiful," Scorpius smiled. "She got them protecting me, and they'll just remind me how much Rose loves me."
Ron and Hermione both gave Rose a big hug, and kissed her. Rose and Hermione were both about the same height and build; Ron towered over them.
By this time the witch was done with Scorpius. "Thanks for coming," Scorpius told his guests. "I should be fine for the wedding, although they tell me I will be a little tired for a few days." Then, getting a look of amazement on his face he said, "I still cannot believe that the sword of Godric Gryffindor came to me, and then when I needed healing all the founders came to me!"
As Scorpius was saying this Narcissa pushed a wheelchair with great-grandmother Druella Rosier Black in it into the room. Something was obviously very wrong with Druella.
"The founders came to you?" Druella tried to confirm.
Scorpius replied, "Yes, and Salazar Slytherin said he should never have been against non-pure blood witches … and wizards."
"Which means, I guess," great-grandmother smiled, "that's it's time for me to get to better know and love the love of your life, Rose."
"What happened to you, great-grandmum?" Scorpius wondered.
"I caught an Avada Kedavra curse that was intended for Rose. How could I not protect her when she was protecting you? No one had ever seen anyone who caught an Avada Kedavra curse with their wand and hands," great-grandmother replied.
"And what happened?" asked Rose.
"My arms died right away," great-grandmother explained. "They had to take them off as soon as I came in to save my life. I'll die within weeks, from what they tell me, but at least I will be alive to see my great-grandson and hero marry another hero, the daughter of the smartest witch in the world." Grandmother gave a big sigh. "I don't know how I will bless your marriage without arms, but Rose's brilliant mother and the rest of you will figure it out if anyone can."
"May I hug you?" asked Rose.
"Please," great-grandmother replied. "I don't think there has been enough hugging in my life." Druella Black broke down in tears. She finally composed herself enough to say, "I may not be able to handle a wand, but I can give you these." She nodded to the witch who was pushing her in the wheelchair, and the witch took out a huge, beautiful engagement ring and matching wedding rings. "I can't use them anymore, without hands or arms. Rose, please, wear these. They are Black family heirlooms, very old and valuable, Goblin made. There is a wedding ring for Scorpius too, not as old since men wearing wedding rings is a newer custom, but also Goblin made."
Rose took the rings into her hands. She looked at Scorpius, and showed the rings to him. Scorpius took the engagement ring and put it on Roses' finger, and proceeded to give her a light kiss.
Rose hugged Druella Black again, tears in her eyes. "Thank you grandmum Black," she cried. "Oh, thank you! These rings will be a constant reminder that you saved our lives. Thank you!"
"You are welcome, granddaughter," Druella replied.
After Rose had hugged Druella, Cleo asked, "We have to go, but I'd love to give you a big hug too. Thank you for protecting Rose."
"Could somebody wipe my eyes, please," Druella cried. Rose brought a handkerchief out and gently wiped Druella's eyes.
"We Blacks have always been raised to be so independent and self-sufficient," Druella elaborated. "I'm going to have to depend on others for everything now."
Al remembered, "There is a parable of Heaven and Hell. Hell is a beautiful banquet table, with all the best food, but you can only eat with the utensils, and they are all way too long, so everybody is starving and mad. Heaven is the same scene, but in heaven people are using the long utensils to feed each other. Maybe getting fed by others is just a practice for Heaven, Mrs. Black."
Al's story brought another huge outpouring of tears from Great Grandmother, which Rose promptly wiped away. Just Rapier, Druella's house elf, appeared. "My job now to be arms for my mistress. Good job!"
Cleo gave Druella a huge hug and kiss, and Al hugged Druella as well. Rose mopped up some more tears, and crying acknowledged, "I owe you everything for saving my life."
Cleopatra looked at Albus, asking, "We asked for help and saved others. Could we please ask for help for Scorpius' grandmother?"
Albus took out the ring and put it on, and turning it three times said, "I ask for help for Druella, to heal her."
A man, neither old or young but somehow both, came out of the nothings and said to Druella, Albus and Cleopatra (no one else could see him), "I will wait for you more years, love of my life. Time is different on the other side anyway. I haven't been given the power to heal your arms. You will learn gratitude these next years, learn to say 'thank you' over and over. All you need to do is accept the help many beings will gladly give you."
The vision was gone, but Albus and Cleopatra realized that the person speaking was Druella's late husband.
Cindy and Henry Hudson had to get the whole story of Druella saving Rose. So many things were happening that Cindy did not know when she would be able to actually write the stories down and send them to The Daily Prophet. Cindy stayed to talk to Druella, promising to follow as soon as she could. After taking a couple of photographs Henry left with Al and Cleo.
Within less than an hour Al and Cleo had left St. Mungo's. They went to the island, accompanied by Henry Hudson. They Apparated to the auditorium, where they were met by Bert, Al, Carrie, Dan, Willie and Bill VanLente, plus Teddy and the Smiths.
"We've been interviewing everyone left on the island," Dan told Cleo and Albus. "We are going to station a contingent of Aurors on the island. We need you to take formal possession of it, however. You need to go to Jezebel Nukpana's quarters and make them your own."
"They are at the top of the island," Cleo told Al. "We probably ought to get on some more appropriate clothes as well." Al was in a more or less Muggle outfit of slacks, with a noticeable pocket for his wand that was visible to Magi but not to Muggles, and a long sleeve shirt. He was carrying a winter coat. Cleo had a three-quarter sleeve blouse on that came up to her neck, with a slight collar on it, some lace on the front. She had a skirt that came about three-quarter of the way down, and was wearing long stockings. She also was carrying a winter coat. The day was very warm, and they were obviously dressed way too warmly for the climate.
At this moment a small and obviously beaten down Elf appeared, saying to Cleo, "I Jezebel Nukpana's house elf, so I your house elf now."
"What is your name?" asked Cleo kindly.
"Dirt," the house elf dejectedly replied.
"Dirt!?" Cleo gasped in English, and then in elfish "For me that is not an appropriate name for an Elf. I (do not feel) it is appropriate for anyone to call an Elf that name. What is your elfish name?" Any translation is obviously inexact. It was not allowable in elfish to say that a master cannot or should not name an elf anything they want to call the elf, no matter how insulting, so the discussion was obviously more difficult than the translation can convey. At the same time Cleo wanted to convey to the poor little Elf her distress at the name.
"Sands of the Seashore (has a connotation of being blessed as abundantly as sands on a shore, a beautiful name)" the Elf told her new mistress.
"I will call you Sandy," Cleo responded, "but I will think of your elfish name and think of you as Blessed Sands." Then in Elfish Cleo repeated "'Sands of the Seashore', in private, when speaking to you in Elfish, that is what I will call you. 'Sands of the Seashore', what a beautiful name!"
"You are a most kind witch," Sandy replied, shocked. The translation cannot begin to convey the dramatic nature of the change that the elfish conveyed. "We have heard rumors that there were kind witches and wizards, and have even met a few, but your kindness and compassion are beyond measure," the little Elf exclaimed in awe.
"How many Elves are there on this island, and are there any more not on the island but under the jurisdiction of the island?" asked Cleo.
"Twenty-five on the island," Sandy answered, "and others, but not really under the island's control."
"According to the American Compromise on the clothing of Elves, I order all Elves under my jurisdiction to wear rented clothing," Cleo proclaimed. "We will work out an acceptable uniform before I leave."
Teddy told Cleo and Al, "You should walk up to the top of the island. The winding path will take you past most of the homes, and it is worth taking the time to see. Can someone else take them? I don't want to try and walk that far on these crutches." Teddy was not wearing his artificial leg; the day before had been way too rough on it.
Sandy the house elf beamed, "I show them!"
"Do you mind if I come too?" asked Ann of Sandy and Cleo.
Cleo replied, "That would be nice," to her mother, "if you don't mind," to Sandy.
Sandy shrieked in surprise, "You ask a house elf?"
"The world is changing," Albus explained, "and for Elves we think the changes are mostly for the better. You are Elves, not house elves, now. All the Elves owned by the Potter and related families have their own bedroom, own bed, clothes. Mates are kept together, and children are raised by both parents and are given an education."
There was a brief discussion in elfish about how you talked about masters when the relationship had changed, brief and only hinting at the changes and the challenges the changes were posing to the language.
"I thought we were going to see my sister?" Cleo wondered.
"You need to take possession of the island first, Cleo," Orwant insisted. "Your sister is not going anywhere. You need to do this, then at the end of the day we will, we will, I guess we will bury your sister. At least she wasn't sacrificed, didn't have her beating heart cut out of her like your baby brothers.
"We had to do it, Cleo. We had to. It's just that, we lost a daughter and gained one back that could have been lost. Take possession of your island. Go with your mother. I have other things I have to do."
Rich Hudson was a photographer as well as a reporter, and as Al and Cleo explored the island he recorded everything he could.
The island was mostly flat, with a large lagoon at one end of the island. You could dock a modest size boat in the lagoon, and there were several boats in the lagoon. Ann pointed out the boat that she and Orwant, Cleo and Natasha lived on for eleven months out of the year. "We had to spend a month on the island," Ann explained. "Jezebel Nukpana could not make you stay on the island full time, but she could take you away from us."
"How come you could leave the island for eleven months?" asked Cleo.
"Orwant is a powerful wizard," Ann told her, "but it took all his magic and magic from his family to allow us to live eleven months on the boat."
"My room must have been in the front," Cleo pondered, her face in the 'I am thinking' mode, "because I can remember it was small and the room had strange angles."
"Your room was in the bow of the boat," Ann agreed, "and when you left for England and we had Natasha she stayed in the bow of the boat."
The walk up to the top of the island went past a large number of dwellings, going around five times before you arrived at the top. The dwellings looked like they had been made out of salvaged boat parts going back five hundred years, strange looking dwellings. Some were almost elegant and some were quirky to the extreme. About one hundred feet from the top the vegetation stopped and all that was left was a rocky outcrop, with a modest size home on top. There was no way to approach the house without being seen.
It took Cleo's wand, Jezebel's old wand, to get into the house. Once they were there they changed the spells so that Al and Ann and even Sandy the Elf could unlock it.
The main Floor was a large room, a combination living and dining room. It was obvious from the furniture and its arrangement that Jezebel Nukpana had a place of honor, higher and at a little distance from everyone else, with Lilith Nukpana close beside her. Al took one look at the thrones, pointed his wand at them, and changed them so they were the same as the other furniture.
Above the living and dining room was a bedroom, smaller, with a very large bed, a lavish bathroom plus a large closet and dressing room. There was a small group of men's clothes and a large amount of clothes for women, most of it sized to fit Jezebel Nukpana. Cleo found out that with only a little modification most of Jezebel's clothes would also fit her.
Cleo put on pair of bottoms that looked like the bottom of a bathing costume, and over it a skirt that came about halfway down her calves. The skirt material was thin, translucent really and clingy. It had a wand pocket, and Cleo charmed another wand pocket. There was a top that was more a bra than anything else, covering maybe three-fifths of her breasts. Over this she put on a very thin over garment, sleeveless, that ended about halfway down her skirt, and was open in the front. It was very light weight and did not cover all that much, but it was very appropriate for the warm climate.
Al found a bathing costume bottom, then shorts, then a very similar thin over garment. Both of them wore sandals on their feet when they were on the island the rest of the day.
Above the bedroom was a smaller room that looked like an office. There were books and parchment rolls, some potion making supplies. There was a pensive, and many other instruments. Neither Al nor Cleo recognized all of them. There was also a crystal ball. Al sat down and looked into the crystal ball, and found a network of lines similar to what he had occasionally seen before. This crystal ball seemed to be the focus of some of what was going on, and there were a couple of other places or crystal balls that also seemed to be very important. Al could sense a challenge coming from one of the other crystal balls. Al broke off contact. He was a little shaken.
"Cleo, I sensed a challenge coming through that crystal ball," Al told Cleo, plus his soon to be mother-in-law Ann. "I need to ask the prophet department in Switzerland what could be happening. I'm not sure I'm ready for whatever is going on with that."
"We've never been in trouble because we were too careful, Al," Cleo agreed. "We've had enough trouble come to us. I don't feel any need to look for it."
Ann felt pretty good about her daughter and future son-in-law after hearing this exchange.
Al contacted the North American based Elf uniform rental company, and Sandy had several other Elves meet in the living/dining room. Together they designed a uniform that looked very much like the island, shorts for the male Elves, a lightweight dress for the female Elves, island patterns of Caribbean vegetation on the fabric.
Al wanted a head Elf and an assistant head, and wanted the head to come to the annual meeting of Elves in Switzerland. The Elves conferred together and decided that Sandy was the best Elf to be the chief. She was not currently mated, her mate having been killed in one of Jezebel's frequent rages. There was another female appointed as assistant, and the Elves wanted Sandy to spend the next week at least with Cleo, going back to the island after Cleo and Al had to go back to Hogwarts.
Frerin and Dis were with Al and Cleo, and they spent much of their time on the island talking to the Elves on the Island.
Over two thirds of the Magi that were on the island were not going to be allowed back, most of them serving some time either in a prison or in some sort of rehabilitation facility. At least twenty-five Aurors were going to be stationed there, however. There was going to be a house Teddy and Victoire could use, although no one was sure if Victoire or Josefina would want to even see the island.
As they were walking down from the main house Cleo looked back and thought, "There is lots of room to add on to that house. We could have a hundred bedrooms below the main house level, and make the living and dining room ten times as big, if we had to."
Al did not say anything. He knew that Cleo wanted lots of children. He needed to be in control of as much of his life as he could, but he had a feeling that Cleo was always going to be on the edge of out of control when it came to children and family, and getting Circe's wand was going to be a mixed blessing at best.
There were a few more things that had to be done on the main part of the island, and then Al and Cleo accompanied a large group up to the main house. When Al and Cleo were not going to be living in the main house the living/dining room was going to be used by others, but the bedroom and the office were reserved for Cleo as the heir to the island, and to Al.
Eventually Orwant came to the big house. "It is time to see your sister, and bury her," Orwant announced.
Ann and Orwant walked down the pathway and over to a place where you could see where the gallows had been. "We have put coroner's charms on the bodies," Orwant announced. "We want to preserve the bodies until family members can come and bury their dead, and most of the family members are in captivity."
There was a small group of people there, maybe thirty in all, that looked like they could be related to Orwant. Cleo recognized a clergy person, a female in clerical garb. There was a modest sized, obviously Christian, service. At the end Orwant told Cleo, "Your sister's body is going to be brought to our family cemetery on a nearby island. We would all travel by boat to bury her, but there is too much to do and no time. Next summer you need to spend time here, and visit my people."
Cleo and Al watched as her sister Natasha's body was carried onto a boat, and it and three other boats sailed away. Cleo watched, tears running down, until the boats were out of sight.
It was past 9:00 PM when Cleo and Al, plus Cleo's parents and Teddy, were back at the New Burrow and Potters New Burrow, and they had not had a main meal. They never did have a main meal, but did get something to eat before they went to bed.
Cindy did write a short article on Al and Cleo's visit to the island, and Henry had a nice selection of photographs. Cindy and Henry had enough material accumulating that they could write a small book.
As soon as Al and Cleo left Harry had to confront visiting the parents of Mark Felion, the Auror from England who was killed. Mark was actually from Quebec, Canada. He was supposed to be spending a few years in England before going back to North America. Harry knew that Mark's parents had been notified, and someone from the International Auror's Association had visited. Harry was informed in a brief message on his phone/computer that even old Bert VanLente had been pressed into service visiting parents of Aurors killed. There had been that much to do.
Harry took the Floo-Closet network to the Felion home, and spent about an hour talking to Mark's parents and siblings about how he was a good Auror, learning a lot, and how sorry Harry was that Mark had been one of the Aurors that died. Harry did not mention that Mark occasionally was not very careful about wearing his armor, and that he had gone to the island without his armor on.
Harry walked into Potter's New Burrow, upset at Mark Felion for not wearing his armor and getting killed, and just full of sorrow and frustration over all the deaths.
"I'm sorry I couldn't go with you, Harry," Ginny told her husband, going over and hugging him hard. "I'm doing the best I can with the wedding plans, and have all the invitations out, but haven't been able to spend enough time with James, Al, or Rose. With all the captives there are legal issues that Hermione is involved with, so she isn't being any help."
"I've scheduling issues with all the dead and injured Aurors," Harry added. "I'm not going to be much help."
"We do our best, and that will have to be good enough," Ginny sighed. "We will get through these times. I love you!"
"I love you, Ginny," Harry told his wife as he hugged her. Harry was close to tears already, and the tears finally started to flow. "Oh Ginny, we lost Cho and over half her team. Two young parents, leaving two sets of children with only one parent. Several foreign Aurors; I don't have a count."
Ginny hugged Harry, sharing his sorrow, as she too began to cry.
2022