Ch 23 Saturday the Twenty-fourth

The Potter and Granger-Weasley families were at Potter's New Burrow the morning after the wedding, and they gathered in the kitchen and breakfast area that morning. Harry made eggs for everyone, and one of the Elves helped prepare a classical English breakfast. Everyone else was up Saturday morning the 24th, just finishing breakfast, when Al and Cleo finally made their appearance. Ron had just left to help with the store, and Harry had been on the phone and laptop and had used the magic mirrors at least once, but was doing his best not to go into the office. Most of the people were sitting around the breakfast table talking.

As they walked in, Albus was smiling, that in controlled but very happy smile that was frequently on his face, especially when he was with Cleo. Cleo was radiant, her hips and in fact her whole body moving in a way that was almost unbelievably sexy. Her huge mouth had a smile so wide that it almost touched her ears. She was holding Al's hand in one hand, and the other hand was waving in a way that indicated just how happy she was. Everybody was dressed in casual Muggle clothes.

"Good afternoon," Ginny kidded.

"Oh Mum Potter," Cleo breathlessly proclaimed. "It's not that late!"

"Not too late for breakfast," Harry announced, as he arose and went back to the stove. "Both of you, grab a plate and get what you want." Harry took their egg orders and the Elf filled the couples plates.

Al just grinned. He knew his mother's kidding, and did not feel he needed to rise to the occasion. Cleo actually knew of Ginny's kidding as well, but she almost always reacted; it was sort of a game.

"How are you holding up, Al, Cleo," Harry asked once he had brought the eggs over to the table.

"Getting married was not hard," Al suggested.

"Getting married is not the hard part," Harry countered.

"WHAT!" Ginny snapped, giving Harry a 'what are you saying' look.

"There is a lot of life you have to live after getting married," Harry explained. "Your mother and I were lucky. We lived Happily Ever After! All our children easy, obedient, never fought with us."

Every eye in the room looked at Lily, who yelled, "HEY! I'm not the only one who ever was in trouble."

"Mother and I with such safe and easy jobs," Harry continued, looking at Ginny. "Mother just played Quidditch. She only had to exercise 20 hours a day to stay in shape, plus practice another 20 hours a day."

"It sure felt like it some days," Ginny admitted, shaking her head. "I'd fall in bed so tired and sore, and get back up and do it again the next day. Your dad put up with me being gone most of the time when I was playing professional Quidditch."

"At least it was safe," Harry suggested. "You only almost died once."

"Was it that bad?" Ginny wondered.

"It's still that bad, Ginny," Harry suggested. "You just don't want to hear it. That's why you have to be so careful, even though you hate it."

"And being an Auror is just the safest job in the world," Ginny scowled.

"Sure, it is," Harry laughed, then sort of waving his hands "See, Happily Ever After. No problems, really, except … well … and this … and then that happened … and … not to mention children getting married."

"So what did you say when you learned you could not play Quidditch?" asked Lily.

"I don't remember," Ginny scowled. "That whole time is still a little vague in my mind. I'm sure I wasn't very happy about it, and then we moved to San Francisco with Teddy for classes and then I was pregnant with James, but before that is sort of a blur."

"Do you remember what mother said?" asked Lily of her father.

"Yes," Harry replied, smiling, laughing "She said Damn Damn Damn Damn Damn, at least four but maybe six or seven times, hitting her hand against the bedframe each time. She was not happy. She was REALLY not happy."

"But now you have us!" Lily exclaimed, throwing her hands wide to encompass the whole room.

"And us," Cleo beamed, grabbing onto and holding up Erica's hand. "And soon you will have grandchildren."

"Yes," Ginny laughed. It was hard not to laugh when Cleo was being so exuberant. "We have you, and you married not only your husbands but this entire family."

"I did not have a family before meeting mother, Aunt Ginny," said Harry, looking at all the people around the table. "Well, I sort of had the Dursley family, but until Uncle Dudley and I became friends they were never much of a family. I married the entire Weasley clan when I married, and it has been one of the best things that ever happened to me."

"Me too," Cleo replied with that happy sappy smile she wore so often when talking about Al and family.

"Are we going to get any rest?" asked Al.

"Not much," Orwant replied. "They want us, Ann and me and you two," pointing to Al and Cleo, "at the island briefly today, and then at the island for most of the week between Christmas and New Year's. I think we, Ann and I, are going to end up living on the island."

"It's like you kill the dragon and marry the beautiful princess and somebody says 'Happily Ever After' has to wait, we have lots of work for you to do," Al scoffed.

"I know just how you feel," Harry commiserated.

"Is that what happened to you, dad, right after the Battle of Hogwarts?" asked Al, who knew some of the story.

"That's what happened to your mother and me," Harry confirmed. "Right after the battle, well after some sleep but as soon as I woke up, we put away the Elder Wand, safe in Albus´ hand, I thought." Harry looked at his Albus, Dumbledore's namesake, who had kind of a sheepish look on his face. "At least I would not have to worry about the Elder Wand, ever again, I thought. And then the next morning we were greeting people coming for their dead, and by the next morning we had Teddy, and then Mum and I became engaged and things stayed super busy and complicated. We finally had a vacation a year later."

"You proposed to mum Potter right after the battle?" asked Cleo, who had not heard the story.

Harry and Ginny looked at each other and laughed. Hermione insisted, "Tell the story, Harry, Ginny."

"Well we were very busy after the Battle," Harry explained, "and I had to visit the Potter and Black vaults at Gringotts to take care of some things. I took Ginny," Harry looked at Ginny, who bowed a little, and then Harry continued, "with me. When we were in the Potter vault and found the rings Ginny put the man's ring on my hand, and then held out her hand," and again Harry looked at Ginny. He waited until Ginny put out her hand showing the ring finger, "and gave me a look that said 'put the ring on' and I thought 'what am I going to do now', but she had that determined look on her face, and…well…to be absolutely truthful I did want to marry Ginny but she was only sixteen, way too young to get married," looking at the just married youngsters. Five of the six had a sheepish look on their face, but Cleo just beamed with joy. Harry continued, "I did not know what to do. Well Ginny had that determined look on her face," and Ginny held out her ring finger with the same sort of intensity she did that day, "and I had just had to battle Tom Riddle, which was the most terrifying thing I ever had to do until Cleo's Great Grandmothercame, worse actually, and I think I was brave, but I was not brave enough to tell that determined red headed person staring at me that she could not have the ring, so I put it on her."

"You were scared of Ginny?" asked Orwant.

"Is mother ever scary?" asked Harry of the children. James and Al and Lily and Minerva and even Erica nodded their heads strongly, giving Ginny a wary look. Cleo sort of hung her head in shame. Ginny had really been kind to her, and she had never had to face her wrath, although she had seen Ginny get mad at others, and it was enough to terrify her at times. Hugo also nodded strongly; he had faced his Aunt Ginny's wrath a few well deserved times.

"So you proposed then?" asked Cleo.

"Not exactly," Harry laughed. "I just stood there. Ginny however, she started jumping up and down saying 'yes, yes, I will marry you. Thank you for asking' and then she kissed me and then she looked at the ring and said 'engaged, I'm so happy' and kissed me again. What was I going to do? Tell her I had not proposed? We left the vaults with the rings on our fingers, and I had the wedding rings in a box with me."

"So you never did propose?" asked Cleo with her eyes and mouth wide open.

"Go ahead, Harry," said Ginny, with a smirk, "tell the rest of the story."

So Harry continued, "At dinner that night with the whole Weasley family all Ginny's brothers got me aside, well they took grandpa with them but it was the brothers who had been talking, and Uncle George asked how his sister got the ring on her finger, and I told them. They had been betting how long it would take for Ginny to land me. See, Rita Skeeter had written something in the paper about me and Ginny, and she had gotten mad, and then lots of witches were writing to me. I don't even know what the letters said. I was busy with other things and even though the getting engaged caught me off guard I really had no interest in anybody but Ginny." Harry was close enough to give Ginny a little kiss at this. "So the brothers said I had to ask Ginny, and in front of a whole crowd in the main hall at Hogwarts I did, and she said yes, and on her 17th birthday, way too young, we married."

"What did the letters say, mum Potter?" asked Cleo.

"Yes, mom, what did the letters say?" asked Lily.

Ginny looked at the crowd, and though for a moment.

"What did the article say to make you want to get engaged so quickly?" asked Ann. "Was it really that threatening?"

"The article said it doubted a," Ginny had to think a moment, "'little witch with such modest skills and looks could be attractive to the famous Harry Potter.' Lots of the letters quoted that. Most of the witches writing wanted to meet Harry and some of them even offered to marry him. Some even wanted to have sex, no questions asked. Some even had photographs."

"I never saw any of the photographs," said Harry.

"You'd better believe I never showed you any of the photographs," Ginny scowled. "Some of them were not too bad, but some showed way too much, and one of the girls was starkers. She was …" Ginny shook her head. She was going to say she was as busty as Cleo but that was not the right thing to say, for lots of different reasons, so she said, "never mind. I threw out all those letters and photographs."

"You were worried, mum Potter?" asked Cleo.

Ginny admitted, "Well, my happy ending was Harry, except it wasn't really an ending. I think what Harry it trying to tell all of you is that getting married is just the start. There is a lot of living, and with all the joy a fair amount of pain and hard times, between getting married and, we hope, a long and reasonably happy life together. I would not trade it for anything, but fairy tale endings are just that. Nobody exactly lives happily ever after. If they are lucky they will have many more good times than bad; we sure have. But you will all have some hard times." Ginny paused a moment. "Maybe I should not have been worried. I don't think Harry has ever looked at another woman. But I was young and insecure, and I felt really threatened by all those letters."

"But once you got married you weren't worried ever again, were you?" asked Cleo.

"I shouldn't have been," Ginny admitted, "but I am a little jealous, and early in our marriage I hexed a couple of witches who tried to make passes at MY HUSBAND. I've mostly gotten over that, I think. I have a husband that when another woman tries to make a pass at him he does not even notice. It's really nice not having to worry. I hope all of you young wizards are just as faithful and just as immune to even noticing that someone is trying to make a pass at you."

Everybody was quiet for a little while, then Al asked, "What is going on today?"

Orwant replied, "After lunch the four of us have to go to the island for a short while. We will be back after dinner tonight. As I understand it the 25th is free for us, although Ann and I should really stay on the island, but the whole next week the four of us are supposed to be back on the island. I'm sure Lilith Nukpana is coming with us. Mother," turning to his mother-in-law, "you are coming with us today. We have been asked to stay on the island; we may, probably will make it our home.

"Scorpius has to go to St. Mungo's for a checkup," Rose explained, "and then he is supposed to take it very easy for the next week. He has some exercises he has to do to keep his insides from getting messed up, and we will probably be at St. Mungo's almost every day for the next week. My job is taking care of my husband.

"Rose Granger-Malfoy, with a hyphen. It's going to take a while to say that, and to learn to write that. But a lot easier now that I am married to the HERO Scorpius Granger-Malfoy." Rose just beamed when she said Hero. "Scorpius GRANGER-Malfoy. Thank you, Scorpius. You really are a hero, my special hero."

Scorpius looked at Rose. "That is so strange. I could not believe the applause at the wedding. And then people kept congratulating me, like what I did was so fantastic." Scorpius looked at Harry. "Do you ever get used to it, Mr. Potter?"

Harry replied, "You get used to it, but if you are wise you will never expect it. People like humble heroes, and to be honest neither of us would have been heroes if we had not been in the right place at the right time. We both did something to deserve it, but we were lucky enough to be in the right place, and then survive."

"Erica Potter," said Erica thoughtfully. "If I want to emphasize, throw into people's faces, that my mother and mother-in-law were both fantastic Quidditch players, Erica Lionheart Potter. I like that, Erica Lionheart Potter, chaser on the world champion James Potter's Chudley Cannons."

"I have to work hard to recruit more players, don't I?" James suggested.

"That for a start, that's one thing you can do," Harry agreed. "With your mother's help, and your mother-in-law's, and your little brother is a pretty good negotiator too."

"Thank you, Al, for your help," James told his brother.

"Glad to be of some help, big brother," said Al, looking up at his older and bigger brother. The war between the brothers had ceased due to Al's help negotiating with the Chudley Cannons.

"Cleopatra Desiree Potter, Cleopatra Desiree Potter, Cleo Potter, Mrs. Albus Potter, Albus and Cleopatra Potter, Oh I love it," Cleo rattled on, still beaming with joy. "Mr. and Mrs. Albus Severus and Cleopatra Desiree Potter are pleased to announce … oh, I don't know … to announce that another one of their children is getting married and … babies and children and students going off to school and coming back with boyfriends and girlfriends and it's all just so fantastic. Mr. and Mrs. Albus Severus and Cleopatra Desiree Potter. This is what I was made for!" At this Cleo gave Al a light but lingering kiss, then held on to his hands and leaned his head against her shoulder, she being much taller than Al sitting down as well as standing up. They were a funny looking couple.

Rose asked, "James, is everything out of your old bedroom?"

"The Elves seem to think it is important for Erica and I to have our own space, as does Erica," James replied.

"Of course!" Erica exclaimed. "James room is all cleaned out. We are going to try and spend a little time today making the two rooms here in Potter's New Burrow our apartment. We are going over to my parents tonight for Christmas, along with Tabitha, her husband and their children."

"Could we move Cleo's possessions to Grimmauld Place, please?" Rose asked. "Aunt Ginny, could we use James room as well as Albus's for their things?"

"I do not see why not," Ginny replied, looking at Harry, who nodded.

"Are we each going to have our own room?" Cleo wondered, her face showing she was not happy with this idea."

"Of course not!" Rose exclaimed. "I thought we could move all the clothes into Albus's room, make it your bedroom, and use the other room as an office or, well, I've some ideas."

Well, Rose loved home decorating, and everybody smiled. They were sure Rose had ideas.

Rose and Scorpius, Albus and Cleo, along with Lily and Ivana, went to Malfoy Manor and in two trips had everything that Cleo owned moved to Grimmauld Place. Rose banished the bed in James old room, moved Albus's desk into the room, and worked on turning it into something like an office for Albus and Cleo. The bedroom had, instead of a clothes closet, a whole wall for clothes, with sliding doors that, because they were magical, could open to almost disappear or totally close. There was enough furniture to work with, and Rose had become very good at transforming a piece of furniture so it was just the way she wanted it.

Many of the other people started to work to put the houses back to the condition they were in before the weddings. The Elves had cleaned everything, but Magi had to remove the balconies and restore the gardens between the New Burrow and Potters New Burrow, and do a number of other things to get the houses back to the way they were, except with Christmas decorations.

After a late lunch at Potter's New Burrow Al, Cleo, Ann and Orwant took the Floo/Closet network to the island. They were met by the entire Van Lente clan. Al Van Lente said, "We decided that we would spend Christmas here. We have settled in a couple of houses midway up the hill."

Lilith Nukpana had a fair sized house at the very top of the group of houses, with six bedrooms; one of the nicest of the houses although it was obviously made out of salvaged boat parts and was a little quirky. The insides and outsides sort of blended together, and it took magic and a little urgent rearranging to make the house safe from a big storm, but most of the time it was a delightful house to live in. Ann and Orwant decided that they were going to take that house, and put Lilith Nukpana in one of the smaller bedrooms that did have its own bathroom. They moved her clothes to the closet and furniture in that bedroom, and took most of the clothes and personal possessions out of their boat and put them in the master bedroom of the house.

There was a small house next door that was turned into an office, and this is where the affairs of the island were going to be managed. Neither Cleo nor Al had a desk there; they were owners and sort of king and queen of the island, or queen and her consort, not managers of the island. It seemed hard to believe it was necessary, but Ann and Orwant and Al VanLente told Al and Cleo Potter that making the house on the top of the hill their house was key to the magic that was needed to have Cleo and Al's morality the morality of the island, and break the hold of five-hundred years of evil on the island.

Al and Cleo and Sandy the house elf (or Elf, as Albus and Cleo insisted) went into the house. Al looked at the office but decided they would not touch that. He wanted Nausicaa and Apollo Scheria with him with before he examined the office too closely.

Al asked why Jezebel had so many men's clothes and women's clothes.

"They came off people she sacrificed," Sandy explained. "Almost always before she killed them she had people stripped naked. Lots of very bad things were done by Jezebel, lots, lots and lots."

"Do we have anyone who can re-make all the clothes?" Albus asked. "Use the fabric for clothes for us and others, but re-make it like Magi do. Magi don't throw things away like Muggles, but I don't want clothes from other people here."

You could easily alter clothes with magic, and no Magi needed to have ill-fitting clothes. Clothes would still wear out, though. A couple of hours into the work on the closet Cleo asked "What do people on the island wear? What is appropriate?"

Sandy replied "When it is warm no one wears much. Just a little on the bottom. Ask your mother."

Al and Cleo went down to the house where Ann and Orwant were. Ann and Orwant were just finishing up putting away their clothes. Orwant had a pair of reasonably short shorts on, with nothing on top. Ann had a brief skirt, and a sort of a wisp of a bra under her breasts, just for support not modesty, supporting her ample breasts more with magic than with anything else.

"Is that what women wear on the island?" asked Cleo.

"Most women are not as big on top, and most men and women wear as little as possible in the middle of the day," Ann explained. "Jezebel had everybody go naked for orgies, but I think nakedness is best to be avoided. Many of the Caribbean Islands are mostly topless for women as well as men."

The two couples ended up back at the big house, and they did find a few of the wispy semi-bras that helped to support a big busted woman, mostly with magic. Since Cleo was pregnant her already ample bust had grown, and she needed something other than just the spells. It was still freeing, and Cleo was just as thrilled with her new look as she was with everything else. It was real hard to find anything that Cleo was not ecstatic about; she was enjoying her life.

Ann saw many of the other Magi over the next couple of hours, and before they had to go back to England everybody knew that the island dress code was no nudity, bottoms covered, and Ann and Cleo along with Albus and Orwant did agree that bottoms covered involved much more than a triangle and string for both men and women, but tops optional for women as well as men, although some lightweight top for both men and women was appropriate most of the time.

They had a meal on the island, then Al and Cleo, their Elves, and a contingent of Aurors that seemed to be guarding them, went back to Potters New Burrow.

"I want to get back to England for the last Christmas Eve service," Albus told Cleo and the others.

"I want to be baptized," Cleo told Albus.

"You were," Ann told Cleo. "Orwant's family is Christian, and you were baptized."

"So I could like, join the church and go to communion and be Christian?" Cleo asked, smiling. The smile turned into a more pensive look. "Seeing Guadalupe, it is not like it changed me, exactly, but I don't want to be bad, evil like that devil and if I want to be good.

"Does being Christian and going to church help you be good, Albus?"

"I think it does," Albus reflected. "I think back to the wedding. We need, even if we are rulers, to be subject to laws, and subject to a power above us. I think going to church and reading the bible and trying to be good should keep us humble and not proud."

"Seeing Guadalupe, seeing all those ancestors coming to help the injured people, and I have to believe in life after death and God," Cleo thought. "I'm not sure I understand theology, but I am trying to understand about being good."

Meanwhile back in England Harry finally went to work. There was a lot to do with the captured witches and wizards from the Island, and Harry had to deal with the sudden death of Cho Chang, who was still the most common night supervisor and a key member of his staff, and the others who died or were wounded in the battle. You would like to think that when somebody dies everything sort of stops, but of course it doesn't. Somebody else has to do what the dead person did, and with a 24/7/365 business like law enforcement somebody has to be on duty all the time.

Harry was dealing with the string of promotions and re-assignments that Cho's death and the other's caused when Mary Lou Creevey poked her head into his office and announced, "There is a Steven Bushman from the ICWW here to see you."

"Let him come in," Harry replied, curious.

"Hello, Harry," Steven said. "Where are Albus and Cleopatra?"

"Have a seat, Steven," Harry greeted his longtime acquaintance. "Coffee?"

"Yes, thank you," Steven replied, as he took the cup Harry proffered.

Harry continued, "Al and Cleo went to the Island to take possession of it. Apparently they needed to do more than they did yesterday to truly make it their own."

"Oh," Steven pondered, "Maybe that explains it?"

"Explains what?" Harry asked, leaning back in his chair and taking a drink of coffee.

"It looks like Albus and Cleopatra are Crown Prince and Crown Princess, all but the next King and Queen of the Magi," Steven replied.

Harry almost lost his coffee at that remark, and stared at Steven.

Steven added, "I will be back after Christmas. Albus and Cleopatra have to bring the Crystal Ball back to the castle sometime. Then I believe they are going to be proclaimed Prince Albus Severus Peverell and Princess Cleopatra Desiree Peverell. It has long been prophesied that a male heir of Ignotus Peverell, a legitimate possessor of all three Hallows, if he existed, would be the next Prince."

"Al and Cleo have a lot they are dealing with right now. Wait until after Christmas, and then the prophets should come back and explain things to the family." Harry told Steven.

"What about the last Crystal Ball?" Harry then asked. "The one the Lord of the Dementors has?"

"Well, they are prophesies about them winning a major victory, one that will leave families all over the world grieving their dead," Steven frowned. "I hope there is a way around it, but it sounds like a war like the Magi have never had. Maybe it won't happen in my lifetime."

"That's real cheery news, Steven. Mayhem and destruction. Why cannot the prophets predict good times?"

"When we do no one cares," Stephen admitted.

2022