Ch 59 A Funeral, and Life Goes On
Monday morning Harry went to work, mostly to plan for security for James funeral. There was still family security, and Harry did have help from Switzerland because Albus and Cleo were there. Everyone who wanted to come was going to have to pass through screening, and individuals were warned that they should plan on coming early.
Of course, everyone who Harry met had to tell him how sorry they were, and there were more than a few hugs and tears.
The family was going to be greeting people from one until three, with the funeral at three.
Late Monday afternoon Harry and Ginny, Ron and Bill Weasley met with Jake Paganelli and her husband Mickie in Jake's office at the Cannon's facility shortly before a team meeting.
"Thank you for coming and agreeing to this meeting," Jake told the owners. "I think it is very important that the team hears from you."
"I agree," Bill replied. "It may be hard to focus on business after such a tragedy, but we do not honor James by letting the team fall apart."
"Any success in finding a new seeker?" Ginny wanted to know.
"Several candidates," Jake replied. "One of the most intriguing is Viktor Krum Junior. He is an excellent seeker, but also somewhat cautious. He fights with his father, and some of the fans do not like him because he doesn't take unnecessary risks. He has had a few minor injuries. That is just part of being a seeker, plus the team doesn't guard him the way they should."
"Recruiting him would cause an international incident," Harry wryly observed.
"He is an adult, and can do what he wants to do," Jake insisted.
"Do you have a place for Erica in the organization?" Harry wondered.
"I think so, as a coach, plus she seems to really know how to work the Quidditch game we use at times to plan plays," Jake replied.
The group walked from Jake's office to the room where the team was gathered. Families had been invited, so it was a large gathering. The room was full of emotion, with some of the people still visibly grieving, others nervous, and some small children fidgety and not sure what was going on.
Harry went up to the podium to speak. "I want to reconfirm what Jake told you Saturday. The Cannons will continue, under the same ownership and management. We are already actively working on recruiting a seeker or seekers. One of the things I learned from my wife when she played for the Holyhead Harpies was the advantage of having duplicate players for all positions. Ginny said that the year they won all their games she thought the second-bestteam in the league was the Harpies second team.
"Senior citizens do not play professional Quidditch. It is a demanding and at time dangerous game. We as owners want to do everything in our power to make the game less dangerous. We also pledge that when it is time for you to retire, we will help you transition to a different profession. Enjoy playing for an exceptional winning team while you can.
"James would not have had the experience of playing for a winning team this last year had it not been for the exceptional team surrounding him. Thank you, all of you, for the joy you brought him and our whole family."
When Harry went to sit down the whole team rose and applauded.
Harry had a hard time not crying.
Jake arose to speak. "You are all invited to James funeral tomorrow. You all have a sheet to fill out saying if you are coming, and who will be coming with you. Practice starts again on Wednesday."
Harry and Ginny stayed for over a couple of hours after the meeting to greet the players and allow them to say how sorry they were. Harry and Ginny had to allow the team to grieve with them. There were many tears and almost tears. James may have been a showoff, but he was just as happy to applaud the other players, and they all liked him.
After the meeting at the Cannons, Harry and Ginny picked up Minerva and Gregory from Molly's and went home. They went up to the drawing room, and looked at a wall of family photographs. One was the last one before Monica Jane had died, with all six children, all the grandchildren. Now instead of six living children there were four. Ginny looked sadly at the photograph, and hugged Harry again.
Minerva took Gregory and played with him, somehow sensing that her parents needed a little alone time, as Ginny and Harry looked at the photographs on the wall.
Mabel, their old house elf, had just died, and it seemed like a couple of the other Elves had taken herplace, more as hired servants than as house elves. The Elves talked to Harry and Ginny, and then fixed dinner for the family.
As they ate, everyone but Gregory was uncommonly quiet. Finally, Minerva looked sadly at her parents, saying. "I'm sorry."
"We are all sorry, Minerva," Ginny told her daughter. "It is a very sad time."
"I'm sorry for you, mum, dad," Minerva sniffed, tears close. "First Monica Jane and then James Sirius. It just doesn't seem fair!" Harry reached over and kissed the top of his daughter's head.
"No fairer than Teddy losing both of his parents when he was only weeks old," Harry replied. "Sometimes life is very unfair. But Erica and little James and the new baby can grow up loved and cared for, and we just do our best for those left behind."
"Gregory just doesn't know, does he?" Monica asked, looking at her little brother, who seemingly had not realized what had happened.
Gregory jumped in with, "I know! G… W X Y Z!"
Everybody laughed. "Yes, Gregory, you are learning your A.B.C.'s." The family spent a few minutes working with Gregory on his letters.
The morning before a funeral is an odd time. On one hand you needed to wake up, get dressed, eat, and take care of family just like you normally did. On the other hand, it just felt different.
"Am I expected to greet people too?" Minerva asked at breakfast, trying to understand what was going to be expected of her.
"I do not think there is going to be a big formal line," Harry replied, "Although your mother and I are going to stand next to Erica. She needs all the family support she can get."
"I will stay close to you and do what you tell me," Minerva replied. "Almost everybody seems to know what to do except Aunt Erica. She just seems lost, and sad, and like her world has just been destroyed when James died."
'I think that is probably how she feels right now," Ginny told her daughter, and she gave Minerva a hug.
"There is not really room in the narthex of the church to greet people, so we are going to be in the basement," Harry told the family at their mid-day meal. They were eating early so the whole family could be at the church at twelve-thirty. "Ginny and I will stand with Erica, and the rest of you should stand around to greet people if they want to talk to you. We are not having a formal line of people.
"People will be screened as they come into the church, and atquarter to three we need to start to move upstairs to the church."
Harry, Ginny, Minerva and Gregory took the Floo to the New Burrow. There they left Gregory in the capable hands of Molly and Victoire and took Erica to St. Mungo's and Merlin's.
At twelve-thirty they went downstairs to a moderately high ceiling gathering space that was not quite as large as the sanctuary upstairs. There were tables around the side, with places for people to sit. and at one end of the room there was a very nice little wooden box sitting on a stand. On one side of the box it said,
James Sirius Potter Sr.
17 October 2004
27 June 2026
Erica cautiously approached the box. "That's what is left of James?" she asked, obviously a little shocked. Erica looked at Ginny, and started to bawl. Ginny took Erica into her arms, and the two witches let the tears flow.
Harry didn't cry, but he had a hard time keeping his emotions in check. Minerva held onto her father's hand, and when Erica went into Ginny's arms Minerva hugged her dad, not bawling but sobbing a little.
Once the crying stopped Erica looked at the box again, and then back at Harry with a questioning look.
"When you cremate a body there are just ashes left," Harry explained. "We all end up just dried bones or less eventually, our bodies. Our souls live on. I know that. I was blessed to see that when my parents visited me in the forest when I thought I was going to die. James is at peace."
"He was so sure he couldn't get hurt!" Erica sobbed. "We are going to put that box in the wall upstairs, and if his children want to see him that's all that is left!"
"That and photographs and plenty of memories," Ginny replied, drying her tears. "I lost two brothers that I remember. Fred suddenly. The twins sort of planned funny funerals, but when it came time to bury Fred George could not bring himself to do it. Charlie was in such bad shape that it was almost more a relief when he died. But I still have photographs of them, and memories of growing up with them. I know I will be reunited with them when I die. But I cried when they did die, and I wish they hadn't."
Erica sadly looked at Ginny. "And a child, Monica, Ginny."
"That was hard," Ginny acknowledged, trying to control her sorrow. "One day you will be happy, and then you may feel guilty for being happy. Try not to feel guilty. James would not, does not, want you to live out your life in grief. Grieve now, but then do your best to keep on keeping on."
A family member dies, and the survivors have the sometimes difficult task of holding it together as they greet visitors. Donna Lionheart was there, but she was sitting down with Bill, who was very confused. Instead of taking care of her daughter she had to take care of her husband, which was another level of sadness.
One person or group after another went up to greet Erica and the Potters. Erica did her best but had a hard time not crying the whole time. Ginny at least could talk to the people and did her best. Harry didn't cry much, although he was close to tears at times. Because he was holding his emotions in check, he was the one who talked to more of the people.
Jake was there at the beginning of the visiting and most of the team showed up. And eventually all of James' aunts, uncles, and cousins showed up and talked to people. Erica was so busy few of the family members talked to her, but they would get their chance over the next days.
Little James Potter Jr. was with his cousins the whole time, and the gaggle of children were being watched over by Molly and Victoire. A reasonable number of people did go and talk to little James, who was thoroughly confused by everything that was going on.
Some people who have not seen each other in a while meet again at affairs like this, which is good beyond just the funeral. From one to three Harry and Ginny talked to what seemed like a world of people, introducing some of them to Erica, as she introduced a few people to Harry and Ginny.
As the time for meeting people was drawing to a close you could hear the organ playing up in the church. All but the immediate family weretold to go to the church. Father Lewis asked Harry, Ginny and Erica, "Who wants to carry James's remains into the church."
Erica shook her head 'no.' She had been crying off and on the whole time of the visiting, and was still shaking, and somewhat unsteady on her feet.
Minerva asked, "Do you want me to?"
"That would be a very nice thing to do," Ginny told her daughter.
So, they proceeded into church, the priest and the ones who would be serving at mass, followed by Minerva, who put the box on a stand in the front of the church, and last Erica with Harry on one side and Ginny on the other, supporting her. They sat in a front pew, Erica with her parents on one side of her, James parents on the other side.
Bill Lionheart Sr. was sitting between Donna Lionheart, his wife, and Bill Jr., and it was clear that the two of them were taking care of a very confused man.
The vestments for the church service were white, expressing hope of resurrection and eternal life. Harry, having seen his parents and others at the Battle of Hogwarts, was certain that death was not the end of everything, but Harry was not sure if Erica was even listening to the service, her sorrow was so deep.
Minerva again carried the little box out of the church. The columbarium was a new wall in the gathering space that had replaced a rather plain section of wall, and it already held some remains, including of course Monica Jane Potter. A niche to the right of Monica's was open. Minerva gave the box to the priest, who looked at the family to see who wanted to do the honors of putting James in the niche.
Erica again indicated that handling James remains was something she just could not do, so Harry took the box and put it in the niche reserved for it, at the same level and right next to the niche that contained Monica Jane.
Ginny stood back and looked at the two niches. One was for her, Harry, and already had Monica Jane in it. Right next to it was the one that contained James. She was in her forties and had just buried her second child. It wasn't fair. It wasn't the way life was supposed to be.
She thought back to the couple they couldn't save, when she and Harry were first married, and she had just learned to cure Sectumsempra cuts. She thought of parents losing their only child and grandchild. She still had four children, and grandchildren. Maybe she was lucky, in a way, but it sure didn't feel like it. She turned to Harry and went into his arms and cried.
Erica looked lost, and Donna Lionheart pulled her into a hug, as Erica let the tears flow. Tabitha, Bill and Donna's adopted daughter, was there with her husband and three children. Tabitha took care of her father so Donna could hug and console Erica.
The family went back to the New Burrow, for a very somber meal, before going back to their own homes.
Wednesday morning life went back to normal for most of the extended Potter and Weasley families.
Grandmum Molly went over to the apartment at the Cannons with Erica. Erica told Molly, "I'm not sure I want to keep living here. Too many reminders of James, and I know I need to get rid of his clothes and such."
"Let us ask Jake what she would suggest," Molly suggested. They went down to Jake's office.
"I want to move out of James and my apartment, but am not sure where to go," Erica told Jake.
"I would like you to help us find a new seeker or two, and work with them, if you would like," Jake told her. "You and James communicated when he was on the field, and he told me often how helpful you were, before, during, and after games."
"I could try to do that for someone else, or a couple of someone else's, I guess," Erica replied. "I need something to do." In contrast to yesterday, when she could not stop crying, Erica seemed to be trying to go on with her life.
"There is a modest size house on the grounds, one of several, with four bedrooms," Jake suggested. "Even if you have a girl, you willhave an extra room that could be an office or guest bedroom or both."
Jake took Erica over to look at the house, and they decided that Erica would move into it. Molly agreed, and she spent the next day helping Erica move. And the physical activity, the doing something, seemed to help Erica get over her grief.
And life did go on.
Sunday Erica was at the New Burrow. Albus and the Swiss side of the family were not there, but almost everybody else was.
Erica came with James Jr. James went to play with his cousins. Erica spotted Ginny, and went over to her, asking, "Does the grief ever go away?"
Ginny hugged Erica again, and as always since James had died Erica let herself be hugged. This time there were no tears, although you could see they were close to the surface. Ginny looked at Erica and told her, "The grief from losing a loved one never really goes away, but it gets better. It is part of you, always will be, but it shouldn't consume you."
"It must have been hard losing Monica," Erica noted, looking down, then directly at Ginny, wringing her hands.
"And my brothers, and friends, but you do not let it overwhelm you," Ginny let Erica know.
Erica shook her head, and frowned, showing some of being upset but not the overwhelming grief of the day of the funeral. "I'm still mad at James," she admitted. "I cannot live my life mad and sorry, though."
"How are they coming on finding a new seeker or two?" Ginny asked, trying to change the subject.
"Is this an interview that will be in the Prophet?" Erica wondered.
"I will keep anything you tell me private until you are ready to announce it," Ginny confirmed.
Ginny looked hard at Lily, who added, "I've had to learn to keep my mouth shut too."
"There are several seekers who did not want to be overshadowed by James, because he was so good, but who are interested," Erica explained. "Several contacted Jake, and most of themshe doesn't want.
"I did get a chance to meet with Viktor Krum Jr. He seems to be a nice young man, and he really knows Quidditch. We spent a couple of hours talking about what I did before, during, and after games to help James. He told me that sometimes he felt like all his father told him was to catch the … foreign swear words … snitch. I explained how the whole team had learned how to alert James when one of us spotted the snitch, him or me. James and I had these Muggle earpieces so we could talk. The key was to say very little, and not to get excited, but to point out what I could see that James did not see.
"It was also important to see the whole game, and not as a seeker just catch the snitch."
Ginny agreed. "At its best the Harpies functioned as a team, with the rest of the team doing what they could to protect the seeker and help her catch the snitch, and the seeker seeing them self as a team player, even running interference for the others if it didn't distract them from looking for the snitch."
"How does he feel about moving to England?" Harry wondered.
"He's tired of his father, and some of the fans, yelling at him," Erica sighed. "I think being Viktor Krum Junior has not been easy."
That night Ginny as they were getting ready for bed Ginny told Harry, "I think that Erica will be all right. Better to grieve and get it all out than to bottle it up and never grieve. Mum helped her move, and it is better not to live in a house with James's clothes and everything reminding her of what she has lost.
"Lots of tears, but Erica is determined to move on with her life. And she has James Jr. and the new baby she is responsible for, and that will be good for her."
"Ed Koizumi is dating again," Harry told Ginny. "One of the apartment complexes the family owns has mostly Magi living in it. Ed is dating a widow that lives in one of the flats in the building. Charles Koizumi and I have talked about it a couple of times. I'm glad for Ed.
"Patricia, Charles wife, is pregnant again. I guess she wants to have several children. Charles is torn, wanting to be brave and confront danger, but not wanting to lose his life in a dangerous assignment if at all possible. He and I talked frankly about the danger of being in the Honor Guard, and although he would like to be in it, he has decided that Patricia and the children come first."
It was Monday, June fifteenth, twenty-twenty-six, and Albus, Jesus and Ginny were meeting with a moderate sized group of Magi in a room next to the large conference room where the ICWW was held each year.
"The Elves are meeting at the same time, in their own area in the lower levels of the castle," Albus announced. "Are we ready for the Magi? Do we have a good list of all the beings who are going to be coming?"
There were two Elves in the meeting, and one of them told the group, "We have a list of all the Elves who are going to be participating in the joint sessions at the end of the ICWW. There are still some areas of the world where house elves becoming Elves has not gone over well, and other beings descendent from the High Elves who do not want to acknowledge that we are all the same beings. Some of those beings are meeting with us, but for good reasons we do not want to publish their names."
"Have we made any progress with the centaurs," Albus asked one of the wizards who had been spending quite a bit of time with them in Switzerland, and even traveling to Greece and to the herd at Hogwarts to talk to them.
"The more I talk to them the more I see an underlying resentment over how they were created," the wizard replied. "We have made significant progress in making giving birth less dangerous for both mothers and the babies, but having Elf and Magi healers witnessing the births, and helping, as good as it has been for the health of the centaurs, has also caused a great deal of resentment and even anger.
"I think we need to concentrate on their physical health. Maybe over time, over a generation or two, we can gradually tackle other areas."
"What about the merpeople?" Albus asked a witch and wizard who had been traveling to all the places where there were known colonies of merpeople.
"We keep running into the problem that they not very bright," the witch replied. "Their ability with language is better than any primate, but not near at an adult level. They are not exactly beasts, but it is hard to put them fully in the being category either."
Albus liked solving problems, but it seemed that some problems just didn't have any neat solutions, or in some cases any solutions at all.
They went on to cover all the administrative tasks needed to host the large meeting the ICWW had become.
Albus met Cleo for lunch in a small dining room in the castle. When they moved into the castle most of the windows were either covered up or tiny, but Cleo had a number of the rooms remodeled so they had larger windows, and the windows in this room looked out over the valley.
Cleo looked over the valley and sighed in contentment.
They talked about the ICWW, and eventually she told him, "I've just heard from Rose, and she is coming to the ICWW with Scorpius this year. The Wizengamot in Great Britain has nominated him as a representative. I guess he has really impressed that body."
"He was the person taking minutes of the MELL meetings, and writing about them," Albus reflected. "He is a good person to have on a committee. I can see why they are sending him."
"Is the MELL group going to meet again?" Cleo wondered.
"We are scheduling a meeting this Friday, the day before the opening ball," Albus replied. "We are going to try and reinforce the message that their children should learn Elfish just like they did."
"Our children are growing up speaking Elfish, and I know Rose's are too," Cleo replied. "Jacob Wang Rios is as well. I know some of the children whose parents are not part of the MELL students are also learning Elfish. A generation from now there should be quite a few students knowing Elfish."
"We need to encourage that," Albus replied.
"I like looking over the ballroom and not being in the middle of things," Harry told Ginny as again he and Ginny were sitting in the first balcony looking down on the floor of the ballroom. "Albus and Cleo can be the center of attention."
"They do a good job, too," Ginny responded. "Rose and Scorpius are in one of the close tables, because of Scorpius's prominent position in the Wizengamot, sitting with Hermione and Ron. Ron never looks quite as comfortable in these settings as Rose and Scorpius."
"Ron is a shopkeeper at heart, not a politician," Harry agreed. "The small talk that is the currency of these meetings doesn't come very naturally to him."
After the meal was finished and people started to mingle Ginny took Harry's arm and pointed. "Viktor Krum is speaking to Hermione and Ron, and he is not happy!"
"The discussion is getting heated," Harry observed.
"He is very unhappy that his son is working for the Cannons," Ginny told Harry. "Lily has been telling me what has been going on. Viktor Junior really likes working with the Cannons, and with Erica. He is good, not as good as James but very good, and he wants to learn how to be a team player and not just the star."
"Hermione is trying to calm Ron, but I see a team of Aurors and Goblin Elves going over there," Harry noted. "Momma ain't happy either."
Ginny laughed. Cleo had come to the front of the stage, had The Wand of Circe out, and was taking her 'momma ain't happy' stance.
A grumbling Viktor left.
Cleo was looking over the hall, where a couple of other discussions had begun to become heated. It was really amazing how Cleo's glare, aided of course by The Wand of Circe and the presence of Aurors and Goblin Elves, could defuse arguments.
Rose and Cleo met when they went to pick up their oldest children from day care to spend a little time with them and put them to bed. Rose and Scorpius were staying in one of the many guest suites in the castle. By this time Rose's Elanor and Bella and Cleo's Adam and Morgana were three and a half, which when you are that young is way older than three. They were all very verbal, and Cleo had arranged for young Elves to be there, and for everyone to speak Elfish during the week.
After greeting their children Cleo asked, "What was going on with Viktor Krum Senior?"
"He was very mad at my parents," Rose replied as she put her two girls in a double stroller. "I know that Mr. Krum took mother to a dance at Hogwarts, and that my father has always been a little unsecure about that relationship, just because father can be a little insecure about many things. It's stupid. But Krum is furious that his son is not under his control, and he thinks it is because father is trying to get back at him. It is stupid. Father had nothing to do with recruiting Viktor Junior. Junior contacted Jake, and Jake and Erica interviewed him, and then the whole team talked to him. Father wasn't even involved until it came time to negotiate a contract, and then he just approved it."
"Senior and Junior do not get along?" Cleo asked as she kissed her two, and then let their nanny Alice put harnesses on them so the two children could walk, or run, to their quarters, without running too far away.
"I guess not," Rose replied. "The Weasley family is a long way from perfect, but I guess we are pretty good compared to some families. I've talked to Erica about some of the families of some of the players, and she has indicated that some of the players have not had happy family lives."
Hermione was not Supreme Mugwump this year. There was not a formal position of vice-Supreme Mugwump, but if there was Hermione would probably have been it. She and Scorpius worked together, mostly behind the scenes, managing some of what was going on during the conference, and Albus and his team relied on them for behind the scenes support.
As was normal during these sessions, some progress was made, but never enough.
The same group of beings met after the twenty-twenty-six International Conference of Witches and Wizards, in the same room in the administration building of the Swiss valley. One of the wizards complained, "I feel I've had ten liters of information poured into a one-liter pot."
"We are going to see what we can do to finish up the work of the ICWW this next week," Albus announced, "and then everybody needs a vacation. Try to arrange to take time off. Everybody needs to spend at least a week without doing any work and schedule a two-week vacation where you do not come close to your office every other year.
"You all need backup in case you are sick or are needed somewhere else.
"That includes Cleo and me. We are going to spend a week at Resort Cleo the week after next, and schedule two full weeks on the island next winter. When we are back Jesus and Ginny are going on vacation."
2023