Chapter 4

The next day was spent travelling. Steve and Sarah took Dan and Emma in the morning to a rental car place so that they could rent a car for the week. Nice was quite a ways south of Paris, and Dan took the first shift driving, following Steve and Sarah's car. They stopped a few times throughout the day for food and bathroom breaks, as well as to give the adults a chance to switch drivers. They would often swap who was in which car as well. The only rule seemed to be that one of the Grangers drove the rental car while one of the Tuckers drove theirs.

At one point it was just him, Dan, and Steve in the Tuckers' car. The women had apparently wanted to talk without any "testosterone-laden Neanderthals interrupting". At least that was how Ali had put it. And so the women, being the larger group, had taken the slightly bigger rental car.

"So Harry, it was nice of you parents to let you come to France with the Grangers, considering they can't get to see you much," Steve probed for information while they were stuck in a stretch of slower moving traffic.

Harry saw Dan wince and prepared himself for the look of sympathy he got whenever people learned about his parents. "My parents died when I was little." Harry watched as the predictable emotions crossed Steve's face: surprise, regret at saying anything, and finally settling on the sympathy he had seen for as long as he could remember.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to drag up painful memories."

Harry shrugged. "It happens. Don't worry about it." It had actually been a while since he had had to explain that his parents were dead. There had been a couple of explanations as to how it happened like with the Grangers, but ever since he had gone to Hogwarts people already knew about his parents.

"I'm still sorry, Alison's birth father died when she was young. Dr- you know what, it's not important what he died of, he just got sick and didn't pull though. And I know how much it hurts Ali when it's brought up around her." Steve told Harry as he moved the car forward at a crawl barely faster than walking speed.

Wanting to change the subject Harry cast around for a topic of discussion. "So, Steve...what was it like moving to another country?"

The change in topic was awkward but no one said anything.

"Well, I learned my French was nowhere near as good as I thought it was, and I learned that filling out government forms in a language you aren't perfect at is a thousand times more annoying than filling out the English ones. But it's been worth it, not just because I met Sarah and Ali, but I'm now fluent in French and I love living on the Mediterranean coast. The weather is nice, but it's the pace of life that really suits me. Compared to London, Nice is just far more relaxed." Harry could see Steve's face in the car mirror and watched as a smile spread slowly over his features as he talked about his home.

The rest of the drive was fine, albeit long and boring. Eventually, the two cars finally pulled up outside a hotel in the south of the city, just a short walk from the coastline and beaches. The three teens unloaded the suitcases from the cars, Ali helping Harry and Hermione while her parents talked with Dan and Emma. They loaded the suitcases full of new clothes onto a trolley, and Harry was left to follow everyone while he pushed luggage along. Once they were inside the hotel the Tuckers disappeared into the hotel bar/restaurant to wait for them to finish checking in.

"Ah the Granger family, welcome back, it's been a while!" The clerk behind the counter flashed a smile at Dan, Emma and Hermione before he turned it on Harry as well.

Hermione leant in and whispered to harry. "We stay here when visiting Nice. Uncle Steve works in the hotel's restaurant. It's convenient."

"Before I check you in there has been a slight problem. We had you booked into our last family room, but due to a maintenance issue that room became unavailable last night." Harry watched as Dan and Emma exchanged disappointed looks.

"Do you have anything else available?"

"I can offer you two couples rooms if that works for you, no extra charge for a valued repeat customer. Or I could call around other hotels around here and see if they have a family room available."

Emma looked back at Harry and Hermione with a resigned look on her face and sighed before she accepted the two rooms.

Harry took the luggage to the lift when they were given the keys to their rooms. He half-expected Dan to insist that it would be boys in one room and the girls in the other, but instead Emma gave one of the two keys to one of the rooms to Hermione.

"The two of you will have to share one key, we are keeping one of them so we can check on you as needed." Emma indicated herself and her husband when she said "we" leaving no doubt what she meant.

The two rooms were on the same floor, directly across from each other. The one on the south side of the building had a lovely view of the Mediterranean sea and the northern side had a view of green mountains. Dan and Emma invoked adult privilege and took the southern room with its sea view leaving Harry and Hermione to take the other.

-ϟϟϟ-

Harry sat at the desk in his room back in London. They had gotten back from France the day before, and he was busy penning a letter to Tonks

Hey Tonks,

Sorry I didn't write earlier, but considering that Madam Bones helped the Grangers set things up you probably already know I was out of the country. On the off chance you didn't know, I was on holiday in France with the Grangers.

Dan and Emma told me and Hermione when we got home from Kings' Cross and we left the next day. Hermione and I portkeyed to Paris in the afternoon and we met up with her parents, who had left earlier in the day to get there by muggle means. We didn't do much that day, but Hermione and I enjoyed a nice walk through the streets of Paris as we made our way from the French Ministry to the Eiffel tower where we were meeting Dan and Emma.

We spent the night in a cramped little b&b in Paris that was fine apart from the lack of space. The next day we met up with some old friends of Dan and Emma's, the Tuckers. Steven Tucker is English and knew Dan and Emma from a while back, but he moved to France a number of years ago and stayed when he married a French woman. We spent the day shopping in Paris - no, the women spent the day shopping in Paris; Dan, Steve, and I spent the day being dragged around being forced to play dress-up doll and pack mule.

I grumble, but it wasn't so bad. It was good to see a smile on Hermione's face after what happened at the end of the year. I know everyone was all smiles for a few days after the Dementors were removed, but quickly after that the reality of what happened to us set in and Hermione and I were down in the dumps for a bit.

Our third day was pretty boring, just an eight-hour drive from Paris to Nice. Hermione and I had our own room in the hotel because there was a problem with the room that the Grangers booked...

Harry paused his writing and smiled as he remembered the nights that he and Hermione spent together in Nice. The two of them hadn't done anything more than they had before, despite what they had talked about the night in Paris. Apparently Hermione hadn't thought to bring a potion for him with her, and despite her already being protected they had agreed to be as safe as they possibly could. But even with that restriction on what they did, every night was like one of their most recent date nights.

So once we were in Nice it was brilliant. Dan and Emma had a great system where we would relax one day, then do something energetic the next. We arrived too late to do anything on Tuesday so we just had dinner with the Tuckers again and relaxed around the hotel. Wednesday we went and visited a few museums, but not the history ones like I had to visit a few times when I was in Muggle school. These ones were full of paintings and sculptures. I wasn't that interested in them honestly, but Hermione seemed to love them.

Thursday was amazing. Ali (the Tuckers' daughter) had booked an amazing day for us. She, Hermione, and I went scuba diving in the Mediterranean. Dan and Emma came as well, but they didn't feel like diving so they just had a lazy day cruise, sunbathing on the boat and drinking freshly squeezed orange juice. Sarah and Steven were working so couldn't join us during the days, instead joining us most evenings when we went out for a meal.

Hermione, Ali, and I spent the first hour listening to an instructor telling us how to use the equipment so we could breathe underwater. I was a little apprehensive as I had never learned how to swim, but swimming with flippers is really easy. Being underwater in the Mediterranian was amazing. The instructors who dove with us had these bottles of bread mixed with water, and at one point they took them out and squeezed out the bread and water mix, and hundreds of small brightly coloured fish swarmed around us eating the bread. It was awesome.

He actually had photos as the guide had a cool underwater camera and took a picture of each of the divers surrounded by the tiny fish.

The next day we spent the morning in what I can only describe as a massive greenhouse. It's called 'Parc Phoenix' and it's mostly a botanical garden, but they have animals there as well so I guess it's also part zoo. After lunch, we spent the rest of the day just wandering around the city just looking around the shops and stuff.

Then, on Friday the Tuckers took us to a beach, only it wasn't in Nice nor even in France, but in Italy. According to Ali, the beaches in and around Nice always get full of tourists and you just can't relax properly and the nearest beach that doesn't get full is about 45 minutes drive from Nice just inside Italy. Ali was shocked when Hermione pointed out that because Ali wasn't a fan of the tourists on the beach in her hometown, her solution was to be a tourist on someone else's beach. The look on Ali's face was priceless.

Harry's smile spread over his face again. While he had kept his t-shirt on to hide the scars on his back and the still fading marks from LeStrange's attempt to brand him (explaining those marks would have put to much of a damper on the good mood), Hermione had no such restrictions. While she was wearing a one-piece and a sarong, a combination that concealed all traces of her tail sock, she was wearing what had to be the skimpiest one-piece he had ever seen (not that he had seen many). Hermione seemed to take great delight in having Harry rub suntan lotion into every inch of her exposed skin, only quietly lamenting her disappointment that Harry had to keep a shirt on when she returned the favour.

Saturday was different. Dan and Emma wanted to go and look at the old churches, apparently Emma likes the old architecture. Hermione thought that it sounded boring, and if I am honest I agreed with Hermione; the thought of looking at old buildings just didn't speak to me. After Hermione talked to Dan, the two of us were allowed to spend the day with Ali instead. She showed us what local teenagers did instead of all the touristy stuff. We mostly just ended up in a few cool stores that are out of the way of the main streets that you could only find if someone knew the area.

Dan and Emma's flight back to England was nine am the next day, so we drove back to Paris overnight. Hermione and I were lucky enough to be able to sleep in the back of the car for most of the trip. Our booking with the French Ministry for our portkey wasn't until midday though, so Hermione and I got to hang around Paris by ourselves for a few hours. Dan and Emma gave us the last of the francs and told us to go nuts; apparently the commission on changing francs to pounds is just not worth it. So Hermione dragged us to a café for then we took a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was an amazing view and Hermione loved it.

The return trip to London by portkey was just as bad as the one we took to get to France. Wizard transport is quick and convenient, but can't they come up with something comfortable? Even brooms are fun but can be a pain after a while. Even leaving France four hours after Dan and Emma, we got home first. And there was one thing we missed in France: a good cup of tea. A few of the cafés had tea on their menus but it just wasn't quite right for some reason.

So how was your week? Anything interesting happen? Make any noteworthy arrests?

Now I just need to convince Hedwig to deliver this letter, she wasn't happy with me for leaving her behind while we went to France.

Sincerely,

Harry

Harry put the letter in an envelope and, after putting Tonks' name on the front, placed it with the simler letters he had already written to Neville, the twins, Tracy and Daphne. Harry looked over to the perch that was again set up in his room after it had been set up next to the kitchen window down stairs during most of the year. Hedwig was perched there, pretending to ignore him.

"Will you please deliver these for me?" he asked. Hedwig looked at him for a second before she swivelled her head to look at the wall behind her. Her meaning was clear enough, she was still upset with him. "Look, I'm sorry, OK? I promise next time I'll try and see if you can come as well."

Hedwig shifted her feet around, and Harry could see he was getting through to her. "How about I cook you up a nice fresh piece of bacon before you leave?" He tempted her. Hedwig was definitely interested now, she turned her head back to look at him and clicked her beak twice. "Two pieces of bacon?" Hedwig hooted at him to say yes.

He sighed and held out his arm for her. "Come on then, two pieces of bacon for my gorgeous girl." Hedwig flew to his waiting arm and nipped at his ear affectionately.

Harry picked up the letters and walked downstairs. Hermione was in the kitchen fixing Crooks his breakfast of tinned sardines and milk while she listened to the radio, swaying her hips in tune to the beat. Unlike last summer, where a similar sight had stalled Harry's brain, this time he just walked into the kitchen and said, "Morning, love."

Hermione smiled at him. "Hey, you're up late." She continued to dance a little as she mashed up the sardines.

"I was up early, actually. I'm still working an hour ahead on French time, but I had a few letters to write." He held up the bundle of mail before putting them on the table and moved Hedwig to the back of a chair, placing a towel on the chair first to protect the wood from her claws. Then, he pulled out the frying pan and the bacon.

"Bribing your girl again?" Hermione asked on seeing the bacon.

"Nope. My lady of the snow has learnt a new trick. Extortion." Harry faked a put-upon demeanour that got Hermione giggling. Harry put two pieces of the cured meat in the pan and set it to low heat. He was just about to look into fixing himself some breakfast when Hermione pulled him into a dance. The song that was playing had changed, and it must have been one of Hermione's favourites as she was singing along with the radio

Children behave

That's what they say when we're together

And watch how you play

They don't understand and so

We're running just as fast as we can

Holding on to one another's hand

Trying to get away into the night

And then you put your arms around me and we tumble to the ground

And then you say

I think we're alone now

There doesn't seem to be anyone around

Harry got caught up in Hermione's rare silly fun moments. The two of them danced together for a few minutes until the song ended and Hermione, timing her actions to the song, wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and pulled him onto the ground, where she proceeded to snog him silly.

-ϟϟϟ-

Meanwhile in Scotland, Dumbledore was recovering from his week-long transformation. Despite the aches and pains he was still suffering as a side effect of permanently reducing his age, he felt better than he had in decades. He examined himself in one of the larger mirrors he had around his office. He normally used them to spy on the classrooms, an ingenious addition to the school by Phineas Nigellus Black when he was headmaster so that he could perform his reviews of the teachers without having to leave his office. Of course, Headmaster Black used it to watch the teachers to make sure that they never said anything positive about Muggles or Muggleborns.

Now, though, Dumbledore was using one for its intended purpose as he examined his appearance. He was lucky that someone in their hundred and teens looked not much different from someone in their late one-forties. At least, when he had his robes on. Under his robes he could detect that his muscles and skin, while far from youthful (At least for now, he chuckled to himself), there was a definite improvement. His skin was more elastic and his muscles had regained more of their lost definition. He wouldn't need to worry about anyone noticing yet, though he might have to be careful with his next dose. If he remembered correctly it was in his second teens that his beard finally faded from gray to pure white, and while it was still white now it probably wouldn't be after his next treatment.

He wished he could take another dose now, but it was impossible. More than one dose in three months would put the body under too much strain and would probably be fatal. By the time he could take another dose, the school year would have started again and he would be too busy to take a week off. Plus, there would be too many people around that could notice the changes.

He sat down at his desk and started going through the mail that had accumulated during his week of recuperation. Most of it wasn't worth reading, in his opinion. A few parents were still complaining about the Dementors around the school. He had written a form letter for those, directing the parents to complain to Minister Fudge, as it was his decision to surround the school with the foul things and it was Dumbledore who had refused them access to the school.

There were boring procedure letters from the Wizengamot that contained a bunch of useless information that was sent out to all members of the British wizarding world's governing body. He would probably only read the agenda for the upcoming autumn equinox session in September; as it was his job to chair the meeting, he needed to know what was going to be talked about. Normally, as Chief Warlock he set the agenda for the sessions, but the equinox and solstice meetings were different. All the other warlocks had to do was send notification about what they wanted to talk about to the Chief Warlock's office and it would be allowed. The solstice and equinox meetings were a sort of cleaning house for leftover business, and some of the warlocks were getting their intentions in early.

There were a few letters complaining the tuition was too expensive, mostly from old pure blood families with more than enough to pay the 1000 Galleons a year that Hogwarts charged. One, though, was from Molly Weasley. Dumbledore had more sympathy there, but not much. Arthur was a magical law enforcement division head under Amelia Bones, and as Chief Warlock he had seen the salary reviews for the Ministry. Arthur made a decent wage that would cover the family easily if Molly hadn't insisted they keep trying until they had a girl. If they had just stopped at three children they would have been more than fine. It would also probably help if Molly got over herself and got a job. There was a legitimate case up until almost two years ago when young Ginevra had come to school, but now that she wasn't homeschooling her children in the basics she had the time to earn a few gallions herself.

Dumbledore kept going through the mail until he came across one from Bartemius Crouch. It seemed that he had gotten Karkaroff to agree to the damned Triwizard Tournament and that it would be going ahead.

From then Dumbledore was kept very busy with the preparations for the tournament, portkeying between France, the British Ministry, and directly to Durmstrang because they refused to reveal its location. This was apparently for the protection of the students; however, Dumbledore suspected it was more because if a country didn't know the school was inside its borders, then they couldn't try and claim jurisdiction over the school. Merlin knew he had to fight every year to keep the British Ministry from sticking its nose into Hogwarts business, and it was getting harder. Last year Madam Bones had gotten a rotation of Aurors into the school, and now he was going to have to host this tournament starting on Halloween.

Dumbledore was so busy it took him over a week for him to notice that one of his instruments had stopped working. It was a thin silver tube that regularly sent out puffs of colourful smoke. The colour of the smoke would tell him the condition of the wards around the Dursley residence. If the wards were strong then the puff would be white, but it would get progressively darker as the closer the wards he had placed there came to collapsing. Now the device was inert, with no smoke puffing from its tiny chimney. That could only mean one thing, no one with magical talent was living at Number Four Privet Drive. That annoying brat hadn't done as he was told or as he had promised and returned to his family.

In a fit of blind rage, the old wizard drew his wand and blasted the silver pipe, destroying it and sending the shrapnel careening into the wall. He stood there watching the smouldering wreckage for almost a minute as he was filled with self-righteous anger before he forced himself to calm down. Destroying his office wouldn't do him any good, he had to think. He vanished the device remains, along with the pile of splinters that were all that was left of the table that had supported the ward monitor.

Dumbledore sat back at his desk, popped a lemon drop from his desk drawer into his mouth, and swept the sweet around the inside of his mouth as he went over his plans and decided what needed to change so that he could get his optimal outcome. He briefly considered taking the matter before the Wizengamot but rejected the idea. While he could probably get Harry taken from the Grangers because they were Muggles, there was no way they would send the boy back to the Dursleys. Longbottom would have the strongest claim in the Wizengamot; Augusta would use the fact that her daughter-in-law was well known to be Harry's godmother, and as Longbottom was an old pureblood house the Wizengamot would fall in line.

The biggest opposition would be the old Death Eaters faction, as they would likely try and take the boy for themselves. There was some merit to that idea, the boy certainly wouldn't be treated well with those people. But it was too unpredictable, and there was always the possibility that one of the more brutish among them would kill off the boy before he fulfilled his purpose. No, it was better to leave him where he was, at least for now.

The boy would be safe enough with the Grangers. None of Tom's sycophants would be able to find someone in the Muggle world. Only Severus and Tom had the needed information to navigate through the millions of people who called Britain home. Severus was his now, there was no doubting that, and Tom was still licking his wounds from his last encounter with the boy. With LeStrange on the loose, it probably wouldn't be long until Tom was back in the country, but that would probably take a few months. Dumbledore had the time to wait until Harry was back in school before he did anything.

Was he doing the right thing? He wasn't sure; maybe he should reconsider. Dumbledore walked over to the cabinet where he kept his important memories and poured one into his pensive. He watched as a ghostly image of Sybill Trelawney formed from the mists of memory

the one with the power to stand against the darkness approaches...

born to those who stood steadfast before him

born as the seventh month dies...

and the one leading the country to darkness will mark him as his equal

but he will have power the Dark Lord' can't stop ...

The marked will live his life balanced on the edge of a knife

For even as he stands against the darkness it may take root in his own soul

the one with the power to stand against the darkness approaches, born as the seventh month dies...

He nodded, his resolve firming up once more. Dumbledore had seen what his inaction had done with Tom. He wasn't going to make that mistake again.

A/N

The description of the scuba diving trip is heavily based on my own experience scuba diving in the Mediterranean. The only real difference between my experience and the one in the fic is that I already knew how to swim and my trip was from Turkey, not France. There was however someone on that trip who admitted to me he had never been swimming before. Which I thought was rather crazy or a lie at the time, but I wanted Harry and Hermione to have a good holiday.

The description of Molly's employment that Dumbledore takes in this chapter is my own opinion. Whatever the reason, the Weasley family was poor enough that buying their kid a wand was too difficult, and they left Ron with a hand me down. So money was definitely tight, but why didn't Molly get a job once Ginny went to school. What the hell did she do all day? During book two, three and four the only people who were at the Burrow were Molly and Arthur.

My guess at a tuition fee for Hogwarts of 1000 gallons comes out to just under £5000 British pounds per student. Yes, this isn't cheap but when you consider that it doesn't just pay for schooling but lodgings, food, laundry service, any potions the students might need (from headache and pepper-up's to potions to help the girls with their monthly issues and preventing an epidemic of teen pregnancy. (Because at a mixed birding school full of teenagers I bet it's more of a when most of them start having sex not if)

The point though, is that when you add it all up £5000 per student that covers their education and most of their living expenses for a year is quite cheap. But the Weasley family has three or four kids in Hogwarts at any one time. So they must be paying £15000 to £20000 a year for their children to attend the school.

So if we give me Weasley a division head salary of 6000 gallions a year. (almost £30000) you can easily see that 4000 gallons a year on school really eats into their budget. And if Molly had gotten off her ass and had taken some financial responsibility for her kids even a low skilled part-time job would probably get her 1500 gallions a year and that would go a long way into improving the family finances.

On the flip side though once the twins leave Hogwarts the family finances would be fine if Mr Weasley was still a division head.

TL/DR

Blame Molly for her family being poor for a decade and a half.