That evening, after Harry, Amy, Susan, Hannah, Sirius, Remus, Amelia, and Heather finished an enjoyable dinner of piping hot spaghetti with meatballs and tomato sauce mixed in with a side of garlic breadsticks and Jim Beam to wash it down with, Heather spoke up.
"I would like to take some adult only time with Sirius, Remus, and Amelia for the next few hours, " said Heather matter of factly, "Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah, if I may make a suggestion. Why don't the Yellow Quartet go up to Hannah's room? Hannah, could you tell Harry, Amy, and Susan the story of your father's life? Susan already knows of course. But the point is, Harry and Amy don't know anything about your father and if we're all going to be family, shouldn't we all know each other's backgrounds?"
"Even though I've never spoken to him because he died when I was only a baby, I'm immensely proud of my father and the life he lived and it would give me satisfaction to tell his story!" said Hannah proudly, "Do Harry, Amy, and Susan agree to this?"
"Yes!" chroused Harry, Amy, and Susan.
Next nanosecond, the Yellow Quartet walked up to Hannah's room and they all sat down in a row on Hannah's bed.
"So, " began Hannah, "The one thing you all know about my father is that he was in Hufflepuff when he was a student at Hogwarts. "
"We don't know his name though, " interjected Amy.
"His name was Hunter Abbott, " replied Hannah matter of factly, "His wand was twelve inches, mahogany and dragon heartstring."
"Sounds like an excellent wand for Transfiguration!" guessed Harry eagerly.
"Transfiguration was dad's best subject, by far, " smiled Hannah, "It was also by far his favorite subject. Though he was also brilliant in Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"He was very powerful, right?" piped up Susan.
"You remember correctly, Susan." said Hannah happily, "Hunter Abbott was overall an E student at Hogwarts, but he always got Os in Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts, the two subjects that require the most power. "
"Based on what you know about him, what were Hunter's greatest character traits?" inquired Amy.
"His loyalty and his bravery, " said Hannah a nanosecond later, the pride in her voice obvious, "He was the type of person you'd want in a foxhole with you. He was a genuine Hufflepuff but was brave enough to have been a true Gryffindor as well."
"Is there any particular branch of Transfiguration or Defense Against the Dark Arts that Hunter was exceptionally gifted at?" asked Harry curiously.
"Oh yes!" said Hannah with a proud smile across her face, "In his fifth year at Hogwarts, dad became a snake animagus!"
"WOW!" gasped Harry and Amy in awe.
"WOW!" was my reaction when I first learned this, " reminisced Susan.
"Here's the deal, " explained Hannah, "After Hunter left Hogwarts, he became a spy against Voldemort. He knew how to hide using his snake form and he often listened in on what Voldemort or other Death Eaters were up to. He would pass this information on to trustworthy adults on the "good" side of the war. Hunter's information helped to prevent several potential murders and helped to prevent Voldemort from gaining a stronger foothold than he did because we were warned of certain things and acted to prevent them. I don't know a lot of the details. Mom wants to wait until I'm a little older to tell me everything. I do know this, a few weeks before Voldemort's power broke, dad was unfortunately spotted in his snake form by Voldemort. Voldemort, who realized quickly that this snake was not on his side, killed it. Voldemort left the dead snake behind without much thought. Mom eventually recovered the dead snake, and my dad was buried in his snake form."
"Oh, I'm so sorry Hannah, " said Harry tearfully, " Hunter didn't even get to buried in his human form?"
"I do feel incredibly sad about this story sometimes, " said Hannah seriously, "But dad knew what he was getting himself into when he became a spy in snake form. He knew the risks involved and he knew he might meet that end. I can't stress enough how proud I am of dad's bravery. "
"Hunter was very altruistic, " observed Harry, "He risked his life to help save others."
"Yes!" said Hannah proudly, "Dad was a man's man through and through. Also, I'd like to note that dad was an expert at producing Talking Patronuses."
"Talking Patronuses are MUCH harder to produce than regular Patronuses, " said Susan matter of factly.
"Yep, " beamed Hannah, "And dad mastered both the Talking Patronus and become an animagus immediately upon his first attempts. He was powerful, skilled, loyal, and brave. What more could you ask for in a person?"
"Do you know why Hunter named you Hannah?" asked Harry.
"In my case, my naming largely just came down to the fact that Hannah was always dad's favorite girls name. There wasn't any particular reason for this. He just happened to really love the name Hannah, which he thought was a beautiful name. As he'd always wanted any child of his to bear a first name that started with the letter H, it was a no brainer, " explained Hannah, "Hunter was always fond of the letter H."
"I can't help but smile at that, " grinned Harry, "If you were a boy, might Hunter have named you Harry?"
"Quite possibly yes, " smiled Hannah, "Dad always did like the name Harry, though he also liked Harrison."
"How did your parents meet then?" Amy asked Hannah.
"Dad was in the same year at Hogwarts as James, Sirius, Remus, Lily, Amelia, and mom, " explained Hannah, "Like Amelia and mom, he was Hufflepuff. Heather and Amelia weren't close to anyone other than each other during much of their Hogwarts years. Hunter and Heather became a couple in their fifth year at Hogwarts when both were Hufflepuff prefects. Hunter and Heather were very young when they had me."
"It's another sad story, " said Harry, shaking his head, "Hunter never got to hear his daughter say her first words and you-"
"Truthfully, I'm really lucky on two counts, " piped up Hannah, "The fact that my mom is such a great mom and has always taken such great care of me. and the fact that, because the Abbotts had long been implausibly wealthy, mom inherited such a fortune from dad that she hasn't had to work and has been able to focus over the years on raising me. Hunter left her everything in his will."
"Another family torn apart by Voldemort, " said Harry sadly, "But I have all the respect in the world for Hunter after learning about him."
"I'm really glad you and Amy now know about my dad, " said Hannah quietly, "His ending was incredibly sad, but I really like talking about what kind of person he was and what kind of life he lived."
"Thank you for sharing, Hannah, " said Harry sincerely.
"Yes, thank you for telling us Hunter's story, " added Amy, "I found his story inspirational just thinking about the type of man he was."
"Totally agreed, " added Harry, "If there were more people like Hunter the world would be a much better place."
Hannah just smiled at Harry, Amy, and Susan. She was glad the entirety of the Yellow Quartet now knew her dad's life story and the fact that all four of them were wearing their vivid yellow dresses while she was telling it felt fitting.
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