All Night Long

28th of December, 1995.

Snow was falling softly outside. They had dressed Leoline in warm clothes and were walking around under the cottony white sky. Harry was pointing out things he wanted to do with the land to the Grangers. Remus smiled at the excited tone. He was convinced that James and Lily would have been very proud of their son. He might have grown up in more danger than what was fair, but he had grown up to be a caring young man. They owed a lot of that to Katla, a woman he hadn't even met.

"All of this would make an amazing campaign," Nathaniel said as Harry paused.

"Oh, dad do you have to?" Hermione asked with a sigh.

"To be frank I think your friend here would make an amazing DM," Nathaniel said.

"DM?" Harry asked, confused.

"Dungeon Master," Hermione said. "The Dungeon Master sets up a story and then players get to explore the story. Dad is right. You would be good at it because you are quick on your feet. Dad is part of a group of people who meet up every week and play."

"You say play," Harry said. "So there is some kind of element of gamble in there?"

"You roll dice," Hermione said. "If you want to do something, you have to roll a die to see if your character can do it."

Harry nodded slowly. "Sounds interesting," he said.

"I have the rule books with me," Nathaniel said. "You can read through them if you would like."

"Sounds like fun," Harry said.

"We have lost him," Caroline said, but she was smiling. She actually enjoyed Dungeons and Dragons almost as much as her husband. She just didn't join in as often as he did.

31st of December, 1995.

Fred, George and Angelina looked around as they walked into Ennerdale Mansion. When Harry had invited them over they had not expected him to have such a luxurious home. "Harry!" Fred called as they entered the house. He had to know they were there. Neither twin expected him to go without wards.

Harry showed up almost immediately. "Great!" he said. "Neville is here already so now we're everyone. Come on in and make yourselves at home. Winky has set up rooms for you in the family suite since Hermione and her family have taken over the guest suite. I'm thinking I might need a guest house just so I can invite everyone over." He hugged George and clasped hands with Fred. "Everyone is gathered in the living room. How about we go there." He hugged Angelina before leading them to the living room.

Nathaniel was explaining how to create a D&D character to Neville as they entered the room. Hermione got the twins and Angelina up to speed as they sat down with the rest of the group. Remus had taken refuge in Leoline's room for the day. With so many of Harry's friends present, he felt a little uncomfortable so he opted to stay away from the group for the day.

Harry disappeared again almost immediately.

"He is cooking," Hermione told the newcomers. "Now add those numbers to these columns. What do you want to play?" She picked up some cheat sheets so they could take a look and what races and roles were available.

"How do you play this?" Neville asked. "Physically I mean."

"Around a table with a board of sorts normally," Nathaniel said.

"I don't think that is what Harry has in mind though," Hermione said.

Fred looked at George and they smirked while Angelina sat down next to Neville so she could get started. Knowing Harry he probably had some kind of amazing way in mind. Once everyone had gotten their characters ready it was time for lunch. Harry went over the sheets and hummed happily. He spoke quietly with Hermione and she nodded excitedly. They changed something on her sheet.

Nathaniel wanted to ask what, but he guessed he would find out once they got started. He finished eating and headed back to the living room. Big comfortable pillows were placed in a circle on the floor. He sat down. There was no table or board to be seen. He wondered how they were going to do this. Everyone else walked in and sat down.

"Close your eyes and take a deep breath," Harry said calmly. "This story begins in a deep dungeon. The walls are damp and the room smells of dirt and rotting hay."

Nathaniel and Caroline's eyes flew open as they actually started smelling what Harry described. He looked at them as he kept talking. "You were captured and brought here. You don't know why. As you look around your cell you can see rusting chains hanging from the wall. You are not restrained. The door is made out of heavy wood enforced with iron."

Nathaniel looked around. He touched the walls and felt the door. He looked down at himself. He was wearing soft cotton pants and a draped robe in a deep blue colour. He wore a belt over his robe. Attached to it were several pouches and several dice. He smirked. He grabbed the twenty-sided dice and rolled for a perception check. "Sixteen," he hummed. That was a decent roll. He looked around and saw a stone lit up in the wall. He grabbed it and pulled it out. The walls rocked. He quickly threw out his dice again and rolled a critical hit. His cell door fell off its hinges. He heard someone swear and he headed towards the noise.

"Human?"

Nathaniel turned he was standing face to face with a cat-like woman. Her big golden-brown eyes studied him while her ears moved to listen to the corridor around them. "Hermione?" Nathaniel asked.

The cat grinned. "Yeah, kinda. I'm Mione-daro, human," she said.

"Are there people out there? Could ya give us a handle in here!?"

Hermione moved past Nathaniel. She threw out a die to make a strength check. She grabbed a heavy boulder and pulled it up.

"Tank you."

"Ye took yer time ye mangy cat."

A lithe elf stood up slowly and brushed rocks off himself. "I'm Derf. Tank you for helping me. You're a pretty cat. I like cats," he said.

"Tsk, whatever, elfie," Hermione said.

"Now where is the madman who brought the walls down upon us?" the second person in the cell asked. She was a stout-looking dwarf with heavy blond braids. She wore chainmail and had a mace attached to her belt. This was without a doubt, Caroline. Hermione chuckled as she watched her mother rage.

"Welcome to the labyrinth my witle dearies!" a childlike voice rang through the halls. "Have fun now."

"Who the heck was that?" a burly half-orc, also known as George said as he stumbled into the corridor and looked around. He looked sheepishly at all the rubble. Behind him, a tall half-elf with dark hair and fair features leaned against a wall. Next to him stood a halfling hidden slightly by his larger frame

"So, yer the crazed person who thought bringing down the walls was a good idea?" Caroline said angrily.

"Well, yes," George said while rubbing his neck. "Sorry."

"Sorry! Yer sorry. Ye could have killed us all," Caroline roared.

"This isn't going to help us get out," the half-elf mumbled. "I've been around and we're not alone down here."

"I guess we'll need to deal with that then, halfie," Hermione said. She gave Neville a once over. He made a good elf.

"Why? Why should we work together?" Caroline asked.

"Because we all want to get out," Nathaniel answered.

"This moron will get us killed," Caroline said while pointing at George.

"Hey! I needed to get out of that cell," George said. "Not my fault that the wall caved in."

Caroline muttered as she checked her equipment over.

Nathaniel took command at that. He was the seasoned player after all. "Okay what do we know?" he said. "We were all taken here and locked up?"

Everyone nodded.

"And we know that whoever brought us here thinks this is some kind of game," Nathaniel said.

"She wants to see us fight and fail," Neville said. "The more we fight each other the happier she'll be."

"So we work together to get out?" Nathaniel asked.

"Sure, human, why not," Hermione said.

"If we must," Caroline muttered.

George smiled. "Great," he said. He pointed back the way he had come. "There's a door that way," he said. "I'm Gerg by the way." He held his hand out to Nathaniel who shook it.

"Nice to meet you Gerg I'm Nathan."

"We done with the pleasantries now?" Hermione asked. "I'd rather get goin."

"How about we split up?" Nathaniel said. "Two and two."

"I get cat," Fred exclaimed as he grabbed onto Hermione. She pulled away from him and sighed. "Fine elfie."

"If you wouldn't mind I'll go with you," Neville told Caroline.

The little halfling followed after Neville, no one seemed to pay attention to her.

"Better than the alternative, boy," Caroline said. "Let's get away from these people." She walked next to Neville down a corridor. She rolled a perception check to see if she could notice anything. In the rubble, she found a key. "Think these might be good to have?" she said as she showed it to Neville.

"Looks like it might," Neville responded. He looked around them. "Is it just me or is the floor wet?"

Caroline looked around and shrugged.

"There is water pouring down the walls," Angelina said softly.

Caroline stopped. "That ain't good," she said.

"No, I guess we might better hurry up," Neville said.

A loud grinding sound reached them from above them. Huge snakes fell from holes in the ceiling.

"Someone messed up," Caroline said with a deep sigh. She loosened her mace from her belt and readied her shield. She grabbed her twenty-sided die and threw it out. She drew her mace and rushed forward to attack. She stumbled over one of the snakes and tumbled into their midst. Neville moved in after her and punched one of the snakes before grabbing her and pulling her up with him.

Fire surrounded them and singed the snakes but it only served to piss them off.

The snakes struck out towards them. Neville blocked two coming towards him, but the third bit into his side and he hissed out in pain.

Caroline raised her hand and a flaming light struck down at one of the serpents. "Ye ain't half bad, boy," she told Neville as the last serpent fell dead to the ground. "I'm Carol." She introduced herself before looking around.

"Neil," Neville responded. He moved on ahead for a bit after checking that Angelina was okay. "This is a dead-end," he said. He stumbled as a rumble tore through the building.

"What the all living destroyer was that?" Caroline said.

"Sounds like a club hitting the walls," Neville said.

"We have to get back there before they kill us all," Caroline said. She led the way through the tunnels of the labyrinth as they slowly filled with water.

They found Greg and Nathan fighting a half-ogre. Neville ran in and punched the ogre square in the chest knocking it out.

"Messy, messy," Hermione said. "Nice hit halfie. We found keys. Elf-kitty and I have five."

"We found one, cat," Caroline said. She held her key up.

"I know where the door is," George said. "It is this way."

He bound down a corridor so quickly that it was hard for the rest of them to keep up.

"Seven," Caroline cursed. "We're lacking one bleedin key."

"Guess we'll have to find it then," Hermione said.

"Why do we even need keys?" George asked. He lifted his giant axe and slammed it against the door.

"Opsie, don't go pwaying ajound with your weapons like that witle one. You've got to find the keys." The same childlike voice from before spoke to them. "Tick-tock, tick-tock the water jises."

The flow of water coming down the walls increased. They had one damn key to find.

"We haven't gone down either of these two paths," Nathaniel pointed at a branching hallway leading to another part of the labyrinth. "Three and three then," Caroline said. She pointed at George. "Ye are coming with me. I want to know what foolishness ye come up with," she said threateningly.

"Jesh, I haven't done anything," George said.

Angelina snorted out a peel of laughter.

"Hey, shorty is mean," George complained.

Caroline narrowed her eyes at him and he backed away. She stalked away from the group through the now ankle-deep water; Neville, Angelina and George followed her.

"Tsk, guess you're comin with us then, human," Hermione told Nathaniel. "You better keep up." She started running and Fred turned into a big tiger-looking cat with a stub tail and followed her. As he caught up with her he whined.

"I know kitty," Hermione said. "Blasted water." She glared at the offending substance all around them as if her gaze could make it go away. Then she stopped. "There's another ogre up ahead," she said. "Kitty and I could sneak past it. Human how about you distract it while we go around."

"Easy enough," Nathaniel said. He aimed a fireball down the corridor. It slammed into the ogre and spread out over its hide armour. "Hey smelly!" he shouted. His eyes widened as a javelin came sailing down the corridor. "Human is the smelly one," the ogre said gruffly. "Maurg will make human into spit roast. Good with sage."

Before the ogre could do much more than walk up to Nathaniel however Hermione and Fred appeared behind him. Hermione jumped up and dug her daggers into his shoulder. They tore down Maurg's back leaving a bleeding trail behind. Fred did little more than piss the Ogre off as he swiped at Maurg's heels. Nathaniel lifted his hands again and cast another fireball straight in the ogre's face.

"Maurg angry," the ogre shouted. His heavy battle-axe slammed down on Nathaniel who collapsed under its weight. Together Hermione and Fred took the ogre down before pushing the axe off Nathaniel. He groaned in pain as he was pulled to his feet.

"At least it ain't deeper," Hermione said. "Your guts ain't spilling out, human. That's good."

Nathaniel collapsed back into the murky water and Fred turned back into an elf so he could help him stand up.

"The dwarf can heal him," Hermione said. "You should take him back to the door."

"If you tink tat is best," Fred said. Hermione looked around the last few twists and turns by herself. On her way back she slipped and fell face-first into a pile of mush. She rolled out of it and puked before pulling herself up. In her hand was the last key. "At least that's something," she muttered.

Back at the door, Caroline was healing Nathaniel so they could continue. Hermione walked up and inserted the last key into the lock. She twisted it and it disappeared just like all the other keys before it. The door rumbled open. "There's some kind of elevator thingy in here," she said.

"Let's head up then. Before we drown," Caroline said. They walked in through the door together and stepped onto a hovering disk the size of a circus tent. Once they were all standing on the platform it rose.

"Oh, you so good witle explowers." The childish voice told them as they travelled up. "First test done."

"I'm going to wring her blasted neck," Hermione hissed angrily.

"Can I help?" Fred asked innocently and Hermione huffed at him.

Once the elevator stopped they walked into a room filled with writhing ghosts. It looked like they were being tortured but no one was around to do it. Nathaniel walked up to one of the ghosts and tried to break the chains. "Damn it," he hissed. His roll hadn't been high enough.

Caroline rolled her eyes and grabbed her own dice. She threw it out and smirked as she walked up to the same ghost that Nathaniel had tried to free. She grabbed the chains and tore them clean off the wall.

"Tsk, tsk, don't steal my toys witle ones. That's no wery nice of you." She laughed. "Will see you soon, dearies." All the ghosts disappeared as the echo of her voice died out.

"That's disturbing," George said. "What happened to them?"

"Does it matter?" Hermione asked. "They were already dead."

"Doesn't mean they need to suffer though," George said.

"Oh mighty mountain, an orc with a bleedin heart," Caroline said. "What's next? The cat is actually a little pretty princess?"

"Can we at least try to keep civil until we get out of here?" Neville asked calmly. "We can all split then, but fighting now isn't going to help anyone."

"Neil's right," Hermione said. "Let's keep going."

Angelina grabbed onto the hem of Neville's shirt as they moved on. Her character didn't like ghosts.

Through the next door lay a big circular room. Pillars held up the ceiling and by each pillar stood a suit of armour. On the floor scattered around the room were floor plates of shining light in different colours. Straight across the room was another elevator platform. "It's stuck," George said once they had all rolled a perception check.

They could see whirring going from the pad to several spotlights on the floor.

"It's a puzzle," Hermione said. She motioned towards the lights. "I guess we need to light the right ones to activate it."

They walked around the room to look for clues but couldn't find any. "I guess we'll just have to try it," George said as he stepped onto one of the plates of coloured light. Nothing happened.

"Well, tat one is obviously wrong," Fred said. He stepped up on another. A bright red light shot up like a beam from one of the spotlights.

"Stay on that one," Nathaniel said. He walked around the room again. He wished he could see the wiring. They tried several buttons before George stepped onto the blue one and another beam of light shot out of the ground.

"So red then blue," Hermione mumbled. She rolled an intelligence check and walked over to the purple button. She smirked showing off her sharp white teeth as she saw a purple beam hit the ceiling. Caroline stepped on the green plate but nothing happened. Yellow, orange and pink did nothing. Nathaniel rolled as he stepped up to the teal button and he stopped. He looked from the button over to the suits of armour. He could see wires. "How about the jade one?" he said.

Neville stepped onto the jade button and another beam lit up the ceiling.

"Only one more to go," Caroline said.

"Let's just test them out," George said. "One at a time."

"I don't know. That could be dangerous," Nathaniel said. "There are definitely traps here. I don't really feel like triggering them."

"Whatever," George said. Thankfully he seemed to have picked the correct button to step on because the last beam lit up and the elevator was released.

The room darkened and everyone woke up in the circle of pillows. "We should move around a bit," Harry said. "Go to the bathroom and have something to drink."

Nathaniel was sitting there staring at Harry. "That was amazing," he said. "How are you doing that?"

Harry chuckled. "I pulled you all into an illusion held by my mind," he said. "You can't really get hurt but everything still feels real enough."

"You even got smells down right," Nathaniel said.

"If I know a scent then I can replicate the signals your brain would pick up to experience the same smell," Harry said.

"This is just… I don't think I will be able to look at D&D the same ever again," Nathaniel said. "Going back to just the board will not be the same after this." He shook his head as he stood up.

"I'm a little worried your father will hate me for this," Harry told Hermione as she returned.

"I think he is really enjoying himself and that he is glad he is getting this opportunity," Hermione said.

"I hope you are right," Harry said with a smile.

They settled down in the circle again soon enough and everyone closed their eyes only to open them back in the room with the light beams glowing faintly.

"I guess we're headin on," Caroline said.

They got up on the elevator platform and continued up to the next room. Thick stone walls surrounded them. There was a single door that George walked up to and opened. Water flooded into the room.

"Don't you worry witle ones. I don't want to drown you. You can bwead in here. Have fun!"

Hermione growled and sneered at the water. She was seriously going to mess that stupid she-demon up when she found her. While they could breathe underwater, they had no way of speaking to each other. Through the door, they could see sharks and merrows swimming around.

Caroline grabbed her d20. There was no way they weren't going to fight those things. Low walls and beams made the room confusing. Had there been fewer of them they might have been able to sneak by. She saw another larger stone structure up and to the right, but she couldn't see a door from where she was floating. She certainly hoped there was one. They would have to spread out if they could make sure to keep obstacles between themselves and most of their enemies at all times that would be good too. She swam up and attacked the nearest shark. A sacred fire burned the reef shark and got everyone else's attention. Nathaniel and Hermione swam out and attacked. Hermione's daggers buried into the side of another shark while Nathaniel's spell sizzled by its target and missed.

George passed everyone else and instead of attacking a shark, he went straight for a merrow. His heavy axe cut into the merrow's shoulder and their trusty seahorse answered the attack. Thankfully George pushed himself out of the way at the last second. The merrow attacked him too but the harpoon went sailing past him and lodged in the side of one of the low walls. Blood coloured the water and dissipated. Caroline killed her shark with her next attack before she moved on to take out another. Hermione's shark slowly floated up as it stopped moving and Fred finally landed a blow on the seahorse that had come to attack him.

Hermione and Neville's screams were distorted by the water as sharks bit into them and flung them around. Hurt by the attack Hermione missed her opponent with her thrown dagger. It continued through the water like a sharp projectile and sliced Fred's shoulder open. Neville's seemingly well-aimed kick fared no better as he hit one of the walls and he could feel his bones break.

Angelina swung her blade at the closest shark and blood flowed. She wished she could use her instruments to help her friends, but there was nothing she could do.

Caroline's attention was pulled away from their enemies, and she raised her hand. Neville's leg mended while Hermione's and Fred's wounds closed as the healing magic surrounded them. Hermione disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

The merrow attacked again but missed. George raised his sword and cut the merrow he was facing in half just as Hermione appeared behind the other one. Her daggers gleamed as she stabbed them into the merrow's back.

Nathaniel cast a spell that threw the merrow back and Neville took out the shark that had been chewing on him. In one last desperate attempt, the merrow tried to order the sharks around them but failed. The sharks turned on the man who was shouting at him. He was bleeding heavily and the sharks were hungry. Caroline motioned for everyone else to follow her and she led them away from the massacre and feeding.

She found a hatch and grabbed the chain attached to it. She yanked at the chain and it came right off. Nathaniel and Fred swam up to the hatch. They tried and failed to find a way to open it now that the chain was broken. Then Neville moved passed them. He linked a rope through the hoop that had once held the chain. They all grabbed onto the rope and pulled hard. The hatch opened and they swam up.

Hermione shook the water out of her fur violently as she glared at the water angrily.

"It's goin to take me ages to get the rust out of me armour after this," Caroline grumbled.

"You don't say," George muttered.

"I think we need a rest," Nathaniel said. "We have no idea what is beyond the next door and I don't want to just rush in blind."

"I'm with the human on that one," Hermione said.

Neville and Fred slumped down against a wall with Angelina between them and Nathaniel did his best to light a small fire with what they had available to them.

Hermione pulled her armour off. Thankfully, she wore mostly leather so her clothes weren't wet but her fur was, and she hated it. She moved as close to the small fire as she could while she watched the others spread out their clothes.

Angelina played a tune on her flute that made everyone feel just a little better.

An hour or so later they packed up again. They didn't feel safe staying around for too long and everyone wanted to get out. Whoever had trapped them was probably not the patient sort and staying in one place for too long might very well have her send something nasty at them.

They pushed the next door open slowly. Beyond it lay a room with a marble floor and shiny blue walls. Thick carpets covered most of the floor. Heavy chandeliers hung from the ceiling. It was lavish.

"Ah, finally you make it to me. How wonderful."

At the far end of the room stood a throne and on that throne sat a woman. Her long blonde hair shone like spun gold and her eyes were as blue as the summer sky. She stood up slowly as they entered the room. Then before they could do anything a thick shimmering cloud slammed into them and they all were forced to roll.

Hermione blinked several times and shook her head.

"Come here my dears. Come to Mithila," the woman on the throne said softly. Hermione watched as almost every single one of her companions walked up to the she-demon obediently.

"Oh, my great lady beautiful as the morning sun and gentle as the evening breeze," Nathaniel said. "What brings you to such a place of misery o fair maiden?"

Mithila smiled and it looked sweet and innocent as long as you didn't look her in the eyes.

"What do we do?" George asked Hermione. "She's enchanted them."

"I noticed," Hermione said tensely. "Bloody hormonal idiots," she hissed. She drew one of her daggers and threw it towards Mithila. It lodged into her shoulder and blood tainted her nice green dress.

"Tut, tut," Mithila said as she reached up and grabbed the dagger. "Knights get them!" At her command, two armoured knights started moving towards Hermione and George, but for a split second there she lost control of the magic holding the people around her and Neville broke free of her trance. He backed away from her and noticed the knight behind him moving towards Hermione. He struck out and landed a heavy blow.

George blocked the knight attacking him and Neville and Hermione danced out of the way of the other knight's longsword. The fight was short and bloody. Hermione whipped blood from her face as it slowly dripped out of the nasty-looking head wound.

"How dare you?" Mithila asked.

"Yes, how dare you hurt our lady?" Nathaniel exclaimed.

"Oh, for Masser's sake," Hermione hissed. She threw another dagger at Mithila and once again she hit. At this rate, she was going to run out of daggers. At first, it seemed as if Nathaniel and the rest couldn't break out of their trance, but then Mithila growled angrily. Her skin darkened to grey and her golden locks turned into ravenous snakes.

"Close your eyes!" Hermione shouted. She could hear Angelina playing her flute. She felt stronger.

"My, my I just wanted to pway a witle," Mithila said childishly.

Caroline raised her shield in front of herself and opened her eyes. She could see the medusa's shadow on the floor.

Hermione grabbed her last dagger and threw it towards Mithila. She heard it clatter over the floor as it missed its mark. Nathaniel on the other hand didn't miss with the ball of fire that he cast. The medusa screamed angrily as she drew a sword from her belt. She slashed through Caroline's chainmail and one of her snakes bit Fred. She stalked across the room and cut into Hermione's arm. Hermione tried to grab the sword and yank it out of Mithila's hand but failed.

Caroline set the medusa aflame with holy light and George rushed in and slammed his heavy axe down upon her. "You leave her alone," he roared.

"Thanks… Greg," Hermione said.

"No problem," George said with a big goofy smile on his face.

Hermione's eyes widened in horror as George turned to stone where he stood. "NO!" she roared. "You nasty hag." She rammed her sword straight through the medusa's stomach. "We need a mirror," she called out.

Nathaniel and Caroline started looking around desperately. Thick velvet curtains hung along the walls. Caroline rushed over to one of them and grabbed it. She yanked it to the side revealing a gigantic mirror. Nathaniel had been running towards the other side of the room where another heavy curtain hung when he too turned to stone.

The music died as Angelina turned to stone. Hermione growled. Their little bard hadn't hurt anyone.

Caroline grabbed a throwing axe from her belt and flung it across the room. As Hermione saw the axe impact with Mithila she pushed the medusa backwards Fred turned into a cat and bit down on Mithila's shoulder before dragging her back towards the second set of curtains that Neville had now made it up to. They pulled the curtain aside and Mithila was forced to look at her own reflection. Slowly her legs turned to stone, she struggled but it was all for nothing and she froze in place.

"We have to save them," Caroline said as she walked up to the statue of Nathaniel. "Move them together. I know how to fix this."

There was a tense moment once George, Nathaniel and Angelina stood side by side before Caroline's spell worked and they fell forward.

"Where is that snake-faced piece of otyugh dung?" George asked. He looked around until he saw her and growled. He walked up to her and raised his axe. As the blade hit the statue of the medusa she shattered into thousands of pieces.

An inhuman shriek could be heard shilling them to the bone.

"What was that?" Fred asked.

"I don't know Derf," Hermione said. "I don't know."

"And so the prisoners escaped and the medusa was no more," Harry said as he slowly brought them back to the real world. "The explorers left the tower that had held them and went their separate ways. Mione came to find after some time on the road that Derf was following her, but she realised that she didn't mind quite as much as she might once have done. Maybe they will one day meet again. Maybe not. At least there now was one less medusa in the world."

Nathaniel grinned. "That was pretty cool," he said. "I wish I could do something like that with the pals."

"That would be hard to pull off," Harry said. "All things considered."

"Oh, I know that," Nathaniel said. "Still a man can dream."

Harry chuckled.

Fred looked at George. "How about we set up the firework now?" he asked.

"I'll get dinner ready," Harry said. "That took a little longer than I had anticipated."

"It always does," Caroline said. "Once Nathaniel left to play a quick game and was gone until three in the morning."

Harry chuckled as he walked into the kitchen. That had gone well enough he guessed. The ending could have been better, but he had been a bit short on time. It was fun though. He definitely felt like it would be worth it to play D&D again someday.

Remus came walking into the kitchen as Harry kneaded dough for the bread bowls he was making. "Winky let me know you guys were done," he said.

Harry nodded. "That we are. How is Leoline doing?" he said.

"He fell asleep a bit ago," Remus said.

"We should shield his room so he doesn't notice the fireworks later," Harry pointed out. He placed the bread out on baking trays and set them to prove. Harry and Remus passed Caroline as they headed upstairs. She was on her way to her room. They had been sitting down for quite some time and her back wasn't entirely happy with her. Thankfully her wonderful husband had promised her a massage.

"He's got quite a few tricks up his sleeve, doesn't he," Nathaniel commented as she stepped into the room.

"He is very powerful and if he were to, let's say, turn evil he would be a force to be reckoned with," Caroline said. "Just imagine him doing what he did tonight to gather information. Or torture someone."

Nathaniel gave his wife a pained glare. "Yes, I certainly realise the possibilities. He doesn't seem like the type though," he said.

"No he doesn't, but that doesn't change the facts," Caroline said.

"So you think we shouldn't be friends with him?" Nathaniel said.

"On the contrary," Caroline responded. "I think that people like Hermione and us and little Leoline are extremely necessary for him to not do things like that. Our daughter is a good influence. I don't want to rob him of that." She sat down on the bed and looked up at her husband. "Harry needs people around him that care about him," she said. "He had that back in Skyrim and despite their somewhat shady operations, they cared very much for him and the betterment of the living conditions for their entire country. Harry doesn't have that kind of responsibility here, but he has the power and influence to make a big difference. Hermione can help him there. She can be a voice of reason when needed. We already know he values her opinion above many others."

Nathaniel nodded slowly. "So we move forward even though we are defenceless against him?" he said.

"We are defenceless against all people with magic," Caroline pointed out. "At least Harry respects us even if we don't have mysterious powers of our own."

Nathaniel sat down next to Caroline and kissed her. At least they were in agreement. Harry was a good guy and they wanted to keep him that way if they could.

Fireworks spread in flowers of green and pink across the sky. A phoenix flew up towards the stars and dragons roared as their pieces exploded.

Another year had passed.

Hopefully, the next one would be as good as this one.