Watching favourite people row, watching friends make peace
"Did … Harry mention me when he proposed to you?" said Ginny.
"Yes, he did mention you, mostly in connection to the fact that he and Uncle Sirius were offering me the House of Black instead of Potter," said Parvati, "But no, he didn't propose to me like that. Harry, Why didn't you propose to me like that?"
"Because you'd already proposed to me," said Harry, "I offered you a mark, and when you understood about half of what it meant, You said, 'Harry, you're an idiot, if you want to marry me, you should be negotiating a proper purchase agreement with my father.' When I tried to tell you 'no, I didn't want a slave, I just thought slave magic was a cool way to protect people,' you encouraged me to see my duty to my house and family, as a noble sort of slavery, that you would be honoured for me to want to share with you."
Parvati sighed.
"So," said Harry, "In lieu of merely telling you 'yes', I followed your advice."
Ginny sighed.
Parvati nodded.
"Damn straight," yawned Padma, "Are you going to shag Ginny's brains out next or should I offer."
"What?" exclaimed Ginny.
"Not sure she's looked closely enough at your Sher mark to understand why," said Parvati.
"That sounds significant," said Luna, poking Ginny's elbow. Ginny gave her a nod and the pleading stare which meant Luna would remind her to investigate later, Then she turned back to the others.
"Could someone please explain," said Ginny, "what the 'brains out' part of the phrase actually means?"
"At the risk of sounding like Hermione," said Harry, "sex causes the release of a lot of hormones into the bloodstream, I'm under the impression that some of the hormones at the beginning have contradictory effects to some at the end, with the result that afterwards, you can be in this weird mental state, content and tired are usually the main things, but sometimes it can also be possible to realise things you couldn't see before, almost like looking at a lot of the plot and logic of the world through … I don't know, the wrong colour glasses."
"Well said," Luna agreed, "though I might have just said, a different colour glasses."
"Sure … And like other kinds of dream logic, or emotional colouring, or whatever," said Harry, "sometimes these realisations don't hold up to the light of day, and sometimes they still do. It's weird. Anyway, that effect is more likely or maybe just stronger, after a longer, or more intense session. Hence, not just shagging, but shagging one's brains out, being code for an intense session."
"Got it," said Ginny, "So 'are you two going to celebrate becoming engaged, with wild, passionate, mind-altering sex,' becomes just, 'are you going to shag her brains out?'?"
"Basically," said Padma, "also isn't it 'betrothed'."
"Betrothed is after she signs a betrothal contract," said Harry, "Right now, all we have is that she's said she wants to, and a contract which Sirius, and I, and her father have signed, but she's still deciding if she likes it, or wants to negotiate it more."
"Oh," said Padma.
"Um," said Ginny, "If I do sign it, but say, when I'm seventeen, and it's time to … annul it or plan a wedding, if I see something I want to be changed, would it still be possible to negotiate a replacement, at that time?"
"Um," said Harry, "I think so, but you might want to ask your Dad."
Padma grunted, "also there's a reason why most betrothal contracts don't also try to be marriage contracts, and why most marriage contracts don't try to define what 'married' means. It's not any of your parent's business, only: 'you children know you should budget well enough, and use the correct legal protections to keep a bankruptcy of one or both of you from starving either of you or your children.'"
"There's certainly something to be said for the wizarding world not operating on debt," said Parvati.
Ginny looked at her in confusion, "I still don't get what money has to do with anything."
"Research shows," said Padma, "that 90% of what married couples argue about is money, mostly that they don't have enough of it. Do you want your kids to have a happy marriage? Don't let them get married until they know how to handle money, or to anyone who hasn't saved enough to support one or the other parent, and all their children, in the event of a death."
"Bu…" said Ginny.
Luna poked Ginny, "Or there's enough garden to feed them all, for that matter."
"Yeah," said Ginny, "That makes sense."
Both the Patils were glaring at her, and Harry's teeth were clenched, but he wasn't glaring at any of them. He might be trying very hard not to yell at any of them.
"And do you know how much garden it takes to feed," Luna stopped and counted who was in the room, all of Lion's-Keep except Hermione and Susan, "Five of us?"
"Well …" said Ginny, "all except meat, and then, I think three cows or five goats would be enough for dairy. Where do all of you fall on the dairy vs. Eggs spectrum?"
"I prefer eggs," said both Patils.
"We um eat about half as much meat as the average British mage," said Parvati, "which is still lots more than dad's muggle side of the family."
Ginny shrugged, "I think elves don't eat it, so don't know how much they should really serve us. Don't worry about it, as long as we don't eat too little and weaken our magic, or too much and weaken our digestion, it doesn't matter all that much." She suggested a good average in pounds per week.
Padma turned and glared at Harry instead.
"What are we really discussing?" said Padma through gritted teeth, "And why?"
"Someone was about to yell at Ginny for not knowing how to manage money. Or at me for offering to marry her before she learned. And I was trying to figure out how to politely say, 'when do you think she would have been able to have a chance to practice?' Just because you and Parvati grew up watching your parents handle money, and run a merchant business, and whatever lessons about it they took the time to teach you, doesn't mean much about how the rest of us were raised."
Padma nodded.
"Then Luna pointed out that Ginny has experience managing a kitchen garden."
"A bit more than just a kitchen garden," said Ginny,
Harry froze, "I may not know the correct nomenclature."
"A family garden," said Ginny, "and an entire orchard, on and off."
Harry nodded, and stared into space, while he seemed to recalculate what he knew and from which sources, "So … a kitchen garden is usually mostly spices? and maybe a favourite vegetable or two that you like too much to accept under-ripe or over-ripe from the market, whereas A 'family garden' aims to grow everything you need fresh produce wise?"
"Except maybe potatoes and grain," said Ginny, "muggles can usually grow those a lot cheaper somehow."
"Cheaper than free?" said Parvati.
Ginny and Luna shook their heads, "they still take up a lot of land and water."
"And Labour," said Luna.
Padma nodded.
"Oh, hmm," said Parvati.
"Ginny," said Harry, "quickly moved from gardening to meal planning, her own preferred area of expertise, I suspect. I've learned how to cook a few dishes, but mostly they were just the staple meals the Dursleys liked, not a broad general overview of cooking itself. And I definitely don't know nearly enough about meal planning. I learned a little about health and diet management at the dojo, enough to learn more by paying attention to what I eat and how I feel after, but that's not very comprehensive either. It might be ideal if we all learned all aspects of taking care of ourselves, money management, diet management, meal planning, cooking, crop planning, and gardening."
Padma nodded, "Yeah, alright."
"Or all picked specialities?" said Parvati.
"I don't want to dump all of it on you at once," said Harry, "I know you already have trouble keeping up with … studying your class things as deeply as you wish. But I think we should plan to master all of them eventually. Even if we don't practice enough to be able to match the speed and accuracy that whoever does specialise in it can manage. If nothing else, it will help us trust the one who is specialising in that, and appreciate their efforts. Or help catch the mistake if they misplace a decimal point."
Parvati nodded.
"Or take their place, if they're sick in bed for a day or two," said Padma.
"Also there's the camaraderie of helping each other, not only by doing your speciality for someone you love, but also working together with someone even if it isn't your speciality, or isn't either of your specialities," said Harry.
"Broom riding?" said Luna.
"Yes," said Harry.
"What?" said Parvati.
"Two people on a broom is a coordination dance, similar but different than riding a smart horse."
"Oh," said Parvati.
Harry met Ginny's eyes, "or sewing in tandem, though that's fewer forces to balance, but tighter timing, than anything I've done with Lightfeet or Luna."
"It's been a while since we did that," said Ginny, "mostly we've just taken turns weaving."
Harry shrugged.
They were quiet for a while. Padma got up to inspect Luna's bookshelf. After several seconds Harry picked up his hand and stared at it. A second later he patted Ginny's side and started sliding out of bed.
"What?" she said looking over her shoulder.
"Thank you for your mark," he said. And went to Padma and tried to put her clothes on her. She stared at him oddly for a second, then accepted.
"Why?" she said, "I figured the dress code around here allowed this."
"It certainly does," whispered Harry, "But you were getting cold."
She smirked not quite so oddly, "And?"
He held out his hand, and shrugged, "and either I haven't yet gotten used to Ginny's mark telling me things, or I was insufficiently distracted by other things."
She blinked at him and then examined his hand, then nodded and stared passed him at Parvati and Ginny.
She gave a bemused smile and let him help her dress. Then he dressed also and they admired books together.
.
...-...
Still looking at 'normal,' but with new eyes
When Ginny woke again, Luna was up, and Parvati was braiding Harry's hair, which had grown back, or maybe only mostly grown back. Harry was paging through something, maybe a picture book by the rapidity of his flipping. And they were discussing the difference between mokes and nifflers for making bags and satchels out of.
Harry tensed and stopped flipping, "Um, does anyone know how much a small vault costs at Gringotts?" he said.
No one knew.
"Fine," said Harry, "I guess I have homework to do."
"Why?" said Parvati.
"Have you ever heard of allowance?" said Harry.
"Yes," said Parvati, "when we were six, we started getting half a pound a week."
"Hmm," Harry rumbled, "an eighth of a galleon, … two sickles."
"Why?" said Parvati, "There." she drew her wand to conjure a bit of string around the last braid tip, "Your hair's done."
"Thanks," said Harry and stood up to turn and face them all.
"It's not always four pounds to the galleon," said Padma, "I've seen as much as five and a half."
"True, but not the point," said Harry. He saw Ginny was awake and looked at her, "If I offered to give you 7 galleons 5 sickles every month, what would you think?"
"That's … that's enough to buy a wand and some candy."
Harry raised his eyebrows like she'd said something stupid. She sat up to think better and decided that it was in fact too cold not to be dressed. And reached for her underthing, it was passed to her before she could even find the words to ask for it.
"No one needs a new wand every month, so …" she shrugged, "I think Dad gives Mum less than that some months," said Ginny.
Harry flinched.
"Can you give me a hint?" said Ginny, "it's not a riddle that makes sense."
"How much is that in a year, or per day?"
Ginny thought, 7 times 12 is 86, 5 times 12 is 60 which is 3 galleons 9 so, "89 galleons 9 sickles in a year," said Ginny.
Harry shrugged.
I don't know how to divide 7 into… or in sickles … that's like over a hundred sickles, but … 124 divides into 30 … 4 times with 4 left over. Oh, but on a 31 day month… that would be, "Four sickles a day."
Harry nodded.
Padma stood up and ran downstairs.
Luna grabbed his elbow and squeezed.
Parvati frowned at her.
"What's wrong?" said Ginny.
"Exactly enough for one person to run away to the Leaky Cauldron," said Luna.
Harry nodded.
"Yuck," said Ginny.
Harry shrugged.
But hadn't he run away to the Leaky Cauldron one summer?
"You should have come to the burrow," said Ginny, "Mum wouldn't have charged you that much."
"And her cooking is better," whispered Luna.
Harry smiled, "true."
"Why didn't you?" said Ginny.
"Because I'd just heard an awful speech about how I was a leech, and my parents were good-for-nothing scoundrels, who left nothing for me, I needed to prove them wrong for a few weeks before I could deal with asking anyone for anything I wasn't paying for."
Ginny nodded, several times in her life, one or several of her brothers had mocked her for not being able to do a thing, until she'd managed to prove them wrong, sometimes it had taken an hour or a week, and merely been good motivation. Other times it had taken her years to acquire a skill, and she'd felt miserable that there existed any measure by which any of them could claim to be older and better than her. And those words that had been aimed at Harry hadn't been skill related but honour related.
Sometimes … her brothers hadn't meant it as mocking, not that, at the time that had made any difference.
It was nice that his parents had left him enough money to prove them wrong.
It was very strange to think that he'd spent that much money on food and especially during the growing season, even if it was only for a few weeks.
But he hadn't known the floo address to get to his parents' farm, so it couldn't really be helped.
She wondered who did know that address.
Harry was still talking.
"Sorry, what?" said Ginny.
Padma returned and went to his opposite side from where Luna was petting his elbow. Her eyes were pink. No one mentioned that.
"I was saying," explained Harry, "as soon as I figure out a convenient way, I'm giving each of you an allowance. This will be a personal allowance, not anything attached to a particular family responsibility like buying food or whatever. You may use it to buy fancier food, or slightly prettier or slightly more durable clothes than you might have otherwise. You can save it up for emergencies like buying a replacement wand. Or for big things that you want that you won't be able to afford otherwise, or might not feel right saving up for any other way, like a nicer broom."
"How much?" said Padma, like she couldn't be sure if she should take the whole exercise, as some kind of insult.
"I don't know," said Harry, "I haven't decided, nor have I decided how I will decide. But you can safely assume that eight galleons a month is the absolute minimum I'd bother going through the trouble to make sure you always have available and without my intervention."
Padma bit her lip and relaxed.
Parvati made a kicked gnome sound, and wrapped her arms around him also, "Oh, Harry," she said.
"I think it would be socially acceptable, for me to give my wives more than some random woman who happens to be the head of a family within my house, and yet, for the head of my R & D Labs to have a tremendously higher operating budget than either of my wives might need for the day to day running of a family. That's why, what we're talking about right now is personal, not related to organisational role or responsibility."
"Certainly," said Padma, "It's a reasonably obvious statement of care, and intent not to trap and enslave, and it's a proactive method that neatly fills in the gap around the retroactive type restrictions imposed by the life insurance you've put in place."
"True," said Harry.
"What?" said Ginny.
"She said, if I got hurt or sick, say I'm in St. Mungo's and won't wake up, we don't know how long until I died and you could collect the life insurance, or until I could wake up and be coherent enough to file for the disability insurance. In the meantime, you'd have enough money to live, even if it was only Leaky Cauldron food."
"I fully intend to have a bigger cellar than that," said Ginny.
Padma relaxed and looked away and muttered something.
Ginny glanced at Luna.
"She said," Luna answered the unasked question, at normal volume, "That Harry knows how to pick lots of flavours of girls."
Ginny had actually hoped Luna would gradually, walk around to Ginny's side, and whisper in her ear, but … that worked too.
"Oh," said Ginny.
"Certainly," said Harry, "having two of the same would have been redundant."
"Oh, Harry," said Parvati again.
Padma glanced at her sister and smirked, "True."
There were several meaningful glances, and then Padma turned away and cast the time telling charm, "We should start moving in the direction of home."
They all looked at her, and no one disagreed.
"Does anyone want to vote," Padma continued, "on whether there's going to be any more making out before we go?" She didn't sound like she really wanted to. She and Parvati had sounded the most interested before, and Luna had been the one most interested in pushing them. And neither seemed in a hurry to push for anything right now.
Parvati met Ginny's eyes.
They shrugged helplessly.
"Some other time," said Parvati, and offered Ginny just a hug, and then a kiss on the cheek.
Ginny returned each. Parvati looked her in the eyes again, then leaned to whisper in her ear, "You're welcome to ask me for that now, or to borrow clothes, or help shopping."
"Oh," said Ginny, "Thanks."
Parvati smiled and kissed her on the other cheek. Then tried to duck away. Ginny took the opportunity and kissed her on the forehead instead.
Parvati froze and sent her a startled look, then smiled even harder and her dimples showed again.
.
"Well," said Ginny, "Here we are at the ward line, is there anything else we want to say without being overheard and teased by brothers?"
They all shrugged.
Ginny shrugged back and put her hand on the gate, it checked if her magic was what it recognised. Is it my imagination that it took a bit longer than usual to respond?
.
"Well," sighed Ginny, staring into the fire, "They're gone."
"Yeah," sighed Luna. And gave her a hug.
Mum looked at them a second longer, and then returned to her mixing.
After a few more seconds, Luna let go and they followed Mum into the kitchen.
"Mrs. Weasley?" said Luna, "May I spend the night?"
Mum opened her mouth, and paused for several seconds, then nodded, "Of course, dear."
"Thank you," said Luna, "I'll go home and pack." She turned to Ginny and sighed apologetically, "I'll be back in time for dinner."
"Alright Luna," said Ginny.
And then Luna was gone also.
Why do I feel unusually alone right now, and in my own mother's kitchen?
Ginny sighed. At least Luna was spending the night.
Mum put another dish by the sink.
Ginny checked, she'd been gone far too long.
She took a deep breath and started another sink of dishes.
.
Charlie wandered through and grabbed a mug of cider and put together a sticky looking pseudo-sandwich out of slabs of cake, jam, and goose. Only a dragon handler would be bold enough to risk her mother's ire for doing something so uncivilised. At least he was using a plate and seemed to be taking a fork for backup when the structural integrity of it all inevitably collapsed.
Charlie was actually who she wanted to talk to.
But there had been clear instructions about who …
"Um, Charlie?" said Ginny, "Is Bill still around?"
"No, he went back to St. Mungo's," said Charlie, "Why?"
"Finally have words to explain some of the questions I have about that contract."
Charlie nodded, "you want me to go get him?"
Ginny shrugged, "It can probably wait until he comes back."
"Do you want to visit the hospital now?" said Mum.
That was another option.
Ginny shook her head. She did want Dad in attendance, but it wouldn't feel right to continue the conversation elsewhere than where it had started.
That was illogical.
She didn't care that it was illogical. She wasn't wanting to talk about logic she was wanting to talk about desires.
She sighed.
"What's wrong?" said Charlie.
"I want you and Mum and Bill and Dad," said Ginny, "And I want to … only talk about this at home, preferably in the kitchen and without the twins."
"I heard that!" called George from the general direction of the cellar. That did not bode well. Though perhaps it had nothing to do with the cellar, and he was just smuggling between somewhere outside and his room. And who knew which direction the smuggling was going?
Mum went to the door as if to investigate, but she didn't leave, perhaps only stood guard to keep the twins out?
"How about you tell us your question," said Charlie, "and Mum tells us whether it's a Bill and Dad question or a Percy question, or she and I can answer it directly."
"Yeah, that's fine," said Ginny and rinsed and dried her hands so that she could turn and face them.
But facing them she couldn't speak. She went to her place at the table and sat down.
Charlie and Mum went to their places also, though Mum didn't sit down.
Ginny breathed heavily, then took off her necklace and put it on the table in front of her.
"Is that an engagement present?" said Charlie.
Ginny shook her head, "depends on what you mean, but no, It's my contract, password transfigured in lieu of stasis charms."
"Wise," agreed Charlie.
"Parvati did it for me, I think it was Padma's idea though."
"Um, underage magic?" said Mum.
"Harry's gotten himself declared an adult or something, so he counts as supervision or something," said Ginny.
"That's not how that law works," said Charlie.
"Are you sure?" said Mum.
Charlie shrugged.
"Can we not argue about it?" said Ginny, and pushed the necklace far enough away that she could rest her forehead on the table.
She sighed one more time, then sat up, "My question about the contract is, why? We're engaged, He asked if I'd marry him, and I said 'yes,' so we're engaged. If I sign this contract, we're betrothed, but why bother, why not just get married?"
"Oh boy," said Charlie, "That's a Percy question."
"That depends," said Mum, "On why she's asking."
Ginny shrugged, "if that's the way to do things, then that's the way to do things, I don't mind doing things properly. But why, if we're going to do something more than just, agree that we're going to get married, can't it be something that means, I can wake up tomorrow, and think: Ah ha! I'm married. My name is Ginevra Potter, Lady of the House of Potter, Wife of Harry, Sister-wife of Parvati Black, the future Lady Black."
"Is that what you want?" said Charlie.
"I think if it wasn't what I want," said Ginny, "I should have told him 'No'."
"That's not what I meant," said Charlie, "is Tomorrow, what you want?"
"Oh," said Ginny, "Yeah, kind of."
Mum bit her lip.
"It's not like I want to move out or anything, I don't think Harry's got a house ready or anything like that. And I know that honeymoons are a thing, though I'm not sure what they are for. I just wish …" Ginny sighed, "I wish he and Parvati could live in my room over the holidays like we sometimes share his bed or each other's at school."
Mum made a face like there would be a discussion about that later.
Ginny rushed on, "and like, if we could make room for Padma and a library, just below the attic, and … But there isn't any more room there, and anyway, she'd probably like it better to move in with Luna. Which would almost be like at school, Luna stays in Padma's room, because her own dorm mates are awful to her."
Mum closed her eyes and bit her lip, then circled the table and hugged her. Not a proper hug, just a shoulder squeeze and a back rub, as if Ginny were the one crying instead of Mum.
"I don't want to move out," said Ginny, "I just want to … have my new siblings with me all the time."
Ok, maybe I'm also crying a little bit.
"I understand," said Mum. And after several more rubs, she stepped away and sat down in the neighbouring chair. Not facing the table or the contract that couldn't currently be read or anything. Facing Ginny.
"Now I'm sure," said Mum, reaching out and tapping Ginny's collar bone, "That your heart is mature enough for getting married." She sighed, "But I'm also even more convinced that your head, isn't quite old enough."
Ginny glared at her and opened her mouth, but she didn't have words ready.
"Let me finish," said Mum, and sounded dad-firm instead of mum-angry, "I let you talk until I understood, now let me talk until you understand."
Ginny nodded, "Alright."
"Your father and I ran into the same problem, we knew we wanted to marry each other, long before the law allows. There are reasons why the law doesn't allow it. Most of them are good reasons. For the people who shouldn't marry until they are adults, it keeps them from wrecking their lives, for the rest of us, it … teaches us patience, and allows time and opportunity to pick up additional education, and I don't just mean schooling."
"Um?" said Ginny.
"If you moved out today," said Mum, "and started a household with Harry and this Parvati girl."
Ginny nodded.
"Would you be any more ready for the practical difficulties, just because you happen to already be emotionally anchored enough, to love them no matter what happens?"
Ginny shrugged.
Mum smiled sadly, "So, while you're 'waiting to be old enough,' which is to say, 'waiting for the ministry to agree that you're old enough,' don't just wander around, cross at the world for not understanding that you happen to be an exception to the rule, take the time to make observations: How do your parents and the other adults around accomplish things, what problems to we face, how do we solve them, how and when do we ask for help, how and when do we put forth an effort to prepare for future problems."
"Saving for winter, and a replacement wand?" said Ginny.
"At the very least," Mum shivered and looked away.
Ginny wasn't sure if there was anything set aside for anyone to get a replacement wand. (Not that they didn't all have a little tucked away here or there for a rainy day, and wouldn't all willingly contribute to a new wand, if the need arose.)
"Hospital bills," said Charlie.
"Oh," said Ginny. There was no way that Ginny's meagre savings would put a dent in anything like that.
"Storing up and saving up isn't the only kind of trouble to prepare for," said Mum, "Rich people talk about saving up, because if you have enough money you can solve most problems with it, but most problems aren't only solvable with money."
"Friends and reputation are also good things to have," said Charlie.
Mum nodded as if he'd just said something significantly more complicated than what Ginny had heard.
Mum sighed, and looked at Ginny again, "Technically it is possible for children your age to get married, but it involves a lot of paperwork and parental oaths of consent, and whatnot, it's possible that Harry cannot manage those things, even with enough money and a helpful godfather. I'm sure they investigated most of those options before settling on what they offered you, a document that says you can rest assured that he wants to marry you as soon as he can. And that you can rest assured, you have until then to tell him, 'no, never mind,'."
"Unless we get pregnant," said Ginny.
Mum glared.
"If we get pregnant, he owes me food and tuition for making me skip any school, and I owe him the baby, even if I decide not to marry him after all."
Mum sighed, "and that's remarkably sane, given what I've heard about pureblood marriage contracts."
"I'm fairly sure he offered me the sort of contract that houses as powerful as his, tend to offer each other, instead of the least he might think he could get away with."
Mum nodded, "That sounds like Harry and Sirius."
Ginny nodded.
"Please tell me you don't plan to get pregnant before you graduate?"
"I don't plan to get pregnant before I've flown for three years for the Harpies," said Ginny.
There was a second of silence, and then Charlie's fist pumped into the air, "Go Harpies!"
"Hey now!" came shouts from upstairs. Followed closely after by at least three differing opinions about other teams.
Mum just nodded, "Only three years?"
"Depends on several things, like how good a player I am, and how anxious Harry is to have more children than Parvati feels like having right then." Ginny shrugged.
Mum rolled her eyes, in the considering direction, not the creativity direction. Then she nodded, "makes sense, I approve of how you're thinking these things through."
Ginny nodded, "Thank you."
A pause.
"I think that was all my questions," said Ginny, "May I sign this now, or should I wait for Bill again?"
Mum looked uncomfortable, "You don't need my permission to sign, but … who it needs to be witnessed by is a Bill question."
"Oh, alright," said Ginny.
"Why don't you go up and make sure your room is ready for Luna to visit."
"Yeah," said Ginny, and put her necklace on and went up.
She left Charlie rubbing his face, and Mum had that look in her eye, like she was getting ready to quiz him again about his love life.
.
.
...-...
Christmas, Finally
Sirius got off work later than usual, feeling wrung out and assuming he also looked it, (but bringing leftovers from the Yule celebration at the Ministry).
But given that it was the holidays and the house was full of visiting Tonks cousins, he realised that he'd have to put a brave face on it and Be Jolly!
Also, there was too much revelry going on for him to fear that Harry and Nymphadora had read without him and gone to bed early.
In fact, he found Harry in his room overseeing a little one petting Nim. While a young teen, presumably the older sister of the little one, explored the contents of Harry's closet, alternately … possibly flirting with him, but more often berating him for owning soooo much alligator skin clothes.
Finally, when she made a much too aggressive argument, Sirius managed to chase her off by means of an instruction to go in the bathroom and check all the labels of everything she was wearing, to find out what they were made out of, and then estimate how many animals had to be farmed for all the clothes she owned.
She went away.
"Thank you," said Harry, "I was about ready to close the door after her and take Nim and Lauren somewhere quieter."
"You wouldn't lock Jane in the closet!" said Lauren, "She's my sister."
"I didn't," said Harry, "and hopefully now I won't need to."
Lauren humphed and looked to Sirius for support.
He just shrugged and tried to keep the smirk off his face.
She humphed again, "Why?"
"Let the punishment fit the crime, you know."
"What's that mean? she didn't do anything wrong."
"Maybe, maybe not," said Sirius, "depends on which rules you're living by, Where I'm from, no one criticises anyone for what clothes they own, only for when they wear the wrong clothes to the wrong parties. Did she even ask Harry how many of those clothes he bought or how many had been gifts?"
"No," said Harry.
She eyed Sirius' critically, then shrugged and turned her attention back to Harry.
"I think locking someone in the closet is wrong," she said.
"I know," said Harry, "That's why I didn't do it. I think it's also wrong to not listen to people's answers when you're only criticising them to make them pay attention to you."
She frowned at him for a long time.
"Jane is an inept slytherin then?" said Sirius.
"First of all she's twelve, and most twelve-year-olds aren't all that capable no matter how they would be sorted. But more to the point, there are lots of reasons to want lots of kinds of attention," said Harry, "And I'm not sure what she wants, so I have neither given it to her nor told her to look elsewhere."
"Fair," said Sirius, "How did the meeting with Sylphadie's Mum go?"
Harry stared at him for several seconds to remember what he was talking about. "She was out so we didn't meet her directly," Harry shrugged, "Parvati left a note and we returned to the Patils, and hung out for a while."
Harry gave a meaningful look at the side of Lauren's head, then went on, "We decided to visit the Weasleys in your place, which I later realised worked out with better symbolism than I'd planned, given that Parvati is kind of your second heir now, or will be, whatever, maybe I'm getting confused."
"You're telling me she signed already?"
"Yes, they both did. As expected they chose option 2. After we got to the Weasleys and delivered our gifts, Bill arrived and had a row with Mrs. Weasley, and as soon as he saw me, he dragged me out to the shed for A Talk, which was mostly making sure I knew that though 'I might be rich enough to seem above the law, I wasn't above the law of public opinion, and he knew how to talk to … bankers. And I better not … act my station, or hurt his sister, etc. I asked him what about the contract left any room for that kind of thing, and he glared and shrugged and asked if I planned to propose properly, like a modern human, or just hand her the contract and ask her to sign, like a barbarian warlord.
"I hmm, asked him for advice, which … made him kind of angry and vague, which made me more sure it was meant to be a test, not like a contract that is meant to be as perfect as possible and can be written by committee." Harry shrugged, "So I went in and gave a short speech to the Weasleys, then we knelt and I asked Ginny to … err tackle the honour and responsibility of being Lady Potter. She said yes. We hugged. Ron was next fastest on the uptake and shook all our hands and gave blessings."
Sirius raised an eyebrow, "Ronald Weasley … was ready to give your best man speech at the drop of a hat?"
Harry shrugged, "I don't know what that is?"
"Classic formulas are: 'here's my flatmate, you lucky bastard.' And 'here's my flatmate, you're an idiot who could do better. There's no way this will work out, go out and prove me wrong."
Harry rolled his eyes, "Yes, the first formula, except of course he didn't use that kind of language on his sister, or in front of his mother. And he was kind of giving us to each other, not just one of us to the other. And then both of us to Parvati."
"Really fast on the uptake then?"
Harry nodded, "Somewhere in there Ginny remembered she wasn't old enough to marry and asked if we were going the parental consent route, as opposed to, I presume waiting until we are old enough to not require their input. So I showed her the contract, and that it was signed, therefore that its contents showed exactly how much consent we had, and insisted that she consult Bill or her father, not just I and Padma about what the terms meant."
Sirius nodded.
"She didn't sign, she wanted three days to think it over. Which Bill blessed her for. Then, when she couldn't bare to let the thing out of her sight, Parvati transfigured it into a necklace for her to wear all the time."
Sirius nodded.
They stared at each other for several seconds.
"Congratulations, Cub."
"Thanks," said Harry, hopping up to hug Sirius very very tight.
.
Nim chose that moment to dart away; Lauren went after her.
Sirius sighed.
Harry tensed and looked up, "What?"
Sirius shook his head.
Harry shrugged, "Do you want to just tell me how bad it is?"
"You're not content to wait for the morning paper?"
Harry shrugged.
"The part that won't be in the paper: Seems like the Horcruxes were stolen the same night that Arthur was bitten."
"Damn," said Harry.
"You don't sound surprised," said Sirius.
"I had a dream about it," said Harry, "figured it was justified worry about ministry incompetence letting Pettigrew escape, or the Azkaban break-ins, but … I don't have any reason to expect that I could have guarded any of those things better."
Sirius chewed his lip, "that makes sense."
.
They didn't get very much farther before Tonks summoned Harry and all the little ones to the common room at the top of the stairs for bedtime stories. The current book was Perspectives on Creation by Lord James Frazier. As if the time of year wasn't dark enough without that sort of commentary.
Sirius sat in on the first chapter and the ethics discussion regarding Tiamat and Marduk. He managed to hide how intensely amusing he found the difference between the giggling theorising and second-guessing of the younger set, and the silence projected by the adults who had read the book straight through, commentary and all.
Eventually, the discussion had petered out, so he put himself forward to read the second story, he always did like Isis better than Tiamat.
This time Harry was among the silent. Sirius watched him. Was he crying?
After everything was said and done and the younger set was bundled off to bed, Harry sat for several seconds longer and also made his way to his room.
Sirius followed him though he stopped at the threshold and leaned against the door post.
"Are you alright Harry?"
Harry shook his head and didn't look at him.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"What if …" said Harry, "what if I am the way I am because Dumbledore needed me to be a Horus to fight the Sett that is tearing down his life's work, but … what if I'm only a Marduk."
"Merlin Harry," said Sirius, "It's just allegory, you're just supposed to suss out virtues and see how they helped other heroes and heroines, then do your best to develop your own virtues, not … look around and decide if your friend or your enemy is a water demon and what that implies about you. Besides, how far into that book have you read?"
"I haven't," said Harry.
"Well then, I suggest you don't take any one of those stories as a prophetic dream of your life. Or at the very least read them all before you try to pick just one."
Harry sighed, "alright." Then he grinned, "besides I already killed one super big snake with a sword, maybe it's time I get one for an adoptive grandmother?"
Sirius rolled his eyes, "You didn't build a house for your minions out of her body I hope?"
Harry shook his head, "Got them armour, and got Snape's potions ingredients club to render the rest for … money."
Sirius blinked, "On second thought that's rather sensible."
"Thanks," said Harry.
...-...
Politics before breakfast
"Liking my bills doesn't accomplish anything, we have to show up, persuade people, and vote for them," said Aunt Margaid.
"I know," said Harry.
"So I'll be seeing you there?"
"I um… haven't decided," said Harry.
Aunt Margaid gave him an exasperated look and everything faded to the dull purple of the inside of his eyelids.
These dreams are getting repetitive. Is this my life now? Do all the Wizengamot Lords have nothing better to do with their time than study laws, and nothing better to dream about than revising them and arguing about them?
Harry sighed and sat up.
Boxing day!
A new tradition to learn.
He got up and dressed for being presentable in the kitchen and dining room, and not for outdoors. His adaption of Susan's clothing ethics to the types of garments he'd seen being worn around the Tonks' house.
(Nim as usual had been up half the night and wanted to sleep half the day, but assured him she had full confidence in his abilities to learn new traditions in a friendly context.)
He was halfway down the stairs when he heard a scream.
He ran the rest of the way.
Ted's sister was in mild hysterics … apparently about Sirius calmly paying an owl for his copy of the prophet. Which he seemed to manage fine while apparently also counting seconds.
As soon as the window was shut again, he did something to freeze the newspaper pictures, then obliviated her.
She frowned and looked around, then held her chest, and swallowed, "What a rush, I uhh, think that … someone around here makes the coffee much too strong," she said and wandered away.
"Really?" said Harry.
"I'm certified," muttered Sirius, "Ted and Andromeda get their owls redirected to his work, but mine came looking for me same as always. Should have apparated home half an hour ago, but Creature usually takes care of it, so I forget."
Harry shrugged.
"Did the break-in make the news?"
"Course not, Amelia runs a tight ship, and only she, Moody and I knew about that particular thing."
"And me," said Harry.
Sirius turned to stare at him, and he seemed to remember the discussion from the night before.
"You were aware that Moody had them. Where do you think he kept them?"
"Locked filing cabinet, catercorner to his desk?"
Sirius shook his head, "completely different room. In a safe. Give him some credit."
"What?"
Sirius shrugged, "never mind that."
Harry eyed him suspiciously.
Sirius' eyes went huge and he launched himself for the window.
Harry turned.
Sirius yanked open the sash but didn't step back to let the owl in, just shot three overpowered finishers at the glowing red envelope it carried.
Except the owl dodged all three spells and ducked through the window anyway.
Somehow though, the letter stopped glowing as it passed through the window frame.
"Oh," said Sirius, "trust Ted and 'Droma to have sensible wards."
He put his wand away. The owl's behaviour finally clicked and Harry relieved it of its burden. It was addressed to him.
"Thank you," said Harry, "howlers don't get replies."
The owl nodded and took flight.
Sirius closed the window again, but stayed facing it, "What does it say?"
Harry dropped it on the table and scanned it for charms, potions, or runes before opening it. Only the residue from recently being enchanted to scream.
"Harry Potter,
How could you?
How can this be what you wanted?
I hope you're proud of yourself." Harry read, "And it's not signed."
"Howlers usually aren't, the sender's voice is usually enough, among friends; not so much for more distant acquaintances. May I see the handwriting?"
"Sure," said Harry, "Do you know what it's about?"
"Not a clue, I don't recognise the handwriting. Shall we scan the prophet for your name?"
"That sounds like the best course available to us, at least until we know more."
Sirius nodded and took apart the newspaper and gave half to Harry.
It was on the second page: Days ago, an audit had been ordered regarding an expense account held by Mr. Urquhart as the Potter's Wizengamot Proxy, Mr. Urquhart was found dead of expired anti-fever potion. Ruled an honour suicide. Editorials were available several pages later, for Mr. Urquhart's political career, and for Harry's. Except Mr. Urquhart was in his seventies and had had a long and impressive career, and Harry's entire public political career was the hearing of Peter Pettigrew's plea.
Sirius stared at Harry.
"Sirius?" said Harry, "Who has the authority to order that audit?"
Sirius shrugged, "anyone with your vault key."
Harry nodded.
"And anyone who might have given themselves such authority while they had that vault key."
"So for sure, Dumbledore, Hagrid, and Mrs. Weasley."
Sirius blinked, "and possibly Ginny, might depend on … how thoroughly she believes herself to already be married."
Harry nodded, "How about Aunt Margaid?"
"Who?"
"Never mind, just woke up, still living in a dream world."
Sirius stared at him, "Who was she in a dream world?"
"Regent of Potter, Proxy of Gaunt, nagging me to attend Wizengamot meetings."
"Probably got made proxy by nagging her own head of house to attend meetings too?" suggested Sirius.
Harry shrugged.
Sirius' eyes rolled down and to the side, then nodded, "Last month, Lady Gaunt appeared for the first time in decades and swore in someone as her Proxy, Either one of them might have been named Margaid.
Harry dropped the newspaper and stared at him.
"I didn't think anything of it. From the whispers, I gathered it was an ancient family re-appearing. I didn't make any connections, nor thought there was reason to care or worry. They didn't sit in the dark section, they sat down front … at the haunted desk that everyone avoids. I pegged them for halfwits and ignored them. Probably it's always been their desk and is enchanted to torture everyone who doesn't know the password."
Harry snickered.
Sirius raised his eyes, "ok, yeah, that's something I would do, not necessarily what they did."
"Is that who we're talking about?"
Harry shrugged, "Given that I've only met her by that name in one or two dreams …"
Sirius shrugged back.
"And other than nagging me about the Wizengamot she mostly asks me for advice on how to usurp and then fulfil my responsibilities, hence the Regent of Potter persona."
Sirius rolled his eyes.
"My … fear and hope is that it's bleed through because you-know-who took over my family's wards, and they recognised me last summer and are trying to switch allegiance back."
"Hmm," said Sirius.
There was another flapping at the window.
Sirius charmed the kitchen doors closed before opening the window to let in two more howlers for Harry. While Harry took those deliveries and convinced the owls to depart again, two more letters arrived, not howlers. One of which was for Sirius.
"Damn," said Sirius, "Dumbledore moves fast."
"What's it say?"
"Wants to know if I'm going to be your new proxy, or if he should put together a list of candidates for you."
"He couldn't be any more suspicious without just admitting that he already made up a list."
Sirius shrugged, "What does Amelia have to say?"
"She says she'll make me a list," said Harry, "Also that I might want to specify a short term contract, since she expects I'll want to take over at least during hols, also she'll send me a book on Wizengamot procedure and etiquette, as soon as she gets a chance."
"She knows you better than Dumbledore."
Harry shrugged.
Harry's necklace jingled as if the crystals were clinking together, even though even the briefest of close examinations would prove that was physically impossible.
"Spider Queen?" said Harry.
Silence.
"Spider queen?" mouthed Sirius.
"I'm alone except for Sirius," said Harry.
"Harry?" said Narcissa's voice, "is this your action or someone else's?"
"Not mine," said Harry.
"I figured. It lacks both your style and your version of subtlety."
"Thanks, I think," said Harry.
"Unless you were merely gathering intelligence for an attack in another quarter, and things went awry, but never mind. … Do you know if it was an enemy attack? Or merely a fit of pique by one of your fans or allies whose advice you might have seemed to be ignoring?"
Harry sighed, "Both I suspect."
"Who?"
"Someone, perhaps connected to the dark lord or to my new grandmother-in-law, wants me sitting in my own seat for the next meeting, I can't quite tell if I should avoid that, specifically to prove that he cannot control me merely by sacrificing mage blood at every turn."
"I … hummmmm, first off, congratulations! Hummmmm, second, I was expecting something more paranoid about being in a predictable place at a predictable time, and planned to reassure you that all the other heads of houses feel the same way, which is half of why the Wizengamot building is as securely warded as it is."
"Fair enough," said Harry.
"I will not advise one way or the other about choosing a proxy on short notice specifically to avoid giving him the satisfaction of seeming to control you. But I will say … if your safety can be guaranteed throughout the meeting, I'd expect significantly worse outcomes from choosing a proxy with untoward haste, than from giving the dark lord a symbolic-only victory over some contest of wills that only you and he knew about."
"Understood," said Harry.
Silence.
"Thank you, Spider Queen."
She sighed, "is there anything else?"
"Is there an easy way to track down how this was accomplished?"
"Yes, tedious but not difficult, Sirius can explain as easily as I could."
"Alright," said Harry.
"Narcissa?" said Andromeda.
"Good morning, Dromeda," said Harry's necklace, "Happy Christmas, to you and yours."
"Thank you," said Andromeda, "Yuletide greetings to you and yours."
"Thank you, and prosperity in the new year."
A stunned silence.
"You do realise," said Andromeda with an ironic twang to her voice, "that wishing a healer 'prosperity' is dangerously close to wishing disaster on her … constituency."
"I don't wish disaster on your constituency, but I can still wish that any hypothetical looming disaster might bring you more luck than it brings your competitors."
Andromeda sighed twice, then nodded, "I won't bother to argue with that."
"Good, stay safe all of you. Take care of each other."
Harry's necklace cooled back to its normal temperature.
Andromeda looked around, "She has my number and never called me before?"
Harry shook his head, "I gave Draco armour, and she gave me a necklace to call her with, It usually only works morning and evening, so I figure the other end is in her study somewhere."
Andromeda walked around to face him and pulled the necklace out of his shirt to examine it.
"Did she mention that it's a portkey?"
That's not quite what she told me, "Yes."
She let it fall against his chest again, "Where does it go?"
"To the location of the device she uses to activate it."
"So she can kidnap you at any time?"
"Only if I call her while I'm not behind wards, I think."
Andromeda scratched her temple, then shrugged, "pay attention for her ever hinting that it's no longer politically or practically safe for either you or her, for her to have control of something like that."
"Oh."
"And maybe take it off and put it down before you call her, so if she does call it home, it doesn't take you with it."
"Yeah, alright," said Harry.
"Now then," said Andromeda, "I'm not going to cook breakfast bacon, with the fridge already full to bursting with goose."
A beat of silence.
"They fed me so well last night," said Sirius, "I was thinking about a glass of milk and waiting for lunch."
"That is also an option," yawned Andromeda, "Ted will cut his milk with tea."
"He always was a better Englishman than I was," said Sirius.
.
For obvious reasons, the gift opening process was divided into two stages. All the little cousins, and Ted's siblings and siblings-in-law went first, except for a few more housewarming presents to Ted and Andromeda. (mostly wine and preserves of course. Also, pickled peppers that Ted made much over, and a fruitcake that Andromeda did not.)
Then after a long and desultory brunch, they went home.
.
In the relative silence, the remaining Tonks, Harry, and Sirius opened their presents.
From Ron, Harry received a new set of carving tools and a very nice, if rather cryptic, apology.
From Hermione, Harry received a book about, what else, Wizengamot protocol.
Ginny's gift was an illustrated introduction to 'Permaculture'
From Charlie, George, and Fred, Harry received a package that fairly reeked of active charms.
"Padfoot, can you tell what's in this?"
Sirius frowned, "we're guessing each other's presents now?"
"Not that," said Harry, "The Weasley twins sent me something active, I thought as my godfather you might choose to protect me from pranks. Or educate me how to protect myself more likely."
Sirius frowned and cast several diagnostic charms a bit more esoteric than Harry had learned yet.
"I only detect conjurations," said Sirius, "and no additional triggers or runes. I'm not saying it's safe, just there's nothing there that can't be dispelled."
"Alright," said Harry and chewed his lip, "I guess I should see what it is before I dispel it. So I know whether thanks or revenge is called for."
Sirius smirked and muttered something.
"What?" said Harry, not looking up from … a stack of baby pictures of Ginny, apparently conjured copies. And a note …
"I said, curiosity always catches the cat."
"Ah! Yes, well," said Harry.
The note was humorously vague about whether these were for Harry to blackmail Ginny about or for the twins to blackmail Harry about.
Which didn't make much sense, until he got to the first picture mid-nappy change. Then things fell into place, and he held the photos a lot closer to his chest while he flipped through to find if any were actually worth saving: It didn't take him much time to pick out three: Getting a shoulder ride from a much younger Charlie. Chewing on Bill's knuckle while he tried to do runes homework. And yes, bath time in the kitchen sink (with enough bubbles to keep her amused, and in this case also protect her privacy). Harry went to his room and twinned his choices onto real parchment, then dispelled the rest. He might not intend to be controlled by the existence of blackmail material, but he certainly didn't need to help spread it around either.
He tucked them away in his trunk, folded into the back of his third-year runes book where they would be safe from getting rumpled.
He returned downstairs in time to watch Andromeda unwrap the chocolate he'd given her.
Her head snapped up, "Läderach? You gave me Läderach?"
Sirius and Ted oooohed.
Harry shrugged, "I didn't know what else you might like."
Andromeda shrugged, "always a safe choice, I'm sure." But her eyes said she meant it when she said, "Thank you."
Tonks crossed her arms and glared at him.
Harry raised an eyebrow. She glared harder, then went digging through her gifts. "What did you get me?" she said.
"A book," said Harry.
She came up with something immediately and started opening it. It was in the same green and gold wrapping paper Harry had wrapped Aunt Andromeda's chocolate. … But he very clearly remembered getting that antique 'illuminated' copy of Hans Christian Andersen wrapped at the store, and they'd only had blue and white wrapping paper available.
What she unwrapped was Contes Nouveaux, ou Les Fées à la Mode by Baroness d'Aulnoy. She whistled and checked the title page. "Inscribed to 'Mrs. Potter' by 'her favourite aunt,'" and folded behind the next page a card, she opened it and frowned, "To my deputy … in payment for taking care of Harry, … an indefinite lend. … From Regent Potter."
Everyone's head snapped up.
"What?" said Harry. Sirius stood up. But before he could pick his way amongst the drifts of wrapping paper, Tonks had handed the card to Harry.
Harry read it again, paying extra attention to the parts Tonks had skipped over when she read it, "To my deputy, David Tonks, in payment for taking care of (and putting up with) my niece Leona, Thank you and Merry Christmas.
"I apologise that this is not a gift, only an indefinite lend while Leona Potter is in your care.
"Leona's favourite aunt,
"Margaid Gaunt,
"The Regent Potter." Off to the right of the signature was a dark mark traced inside the omega of a sher mark. The Sher mark was drawing the tiniest trickle of power, which probably meant, no one but Harry's Nifflers would see either of the marks.
"Well, I'm shocked," said Harry as Sirius leaned over his shoulder to read, "But I don't know whether to be appalled or grateful."
"Who's it from?" said Ted.
"It's from … a persona we suspect belongs to you-know-who?" said Sirius.
Andromeda swore.
"Anything interesting?" said Ted.
"Nothing we didn't already know, except he chose to address Nym as David, and Harry as Leona, and styled himself Harry's 'Aunt Margaid Gaunt.'"
"Which he's been doing since summer hols," said Harry, "I didn't tell him anything about any of you. I didn't even tell him anything about me."
No, Master, You called him Merope Tammy Gaunt. Margaid is, we think, what his sister Nagini calls him err her.
Sirius came around in front of Harry and pulled up his chin, "you alright?"
Harry shrugged, He's not just sitting in my house, he's lending out my books, books I haven't even had a chance to read yet.
Not that I have any idea if he's lending them to anyone other than … indirectly to me.
"He's just showing off," said Sirius.
Harry nodded.
"How is he showing off?"
"He says he can see everything I plan, but only everything I plan, … I don't think he does, I … don't know what he can see, and I don't have any idea why he'd care about Christmas gifts enough to figure out my plans and one-up them."
Tonks snorted, "Are you saying …"
Harry nodded, "There should be another book in there, that's actually from me. How was that one addressed anyway?"
"Just 'to N. Tonks,' no 'from'."
Harry nodded.
"And the N is misshapen enough … it could be a D if you squint hard enough."
Harry snickered.
"You alright cub?" said Sirius.
Harry shrugged.
Tonks found another book-shaped package, "This one says it's from you," she said.
"And it happens to be in the correct wrapping paper," said Harry.
Tonks opened that one, also, "Oh, wow," she said, "This is a pretty book."
Harry smiled. Sirius patted his shoulder.
Harry managed a deep breath, finally, then returned to his seat.
The only weird thing after that was Sirius' gift from Remus Lupin, a muggle card that played farm animal sounds (loudly) and would only stop about every third time you closed it. Also, it was runed against silencing charms.
.
...-...
{End Chapter 22}
A/N: I want to make some sort of apology regarding the distant horror creeping into the background and taking up residence there, but I'm not sure how to tell (as in 'show, don't tell') anything about it, or if this theme of the story is the closest I have been able to get at my own feelings about Covid-19 and a nearby burglary and Ukraine. Sigh, so sorry, but this is the way this story will be for a bit.
Also, I'm very open to suggestions on a better title for the second subchapter.