Hermione's Plan
Life Goes On
By Chem Prof
Author Notes:
A lot of readers made some assumptions about who died last chapter. Please note that I never actually said anyone died, just that there were bodies on the ground. Some of them were dead and some were unconscious. You’ll find out more details in this chapter.
-xox-XOX-XOX-xox-
Chapter 11, Life Goes On
Monday, July 21
Hermione paused on the pool deck and sat down heavily on one of the lounge chairs. First she needed to complete the wards, then she could rest. From their studies of the dark magic books from the Black library they had discovered how to layer a series of protective and detection wards. First she placed a detection ward at a one-block radius from her house, geared to respond to anyone with a magical signature. Then, just inside the anti-apparation ward, she created one with an impediment jinx combined with a stunning hex, set to activate whenever the first ward was triggered. She wished she had some sort of Dark Mark detector, so she could rig it up to trigger something more incapacitating. Next, she put impervious and flame suppression charms on the house itself, and a confundus charm at the property line. She linked the detection spell to an unused telephone with an old fashioned ringing bell. All of the Grangers’ current phones had a warbling tone, so there would be no mistaking the attack warning. Finally satisfied with her work, she went upstairs to wake her parents and let them know she was home, and fill them in on the situation.
Hermione was determined to stay up until Harry returned, but Dan and Emma each had a full slate of patients scheduled for the next day, and needed more sleep. After some discussion they decided to each take a turn staying up with her. It was about 2:00 AM when the teens had first arrived at the Grangers, and nearly 3:00 when she finished explaining the events of the terrible night, so they settled on two hour shifts. Dan took the first shift, and he and his daughter talked about the fight, and she poured out her horror at what she had had to do. Dan had served a tour in the military, and endeavored to help her out as best as he was able. Finally, he just sat behind her on the lounge chair, took her into his arms and leaned back as his daughter curled up with her head on his chest and cried herself to sleep. She might not be that small anymore, but she was still his little girl and he comforted her the way he had so often when she was younger.
Emma found them in that same position at 5:00, Hermione sleeping in her father’s arms, while Dan still stared into the darkness pondering everything that his daughter had gone through. Hermione awoke when they traded off, and decided to go for a swim to wake herself up. Dan returned to bed and Emma and Hermione removed their clothing and slipped into the warm water, with Emma now keeping her daughter company while she swam back and forth across the pool at a leisurely pace. Finally they returned to the pool deck and wrapped up in thick towels, once again sharing a lounge chair while they waited for the dawn and the man Hermione loved to return.
At last, just after 6:00 AM, an exhausted Harry Potter appeared out by the tool shed. Hermione and Emma, now wearing terry cloth robes, raced back to help him to the house. It quickly became clear that while he was tired to the bone, he was much too keyed up and tense to be able to sleep, and he needed to tell Hermione what had happened as much as she needed to hear it. Deciding he needed to relax, and wanting to sooth the tension in his neck, back, shoulder, arm, and leg muscles, Hermione gently removed his cloak, the dragonhide armor, and his underwear and led him into the hot tub. There she sat behind him and pulled him back into her, so that his head rested between her breasts and she could massage his shoulders. As comfortable as he could possibly imagine being, Harry began the tale of the aftermath of the attack.
-ooOoo-
“There were Ministy Aurors there by the time I got back, and they had taken everyone into custody. As you might imagine, Pettigrew caused quite a bit of excitement. Moody later pulled me aside and said that they had removed Snape before the other Aurors got there, and had hidden him away in a secure Order hideaway. They have some questions they want to ask him under Veritaserum about him and Dumbledore, trying to figure out exactly who he was working for all those years and how much information he passed on to Voldemort. I told them that as long as they didn’t take him to Grimmauld Place, and he eventually got what was coming to him, it was okay by me.” Harry paused and Hermione gave his arms a squeeze to let him know how much she admired his mature behavior with respect to the man he detested.
“It turned out that it was a training exercise for the new Death Eater recruits that have been flocking to Voldemort since Dumbleore was killed, as well as a message sent to the Ministry, the Order … and me.” Hermione’s hands froze for an instant before she hastened to resume her massage. During countless nights in Mexico they had talked through Harry’s propensity to blame himself for Voldemort’s atrocities, and this would be a test of how well he had managed to overcome that inclination. He leaned back to nuzzle his head against her cheek, letting her know that he was dealing with it and she felt a sense of relief sweep through her as he resumed. “It was led by Goyle, Sr., Snape, and Pettigrew. There were also a few there that were part of the attack on Hogwarts. A big portion of the rest of them were kids like us, nearly all Slytherins in our year or a few years older. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, Parkinson, and Bulstrode from our year. There were thirty of them all together, plus the three leaders. And six werewolves.”
He let go a big sigh. “We killed sixteen – the six werewolves and ten others – and captured the rest.” Hermione swallowed hard, knowing that her magical spears were responsible for at least two of the ten dead wizards, and probably a pair of the werewolves as well. This time Harry reached up and took Hermione’s hands into his, squeezing them in reassurance.
Emma, who had slipped into the hot tub herself once the teens had settled in and Harry had begun talking, was extremely impressed with the way the pair took time to comfort each other, and especially how they were able to sense when the other needed it. Their awareness of each other’s feelings was at a level not normally attained by most couples until they had been together for decades, if ever.
Harry continued, with obvious pain in his voice. “The house was completely destroyed, and Ron and Ginny were unable to find anything to salvage. The Delacours arrived eventually and had brought along all of the stuff we left behind, so the only clothing and other belongings they have are what they took to the wedding. One of the first things we need to do tomorrow – actually today I guess – is go out to get them what they need.” Hermione gave him another squeeze and nodded. Of course his first thoughts would be for the needs of his friends. This was Harry Potter after all. “Tonks eventually showed up and she took them to Grimmauld Place for the time being. I want to go through my properties to see if we can find another house for them to stay at as long as they need to. Fred and George will be staying with them part of the time, but they need to keep an eye on their shop as well. We figure it will be a target sooner or later.”
“Bill and Fleur had been planning to spend a week in Egypt, but they didn’t want to be that far away. Apparently they can’t just forget about it because they need the time together – something about strengthening their bond?” Fleur had explained this to Hermione during one of their discussions, so she knew what Harry was referring to. She leaned forward and whispered to him that she would explain it later. “So anyway,” Harry resumed, “I offered them my beach house in Brighton and they accepted. We apparated there and I opened the place up and let them in and stayed long enough to make sure they were all settled.”
There was one topic that was conspicuous by its absence from his recounting of events – the elephant in the room that they could not ignore much longer. Hermione had seen the red-haired bodies on the ground.
“Oh, yeah. I mentioned the portkey I made for your parents to Moody and he said it was a 100 Galleon fine. I asked him I could give him 100,000 Galleons and make a thousand of them to distribute to other families. He gave me an odd look and said we could just buy them for 50 Galleons apiece. I think that’s something we should look into.” Harry trembled as he finished this comment, and Hermione sensed that he had run out of diversionary topics.
“Harry?” she said gently.
She could feel him slump in her arms, having lost the battle to avoid the grim news. “Percy was the first to arrive on the scene, since he was the closest. They got him with a killing curse relatively quickly. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Charlie put up quite a fight, taking out five of them before they all went down. Charlie …” Harry’s voice caught and he had to stop before he could continue. “Charlie got the worst of it. They don’t think he’ll make it. Mr. Weasley took a nasty cutting curse to his spine and they don’t think he’ll ever walk again, even if he survives. They have both of them in magically induced comas at St. Mungo’s. And Mrs. Weasley …” he gave an anguished moan and Hermione clutched him tightly to herself. “They managed to revive her but when she saw Percy, Charlie, and Mr. Weasley lying there on the ground she completely freaked out. She was hysterical for several minutes until they sedated her. Then she just sat there with all the life gone out of her eyes.” Hermione recalled Harry telling her about the time in Grimmauld Place when Molly had seen the bogart turn into the dead bodies of each member of her family, and realized that there was a chance that the Weasley matriarch could lose her sanity as a result of this dreadful night.
Harry had broken down completely by this point and all she could do was hold him and whisper inadequate words of comfort into his ear. But with that final release, the tension was finally broken and exhaustion took over, and Harry fell asleep in her arms.
-ooOoo-
Dan Granger came onto the porch at 7:00 to find them still in that position. Harry, sound asleep in Hermione’s arms, had shifted somewhat so that his head was turned to the side, and he had snuggled into her. She had dozed off as well, her arms around him pulling him to her chest. Dan’s eyes widened at the sight of Harry’s face nestled against her breasts. As a committed nudist, he fully subscribed to the credo that nudity does not equal sex. Even so, very few fathers of teenage daughters would be able to view such a scene without alarm, at the very least, and Dan was no exception. Only the fact that his wife was sitting nearby with a look of extreme satisfaction on her face kept him from acting on his instincts.
“Don’t they look adorable like that?” she smiled up at him.
Adorable was not one of the top ten words Dan would have used to describe the situation. After all, all he had to do was move his mouth a few inches and … Dan shook his head, trying to bury those thoughts. The effort was aided by an elbow to his ribs from Emma, who knew very well what he was thinking. (It was, in fact, an activity she herself particularly enjoyed. But she had been watching the pair long enough to understand that nothing like that was going on here.) When Dan managed to focus only on Hermione’s face he had to admit that he had never seen such a look of contentment and love on his daughter. And if he were able to ignore just where Harry’s face was located, he would have described it similarly.
Hermione awoke at that point and greeted them, and Dan tried to restrain his discomfort at the fact that she seemed perfectly at ease with Harry’s position, as though waking up with him like that were commonplace. Then she looked down at the messy head of hair before her and her love for him swelled inside her. After the anguish of less than an hour before he looked so relaxed and peaceful now. She knew that it was due to the contentment and security he felt from being held by her since she felt the same way. She tightened her arms around him as she leaned forward to gently place a kiss on the top of his head. She missed the small sound Emma made as she caught her breath, feeling like an intruder into the tender, intimate moment.
Deciding to extricate herself, Hermione concentrated briefly and stretched out her hand. Dan and Emma gaped in astonishment as Harry was levitated up out of her lap and she scrambled out from under him before lowering him again. Emma managed to come to her senses enough to fetch a towel for her as she climbed out of the hot tub, but not before she leaned over and gave his cheek one last soft stroke with her fingertips.
Dan could no longer contain himself. “Hermione, what did you do? That was just like that movie …”
“Yeah,” Hermione giggled. “Just like Star Wars. Harry still wants to try to lift a starfighter out of a swamp. Normally it would be a struggle for me to move something as heavy as Harry that easily, but because of our connection it’s not much trouble for us to move each other. We can draw on the life magic of our surroundings, but it’s especially easy for us to draw on each other’s magic.” She walked over and joined her amazed parents as they started on a light breakfast.
Once he was no longer being held in such a comforting position, it was only a short time before Harry awoke as well and joined them at the small table on the porch. As the four of them discussed the day ahead, it was clear from the yawns of the two teens that they could still use more sleep. Hermione quickly came up with a solution for this.
“Mum, has anyone been in Harry’s room recently?” Emma shook her head and Hermione continued. “We arrived here just after 2:00. So at a little after 8:00 I’ll use the time turner to take us back to that point, and we can slip inside and up to his room and get another six hours of sleep.
Emma and Dan processed the implications of that statement and simultaneously came to the same realization, turning to stare at each other like a choreographed comedy routine. “Do you mean,” Emma stated slowly, “that another you and Harry are sleeping in his bedroom right now?” Hermione nodded, trying to look as though it was the most ordinary thing in the world, but she ultimately couldn’t keep a straight face.
“That’s right. Go ahead and take a peek if you like, but try not to say anything or disturb us. It’s not a good idea for us to have any contact with our other selves.” Dan merely moaned and held his head. The previous image of his daughter and her fiancé snuggled up naked together was not assuaged by this discussion of them sharing a bed. Emma had assured him that they were planning to wait until they were married before having sex, but two nude teens sleeping together was usually asking for trouble. On the other hand, these were not normal teens, and that fact combined with Hermione’s willingness just now to have Emma look in on them eased his mind a great deal.
Harry managed to change the subject, pointing out that they should give the Grangers the emergency portkey and shield hats before they left for their office, and should ward their car and their office as soon as they got a chance. Hermione agreed and went out to the garage to cast some protective spells on the car, and Harry explained how the portkey worked. It was an ordinary looking flower pot that he had grabbed from the tool shed the previous night.
“Make sure you are both touching it and then say the activation word. The word is …” Harry suddenly felt very self-conscious, but he had been extremely tired at the time and used the first word that came into his head. “Um, the word is Potter.”
Emma snorted, then started to laugh and soon she and Dan were chortling merrily, as Harry sat there with a sheepish look on his face. “Well Harry,” Dan teased. “Hermione always said you were good at gardening. I guess you were just living up to your name.”
-ooOoo-
Hermione awoke before 8:00, but knew she needed to stay in Harry’s room a bit longer. She smiled at her mum when she peeked in just before she and Dan left for work. Since she had suggested that very thing, she had made sure that she would be at least partly clothed at that point, and that nothing was happening with Harry except cuddling together. The negligée from Fleur was useful yet again.
When it was safe to leave the room, she and Harry sat down for another light breakfast and began to plan and sort through all of the things they needed to do for the next few days.
Hermione made a list as Harry started making suggestions. First, they wanted to take Ron and Ginny to Diagon Alley to replace their things – no, first they needed to stop by the Grangers’ dental practice to put up some wards. Then they decided to visit Fred and George’s shop and talk to the twins about the shopping expedition before bringing up the subject with Ron and Ginny. He also wanted to go to Gringotts to look for possible places for the Weasleys to stay. Hermione added that they should visit St. Mungo’s to see how the injured Weasleys were doing. When she asked about Winky, Harry was ashamed that he had forgotten about her the night before, but she quickly gave him a little hug and told him it was understandable that he had forgotten that the house elf was now working for the Weasleys, especially since she had been absent the day they were there before the wedding.
Harry revealed that Moody wanted to talk with them some more, but that his and Hermione’s roles in repelling the attack had been successfully withheld from the Auror investigators for now. However, it was something they were probably going to have to deal with eventually. They did want to find out what was happening with Snape and Pettigrew. Hermione then pointed out that since Colin Creevey was present at their engagement announcement, they were going to have to handle the publicity from that sooner or later as well. They decided that a meeting with Rita Skeeter would also be a good idea sometime that week.
Harry added that he had been thinking about the shield caps and portkey they had given Hermione’s parents, and wondered if that wouldn’t be a good idea for muggle families in general. Contacting the portkey office at the Ministry of Magic and asking the twins to make more shield caps were added to the list.
The list continued to grow until Harry despaired that he didn’t know how they would have enough time for everything. That caused both of them to laugh when Hermione merely smiled and held up the time turner in response. On that note, they cleaned up the breakfast dishes and went up to get dressed for their busy day.
-ooOoo-
Hermione side-alonged Harry to the Granger dental practice and they were taken into a private conference room where they could cast their wards unobserved. Everything went fine until Emma jokingly asked Harry when the last time was that he had a dental checkup. She proudly added that Hermione had always taken such good care of her teeth that she had never had a cavity. Harry unfortunately responded that he had never had a dental checkup in his life, and that he had never had a cavity either. This led Hermione to explain sheepishly to her disillusioned parents that dental health was apparently one of the benefits of being magical and they reluctantly had to conclude that perhaps her cavity free record was less their doing than they had assumed.
Next the pair apparated into the back room at Weasley Wizarding Wheezes, startling Lee Jordan who was in that day helping out. The twins hurried back to meet them, and in response to their first question revealed that there was no change in the condition of their injured parents and brother. They confirmed that Charlie was not likely to make it, and that Molly was still just sitting there, staring off into space. Hermione was reminded of what Neville’s parents were like, and she could sense that Harry was thinking the same thing as he shared a look with her.
Next Harry asked about Winky, and Fred apologized for forgetting to mention her the previous night. After Harry and Hermione had left, Dobby appeared and hurried into the wreckage of the Burrow. After a bit he emerged with the battered little house elf in his arms. She was alive, but her magic was severely depleted. She had used her magic to reinforce the house wards for as long as she could, but the combined spells of thirty-three magic users had overpowered her. She had collapsed in the cellar, where she was found huddled up in a small cupboard, the walls of which had protected her when the house caved in. Dobby had taken her back to Hogwarts where, he assured them, he would be able to nurse her back to full health.
When Hermione wondered why they hadn’t seen Winky the day before they left for the wedding, Fred and George laughed, which lightened the mood. It turned out that Molly would never allow Winky to do any cooking, and when she left for France she had given the house elf those days off. That way, she wouldn’t be tempted to use Molly’s kitchen while she was away, no matter how much the Weasley men might want her to. Hermione inwardly thought it served them right for always expecting females to cook for them.
That prompted them to ask how Ron and Ginny were doing, and George shrugged and answered that they weren’t up yet when they had left that morning. “Is anyone there with them, then?” asked Hermione worriedly. “That’s such a gloomy place, and would be especially unpleasant for them to be all alone there dwelling on what happened.”
“There are always Order members around,” responded George. “Moody, Shacklebolt, and Jones stayed the night. Tonks and Remus will be back this morning but Remus won’t be in any kind of shape to do anything today. He’ll at least be someone to look after them, though.” Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance. Hermione remembered the couple leaving the post-wedding party early because of the full moon and found it hard to believe that that had been less than 24 hours ago. They would have to make sure to get to Grimmauld Place that afternoon.
Next the topic turned to their proposed shopping trip, and after some conversation with Fred and George they altered the plan a bit. Harry would provide whatever money they needed, but the twins would take care of replacing their family’s clothing and other personal possessions. That way they could avoid any reluctance on the part of the other family members about accepting Harry’s money. (The twins had no such qualms, having already overcome that issue with the startup funding for their business.) The household goods and furniture could wait until the Burrow was actually rebuilt. They were most appreciative of Harry’s offer of a place to stay for Ron and Ginny, and their parents when they were eventually released from St. Mungo’s.
For the actual shopping itself, the twins had another good point. Neither Harry nor Hermione had much experience in shopping in the magical world, except for school supplies and robes, and treats on Hogsmeade weekends. In fact, Ron didn’t either since Molly had always bought his clothing for him. And due to the new relationships, Ginny wouldn’t be keen to go shopping with Hermione. The pair agreed with all of this, and Hermione was even somewhat relieved. Besides her concern about spending time with Ginny, she had realized that shopping with Ron would probably not be a picnic either. Since the two of them rarely agreed on what he wore, they would likely be to ready to kill each other by the time the excursion was over.
Instead, Fred and George suggested that Lee accompany Ron and they would ask Katie Bell to take Ginny. Katie and Ginny had become pretty good friends from being chasers together on the Gryffindor quidditch team. Their to-do list a bit shorter now, the pair donned their concealment cloaks and set off for Gringotts.
After looking over all the properties he had access to with Bladrock, and getting an update on his finances (bottom line – he still had a ridiculously large amount of money) Harry and Hermione agreed that the house in Birmingham would be the best to offer to the Weasleys. It had a secure floo connection to Grimmauld Place, so they were only seconds from London, and it had almost as many protective charms on it as the London mansion. The family would have some privacy as well as being connected to what was happening. They also decided that the country estate might be useful as a secluded place to train.
Bladrock informed them that since she was wearing the Potter engagement ring, Hermione would have access to the all of the Potter vaults even if Harry were not present. He also took the opportunity to congratulate them on the engagement, and caused Hermione to blush by commenting to Harry on his good taste in his choice of a mate. The pair was once again reminded that they would soon be overwhelmed with publicity about their intended union.
Bladrock finished by revealing that Harry had been named in Dumbledore’s will, the details of which had not been finally verified until a month after the headmaster’s death. Instead of a monetary bequest, however, he had been left a number of items that were being held for him at Hogwarts. Hermione immediately added ‘visit Hogwarts’ to her ever changing to-do list.
On their return to the joke shop, they were surprised to see more people waiting for them. As soon as they came through the door the twins whisked them into the back room where they were greeted by Angelina, Alicia, and Katie who had joined Lee, Fred and George. After the three girls spent some time hugging Hermione and squealing over her engagement ring, Fred, as serious had they had ever seen him, got down to business.
“All right you two. We know that there’s a lot you can’t tell us about what you’re doing, and we respect that. But there are some obvious things going on. First of all, you can’t hide the fact that you both have matured quite a bit since the end of the school term.” The others all nodded in agreement, with the three girls giving Harry an appreciative once over, and Lee obviously noticing the changes in Hermione. “I’m not just talking physically, or in terms of this engagement, which despite what you said to my family, is much, much faster than Harry, at least, has ever moved with a girl.” All three girls giggled at this, and Hermione, though turning a little pink, smiled and nodded. Harry hung his head with his usual sheepish grin, which prompted a quick kiss on the cheek from Hermione.
George continued where Fred had left off. “We saw what the two of you did last night, and that included things we have never even heard of a witch or wizard being able to do. We haven’t told this lot any of the specifics, because we reckon you want to keep some things hidden…” He glanced at Hermione at this and she understood that he had seen her transform into an owl. “… but you guys have turned into awesome fighters and you didn’t get that way without a lot of training.” Before Harry had a chance to respond, he went on. “What we’re asking is that you take some time to train us. We were all in the DA so we know you can do it. You were easily the best defense instructor we had the whole time we were at Hogwarts.” Harry tried to protest that Remus was better than he was, but the rather vocal agreement of everyone else in the room, including Hermione, silenced him.
“Maybe not in the theory, but in the practical part, teaching spells we can use in combat, you were incredible,” Lee broke in. “Did you know that Alicia, Angelina, and I were the top three students of our year in the DADA NEWT Practical?” He gestured towards the twins. “These two clowns would have bumped us down to three, four, and five if they had stayed around long enough to take the exam.” Harry frowned thoughtfully, and Hermione entwined her fingers into his in support, but said nothing for the moment. She thought it was a great idea, but didn’t want to seem to be pressuring him.
Harry turned to look at Hermione briefly, then replied. “Let me talk with Hermione about it and get back to you. She was the one who did most of the work for the DA; I just did the teaching. Right now it sounds like a good idea, I’m just not sure we have the time.” The pair shared a secret smile at that comment.
Now Angelina stepped forward. “We need this Harry. All six of us work here in Diagon Alley, and we’ve all concluded that it’s only a matter of time before the Death Eaters get bold enough to start attacking businesses here again. You guys really hit them hard last night, which will set them back for a while. By the time they’ve recovered enough to strike again we want to be ready for them.” She pulled a familiar looking Galleon from her pocket, and the other five followed suit. “You name the time and the place and we’ll be there.”
Harry was somewhat flustered by this show of absolute confidence in him, but nodded back in appreciation. Next Lee reached over to a table and picked up a newspaper. “Have you two seen today’s Daily Prophet? I bet you didn’t know we were in the presence of a couple of heroes.” He gestured toward the twins, who attempted to emulate Gilderoy Lockhart poses. “I’ve asked each of them for their autographs several times, but no luck so far.” He grinned at the clowning pair and the three girls pretended to swoon.
Hermione’s paper hadn’t been delivered yet when they had left the house that morning, so the two took the paper from Lee and read the story of the attack on the Burrow. It was referred to as an attack on the home of a prominent Ministry employee, in an attempt to undermine the Ministry’s war efforts. It went on to describe the heroic defense put up by the Weasley family, led by Ministerial Assistant Percy Weasley, who gave his life defending his beloved home. It concluded that while exact casualty figures were not known, it was a great victory against the forces of the Dark Lord, and that many dangerous Death Eaters had been killed or captured.
The couple had mixed feelings about the story. They were deeply offended by the way it downplayed the terrible losses that the Weasleys had suffered and praised the Ministry’s nonexistent role, but were relieved that their enhanced powers and abilities had been overlooked. But there was nothing they could do about it right now. After promising to keep in touch with their former housemates, and to let them know about the training as soon as possible, (and after Katie, Angelina, and Alicia insisted on congratulating Harry with hugs) they took their leave.
The next most pressing item on their agenda was to visit Ron, and tell him and Ginny about the shopping arrangements. They also hoped to learn more from whichever Order members they could find at Grimmauld Place about the fate of Pettigrew and Snape. The pair decided to stop back at the Grangers’ for lunch before going to see their friend. Back home they found two owls waiting for them.
The first was from the Ministry declining their request for portkeys. Although stated in vague, official sounding phrases, the message essentially said that parents of muggleborns weren’t important enough to waste valuable resources on, as it would take too much employee time to create the number of portkeys they had asked for. Although Harry fumed in anger at this response, Hermione told him she wasn’t surprised at it. He might not have realized it, but it was quite consistent with the way she and her parents had been treated by wizarding officials ever since she had started at Hogwarts.
The second owl was from Rita Skeeter, expressing a great deal of interest in hearing what they had to say. She reminded them that she had kept her word in writing Harry’s story the way they had wanted it the last time she had interviewed him just over a year ago, and that they could trust her again. Harry confided to Hermione that he was thinking that it was time to turn the power of the press to his side in his clash with the Ministry of Magic, and she agreed wholeheartedly. They sent off a reply agreeing to set up an interview later that week, and another message with Hedwig to McGonagall inquiring about when they could stop by to pick up Dumbledore’s bequest to Harry.
-ooOoo-
By the time they arrived at Grimmauld Place, Ron and Ginny had mostly overcome the immediate shock of having their home destroyed, and members of their family killed or injured. Still, the atmosphere was much quieter than normal for the Weasleys. Ron was sitting quietly in one of the chairs in the drawing room, staring into the fireplace. Ginny was curled up in another, and seemed more subdued than Hermione could remember her being since her experience during her first year with the diary. It seemed as though all of the fight had gone out of her. Hermione supposed it was better than having the younger girl sending hateful glares her way all through the visit. Harry and Hermione settled down on the sofa, and Remus pulled up another chair.
Harry began by relaying the message from the twins about the arrangements for Ron and Ginny to go shopping with Lee and Katie. Ginny, at least, perked up somewhat at that. Ron caught Hermione’s eye with a questioning look, and she could see him working out what the actual arrangements must have been. Then he gave her a short nod that he understood and accepted the situation. Next Harry revealed his offer of a place for their family to stay, in a house from the Black estate.
Ron and Ginny shared a glance before Ron responded. “Thanks Harry. I really appreciate it but I think we’ll stay here for the time being. It’s at least familiar. Maybe after Mum and Dad get out of the hospital we’ll consider another place. And Remus and Tonks have made quite a bit of progress fixing this up during the past few weeks. We even helped them a few times.”
An awkward silence descended on the room again, as their normal topics of conversation seemed out of place. Harry and Ron decided to try a game of wizard’s chess, which left Ginny and Hermione watching, not exchanging a word with each other. Hermione noticed Ginny staring at her engagement ring, but the redhead turned away when Hermione looked in her direction.
Things livened up when Moody arrived. “We’ve been hearing some interesting stories from the interrogations of those Death Eaters you lot captured last night,” he growled, not maliciously, but with some admiration in his voice. “Perhaps you can explain just what happened there?”
Hermione let Harry take the lead with how much he wanted to reveal, adding some details or clarifications along the way. Harry acknowledged that he and Hermione had been training extensively for some time, and Moody let that go without commenting on just how much time would have been necessary to gain the degree of proficiency they displayed. He admitted being impressed by the tactics they had used to disable nearly half of their opponents at the outset of the fight, and was quite interested in the rocky barrier they had created to block the killing curses. The pair also demonstrated the silver arrow spell, and Harry was quick to note the skill with which Ginny had dispatched a werewolf with her thrown knife, and how Ron’s covering fire had taken out several Death Eaters. Moody was also envious of their dragonhide armor, saying it would have helped save the lives of not a few Aurors if it had been available back in his time, during the first war with Voldemort.
Hermione noted the keen interest with which Ginny listened to Harry’s explanation. The younger girl was no fool, and would certainly realize that there were things that were not being said. She found herself feeling sorry for the heartbroken young witch who had lost so much. Even while they were dating, Harry had not confided in her about the things he was doing. Hermione resolved to talk to him about including her more in the future, should their relationship ever return to a friendly state. The brave girl had certainly proven herself worthy time and again.
Remus and Moody finally finished their questions, although it was clear that both of them were aware that something was up and wanted to know more. In answer to Harry’s questions, Moody responded that the Ministry was in an uproar about Pettigrew, and that all of the Order’s effort was going into keeping that under control. They had not yet got around to questioning Snape.
At that point Ginny spoke up for the first time. “Harry, can I talk to you … privately?”
-xox-XOX-XOX-xox-
Author Notes:
I originally planned for this chapter to go on a bit longer, but this seemed like such a great ending point that I just had to do it. Heh heh.
Yes, Emma knows that a ‘potter’ is not someone who pots flowers, but she couldn’t resist the pun.