Chapter 13: The First Mini-Summit
Disclaimer: Not my characters, no money being made, etc., etc.
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They found Ron inside Harry's bedroom, his eyes glued to the telly. "Oh, there you two are…decided on a place to talk yet?"
Harry and Hermione looked at each other and smiled in the midst of Ron's blissful ignorance. Hermione had her wand out and was about to transform one of the twin beds into a meeting table before Harry gave a yell to mind his telly. Scowling a bit at how quickly Harry and Ron had fallen in love with their new electronic toys, Hermione led them next door.
It was the first Harry had seen the room since its redesignation and refurbishment. Harry noted that there'd already been two transformations; one that had replaced Petunia's psuedo-Provincial dreck with the sleek Scandinavian design furniture from Harrods, and the second that had transfigured the modern style pieces into something Hermione called "contemporary castle." There was a four-poster bed that dominated the room, but it was built of light maple, rather than dark walnut and the curtains were white and gauzy rather than burgundy-colored and thick. She had added a fireplace, but it was trimmed with marble tiles rather than heavy stone. A comfortable reading chair and floor lamp, large maple desk and banks of maple bookcases completed the bedroom set.
Hermione shrank the bed down to doll-house dimensions and elongated the desk's writing surface to form a table about which she conjured three chairs. Pulling the one nearest her back and taking a seat, she whipped out a blank scroll, quill and ink well and looked up at her boys.
"Well, come on, take a seat." She conjured some quills and parchment for their use.
"Right, then, first things first," Hermione said. "Harry, as much as I hate to see you tempted into becoming a couch potato, you did have a good point about not using my wand in your room. We should designate your room as the muggle room and mine as the magic room, and try to keep the two separate so as not to fry your new toys."
"Erm, thanks…I guess," Harry replied with a smile.
"Well, even with Auror Robard's assurances, it would be best not to have too many spells going off in an under-aged wizard's room," she replied.
"Good point," Ron said. "Guess that means the Xbox stays in our room, right?"
"Merlin," Hermione exclaimed, "boys and their toys."
Harry tried to steer the agenda back on track.
"Right, well…there's all kinds of things I think the three of us need to discuss, but…" Harry looked at Hermione, who was wearing a bit of fear on her face, and decided that now was not the best time to tell one mate that he'd kissed his other mate. "I think for now we should focus on three issues…schedule, money, and Hermione's house."
"Sounds good to me," Ron said, "sooner we can get back to the wizarding world the better, as far as I'm concerned."
"Oh, Ron," Hermione lamented, "you've been here all of what, half a day and you're complaining?"
"Yes, but.."
"Like I was saying," Harry interrupted, "When Dumbledore made me promise to return here this summer he never really said just how long I'd have to stay to extend my mum's protections up to my birthday."
"Well it shouldn't be any longer than the shortest amount of time you've ever spent here, right?" asked Ron.
"Actually, Harry," Hermione said, "I anticipated this question when you said that you wanted to go to Godric's Hollow just as soon as possible." She unrolled a parchment, enlarged it, and stuck it against the wall with a post-it charm. Upon the parchment was a chart with points and a line marked upon it.
"You'll never change, will you?" Ron asked.
Hermione ignored him. "This chart plots the amount of time you've spent with your Aunt and Uncle for the past six years. After First Year, you were here most of the summer…Ron rescued you about a week before term, right? Before Third Year you stayed at the Leaky Cauldron better part of a month. Summer before Fourth Year, you were here a total of six weeks before the Quidditch World Cup. The Dementor attacks before Fifth Year limited your stay to four weeks, and then last year it was all of two, right?"
Harry nodded.
"Now you'll notice that I've connected the points with a line that has a surprisingly constant negative slope. Projecting that line out to this year would suggest that in order to keep your mother's protection you'll have to stay under your Aunt's control…"
"Up until lunchtime?" Harry said with a smile.
"Excellent," Ron said, "so you can tell them to piss off and we can all find someplace magical to live, right?"
"And where do you propose that to be?" Hermione asked.
"No shortage of food at The Burrow," Ron replied.
"No shortage of stress, either," said Hermione. "No thanks."
"Well," Ron replied, "what about Grimmauld Place? Food isn't as good, but we could always get take-out from the Leaky Cauldron, right?"
"That's great, Ron," Hermione said. "Good to know we'd be AK'ed on full stomachs at least."
"Huh?"
"Ron, get a clue," Hermione said. "We lost our secret keeper, so it's not a secret location anymore."
"Why not?" Ron asked. "Are you sure that the Fidelius Charm stops working once the Secret Keeper dies?"
"Honestly, Ron…" Hermione fumed. She got up, walked out the door, and returned a minute later with a
rather frightened Dudley. "Now, quit the wimpering," Hermione told him, "I don't want any stains on
my new carpet." She then turned to Ron. "Ron, would you be so kind as to tell Dudley where the headquarters
of the Order of the Phoenix is?"
"Are you out of your mind?" asked Ron.
"Just do it, Ron," Harry said, as he nodded his head and palmed his wand.
"Fine, but don't blame me, Ron replied. "Oy, Dudley…the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is Number Twelve Grimmau…."
"Obliviate!"
Harry and Hermione's stereo simulcast knocked Dudley right between the eyes.
"Erm…how did I get here?" he asked, immediately afterwards, looking very worried.
"You walked," Hermione replied, as she twirled her wand in one hand like a snare drum performer. "Now run along, Duddikins, before we decide to do some target practice."
Dudley didn't need to be told twice.
"Fine," Ron said, "so it's no longer a secret location. All we need to do is cast a new Fidelius Charm that protects the location of the home of the smartest smart-alec witch in all of England."
"Be my guest, Ron," Hermione said in a huff.
"What," Ron said with some degree of confusion, "you mean that you can't?"
"Ron," Harry said, "there's a reason why Dumbledore was Secret Keeper. He was about the only wizard powerful enough to cast the spell."
"That difficult, eh?"
"Think about it, Ron," Hermione said. "If the charm was any easier to perform then Fred and George would have made themselves the secret keepers for Slytherin's toilets years ago."
"Oh, good point."
"Which," Harry said, "brings us to my second agenda item - money. As nice as we've been set up by, erm, Dumbledore's friend, I don't want to rely on his generosity forever. And when we do move on, we'll need money to find a new place to stay. I was hoping to ask Bill to help me with the money issues, but…"
"But there's no telling when the Ministry will let him out of the restricted ward at St. Mungo's," Ron agreed.
"Right," Harry said. "Frankly, I don't have a clue how much I have in my vault. Dumbledore told me last year that Sirius had left me 12 Grimmauld Place in his will, and that a "reasonable" amount of gold had been transferred into my vault, but who knows how Albus defined `reasonable'?"
"How did you get money for books last year?" asked Ron.
"Bill got it for me, remember?" Harry replied. "Breakfast table…day we went to Diagon Alley…visited the twin's shop and drew wands on Malfoy's mom…"
"Oh yeah, how could I forget" said Ron. "Oh, if only Hermione had kept that time turner..."
"Malfoy's mom would well down on my "To Do" list if I had one of those," said Harry. "About eight feet of parchment below "Take out trash - kill Snape."
"But the point is," interrupted Hermione, "You don't know how long your gold will last if your full-time job for the next year or so is chasing Tom."
"Exactly. I know that my parents had put enough gold into my vault to get me through school rather comfortably," said Harry, "but from what I know some of what I inherited from my parents doesn't get released to my control until I turn seventeen."
"So you've got `before' gold and `after' gold?" asked Ron.
"Yup," said Harry. "Knowing how much of both I have would help a lot right now. It would be nice for me to know what I could spend, if I wanted to, right now, both in the wizard and muggle worlds. If I had enough money now to rent my own apartment, say, then I wouldn't have to live here any longer than I needed to renew my mother's protective charms until August. But if I have to wait,"
"You always can come to the Burrow," said Ron."
"Yeah, I know that," said Harry. "But with Bill and Fleur's wedding and all of the planning I don't want to give your mum something else to worry about."
"Wouldn't be a problem at all," said Ron. "Look, for once you are getting enough food to eat at the Dursley's, so you won't be showing up as the summertime skinny you've been in the past. Mum's not going to have to take any time to put meat back on your bones. Second, you being there might actually help with the wedding. Even though mum's warmed up to the idea of having Fleur as a daughter-in-law, they've still been knocking heads over flowers and decorations and punch flavors. Enough to keep me out of the house and on our quidditch pitch all day long. I could use the company, and Ginny could too."
"Ron," said Harry, "you know how things stand between Ginny and me...we've broken up, and that isn't a situation that is going to change. Period." He looked at Hermione, who was looking down at the table, trying to hide a smile. "I don't think that spending time in the same house will help things any."
"Well you never know," replied Ron.
"Let's get back on track, shall we?" interjected Hermione. "Harry needs to find out what is in his vault, and what will be there once he turns seventeen. We all agree that Harry should avoid Diagon Alley right now, so he can't 'go to the vault himself. Bill can't find out for him right now, and it might be difficult to sneak a goblin out of Gringott's to visit Harry here."
"So one of us can go for him," replied Ron. "That is, if you trust us mate."
Harry reached under his shirt collar and pulled out the necklace that held his bank vault key. He looked at both of his friends, thought for a moment, then handed it to Ron. "Will you go for me?" asked Harry. "I'd ask both of you to go, but with Hermione's parents here in hiding…"
Ron straightened his back a bit as he reached out for the key. "I'd be happy to help, Harry. You can count on me."
"I know I can, Ron," Harry said. He tried to gauge Hermione's reaction, but his peripheral vision was wretched without corrective side lenses. "Now, Gringott's won't be open until tomorrow, and there's probably extra security measures and long lines…any chance you could stay with Fred and George tonight and get there first thing in the morning?"
"Depends," Ron said, only half-seriously, "what does that Brian chap have planned for dinner?"
"Didn't you hear him talk about that organic farmer's market?" Hermione asked. "He was planning on cooking up some bean curd and lentils, I think." She flashed Harry a quick wink.
"Erm, right…I'll be at my brother's presently."
Harry looked at Hermione and wondered if she'd wanted to have Ron out of the house as much as Harry did right about then. "Finally, last agenda item," he said. "We need to take down the Death Eaters parked in front of Hermione's house."
"And who is we, Harry?" Hermione asked. "It's one thing to defend a house with only your bag of tricks, but to attack without a wand?"
"There has to be a way," Ron said.
"Even if there was, we'd have to wait until Harry's protections are renewed in a couple of weeks."
"I don't want to wait that long," Harry said. "Maybe…" he thought, "you know, I think that it's time for Aunt Petunia to take me on a little car trip. As long as I'm under her so-called care, I should be covered."
"What," Ron said, "she's just going to wait in the car while you take care of the Death Eaters?"
"Why not?" Harry replied. "It might do her some good to realize what they'll be up against once we've left Little Whinging for good."
"But like Tonks said," Hermione reminded him, "the spotters aren't breaking any laws…last thing we need are charges of vigilantism."
"It's against the law to wear the Dark Mark, right?"
"Yes, but they were wearing long sleeves in the photograph, right?" Hermione said. "We can't go after them on the assumption that they might be tattooed."
"Well, you got to admit, Hermione, long sleeves in the heat of summer is a little suspicious,
right?"
"It still doesn't give us just cause…it wouldn't give the Aurors probable cause to make them roll up their sleeves."
"What if we could prove they had the Mark?" Harry asked.
"Then, sure, they are fair game," Hermione replied. "But how?"
"Tonks did tell you about her discovery, right?"
"What, that you have a cute little birthmark just below your left…"
"No, you know…."
"Ok, fine," Hermione replied. "Still we would want to decide whether to take those two alone, or set
up a sting to get their support crew as well, though."
"Sting?" Ron asked. "Shouldn't we be planning on using something stronger than a stinging hex?"
Harry and Hermione looked at Ron and shook their heads.
"Pure-bloods," Hermione said with exasperation and a smile.
"Hey!" said Ron.
"So should I go round up Aunt Petunia and the omnioculars?" Harry asked.
"Harry, did you hear what you just said?"
"Oh, Merlin…right up there with Umbridge…sorry about that."
"It's alright," Hermione replied. "So do you want to hassle with your Aunt, or get a quick answer?"
Harry's eyes narrowed a bit in concern. "Yes, okay, but only if you take Tonks with you and promise not to do anything more than peep."
"What are you talking about, Harry?" Ron asked.
"Hermione and Tonks are going to do a little scouting for us," Harry replied.
"Oy, what am I," Ron asked, "a potted plant?"
"No," Hermione replied, "you are a wizard without a license to apparate."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Ron said, "rub it in. So what will Harry and I do while you're gone?"
"Sounds like you've already got your assignment," Hermione replied. "And Harry's got some of Snape's private library waiting for his review next door."
"Lucky you, mate," Ron said with a laugh.
"Oh, don't worry about me," Harry replied, as he stole a glance at Hermione. "I'll find a way to keep occupied."
Harry then nonchalantly turned to Hermione. "Erm…I'm going over to Number Five to ask Wally something. Do you want me to say anything to your parents?"
Hermione looked at Harry with one slightly raised eyebrow, then turned to Ron. "I probably should tell my parents that I'll be gone for a couple of hours. Why don't we meet in your room in fifteen minutes, then I can walk with you to Arabella's?"
Ron thought for a second before saying sure, then made a beeline for the video game console next door. Harry grabbed the omnioculars and his invisibility cloak from their room, handed them to Hermione, and joined her as she went downstairs.
"So what do you need to ask Wally?" Hermione asked, once they were outside.
"Erm, to be honest, I was more interested in asking you something without Ron being there," Harry replied.
"Thought so," Hermione replied with a smile. "Not sure it's much better talking right under my parent's noses, but…"
Steve had the door open for them even before they rang the bell. They asked for a quiet place to talk for two minutes. Looking around, the only semi-private area they could find was the hall closet. Worried that being found there by her parents would be even more of a problem, they for a settled for an empty living room with their eyes peeled for company.
Harry sat on the couch first; Hermione slid in facing him, with one leg tucked underneath, so that she could cover both of his legs with her other leg. She then leaned her side against the back of the couch, and wrapped her arm around Harry's shoulder and started to play with his hair. Harry recalled having lots of Common Room discussions with Hermione in this exact position, but never remembered the body contact to be so electrifying. He leaned his head back against her arm and smiled.
"Hermione," he said, "We keep saying that we need to talk, but we haven't…and I know that I've been reluctant to for fear of screwing up this wonderful thing that we've had going the past couple of days and so I haven't pushed it, but maybe now…"
Hermione smiled back at him. "Things have been rather special, haven't they?"
Harry nodded. "You know, as we were taking down the tent I was half afraid that what we did was more of a reaction to our surroundings, but…"
The fingers that had been running through Harry's hair froze into a claw position.
"But," he continued, "sitting here in this living room doesn't make you any less fanciable…and doesn't make me any less needy when it comes to wanting to snog you silly."
Her fingers flattened against the side of Harry's head and pulled it roughly towards hers as their lips connected in a brief but steamy kiss. Hermione pulled her head back and opened her eyes.
"Amazing how we think alike, isn't it?" Their discovery was then bluntly interrupted by Wally clearing his throat and announcing that Mr. and Mrs. Granger were coming downstairs.
Harry pulled back a bit and expected Hermione to do the same, but she merely relaxed her grip on his head and returned to her hair play, while her other hand dropped down and rested on his upper thigh. She responded to Harry's nervous glance towards the doorway with a smile, only turning towards the door when it was obvious that her parents had entered.
"Hi Mom. Hi Dad," she said, with what Harry thought was an amazing amount of confidence.
"Well," Mr. Granger said with a broad smile, "hello there you two…I do hope that we weren't interrupting anything."
"You were," Hermione said, "but that's okay…I've got to go out and do something with Tonks for a little bit anyway…you two mind keeping Harry company while I'm away?"
Harry looked at her with a bit of shock. "Erm, thanks but I really should be getting back to the house…don't think my Aunt knows where I am right now."
"So whatever it was you wanted to talk about?" Hermione asked sweetly.
"Erm," Harry replied, a bit sheepishly, "I think that I got an answer to my question."
Hermione's eyes shone brightly. "Good," she said. "I think that I did too."
She stood up, and grabbed Harry's hand to pull him up off the couch. She didn't let go as she walked towards her parents and gave each of them a quick peck on the cheeks. Harry looked a bit flustered by everything, but not enough to let go of Hermione's hand as her parents parted and let them pass.
"See you both for dinner tonight, right?" Roger asked.
"Erm, sure," Harry replied, after getting a confirmatory nod from Hermione.
Hermione's dad smiled. "Off you go, then, dinner's at seven."
Roger had enough courtesy to wait until Harry and Hermione were half-way across the street before coughing the word "Whipped!" into his hand. The coughs generated when his wife responded with an elbow to his ribs were far less intelligible.
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