Chapter 31: A Quick Visit to the Wizarding World
Disclaimer: Not my characters, no money being made, etc., etc.
Friday, June 22, 7:30am
Ottery St. Catchpole
Harry and Hermione had taken advantage of the early solstice sunrise and left Windsor Castle at 5:00am, hoping to catch Mr. Weasley before he floo'ed to work. Motoring was a decadent waste of time, but with little traffic on the road and the wind in their hair, they had both relished every moment. Right up to the point where they spotted the road sign for Ottery St. Catchpole.
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, noticing Harry's sudden mood change. "Disappointed that we had to postpone our date tonight?"
"No," Harry replied. "I mean…yes, I'm disappointed, of course…but everything is moving so fast, on so many fronts, and now I've got the other badges…"
"And it isn't letting up any, is it?" Hermione added. "You know, Harry, this 'three date' thing was a cute idea, but under the circumstances…"
"Stop right there, Hermione," Harry said. "If you aren't going to hold me to it, then I am. Saving the world is no excuse for not treating you right."
"Oh, Harry…" Hermione sighed. "You treat me right with every breath you take…except, of course, when you're panting over the Muses."
"Hush," Harry chided. "And take care to recall that it was your idea to hang it in the Tower last night…."
The banter lagged as Hermione navigated onto the path that so rarely doubled as The Burrow's driveway. She thanked Merlin that they were driving Ron's motorcar, rather than hers, then noticed another change in Harry's demeanor that mirrored the transition from smooth asphalt to rough dirt.
"So Harry, really, why the sudden sullenness?"
"Erm, guess I was wondering how long it would take for life to imitate art."
"How so?"
Harry turned and gave a rueful smile. "Remember that racy muggle movie we watched last week?"
Hermione blushed a bit. "You mean The Unbearable Lightness of Being?"
"Yeah, that one…guess I was thinking about the ending."
Hermione nodded. Though she had fallen asleep before the movie's end, she had read the novel.
"Harry, it has been magical morning…a magical month for that matter. But that doesn't mean that there's a lorry just around the bend that going's to end it all with a fatal head-on collision." As she drove through the Burrow's protective wards she added, "Particularly on this path."
Harry shook his head and smiled a bit as he looked down towards his feet. "Ginny's reaction to our news might have the same force as a head-on collision."
Hermione nodded as she matched Harry's smile. "Which is why," she replied, "I owled Luna yesterday asking her to invite Ginny to spend the night at her house…we've got enough to do here before tackling that distraction."
Harry jerked his head around towards Hermione and let out a quiet snort of bemusement. "Anyone tell you that you are one smart witch?"
"Oh, once or twice."
By that point Hermione had pulled up in front of Mr. Weasley, who had heard the motorcar's engines and was anxiously waiting to greet them. She allowed Arthur the opportunity to work the car door's handle.
"Hermione, Harry, what a pleasant surprise," he said as he opened her car door. "It's so good to see you again!"
That Mr. Weasley took the time for hugs and handshakes before touching more than the Morris's car door was clear indication that this greeting was genuine (though his patience seemed a bit tested as Fleur and Bill came out to add their welcomes).
"Hermione, you have a lovely motorcar," he exclaimed.
"Oh, it's not my car, Mr. Weasley, it's Ron's."
"Ron's?" Bill asked, "You mean my little brother actually knows how to work one of those things?"
Hermione nodded. "Didn't even have to obliviate the muggle examiner for him to get his license," she noted, which caused Arthur to puff out a bit in pride.
"Chip off the old block," he said, as Hermione offered him the car keys and a chance behind the wheel. Once seated, he looked at the front dash, then down at the floor boards. "So where is the drain?"
"What drain?"
"The drain to take away the rain water."
It took Harry only a few seconds to understand Arthur's bewilderment. He then made Mr. Weasley's day by showing him how the convertible's cloth-topped roof could be extended up and over the interior. Hermione made Mr. Weasley's week by asking if they could leave the motorcar there at the Burrow. That gave Fleur the chance to tactfully suggest there'd be time for Arthur to spend with the vehicle later in the day. Mr. Weasley agreed with a hint of chagrin, and invited Harry and Hermione into the Burrow's kitchen for some coffee.
"You should have told us you were going to visit," he chided. "We'd have had a big breakfast waiting."
"Erm, that's exactly why we didn't call ahead," Hermione said. "Didn't want anyone to make a fuss, particularly Molly."
Arthur nodded, "Well, if you come around to see Ron and Ginny, I'm afraid, there not here."
Harry replied, "We know, we talked with Ron on the way out this morning…he's off the graveyard shift in a few minutes, though, right?"
"Yes, off of work and ready for bed, just as soon as he tumbles through the floo. But Ginny should be up over at Luna's, so it'd be easy to visit her."
"We're planning on visiting Luna's later," Hermione replied, "but we really hoped to have a chance to visit with you and Mrs. Weasley."
"Oh," Mr. Weasley said with a bit of surprise, "Well Molly's still resting…hasn't done much else since she came home yesterday…I'll go and wake her."
"Please don't do that, Mr. Weasley," Harry quickly said, "I know all too well what she's going through. Maybe you could just tell her we stopped by, and we'll try again later?"
"I vill be sure to do zat for you," Fleur interjected, as she levitated the kettle over to fill their mugs. Her comment brought Harry's focus out of the conversation and onto his surroundings for a moment. It had been a year since he'd last visited the Weasley's, but something had still seemed a bit off when he had first entered the kitchen. It took Fleur's hospitality, and the kitchen apron that she was wearing, for him to figure it all out.
For the moment, at least, they were in Fleur's kitchen, not Molly's.
The differences were minor, but all added up….a vase of fresh flowers on the table, a bowl of fresh fruit on the counter, and (most tellingly) a kitchen wall clock that now sported two additional hands: one labeled "Fleur" that hovered over "Home," and a second marked "Molly" that pointed towards "Mortal Peril."
Hermione's voice brought Harry back from his quiet thoughts of guilt. "Ron said that the Ministry won't let you take time off of work to be with Molly," Hermione said. "That's terrible."
"Yes, well, we are very short-handed now, aren't we?" Mr. Weasley replied. "And with Fleur here…she's been a godsend, she has…Thank Merlin the Ministry's wizard draft won't affect her."
"So they're really going to go forward with that?" Harry asked.
"I'm afraid so," Arthur replied. "Of course, they're not calling it a draft…it's been euphemized a Ministry intern program."
"On a massive and involuntary scale, of course," Bill added.
Arthur shook his head. "And since the Minister put Umbridge in charge, needless to say it only applies to purebloods."
"That stupid cow wants another crack at what she failed to do at Hogwarts," Harry stated.
"I'm afraid you are right," Arthur said sadly. "That Hogwarts might not open this fall is going to be presented as their rationale for including Ginny and all of the other sixth years in the program."
"What? That's outrageous." Hermione said. "They're not old enough to do magic on they're own, but they're old enough to be drummed into Ministry service?"
Arthur nodded. "Minister's office thought of that, sad to say…since Hogwarts is officially closed they're transferring the 'instructional exception' authority to the Ministry."
"So instead of Headmistress McGonagall and our professors teaching students how to responsibly use magic it will be Umbridge and her stooges?" Harry scowled. "It's disgusting…you'd think they might be humbled by the level of treason we found within their ranks, but they're turning around and using this treason as an excuse to grab even more power!"
"A very cogent analysis, Harry," Bill said. "Question is, what are we going to do about it?"
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know…I really don't know. Bad enough we have to fight off Voldemort…but the Ministry as well?"
"You've got the ear of Head Auror Robards, Harry," Mr. Weasley. He then gave a weak smile. "As well a few other ministry officials…"
"Thank you , Mr. Weasley…you don't know how much that means to me," Harry replied. "When does this 'intern' program start?"
"Owls are being sent out today, with assignments starting a week from Monday."
Harry took note of the time. "We're going have to spend some time working out a response," he concluded, "but in the meantime you need to get to the Ministry on time…can't give them an excuse to hassle our supporters, can we?"
Arthur smiled and said "I've still got a few minutes…floo traffic to the Ministry has been lighter than normal these past few days… can't imagine why."
Harry reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small electronic device. "We brought something that we thought you might want to see. Mrs. Weasley too, as soon as she's up to it." He opened the top up to reveal the small LCD display of a portable DVD player. "It's not going to work inside the house, but maybe out in the yard?"
He went on to explain that it was a muggle version of omnioculars, with a recording of the Dementor attack on Ascot. Arthur's eyes lit up as he calculated just how late he could be getting to work. With a laugh and wave, Bill and Fleur pushed Arthur out the door and towards the backyard Quidditch pitch with Harry and Hermione.
Once they were far enough away from the concentration of magic that was centered on the house, Harry turned on the player and showed Arthur how to work the controls. He then popped open the drive to reveal the DVD disk on which the recording was housed. Hermione explained that muggle movies could be played on the machine as well, and handed Arthur a small case filled with some of her favorite films.
When the DVD recording of the Ascot magic show began to play Arthur quickly forgot about the technology and focused in on the Dementor attack. Ron had given him a cursory description of what had transpired, but it was nowhere near as riveting as seeing it replayed for himself. Harry provided a running commentary, and made sure to freeze the frame when Ron's fully formed patronus came into view.
"That's…that's Ron's?" Arthur asked with wonder, as he watched a tenacious terrier nip at a Dementor's heels. "Oh my, Molly is going to be beside herself with pride when she sees this."
"That was our hope," Hermione replied, "because that ties into why we wanted to talk with you before Ron got home." She then handed Arthur an engraved invitation, printed on Royal stationary.
Five minutes later, with DVD player, invitation and explanation in hand, Arthur led Hermione and Harry back inside the house. After checking in on Molly, he floo'ed off to the Ministry. A few minutes later, Ron popped out of the fireplace, tired and a bit worse for wear. He wasn't too tired, though, to proudly take his big brother out for a ride in his convertible, which left Harry and Hermione alone for a few minutes with Fleur.
Hermione wanted an update on the wedding. Fleur, in turn, wanted an update on Hermione's love life. At Harry's embarrassed blush Fleur explained that it was her Veela blood that had betrayed their quasi-secret, rather than any loose words from those Weasley boys that were in the know. She cautioned, though, that Harry's love-smitten face could be read by anyone who had a vested interest in looking, which made him blush even more. Hermione grabbed Harry's hand in reassurance, and told Fleur that they were going to break the news to Ginny that afternoon at Luna's house. Fleur agreed with that plan, noting with a smile that Ginny's shrieking might interfere with Molly's rest.
And on that reassuring note Hermione and Harry walked out beyond the Burrow's protective wards. Along the way they waved goodbye to Ron and Bill as they drove back down the dirt path in the Morris. Once clear of the wards, Hermione gave Harry a quick kiss and disapparated to Diagon Alley.
Given that the ethereal plane was considerably less congested than either muggle motorways or the floo network, the trip went very fast. The glamour charm that Hermione applied upon arrival facilitated anonymous entry into The Leaky Cauldron, but didn't fool the observant eye of its bartender.
"They're already upstairs, miss," Tom quietly told her as she approached the bar. "Second door
on the right."
Hermione nodded her thanks, and was soon in the company of Tonks and Remus.
"Thanks for meeting on such short notice," she said, as she cancelled the glamour and layered her silencing charms on top of those already lain.
"Are my eyes getting to old to spot an invisibility cloak's use, or did you make the trip alone?" Lupin asked.
"I'm sure your eyesight is fine, Professor," said a voice projected from inside Hermione's sweatshirt.
"What did you do, Hermione," Tonks asked with surprise, "shrink Harry down and stuff him in your pocket?"
Hermione smiled and shook her head as she unzipped her hooded sweatshirt to reveal her Order of Arthur badge. "All clear, Harry,"
Two seconds later, Harry Potter followed a flash of light into the room.
Remus raised an eyebrow. "Fashioning illegal portkeys these days, Harry?"
The Queen's Wizard smirked as he pointed towards his badge. "Guess we weren't exhaustive in our descriptions of how these things work."
Tonks and Lupin looked at each other with befuddlement until Hermione explained the transportation charms that Merlin had fashioned into the badges. Tonks wistfully lamented that with a pair of those Remus would have to work much harder to avoid lunch dates with her.
Harry smiled and fished two badges and two invitations out of his rucksack. "Then it looks like you're out of luck, Remus."
After a few minutes of discussion, Tonks and Remus agreed to the terms that came with the badges, and became seven and eight o-clock, respectively. Harry gave brief instructions on how to use the badge while Hermione gave a brief lecture on the Order of Arthur itself. Then, with promises made to meet at the Burrow later that evening, Hermione and Harry made their way towards Fred and George's with two additional badges in hand.
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Two hours later, Harry and Hermione were performing pre-run stretching exercises with her parents back at Windsor. The Grangers initially seemed far more interested in the side-trip Harry and Hermione had made to Gringott's than in any one of the morning meetings.
"So the goblins jumped your seventeenth birthday by a few weeks?" Emily asked Harry.
Harry nodded. "I wouldn't call it goblin logic for fear of a nose chewing, but it seems that way. Griphook told me that wizard world adulthood is defined not by age, but by the ability to legally use magic. Since the legal age to cast spells outside of school is seventeen, that's also the age of adulthood…for most witches and wizards," he added, with a tinge of embarrassment.
Hermione jumped in. "In Harry's case, the legal use of magic is predicated not on age, but on his position as Queen's Wizard. Since under the terms of the governing treaty Harry can legally use magic, the goblin have decided that by treaty Harry is also an adult in the wizarding world."
Roger Granger frowned in thought. "Does this mean that your mother's protections are no longer in place?"
"I really don't know," Harry replied. "Guess the only way to test it would be to allow Voldemort to try and kill me between now and the end of July."
"Let's hold off on that experiment, then," Roger said with a grin. "So I guess this answers my question on why your vault portfolios changed over the past couple of days."
Harry nodded. "It did seem abstract until Hermione and I took a ride down to the Potter family vault."
"Mum you should have seen it," Hermione said with excitement, before realizing that Harry was embarrassed by his wealth. "I mean, well…like Harry said, it's one thing to see a list of magical objects that he owns, but quite another to see them all in one place."
Harry tried to change the topic. "Wish I had a camera to capture the look on Hermione's face when she opened her vault for the first time." Hermione blushed as her parents laughed at Harry's teasing.
"So did you bring anything back with you?" Roger asked.
Harry shook his head. "Just a few things…did make arrangements for a delivery later today, though."
"What kind of things?" Emily asked.
Harry only gave a "wait-and-see" smile in reply as he led the way out of the Castle and into the start of their late-morning run.
As they had made plans to meet Sir Evan for lunch at the Royal Mess, the pace was necessarily quicker than normal. When they'd finished, Harry and Hermione surprised her parents by leading them not to the changing rooms, but back to the Round Tower.
"I don't know about you kids," Emily said, "but Roger definitely needs a shower after that run."
Hermione laughed. "You've got running water in your apartment now."
"What?" Roger asked. "We were told that it'd take at least a week for the plumbing to be done."
Harry lowered the ward that guarded the tower and opened the door. "We were told that too, so we thought we'd take matters into our own magical hands." He led them inside, grabbing an oblong canvas bag on the way up to the second level of the ground level apartment.
Harry stepped into the dressing room and started to gauge ceiling heights and floor space, taking into consideration the antique furniture that had been moved there the night previous. He turned to Hermione, who had stopped at the room entry with her parents and pointed towards one corner of the room, "Should fit over there, don't you think?" Hermione nodded and, ignoring her parents questioning looks, helped Harry empty out the canvas bag's contents. It only took a couple of minutes to pitch the tent that they'd removed from the Potter family vault.
Roger's comment upon entering the magical tent's living room was amazingly similar to what Harry had said back at the Quidditch World Cup.
"I love magic."
Hermione used freshening charms to take care of the mustiness as Harry led her parents from room to room. It was larger than the Love Shack, with two bedrooms and a full kitchen. The tent was also built with family more in mind than naughty fun. The furnishings were comfortable, (as much as nineteenth-century style furniture could be comfortable). More importantly, the bathroom was only thirty years out of date, with a bathtub, separate shower, and controls that (thankfully) didn't require use of a wand.
Hermione cut into her parent's sense of awe with a reminder that they had a lunch date with Sir Evan. When Emily asked if Harry or Hermione wanted to use the shower first they were forced to admit that they had their own tent upstairs. With promises to give that tour sometime later, Harry and Hermione left her parent's new tent for their own.
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Sir Evan was thrilled to have been invited to Windsor Castle for lunch; despite his knighthood it was the first time he'd ever been inside. His reaction, then, when Harry and Hermione asked if he wanted to live within the castle, was understandably favorable. There were two issues that needed resolution prior to his move, however: his hip, and the Death Eater prisoners that were still being held underneath Privet Drive's wards.
Sir Evan's envisioned mission as part of the newly reconstituted Order of Arthur was twofold. First, a centralized anchor point was needed for the Order; a safe meeting place within the muggle world where all of the Order members could meet in an emergency. That anchor required someone to stay at the Castle at all times. Since Sir Evan was already serving as an anchor for Privet Drive, it would be a change in location more than a change in mission. But as the captured Death Eaters were now all under combined muggle/wizard guard on Privet Drive, Sir Evan was still needed there (in case other Order Members were needed there in a hurry). Harry stated his intention to resurrect the Round Tower's role as a jailhouse of sorts, but said that any decision to do so required active Castle wards and permission from both Queen and Prime Minister. Hermione was working on the former, while a meeting on 10 Downing had been arranged for the following week to discuss the latter.
The possibility of Round Tower as jail tied into Sir Evan's second role at Windsor Castle. If there were wizard prisoners to be kept within the tower, there would be need of an on-site jailor. A c-mug was also now needed to raise and lower the Round Tower's flagging whenever the Queen was in residence. Sir Evan could fill both roles, but only if he could get up and down the Tower's stone stairs. The broken hip and wheelchair use were therefore an issue. When this point was brought up over lunch Sir Evan gave a guilty smile, and confessed that over the past week he had been able to sweet talk two very nice young witches (Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet, specifically) into casting some low-powered healing charms on his leg. To prove the point, he rose from his wheel chair and performed a little jig.
Sir Evan had maintained the ruse in order to shield Katie and Alicia from any troubles about spell casting on a muggle. Harry and Hermione were more amused than alarmed, however. Harry told Sir Evan that a spell cast within Privet Drive's wards couldn't be tracked, and Hermione told him that any residual magic within the restored hip bone would dissipate within a few weeks. With that information in hand, Sir Evan stood and asked to take a walk up the Round Tower's steps.
That Sir Evan had no problem walking up and down the stairs allowed Harry and Hermione to show him where they thought he might take up residence.
"Don't mind the bars, Sir Evan," Harry said as he led them into the jail's "King's Suite." "We've already asked for a replacement door."
The single room that covered this level of the tower was exactly the same as it was during the previous day's tour, with three exceptions: one tent, and two paintings. As the tent appeared on the outside to be perfectly normal, Sir Evan's attention was immediately drawn to the larger of the two paintings. Of course, the fact that there were nine beautiful women moving about within the frame might have had something to do with it as well.
"Sir Harry, how did you know my taste in art?" Sir Evan asked with a roguish grin.
Roger Granger and Harry joined Sir Evan for a closer look at the Muses. "Hey Harry, was there more where this one came from?" he asked with a laugh. Meanwhile, Hermione and her mom stood with arms crossed, sharing a look of bemusement.
"At least they have clothes on now, mum," Hermione said.
They watched with fascination as the nine figures took turns reaching through the edge of their painting and into the smaller work that hung right next to it. It was a still life of a bowl of fruit, and the Muses were grabbing apples and bunches of grapes. In between bites the figures flirted with the three men and spoke endearments in French.
"They look hungry," Emily said.
"You would be too, if you hadn't eaten in five hundred years," her daughter replied. Hermione then told her mum the fascinating story that the painting's figures had told in between their first bites of magical energy.
The nine women who had posed for the portrait weren't really muses, of course…the witches that had served as inspiration for ancient muggle mythology had lived some two thousand years prior to the painting's execution. A sixteenth-century French wizard artist had created the painting, and the figures were echoes of young French witches that had lived at that time. They had told Hermione that the rich mistress of a French king had commissioned the painting. The King, who had been imprisoned within the Round Tower, had written to this mistress of his loneliness, and she had conspired with the French king's wizard to give him some company.
There was a reason behind the painting's topic. Wanting to give his king something more than just eye candy, the French wizard had scoured the French wizarding world for not just beautiful witches, but smart and artistic ones as well. One was versed in poetry, another in the Classics, a third had a voice of gold, and so on. By choosing to paint them as Muses, the wizard artist was able to give them the instruments and texts that the echoes needed to entertain the French king in private. Apparently, the English king and castellan that held the French king were ignorant of the wizarding world, and thought nothing of allowing the painting to be hung in the jailed king's cell (his confinement having certain advantages due to his rank). The jailors were similarly ignorant of the reason why several paintings of food accompanied the larger work.
Emily asked why, if the figures were now clothed, they had been found bathing nude, and why they hadn't eaten for five hundred years. Hermione explained the mechanics of magical paintings, stating that the figures eventually ran out of painted food, and had been unable to scavenge for more. The story for their state of dress was a bit darker. After the French king died in captivity his jailor discovered the magic behind the paintings and decided to satiate his more prurient interests. He removed the magical food paintings from the castle, and forced the echoes to shed their clothing and perform for him in exchange for a few pieces of magical food, brought back to the castle one grape at a time.
"So this castellan forced them to become sex slaves of a sort?" Emily asked.
"I'm afraid so," Hermione replied. "They had no rights, of course…magical world has problems granting equal status to sentient magical beings, much less paintings…really horrible, when you think of it…"
"Well at least they're in a better place and better situation now," Emily replied.
Hermione nodded. "They're still a little too flirty for me, but at least it's in French…Harry's not exactly a master of languages."
That earned a laugh from Emily. "Well unfortunately for me, our family vacations across the Channel have given your father more than enough understanding. Speaking of which…" She called out to her husband, "Think we have some duties at the control room, Roger."
"Yes dear," her husband replied with feigned grumpiness.
As the Granger's headed off to their MI-5 ¾ responsibilities, Harry and Hermione showed Sir Evan his future magical home. With need to stay for that night's meeting, Sir Evan suggested that he could use a kip inside the tent before teatime. Looking at their day schedule, Harry and Hermione realized that they themselves had ninety minutes of free time before they were to meet with Ron back at the Burrow. Rationalizing that their day had started early, and promised to end late, Harry and Hermione left Sir Evan for the friendly confines of their own magical tent and an afternoon nap of their own.
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A/N: This busy day has been split into two chapters. Took me long enough, but we will see Ginny next time around. Grrrowwlll!