Disclaimer: Any characters you recognize from the first 6 books in the Harry Potter series by J K Rowling belong to the aforementioned J K Rowling. I am simply playing with them for my amusement, and to see what kind of reaction I can get.
33 - Will or Will Nott (Time moves on)
Monday Aug 4th
Monday morning arrived and Harry was looking to be his normal self, his hair had shrunk and all the little coloured dots that could normally be seen were gone. Harry had maintained a few images in strategic locations for Hermione's amusement. It had taken Harry most of the weekend to create an image of a Hungarian Horntail on his chest. Hermione had challenged him to attempt it and he had done amazingly well. Harry conceded, however, that it would be unlikely for him to ever make a living as an artist. The other was a red arrow from just below his navel pointing down with the text 'In Case of emergency - Pull Handle'. Harry had even managed to morph his eyes so that he didn't need his glasses any more, which delighted Hermione to no end. Hermione liked to look at his eyes without the glasses; they were less distorted making them much more expressive. Normally she only got to see them properly when they were in bed.
Hermione had transfigured the lenses in his glasses so that he could still wear them and appear to be his usual self.
The teens had arrived at Hogwarts quite early and met up with Tonks and Remus in the Entrance Hall. They talked quietly for a while until a crowd began to build then moved to an empty classroom. Tonks was amazed to see that Harry could make his spots come and go within seconds. After Hermione confirmed, to Harry's embarrassment, that they could come and go all over his body and that he had been able to correct his vision, Tonks had Harry try a few more exercises that her Mother had taught her. Hermione was concerned that Harry was picking this up so quickly until Tonks reminded them that she was only five when she and her Mother were going through this. The time it took her at five years old with the minimal amount of magical power she had at that age, and the time it could take Harry, with his considerable amount of magical power, to accomplish a similar change today should be much shorter, even though Harry was still feeling out his newfound talent.
"Let's go to The Great Hall for the reading of Albus Will," stated Remus as time approached the hour.
As they were allowed into The Great Hall, the Goblin security guards were checking for Polyjuice and glamour charms and anything else that would alter a person's appearance. There was even a ward across the entrance to cancel Animagus and Metamorphmagus alterations. Tonks walked through just ahead of Harry and her hair changed back to its normal summer blonde colour while setting off several security alarm charms. Tonks was bounced out, gently enough that she wasn't ruffled, and had to go through again. She looked Harry up and down before proceeding through the warded doorway again, this time successfully. Harry got the hint and concentrated on removing all his spots and other enhancements including his better eyesight and the image of the Hungarian Horntail while waiting his turn. That meant he had to remove the plain glass lenses transfiguration on his eye glasses as well so he could see where he was going.
Once through the doorway they all had to pass through an pink mist that disabled any magical means of recording the events. They could of course walk away with their memories and any hand written notes, but things like Rita Skeeter's quick quotes quill would not work within the Great Hall nor would any magical cameras.
Once all the beneficiaries, and, in the case of younger ones, their parents, were inside the doors were closed, guarded inside and out by Gringotts Security Goblins.
In the centre seat at the Teacher's table, was the Portrait of Albus Dumbledore, Headmistress McGonagall was on the portraits right and Ragnok on its left. There were two more Goblins on each end of the head table to handle the clerical duties. The house tables had been pushed aside and about seventy-five plush arm chairs were lined up in five rows facing the head table. Aberforth Dumbledore was in the centre seat of the first row along with many wizards and witches that Harry didn't know. Harry, Hermione and her parents along with Ron and the Weasleys were shown seats in the back row. Harry and the Grangers were puzzled by this although the Weasleys seemed pleased with the arrangements.
When the time came Ragnok stood up and snapped his fingers, a reverberating GONG sounded, like a large church bell, and silence fell. Ragnok started by explaining the procedure they would follow, which was not uncommon for sizeable estates. The details of the disbursements would not be announced to the group. As each person's name came up in the will, they would be called to the Head Table, shown and read the passage in the will that pertained to them, be given their bequeathment or sign the paperwork for it, then they would be ushered out. The first order of business however was family, and this is where it all started.
Ragnok sat and pulled towards him a thick stack of parchment. After leafing through the first few sheets he said in a loud voice, "Aberforth Dumbledore, please rise." Aberforth stood and nodded his head at Ragnok. "You, as the eldest and only living member of the Dumbledore family are aware of the full contents of your brother's Will … do you have any challenges to make?"
"No challenges," said Abe, "My brother's Will, may stand as written." Aberforth nodded to Albus portrait and Albus smiled back. Ragnok thanked him and pointed to the left end of the table, directing Aberforth to the Goblin clerk having the parchment for him to sign. Then Abe walked out of the Great Hall and left for Hogsmeade.
Others were called up from the front row in ones, twos and threes … in short order the front row was empty. One of the clerks removed the empty arm chairs and another clerk moved up the other four rows. Another thirty minutes and all that was left was the back two rows, the process started to slow down half way through the row in front of Harry and it took an hour to get to the Weasleys. Arthur and Molly appeared to get a sizeable amount judging by the smiles on their faces. In fact, as Harry later found out, when talking to Ron, it would have dwarfed the amount that he gave them, had it been gold, except that Albus bought back their rights to sit and vote on the Wizengamot. Some of the first disbursements in the Will cancelled debts of life and honour that the Weasley family ancestors owed. Ron went up next, with his Father … not that Ron wasn't of age, but he didn't have a vault of his own … yet. By the time Ron and his dad returned, thanked Harry, though Harry couldn't think what for, and left the Hall after arranging to meet outside, Hermione was called. She and her parents went up, talked to Ragnok and Dumbledore's portrait, the Grangers were starting to acclimate to things magical until they found out what their daughter was being given and wanted to do with it, then Ragnok called Harry into the group. Hermione wanted to add her inheritance to the Potter vault which did not cause any problem until she wanted to add her parents' names to the vault and give them a credit card tied to that vault, like her new credit card that was tied to the Gryffindor vault. Harry easily agreed and after about a ten minute delay the Grangers had new credit cards.
Finally Harry's turn came, there was no point sending Hermione away, or her parents as Ragnok and Dumbledore agreed that all the stipulations in the Will had been met for Harry to gain the balance of the Dumbledore Estate and vault. The vault was placed in the names of Harry and Hermione Potter as was the estate and Castle in southern England. The last item, which was technically Harry's already as Lord Gryffindor, except the paperwork hadn't been completed, was the Gryffindor lands and Castle in southwest England. The Potter family had made Gryffindor Castle their home for eight of the last ten centuries and Harry was welcome to do the same. Godric's Hollow, as it turned out was on the southern edge of Lord Gryffindor's properties, a quiet rural village near the English Channel. Initial access to both properties would be through Fawkes and the head House Elf at each location would tie them to the wards allowing them easy access by any method.
After Ragnok concluded the formalities of the estate distribution and began to pack up … "There is one final detail," said Minerva, "As I am certain you know from 'Hogwarts A History', the school and it's lands belong to the Ravenclaw family even though Helga Hufflepuff planned and administered the expansion of the original Keep into Hogwarts Castle. This summer, you, Hermione, qualified to usurp the position of Matriarch of the Ravenclaw family, putting you in control of its destiny now," Hermione looked at Minerva in shock, "surprised are you … I was too when Ragnok confirmed that you are the Ravenclaw heir. We … that is … the Board of Governors, needs your permission to continue using Hogwarts as a school. You should however talk to Rowena before granting permission. There are a lot of details about this inheritance that you could put to your advantage when negotiating with the Board. Rowena made up a complicated set of rules and criteria to qualify and disqualify any of her descendants, something she would be best suited to explain to you. Griselda Marchbanks, the head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority, has been the recognized heir for the last hundred years or so, but your recent bonding to Lord Gryffindor bumped up your status significantly. Harry, slightly confused as to what his contribution in the puzzle was, but smiling broadly, watched as Hermione looked back at him, a dazed and confused expression apparent on her face. The Grangers, while happy and proud of their daughter were also somewhat confused that their daughter could be heir to all of this, but then many occurrences in the magical world made little sense to their Muggle way of thinking. Harry reached the short distance to Hermione's waist while they gravitated into each others embrace. The outward appearance of a simple hug, with the warmth and personal contact it provided was nothing compared to the emotional exchange that was going on between the pair. If anyone bothered to look at Minerva they could have seen a rare smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes as she watched the two teens that would eventually become one of the most famous couples in modern Wizarding history, even if Harry already had a good head start on his own. They eventually separated enough that brown eyes and green eyes could lock onto each other, searching for something, yet not knowing what. Harry's thumbs came up to Hermione's cheeks and gently caressed away the few tear drops that lingered before a cough from Dan brought them back to reality.
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Bill & Fleur Wedding Wed Aug 6th
The balance of the week flew by, the next main event was Bill and Fleur's wedding. Amidst the preparations for the wedding they snuck off Tuesday evening to visit the Dumbledore Castle with the help of Fawkes. Twitchie, Albus's House Elf, found them moments after their arrival in the Entrance Hall. She, of course, knew that they would be coming, but not when. Twitchie led them to a portrait of a much younger Albus with a woman and two young children that was hanging in the Main Hall. Albus confirmed their identity and made introductions to his wife and children. His wife had died in the war with Grindelwald and both his children and their families had been killed by Voldemort's followers about six months before the events that created Harry's fame. Twitchie proceeded to integrate Harry's and Hermione's blood and magical signatures into the Wards protecting the Castle and surrounding lands. Once all the details of Wards and ownership were taken care of Twitchie brought them together with Frisel and Florean for a brief discussion and renewing of the promises that Albus had made. Florean confirmed that they believed they were close to identifying the location of another Horcrux.
- - - - - - - -
Harry and Hermione thought the wedding was a spectacular event, it was obvious that Harry's contribution made a difference. At the reception, Harry and Hermione danced with each other initially, however they were split up a few times by Ron and Luna as well as Ginny and Neville. Bill and Fleur took them each away for a dance near the end of the evening, actually early morning, to thank them for making their day that much better.
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Thursday Aug 7th
The day after the wedding both of their Hogwarts Letters arrived at the Grangers home, with the book lists. Dan and Emma relieved the owls of their letters while allowing the teens to sleep until just after noon. Most of their sixth year books carried on into seventh year including the Potions, Charms and Transfiguration texts. Hermione needed new books for Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, then they both needed new books for Theory of Defence and Practical Defensive. A footnote explained that DADA was being split up into ToD and PD to give students more training.
The book for seventh year ToD is 'Offence is the best Defence' by Stan K. Shorts; and the new book for seventh year PD is 'So You Want to be an Auror' by Urma R. Crayzee.
"Harry, are you going to use Snape's old Potions text again?" Asked Hermione.
"Actually … yes," and before Hermione could interrupt Harry added, "I talked to Slughorn and explained about the book being the reason for my initial successes last year. He said that it didn't really matter what ingredients I used or what recipe I followed, it was the results that counted. He was actually considering teaching from that book."
"Harry, what about those dangerous spells in there?" Hermione exclaimed in shock.
"No dear, he was only interested in the modified potions recipes," responded Harry, "I told him about the spells that were noted in the book and he showed no interest in them at all."
"If that is true and we can remove those spells from the book, we should be able to copy Snape's potion changes into other books for Ron, Ginny, Luna and myself." Suggested Hermione, "It's too bad Neville didn't get an O.W.L. in potions. If Snape hadn't been so rotten to Neville, I'm sure he could have made it through potions and carried on with us."
- - - - - - - -
Remus popped over later that afternoon with some news about the house for Petunia. "Dora and I moved all of your Aunts stuff over, we put the boxes where we thought they should go and expanded them. That all went smoothly until we found the resident ghost."
"Resident ghost?" inquired Hermione.
"I knew there was something odd in that house." Stated Harry, "I felt cold a few times and there was a feeling as if we were being watched."
"We talked to her, she was very accommodating once we got around to explaining that you were renting the house now, and your Aunt would be living there. She knew who you were of course, that's what swayed the deal. We had to agree that you would come by a few times each year and talk with her. She died about five years ago, her husband killed her, she haunted him until two years ago, drove him crazy, he's now locked up in St. Mungos. She would appreciate it if you would kindly stop by and talk to her for a bit before you go back to Hogwarts."
As Remus explained the agreement, Harry's eyes rolled back in his head, then his head started lolling from side to side with an expression on his face that clearly said 'Merlin, why me and what's next'. "Remus … will Aunt Petunia even know she's there?"
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Fri Aug 8th
The following morning as they were preparing to leave for Diagon Alley to get their new books and order new robes Hermione got the second of what would undoubtedly be a long string of surprises. Neville and Ginny had long since left with Augusta for the Longbottom semi-annual trek to visit some of their relatives. Harry was quickly improving his Metamorph skills and by the time he had showered, dried and partly dressed, he had morphed into a duplicate of Neville. He had just opened the bathroom door, intending on returning to his room to finish dressing when he found himself in a full body bind. A screaming Hermione stood in front of him … she had just arrived to use the bathroom. When Harry came to his senses he was starting to topple over. Harry was able to cancel the body bind curse easily enough, and quickly enough to regain his footing, he only stumbled a bit.
Hermione, almost immediately recognized Harry's mind and emotions coming from right in front of her then realized that Harry must have changed into Neville so that he could walk with her and not be recognized as Harry in Diagon Alley
"I suppose that I need to warn you when I'm going to morph?" inquired Harry. Fortunately her parents had already left so they won't be coming along with cricket bats and golf clubs.
"Yes, you definitely need to warn me before you morph!" exclaimed Hermione. "I see now exactly what Remus means about Tonks. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to it."
"I didn't expect to change so quickly, I guess because Neville and I are now so close in size the change is quicker. Maybe if I tried to change into Ron, who's quite a bit taller, it would take longer."
"Let's not try that right now," suggested Hermione, "Now that you've got the Morphing down to a reasonable time we should let Ron and the others in on the news, I'm sure Tonks hasn't told anyone."
"They may want to go to Diagon Alley with us too," said Harry.
"That would be great." Responded Hermione as she spelled her ring to broadcast a message to Ron and Luna asking them where they were. The message actually went out to all six rings, but Minerva, Neville and Ginny would ignore it as it didn't pertain to them.
Not even a minute later, as they were discussing how to play out the meeting, a message came back from Luna that they were both at The Burrow and a request for Harry and Hermione to join them in a trip to Diagon Alley.
- - - - - - - -
Harry and Hermione apparated, with a fairly loud pop, to their usual arrival point just outside The Burrows wards. Ron and Luna sat, facing each other, at a table in the back yard, discussing today's trip when Luna spotted Neville{Harry} and Hermione approaching.
Luna canted her head over to watch the two as they neared and when they were within normal talking range she said, "Hello Hermione … Harry … how are you both?" While Luna was greeting the others, Ron turned his head to do the same and upon sighting Neville, his eyes bugged out and his mouth dropped open.
"Neville … where's Harry? … where's Ginny? … what's going on? … you're supposed to be long gone!" Before Ron finished speaking he had his wand pulled out and was in the process of pointing it at Neville{Harry} and Hermione when it jumped out of his hand and hovered just out of reach.
Ron could see Hermione's outstretched hand was pointed towards the wand before she spoke. "It's alright Ron, this IS Harry."
"Hey mate, what do you think of the disguise?" Asked Neville{Harry}.
"I don't know that I'd bother drinking Polyjuice just to look like Neville," responded Ron, "Besides, when did you two have time to make Polyjuice potion? The last time Hermione made that it took a month to make." Luna looked up at Hermione in surprise.
"That's not Polyjuice Ron," said Luna. Ron swung around to face Luna and examined the look in her face that confirmed she was serious. While Ron was looking at Luna Harry changed his hair colour to fluorescent blue, it only took about ten seconds to fully change. When Luna noticed the change occurring she burst out in a huge smile because it confirmed what she had suspected, that Harry was a Metamorphmagus. Ron turned again quickly to face Harry and fell off his seat when he saw the bright blue head of hair.
"Bloody 'ell!" Ron exclaimed while watching the tips of the hair turn from dark brown to electric blue. "Tonks, quit impersonating Neville or I'll hex you." Harry proceeded to morph from Neville back into himself. Hermione attempted to explain as they sat down at the table.