A/N: Here we go, a snowy confrontation. Thanks as usual to Lady Starlight for her work on this chapter, it
is appreciated. As usual I own nothing, though some days...
Chapter 28: Family is Everything, and Nothing
**************************Godric's Hollow********************************
December 27, 2015
7:40 pm
Harriet rolled to her side, and looked up at Sirius as he read from a thick copy of Dark Arts and You, a Defensive Treatise. Sirius yawned, and rested his head against the headboard of his bed. His eyes fell closed and he jerked them open after a second, looking down at her, as she smiled at him, and squeezed the hand nearest hers.
Harriet looked around his room for a moment, and smiled at Natasha as she looked back and gave her a soft hoot. She scooted on the bed until she could rest her head on his lap and sighed softly, closing her eyes contently, as he absently combed his fingers through her hair, and continued to read. The wireless, which was playing softly in the background, changed songs, going to a new song by the Wyverns.
Her eyes opened as Sirius yawned and his fingers stopped moving. Harriet sat up, turning to face him, "Just because you've finally admitted you're my boyfriend doesn't mean you have to entertain me, Sirius." She reached up and patted his cheek, "I am a big girl after all."
"Oh, thank Merlin," Sirius whispered and she giggled, rising up on her knees, before she leaned in, pushing the book now hanging limply in one hand, tumbling to the floor as she crawled into his lap, and lowered her lips to his. She sighed softly as she kissed him, then continued on to the other side of his lap and crawled out of bed.
"Go to sleep, Sirius," she said, bending down to kiss him again. Harriet looked towards the open door and pulled down her jumper to meet the waist of her jeans, and grinned faintly as he looked disappointed. She crouched next to the bed and held his hand as he slipped down the bed, and rolled onto his side facing her. She flicked her wand, causing a soft, furry blanket to unfold from the bottom of the bed to cover him up to his chin. She reached up and played with his hair for a moment, watching as it did what it wanted as soon as her fingers moved away.
Harriet pulled his glasses from his face and kissed him again, as she set them on the bedside table, "I'm going to go talk to Mum, take a kip; I'll be back, Sirius. I'll be here when you wake up." He nodded and she flicked her wand again, dousing the lights and drawing the heavy curtains, sending the room into dimness, only the light of a lava lamp on the dresser providing a soft reddish-gold glow.
Harriet stood and slipped her wand behind one ear and walked silently to the door on bare feet, closing it behind her as she slipped into the hallway. She walked to the head of the stairs and started down, placing each foot lightly on the carpeted runner on the stairs. Reaching the end, she stepped into the living room and stepped around to the other side of the couch. A giggle was cut off with her hands quickly covering her lips, as she found Ron; sleeping on his back, with his mouth wide open.
Someone had obviously performed a Silencing Charm on him, as she could tell from the expression on his face that he was snoring away. Harriet grinned and skipped away, headed to the kitchen, from which she could smell the aroma of tomatoes and spices.
Harry was bent over a large cutting board on the counter, a large knife flashing expertly in his hands as he thinly sliced strips of chicken from a pile of breasts. He turned and grinned at her, before summoning a pan with a glance and having it float over to him. He scraped the meat into the skillet and directed it to a low flame. He walked over to the sink and washed his hands quickly, drying them and turning to Harriet, "Hi, Harry," Harry said and Harriet grinned, "dinner will be ready in about a half hour, you should probably tell Sirius."
Harriet glanced up, back in the direction of Sirius' bedroom, "Um...Uncle Harry, would it be okay, if he and I ate later...he's asleep."
Harry's eyes twinkled, "You've only been going together what, three, four days and you've already worn him out..."
"Uncle Harry," Harriet moaned, blushing. She looked away for him and then back at him, almost defiantly, "No...but I'm going to...someday..." she added in a faint whisper.
"Good girl," Harry replied, laughing, and she grinned, "Don't worry, I'll get your food safe from your father; I've had experience in doing so." She slipped across the kitchen and kissed his cheek. "What's that for?"
"Thank you," she said, and he nodded. "Where's Mum?"
"I think she's in the den with Hermione," he said absently, turning back to the stovetop and moving the skillet with a flick of two fingers, causing it to move back and forth on the flames. He turned back to find that she had slipped out of the kitchen and he shrugged, starting to slice vegetables for the sauce.
Harriet paused outside of the den as she heard her mother's voice coming from within. "Oh, Merlin, Hermione," Luna said breathlessly, "I missed this." Harriet's eyes became wide as Galleons as her hand froze halfway through pushing the door open. She knocked instead, timidly.
"Come in," a laughing soprano replied and she slowly pushed open the door.
Luna was sitting sideways in a large, comfortable chair, across from Hermione, who was sprawled along a slightly careworn couch. A large, open box of chocolates was sitting open on the coffee table between them, along with a pair of glasses of wine. Luna was chewing blissfully on a large truffle, she swallowed and looked to Hermione, "I love you, sis, I hadn't had Honeydukes in seventeen years." She turned her head enough to see Harriet, "Hi, honey," she said brightly. She waved at the chair she was lounging in, "Come here."
Harriet crossed the room and let her mother pull her back onto her lap. "Uncle Harry says that dinner will be in about a half hour," she announced as Hermione leaned forward to snag her glass of wine. She took a sip as she sat back and cradled the glass in both hands. Hermione looked over at a large clock hanging behind the large, oak desk at one end of the room, surrounded by dark wood shelves, filled to overflowing with mementoes and books, lots, and lots and lots of books. More books than were possible to fit in the room, in fact.
Hermione looked back to Harriet, "Where is Sirius, honey, I thought you two were studying?"
"He's asleep," she shrugged, "He was tired, so I told him to go to sleep."
"And just why is he tired, Harriet?" Emilia said from the door, she crooked an eyebrow and crossed to the couch and curled up with her mother, letting her body fall back against Hermione's. Hermione started to idly play with her daughter's hair, frowning slightly as she found a small tangle in the back and started to work at it. Emilia winced slightly, as Hermione freed the tangle of dark curls, then shared a quick smile with her mum before looking back to Harriet, "I mean I know why Xander was yawning a bit ago when I made him go help Dad with dinner, but why is Sirius?"
Harriet looked down, and shrugged very slightly as Hermione and Luna shared a slightly smug look over their daughters' heads. Hermione gestured towards the table and another pair of filled wineglasses appeared on the table. Emilia grinned as she leaned forward and snagged one, "Thanks, Mum," she said as she took a sip.
"You're welcome." Hermione took another sip of her wine and caught a chocolate as it floated over from the table. She ate it slowly; closing her eyes for an instant in bliss as another of Honeydukes select disappeared. "So, what are your intentions with my son, Harriet?" Hermione grinned over the top of her wineglass.
Harriet looked across to find Emilia looking at her mischievously, she looked up and back to find Luna looking off into the corner distractedly, watching the play of the reflected light from a small silver instrument set alone on a table on the wall. Thanks, Mum, Harriet murmured, a snarkish air to her thoughts. Harriet shrugged again. She twisted her hands in her lap; then brought them up to play with a small golden lion pendant, a Christmas gift from Sirius. The one he had bought, before.
She swallowed and let her hands fall back to her lap, tightening them together as she looked Hermione in the eye. "Honestly, Aunt Hermione..." she took a breath as Hermione sat up just slightly and Emilia rolled her tongue around the inside of her cheek, trying not to laugh. "The minute Sirius graduates, I mean to marry him on the steps of Hogwarts."
Emilia almost spit out her wine and Hermione automatically patted her back as Luna laughed, and Harriet went on, "And depending on exactly which careers we pursue, will depend on exactly when get started on our own family." Emilia choked loudly.
Luna smiled beatifically, as Hermione bit her lip, her eyes sparkling. "And how do you know this...it's a bit early for you two to have discussed that, isn't it, even for this family."
Harriet sighed quietly, "I just know...there are many possible futures...that's the one I want the most...so it has to be the one that's real." Her voice fell slightly on the last, as if it were more a plea than anything, and Luna looked down, hugging her back to her and kissing the top of her head.
"It is, if you want it enough, honey," she said softly, her voice utterly normal. Harriet turned slightly and looked back up at Luna, grinning shyly. Luna kissed her brow, and ran her fingers over her hair. "It's what I did, after all...though it didn't follow quite the path I had envisioned, your Dad and I got sidetracked for a bit, but it will all out in the end."
"Yeah," Hermione said quietly, slipping from the couch to kneel in front of the chair holding Luna and Harriet, "It will." She looked back towards Emilia on the couch, "The right path has a way of winning out over the easy one, or the dark one for that matter." Emilia gave her a small, suddenly-timid smile.
A soft cough came from the door and all four women looked up to find Xander looking at them sheepishly from the doorway. Emilia vanished from the couch, Apparating into his arms as he raised them automatically. They wrapped around her as she lifted enough to kiss him to the accompaniment of wolf whistles from Hermione and Luna. Emilia looked back at them, smirking as she turned around in his arms. "Harry says dinner is done," Xander announced and looked to Luna, "Aunt Luna, he said something about you having to deal with Uncle Ron."
"Yes, he often does resemble an annoyed Ichneumon when he wakes up," Luna replied, nodding knowingly. Emilia took Xander's hand as she spun out of his arms and pulled him towards the kitchen, walking backwards as she pulled him along. Hermione followed after them, glancing back and catching a small gesture from Luna as the blonde lagged behind with her daughter.
"Are you coming to dinner?" Luna asked her daughter as she followed Hermione and Emilia to the door, walking towards the tempting smells coming from the direction of the kitchen. She stopped and looked back, swirling her long skirt back and forth as she waited. Luna smiled absently, "He is very pretty, Harriet, just like his daddy, I approve...though I'm not sure if you will have sprogs with black or red hair...maybe blonde...maybe we can mix all three colors, that would be pretty..."
Harriet grinned and hugged her mother, "Thank you, Mummy," she murmured against Luna's hair, the two of them almost the same height. Luna nodded, and turned her head enough to kiss Harriet's brow.
"Go to him, honey," Luna whispered in her ear, "I'll keep your daddy from eating everything in sight. She watched, smiling faintly as Harriet let out a small squeak and vanished, with a faint POP of Apparation. Luna started off towards the kitchen more...conventionally, though most walked in a straight line, instead of a pattern more reminiscent of a dance.
Harriet appeared a floor up in her room, and quickly darted over to her dresser. She skinned out of her jeans and pulled on a loose pair of red sweatpants with Gryffindor written across the bum in gold. She pulled her jumper over her head, followed by a tie-dyed bra, before she pulled out a Gryffindor team t-shirt she had purloined from Sirius much earlier in the year and slipped it on. She crossed the hall quickly, stepping into Sirius' room and closing the door behind her.
She leaned back against the closed door and stood, watching Sirius sleep for a long minute or ten. He had turned in his sleep from earlier and was now facing the door. She smiled faintly, feeling her heart speed up slightly as he stirred a bit and muttered something happily in his sleep that sounded like "Harry". She was pretty sure he did not dream about his father much.
Harriet padded over to the bed on bare feet, and lifted the warm, furry blanket she had covered Sirius with earlier. She slid in under the covers and scooted over until she was within inches of him. She stretched out an arm and wrapped it around him, smiling as he moved closer to her, snuggling into her body. A low, contented sound whispered from her lips as she pulled his head down to rest on her shoulder. Harriet's smile widened slightly as he pulled his head down a touch in his sleep, letting his head be pillowed by her chest.
"G'night, Sirius," she murmured, and heard something similar in return. She bent her head enough to kiss the top of his head, and kept her lips there as she bent her body around his.
Downstairs, in a small kitchen that magically had expanded enough to seat eight, though two places were rather conspicuously empty, Harry was looking across a kitchen table and laughing at a ribald joke Ron had just uttered to the visible annoyance of his wife and Hermione. He looked over to Hermione and dropped his eyes, as she reached up and tapped him lightly in the back of the head. Emilia giggled, uproariously, and started to choke on a piece of chicken.
Xander helped her, patting her back until she half-coughed it up. "Alright there, Em?" Harry asked automatically, looking across the table. She nodded and took a sip of her water, and sat back in her chair.
"Yeah, Dad, I'm..." A raucous alarm cut across her words, and her wand appeared in her hand as she stood, and turned towards the door. A red, shimmering glow pre-lit the tip of her wand as she looked towards the door leading to the living room and the main entrance to the house, the direction from which her link to the wards was already telling her that eight intruders had violated the estate defenses. Xander flicked his wrist and his fell dropped from the sleeve of jumper into his hand as he moved to back her up. She looked back over her shoulder to see Harry step over to the wall.
He waved his hand over a framed picture of Hogwarts, taken as if looking up to it from the lake. The image shimmered and changed, showing slightly green-tinted images of seven robed wizards and one person who all of them knew instantly, and he and Hermione had already identified. What the hell does she want? Harry asked, glancing over at Hermione out of the corner of his eye.
She's got MLE with her...Hermione replied, recognizing several of the members of the junior service standing outside of their door. Hermione looked back at Ron and Luna, who still were 'not alive' and then at Emilia and Xander. "Something odd's going on here, stay here."
"Hermione, that's..." Ron objected pointing towards the person standing unhooded in the center, with flaming red hair.
"I know, Ron," Hermione looked at Harry, "It's your choice, Ron...if you want her to know, come with us."
Luna reached out and grabbed Ron's arm, "It would probably be best if we waited a few moments...It is, curious, just what Molly Weasley is doing outside the Hollow on a snowy evening at dinner time, unannounced, one would think."
A silent alarm snapped in the Potters' heads, and Emilia slipped to the back door. "Dad..."
"I know," Harry snapped, Hermione gave a silent nod, "Go, Em." She gave him a tense smile and vanished silently, followed a beat later by Xander, with only a bare whisper of a POP. Harry tapped the picture frame and suddenly the low voices of the MLE officers along with Molly's low dulcet tones filled the room. Harry smiled faintly at Hermione and caught the night-black cloak she tossed him. Harry spun in place and vanished, and Hermione looked at the empty air he had occupied for a single heartbeat before she took a breath, gave Ron and Luna a single nod and followed.
Outside, in the midst of a light, swirling snowfall, Molly Weasley turned to the leader of the MLE team with her, all of them here on sealed orders from a Junior Member of the Wizengamot. "Well get on with it, Baker, I'll have her in the Burrow this evening where she belongs."
Theodore Baker, a twenty year veteran of the MLE, looked on nervously, having seen exactly what the occupants of this house could do if irritated. He looked back at Molly, and sighed heavily, "Alright, Johnson..."
A young MLE officer, barely out of the Academy, looked back to his superior and slowly pushed open the garden gate and started towards the house. Baker and two more MLE officers moved with him, along with Molly. Three others slowly trailed them, and faded into invisibility as they shook out silvery cloaks and whipped them over their heads.
Johnson reached the front porch and stepped up three low steps to the door, and knocked firmly on it... "MAGICAL LAW ENFORCEMENT, OPEN UP, WE HAVE A ORDER FOR REMOVAL OF A MINOR..."
No one answered the door. Behind the visible Wizards, brief, faint flickers snapped in the night and soft, unnoticed thumps came from near the garden fence.
Behind the house, near the edge of the lake, a pair of barely visible shadows flitted along the shore, trailing slowly behind another four MLE officers that had hiked in overland, thinking to avoid any wards. The leader, a hard-looking woman, waved towards the porch, "Let's get this over with...It's about time that we take them down a peg, bloody Potters...And that Muggleborn bitch, lording over her betters, giving them orders..." The other three officers looked at her but did not speak...not bothering to argue. They were more worried with the strong possibility that this was not the safest endeavor that they had ever undertaken.
Behind them, within easy hearing of a wolfling and his soul-bonded mate, who also just happened to be a potential Archmage, or probably already was, two more invisible defenders moved with wands pointed at the intruders' backs. Hungry, Xander? Emilia muttered, watching as the woman stumbled over something buried in the snow.
They'd give me gas, Em, and I'm sure you don't want to be with me tonight if that happens, he replied and she carefully did not snort.
No, if you stink up the sheets, I'm sleeping in Harriet's room. Emilia danced to the side, her steps silent, even in the snow, unlike the MLE agents who had not even bothered to silence their steps. She and Xander had learned better when they were eight.
It's not like she's going to use it tonight, Xander murmured, and Emilia glanced over to him, his aura clearly visible in her sight, even though his body was not.
They are just sleeping, Xander, Emilia snapped, even though a faint trace of a silent giggle underlined her words. She crouched easily, as the MLE quartet stopped in the lee of a small broom shed next to the pitch. I guess we wait, she murmured, feeling Xander's agreement in the corner of her mind as he lowered into an easy hunter's crouch, and becoming totally invisible as the advanced Disillusionment Charm faded into the background.
Back in the front of the house, Johnson looked back towards his commander, who took a glare from Molly, and sighed, he drew his wand, as did the rest of his visible agents. "REDUCTO!" Johnson snapped and a blue bolt hissed from his wand, directly at the lock on the door...and vanished as it hit a shimmering gold field that fluxed twice and twin red beams snapped from the eves, sending him tumbling backwards off the porch into the snow...
"WHAT THE..." A pair of red flickers snapped from out of nowhere and the other two MLE agents collapsed, leaving Molly Weasley and Baker alone. Their wands flew from their hands an instant later. Reflected red light came from somewhere behind the house, and then silence.
Baker jumped as a patch of air only feet from his face shimmered and solidified, a pair of glowing emerald eyes appearing first, behind small, round lenses that reflected the light. Harry looked to the MLE agent, "Can you tell me why there are currently," Harry paused, reading the wards, "seven unconscious MLE agents and three under a Petrificus under their invisibly cloaks on my yard?" Baker looked shocked, and Hermione shimmered into existence behind him.
"Or why my daughter and her fiancé will probably catch the flu out in this weather, because you thought you could trespass on our property," Hermione added, her eyes blazing...
"We are here to take Harriet home," Molly snapped.
"You have admitted that you and your family assaulted MLE agents on their appointed tasks," Baker put in heatedly, cutting across Molly, any previous apprehensions about the assignment hidden under his anger at having his force disabled so trivially.
"No," Harry said flatly, "we saved your arses, I'd say." He looked back around the area and waved his hand, summoning the cloaks from the three invisible MLE officers and tossing them in a pile on the porch. "I could have let the house defenses deal with you and yours...you should have Flooed ahead."
"We have a warrant for the removal of one Harriet Weasley from these premises and to remand her into the custody of her proven blood relative until such time that the supposed guardianship documents can be examined," Baker snapped.
Molly started towards the door, only to bounce off as a field snapped into place, barring the way. She looked over to Hermione, "I shall be taking my Granddaughter..."
Baker looked between the pair, then back at Harry, "This warrant is signed by Preston Gildersnart...I am sure that you are aware of his position."
"Yes," Harry replied softly, "I am aware that he heads the Underage Magical Welfare Department...and holds a seat on the Wizengamot...Which, if I remember correctly, I do as well, along with two others." He looked to Molly, "You aren't taking her, Molly, she doesn't want to go; she's happy here, she has friends her own age, and she's settled in."
"It is about what is best for her, not what she thinks is best for her," Molly snapped, moving over to stand in front of Harry. "You have already cost my family enough," Harry winced, and took a breath as his eyes flared.
"Get off our property, Molly," Hermione said lethally. She turned to Baker, "You have no authority over this house or grounds, Harry and I answer to the Minister of Magic, not to the MLE, and not to his wife. And even he will not make me sunder a promise to my..."
"Judge Gildersnart," Baker began...
"Does not overrule my orders," a pleasant, deep voice said from somewhere in the snow. Albus Dumbledore stepped from the darkness, and gave Harry and Hermione a brief nod. His blue eyes looked at Molly along the length of his long, crooked nose with an air of mild disappointment, "Officer Baker, you will leave the premises now, I hereby countermand your orders and block any of the like until further notice." He turned his head slightly, "Unless you would like to discuss the matter further," Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled madly as he held the MLE officer's gaze, "And I will be extremely...displeased, if this matter is brought up again, in any way." Baker just nodded and caught his wand as Hermione tossed it to him.
Dumbledore flicked his wand, undoing the various Stunners and Petrification Charms on the MLE agents. He watched, with only the barest flicker of visible amusement as Xander and Emilia appeared a moment later, leading a floating train of four unconscious bodies. Emilia flicked her wand and watched as they settled at Baker's feet to be Enervated by Dumbledore a beat later. The four stood groggily and staggered off at an order from Baker, towards the Apparition zone in the front of the house.
After another few minutes in which the Potters, Xander and Dumbledore watched the MLE officers leave, and Molly fume, Dumbledore turned to Harry, "I think that we would rather be inside, Harry," he looked at Emilia who was shivering but not saying a word as she huddled against Xander, "it would be, I think, a touch more comfortable."
Harry nodded and they all vanished, reappearing in an empty living room. "Tea, Albus?" Hermione asked, shrugging off the cloak she had worn and tossing it over the back of a chair. "You might want to get out of those wet clothes, Em, Xander," she added almost as an afterthought. Emilia nodded and pulled on Xander, leading him up the stairs.
"I would be delighted," Dumbledore replied, helping himself to a seat in a large, leather recliner.
"I am not here to have tea, Hermione," Molly said shortly, Hermione seemed to ignore her as she slipped towards the kitchen. She pushed the door open and slipped inside, oddly no sound seemed to come from the room as the door closed.
"I find a cup of tea to be very relaxing," Dumbledore said, and looked across at Harry as he sat opposite him on a couch, "Don't you, Harry."
"I don't know, Albus," Harry replied, "I often find a nice mulled mead appropriate." Dumbledore gave him a twinkle, remembering the day that he had come to retrieve Harry from the Dursleys. Both of their expressions faded, however, as the codicil to that flitted independently across their thoughts, of the events that had happened almost exactly a year later.
"I am tired of this," Molly said, still refusing to sit, she glared at Harry, "I am taking Harriet home, she has already been injured because she was too near your family...And I do not think it appropriate that she lives under the same roof as an unattached boy, especially with the level of supervision that occurs here...Now, I have not commented on how you raise your own children," she put in, and Hermione rolled her eyes, as she stepped back into the room with a tray floating at her shoulder. She directed it to land lightly on the coffee table between Harry and Dumbledore, and a cup jumped up, hovered next to the pot and received a load of tea. A pair of sugar cubes danced out of a sugar bowl decorated with images of cavorting otters, before the mug flitted over to Dumbledore's hand.
Hermione sat down next to Harry, neither of them indicating the chair that still sat open, ready for Molly to sit. Nor did they comment on the fact that both Emilia and Xander were sitting at the top of the stairs, just out of sight of the room below, easily within hearing distance. Hermione took a breath, "Harriet is just fine..."
"Where is she, Hermione?" Molly growled and Harry sighed, closing his eyes.
"I believe, last time I checked, that she was sleeping up in Sirius' room," Hermione said serenely and took a sip of her tea.
Molly's eyes became wide as saucers, she looked to Dumbledore, who was leaned forward, selecting from a selection of biscuits on the tray and then back to Hermione. He sat up, munching on a frosted chocolate biscuit and sat back with two more in his hand. "These are excellent, Hermione, where do you get them..."
Hermione smiled, "Oh, Winky makes them, Panka loves them, along with Em and Sirius, so we have a bunch around here, I am sure that she would be glad to show the recipe to the Hogwarts elves."
"Where is Sirius, then?" Molly asked flatly. She crossed her arms and looked down at Hermione.
Hermione cocked her head slightly and looked up and back, towards the ceiling. "I believe he's on the right side of the bed right now, but it's rather difficult to tell, actually..."
"I can not believe you, advocating such...you should be ashamed, letting them get away with such..." Molly spun to the stairs, took two steps and froze as if a spell had been cast as a voice from the past carried across the room.
"Actually, Molly," Luna's soft voice wafted across the room, "I told her to go to him...they seem to sleep better together and they were both rather knackered." Molly spun slowly, her face white. Ron slipped up behind Luna and wrapped his arms around her, and rested his chin on the top of her head. "Since Ronald and I raised her since she was born, I think that I am qualified say what she can and cannot 'get away with'." She looked to Harry and Hermione, and back to Molly, "And since I know that you can read, and I am rather sure that Hermione would have shown you my letter on the subject, I admit I am puzzled just why you seem determined to disregard Ronald's and my wishes on the disposition of my daughter."
"Hello, Mum," Ron said quietly. Molly's hands shook as she looked back to Ron. She started to take a step towards him and then another, and stopped as Ron raised one hand. "No, Mum...I've been away from here for half my life...we sent Harriet here, not to the Burrow, because we trusted Harry and Hermione with our daughter's life..." He stopped and looked up as a soft, murmured conversation came from somewhere up the stairs.
A beat later, Harriet slipped down the stairs, the fingers of her left hand intertwined almost painfully with Sirius' right. They stopped as they reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around slowly. Both of them looked as if they had been pulled bodily from bed, Harriet's hair hung messily around her head, and she blinked slowly as she looked to her parents, then to her grandmother and back. She turned her head and whispered something into Sirius' ear, he nodded, sending his hair flopping down over his eyes, and only increasing his resemblance to a ruffled owl.
Harriet dropped Sirius' hand and turned into him. She kissed him quickly, not noticing Molly's eyes as they narrowed, and stepped back, "Is there any supper left, Uncle Harry?" Harriet asked, almost as if Molly weren't in the room, as she started towards the kitchen. Harry nodded, and she gave him a smile, "Thanks for saving it from Daddy...he's a touch of a pig..."
"Oi," Ron muttered, grinning faintly. He kissed her cheek as Harriet passed, still ignoring Molly, though he could read the faint anger in Harriet's eyes. Sirius followed, his eyes still clouded slightly with sleep. Ron watched them pass through the swinging door, and then looked at his mother, "Why, Mum?" he asked, "I could understand it if, Merlin forbid, I had had Harriet go to Black's with Ginny, but this is Harry and Hermione...my God, woman, do you have a clue, what they had to do to keep us all safe..."
"I thought you had died, why didn't you let your own mother know, I..."
"Because it needed to stay a secret, and I was trying to not hurt you any more, if we could never get back," Ron said lowly, a speckle of moisture in his eyes. He took a breath and turned away. Luna paused a moment to give Molly a small glare, her anger at the Weasley matriarch breaking through her habitual detachment, "Mum...Luna and I will be along tomorrow to the Burrow...we'll bring Harriet along...but, I don't think that we'll be staying there." He took a breath and closed his eyes.
"I would appreciate it if you would leave now, Molly," Luna said quietly. Molly opened and closed her mouth, but started towards the door. She stepped outside, Harry leading her there without a word, and closed it behind her. A soft CRACK could be heard a beat later, and Dumbledore stood from his seat.
"I will be going as well, Harry, everyone." He looked to the Potters, "I am sorry that I did not hear of this maneuver before you had to deal with it." He looked at Ron, "Ronald, if you have time after you have settled in, I would like to discuss a matter with you, and perhaps you as well, Luna. Goodnight everyone, and I thank you for the offer of Winky sharing her recipe, Hermione." Dumbledore vanished without a sound. A moment later, Sirius and Harriet stepped from the kitchen; she was balancing a pair of plates and Sirius a pair of butterbeer bottles.
"Can we eat in here, Mum?" Sirius asked with a faint yawn. Harriet looked to Hermione as she nodded and waved them forward. The pair moved to the couch and slid down the front, sitting their food on the coffee table and sitting on the floor with their backs to the couch.
"Thanks, Aunt Hermione," Harriet said brightly as she snagged a piece of chicken from Sirius' plate and Ron snorted faintly in the background.
*************************Hogwarts*********************************
December 29, 2015
2:15 pm
"I feel that I must apologize for the actions of the Wizengamot the other night," Dumbledore said as Ron trailed him along the corridors of the school, that in one way or another, he had spent almost his whole life in. "While the judge who issued the order was not directly under my supervision, he was a member of the Wizengamot, and therefore my responsibility."
Ron shrugged, and started to reply, pausing as a Gryffindor fourth year walked past in jeans and a black, woolen Muggle coat, her house only recognizable by the knitted gold and red scarf around her neck. Puzzled, she stopped and looked at Ron for a long minute, before continuing on as she noticed the Headmaster. Footsteps faded away, "It is not your fault, Sir," Ron replied, "Mum just never wants to let go...It's hurt her before, we'll see if she gets the message this time."
Dumbledore nodded and smiled faintly, before touching the handle of a classroom door as they came upon it. The lock clicked, and Dumbledore pushed it open, walking forward without looking back to see if Ron had followed. "You may call me, Albus, Ronald," Dumbledore commented. Faint clicks of boot-heels on stone answered any question if Ron had followed.
Ron looked around automatically as he followed Dumbledore into the room, a room that had seemingly not changed since he had first experienced it twenty-four years ago, as a purple-turbaned Professor nervously twittered about something that Ron was busy tuning out. The dragon skeleton still hung overhead, along with several, currently empty, wrought-iron cages. At the far end of the room, a short spiraling staircase went up a level to the Professor's office, half-hidden behind an eight-foot-high blackboard on wheels.
Pausing to run his fingers along a battered, old wood student's table near the front, one that if he looked close enough he could still find the initials "HP, HG, RW", carved in one corner, Ron took a breath. "Why are we down here, S...Albus?"
A small grin passed behind the cover of Dumbledore's auburn beard, before the ancient, youngish wizard walked to a small shelf set to one side and idly examined a small Foe Glass. It was clear, not even a shadow darkening the misty image within, "In my time on this plane of existence," Dumbledore mused, "I find that if one problem arises, then often a solution presents itself, if only one knows where to look."
Ron had learned, with difficulty, but he had learned in the end-mostly through Luna or Hermione beating it into his head, occasionally literally-that often silence was the best solution. So, he waited, watching as Dumbledore nodded to himself, confirming some random fact in the wizard's convoluted mind. He waited a minute longer, "And what is the problem?"
"Aha," Dumbledore said, turning back to him, and lifting one finger, "yes..." His expression fell somewhat, "Grayson Harriman, was a dedicated professor..."
"Wait...He's dead?" Ron interjected, recognizing the name from conversations with his daughter, when she could be pried away from her new, black-haired, cuddly toy for a minute, about how much she liked school here so much more.
"No," Dumbledore reassured him, "He did, however, seem to have run afoul of a Manticore somewhere in Egypt over the holiday...It seems...suspicious, in light of the history of his position, but the Egyptian authorities seem to think there was no foul play involved. However, he has lost the use of one of his legs and an arm until St. Mungo's finishes regenerating them."
"That is terrible...Albus, but what does that have to do with me?"
Nodding, Dumbledore paced over and looked up at the dragon's skeleton, rocking on his heels as he held his arms behind his back, "Grayson was an excellent teacher, and an old friend of mine, but he was not particularly...experienced in the practical side of Defense Against the Dark Arts. He was always more of a theoretician, than an actual fighter, and he was not the most powerful of wizards. For instance, he has never been able to produce a corporal Patronus. In the past, despite the fact that the Dementors are still about, it was not as much of a concern...Now, with certain other signs and portents, it would seem an excellent skill to possess and pass on."
Dumbledore looked back to Ron, "And yes, I do know of Emilia and Sirius' group, but they are, for very understandable reasons, keeping their extra studies, to themselves and those they trust implicitly." He nodded, "I am sure that they have other secrets, ones that they feel compelled to hide from me, but I will not force them to reveal them to me, not any longer." He reached up to absently push glasses back up his nose and stopped with a faintly chagrined look as he remembered, once again, that he did not need to wear them yet, again.
"What does that have to do with me?" Ron asked bemusedly.
"That is the crux of the issue, is it not?" Dumbledore's ice-blue eyes twinkled madly, "I seem to have need of a Professor of the Dark Arts, and you have need of a job."
"But I..."
Dumbledore shook his head, "No...It has been the lot of this position, that it is either, often under the tutelage of those that are, shall we say, inexperienced in the subject matter, or those that should not hold it." A tiny shrug, almost invisible under his robes, "For all of your...youth, you are one of the more experienced in this field that exists today."
"I'm not Harry or Hermione, or you...not even close, I couldn't pretend-"
"Your students are not either, Ronald. With few exceptions, most of them are hard working, but do not have the advantages of a few, they will need proper instruction. They will need to learn how to defend themselves against the threats that are out there."
"The last kid that I taught, well Luna did as much as me, was Harriet." Ron closed his eyes, as if debating some inner secret, "And she is not...normal."
"While you are not your best friends, you are not exactly a weak wizard either, Ronald, remember, I saw your school records...You should be able to bridge the gap." Dumbledore sighed faintly, "And even beyond that, despite whatever misgivings that you may have towards me, I trust you, and history has proven, that I need to have someone in this position that I can trust, despite my own failings at choosing the candidates."
Ron sighed, "Do you really think that I can do this?"
"I would not have asked if I did not feel you could."
"Then I'll do it."
Wow, there's someone you wouldn't' have thought of as a Professor.