Vox Corporis: A Very Voxie Christmas

Barmy_old_Codger

Rating: PG13
Genres: Mystery, Suspense
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 4
Published: 22/12/2007
Last Updated: 22/12/2007
Status: in_progress

A continuation of 'Vox Corporis' by MissAnnThropic. Starts after her 2nd Epilogue and is mostly compatible with 'Vox Corporis: Rebirth' by Edmond O'Donald on fanfiction dot net. story # 3623347

Chapters

1. VC: AVVC Part 1 (Rev. A)

1. VC: AVVC Part 1 (Rev. A)

Vox Corporis: A Very Voxie Christmas

By Barmy old Codger

Part 1 (of 2?) [Rev.a - with minor corrections 22 Dec 07]

Early morning, December 24th

(Continues from the end of “After the Story Ends” of Vox Corporis)

http://fanfiction.portkey.org/story/6586/70

Word count = 13, 500 of actual story

Pursuant to the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988 and the Digital Millennium Copywrite Act of 1998, this work is copywrited 2007 with all rights expressly reserved by its author unless explicitly granted. No portion may be reproduced in any fashion without the express written and notarized permission of the author.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters. All characters are creations of Joanne K Rowling, © 2007, to whom I am deeply indebted.

A/N: The Panther {Genus Panthera} is a genus that could refer to lion, tiger, jaguar or leopard. Jaguars [Panthera Onca] are located from the southern U.S. through to South America. The only other Jaguars are motorcars [Panthera Carus argentum] that are made in Italy and migrate around the world.

Credits to MissAnnThropic for her original story “Vox Corporis”, a beautiful and brilliant story ... a ‘must read’ for every H/Hr fan (even if I do say so myself). Credits also to The Scribbler for his fine work “Vox Corporis: Rebirth” (still in progress) that elaborates on their lives after the story proper (Vox Corporis) and before the two epilogues.

“Vox Corporis: A Very Voxie Christmas” continues from the end of the second Epilogue. Thank you Ann for adding the second Epilogue, you saved me a lot of work. Thank you also for your patience and your constructive comments. I implemented those I could and we’ll just have to live with or without the others.

Note: the original story (Vox Corporis) was based primarily on the first 4 movies rather than the books. The last we saw of Sirius Black, he was riding off into the distance on Buckbeak. There were no Thestralls nor was there a Department of Mysteries adventure or a prophesy about Harry and the Dark Lord.

I am trying to make this story true to the original in the little details, but please keep in mind that there are a lot of details. There were a few I chose to ignore because I couldn’t make them fit and I may have missed a few as well. Please put my errors down to ‘old timers disease’ and don’t give me too much of a rough time over them.

The Scribbler & I have co-operated as much as possible and he has contributed a significant amount of text and corrections to this story, to try to help me and make this story fall in line with his. Since his story is not finished and this one is about half done there will likely be some deviations in the future that will create incompatibilities.

This story, when completed, is intended to end around New Years after which students would normally return to school.

I plan to finish this but it might take until next Christmas. This part took most of this year to write.

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Vox Corporis: A Very Voxie Christmas

Continues from the last Epilogue of Vox Corporis

They had kept up their lovemaking until the wee hours of this morning and thus slept in until Hermione woke abruptly to the ringing of the telephone. Harry covered his head with a pillow trying to ignore the noise until Hermione tore the pillow away, “Harry!! We’re late, it’s after ten o’clock.” as she rolled over on top of Harry to reach for the phone. Harry’s arms automatically wrapped around her and he started nibbling on her neck. Harry only heard half of the phone conversation that went something like this:

“Morning, Gram.”

“Yes … late night, we slept in.”

“GRAM!”

“You guys had better go to the airport now, without us, and collect Uncle Ben, Aunt Rachel and their menagerie; otherwise they’ll wonder what happened.”

“Yes, we’ll be there and have lunch made by the time you get back.”

“Don’t worry about keys, we can get in, no problem.”

“And Gram … no more teasing Harry, please … there’ll be five little squirts for you to tease.”

“What!” Hermione exclaimed. “The twin girls can’t be twelve … I don’t believe it, I was nine when I last saw them, they were just babies … Oh Merlins beard … it has been that long.”

“You three had better be leaving or Uncle Ben will wonder what happened.”

“Bye Gram, have a safe trip.”

Hermione was able to hold her concentration long enough through Harry’s attempt to distract her, to push the ‘off’ button on the phone before she fumbled it and it dropped towards the floor. Harry reached out automatically as if to catch a snitch, he never actually touched the phone, but he levitated it back up to the cradle. “Oh Harry … not now, we’re late.” She moaned, as his touch lit new, erotic fires in her body.

“We can get there in an instant, you know that” Harry said silently to her.

“If we show up with a mountain of presents and no car, Ben & Rachel will notice and ask questions … you know that, and then what do we tell them?”

“We tell them we only live two farms down the road” responded Harry.

“Right!

“We tell them they just met the most powerful wizz and witchard in the world?” Harry quipped, knowing very well he wasn’t going to get any more shagging this morning.

“You have a quick shower first, I’ll bring you up some pumpkin juice in a few minutes and finish packing … then you can load the car while I get cleaned up.” Hermione told him as she entered the bathroom to answer the call of nature. She knew it would take him a full five minutes to get out of bed, let alone be ready for his shower, so she had plenty of time to finish what she was doing and brush her teeth.

Hermione loved living in the countryside; it was very peaceful with lots of open space. They had purchased the McCormick farm from Mildred after Anthony McCormick passed away, that was about six months after they graduated from Hogwarts. The farm between theirs and Agincourt, Grams place, came up for sale a year later and they bought that up too. The house on that property was currently occupied by their hired help, Grenville Longbottom, an older wizard who was knowledgeable about horse breeding. They had found Grenville and his family through Neville, and when questioned about the family ties Neville responded that you had to go back about twenty generations to find the connection, but they were wonderful people and a loving family. Neville and his grandmother, Augusta, knew them quite well and they visited every year.

Harry now had eight prize breeding horses as well as Antigone, Buckbeak and a pair of Thestrals. Hagrid had found Buckbeak wandering in the Forbidden Forest and given him to Harry because the Ministry still had a disposal order waiting for Buckbeak should he be found. The pair of Thestrals had for some reason that Hagrid could not explain, become very friendly with Harry and Hermione during their seventh year and missed them after they graduated. They had followed Hagrid and Buckbeak to the Potter farm.

Hermione would ride Tiggy over to Grams almost every day, have tea and ride back an hour or two later. If Harry was around he would disillusion himself and run over as Knight, taking the long way so as not to spook the other horses.

Harry and Hermione finally made it to Berti’s with most of an hour to spare. Harry started lunch while Hermione hauled in the small mountain of presents. It wasn’t that arduous a task really, Harry had shrunk them all down to fit in a shoe box before loading them in the Aston Martin; otherwise they would never have fit.

Hermione returned their presents to their normal size and stacked them with the other presents. She then cleared a place for the tree they would need to get, and rounded up all the ornaments and decorations, stacking them beside the presents as well.

Within a minute of one o’clock, lunch for twelve was ready. A few days ago, Harry had stretched the dining room and the dining room table to seat more than a dozen, Hermione duplicated enough chairs and place settings for everyone. He hoped that Ben’s memory of the old dining room and table wouldn’t cause a problem. Harry put a stasis spell on lunch so that everything would remain fresh and the soup and tea would stay hot.

Harry exited the kitchen and found Hermione at the front window, looking down the driveway towards the road.

“Do you see anyone coming yet?” Harry asked.

“No,” she said, “But they were late leaving because of us … even if the flight was on time, they’ll be late getting back … maybe another twenty minutes.” She sighed.

“I put a security alarm spell on the driveway when we arrived, so I’ll know when someone turns into it … We’ll have a minutes warning. Come on, let’s sit and relax … no point watching for them, they won’t get here any faster” said Harry, as he moved towards the sofa. He turned to see Hermione following him and added, “Unless you want to let the cats out for a few minutes?”

“A tempting idea, but we’ll get very wet in the snow, and it’s broad daylight, so anyone could see us.” She said as Harry took her hand and guided her to his lap. “Besides, this has possibilities.” As she sat on his lap her arms went around his neck, his arms snaked around her waist as their foreheads met. They remained staring eye to eye like that as if daring the other to start the snogging … or snagging.

They were still staring at each other some time later when Harry’s alarm triggered causing him to announce, “They’re here.”

They kissed briefly and Hermione got up - heading for the door. Before she got there, she felt Harry’s thoughts in her head. “Hermione, I love you. This is going to be fun.”

Harry made his way to the kitchen first, removed the stasis charms from the food, and then met Hermione at the door.

The fifteen passenger minibus that Jake had rented could be seen on the drive, approaching the house and a few seconds later it stopped at the end of the drive, about ten meters from the door. Four children scampered out of the bus and ran to the house; Hermione opened the door and stepped out as they approached. Harry stuck his head out to watch the kids who seemed to shout in unison, “Merry Christmas, Aunt Hermione,” and as Harry’s head came into view the chorus was repeated, “Merry Christmas, Uncle Harry!” Three pairs of arms wrapped around Hermione’s waist and the fourth pair around one leg.

Hermione replied, “Happy Christmas,” as she looked at the confused expression on Harry’s face, then they both looked towards the group of smiling parents. Miranda, Rachel and Berti all nodded back as though they were in agreement with the use of Aunt and Uncle, then Rachel held up her one year old, little Henry Arthur who was giggling and clapping his mittened hands. Ben and Jake were chuckling about something while walking behind the ladies carrying suitcases and boxes. When Harry moved out into the open the twin twelve year old girls, Celeste and Isabella, released their grip on Hermione and moved over to fasten themselves to Harry. Harry smiled broadly while moving his hands to rest on the girls’ backs. That left Ryan, the eight year old, still hanging onto Hermione’s waist while looking over at Harry, and Ethan, almost four, still wrapped around Hermione’s leg.

Gram and the other four adults were nearing the door when Hermione spoke, “Alright kids, get inside and take your boots off.” Hermione peeled Ethan off her leg and marched him inside. “Harry, please see if they need help with their trunks.”

“Yes, dear.” Harry replied with a smirk, he had learned several years ago what the proper response was, to that kind of request. Not that he ever would have refused, he just liked playing the game.

Once everyone, and all the baggage, was inside, proper introductions were made and lunch was served. During lunch the discussions included the flight from Boston and the drive from the airport. The children were curious about everyone driving on the wrong side of the road until it was explained to them that only Americans drive on the wrong side, everyone else in the world drives on the left. Finally, the talk worked its way around to the need to find a Christmas tree and the decision of who wanted to go tree hunting. Hermione was quite content to stay behind, she and Harry had already done their tree. The twin girls and Ethan wanted to go; Ryan was more interested in exploring the house and farm. In the end Jake, Ben and Harry took the two girls and Ethan out to find a tree, but not before Hermione had a private talk with the girls only to realize that they knew what to look for in a tree.

By suppertime, which was later than normal, the tree was up and decorated. Berti had started Christmas music playing softly in the background. Hermione had supervised the assembly of the tree, but only made suggestions when asked, in fact she was having a hard time not going to the tree and making changes herself. When all was said and done, Celeste and Isabella – with Ryan’s’ help and Ethan’s’ hindrance - had done a very good job, even in Hermione’s picky opinion. Harry was suitably impressed at Hermione’s restraint with the kids decorating skills. At home, Harry was allowed to put up his special ornaments as long as he put them where she wanted. Henry waddled up to the tree and squealed with glee while reaching out, not able to properly grab anything, thank Merlin.

Harry, when he returned from the tree hunt, helped Berti, Miri, and Rachel in the kitchen to prepare supper. Rachel was surprised at first that Harry seemed to know where everything was in the kitchen and what needed doing at any given moment. Whether it was stirring a pot, basting the turkey, cutting something up or handing out tea and soft drinks, Harry soon seemed to have a dozen tasks on the go. It didn’t take long for Berti to feel redundant and occupy a chair at her own kitchen table. No sooner had she sat, when Harry placed a cup of spiced tea in front of her. Three more cups of spiced tea appeared moments after Miri and Rachel joined Berti at the table. One more stir of a pot; and Harry was sitting with them enjoying the tea as well.

Hermione and the girls also had the spiced tea along with Ben and Jake, Ryan and Ethan had soft drinks. Ben, when he realized that there was no noise coming from the kitchen any more, stuck his head around the corner and invited them all to look at the tree before it got dwarfed by the presents.

Several minutes later after the ooos and aaws died down two short buzzes sounded from the kitchen and Berti announced, “Supper is ready! Would you girls set the table please?”

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Several minutes later in the kitchen, while the platters and other serving dishes were being loaded, organized and taken to the dining room, Miri bumped the kitchen table causing a bottle of wine to fall over and roll off. Harry reached down for it, and as quick as he was, he wouldn’t have been fast enough if not for a summoning charm that brought the bottle a few inches closer and into his fingers. Rachel had a good vantage point and thought it odd that the bottle should move sideways. When Harry rose and looked up, he could see Rachel watching him closely. He then thought he felt a tug in his mind and raised his Occlumency shield quickly.

What Rachel saw as she entered his mind was a high stone wall at least twice as tall as herself, with a stone archway half again taller than the wall. The motif in the wrought iron gate had a pair of Griffins standing tall on their hind legs and facing each other. Their snake-like tails wove between them to meet at chest height and become the handles for the gate. It was almost identical to the main gates of Hogwarts, the Griffins replaced the School’s Coat of Arms, although Rachel wouldn’t have realized that. Sitting in front of the gate was a jet black cat … a Jaguar, with sparkling blue eyes and menacing white teeth. On the Jaguar’s right was a half-giant, nearly as tall as the wall, sporting a very large cross bow and on the other side was a dragon … a Norwegian Ridgeback Dragon, if she remembered her dragons correctly, with a hint of smoke coming out of his nostrils. Rachel backed out of there right quickly, not being sure what she had gotten herself into and not wanting to mentally tangle with any of those manifestations. A look of shock and surprise reached her face as she blinked, breaking their eye contact. Rachel seemed, in Harry’s mind, to keep an awfully close eye on him after that. Go figure, eh?

She didn’t see a wand, but she was still sure he must have used a summoning charm or something to catch that bottle. Rachel was by no means an expert at legilimency, but Muggle minds were usually quite simple to enter and didn’t put up any kind of block at all.

When she married Ben, she left the American magical community behind for the most part, until her daughters started their magical education a year and a few short months ago. Ben had known since before the marriage that Rachel was a witch, and at first he was shocked to realize that witches and wizards actually existed. In time, when he understood more about her magical world he became more comfortable with it. He had never suggested that she leave it behind, she, however, felt that he would be more comfortable when eased into it gradually and that seemed to be working.

Celeste and Isabella were in their second year at The Salem Witches’ Institute. Rachel had made them promise not to do any magic at all when in England. The English secrecy laws were much stricter than the American laws and she had no reason to believe they would meet anyone magical.

Rachel knew, from her school days the story of little Harry Potter and her daughters had told her about the second demise of Lord Voldemort by the Animagus cats Knight and Sagehunter, that they had learned in Modern Magical History last term. The girls had learned about Harry Potter, though never connected him to the two cats. Rachel thought it to be quite a coincidence that Hermione happened to marry a Harry Potter, but then there must be thousands of Potters in Britain and a great many named Harry. Never in her wildest imagination … well, okay, maybe in her wildest imagination she had wondered if Hermione’s Harry could possibly be … The Boy Who Lived. The odds were astronomical and why would a famous wizard marry Hermione, who for all she knew was just as Muggle as Berti, Ben, Miranda and Jake. Besides, the real Harry Potter would be chasing all over Britain right now attending all the celebrations in his honour. On the other hand … why couldn’t she easily enter his mind? Curious, she needed to find out … somehow.

Since school Harry had started wearing his hair longer in front and for that matter all around. It didn’t look nearly as messy that way and his scar was well hidden. Harry had tried to replace his wand before he went back to school, but could never find anything that matched him properly. Finally, he had asked the wand maker to make him a look-alike holly wand with no core. Basically, it was just a fancy stick with no magical properties, but it worked for school, only the Headmistress and Hermione knew he was using only wandless magic for the balance of his sixth and seventh years.

With no real wand, Harry had almost equalled Hermione’s record breaking N.E.W.T. scores in the subjects that they were both taking together. The only N.E.W.T. that Harry beat Hermione on was Defence Against the Dark Arts. It was his last N.E.W.T. Exam, and he really didn’t do anything spectacular for Madam Marchbanks until the practical exam was over, then he handed the Examinations Board Professor his wand, or rather the piece of holly he was pretending was a wand. When Professor Marchbanks questioned Harry and realized that he had actually done all his N.E.W.Ts without a real wand she was in shock. When she had tested Albus many years ago, he had done some amazing things with his wand … things she had never seen before, but he had done it all with a wand.

While Harry hadn’t done anything overly spectacular, he had achieved Outstanding marks. The comparison wasn’t really fair though, Harry knew. Even Albus could only do simple things without his wand, like lighting candles or summoning small objects. When the N.E.W.T. results were finally sent out, Harry received an ‘S’ in Defense against the Dark Arts. A footnote on the bottom of the report indicated that the ‘S’ grade had been created solely for Harry and stood for Spectacular, a full grade above Outstanding. A second footnote stated that if Harry had made his lack of a real wand known to the other examiners at the time his practical results would have increased his scores in all his N.E.W.T.s

As the last of the food left the kitchen for the dining table Harry motioned Hermione to join him in the kitchen. “Dear,” he said, “Rachel tried to legilimize me right after I caught the wine bottle, I recognized her as she fled from my shield. Were you aware that she is a Witch?” Hermione shook her head to indicate ‘no’ then looked at him curiously.

“Really,” Hermione drawled out, “If that is so … then Rachel … the children … oh my … I have an idea … I’m going to pop home after supper and bring back the poster that Arthur gave us.” She whispered, then said in a normal voice as they approached the table, “This could be a lot more fun than I expected.” Rachel was watching the pair so closely that she was almost starring.

During the meal Rachel had alternately tried to gain access to both Harry’s and Hermione’s mind when she was able to make eye contact. Hermione, forewarned, already had her shield up and Harry had not let his down since the incident in the kitchen. It was beginning to get annoying, for it was now quite obvious to each of them that at least one person sitting across from them was magical. But how to bring it safely into the open? Did Ben even know?

“Harry,” Rachel said as if it were a question all on its own, Harry purposely didn’t look up “do you know any magic tricks?” Well, that did it, everybody’s eyes were on Rachel, Ben and their children were in shock that she would even broach the subject. Berti and Jake spit out what they had in their mouth and after the initial shock, Miri’s expression turned from shock to a smirk as she swung her gaze towards Harry. Hermione’s expression quickly turned to a grin as she turned to face Harry, awaiting his response. Little Henry Arthur, the one year old, was completely oblivious to the goings on.

Harry was waiting for something to happen, “Actually,” he drawled, “Hermione has a few more tricks up her sleeve than I do. The girls I assume, go to Salem Witches’ Institute since you live near Boston?” Well, that reply blew the cork out of the wine bottle, figuratively speaking, and everyone started talking at once, Henry Arthur began to cry from all the commotion.

Berti stood up to draw everyone’s attention and in a moment it was fairly quiet, creating more shock and awe in Ben’s family. “Mom …?” Ben said in a questioning voice as if to say ‘What do you know about all this?’? Little Henry, whom Berti was taking care of over the meal, suddenly looked up at his Grams. Still crying, his tiny arms stretched out, wanting to be picked up. Berti turned and started to reach down just as Henry flew into her arms.

“We have another Wizard in the family!” Screamed Isabella and Celeste as one voice, referring to Henry’s first observed use of accidental magic.

“And we don’t have to come up with a phony explanation”, sighed Ryan in a very sedate voice that was almost missed at the other end of the table because the twins, Celeste and Isabella, were madly conversing in incomplete sentences.

“Girls!” Rachel stated in a firm voice, causing their insane chatter to stop. Henry stopped crying and looked around. Berti turned him in her arms so he could see most of the table.

Ryan, seeing his opportunity to get one up on his sisters during this moment of silence, said “Knight and Sagehunter?” while looking at Hermione. This earned him a glaring look from his sisters for beating them to the now obvious conclusion. Ryan turned to the girls and winked at them while licking his right index finger and drawing an invisible ‘1’ in mid air. Ben looked between his girls and Ryan, judging by the look on the twins’ faces; Ryan might as well have been boiling in a large cauldron of used motor oil.

Harry pushed back from the table a bit to give himself more room, he and Hermione gave each other a barely perceptible nod in approval before Harry looked around the table, then back to Ryan. Harry tried to call the big black cat slowly out of its sleep; he managed to stretch out the transfiguration process to about ten seconds for show. Hedwig let out a screech and Crookshanks hissed as he tore out of the room. Crookshanks had still not forgiven Knight for that ‘little incident’ five years ago. Ben, Rachel and the older four children starred in awe as Harry slowly morphed into Knight, the black jaguar, his front paws still on the table. Henry’s eyes lit up at the sight and he began clapping his little hands furiously while making happy sounds.

Hermione was next. She, too, pushed back from the table. Unlike Harry, she didn’t try to slow the process, and in less than two seconds, a tawny, maned lioness was likewise perched at the table. Hermione tried to meow like a house cat, but it came out as a soft roar, something she’d have to work on for the kids one day.

Knight moved his right paw onto Sagehunter’s left, they looked at each other a moment and touched noses before embracing each other and disapparating with a barely audible pop. Harry and Hermione re-appeared; laughing a minute later with a tray of deserts to a rousing discussion between the Muggles of the family as to how they found out about magic and their reactions to it. Rachel, Isabella and Celeste were heatedly discussing the “known impossibility” of an animagus accomplishing side-along apparition. Ryan and Ethan were trying to pay attention to both discussions while little Henry was now curled up in Grams arms, fast asleep.

Jake and Miranda thought Hermione’s Hogwarts letter to be a bad joke until Professor McGonagall actually showed up and proved otherwise. Ben found out from Rachel before she accepted his proposal and Roberta learned of it from Albus Dumbledore’s visit that fateful Christmas day five years ago. Berti also mentioned, to everyone’s surprise, that Albus and Minerva had been coming around occasionally for tea and had finally accepted her invitation for Christmas dinner this year. So along with the twelve of them for Christmas diner would be Professor Granger, Jake’s Mother, Headmistress McGonagall and their ex-Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, all from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Eyebrows rose on every adult except Ben, who had not heard of him, then Harry looked at Berti and questioned, “Albus never said anything when I was talking to him yesterday?”

“When Albus accepted the invitation he suggested that I would likely get a pleasant surprise from overseas.” Berti stated, then continued, “He had known for some time that Ben, Rachel and all would be here,” Berti looked over to Rachel and Ben then said, “Do you think he possibly knew that you were all magical too?”

“I expect that if he knew Rachel’s name and that they lived near Boston, he could easily have checked with the nearest magical school in Salem” Suggested Harry.

“Even easier,” added Hermione, “I understand the new Charms Professor he hired this year is from Salem, she may have remembered the girls, especially if they had done well in their first year.”

“Is this where Professor Bertrand went?” asked Celeste.

“She would remember us” Sighed Isabella. “We caused a few disasters,” said Celeste, “But not on purpose.”

“One time we tried a banishing charm from a fourth year charms book and we accidentally banished her across the room and knocked her out” Sighed Isabella. Most of those present except Berti, Ben Rachel and Jake thought it to be anywhere from mildly humorous to outright funny and smiled or laughed.

“Other than being overly adventurous in what they think they can handle, thus getting themselves in trouble fairly often … they managed to get the highest marks in Potions, Charms and Transfiguration for their year” Rachel said, with a mixture of pride and embarrassment.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other and nodded before Hermione spoke up, “You two sound very much like another set of twins we know and I think they’d love to meet you.” The girls’ faces lit up and they looked to their mother with pleading eyes.”

Harry interrupted the Mother vs. daughters decision with another question, while thinking of the Weasley twins and where to find them this time of year, he remembered the Quidditch matches they played as kids in the field above The Burrow and asked, “Do either of you play Quidditch?”

The twins immediately turned to face Harry, “Yes!” they cried out together in hopeful enthusiasm.

“They’re both Seekers this year,” said Rachel, “One on each of the girls’ teams.”

“I’ll contact Molly tonight and find out if and when we might be able to go over for a few hours,” said Harry, “I don’t want Molly to think she has to feed us … she’s got a big enough crowd to feed and find room for. With two new seekers we should have no problem scaring up enough players for a game of Quidditch.”

The girls’ eyes widened even more as they started mouthing ‘please, please, please’ to their Mother.

“What about brooms, Harry?” asked Rachel.

“Not a problem, the girls can use our Firebolts,” said Harry, “If you don’t mind them having that fast a broom?”

“I’m not used to the British brooms Harry. Just how fast is a Firebolt?” Rachel asked.

“When I was Seeker, that’s the broom I used,” said Harry, they were the fastest brooms about eight years ago, now there are three faster brooms. They will likely be the best brooms on the field unless Ron and Ginny bring their own.”

“Who are Ron and Ginny?” asked Ryan.

“Ron and Ginny Weasley went to school with us and along with some others helped us defeat Tom Riddle” Said Hermione.

Celeste, Isabella and Rachel returned confused looks. Harry elaborated, “Tom Marvolo Riddle was the real name of Lord Voldemort.” Realization dawned on Rachel, but the twins hadn’t quite connected it yet as Harry noticed. “Allow me,” said Harry as he conjured sixteen wooden cubes in mid air over the table without even waving a hand, they had letters on them spelling out ‘TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE’.

“Harry!” Hermione admonished, “Quit showing off.”

“Oh all right,” Harry said in frustration as he picked up a table knife and continued, “Will everyone please pretend that this is a magic wand.” Hermione sighed and gave up, resting her head in her arms on the table. Harry began pointing the knife at each block in turn and rearranging them to read ‘I AM LORD VOLDEMORT’. Harry then ignited the blocks using a complicated knife movement with a non-verbal spell and they were engulfed in Galbrathian fire - the everlasting fire that Albus had sent with Hagrid and Madam Maxime to the Giants the summer following the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He left the fire and blocks hovering over the table. When Rachel realized what he had done, she uttered a gasp. Hermione looked up and also realized almost instantly what Harry had done. She admonished him again for being a show-off, to which he replied, “These girls need a challenge. They’re already using spells that should be beyond their current ability. I’m just showing them some things they might be able to do one day. They seem eager to learn and test their limits.”

“That will definitely test their limits,” said Rachel, “Spells like that would qualify you at a Masters level in Charms. Where did you learn that?”

“Oh, Albus showed me yesterday,” he said offhandedly, “I used it for emphasis in my speech at the Liberation Day Banquet at Hogwarts.” Hermione glared at him; she still didn’t like him using wandless magic in public. “It’s all right dear,” he said to Hermione, he knew why she was glaring so as he transfigured the table knife he was holding into a silvery, metallic replica of his old wand, he said, “I did this and everyone thought I used a wand.”

“You never use a wand?” Isabella asked.

“His wand was destroyed in the Battle of Hogwarts” Replied Hermione. “About half way through the fight Voldemort incinerated his wand.” The girl’s faces revealed their shock.

“I looked for a new one … after everything settled down … I never found one that liked me as well as my first one. I guess it too had a destiny. Eventually I did get a new wand … Albus and I were able to coax another feather out of Fawkes, then Frisel … that is Mr. Ollivander … made up a new holly wand identical to my old one, but it wasn’t right. It didn’t choose me. I could force it to work properly if I tried hard enough. It’s now on my bedside table, if I remember to take it with me when I go out, that’s fine, and if not I conjure or transfigure a look-alike when I need one. I haven’t been involved in a life and death fight since Draco Malfoy tried to get revenge.”

“What about Ron and Ginny and their brooms.” Asked Ethan

“Oh … Ron and Ginny,” responded Hermione, “Ginny works in Romania with her brother Charlie as a Dragon Keeper. She’s back home for Christmas along with Charlie, they were both very good players on the Gryffindor Quidditch Teams. Ginny just bought herself a new Broom. Ron is playing Professional Quidditch on the same team as Katie and Angelina, The Chudley Cannons. Ron is their Keeper and Katie and Angelina are Chasers. You two could get some good advice from them … and Harry, Harry never missed the Snitch. He played Seeker for the Gryffindor House team since his first year; of course he was usually out cold on a bed in the Hospital wing after a game, so treat his advice with caution.

“Hey,” argued Harry, “It wasn’t my fault I ended up in the Hospital wing so often, between Voldemort, Dementors, Rogue Bludgers and an inept Professor that removed all the bones in my arm …besides, they named a hospital bed after me. When they rebuilt the Hospital Wing they got all new beds except for the one I occupied. They repaired that old one and put it in the same place it used to be. It has my name on it now!” He grinned.

“Excuses, excuses,” responded Hermione, with a laugh.

“Hey!” said Harry, “The new Nurse has even posted a list above the bed that shows all the times I was there and why. She even told me that the Gryffindor team Captains take all the wannabe Seekers up there and show them the list. They weed out about three quarters of the applicants that way.”

“That’s a terrible way to select a Seeker!” exclaimed Hermione.

“It’s realistic though.” He said.

The meal was now finished, Rachel offered to clean up and volunteered her children to help, and one by one, the others thanked Rachel and left the table. Berti and Miranda took care of little Henry while Rachel directed the balance of her forces in the cleanup effort. Jake helped Ben with some of the larger platters and bowls, Harry and Hermione talked by the tree; then disappeared with barely a whisper of noise. Rachel, Ryan and the twins immediately looked at the spot where the Potters vanished, in awe, of the almost silent disapparation.

Ryan looked up at his Mother and asked, “What are you looking at?”

“I can’t believe that they can apparate so quietly. The control they must posses over their magical power is incredible,” Rachel told Ryan and Ethan, “And the wandless magic your Uncle Harry can do so easily speaks of incredible power.” Ethan was called to the kitchen by Berti for a treat.

Ben, Jake, and Miranda, were passing by at that moment and Jake elaborated, “I overheard the two head Professors talking outside Hermione’s hospital room after the battle and later I sought out Professor McGonagall and asked her exactly what happened. The whole story is not for young ears so I’ll tell you the short version. Towards the end of the battle, it looked like Tom had won. He had the remains of the Professors and students rounded up and wandless outside the Castle including Harry and Hermione. Tom didn’t know that they could both turn into ferocious cats, only the Headmaster knew about that. Tom wanted to duel Harry to prove his supremacy because Harry had beaten or tied him the last five times, He ended up killing several younger students to force Harry into the duel, that’s when he burned up Harry’s wand right in his hand. Jake was uncertain about just how much Ben, Rachel and Ryan needed to know about the awful things that happened that night. He had seen Harry replay them during his remembrance-day speech and they made him sick to his stomach to think about.

Harry got his courage back and stood there facing Tom, Hermione and the others were mostly unharmed. Hermione provided a necessary distraction by changing into Sagehunter and attacking and killing a Death Eater near her. When she had jumped to the next one Tom reacted, Harry had changed into Knight and taken out two Death Eaters before Tom attacked Sagehunter … she was jumping to her third victim by then. When Knight saw Sagehunter fall victim to Tom’s curse he leapt onto Tom and sliced him up with his claws then tore his head off, before rushing to Sagehunter’s side to check on her. That left several Death Eaters standing there stunned at their Masters demise. When they recovered enough to want revenge, Knight began to notice them; they turned towards him and Sagehunter, preparing to kill them in retaliation for the death of Tom. Professor McGonagall told me in confidence that Knight let out a tremendous roar and a minute later all those Death Eaters were dead or dying. It wouldn’t have mattered who was trying to hurt Hermione, Harry wouldn’t let them … in the end, it was all for love.”

If anyone had looked in at that moment, they would have realized that Rachel was shaking, but not why. However, if they had heard the conversation, the reason would have been obvious and her look recognized as one of fear. Given what she had just learned, it was understandable. There was only one curse that could do what Harry had done. Even the name of the curse was forbidden, but she had gleaned its name many years before, from a text that she had not been supposed to see. The text was covered by a parchment on her Headmaster’s desk, during her seventh year. It was the Mortuis curse. A curse so black and so terrible, that it had been deliberately forgotten by all of the magical communities around the world. That Harry had somehow known it and used it in Hermiones’ defense, successfully, spoke of knowledge and power that staggered her. No wonder it had been covered up, she thought.

Rachel stood there, taking it in and trying to comprehend just how powerful Harry was as a wizard. Ryan, fortunately, didn’t completely understand the implications of Jakes last few sentences, though he was still in awe. Rachel turned and spoke to Ryan in a cold, deadly serious voice. “Ryan, listen to me and listen closely. For everyones’ safety, you will not tell anyone what you just heard, not even your sisters and brothers, not now, not tomorrow, not ever in your lifetime. You will forget that you heard it. If you can’t, I will obliviate you or have Harry do it. Do you understand?”

“I understand what you’re asking, but not why.” Ryan replied.

“If you came across a big Dragon that you didn’t know sitting on a clutch of eggs, would you walk up to her and try to make friends or would you be afraid?” asked Ben.

“Afraid” Said Ryan.

“Good,” replied Rachel, “By all accounts from your Aunts and Grams, Harry is as playful as a kitten, but he can also be far more ferocious and dangerous than his Jaguar if he thinks his friends are in danger. He is at least as powerful as this Voldemort fellow that was terrorizing Britain and Europe for thirty years, killing thousands while torturing and intimidating tens of thousands more. Would you be scared of someone like that if you didn’t know him?”

“Yes Mom, I think I understand.” Ryan said.

“I wouldn’t go telling even that short version to anyone who doesn’t know Harry,” Rachel told Jake. Hermione joined the group with a bounce in her step, a smile on her face and a roll of parchment in her hands. No one heard her apparate in.

“Miranda spoke up first, “What do you have there, honey?”

“Arthur Weasley came by unexpectedly last evening with this miniature.” Hermione said gently. “The Ministry of Magic wanted to have a monument in our honor. Arthur had talked them out of a twenty foot tall stature of us in Diagon Alley and talked them into a picture in the atrium of the Ministry. This is a poster size sample … Harry and I like it … it’s better than a statue anyway. Is Harry back yet?”

“Yes, Harry’s back,” said Harry approaching the group, Berti stuck her head around the corner of the kitchen door to see what was going on, “Boxing day at about ten is what we settled on and I couldn’t talk her out of having us for lunch, she wouldn’t hear of it.”

“I’m glad it’s not Christmas day,” said Hermione, “I wanted that day for all of us.” A chorus of ‘here, here’ followed her statement.

“Will there be enough players for a Quidditch game?” Asked Jake, suppressed excitement in his voice. Ever since the World Cup the summer after that fateful Christmas, Jake had been hooked on the sport. He and Harry went to all of Ron’s home games and some others as well.

“When I told Fred and George that we would be bringing two pretty seekers with us he said that he would guarantee enough players to fill out the teams.

Hermione smiled at Harry, then found an open area on the wall and began unrolling the poster. It was soon flattened with the help of Harry, Ben and Rachel. Once flattened and stuck to the wall the two cats moved around watching and sniffing at the onlookers. It took only moments after the first ooohs and awwws for everyone to assemble in front of it vying for a good view. Both cats paid more attention to little Henry Arthur and the rest of the children. Henry squealed with mirth when the cats appeared to reach out and try to touch him. Eventually the cats got bored and lay down side by side, but continued watching.

Berti had Christmas CD’s playing softly in the background all day and well into the evening. The kids played games while the adults talked. Ben and Miri reminisced about old times, Rachel, Berti and Hermione talked about the kids to begin with; then as they grew more comfortable with each other they started to talk about the husbands. Jake and Harry had Henry with them and were talking about Hermione at first, Jake was wondering when they were planning to give him a grandson. Harry confided in Jake that they had seriously tried in the late fall in order to have the first one over the summer so that he … or she, would always be at home for their birthday. Hermione had come up with that idea since she missed being with you and Miranda on her birthday when she attended Hogwarts.

“I assume you would have said something by now if she was pregnant?” inquired Jake.

“I assume she would tell me if she was pregnant,” replied Harry, “I didn’t want to bring it up in case I upset her. I keep thinking about the serious injuries she’s had and praying that they aren’t the cause …”

“That could be,” muttered Jake thoughtfully. “More likely she’s scared to find out herself. Miranda was like that, we had tried so hard, for so long, and when it finally happened, Miri refused to believe it herself for a long time. Probably scared if she said something, she’d jinx it. It took her until she realized she was showing, and then she was scared to tell me because she hadn’t said anything for so long. They loose their logic when they’re pregnant; they hide the morning sickness and nausea or pretend it’s normal.

“Nausea?” Harry replied in a questioning tone. “Hermione has complained of nausea several times over the last few weeks … again yesterday actually. I made her some of her favourite tea and that seemed to ease it.”

“It might not mean anything Harry, just make sure she knows you love her and the rest will take care of itself” Said Jake.

“Oh, she knows,” said Harry, “We spend almost every night and most of the days reaffirming that.”

Jake smiled and gave Harry a solid pat on the back before saying, “Keeping the English end up, are you … stout fellow.”

“Did I ever tell you about the life altering vision I had back in fifth year. If that vision was right, there’s going to be a baby sometime … somehow.”

“Really … I don’t remember you mentioning any vision before Harry … I know you’ve had dreams and nightmares about Voldemort, but I don’t remember hearing anything about a baby.” Queried Jake.

“Well, to begin with … your daughter thinks the whole subject of Divination belongs in a circus sideshow … I don’t have a whole bunch of confidence in it either; however … some of Professor Trelawney’s predictions did come true. Anyway … I drank a potion in class that was supposed to give me a glimpse into my future, and what I saw was Hermione holding a baby.”

“Really … so you knew you were going to be a father?” questioned Jake.

“No … not right off … I was very confused about the whole thing, you see, up to that time I had only seriously considered Hermione, as my best friend, so why would she be in my future holding a baby?”

“Okay … that makes sense, I guess … so what changed your mind about her?” Jake prompted.

“It took me a while to realize that you don’t have a baby with a friend … once I figured that out, I started going through the previous four years trying to re-evaluate what had transpired between us. Soon a lot of little things started coming together and it all began to make sense.”

“Sometimes you just have to stand back and look at things differently.” Said Jake

*************************

The evening wound down, the children were lovingly sent off to bed. As a treat, Harry and Hermione conjured dancing sugar plums and hovered a few over each child’s bed. The children thought that Hermione’s sugar plums danced better and Harry’s looked more realistic. Rachel and Ben slept in Ben’s old room, Jake and Miranda drove the Aston Martin Vanquish back to the Potter farm. Harry and Hermione left a minute later by apparition and arrived ahead of them, though not by much. When Hermione got to the window she had to laugh at her father, trying now to get out of the car. Miranda was a little shorter and slighter; she had no trouble getting out. Harry had forgotten to mention that he usually lifted the convertible top a bit before getting in and out. Oh well, too late now, Jake was flat out on the snow pushing himself away from the car. Harry and Hermione were laughing inside while Miranda was smiling as she went to help Jake up.

During the short car ride, while Jake wasn’t cursing the small size of the car, he recounted to Miranda briefly his discussion with Harry about grandchildren. Miranda’s visible response confirmed in Jakes mind that come summer there was going to be a new little Potter. He, of course, wouldn’t say anything to Harry about Miranda’s reaction. Miranda, for her part, was going to have a Mother, mother talk with Hermione as soon as she could get her alone.

Miranda reached down to help Jake up, he held onto her for a moment, debating whether or not to pull her down into the deep snow with him, he decided to let her help him up rather than risk sleeping on the sofa tonight, of all nights.

Once inside Harry dried Jake off and warmed him up with magic while Miranda hustled her confused daughter off to a room at the far end of the house. After closing the door Miri asked Hermione to soundproof the room. Hermione looked more confused when Miranda held her hands and looked her in the eyes. The first question out of Miranda’s grinning mouth was, “When is the baby due?” Hermione was no longer confused, she was in complete shock at how her mother could figure out she was pregnant.

“H … h … how … how did you …” was all Hermione could stammer.

“Don’t worry dear, your secret’s safe enough for now, your father grew suspicious from something Harry mentioned, Harry may be wondering by now too, I don’t know how much Dan may have let on. Back to the first question, “When are you due?”

“The end of July, as close as I can figure.” Said Hermione as her Mother enveloped her in a tender bear hug.

“I’m so happy for you,” said Miranda, “If there’s anything you need, I have your old crib and baby clothes and other things tucked away. I kept it all hoping you would have a little brother or sister, and then I just kept hoping you would need it.” Miri was crying openly because she was so happy, Hermione held her Mother tighter and was close to crying herself. “When are you going to tell Harry?”

“Tomorrow … there’s a present under the tree for him … it contains a set of blue baby clothes.” Hermione told her Mum.

“Blue for a boy I assume,” Miri questioned rhetorically, “Don’t you think maybe you should tell him privately first? In case he has an unexpected reaction.” She added.

“Yes, it’s a boy, and since we were trying to make a baby … and Harry wants a family … I’m sure he’ll be pleased.”

“Alright, but … don’t take his first reaction as gospel, you’ve had a few weeks to get used to the idea … he hasn’t. I misinterpreted the shocked look on Jakes’ face when I first told him, you were on the way, and I thought he was upset for some reason. Maybe it was just my hormones, I was showing by the time I told him, and I was scared because I waited so long to tell him.” Miri told Hermione.

“It’s been about three weeks since I knew for sure, and I was able to tell at that time that it would be a boy … so that means that it had to be conceived at least three weeks before that. Had it been four or more weeks then I would have missed my previous period.” Hermione pulled out her wand to show her Mother and passed it over her lower body. A pink glow emanated from the area that the wand passed over. “The pink means I’m pregnant, otherwise nothing would happen … the next spell will either produce pink for a girl or blue for a boy,” and she passed the wand over the same place again and she glowed blue.

“Well, that certainly simplifies pregnancy testing, will those same spells work for us … I mean Muggles?” she asked Hermione.

“I don’t know for sure,” Hermione said, almost talking to herself, as she passed her wand over her Mother’s lower abdomen. Miri glowed pink. Hermione’s shocked expression caused her Mothers eyes to look down; Miri saw the pink glow coming from around her waist. She stared back at Hermione, both of them in shock for a bit.

Miri shook her head first as if to clear it and said, “You said you didn’t know if it would work, could that mean it might give a false result?”

“It means I don’t know, but it’s worth a second opinion, I have a spare pregnancy test kit … I picked up an extra at the chemists … it’s hidden behind the towels in the cupboard outside the bathroom … why don’t you give it a try?” Hermione suggested.

“Why did you need it?” her mother asked. It seemed a reasonable question after observing the magical method.

“I’d never had a positive result from the spell before and I wanted to be sure I was doing it correctly. If I’d gone into St. Mungos, the rumors would have arrived home ahead of me.” She said.

“Alright, I’ll let you know in a few minutes.” Miranda said as she left the room. Hermione, with a grin a mile wide followed Miranda out, but kept going to the kitchen. Miri stopped at the linen cupboard, rifled through the towels finding the small box she was looking for right at the back, and entered the bathroom.

Harry and Jake were sitting at the kitchen table sipping tea and discussing the events of the day when Hermione entered, poured two cups of tea and sat down across from Harry. She didn’t look up from her tea until her Mother walked in with a strange expression on her face, a mixture of concern and horror tainted with elation, something that can only come from confused emotions. Hermione immediately realized what the results must be and gasped as her hand moved to cover her mouth. Both men’s eyes immediately shifted from Hermione to Miranda. Hermione instantly jumped up, scrambled over to and hugged her Mother.

“Jake,” said Miranda, “Do you remember, in the hospital, when Hermione was born?”

“Yes,” Jake slurred.

“Do you also remember what I said to you after about sixteen hours of labor?”

Jake remembered the expletives and the threats she made, but considering the stress she was under he didn’t take her seriously at the time, he replied, “Yes,” … then it twigged on him, ‘is she pregnant again?’

Before he could figure out what to say, she said, “Prepare to be parted from your manly bits.” Harry had heard stories from Ron, Fred, George and others about things that happened and were said in delivery rooms and the reality was starting to click into place. Jake had, while Harry’s brain was processing, jumped up and was now hugging both his wife and daughter. Still in a daze and not quite sure he had interpreted everything correctly, possibly hoping he hadn’t, Harry joined the group hug with his arms around his wife and Mother-in-law. As the group broke up individual kisses and hugs made their way around the family group.

Still no one had said the words baby or pregnant, but when Jake placed his hand on Miranda’s stomach and asked “How long have you known?” that clinched it for Harry. He was now up to speed with current events, he picked up Hermione, holding her tightly and spinning around until he was dizzy. Miri and Jake started laughing followed by Hermione and finally, after Harry put Hermione down, he joined in with laughter as well. Congratulations were next, followed by Good nights as Hermione, with a glint in her eyes, and a larger-than-life smile on her face, dragged Harry, by his trousers, away to their bedroom. By the time they had arrived at their bedroom door; Hermione had him unbuttoned; unzipped, and was trying to finish stripping him as he walked. To her delight, Harry’s manhood (a/k/a ‘Tunnel vision’) was paying strict attention and looking for a warm, wet place to burry its head. It was going to be a very good night, Harry thought, as he was pushed backward onto the bed and promptly lost himself to the pleasure of his wife’s touch.

*************************

In the morning the alarms went off … far too early for anyone’s liking at the Potter farm, however there was nothing to be done about it, they were expected to be back at Berti’s for breakfast. The children would likely all be up by now and everyone would be waiting on them to arrive. The three bathrooms that the McCormick’s, needed to accommodate their large brood, proved useful that morning, and the four of them were ready in short order. Before they left, Miranda had requested that they say nothing about her pregnancy, until she had it confirmed by her doctor. Miranda took the car when Jake refused to get back in the Aston Martin. Harry and Hermione apparated to the front door when they saw Miranda park the car. They could see her because of the car’s headlights in the predawn morning. Since Jake was just leaving on Buckbeak, he would be there in a minute, too.

The children were watching as Miranda pulled up the drive. Moments later, completely ignoring Harry and Hermione’s apparition onto the front porch, the girls squealed as Buckbeak and Jake landed, trotting up to the front door. “Mommy, Mommy Uncle Jake is riding a Hippogriff!” Celeste turned and shouted.

“Celeste! … don’t be silly … where would Your Uncle Jake find a Hippogriff?” Rachel cried from the kitchen.

Berti stuck her head out of the kitchen to see Celeste and Isabella at the front door, then said, “That would be Buckbeak … you ask your Uncle or Aunt to introduce you to him and follow their instructions, I understand Buckbeak took a dislike to a student at their school, so pay attention.”

Rachel was in shock that her Muggle Mother in law didn’t bat an eyelash over a Hippogriff trotting up to her front door. Berti turned to Rachel before saying in a soft voice, “I know Jake doesn’t like that little car of Harry’s, but I didn’t think he’d ride Buckbeak over. A Thestral would have been safer; at least they look more like a horse … if you can even see them.”

Rachel collapsed into a kitchen chair, shaking her head slowly from side to side, trying to figure out what kind of a half-Wizard, half-Muggle, half-crazy family she was part of. Hippogriffs and on Christmas morning before breakfast, no matter what happened next, she wasn’t going to forget this Christmas for a very, very long time. Berti smiled and thought to herself that this was even better than teasing Harry or Jake and she wasn’t even trying. She walked over and sat beside Rachel putting an arm around Rachel’s shoulder she said, “Go on outside and meet Buckbeak before Jake puts him in the barn. I’ll watch the food … go on now.” Rachel slowly got up and made her way to the front door and outside.

Celeste, Isabella and Ryan had obviously already been introduced and accepted by Buckbeak. The two girls were on each side of him patting him and feeling his feathered wings while Ryan was stroking his beak. Ben and Jake were trying to get Ethan to bow properly and not blink his eyes, it proved difficult and Buckbeak was starting to get nervous, even with Harry holding his reigns. Harry had to tell Ben and Jake to lead Ethan away as Buckbeak simply wasn’t going to tolerate the four year old.

Rachel stopped them to straighten Ethan’s hair and snug up his jacket while whispering a few words to him, even though she was going to take him right inside anyway. Once inside, Rachel helped Ethan take his boots and jacket off then sat with him by the warm fire across from the Christmas tree. After waiting a short time for Rachel to return, Ben went to the door and looked inside. Ben turned back to Harry and Jake, shook his head to indicate that Rachel wasn’t coming, and then went inside himself. Harry and Jake, with the three older children in tow, led Buckbeak to the barn and settled him in. Instead of a diet of hay and oats, Harry retrieved a small mountain of dead ferrets from a freezer in the next stall, brought them over to Beaky and thawed them. The weather outside would refreeze them in short order anyway unless, before leaving, Harry applied a heating charm to the walls and floor of the stall to keep out most of the cold.

As the five of them were walking back to the house Ryan asked, “Uncle Harry, do you have any other magical creatures on your farm?”

Harry hesitated for a moment while looking at Jake who had a confused expression on his face. Jake knew Harry had a breeding pair of Thestrals, but only he, Berti, Hermione and Harry himself could see them, and Mr. Longbottom. Miranda could not see them. Harry was thinking along the same lines and was fairly certain that the children couldn’t see them either, Ben and Rachel he didn’t know about. Harry finally replied, “Yes Ryan, I do … I have a pair of Thestrals…”

At the mention of Thestrals, Isabella gasped and both twins covered their faces with their hands, Ryan, Jake and Harry turned because of the noise to see them. Harry said, “Don’t tell me you’ve heard those phony stories about Thestrals?” Then he thought better and reworded his response, “Tell me what you think you know aboutand I’ll fill in what you don’t know.”

“They’re a sign of death,” said Celeste.

“You can’t see them until it’s too late,” responded Isabella.

“Is that the limit of your understanding about ?” queried Harry as he silently chuckled to himself. The twins were silent while Harry waited several seconds. Ryan looked concerned. “They’re a very gentle animal, much easier to get along with than a Hippogriff. They have a sleek, black, hairless skin that appears to be stretched taught around their skeletal structure making them look malnourished. They are attracted by the smell of blood and eat raw meat, preferring a freshly killed animal. I have goats and sheep for them to eat. They are quite a thrill to fly on too, especially if you can’t see them. Just tell a Thestral where you want to go and hang on.”

“The thing that gives them their bad reputation is the fact that you can only see them if … if you’ve seen someone die.” Said Harry, Celeste looked straight at Isabella who was looking right back in shocked surprise. Harry caught the strange look the twins exchanged and asked, “Is there something you would like to tell me?”

The girls both turned and looked at Harry, then Isabella spoke, “We saw a boy at school … he was showing off on a broom … he didn’t pull out of a dive in time” Both girls were crying now and Harry was catching only some of their words, between the sobs “… and impaled……fence.” Both girls turned and hugged each other desperately. Both of them were trembling violently. Harry didn’t want to intrude into their thoughts to probe them to see what actually happened, but he could tell from their reactions that it had been awful.

Harry fell to one knee; gathered both girls into a hug, and then apparated them both into the house. Since they were quite near the door anyway Ryan and Jake were only a few seconds behind them.

The slight noise of the apparition still didn’t really register with Rachel; she only turned with the noise of the door closing to see Ryan and Jake enter. Harry was still kneeling down with the two girls who were attempting to pull themselves back together with Harry’s help. Rachel and Ben, noting the twin’s apparent distress, immediately rushed over. Hermione felt Harry’s concern about the situation even before he apparated the girls inside.

Hermione held back; watching how Harry comforted the girls while dealing with the situation.

There was a very empathetic side to Harry that had nothing to do with his magic, but rather how he had grown up, and that side of his was exerting itself. He seemed to have the twins calmed down mostly before Rachel and Ben arrived at their sides. Missus Potter was quite impressed with her husband’s apparent success, though she didn’t know what set the girls off in the first place.

Berti called that breakfast was almost ready and asked Ben, Jake and Harry to set the table. Hermione and Ryan helped with the table as well, while Miranda was in the kitchen with Berti. Jake had explained to Ben and Rachel the events leading up to their daughter’s distress. While setting the large table, Harry noticed his wife’s feelings of curiosity and pushed at her the memory of the discussion about the Thestrals and the story of the death of a boy. He could sense her feelings of sorrow over the accident.

When Harry went to help set the table the Galbrathian fire from yesterday was still burning well above it, Harry turned the wooden blocks into a chunk of tree limb with the nod of his head, then moved the fire lower so that it would be just above everyone’s head when they were seated. It seemed to give the room a warmer flickering glow that he liked. Harry heard the Christmas music start up again, that and all the happy chatter as everyone came to the table for breakfast picked up his mood and reminded him that all was well in the world. A warm hug from his wife topped him off like whipped cream on a mug of hot chocolate.

Berti, Rachel and Miranda had outdone themselves this morning making waffles and pancakes as well as bacon and scrambled eggs, hash browns and two baskets of toast. It waseasier this morning now that Rachel could use magic. Forty minutes later, the breakfast had disappeared except for some leftovers that were being worn as battle scars by the two youngest children … until Rachel and Ben had a chance to clean them up.

The next stop of the morning was the Christmas tree, the children, by unspoken agreement, were scattered around the tree on the floor … looking, but not daring to touch, while the seven adults looked at the couch. In moments Harry and Hermione nodded to Rachel bestowing upon her the honors of stretching it. Rachel pulled her wand out from behind her ear and thought for a moment. The other adults moved back making room for the expected transfiguration. With a flick and a swish followed by a twist of the wrist the couch doubled in length and became curved so that the adults could all sit facing the children and the tree.

Berti moved towards the middle of the couch pulling Harry and Hermione with her. Hermione ended up on Berti’s right side with Ben eventually sitting next to her and Rachel on the end. Harry was on Berti’s left and Miranda made sure she was sitting next to Harry. To her left, on the other end, was Jake. Miranda wanted to be next to Harry when he opened the present from Hermione. With Rowena, Minerva and Albus to show up later in the day, that would make fifteen, they had very nearly run out of colors for the bows, the Richardson family way of designating the presents’ recipient. Harry knew there were a few presents with an additional small silver bow to indicate magical gifts. The silver bows were now redundant since everyone knew about magic.

The twins started pulling packages out from under the tree and passing them around until everyone had one. Jake’s present had an extra small silver bow; Jake knew it was from Harry. Harry’s present to him was always the same, a pair of tickets to the Quidditch World Cup. Ever since the first Christmas Harry spent with them five years ago he had given Jake tickets. That game was USA vs. Ireland that year, and it was played in Ireland, Harry had a portkey to take them there and back. Unlike the short Bulgaria vs. Ireland game the previous year, the Americans dragged it out for over ten hours before they trounced Ireland, 650 to 320. Jake had talked Harry’s head off for a solid two months afterwards trying to analyze everything that happened, Jake was well and truly hooked on Quidditch. Harry had even taken him to many of the Chudley Cannons games and several Hogwarts games. Hermione and Miranda had come along to a few of those with Harry and Jake; Berti even came to one, just to see for herself.

In the next round of presents Berti wound up with a silver bow, it turned out to be a new housecoat, in Gryffindor red with gold trim. When Berti held it up she could see a large number seven on the back with the name ‘Potter’ arched above it. In much smaller letters above ‘Potter’ was ‘Property of Harry’.

================Flashback================

While you could get the official jerseys for any member of a school, local or national team from Quality Quidditch Supplies, the twins (Fred and George) had come up with a line of other clothing items and had made arrangements with a limited number of Quidditch teams and their stars to produce and market them, just like their muggle sport-team counter-parts did on a routine basis. They had housecoats, pajamas, t-shirts, jeans, robes and even underwear with the names of Potter, Diggory, Chang, Flint, Krum and several others. The best sellers were Potter and Diggory with Victor Krum, a close third. Hermione had several t-shirts with ‘Property of Harry Potter’ printed across the chest as well as pair of jeans, and lots of pairs of cotton knickers that had printed across the bum, ‘Property of Harry Potter’. The profits from the sales helped fund an orphanage, primarily for magical children, which the Potters set up with help from Albus and Ragnok. On the books, it looked like Grunnings, a drill manufacturer, had built and was supporting the Orphanage, and for all practical purposes it was, since Harry owned Grunnings, a tiny part of his inheritance from his parents. The public image that Grunnings gained from the Muggle side of the Orphanage won them a significant number of new customers.

================End Flashback================

A replacement was again due, her current housecoat, like the Quidditch jersey Hermione had usurped from Harry years ago, was near enough to falling apart. Berti immediately doffed her old housecoat and slipped on the new one, it was then that she noticed some differences. She felt around it, there were no ties or buttons to hold it closed, she looked at Hermione who responded with a nod and moved her arms as if to fold the sides over each other. Berti did as Hermione indicated and it stayed closed when she let go. Berti’s eyes went wide when the housecoat started to warm up.

“It has a non-permanent sticking charm to make it close like Velcro and a comfort charm to keep you warm or cool you.” Said Harry, “It’s a new item in the twins clothing line … reach into the right side pocket, Grams.” Harry spotted Celeste and Isabella giving him a confused look, then realized, while everyone he normally talked with knew that ‘the twins’ referred to Fred and George, the two young ladies in front of him, in their normal environment, were most likely commonly referred to as ‘the twins’ as well. Looking towards the two girls he said, “Everyone I know commonly refers to Fred and George Weasley collectively as ‘the twins’, you’ll meet them tomorrow, just be very cautious of anything they give you, they own a joke store.”

Berti pulled out a Bank of England credit card that had a Gringotts logo in the top right corner. As her hand removed the card from her pocket a lime green glow around the card and her hand faded away. The card had the name Roberta Jane Richardson in raised print along the bottom. “Harry, I can’t accept this!”

“You have to Grams; you’re the first person to touch it since the Goblin placed it in that pocket. That card will always find you and stay with you, if you think you’ve lost it, just look in that same pocket and you’ll always find it.” Said Harry.

“We’ll talk later young man” Said Berti, in a McGonagall-like tone. Harry chuckled, Hermione smiled and reached over to take her husband’s hand.

“Yes, Grams.” Harry said in a solemn voice.

The next round of presents yielded yet another silver bow and it landed in Miranda’s hands. It was as had also become the custom, a trip for two, this time to Greece. The trip itself was by portkey, but the itinerary was the magical part. It was on the same weekend as the Quidditch World Cup, a mother, daughter trip to make up for the boy’s Quidditch weekend. There were quite a few ancient magical sites to see in Greece, the last stop, the day of their late night portkey home was a magical beauty spa, guaranteed to make them more breathtaking than Helen of Troy. Miranda couldn’t reach her daughter from her seat, but Harry was right beside her, she reached over with both arms and hugged the poor boy to within an inch of his life, he was, in jest, pleading for mercy before Miri released him.

There were two more rounds of presents with no silver bows, then in the next round Hermione got a silver bow. The package looked to be about the size of a book though it felt kind of squishy. She opened it up, removed the squishy foam packing, and on first glance it appeared to be a book of Shakespeare titled: ‘A Winter’s Tale’, Hermione laughed so hard she couldn’t settle down for a good five minutes, everybody had to look at the book’s cover. Hermione had recognized that the cover had come from a book in her parents’ home in Nonington-on-Kent. She had read the book, nay memorized it, long before Hogwarts and Harry came into her life. After carefully removing the paper cover and carefully storing it away the real title became apparent ‘The Book of Kisses – 1001 magical Adventures for Loving Couples’. A mischievous grin appeared on her face and she blew Harry a kiss then thought to him, “Later, love.”

Hermione had buried her gift to Harry so far to the back of the tree that it only came out as one of the last stragglers in an incomplete round of gifts. Though the present itself wasn’t specifically magical, its meaning would be, so it had a silver bow. Miranda and Berti were watching him, almost hovering over him, as he tried to open the package. Hermione was trying her best to appear to be absorbed in her book, but Harry could tell she was very nervous and he couldn’t understand why. Harry was more concerned with keeping one eye on Hermione than opening his present. Thus the package was opened very slowly because Harry was concentrating on Hermione, who was just about jumping out of her seat with jitters. Harry finally had the wrapping paper off, working blindly while watching his wife.

He was about to hand the box, that he hadn’t even looked at, with the printing on it that read ‘Babies-R-Us’ to Miranda and move over to Hermione to find out what was making her nervous and jittery. Grams took his head in her hands and turned it to face the box, Harry was still looking to the side at Hermione who was now looking at him closely too, an unreadable expression on her face, something that he’d never seen before. Grams twisted his head some more and he finally noticed the box. It had pictures of babies and toddlers in light blue and pink diapers scampering all over it and there were words across the middle. It took a minute for the words to formulate and be recognized in his mind, he was still far more concerned with what was going on with Hermione. By now everyone had gathered around Harry to see what was happening. The next thing he knew there were three gasps, one each from Rachel and the twins who picked up the hint immediately. The first word ‘Babies’ finally gelled in Harry’s mind, he dropped the box and reached out towards his wife who flew into his arms and onto his lap.

By the time her arms had wound around his neck, their lips had joined like two magnets of opposite polarities. Everyone shuffled back a ways to watch the golden glow that emanated from the loving couple and the multicoloured sparks they were giving off.

Berti had never seen their glow before and looked at in wonderment. She could tell from the smiles on the faces of those around her that it was a good thing…but it was not something they had warned her about. She leaned into Rachel, to whisper in her ear “What’s going on?”

Rachel was grinning and shaking her head. She tilted her head just so and whispered back “It’s the Nimbus lumens amor, Berti. The ‘cloud’ or ‘light’ of love. It happens only for couples who are well and truly bonded, emotionally, physically, and magically. Hermione and Harry’s bond is the strongest I’ve ever seen. That’s why I was shaking my head. It just struck me as funny, because it was obvious that I should have known that they’d have that kind of bond, given all of their magical power.”

The younger womans’ statement struck her hard and left Berti unable to respond. She became lost in the thoughts and memories of a husband she had lost to a war so many years before. For a moment, she felt intense grief that she couldn’t share this special moment with him. He would have been immensely proud of his granddaughter.

Her thoughts were disrupted, though, as Rachel’s children were told to pick up their gifts and go to their rooms for a while or find someplace other than here to play. The other adults cleaned up a little before retiring to the kitchen, leaving the oblivious couple to themselves. They never voiced a word, but the conversation that they were having, mind to mind, was very intense. Harry’s left hand had migrated down to her stomach and her right hand had ventured to cover his. Their kiss had broken though they were still hugging and their eye contact was scary if anyone was watching.

Miranda, though now in the kitchen, was still holding the Babies-R-Us box that Harry had dropped. She had stopped crying and smiled when Jake pulled her onto his lap. “A boy or a girl?” Jake asked.

“Open the box,” said Miranda, “I don’t think Harry will mind now, the contents should be blue.” Jake managed to get the box open with one hand and look inside, Miranda couldn’t see inside from her vantage point, but Jake looked up in obvious confusion. “Did Hermione say they were blue? What’s wrong?”

Jake opened the box wider and everyone could see, “There isn’t a stitch of blue in here … it’s all pink. Are you positive that pumpkin said they were blue?”

Rachel picked a top out of the box and examined it closely, “I recognize these, they’re the good ones, they will change colour depending on the baby they are put on or the baby that is closest,” Rachel reached over to lay the top onto little Henry and it turned blue instantly. She then moved it over to Miranda and it turned pink. “Congratulations Miri, it’s a Witch.” Thankfully Ben caught his Mother as she nearly fell off her chair.

“How do you know Rach? Could she be a Muggle girl?” questioned Miri.

“These clothes won’t change colour for a Muggle, your baby is a Witch, a broom-toting, cauldron-brewing, one-hundred-percent Witch! No doubt about it. The good news about it is that magical babies pretty much take care of themselves, from shortly after conception until they pop out. It should be a smooth easy nine months. The worst of it will be giving birth, I heard of one baby that apparated back inside his mother.”

“Now you’re trying to scare me.” Squeaked Miri and Rachel laughed.

“Yes, well … I was starting to worry this morning when the conversation before breakfast included Hippogriffs and Thestrals.”

“How did Thestrals come up before breakfast?” asked Jake.

“Your Mother in Law, dear boy,” replied Rachel, “When she thought you arrived on a Hippogriff, she said you should have been riding a Thestral … less likely to be spotted.”

“Mother,” Berti was now seated again with Ben behind her, “You weren’t trying to frighten Rachel were you?” asked Jake.

“She had much more reaction than I expected,” Berti chuckled, “I think she was starting to question her sanity … or ours.”

“I have no doubt.” Said Ben while shaking his head

“Let me get this straight,” Jake said in a strong voice that caused those near him to go quiet, “Miri is pregnant with another girl and Hermione is also pregnant with a boy … is that right?”

They all said Yes …

“Do we know what order they should arrive in?” asked Jake to anyone that could answer.

“Your grandson should arrive by mid-summer break, and he will be three or four weeks older than his Aunt”, responded Miranda.

Jake’s eyes glassed over as he thought. The end of July is when Harry was born, his son might be born on the same day, is that luck, coincidence or fate?