Chapter 8: Harry (II)
October 2007
Harry could hardly contain his smirk.
As soon as he'd noticed Hermione and Ron standing together, an idea formed about how to properly break the ice between the three of them. It had been so long that this would probably be awkward if he didn't take the proverbial bull by the horns.
Before Hermione or Ron could respond to his opening statement, he continued:
"Well, nice to see you two again! I guess I should have expected that you would be here together. After all, you two always were destined for each other, weren't you?"
Ron looked like a deer caught in headlights and Hermione's jaw was falling open. He didn't give them a chance to say anything.
"So where are the little sprogs? Must be running around here somewhere." He feigned glancing around the Great Hall. "I bet they have wild red hair, love Quidditch and books, and can tuck away a meal like no other."
Ron and Hermione looked at each other. Harry was laughing gleefully inside. This was just too easy.
"Uh, Harry… We're not together," Ron eventually said.
Harry faked looking surprised. "What? Don't tell me you got a divorce?"
Predictably, Hermione was beginning to look annoyed at the conversation. Leave it to her to clear up any misconceptions in one fell swoop.
"No, Harry," she said. "We were never together. What are you on about, anyway? Neither of us has seen you in almost nine years and the first thing out of your mouth is `where are the little sprogs'?"
Harry could only hold it together for another moment before he burst out laughing. If anything, Hermione looked even more annoyed at his boisterous chuckles. Ron had crossed his arms and was observing the whole thing.
Teddy chose that moment to return to Harry with a drink and some food on a plate in his hands. He gave Harry a strange look as the laughter subsided. Harry shrugged at his godson.
"Just taking the mickey, Teddy," Harry told him, winking. With his famous lop-sided grin on full display, he then turned back toward his two old friends. As he stepped forward to draw Hermione into an embrace, he noticed that her expression had rapidly shifted from annoyed to lightly amused. There was a tiny twinkle in her eye when he stepped back and turned to Ron. He stuck out his hand, which Ron shook with his own.
"Great to see you both again," Harry said. "Though you've met him before, he was only a wee lad then, so let me introduce you to Teddy, my crazy-brilliant shape shifting godson!"
"Daaaad," Teddy drawled, blushing a bit at the praise. "Nice to meet you, Hermione, Ron."
Hermione gave him a questioning look. "You remember us?"
"No, but you're both in all the books," Teddy replied, to which of course Hermione smiled.
"Ah, yes," she said. "I suppose our reputation precedes us," she said carefully, while looking at Harry.
"Only as vanquishers of Voldemort," Harry responded. "So! Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, why don't we find a table. I believe we have a little catching up to do…"
Harry used the walk to a nearby table to reflect on his old friends. Ron had grown since he'd last seen him, pushing him from "tall" toward "giant." His red-headed mate had also filled out a bit, so he resembled more of a brick wall than anything else. Ron was dressed in a formal black Wizard's robe and cloak.
Hermione was about the same as he remembered, though older. She was the same height and had nearly the same build. The major difference was her hair, which was shorter, only shoulder-length. He liked it, though. It framed her aristocratic cheekbones nicely, bringing out her chocolate eyes. She wore a svelte black dress and a dark overcoat, though she removed the coat and placed it around the back of her chair when they all sat down. Whereas Ron's robe emphasized his imposing size as it flowed loosely around him, Hermione's little number hugged her quite nicely.
Both of his friends were different but the same.
In a moment of self-reflection, he wondered how much he'd changed in their eyes. Another case of different yet the same? Or more different? Perhaps precisely the same as they remembered? Well, he didn't wear glasses anymore, having preferred to undergo laser corrective surgery several years back, so there was that.
"Strange that I haven't seen too many others that I recognize yet," Harry commented, as they were all taking their seats.
"The viewing still has another hour or so," Ron said, looking around the hall.
"I saw Lavender and Seamus on my way in," Hermione commented. "Did you know they're married and have two beautiful children?" Ron shook his head while Harry nodded his.
Harry did not have much direct contact with daily Wizarding life these days, but his involvement with the Goblins had allowed him to keep abreast of most of his year-mates over time.
"I did actually. I've talked to them two or three times in Diagon Alley."
The awkwardness they had all so far avoided seemed to settle over them at that moment. The three heroes looked at each other, wondering what they could possibly say that would not belittle their historic friendship or gloss over the extended period of time they'd spent apart.
Harry considered the problem: what could he say to two people with whom he'd eaten three meals per day, ten months per year, for basically seven years? Two people to whom he owed his very life? And two people with whom he'd entirely lost touch.
The accreted depth of their histories and memories momentarily settled like dead weight over the table.
Hermione finally broke the silence. She looked at Teddy.
"So Teddy, are you in regular school right now?"
Teddy looked startled to be the center of attention. Harry watched as his godson soon recovered his composure.
"Yes," Teddy answered, nodding. "Until I get my Hogwarts letter, at least. Dad's tutoring me on the side in magic and my Metamorphmagus abilities."
Hermione and Ron's eyes had flicked to Harry when Teddy said `dad.' He gave them both a slightly patronizing smile, as if asking `what did you expect?'
Harry reached over and rustled Teddy's hair, which was currently brown. "Teddy's quite a natural, really. Where I live is heavily warded, so I've let Teddy use my wand on occasion. He will certainly be a much better student than I ever was once he starts at Hogwarts; he might even give your marks a run for their money, Hermione," Harry told her, smirking. Teddy blushed again at the praise.
"I hope he does," Hermione said, sincerely. "I wish we had all competed more, rather than me just dragging both of you through by your bootstraps." Now she was the one smirking.
"Ah, yes," Harry said. "I know I appreciate your help in me not failing out, and I'm sure Ron does too." Ron nodded and now the three of them were grinning casually at each other.
"Hey, it worked out, didn't it?" Ron asked, rhetorically. "We're all doing what we wanted-actually, wait. Harry, what do you do?"
Teddy jumped in. "He's a venture capitalist." Harry couldn't help but chuckle at his godson repeating what he'd heard the night before. "With the goblins." Harry also couldn't help but notice the pride in Teddy's voice, which made him feel indescribably good.
Ron looked befuddled. Some things never change.
Hermione, on the other hand, was quite clearly intrigued. She leaned forward with a penetrating expression on her face. Her dress did nothing to hide her bosom in that position. Harry watched, predictably, as nine-year-old Teddy's eyes zeroed in on her cleavage. He would have to tease her later about that.
"Venture capitalist? Those exist in the Wizarding world?"
"Why shouldn't they?" Harry wondered.
"I guess the business model always seemed so different in the magical world," Hermione explained. "Most businesses are passed down through families…"
"I wouldn't say most," Harry corrected. "Some of the oldest, sure, but larger enterprises are usually run quite like Muggle businesses-administration, operations, finance, a board of directors, all that stuff. And before you say that money has even more influence in the Wizarding world, really think about it for a minute."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked. Teddy and Ron were watching and listening.
"I mean the Muggle world is the same way. Money is power in both worlds. How are most world leaders `democratically elected?' With enough money to finance their campaigns, that's how. The comparisons are endless. But that's not really the point, since I'm not buying my way into office or onto the board of any major company."
Harry realized he'd gotten a little worked up during his short speech. He wasn't sorry about that. Maybe Hermione and Ron would hear the passion in his words and understand that he truly loved what he did.
"So what are you doing?" Ron asked. Perhaps he was starting to understand.
"Where do you think Hogwarts got the money to rebuild? Or the Ministry? Or much of Diagon Alley?"
"You paid for all of that?" Hermione queried.
"Paid?" Harry retorted, raising an eyebrow. "No, I don't think so."
"So, what, you loaned the money?" Harry nodded. "Really, Harry, I would have thought you of all people would have donated to the rebuilding effort-"
"Hermione," he cut her off. Something in his tone forced all three sets of eyes to snap to him. "You're smarter than that." She looked insulted. "I didn't come here today to argue with either of you again, but for the sake of argument, how much do you think all of that rebuilding costs-rebuilding, I will remind you, that continues to this day?"
Harry watched as the prodigious intellect of his brown-haired acquaintance processed his words and the question in them. Finally, she shrugged.
"I guess I have no idea. Hundreds of thousands of galleons?"
"Millions, Hermione. Millions of galleons. I believe the running total of all the restoration and improvement projects to this day is about thirty million galleons."
Hermione, Ron, and Teddy to a lesser extent were shocked. That was an insane amount of money.
Harry nodded at their looks. "The war did much more than destroy the physical infrastructure of the magical world. It also severely damaged the economy. Voldemort abused the finances of his richest supporters. Untold millions-perhaps even billions-of galleons were lost or ill-spent during that final year of the war. So when it was all over, the Ministry and everyone else had few places to go to secure financing. Even taxation did little to help because no one had any money at that point to tax. The goblins were hardly willing to loan magicals money from their personal coffers after all the shite we have pulled on them over the centuries."
"I think I'm beginning to see the problem," Hermione said, quietly. "Sorry for jumping to conclusions."
"It's alright." Harry waved it off. "I have done some more altruistic things," he said, smiling again, "like starting a scholarship at Hogwarts for underprivileged Muggleborns. But you have to understand that much of my wealth comes from my family's careful investment and management during the last millennium, which I'm not just going to throw away. It would be a disservice to the Potter name."
Hermione nodded. Ron spoke:
"Harry, I have to ask…" he started, looking uncomfortable. Harry raised an eyebrow, but motioned for the redhead to get on with it. "Were you the one who gave my parents that property in Sicily and financed their move?"
That question certainly came out of nowhere. "Yes," he nodded, waiting for an impending explosion of jealousy from Ron. He sighed mentally and supposed that things really didn't change. This day was not proceeding at all how he'd imagined.
But the explosion never came. Instead, surprisingly, it was gratitude that Ron expressed.
"Thanks," he told Harry. "I'm sure they've thanked you many times, but I'd like to do it again for them. I know how they were after the war, especially after most of my siblings and I went our separate ways… So it was really good for them to get away from it all."
Harry couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice. "You're welcome, Ron."
"Surprised?" Ron wondered, chuckling. "Harry, I once made the great mistake of being a jealous git, and I've not seen you or Hermione in more than eight years because of that. If I hadn't learned from the past yet, then I would be truly hopeless."
"I think you've been upgraded to a tablespoon, Ronald," Hermione dryly commented, which sent the three of them into gales of laughter. Teddy, who had been quietly sipping his drink and munching on his food, asked what was so funny.
Still laughing lightly in between sentences, Hermione briefly told him the story of when she'd likened Ron's emotional prowess to a teaspoon. Ron had the graciousness to look at least somewhat embarrassed. Though Teddy didn't know nearly of their history to properly get the joke, he comprehended enough to appreciate the humor of the situation. He smiled along with them.
The conversation soon turned away from Harry toward the other two. Hermione and Ron talked about what they had been doing; Ron recounted the recent episode with Nellie and her two progeny; Hermione told them she was likely a top candidate for a full-time, tenure-track position at her university when she finished her degree.
There was a pang in Harry's heart as he fully realized for the first time that they all had their separate lives, with their own responsibilities, friends, and colleagues. Harry couldn't possibly imagine what living on a magical creature preserve was like, nor could he fathom teaching literature. The separation between the three of them that had lasted for so long had suppressed that feeling somewhat, but now that Ron and Hermione were here in front of him, in the flesh, he was beginning to understand just how much he'd lost. From the brief flashes of emotion in their eyes he knew they were thinking some of the same things.
How the time goes by.
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