Harry hadn’t been in the master suite since Ellie had shown it to him one day before Christmas when they were decorating. It now bore almost no resemblance to the dusty room it once was. Ellie had embellished the room with some of her personal things, a whole shelf was dedicated to several pictures of her and Harry when they were little. Amongst these was a picture of Remus and Sirius holding their beloved godchildren, it looked like Ellie and Harry were in the process of having a fight because the two men were frantically trying to make him let go of her hair. The last picture was one taken on his birthday; the two of them were joined by Neville and were beaming into the camera with delight. Harry’s heart did a little leap, the last person he had known with this many pictures of him was Colin Creevey and that was only because he was the famous Harry Potter. It was nice to know that somebody wanted a load of pictures of him for a different reason.
She had added three bookcases and a writing desk to the collection of furniture that was already in the room. The shelves of the bookcase were stacked with hundreds of books, Harry recognised the covers of a good number of them as texts he himself owned but these editions were very different from his own, owing to the fact that they were in Italian. A piece of parchment had been framed and hung on one of the walls, Harry immediately recognised the handwriting as that of Professor Dumbledore.
The first time I held you in my arms and you wrapped your tiny hand around my index finger, I felt my heart swell with immeasurable joy and pride. I knew that my life had been touched in a miraculous way that would transform every dimension of it forever.
From the moment you were born, you became the focal point of my existence. Your smile was the sunshine in my heart. Your happiness was the only treasure I sought.
So began the great paradox of my guardianship. For when your tiny hand touched mine, I knew that I had been chosen to nurture you, love you and then give you the strength to let go.
Letting go is not easy. But I look at you now “ a beautiful young woman, strong in your convictions and determined to face life on you own terms “ and I still feel my heart swell with pride and joy.
My dreams for your life might not always be the same ones as you seek. But one thing remains the same: your happiness will always be my greatest treasure. I know now that the true miracle of that first touch lies in one simple truth: even though your hand may slip away from mine, we will hold each other in our hearts forever.
All my love, now and always
Granddad.
Harry was left speechless at such a touching display of love. He continued to glance around the room and saw another roll of parchment on her desk addressed to someone with a foreign name; it was a letter in delicately scripted Italian. On the shelves of yet another bookcase he saw notebook after notebook lined up neatly, quite obviously her school jotters. “Look at this,” Harry called to the others as he ran his finger along the spines.
“It’s official, she’s barking!” Ron declared.
“Why’s that?” Hermione had plucked a book from the shelf and was running her eyes over the pages. Despite the fact that she could only understand every other word she breathed deeply in appreciation for the wealth of knowledge that lay in her hands. “Look here,” Hermione smiled. She held the book up to them and they saw that one of the pages was devoid of the normal foreign prose that lined the others. Instead this page was festooned with little hearts that had Charlie’s name written in them and large chunks where Ellie had signed her name in various forms, ‘Elizabeth Weasley,’ ‘Elizabeth Alexandra Jane Weasley,’ ‘Elizabeth Potter-Weasley,’ ‘Elizabeth Dumbledore “Weasley,’ and so on. They all grinned at each other; it was just so funny to think of. They had a vision of Ellie sitting in a classroom, in some exotic terrain with a teacher who was conversing with her class in a glamorous sounding language but all she could think about was rainy old England and how she would sign her married name.
“Why would anyone want to keep their school books?” Ron asked.
“Because they might come in useful one day,” Molly interrupted. “Now if you don’t mind, stop snooping and give me a hand!”
On the third Monday of August the normal letters from Hogwarts arrived just after breakfast, Ginny couldn’t bear to even look at her letter. Harry felt horribly guilty; he had almost forgotten that his girlfriend had taken her O.W.Ls at the end of the last school year.
“Ginny, it’ll be fine, you probably did really well, nearly as well as Hermione I’d bet,” Harry said comfortingly.
“He’s right, after Percy you were always the brain of the family.” Ron looked just a little bit sad at the memory of his deceased older brother. After a few more minutes and Mrs. Weasley threatening that if Ginny didn’t open them, she would, the youngest member of their group opened her letter.
“Well?” her mother asked tensely. Ginny’s jaw was hanging open giving Harry a lovely view of her fleshy, deep pink tongue.
“I got them all, ten O.W.Ls. Seven O’s three E’s and an A!” Ginny was clearly in shock.
“Oh Ginny! That’s wonderful, what an achievement! Well done you!” Mrs. Weasley alternated between hugging Ginny tightly and kissing her cheeks.
“I’m suddenly starting to appreciate how you feel,” Harry muttered quietly to Ron.
“What do you mean?” Ginny beamed.
“Having a girlfriend who’s a brain is a horrible feeling,” Ron informed her.
“Oh! Like that is it?” Harry noticed the way Ginny was squaring her shoulders and holding her head up high; he knew instantly that he was in trouble. “Maybe you should find a girlfriend who’s less intelligent, if you ask her nicely enough Cho Chang might have you back,” she said haughtily.
“Even if she’d have me I wouldn’t have her. I’ve moved on to bigger and better things,” he smiled at her sweetly and rested his hand on hers; he could see her melting before she’d even said a word.
“Besides the smarter ones are better,” Ron gave Hermione an appreciative look.
“Well just you remember that,” Ginny said in a half-hearted manner. “Aren’t you two going to open your letters? Just think it’s the last one you’ll ever get!”
“It’s so weird. Our last year,” Harry rambled to himself; he picked up his letter and looked at it hard.
“After all the trouble we had in first year I didn’t think we’d make it,” Ron said disbelievingly.
“And then there was all the trouble in second year when we broke a ‘hundred different school rules to pieces’ to quote McGonagall,” Harry added.
“Don’t forget when Snape caught you sneaking back from Hogsmeade when you didn’t have permission to be there and had the Marauders map on you which then insulted him, repeatedly. Oh third year, how long ago you seem!” Ron said reflectively.
“Of course, then there was fourth year. When that cup spat out my name I thought I was done for, I was convinced I was going to die and you weren’t talking to me,” Harry added sardonically.
“Oh yeah, sorry ‘bout that mate.” Ron shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. “Let’s not forget fifth year, when you were this close.” Here he demonstrated an impossibly tiny measure with his finger and thumb, “to getting expelled for mutiny and the rest of us weren’t far behind you,” he smiled.
“But at least last year I behaved my self!” Harry protested.
“Right, you only reduced a teacher to tears twice and came within a hippogriffs feather of killing another student, that you then knocked unconscious for two days. Your definition of behaving is different from other peoples.” Ron grinned wickedly.
“Well maybe this year will be different, there’s a first time for everything isn’t there?” he asked hopefully.
“Of course there is,” Ginny said comfortingly.
“I hope you won’t be insulted if I don’t bet on that,” Ron said.
“Nah, I’m sure you’ll do something else that I can consider insulting,” he joked, Ron started to complain but Harry cut him off. “We should really open these things you know,” he picked his letter up but before he had a chance to tear at the flap Hermione let out a scream.
“I don’t believe it! I don’t believe it! I don’t believe it…” she was shrieking over and over again. Ron picked a little silver badge up for Harry to see. The letters HG were emblazoned on it in Gryffindor scarlet.
“Hermione, that’s superb!” Mrs. Weasley attempted to squeeze all the air out of Hermione’s slight frame.
“Wow, Hermione, congratulations,” Harry said, thrilled that Hermione had accomplished her dream.
“I just don’t believe it!” she replied, she was shaking her head from side to side in disbelief.
“Oh please!” Ron shouted louder than he intended to, Hermione looked at him with anger flashing in her eyes but he managed to head her off before she started a tirade against him. “There wasn’t any doubt, we’ve known since first year that you were Head Girl material, haven’t we, Harry?” his eyes begged Harry to help him save the situation.
“It was a cert; they would’ve been insane to pick anybody else.” He turned to Ron and put on an astonishingly high-pitched voice, ‘I hope you’re pleased with yourselves. We could have been killed “ or worse, expelled.’ It’s not a surprise at all.” Harry and Ron doubled up with laughter.
“What they’re trying, very unsuccessfully, to say is that they knew you could do it and well done,” Ginny translated. “I wonder who got Head Boy.”
“I hope it wasn’t Malfoy. I could cope with anybody but a Slytherin,” Ron said as he finally got around to opening his letter as well. He nearly jumped through the ceiling in surprise when another silver badge fell on to the table in front of him. He made an indistinct almost strangled kind of noise in the back of his throat.
“Ron!” Harry yelled.
“Is that what I think it is, Ron?” Mrs. Weasley pleaded on the verge of bursting.
“I got Head Boy,” Ron breathed barely audible.
“Another Head Boy! Oh, Ron, I’m so proud!” she cried. She repeated her earlier behaviour of alternating cheek kisses with hugs, only this time Ron protested.
“Muuuuum!” he hollered. “Mum, geeerrrooofff!” Unfortunately his mother paid no attention.
“What a wonderful month, a wedding, ten O.W.Ls and two heads in the family! Just wait till your father hears about this, I’m so pleased with you. All the trouble you four have had and you’re not letting it stop you…” At this point she descended in to sobs. “Never “ sniff- never seen four children “ sniff “ like you “ sniff “ you’re all so brave “ sniff “ and so smart…” she leaned over the table and wept in to her sleeves.
“Mum, don’t cry.” Ginny shifted along the table and patted her mother on the shoulder comfortingly.
“It’s all right, Mrs. Weasley,” Hermione added as she too moved closer to the distraught woman. Harry and Ron just sat and looked at each other; neither of them was particularly good at dealing with their own tears never mind anyone else’s.
“So we go away for a week and you manage to reduce our mother to tears?” This came from Charlie who was now standing in the doorway looking more tanned than ever. Ellie was grinning over his shoulder until she saw that Molly was crying.
“What’s wrong, Molly? Has something happened?”
“No, dear, I’m “ sniff “ just being silly. We’ve had some good news, Ginny got ten O.W.Ls and we’ve got a Head Boy and Girl in the family now.” Mrs. Weasley wiped her eyes on her apron and smiled at each of her children in turn.
“Go, Ginny! Congratulations, Ron and Hermione, we knew you had it in you,” Charlie said in return.
“Sounds to me like we’ve got a very good reason for a party,” Ellie said merrily.
“That’s an excellent idea, I’ll set to work straightaway,” Mrs. Weasley dragged herself up from the table.
“No you will not, you’ll let Dobby and Winky do it. You can oversee everything but first you’re going to have a cup of tea,” her daughter-in-law countered. She conjured some tea with her wand and immediately poured some into a cup.
“Here I am sobbing away when I should be asking how your honeymoon went?” She allowed a cup to be pushed in to her hands.
“We had a lovely time, although it was quite strange.” Ellie had made herself a cup of steaming tea as well.
“What was strange?” Ginny asked.
“It was so quiet,” Charlie replied.
“It was too quiet, there was no queue to get into the bathroom, no fighting over the plates of food at breakfast, lunch and dinner, nobody getting told off, no explosions in the background… far too quiet,” Ellie confirmed.
“Just wait until you have children, you’ll learn to cherish those quiet moments,” Molly laughed. “Will I be waiting long for grandchildren?”
“I don’t think so.” Charlie thanked his lucky stars for his tan. It meant you couldn’t really tell that his face was burning with embarrassment. Harry, Ron and Ginny sniggered.
“Had him working on it already have you, Ellie?” daring Ginny asked.
“Something like that.” She answered into her teacup. Ron and Harry snorted some more.
“Would you two please grow up!” Hermione scolded.
“That’s very good advice,” Mrs. Weasley said through narrowed eyes.
The next morning Mrs. Weasley woke them early and started hustling them into getting up and dressed. They congregated by the fire and waited for the all-clear signal. Mad-Eye and Remus had been the first to floo into Fred and George’s shop to check that it was safe for the rest to arrive; after a couple of minutes red sparks shot out of the fire and Ron shuffled forwards. Like the year before, they emerged in the stock room of Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes, a room that was fuller than ever. They left the shop and headed straight for Gringotts, Harry watched as the guard closed ranks around him and his friends. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were leading the group, Charlie and Ellie to the left, Bill and Fleur to the right and Remus and Tonks were at the back. Other Order members were milling around. Kingsley was standing on the front steps of the bank apparently engrossed in the morning’s paper, Emmeline Vance was running her fingers along the spines of books on display outside Flourish and Blotts, Dedalus Diggle was admiring the owls outside the Magical Menagerie and Hestia Jones was leafing through the robes just inside the door of Madame Malkin’s. “Is something going on?” he asked Ellie with some suspicion, he had never seen this many Order members out and about at one time.
“What do you mean?” Her eyes never stopped scanning the crowd.
“Are you expecting an attack?” Ginny asked, her grip on Harry’s hand tightened significantly and he gave her a little squeeze back.
“Doesn’t hurt to be vigilant, constantly,” Ellie replied with the faintest hint of a smile, her eyes drifted over to the entrance to the Apothecary where Mad-Eye was supposedly talking to Dung, his normal eye was firmly on Dung’s face but his magical was spinning quicker than ever.
“Is that a yes?” Harry hated it when people tried to fob him off with non-answers.
“It’s a ‘we have suspicions so keep your eyes peeled,’” she answered sharply. Harry immediately passed this advice on to Ron and Hermione and another eight eyes were added to the alert collection.
Once their money bags were full they shuffled their way round the shops, Harry decided to get a new set of robes this year not because he’d grown any but because his old ones were looking a bit on the tatty side of things. They moved quickly to Flourish and Blotts where they picked up their new textbooks, for Harry and Ron these were.
‘The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 7 by Miranda Goshawk
Advanced Potion Making by Libatius Borage
Human Transfiguration by Caractacus Aesalon
Caring for Magical Creatures by Wilhemina Grunnion
Fighting The Dark Arts: A Guide To Practical Defence by Dorcas Meadows’
The books were thicker than ever before and were a bleak reminder that this year would be the hardest yet. Their next stop was the stationary shop where they all stocked up on parchment, quills and ink, and then they walked hastily from there to the Apothecary.
With each shop they went to part of the guard stationed themselves outside while the rest tried to cover all the nooks and crannies inside. There was no need for anyone to tell them how serious their suspicions were, the speed with which they moved conveyed that more than adequately. As far as Harry could tell there was going to be an attack in Diagon Alley and the Order wanted them out of there as soon as possible. Molly had worry creased in to her brow and beads of sweat were gathering on her temples, it was clear that the anxiety was almost too much for her. With his eyes not focused on the street ahead he spotted the way all of the people around them had their fists jammed in their pockets, undoubtedly wrapped around the only things that stood between them and death in the case of an attack, it made Harry very nervous. If the Order were on full alert then they expecting there to be a very serious attack. He no longer wanted to be in the alley, he desperately wanted everyone home and out of harms way. That, of course, would never work; Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny would be deposited at headquarters with Molly while the rest of them rushed off to fight and he didn’t want that either.
Harry cursed loudly when he felt Ellie give him a hard shove that sent him careering in to Ginny and propelled the both of them behind a collection of animal cages outside the Magical Menagerie. Harry ended up collapsed on top of Ginny and was about to complain when Ginny clamped her hand over his mouth and nodded at Ellie and Charlie who were crouched close to them with one facing up the alley and the other facing down the way. They had their wands out and were peering around the edges of the cages. Harry leaned forward to ask them what was going on but he heard many thunderous pops that announced a person Apparating. He then watched as people darted across the narrow field of vision looking absolutely terrified and screaming in a deafening way. Ginny tugged desperately at his arm and when he looked around at her she pointed to a shop window opposite where the crystal clear reflection of five Death Eaters could be seen.
A/N: The letter from Dumbledore is based on a poem by Nacy Gilliam, i changed a word here or there to make it fit my needs.
A nice little cliffy for you theere, next chapter is called…Death Eater Encounter.
Have fun!