Harry had gotten back to Grimmauld Place early in the morning. When he got up the next morning, he was dismayed to see a Howler waiting for him. Gaunt said quite a litany of things and called him some disrespectful names for leaving Neville, but also informed him of the success of the mission.
He was glad the weekend had finally come and was wishing he’d ignored Hermione and stayed with Ginny until she’d woken up fully. He sighed contentedly, thinking of, despite the attack, how absolutely stunning she looked. He was so blessed to have such an amazing girl, woman, in his life.
He stared sadly at a picture that he’d put up of him and Ginny from the Prophet. Even though he hated having their stolen moments photographed, he was thankful to have a record of them. Kreacher had done a brilliant job finding suitable frames and Harry couldn’t help himself and placed them liberally around the house.
Harry sent an owl to Neville asking him about the previous night’s project and got a quick owl back, saying it had gone great and if he wanted a full report, he’d be happy to share that on Monday. Harry worried he wouldn’t have time and owled Neville back to ask if they could meet and talk about it. Neville responded and asked Harry to meet him in Diagon Alley later that day.
Harry spent much of the rest of the day busying himself with the paperwork he’d missed out on completing thanks to his part in the mission the day before. He hurried out of the house and Apparated to Diagon Alley a few minutes before meeting Neville at the Leaky Cauldron.
As he entered the pub, he was surprised to see the throng of on-lookers surrounding Neville. His friend waved him over and the people parted like a wave before him. ‘Harry! How are you feeling?’
Harry nodded, eyeing the crowd warily. ‘Better. How did things go last night?’
Neville grinned at him. ‘Brilliantly! I had a lot of help from you though!’
‘Oh? How so?’ Harry asked.
Neville leaned in close and said in a hushed tone. ‘When they saw you leave, they thought we were both drunk and they talked more than they should have.’
Harry nodded. ‘Did Gaunt reel them in?’
Neville shook his head. ‘Not exactly. But he’s putting more evidence to get a fool-proof case.’
Harry had one drink before calling it quits. He thanked Neville for letting him know what had happened, and left to have dinner at home. The crowd seemed to grow larger as he left, and Harry was thankful they were more interested in Neville.
He got home late and was surprised to see a letter from Ginny. He opened it slowly, worrying that it was another Howler, but was relieved to read the contents.
Harry,
Hermione just told me I wasn’t dreaming last night, although, that would have been one fantastic dream. Thanks for coming and checking in on me. I’m sorry I was so cross with you about the photographs. I know you didn’t do it to hurt me. I know how much you care about me and I hope you know how much I care about you. I’m really missing you and I hope we’ll get to spend some time together next weekend.
Love, Ginny
Harry sighed loudly after reading the letter the second time. She’d signed it ‘love.’ He wondered if she’d heard him the previous night or not, but he didn’t care. Even though they were miles apart, it felt like it did after her birthday; he felt good about their relationship.
He replied to her letter promptly, indirectly repeating his proclamation from the previous night, and spent much of Sunday thinking about her. He didn’t know how he’d make it through the next week, but had a feeling Gaunt would make it memorable.
When Monday finally rolled around, Harry had worked himself into a very anxious state. Kreacher had served him a soothing tea before he left, but it did little good. As he rounded the corner to his office, he saw the familiar visage of Kingsley looking into his office. The older man turned to see him and his usual calm demeanour was replaced by exasperation.
He slowed his pace as Kingsley walked towards him. ‘Can I have a word with you, Harry?’
Harry nodded weakly, wondering what was worse, leaving Neville or going back to Hogwarts. Kingsley shut the office door and Harry noticed Neville was not in their office. Kingsley smiled at him and said, ‘Perhaps I wasn’t clear, but we were hoping your first visit back to Hogwarts would be at the memorial.’ He continued smiling and said, ‘Thankfully, Professor McGonagall was able to keep your visit under wraps.’
Harry started to argue but Kingsley cut him off. ‘I understand there was a Dementor attack at the school. This is frightful business. I am happy to see both Ms. Weasley, Ms. Lovegood and Ms. Granger were able to handle things.’
Harry sighed, realising he wasn’t going to be read the riot act and said, ‘I don’t know how many there were, but Hermione seemed really upset.’
Kingsley walked towards the door and said, ‘I’m not sure. Hagrid came upon them and said he’d seen a dozen.’
Harry balked. ‘A dozen Dementors! Are you serious?’
Harry felt panic set in, hoping there were some new protections around the school. Kingsley guessed his thought and said, ‘The professors there are putting some wards up in order to get warnings of the arrival of such things. I don’t know how effective it will be, but I’ve sent one of our best Aurors down there to help out.’
Harry tried to process this information and didn’t notice Kingsley leave. The door flew open a few minutes later and Gaunt stood with a vicious look. ‘Well, Potter, congratulations on almost getting Longbottom killed.’
Harry put his hands up. ‘Sir, I spoke to Neville last night, he said my…behaviour helped him get what he needed.’
Gaunt clenched his jaw and said, ‘So it did.’ Gaunt took a step into the office and said, ‘When I send you on a mission, I expect you to fulfil that mission to whatever end. Your life…is mine.’
Harry stared angrily at Gaunt, but said nothing. He had no argument to make. Nothing he could say would make any difference. Gaunt stood at the doorway for a few minutes, glaring at Harry before finally turning. ‘I expected better of you. You are very, very lucky that Longbottom has not told those details too loudly.’
He left the office and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. If that was the worst he was going to get, then it wasn’t too bad. Neville came into the office, beaming, an hour later. ‘Harry! How are you this morning?’
Harry nodded and replied curtly, ‘Fine, and you?’
Neville was grinning from ear-to-ear and said, ‘Brilliant!’ He looked up slowly and continued, ‘It’s weird, Harry, people are treating me like some sort of hero and I really don’t even know what the case is all about.’
Harry nodded. ‘I know. Gaunt didn’t tell us much.’ Harry looked blankly at his paperwork and continued, ‘I wonder if we shouldn’t have asked more questions.’
Neville replied, ‘Gaunt doesn’t seem the type to like us questioning his orders.’
They fell into an uneasy silence as the day progressed. Harry tried not to be irritated by the constant flow of Ministry workers coming through to congratulate both him and Neville on a job well done. As the day came to a close, Harry and Neville finally enjoyed a few quiet moments to themselves.
Harry started to get up to go home and stopped. ‘Neville, why didn’t you tell them the truth? Gaunt told me you didn’t tell anyone about why I wasn’t there.
Neville looked up slowly and replied, ‘I did, Harry. But I made it sound like it was our plan from the beginning. I don’t think I did anything wrong.’
Harry looked at Neville and shook his head. ‘The credit should be yours and yours alone. You shouldn’t have done that.’
Neville laughed. ‘Harry, for the number of times you’ve spared me, I think I could give you this one with no reserve. You did help, intentionally or not.’
Harry didn’t like what Neville was insinuating, like there was some sort of tally being kept, but didn’t argue with him. There was no point. It was done and over. He nodded and mumbled a ‘good night’ to Neville before heading home.
Once he arrived there, he was surprised to see a letter from Percy, asking if he could stop by for tea at Grimmauld Place. Harry was more than a little surprised that Percy would want to see him. He replied straightaway and had Kreacher prepare tea and waited for Percy to arrive.
The flames from the grate burst to life and Percy stepped out. He nodded curtly at Harry and stepped away from the grate. Ron stepped out as well and smiled at Harry. Harry looked with surprise at Ron and said, ‘Percy made it sound like he was coming alone.’
Percy nodded. ‘I did that on purpose. I didn’t want you talking to Ron beforehand.’
Harry glared at Percy and replied, ‘Oh, and what would we have talked about that wasn’t allowed?’
Percy didn’t see fit to dignify this with a response, but sat down for a cup of tea. Ron looked at Harry with an expression of frustration, and sat down next to his brother. Harry sighed and sat down, waiting for Percy to get to the point. He was starting to like Percy less and less.
Percy drank the tea for a few minutes and finally stated, ‘You’re going to the memorial, aren’t you?’
‘Of course,’ Harry replied. ‘Kingsley made it clear that both Neville and I should be there.’
Percy sighed and said, ‘Look, mum and dad wanted me to come by and talk to you, about everything that’s happened.’ His tone softened, ‘We’re all very sorry for everything that happened. We want George to get better. We never thought he’d go mental.’
Harry tapped the table and said tersely, ‘What’s your point, Percy?’
‘My point, Harry,’ Percy said his name with some relish. ‘Is that George will also be at the memorial.’
Harry felt his eyes bulge at this. ‘Are you serious? Is he even well enough to go out? You’ve had him holed up for weeks!’
Ron said quietly, ‘He’s a bit better. We don’t have to watch him as closely as we had to in the previous weeks. He’s been…he’s been wanting to talk to you…about what happened.’
Harry nodded slowly. ‘Probably best that didn’t happen.’
Percy nodded. ‘I’m glad you see that.’ Percy gave Ron a side-long glance and said, ‘We can’t bind his magic, mum and dad won’t allow it. And, quite frankly, he doesn’t need that. He’s okay. He’s still mourning, but he’s okay.’
Harry gave him a sceptical look. ‘Okay? How are you defining ‘okay’? And why do I find that hard to believe?’
Percy narrowed his eyes and replied, ‘I don’t expect you to believe it, but you should still know what we know so you can make an informed decision about going back to Hogwarts.’
Ron put his hands up quickly. ‘Look, Harry, we didn’t come over here to make you feel more put out than you already are. Our parents don’t…’ He looked at Percy for a moment before continuing, ‘They aren’t particularly proud of how they treated you. But they had to be able to control something. They think of you as one of their sons, you know that, right?’
Harry nodded slowly, but before he could say anything, Ron continued, ‘And I know they would want to be here themselves, but they’re a little frayed ‘round the edges. What I’m trying to get at…what Percy’s trying to say is…everyone in the family feels bad about what happened, with respect to you, and we don’t blame you for anything. You’ve been…well, really decent about it. So we thought we’d just come out here and let you know, warn you, that George would be at Hogwarts for the memorial too.’
Harry almost said he’d already been back, but stopped. He wondered if they even knew what happened the previous day. He replied, ‘I appreciate the warning, but I’m in enough trouble at the Ministry as it is, I need to go.’
Ron said quietly, ‘You do realise how tough this is going to be, don’t you?’
Harry nodded and looked down at the table. ‘I think I do. I don’t know how Hermione and Ginny have been getting on being back there.’
Ron nodded and said, ‘It sounded from Hermione’s last letter that both she and Ginny are pretty depressed being back.’
Harry replied quietly, ‘I got that impression too. I can’t imagine what it must be like to walk those halls after witnessing everything that happened.’
Percy commented, ‘Even I’m not looking forward to going back, but…’ He faltered, ‘I have to go back, for Fred.’
Harry looked sadly at Percy and said, ‘That’s why I have to go back.’
Percy looked up and replied, ‘We all have to go back, at least one more time.’
Ron started to say something, but glanced at the clock. ‘Percy, mum will be expecting us. We’d better get going.’
Percy got up and looked at Harry. ‘Look, Harry, I know we don’t see eye-to-eye, but I would like to advise you to use caution at the memorial.’
With that both Ron and Percy bade Harry ‘good night’ and left. Harry sat quietly for some time in the kitchen, mulling over the news that George would be at the memorial. He spent a bit of time writing Ginny a letter before heading to bed and hoping the rest of the week would be less bracing than this first day had been.