It
was almost the middle of the night and soft silence hung around at Number 12,
Grimmauld Place. After the war, Harry made so many changes to the house that it
was almost unrecognizable now. Dean had helped in remodeling the whole place
and it turned out that he was so good an architect that he was given the task
of rebuilding the parts of Hogwarts that were damaged in the war. The family
portraits of the Blacks were removed and so was their furniture. The kitchen was
turned into Harry’s study and the second floor was expanded magically and made
an indoor Quidditch pitch for Ginny to practice at home. The first floor now
housed six bedrooms and the ground floor held a kitchen, drawing room and a
small hallway. Only when the three storied house looked as inviting as The
Burrow did Harry agree to move in and start a family. Ginny rechristened the
place as Fawkes Crest since she
thought the whole house was reborn after being almost razed down.
After the kids arrived, Ginny had turned one of the bedrooms into a nursery.
With the help of a few old photos of Baby Harry in his nursery, she managed to
bring that same decorations and a similar crib. Even though the children no
longer needed the nursery, Ginny insisted on keeping it as it was. She wanted
it as a tribute to Harry’s lost childhood and she filled it with photos of him
with his parents. When she retired from the Holyhead Harpies and became a
Quidditch correspondent at the Daily Prophet, Harry insisted upon keeping their
indoor Quidditch Pitch intact, though Ginny reflected every day that it would
have been better for the cleanliness of the house if they had removed the real
grass and mud covered pitch and replaced with a magical one.
James and Albus occupied the bedrooms on either side of Lily’s as Harry
believed that James and Albus were like the grenade and its trigger and sternly
decreed that they would not be sharing adjacent bedrooms. He and Ginny shared a
bedroom on the opposite side of the first floor corridor with the guest bedroom
and the Nursery on its either side. The guest bedroom was often occupied by
Teddy Lupin, who was interning as a Trainee Auror in The Auror Department
Headed by Harry, whenever he had overnight assignments at London.
After the war, Kreacher had insisted upon letting Winky in as their house-elf
too saying that Winky was ill-adapted to serve at Hogwarts. So, when Kreacher
died a few months later, Winky had taken up his place. But the surprise came as
Winky walked in with Dobby’s baby in the tow. The tiny, wrinkly elf was so
miniature that Harry had asked Winky to be at The Burrow until the baby was
grown up enough to care for itself. After Ginny and Harry got married, Winky
came back to the Potters and grew particularly attached to Lily after she was
born. The little house elf was named Sock by Winky after Dobby’s favorite
clothes and it was too late by the time Hermione found it submissive and tried
to change his name.
Winky had decided that Sock would be brought up in the household and trained to
be a house-elf and then if master Harry wished, he would stay with them or else
would leave to find himself a new master. But Harry insisted that he could stay
with them as long as he wished though he would be given the choice to choose
where to work. Harry tried to change Winky’s attitude towards the
house-elf-servitude unsuccessfully, but he finally managed to convince Winky
upon Dobby’s name that Sock be allowed to be free till he was old enough to
choose for himself.
James, Albus, Rose and Hugo had planned a surprise birthday party for Lily at
midnight. They bid Ron and Hermione along with Harry and Ginny to be at the
drawing room ten minutes before midnight. With the help of Teddy, they filled
the whole of the drawing room with pink bubbles the size of golf balls and red
floating streamers. Ginny and Winky baked an enormous Hazel nut shaped cake
that matched with Lily’s eyes and Hermione made a batch of chocolate cookies.
James and Albus filled an enormous blue balloon with magical butterflies that
they bought at Uncle George’s shop and Rose had written ‘Happy Birthday Lily
Luna’ with Silver and Gold sparkles that illuminated in dark.
Just when the clock struck midnight, Harry and Ginny, along with their sons,
went quietly into Lily’s room and woke her up with a loud chorus of ‘Happy
birthday’. As a radiant Lily walked down to the drawing hall with her family,
the Potters were surprised to find not just Ron and his family there but also
the whole of the Weasleys, Teddy and Andromeda. Everyone shouted ‘Surprise!
Happy Birthday Lily’ and applauded for the birthday girl. After a long chorus
of the birthday song and cake-eating, everyone started digging into Molly’s
Sandwiches, Hermione’s Cookies and Fleur’s steak and kidney pie as Lily started
opening up her gifts. She was ecstatic when she found the Snowy white owl that
James and Albus gifted her. She was still opening her gifts when it was almost
a quarter past two and Ginny insisted that she could do it later that day. The
party broke up with people saying Good-Byes stifling their yawns and Hermione
prodding a snoozing Ron awake to make sure he says the correct address before
he Flooed himself.
Since it was just two days before Albus and Rose started their school, Molly
insisted that they spend Lily's birthday at The Burrow so that everyone could
be together. After an enormous lunch which included everybody's favorites, the
children left for a dip in the small pond that was just beyond the garden wall
of The Burrow. Harry and Ron broke into a game of chess while Bill and Percy
argued over Kingsley's new foreign agendas. Fleur and Audrey chatted with
Angelina while she tried to manage Fred and Roxanne who were now barely five
years old and trying to bring the whole place down. Hermione and Ginny were
helping Molly prepare tea. George and Arthur were leaning on either side of the
door frame watching their family getting along together.
‘I never thought I would live to see all of you…. Well, most of you this way.
Together and happy’, said Arthur taking his spectacles down and wiping them, ‘Every
time we have a family get together, I keep wondering how lucky we were to
live through the war. I suppose, being on the right side is rewarding at
least towards the end’.
‘We paid the price though’, said George looking at a photograph on the mantelpiece
which looked as though it was mirror showing him his own face, ‘We lost Fred’.
‘Yes, we lost Fred. But I have made peace with it George. I have you to see him
in. Perhaps, it’s time you made peace with the fact too’
George turned to go out as he always turned away when someone asked him to
forget about Fred. How many waking hours had he spent hoping that Fred would
come back at least as a Ghost. How many years had he spent waiting at the tiny
room over their shop hoping he could catch Fred's spirit sneaking in to finish
their unfinished merchandise experiments? The Death Eaters had taken not just
Fred with them but also George’s soul. Even though Ron quit being an Auror to
help George with the shop, there was no more spark left in the place to ignite
brain whirring ideas of pranks. It was as though the joke had lost its laugh.
He and Ron were now developing dark detectors and magical traps to aid the
Ministry in catching dark wizards. Harry had found these useful and set up a
partly funded research facility to help them invent more such things.
George was wondering if he could ever be whole again when Fred and Roxanne came
running to him as he stood in the yard watching the fat chickens clucking around.
Roxanne and Fred had been identical at birth, though now she sported a
long red hair and he a short red crop. They both wanted to go swimming with
their cousins but they didn't know how to swim and Angelina hadn't allowed them
out.
‘Take us to the pond, daddy! Please! Pretty please’, said Roxanne bringing her
tiny lips to a perfect pout which reminded him of Ginny.
‘Okay, but promise me that you won't make a mess of yourselves in the mud’,
said George shooting a furtive look at the house and hurriedly hoisting both of
his kids up in his arms. He wanted to take them to the lake before Angelina saw
them and his courage failed.
‘We won't do nothing wrong’, said Fred grinning ear to ear and patting
Weasley's water wasps in his jeans pocket without his father's notice.
‘So, I can send Beaky even when you both go to France for work?’ asked Albus
looking dubiously at his mother as she packed his things in his trunk.
‘Yes Al dear, anywhere you want. He will know where to reach us. All the post
owls are trained that way. You don’t have to worry’, replied Ginny patiently,
folding brand new robes and cloak, as Winky stuffed a cauldron and scales into
the trunk.
‘Does master Albus need his chocolate frog cards?’ asked Winky holding a pile
of cards enough to fit in the cauldron she just stowed in.
‘Yeah Winky, put them in. So mom, will I be able to send letters overseas
to Uncle Charlie? James said that owls deliver letters only to-’
‘Al, your brother just tries to pull your leg. Don't go on believing all the
stuff he tells you. Once you go to Hogwarts, you will see and know
yourself that everything is not as complicated as James make them sound’
‘Yeah, I thought so too’ said Harry coming into Albus’s bedroom and smiling
hugely, ‘but there were a lot of things that were not so simple as your mother
says’
Ginny turned around to him looking sternly and mouthed 'not helping' so
that Albus wouldn’t hear it. Harry sat beside his son and hugged him close. He
didn't like sending his children far away from home for any length of time.
Even to Hogwarts.
‘But that's the fun of it, Al. You will get to learn how to handle anything.
Soon you will make James eat his words’
Albus smiled at his dad. He had heard so much about his dad's legendary duel
with a dark wizard named Voldemort and his adventures at Hogwarts. There were
huge books written on him hailing him as the boy who lived and saved many
lives. Except perhaps one book, written by a journalist called Rita Skeeter who
wrote about his dad as a deluded attention seeking prat who defeated Voldemort
by diverting the latter's attention by using a huge snake that he controlled
using parseltongue. Albus loved reading heroic stories about his dad and had
collected most of the books describing them. He admired his father's courage
and even secretly hoped to have a few adventures of his own.
By the time Albus was all done with packing, it was almost dinnertime. James
had gone with Teddy to Diagon Alley for some last minute purchases of what he
called as material of 'sensitive nature' which was bound to come useful
at Hogwarts. Lily was playing with her brand new toy broomstick.
‘Will master Harry wish the dinner to be served right now?’, asked Winky
looking at the clock.
‘In a few minutes, Winky. Wait till James is back home’, said Harry
setting down the daily prophet that he was reading.
‘He's behaving like Fred and George behaved when they were at school. You have
got your invisibility cloak locked up, haven't you Harry? I don't want him to
sneak it to Hogwarts this year. I never understood why mom reacted like that
when she received complaints from school about Fred and George. But now, I can
see why she did that’, said Ginny shaking her head slightly but smiling all the
same.
‘Give him a rest, Ginny. He takes that after my dad, I guess. Though I agree
that Fred and George did have their influence on him’, said Harry grinning as
he laid down the newsletter and hugged Ginny.
‘Oh! I almost forgot. Why was Mr. Ollivander writing to you, Harry? You
never told me what was in the letter that you got from him the day I took the
kids for shopping’
‘ I never got around to opening that letter now that you mention it, Ginny. I
forgot completely about it. I will open it tomorrow. Mr. Ollivander might have
written about the exotic feathers that he was able to procure last month. He
said he would write to me after studying their properties’
Just then they heard a loud crack outside their door and knew it was James side
long apparating with Teddy. After ushering them in, Ginny had the dinner served
and instructed everyone to bed. Teddy bid them good night and apparated back
home.
Albus was so excited about going back to Hogwarts. He kept tossing on his bed
trying to imagine this time tomorrow when he would be in a house dormitory. He
didn't care much about being in Hufflepuff as James had said, but he was
determined not to end up in Slytherin. Just when he was finally about to fall
asleep he heard someone tiptoeing outside his room and then going down the
stairs. Wondering what Winky or Sock were doing at this hour, he went to look
out, paused for a moment and opened the door. As he peered down the corridor
and the stairs he heard someone talking in whispers downstairs. Moments later,
Lily emerged on the landing clutching what appeared to be a small black velvet
pouch. She looked startled and flustered at seeing Albus and seemed trying to
hide the pouch.
‘What are you doing downstairs at this time, Lily?’ asked Albus curiously.
‘N..nothing. I was just feeling hungry. So I went downstairs and asked
Sock, I mean, Winky to give me something to eat. Winky gave me some truffle
éclairs’, said Lily shifting her legs.
‘Then why are you hiding the pouch? ‘
’I..I..I thought.. I mean… I was afraid that mom might catch me and scold
me for eating éclairs this late, so…’, said Lily, her voice trailing off
to indistinct mumble. She shuffled her feet and started towards her bedroom and
Albus heard the door shut behind her.
Albus stood there for some time trying to get whatever just happened into his
head. Then he shook his head, shrugged and went into his room. He fell asleep
without bothering to turn off the light.
Comments
Post a Comment