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SIYE Time:12:19 on 29th March 2024
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Love Enough for Both
By Manwe Valarian

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Category: Alternate Universe
Characters:All
Genres: General
Warnings: Death, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Situations
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 356
Summary: Harry heard a goblin speaking and he came out of temporary stupor. He was surrounded by witches and wizards all staring at him. The most shocking thing was he had his arms around someone. Who was she and how did they get here?
Hitcount: Story Total: 214767; Chapter Total: 7736
Awards: View Trophy Room




Author's Notes:
Arthur Weasley was sitting in his kitchen the morning after Ginny and Harry's attempt at a bonding ceremony, when he receives a strange owl with a mysterious letter.
I would thank my Beta, Lief, for doing such a great job correcting my writing.




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Arthur Weasley sat and sipped on his tea. The Daily Prophet lay beside him. He already read it completely through. It had nothing about the attack on his family the day before. He didn’t expect it to, but he wanted to check to be sure.

Everyone, except Ron, had already eaten their breakfast. Molly was on her way up the stairs to motivate Ron, since he had not responded to her yelling at him. Arthur didn’t want to waste his day sitting here waiting for the wedding rental people to show up. They were supposed to come by nine the next morning after the event. It was already half past ten, and he has not seen any sign of them.

In some ways, he was relieved that they hadn’t appeared to collect the marquee and the chairs. Everything had been destroyed yesterday. He had been fortunate enough to win the Lucky Galleon competition at work. He promptly spent everything, but forty galleons on Ginny’s wedding. The most expensive thing was her gown, but to see her in it made every galleon worth it.

Soon the rental place will come and he will have to figure out a payment plan to pay for the damage. He looked over the contract last night, and added up replacement cost on everything. It was going to cost him eleven hundred galleons to replace everything. He had forty.

It was times like these that made him regret his choice of profession. He had been offered a job at Gringotts when he graduated from Hogwarts, but he decided he wanted to work to help Muggles. They would not have needed to make all the sacrifices they have made, if only he had taken the Gringotts job.

They had endured buying second hand clothes and books for the children, but that won’t be enough to pay off the damages. He may need to take another job just to pay off the bill and send his children to school.

The plodding footsteps of his youngest son brought him out of thoughts. Ron never liked to get up early, and he appeared to not appreciate his mother waking him.

“Morning Ron,” he said cheerfully.

Ron barely lifted his eyes to look at him. “Yeah, good morning,” he said gruffly. “Are you going to work today?”

“I may stop in later,” he replied. “It is Sunday and we do get the opportunity to take Sundays off.”

“Yea dats rite,” Ron said with a mouthful of eggs.

Arthur ignored his son’s terrible table manners. “I am also waiting for the people to pick up the marquee and the chairs.”

Ron guffawed at the comment. He nearly spit toast onto the table. “Won’t need to do that, will they. It is all burnt to ash,” he said almost laughing.

Arthur looked at him irritated that he would brush off something like that as funny.

“How are you going to pay for it?” Ron asked.

“We will get by, Ron. Don’t need to worry, we will get by,” Arthur tried to say with more confidence than he had.

An owl’s pecking on the kitchen window caught Arthur’s attention. He quickly rose and went to let it in. He didn’t recognize it as one of the Ministry Owls. It hopped down on the counter and lifted it leg towards him. He quickly removed the large scroll attached to its leg. The bird took flight again after being relieved of its load.

Arthur looked at the unrolled scroll. It was blank, at first. He could feel a magical presence on the parchment. Soon handwriting appeared; the entire body appeared to him along with an ornate letter “P” in the bottom right corner.

Good Morning Dad,

Harry and I would like to invite you and the entire family to our place for dinner today. There are some things we need to discuss with you and Mum.

Take this letter to a clerk in Gringotts and he will know what to do with it. When you get to our special vault there will be a letter with further instructions.

Enjoy the ride.

“Love,

Ginny Potter


“Molly,” he shouted for her.

“No need to shout, I am right here,” she said from the stairwell. She had two baskets of laundry floating behind her.

“Right, Ginny wants all of us to come over for the day. She said something about dinner.”

“I’m ready,” shouted Ron.

“We are going nowhere until you get cleaned up, young man,” stated Molly rather sternly. “I’ll get the rest motivated, Arthur.”

“I will need to stop by Wedding Supplies and Rental’s office. They still haven’t come for the marquee and chairs,” said Arthur to his wife.

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

Arthur walked down the middle of Diagon Alley with almost his entire family behind him. It was a pleasant day today and everyone he met seemed to be courteous to him and his family. It helped with his nerves. He wasn’t sure how he would explain everything to the Wedding Rental place, but he needed to square away that debt.

He stood in front of the door for several seconds before entering. It was actually a small shop in size. They either stored everything somewhere else or they were masters at Shrinking Charms. There was barely enough room for him to step in. The rest of his family had to wait on the street.

“Ah Mr. Weasley, what brings you to our little shop today,” said the owner Canton Briggs. He was small built wizard with greying brown hair and round face.

“I came about the marquee and chairs you rented me…,”

Mr. Briggs cut him off. “Do not worry about them, Mr. Weasley. Sirius Black stopped by this morning and explained everything. He also paid for the damages.”

Arthur’s heart skipped a beat. What did Sirius tell this man?

“Sirius paid for everything?” he questioned Mr. Briggs.

“Of course, it is only right, since he burnt them up. It is a dangerous thing to give firewhiskey to Mr. Black.”

Arthur smiled at the owner. “Yes, it was foolish of me to allow that. He paid for all the damages?”

“Yes. He did. I still have a hard time remembering that he had spent so many years in Azkaban. He was in here as polite as a wizard can be. It sure seems that the Ministry made a mistake by placing him in that horrible prison.”

“Yes, it sure seems that way,” said Arthur.

He stood there shocked and a little confused. It bothered him that Sirius would pay for the damage to the marquee. However, it made things much easier for him, since he had no idea how he would be able pay that debt.

“Is there anything else,” asked Mr. Briggs.

Arthur realized that he had been standing there with a blank look on his face. “No, nothing, have a nice day.”

When he left the little office, Molly was standing there looking rather peaky. He had spoken to her about their financial difficulties. Charlie and Ron had wandered over to Quality Quidditch Supplies and were staring at the latest display. Fred and George were talking to a couple of children that looked about the same age. Percy was standing beside Molly looking extremely anxious but proper as always.

“Everything has been sorted out,” he told Molly.

“All right, what does that mean for the coming school year,” asked Molly.

“Sirius Black paid for all the damages. He even told them it was his fault. He had too much Firewhiskey and burnt the marquee and the chairs.”

“Why would he do that,” asked Percy.

“Because, he probably knew we couldn’t afford to pay for it,” said Arthur.

Percy looked around and nodded slightly. He stared at his Mum before talking. “It was very nice of him to do that.”

“Yes, it was,” sighed Molly. “We should pay him back. We can’t let him pay our debts for us.”

“It was hardly our fault,” snapped Percy. “True, it wasn’t his either, but we know that the people who caused it will never pay for the damage.”

“It is good to have friends like Sirius and Harry,” said Arthur. “Harry did want to pay for the wedding. Speaking of Harry, we should get going to Gringotts to meet them.”

“Charlie, Ron, Fred, and George let’s get going,” shouted Molly.

All the boys turned and looked at her and started moving towards them.

“Let’s get moving Weasleys,” said Arthur.

They all walked towards the massive white building that housed Gringotts bank. He never figured out why they had to go to Gringotts to contact Ginny and Bill. He had never heard of goblins helping wizards before and here they were acting as protectors.

They casually strolled through the large golden doors of the bank. He walked up to the nearest open counter and handed the goblin the letter from Ginny. The surly window attendant stared at the parchment for a few seconds, before his expression changed.

“I will get Grins Gringotts,” the goblin said almost courteously. It jumped off the stool and hurried back into the offices.

“What was in that letter?” asked Percy.

“It was a letter from Ginny asking us to come over. She wrote to give it to any goblin,” answered Arthur.

“Very curious,” said Percy thoughtfully.

Charlie chuckled at his younger brother. “If what I have heard is true, we are in for a bit of a shock.”

“Why do you say that?” asked Arthur.

“Because, Bill made it sound like Harry and our little sister practically own this bank.”

“Harry did mention his family having a working relationship with the goblins,” said Molly.

“What do we have here?” said Arthur. There were five or six goblins walking towards them. He didn’t know much about the goblin hierarchy, but the three in front looked to be very important. All the other goblins either bowed out of their way, or started working extra fast and hard.

The group moved around the end of the counter, the goblin in the lead addressed them.

“I am Grins Gringotts, the heir. Did you give Kax this letter?” the goblin held out his hand with Ginny’s letter.

“Yes, I did. I am Ginny Potter’s father, this is her Mother, and these are her brothers,” Arthur said calmly to the goblin.

“She has requested your presence and I will take you to her. However, if any of you intend to harm her or Mr. Potter, then you best remain here, or suffer greatly.”

“Gee, Percy, looks like you be staying here alone,” teased George.

“I will not stay here,” snapped Percy haughtily.

All six goblins drew wicked looking swords and pointed them at Percy.

“You will not harm any of the Potters in my presence,” warned the one calling himself Grins Gringotts.

“I was only joking,” apologized George.

“I do not joke,” replied Grins Gringotts flatly.

“That is something Percy and you have in common,” said Fred.

“Enough you two,” ordered Molly. “I want to see my daughter.”

“Then follow me,” said the lead goblin.

Arthur followed along after giving Fred and George a look that said if they opened their mouths again they would regret it. They walked back to where the carts were kept for traveling to the vaults.

“Why are we going to the vaults?” Arthur asked the lead goblin.

“To access them you must go this way,” replied the lead goblin.

Everyone piled into carts to take the trip down into the vaults. They flew along on the rickety tracks on three different carts. Arthur was used to trips lasting only a few seconds. This one lasted nearly ten minutes. They had passed more vaults than he ever realized were down here. Groups of vaults lined both sides of the track. Soon the vaults were less frequent but larger. He heard a dragon roar up ahead, he knew that he must be passing by some of the original vaults.

He could hear Charlie say something in the car behind him, but with the noise the cars made, it was impossible to understand him. The dragon appeared and disappeared in a matter of a second. It seemed to be guarding a series of large vaults.

The carts started to slow down. Arthur noticed that there seemed to be no vaults in this section of the tunnels. In fact the track stopped in front of a large steel door. There were six heavily armed goblins standing guard at the door. He and Molly stepped out of the car and stretched their legs. The other two cars had stopped behind them and his sons were getting out.

Grins Gringotts stood and waited for them. “If any of you are not who you say you are, best you return to the surface now. You are about to pass through the highest security that Gringotts has.”

“Higher security than a dragon,” asked Ron.

“Yes,” the goblin said.

“Let’s get this over with,” said Arthur. “I didn’t intend on spending the entire day to see my daughter for a few minutes.”

“Very well, follow me in a single line,” ordered the goblin.

The goblin turned and started walking towards the steel door. Arthur nudged Ron to follow the goblin. Fred then George was next followed by Percy and Charlie. Molly walked ahead of him. He watched as blasts of wind seemed to generate out of the stone ground. What amazed him was the wall of water they had to walk through. It felt wet to the touch, but it didn’t soak his clothes. Finally his entire family was standing in front of the steel door.

“You have all passed,” said Grins Gringotts. He placed his hand on the steel door. There was a loud popping sound as the door started to move. Behind the door was another cavern. There were six more goblins in full battle armor. At the far side of the cavern were two of the largest steel doors Arthur had ever seen. They were the size of Hogwarts main entrance doors.

The one door had an ornate letter “P” carved into its surface. It was the exact match to the letter “P” that was on Ginny’s letter. He looked at the other vault. It had a symbol emblazoned on it. Arthur recognized it as a Gobbleygook letter “G”.

“Do we have to go through there?” asked Ron.

“No,” stated the goblin sharply. “Those are the original vaults. Only two members of each family may have permission to open those vaults. Only Harry and Ginny Potter can open the Potter family vault and my Father and Grandfather can open our family’s vault.”

Arthur wasn’t sure goblins got sentimental, but Grins Gringotts, the heir, seemed to get choked up about the vaults.

“You must go into there,” the goblin pointed at a small steel door. “There will be an envelope for you. Open it after I close the door.”

The other goblins who had accompanied them down here opened the third steel door in this cavern. It was a small empty steel lined vault. On the far wall was an envelope spell-o-taped to the wall. Arthur didn’t hesitate and walked into the steel lined vault. He could hear his family grumble behind him. They seemed to think this was a trick, except for Charlie. Eventually Ron stepped into the vault, and Grins Gringott closed the steel door.

There was a single candle burning in the vault giving him light to open the envelope. He tore open the seal and the vault was filled with Ginny’s voice.

“Morocco,” it said.

The vault seemed to shudder a bit before becoming quiet.

“I wonder what just happened,” asked Percy.

No one answered him as the steel door opened again. It was Bill this time.

“William,” shouted Molly as she ran to her eldest son.

“Hi Mum, glad you could make it,” he struggled to say as Molly hugged him. “If you come this way, I will take you up to Ginny and Harry.”

Arthur was amazed. He saw through the open door that they were not in the cavern anymore. “Where are we?” he asked his son.

“You are in Morocco, Dad,” Bill said with smiling eyes. “Pretty bloody amazing system isn’t it.”

“We traveled all the way from London to Morocco in a second?” asked Percy absolutely gob-smacked. “Does the Ministry have to approve travel like this?”

“The Ministry doesn’t even know about that vault, and please don’t inform them. Being able to travel from country to country without being sensed could be a big advantage. Now let’s get out of this basement,” said Bill as he turned and walked away.

Arthur noticed that the basement seemed to be hewed out of solid sandstone. He followed his sons and Molly took the lead with Bill. He could hear them talking up ahead, but he didn’t know what they were talking about because they were so far away.

The next level up was the house’s actual storage area. It was huge and the shelves were completely stocked with all types of supplies. The family crossed through this storage area and ascended another set of steps. He could feel the air become warmer and drier as they moved. Just before he made it to the next level, the scents of cooked food hit him and made his stomach grumble. They stepped into a kitchen staffed with house elves. He wanted to stop and sample some of the food, but his family kept moving.

There were not anymore stairs. They came out of the kitchen into a formal dining room of sorts. There were thick scarlet tapestries hanging on all the walls and large ebony table and chairs filled the center of the room. There was one chandelier hanging in the middle of the room. It looked like the entire Weasley family could sit at this table with room to spare. The next room they came to was some sort of a foyer or a general meeting room. It had wide open windows and doorways leading to a central garden. The air was extremely hot and he could smell the tangy smell of salt. They must be near an ocean.

Bill kept walking across the open aired garden to the other side of the house. The house was two floors high with a balconies opening onto this little garden with a fish pond and a small fountain. He started to wonder just how large this house was. The Burrow could stand in the central garden.

Bill had found Ginny. Arthur could hear Molly squeal out Ginny’s name, as she entered this new room. The boys just stepped into it and stared off to the sides. Arthur had to nudge them along so he could step in too. When he did, his mouth dropped also. It was an enormous two storied library. There were large tables located at three different locations. Twenty people could find places to do research here.

A set of arms wrapped around his waist bringing him out of his astonishment.

“Hi, Dad,” Ginny said, as she hugged him.

He returned the embrace and kissed the top of her head. Seeing her now, he didn’t think of her as a little girl. He saw her as a fully grown woman. The Bonding ceremony had somehow changed his perception of her.

“Welcome to Morocco,” she told him. “Does everyone want to see the place?”

All the Weasleys shouted that they did.

“I’ll take them around. Bill, do you want to go with me?”

“Sure, what about Harry?” asked Bill.

“Leave him, he needs the studying,” she said smiling.

Arthur once again fell in behind his children. He was able to listen to the Ginny talk about the house and answer questions that her brothers posed her. He walked hand in hand with Molly. It felt good to be able to do that. Ron asked about a Quidditch pitch.

“We don’t have one here. There is one in Turkey, France, and England, so if you want to play Quidditch, we must visit one of those homes.”

“How, do you plan on doing that?” asked Percy.

“All our houses are connected with the vault system,” replied Ginny as she walked. “We can go between our houses without anyone realizing it.”

“The goblins know where you are. Don’t they?” questioned Percy again.

“Not always, they don’t really want to know, and it gives us more security,” she said as she ascended a marble staircase.
As they were walking, Arthur was looking at the building. He couldn’t bring himself to calling something this large a house. The floors were all intricate mosaics and the stairs and balustrades were marble. He looked up through the opening in the center courtyard and saw the Atlas Mountains looming over them.

“You telling me you don’t have the room to play Quidditch,” asked a bewildered Ron.

“Here follow me,” Ginny opened a door along the second floor balcony.

They walked through a bedroom suite. It looked as if no one was using it, because everything was covered. She opened a set of French doors and stepped out onto an exterior balcony. It looked out over the surrounding grounds. This estate was in a middle of a town. There was a several hundred foot buffer between the house and the outer wall of the estate. Beyond that there were small houses built out of an off-white adobe.

“We are in a middle of a Muggle location,” stated Ginny. “We don’t hide this house, or do anything that the Muggles might fear like dive bombing them with Bludgers.”

“Well, you certainly aren’t any fun anymore,” said Fred and George together.

Ginny laughed at their comment. “I have to be more responsible now. I can still have fun, but nothing too reckless.”

“How can you have fun…,”

“And not be reckless.” George finished for Fred.

Ginny laughed at them. “Give me some time and you will see. Mum, Dad, I would like to extend an invitation to you to spend a couple of weeks with Harry and me.”

“I will be here too,” said Bill.

“That sounds lovely dear, but I will need to check with work and see if I can get the time off,” he told her. He actually thought he could get the time off, but he didn’t want to make any promises he couldn’t keep.

“Can we see the places where Bill has been curse breaking?” asked Molly, holding Bill’s hand.

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” replied Ginny. “I invited you to Morocco first so you don’t get too overwhelmed.”

Bill laughed at her comment. “Turkey and Egypt can be a bit over whelming when you see them.”

“Why is that, son?” asked Arthur.

“Turkey is huge and filled with ghosts fighting each other,” said Bill.

“The estate is located on top of Troy,” stated Ginny.

“Egypt is well ...,” said Bill. He looked lost for words.

“Have you ever heard of the Libraries of Alexandria?” asked Ginny.

“Vaguely, it was destroyed over a thousand years ago,” said Percy.

“No, it disappeared,” said Ginny. She smiled at everyone.

“You live in a library?” shouted Ron. “Hermione would move in if she could, that girl is always in Hogwarts library.”

Ginny smiled at her brother. “We occasionally live there. There are ghosts of sorcerers that died protecting its scrolls from destruction. They can be rather pesky when you want to look at anything ancient. ”

“Where do you live?” asked Molly. “You make it sound like you are jumping from one location to another all the time.”

“We do, Mum,” said Ginny. “It is safer that way.”

Everyone seemed to get quiet at Ginny’s statement. They remembered how the Death Eaters attacked yesterday, because they were finally able to locate Harry.

“When do we eat,” said Ron.

“Yeah, I would like to try some of that nosh your goblins were cooking,” exclaimed Charlie.

“That wasn’t for us,” said Ginny. Ron and Charlie’s faces fell hearing that. “Every Sunday the House Elves of this estate prepare a feast and leave it for the neighbors. They call it Atlas’ tithing,” she said laughing. “It is rumored that the titan Atlas stands on top of those peaks and holds up the sky from touching the earth.”

“That must get very expensive to do that every week,” Arthur said.

“It is only a small portion of what they pay us in rent every week,” said Ginny. “The Potter family tradition is to be generous with everyone and everyone will deal fairly with you. They do not believe in intimidation. It has worked well for them so far.”

Ginny looked at Arthur then Molly. There was something going through her mind. “Could I talk to you two alone? Harry will need to be there also.”

“Yes, dear that will be no problem. Is there something wrong?” Molly asked Ginny.

“We need to talk,” she said. It was obvious that she didn’t want the subject discussed in front of the entire family.

“You three can talk while the rest of us raid that kitchen,” said Fred.

Ginny smiled at her brothers as they left for the kitchens. It was only her and her parents on the balcony now. Her mother was fanning herself frantically. Arthur was also feeling rather warm. Spending time in the Mediterranean area Ginny must have acclimated to the heat. Coming straight from England, they were still used to the cool English weather.

“We can go to the library and talk. I’ll have some fresh lemonade brought for us there.”

Her mother smiled at her. “That sounds very nice dear. Is it always this hot here?”

“Yes, it is and where we will be going in Egypt to see Bill’s work is even hotter. Cooling Charms will help, but after a few days you will get used to the heat.”

“I don’t know about that,” sighed a red-faced Molly. “I don’t think I could ever get used to heat like this.”

“Come along, it is cooler in the library,” Ginny said as she led them back inside to the library.

Arthur smiled as he followed his daughter and wife back inside of the house. He continued to look around and tried to see everything about this house. Walking this direction, he noticed small things that he hadn’t noticed before. There were statues placed in recesses around the second floor interior balcony. He walked past a couple and recognized them as Apollo and Zeus. There were enough statues to cover all the gods of Olympus.

As they entered the library, Arthur noticed the doors had Greek letters on them. He did not read Greek so he couldn’t decipher them. Harry was sitting and reading from an advanced defensive magic textbook. The sight made him smile. Harry took his education seriously, which may be the only way he survives his destiny.

Harry looked up from the book and smiled at Ginny. They greeted each other with a small kiss. The look in their eyes reminded Arthur of how he and Molly were when first bonded and still were at times. It was difficult to show affection with several children running around the house.

A House Elf delivered a tray with iced lemonade. He didn’t remember Ginny actually called for the lemonade. The House Elf placed the tray on a conference table that Harry wasn’t using and left the room. Ginny poured Molly a tall glass of lemonade, and then poured a glass for him. He took a long cool sip of the lemony drink. It was so cooling and seemed to take the discomfort of the heat away. He held the glass against his warm face. The chilly surface refreshed him immediately.

“Mum, Dad, would you like to take a seat,” Ginny said indicating the table with the tray of lemonade.

Arthur held a chair for Molly. He noticed that Harry had done the same for Ginny. He was happy he did simple things like that for Ginny.

Ginny nervously took Harry’s hand and looked at him before speaking. “Mum, Dad, We would like to ask something from you,” she said. She seemed to hesitate before speaking.

“What is it dear?” asked Molly.

“We are thinking of having children,” Ginny said hesitantly.

“I am glad to hear that, but you are going to wait aren’t you?” said Molly. “There is no need to rush to have children.”

Ginny seemed to get a little peaky. “I think there is Mum. If something happens — no — if either one of us dies then the other shall die shortly after.”

“You seem to think that you will lose,” he said to his daughter.

“It is a possibility,” replied Ginny harshly. “We cannot allow the House of Potter to disappear.”

Arthur was shocked at what she said. “No offense to you Harry, but why is it so important to keep the house of Potter alive?”

“We have a pact with the Gringotts family and the bank,” explained Harry. “We also have a pact with the House Elves. If my house ends, then the pact is over. The bank would lose a large percentage of its assets and the Gringotts family has always influenced the goblin community to maintain a peace with the wizards and witches. If my house ends, they will no longer be bound to help us and our society.

“My house also has strong ties with House Elves. Any house Elf that has been given clothes can come to the House of Potter and be employed. We will pay them and they are not slaves to my house, but workers. It gives them the feeling of self-worth, and also makes them happy to be helpful to someone. If our House,” Harry said while looking at Ginny. “If we would cease to exist there would be many House Elves without anything to do. In the past they have been known to rebel against magical society. Their rebellions were never as large and bloody as the goblins.”

“Harry, I can appreciate that you want to keep your house alive, but I get the impression that you are trying to have children already. Even though you look to be mature, are you ready to have children,” Arthur asked them.

Harry looked nervous and glanced at Ginny.

“I have been ready to have children since the month after we bonded. I am afraid if we wait it will never happen,” argued Ginny.

“What changed pumpkin?” he asked his daughter.

“They were going to kill me and capture Harry yesterday. They were going to kill all of you,” Ginny said through a quivering voice. She was trying to hold back tears.

Harry pulled her close and kissed her on the side of the head. It was a loving show of support, but it seemed to make Ginny even more upset.

“Why are you telling us this? You could just have children and tell us afterwards,” questioned Molly.

Ginny looked Harry in his eyes before answering. “If we should die, we would like the two of you to raise our children.”

Arthur looked at her. Molly seemed to sit up a little straighter. Neither one said anything.

“We would like to ask if you would love our children like they were one of your own,” Harry questioned them.

“Of course we would love them like our own,” responded Molly. “What would ever make you think we wouldn’t love our own grandchildren?”

Arthur could tell she was upset that Harry would think they would not love their own grandchildren. Harry looked at Ginny; she smiled at her husband and abruptly stood up. She walked to an area at the end of the table and started waving her wand. It shot out silver sparks that stayed where she placed them. Soon she had some three dimensional drawing that looked a like an area under a set of steps.

“You see this Mum?” Ginny asked.

“Yes, I see it, but what is it?”

“What you are looking at is what Harry called his room until a week before his eleventh birthday.”

“But that looks like a cupboard under the stairs,” replied Molly bewildered.

“It was,” Harry added. “My Hogwarts letter came to me addressed to Harry Potter, The Cupboard under the Stairs, Number four Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. My Aunt and Uncle would lock me in that cupboard for days only allowing me to go to the bathroom, whenever I upset them.”

“Didn’t they have enough room for you?” asked Molly.

“They had two extra bedrooms. One was saved for visitors, and the other was for Dudley’s broken possessions he couldn’t keep in his own bedroom.”

Arthur stared at the space that Ginny drew. He was kept in a place smaller than a normal closet, by the people that were given charge to care for him. He suddenly realized the most disturbing fact.

“Albus Dumbledore knew you were living under those conditions, if your Hogwarts letter was addressed like that. He wanted to send you back to those horrible people. We were going along with his plan,” Arthur stopped talking and looked at the young man that was his son-in-law. “Why would he allow that?”

“The night my parents died my Mother sacrificed her life to protect me. Her loving sacrifice is what protects me from Voldemort. Professor Dumbledore evoked an ancient blood rite to keep that protection in place. As long as I lived with a blood relative of my mother, I will be protected from Voldemort attacking me.”

Arthur looked at his wife. Molly had unshed tears in her eyes. He couldn’t tell what part of Harry’s story caused the tears to form, but they were there. He better understood Harry’s past, but he was still curious about something.

“You said that your mother sacrificed for you. Didn’t your father die that night also? Professor Dumbledore could have sent you to your grandparents.”

“My Dad was going to die anyway. Voldemort had made a deal with Severus Snape to save my mother for him. Sirius and Remus believe it was Snape, because he was infatuated with my Mum.”

“Severus Snape is an idiot,” shouted Molly. Her face was flushed and she had tears rolling down her cheeks. “He has no clue what a parent will do for their children. Did he actually think that your Mum was going to step aside and let some monster kill a child of hers? No good parent would ever do such a thing. To think that even if your Mum had survived, she would not have spent the rest of her days trying to avenge her child’s death was asinine. He does not understand what it is to love someone and to have children, or he would have never thought the plan would work.”

Molly stood up and rushed around the table towards Harry. He looked at her nervously as she ran at him. It almost looked like fear in his eyes; fear that Molly would strike him. Arthur started to wonder if more happened at Harry’s Aunt and Uncle’s house than he told them.

When Molly wrapped her arms around Harry, he seemed unsure what to do for a second, and then he returned Molly’s hug. Arthur stood up also and placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder, while Molly was still hugging Harry.

“Of course we will take care of your children and love them as if they were our own,” he told Harry.

A set of arms wrapped around his waist. He looked down to see Ginny staring up at him. She also looked as if she might start crying any second.

“Thank you, Daddy, you don’t know how happy this makes me.”

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

Arthur stood on the balcony of the room that Molly and he was given for the night. He could hear the festivities in the small town that surrounded the villa, as Ginny called it, winding down. He was sipping on some brandy trying to get his head to stop spinning.

After telling Ginny and Harry they would promise to raise their children if anything would happen to them, Harry started to tell him about the Potter family assets. He and Molly would be partially responsible for running the estate until the children come of age. He could not believe the vast wealth the Potters had accumulated over the ages.

Arthur took a sip of brandy and smiled. It would be difficult not to look down on Malfoy. All those years Malfoy derided him for being poor, and to learn that Malfoy’s wealth isn’t one tenth of what the Potters possess.

Arthur took a sip of his brandy. He should not lower his attitude to be like Lucius. After all, the Potters amassed this wealth by doing good deeds for people and actually living a rather normal life. Tonight was a prime example. It was a three hundred year tradition for the House Elves of this villa to give a feast to the Muggle community surrounding it. Everyone lived on Potter land and paid rent to them. They also loved the owners of the villa and protected them from outsiders. It was like Ginny said earlier. The Muggles actually pay them more than they give the Muggles. It all works for both sides.

Arthur drained his snifter of brandy and was getting ready to go inside, when the moon appeared from behind a cloud high above the Atlas Mountains. He almost choked on his drink.

“Molly, come and look at this,” he shouted for his wife.

Molly came out in a midnight blue cotton nightgown. “What is it Arthur?”

“Do you see what I see,” he asked her pointing at the Mountains.

“What am I supposed to be looking…?” She stopped talking and stared at the moonlight on the mountain.

When the moon was directly above the mountain, it appeared to be a bald man’s head. The light of the moon cast shadows in such a way that the peaks seemed to become its arms extending down to the ground where the crevasses at the base of the mountains appeared to be hands.

“I thought legend said he was supposed to be holding the sky up from the earth,” whispered Molly.

“I am starting to wonder how many legends we thought weren’t real are going to end up being real over the next week.”

“I thought soul bonds were only legends two years ago,” said Molly.

They stood there and stared at the moonlight image of Atlas holding the world up until the moon moved away and the image disappeared.


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