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Raising Albus | ||||||
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Category: Post-Hogwarts Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Minerva McGonagall, Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama, General Warnings: Death, Violence Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 94 Summary: Raising Albus is turning out to be a challenge. Raising a child that is extraordinarily magically talented is difficult enough, but when the child is the subject of several prophesies the task can be daunting. Harry feels it may have been easier being a child subject to prophesies than raising one. Teddy wants to be an Auror, not the safest occupation. James and Lily pose their own challenges. This story will take us up to Albus and Rose train ride to Hogwarts. Hitcount: Story Total: 95374; Chapter Total: 2625 Author's Notes: Reviews are always appreciated. |
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The summer of two thousand and thirteen, George complained that they could not get Roxanne to work in the store. She really wanted to spend all of her time at the farms. No one was sure if farming or Frank Longbottom was the main attraction; although it was obvious she liked both. Ginny really missed Albus, but she was plenty busy with James and Lily. Both loved to fly, and Ginny spent part of the summer coaching home Quidditch games. James played with the practice snitch every chance he had, and Ginny though he would make a very good seeker. Lily did not have the patience to be a seeker, but she had the accuracy and guts to be a good chaser. She was not big enough to be a beater or a keeper, and it was looking like she would not be any bigger than Ginny when she grew up. Ginny also spent some time coaching Ivana Romanoff, Charley’s adopted daughter, to fly better and to play Quidditch. It looked like Ivana was going to be spending part of each summer at the New Burrow property, rooming with her ‘cousin’ Lily Luna. Molly mentioned to Ginny, she thought Lily was an exact copy of her, at this age, but maybe with a little less common sense. Lily was still very impulsive, getting injured because of it. Her impulsivity was also continuing to get her into trouble. The week that the language class spent at the New Burrow would start other changes. Harry noticed the Magi and house elf children playing around the pond, and asked Solon why the other house elves never used the pond. “We’ve never been asked,” said Solon. “No one ever told us we could. Elves never ordered to have fun.” “I order you to have fun, then,” said Harry with a grin. “Work out a time when house elf families can take a day off and spend it around the pond. In the middle of the summer, on real hot days, have Magi and house elf spend some time cooling off around the pond.” Gradually over the summer P/W house elves, first ones that lived on the farm and later from all the various places where there were P/W house elves, would spend some time at the pond relaxing. One very hot summer day the pond was crowded with Magi and house elf, with a large mixture enjoying the pond. To Harry’s great surprise he found Kreacher and his family there. Kreacher was in a wheelchair, obviously very old. Kreacher was on the deck, but Azalea and Kevin were down by the pond, in bathing suits. Harry said to Kreacher, “I see Azalea and Kevin are enjoying the pond.” “Has to spend more money, waste lots more money, renting bathing suits,” said Kreacher, sort of grumbling. “Fun! We is ordered to have fun!” Looking at Harry with a frown, he said, “Major subversives. Major subversives.” Kreacher looked back up at Harry, and the frown turned into a big grin. There were many more guards, Aurors and others, guarding the children and Elves that summer. Harry and all the parents and students were quite shaken by the attack. Albus was nominated for both the Order of Merlin First Class from Great Britain and the Wizard of Wizards award from the ICWW for what he did to save everybody by levitating the gun. The prophets and people in various Departments of Mystery said he had earned it. So one night Harry and Ginny had Albus come to Harry’s private office to talk to him. “We have been approached about giving you the Order of Merlin First Class, and the Wizard of Wizard’s award, because of what you did protecting people when we were attacked in Switzerland,” Harry said. “Because I killed someone?” Albus asked. “I was just scared for my own life. I don’t feel I did anything heroic to save anyone else.” “You didn’t just turn the gun away from yourself into the crowd,” Harry said. “I am not sure what I would have done if that had not worked,” Albus said. “Besides, I don’t want to go to Hogwarts having to sign my name with the OM behind it. That’s no way to make friends. That’s just bragging about something I feel awful about.” “Giving you an award is one way people thank you,” Harry said. “Sometimes the nice thing to do is not to object but to say ‘you are welcome’ by accepting the award.” “Is that how you felt when you got all those awards?” Albus asked. “Sort of, I guess,” Harry said. Ginny said, “Albus, your father was no more eager to be honored in public than you are. Keep that attitude.” They talked some more about honors, and how to gracefully accept compliments. It made Albus feel some better, but from the time of the attack he was eager to go to church and pray, because he had killed someone. The end of August, after the language classes were over, Albus asked if he could get a good electric guitar. The one he had been using was magical, but based on an inexpensive and not very good Muggle guitar. So Ginny took Albus to the Magical Music Menagerie in Diagon Alley. There were about thirty electric type guitars on the wall. Al played several, and finally hit on one that felt right. The proprietor of the store said, “This is a nineteen sixty Gibson Les Paul Standard, the same type of guitar that Paul McCartney plays. This one was damaged beyond repair, but with magic we totally rebuilt it. Of course this is a right handed version. Sir Paul’s guitar was an unusual left handed version. It has all of the usual magical additions to allow it to be played without electricity. It comes with its original electrical amplifier, also modified to allow it to be played without electricity.” “Who is Sir Paul?” asked Ginny. “He was one of the Beatles,” Albus said. “He and John Lennon wrote most of their songs.” “Beatles and Crickets!” said Ginny, still baffled by Muggle band names. “You are not going to find a finer guitar to play Rock and Roll,” the proprietor said. "Do you want to take it into one of our practice rooms and play it?” Albus excitedly went into the practice room to try out the guitar. In the next room was Cleopatra Smith. The Goblins had insisted that Cleopatra’s parents were Smith, and that calling her Slytherin did not change her last name. Narcissa knew not to argue with a Goblin when it came to names and inheritance and legal things. “Thank you for allowing me to buy a portable organ, Mrs. Malfoy,” Cleopatra said. “I like this one!” The salesman said, “You unroll it like this, and then push this button if you want two ranks of keys. It is based on a couple of the newer Muggle electronic keyboards, but is actually a magical combination of several different designs.” Cleopatra was trying out the organ when she heard a guitar being played, and someone singing. She opened the door. “Stay in the room, Cleopatra,” Narcissa said. “I do not want the publicity we would have if you met the wrong people.” The door to the other room was also opened, and Cleo heard, (to the tune of “Kansas City), “I’m going to Hogwarts Castle, Hogwarts Castle here I come, I’m going to Hogwarts Castle, Hogwarts Castle here I come, They have some curvy little witches there, and I’m going to get me one. I’m going to be standing on the staircase, first floor to nine, I’m going to be standing on the staircase, first floor to nine, With my curvy little witch, and a bottle of vintage elf wine, Well I might apparate, and I might take the train, but if I have to walk I’m going just the same…’ At this Cleo started playing the organ, adding to Albus’s playing. Without missing a beat, the two went into an impromptu duo. When they were done Narcissa closed the door and said, “If you want this we need to finish buying it.” Cleo asked, “Who is in the next room?” “Albus Potter,” the salesman said. “I think I’m in LOVE,” Cleo said. She looked at her hips, hips that had not gotten any smaller since moving in with the Malfoy family. “I hope I’M THE CURVY WITCH Albus was singing about.” Narcissa just rolled her eyes. Cleopatra and Scorpius were like brother and sister, and she was almost certain that the idea of them getting married was the last thing on their minds, but to have Cleo marry Albus Potter was almost as strange as to have Scorpius marry … Narcissa tried to think of the strangest pairing she could think of. Rose Weasley! Draco hated Hermione more than anyone else, and Ron came in a close second. Albus and Cleo was not as strange as Scorpius and Rose. Albus Potter asked, “Who was that?” The proprietor of the store said, “Our client wants to remain anonymous.” “I hope I meet whoever plays that organ!” Albus said. “I hope she is in my class at Hogwarts. Maybe she is the curvy witch I am supposed to meet. I hope so!” Ginny thought that Albus was way too young to be thinking in those terms. She wasn’t sure about this Muggle music. “Is this the guitar you want?” asked Ginny. “Mum, this is the best guitar I have ever played! It is like a valuable antique that is as good as new. May I have it?” “It cannot be that expensive,” Ginny said. “The guitar and the amplifier are less than a third of what a Muggle shop would charge for the guitar alone, without the magical modifications which add another thousand Galleons to the price. I have it listed for thirty thousand Galleons, but for the Potter family, the total for the guitar, amplifier, and all the magical modifications is only fifteen thousand galleons.” “That’s as much as my Firebolt!” Ginny said. “I can show you on the Internet where people are selling guitars of this model and year, not in this condition, which is excellent, and without the amplifier, for two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand US dollars,” the proprietor said. “I need to call my husband,” said Ginny, horrified at how much this guitar was going to cost. Harry called Bill, and Bill confirmed that this was a very rare and valuable guitar that really was worth at least fifteen thousand galleons, and strictly comparable guitars were selling for up to thirty thousand Galleons. So an hour later Albus walked out of the Magical Musical Menagerie with his precious nineteen sixty Gibson Les Paul guitar and amplifier. “I would have sold that guitar to Muggles, except that there is a record of that serial number being destroyed,” said the store proprietor. “The Potters got a real bargain, but I’m glad to finally have it sold.” His salesman said, “That is the most expensive of that type of organ we have ever sold, and I am sure I can sell Cleopatra some new magical modifications they are coming out with. “Albus and Cleopatra are the same age. I would like to be there when they meet and realize she is the keyboard artist, and Al plays that guitar and wrote the song lyrics.” The next day Harry was contacted by the Prophet office in Switzerland. He was told to bring Ginny, and together they met with Steve and Valerie Bushman, Nausicaa Scheria, and, to their utter shock and surprise, Goblin Zefenslot. Steven spoke first. “There are spouses that are soulmates. You see it on your tapestry when there are gold lines between the spouses. Usually that is something that develops over time. Once in a great while there are two people who are destined to be together. Once they meet the connection is immediate and powerful. Trying to keep them apart is a recipe for tragedy, like Romeo and Juliet. We have one Chinese couple who have been soulmates for over a hundred years. They met when they were six, and within the year the girl had moved into the bedroom of the boy. They did not have a child until she was fifteen, and Chinese women did sometimes start a family that young back in that era. “Albus has a soulmate, and it looks like they sort of met.” “What do you mean, sort of met?” asked Ginny. “We do not know,” Nausicaa said. “Only some of the omens and signs are complete.” “They have a joint bank account,” said Goblin Zefenslot. “Albus Severus Potter and Cleopatra Desiree Smith.” “Has Albus ‘sort of’ met anyone?” Steven asked. “Only a girl he heard play the organ when we purchased his latest guitar,” Ginny said. “I think he said he was in love with that girl, but then they closed the doors, and she was gone before we got out or the practice room.” “They didn’t meet?” Steven asked. “No, but they played a duet together,” Ginny said. “It was real strange.” “What do we do?” asked Harry. “Let us know as soon as they meet,” Steven said. “I think I can keep them apart until Hogwarts,” Harry said. “I know who Cleopatra is, although I have never met her. Albus is way too young for this sort of thing.” “I think it might be a good idea trying to make sure they do not meet before Hogwarts, Harry,” Steven said. “We should talk to Narcissa,” Ginny said. “This is too strange, and I don’t want some strange girl moving into Albus’s room before they are older than we were.” “You think we got married too young?” Harry asked Ginny. “I was more than ready,” Ginny said, “but I don’t want OUR children to get married so young. I sure do not want Lily to learn that Touch of Lust spell.” “I do not think we want this Cleopatra girl to learn the Touch of Lust spell either,” Harry said. “Oh Merlin no,” said Steven. “From my study of soulmates keeping them apart, once they meet, will be almost impossible.” Later that week they met with Narcissa. Molly was also there. “Did you get Cleopatra an organ at the Magical Musical Menagerie?” Ginny asked. “Yes,” Narcissa said. “Albus was right next door, and they played an impromptu duo. Cleo is obsessed with Albus now. She tells me she is in love with him. I am sure it is just infatuation, but I do not know what to do.” “Don’t let them meet,” Ginny said. “Maybe she will realize that he is just a little boy,” said Narcissa. “It’s not like they could get married or anything.” “The Goblins say they are soulmates, and the Goblins have already set up a joint account at Gringotts,” said Ginny. “From what I know of the magic, at least in magical terms they ARE married, which is wrong and scary and just strange, especially since they have not even met. Keep them apart. We need to communicate so they do not meet until they go to Hogwarts!” “Married? That’s crazy!” said Narcissa. “No kidding,” Ginny said. “It’s terrifying.” “What do we do?” asked Narcissa. “Pray,” said Harry. “There are a lot of things going on, and it is not as simple as when I had one enemy, Tom Riddle. We hope and pray.” |
| Reviews 94 |
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