Exiles by _kb_



Summary: After Harry wins the war, life quickly returns to as it was and not in a good way. A bit of a twist on things going downhill and what Harry and friends have to do to survive ... in a different way with a few OC's along the way.
Rating: PG-13 starstarstarstarhalf-star
Categories: Post-Hogwarts
Characters: None
Genres: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Published: 2021.12.09
Updated: 2022.01.02


Index

Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Chapter 3: Chapter 3
Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Chapter 6: Chapter 6


Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Author's Notes: (A/N: First draft has this at 6 chapters and around 60K-words. You should be able to assume 'canon' through the final battle, where the story branches right after that.)


Exiles

Harry trudged up the stairs to the boy’s dorm rooms in Gryffindor Tower. Turning into the first room he came to, he walked over to a bed that didn’t look like anyone had claimed. For reasons he wasn’t quite sure why, he lifted the mattress a little and shoved the Elder wand and his Invisibility Cloak into hiding. After a moment, he used his free hand and dug the ring he’d just retrieved from the forest and shoved it in there too before he lowered the mattress. There was no need to leave something so powerful laying around where anyone could take them while he was asleep. For good measure, he pulled out his newly repaired holly wand and Mokeskin bag to also hide it in the bundle. Draco’s wand was placed on the nightstand.

Kicking off of his shoes but leaving the rest of his clothes on, he laid down and pulled the top cover over himself and relaxed. He was so tired. Sure he’d just defeated Voldemort barely an hour ago, but he knew most of his tiredness came from being on the run and all they had done over the last eleven or so months.

Harry would have been happy to have Ginny curled up with him, but he’d seen her family trying to pull themselves together after the loss of Fred and he wouldn’t intrude on that. They now had years to be together based on the looks she’d given him when he’d first appeared at the school today. He smiled to himself and slipped into a deep sleep, forgetting to even take his glasses off.

- - -

Feeling a jolt of energy going through him, Harry jerked and rolled to grab a wand only to smash his hand into a stone wall. “Bloody hell!” he swore through clenched teeth before he heard laughing behind him. Turning to his other side he looked across a small room, through a door made of only metal bars, to see two Aurors and Lucius Malfoy staring and laughing at him. At least he had his glasses to see them, before he considered Malfoy probably made sure he could see him.

“Nice of you to join us, Potter,” he smirked.

Harry wasn’t sure how he knew, maybe it was the uneasy feel in the air, but somehow he knew exactly where he was because it was exactly as Sirius had described it once: Azkaban. “What’s happened? Why am I here?”

“It’s simple Potter,” Malfoy said with a look of victory. “You killed some Purebloods and we can’t have that. Then there’s the matter of you breaking into my house.” The man leaned forward a little until his face was almost touching the bars, looking as if he was imparting a secret. “Bad form.” He laughed again as he straightened up.

“But I didn’t kill anyone!” Harry protested.

“People saw you casting spells and Purebloods dying, Potter.” Malfoy shrugged as he continued to smile. “You may have removed the head, but the rest of the body is doing well. We’ll file charges if we remember.”

“Too many people saw what happened. You can’t get away with this,” Harry said as he rose from the blanket he’d been lying on.

Malfoy looked thoughtful before he smiled again. “Sadly, most of the Hogwarts teachers didn’t survive, including McGonagall and Flitwick. Nor did your little girlfriend’s parents.” He gestured over his shoulder. “Even that big half-breed of a friend of yours who carried you out of the forest didn’t make it. No, there really aren’t any witnesses to help you.”

Harry shoved the lump in his throat down for a moment as he thought of the Weasley parents being gone. “I helped to protect your son at the end and this is how you repay me?” Harry tried, hoping this ploy worked.

Malfoy continued to smile at him. “Narcissa thanks you for that, but not even that will get you out, Potter. No, you’re really too dangerous to our plans. Perhaps I’ll see you later and find out if you’ve accepted your new lot in life, but I doubt it as I have no desire to return here again. You can be assured the guards will come find you and your friends tomorrow though. Jansen,” he nodded to his left, “wants to see how long it will take you to start screaming when he uses the Cruciatus curse on you, as he’s heard you have some tolerance for it. While Iverson here,” he nodded at the other guard wants to see what your girlfriend is like, to see if she puts up as much of a fight as her mother, although her mother fought well for a blood traitor. Her father didn’t do so well.“

Harry was shocked at the turn of events and what he was being told.

“I understand it’s about dinner time, so I’ll go enjoy my steak dinner and leave you to enjoy whatever they have for you. I’m told you only get fed twice a day, so do be a good boy and eat up to conserve your strength.” While Malfoy laughed again he pulled out a wand and held it in front of him. “I don’t think you’ll be needing this.” He snapped it and the three walked way laughing.

Harry just blinked at the sight of the man not even recognizing his own son’s wand before he broke it. Now that he was alone, Harry took the three large steps over to the door and looked out. To the left was the door Malfoy had just left through, which he could barely see. To the right were a few barred doors, but he couldn’t tell how long the corridor was.

There was a door across from him. “Ginny!” he called but received no answer. If he’d been stunned it was likely she had been too. The idea of her being here too made him very angry. He would have punched the wall, but he’d inadvertently done that before and his hand was just starting to feel better so he didn’t.

Noticing a small window on the wall across from the door, he jumped up and grabbed the ledge, pulling himself up to see out, and saw only the sea. Dropping back down to the floor, the only other things in his cell was a single blanket, an empty pan and cup near the door, and a small empty bucket in the corner. As he slid down the wall to return to the blanket, he considered that he did still have his clothes and trainers.

`Damn it!` he shouted in his mind. After all he’d done for the wizarding world, here he was in Azkaban along with his girlfriend and he didn’t know who else.

There was a noise from outside this corridor. He started to get up to see what it was when he felt their presence. Instinctively he moved back to the corner furthest away from the door and pulled his knees up in front of him and tried to hide. It didn’t do any good as the horrible feelings started to come and he heard his mother’s pleading voice. A few seconds later he saw two Dementors glide down the small corridor past his cell and towards the ones further down.

Yet another guard came by and ladled a single serving of something wet and runny into the empty plate by the door by putting the kitchen implement through the bars to drop it in. “Yeah, you stay back there if you want food and water. If I can’t see you then you won’t get any.” He laughed as he pushed a new cup in and took the cup that had been Harry’s before he left.

Not moving Harry did his best to ignore the unnatural chill and feelings of despair for a few minutes, until it intensified as the Dementors returned and stopped to look in the door. Their breath rattled a little as they looked at him, as if memorizing him, before they left. Leaning over, Harry saw them do the same at the door across from him before they left out to the main corridor with the guard who had served dinner not too far behind them. That door was slammed at the end.

Harry wrapped the blanket around him and continued to sit there for a few moments as he tried to come to grips with this and think about what he was going to do. Eventually, he crawled over to the food but one whiff caused him to push it to the side. He wasn’t that hungry yet. He did drink the water, almost finishing it but stopping himself before he did in case he needed it later.

He wasn’t sure, but he thought he might have heard some sobbing coming from his right. He almost called out to find out who was there, but didn’t know what he’d say so he kept quiet. He had to do something, but what?

The sunlight was fading fast so he had maybe twelve hours to figure out how to escape; however, he figured he probably shouldn’t take more than ten for a little safety. But what could he do in that amount of time? Sirius had…

He knew what Sirius had done, but he’d had that talent before coming in and he was sure the story was it had taken something like two years to develop that talent while he had ten hours. This made it more along the lines of “directed accidental magic”, which he was sure Hermione would say was an oxymoron. Try as he might, he couldn’t think of anything else after a few minutes.

Doing his best to make himself comfortable on the floor with the blanket still wrapped around him, Harry closed his eyes and did his best to clear his mind before trying to “look inside himself” for his magic and an animal -- hopefully a small one that was still useful. He could also only hope this could work because Sirius had never told him how to become an Animagus.

After some unknown time he felt warmer and totally peaceful. He felt like he could have dropped the blanket but didn’t. He also felt movement something like a gentle wind blowing all through him. Eventually he accepted himself as he was, something he realized he’d never done before. He was…

Harry felt himself change. It wasn’t quite painful, but definitely was uncomfortable. When the new feelings stopped, he felt smaller and the blanket was partially on top of him. Looking around, he found he could see even though it was dark, though his vision was strange as the colors were all wrong. Twisting his neck, he looked back on his body easily and saw that it was long and thin.

`Damn! There was a reason I was a Parselmouth.` He tried to move and only went a little ways. What was it that Sirius had said? Right, let the animal do what it does and guide it, or something like that. So Harry concentrated on the goal of moving towards the door and his body started to slither and pick up speed.

He paused by the door and couldn’t help but taste the air. There were a multitude of scents in the air, many of which he didn’t care for; however, there was one that seemed slightly familiar and it seemed to be right in front of him.

Looking to the left, he saw the door to the man corridor; looking to the right he saw three more sets of doors plus two more at the end making ten total on this corridor.

Moving ahead, he crossed the corridor and slithered into the cell to find a small person with long hair, probably red. With relief that she looked unhurt even if she was curled into a ball and seemed to be whimpering or maybe crying softly in addition to her ragged breathing.

Not wanting to scare her, he made sure all of him was inside the door before thinking really hard about turning back into his human self. It took a long moment as it was the first time to do this transition, but he slowly turned back into a human.

With a triumphant grin he celebrated in his mind for a few seconds. “Ginny?” he called very quietly. He saw her jerk slightly before she uncurled a little and started to turn her head.

“Harry?” she called out quietly, sounding very scared yet hopeful. It was obvious when she saw him because she froze for barely a second before she threw herself around and jumped to her feet to lunge at him, throwing her arms around him, her head on his shoulder. “Harry,” she sobbed and held him tightly.

He put his arms around her and held her just as tightly. “Shush,” he told her in almost a whisper. “It’s going to be all right.”

Her head jerked back. “It’s not going to be all right. We’re in Azkaban and they’ve threatened horrible things and they killed…” her voice was rising in hysteria.

“Ginny!” he said in a harsh whisper as he grabbed her head and held her face in front of his, causing her to stop. “Ginny, it may be hard, but we’re going to get out of here very soon.” He looked to her window and saw it was still dark, but he had little doubt his efforts had taken hours and morning would be here all too soon.

“Listen, I need to go check on the others and plan, but I have an idea and if there is any way possible I’ll get us out of here,” he told her with a little shake to try to get her so think it through. “I’ll be back soon and spend time with you until we leave.”

“Promise?” she urged, sounding like a little girl who was afraid it wouldn’t come true.

“I promise.”

Ginny slowly nodded and took a deep breath. “Sorry for freaking out on you, but we’re in Azkaban and that’s not supposed to happen.” She sounded close to tears again. “How did you get in here?”

He pushed her back a little and she let go. “No screaming, right?” When she nodded, Harry concentrated and felt himself changing, getting a little faster with this next try.

A muffled gasp caused him to look up and see that Ginny was looking at him with wide eyes and her hands over her mouth. “When did you learn that?” she whispered hoarsely.

He sort of shook his head to try to say ‘Not now’ before he turned and slithered out of her door. He would have changed back to a human to walk to the next door but it wasn’t that far so he stayed as a snake since he’d have to change back to get in, or he thought that would be better for now.

In the cell next to Ginny, he slithered in to find another familiar girl who was asleep. Changing back to human and staying on all fours he shook her shoulder lightly as he’d done for almost the last year.

She startled awake before she gasped, “Harry?”

“Shush,” he told her. “We need to talk and we don’t have long.”

Hermione sat up quickly and grabbed him for a hug, her breathing ragged as she held on tightly. “There is so much wrong. How did you get in here?”

“Promise you won’t yell or scream?” he asked. At her nod, he pulled back and changed into his snake form and stayed that way maybe half a minute before he changed back.

Hermione seemed to be looking at him intently, even if it was a little hard for her. “When did you learn to do that?”

“In the last few hours, sort of accidental magic that I’ve learned to control,” he answered. “Can you tell what kind I am? I feel very confident and dangerous,” he admitted. “I can also see reasonably well in the dark though colors and things look different, but it’s easier to see people than the stone.”

“It’s hard to tell because of the low light and you’re almost black,” she replied, “but I think some kind of viper which can be really dangerous, unless you’re an adder then you’re not so dangerous. The fact that you can see heated objects better means you’re probably a pit viper though, so don’t bite anyone.”

He couldn’t help it and snorted. “Hermione, I’m going to have to bite some people to get us out of here.” He explained what he wanted to do and as for much last for the last year she helped him refine his plan to become more workable.

“Do you know we got here?” he asked. “I forgot to ask Ginny.”

“She’s here? That’s good, I think.” Hermione shook her head. “I went to Gryffindor Tower like you did, as I checked on you. I went maybe an hour later, so I was caught when I was asleep too.”

“All right.” He looked out the window and the sky looked to be lightening a little. “I need to go as I think the day is coming.”

She hugged him again. “Be careful, Harry.”

“I’ll do my best as always.”

Hermione smiled at him. “You’re best always seems to work; I have faith in you.”

“Thanks,” he replied with a smile before he changed back to a snake and left.

The next cell held Luna, who was awake and watched him slither in to join her. “Hi Harry,” she said very quietly. “This makes sense.”

He changed back to human. “Hi Luna. I’m going to try to get us out of here. Be thinking about what you need to do before we go into hiding.”

“Not much.” She paused and looked down. “They killed daddy. Ginny’s parents too. All the professors that were there and any students who fought back. So much blood. So many of them. So many Wracksports.” She shivered.

Harry wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. “I’m sorry you had to see all of that, but thanks for telling me - I’d wondered.”

“After they stunned a few at first like George and Lee who didn’t see them come in, they killed most of the others. Then they searched the castle to find you. I wanted to warn you but they stunned me before I could get away - Ginny too” she said, still looking into his shoulder.

“It’s all right, Luna, and I’m sorry about your father. Do you know how many they captured?” he asked.

“No, but it wasn’t many. I think we’re all here together,” she told him.

“All right, that helps.” The sky looked a little lighter. “I have to go check on the others but I’ll get you out somehow.”

She nodded and let go. He patted her on the shoulder and changed back to a snake and left. To save time, he became a human in the corridor and didn’t plan on entering any other cells.

The last on the left held Lee Jordan of all people. The two cells at the end were empty. Coming back to his side of the corridor, he found George Weasley then Neville and finally Ron - all asleep.

Returning to Ginny’s cell, he wasn’t surprised to see her sitting on the floor by the door and looking out as she waited for him. Her smile looked a little forced when he returned and changed back. Her arms went around him instantly and they held each other before they slipped to the floor with Harry making sure he was by the door for a fast exit.

“Harry,” she whispered.

“It’s all right,” he answered. “I have a plan and Hermione is here and helped me make it better. We’ll get out of here.”

“That’s good, but not what I wanted. Are you--” she paused for a long moment, “are you a venomous snake?”

“I think so, why?”

“Promise me,” she said intently, “that if your plan doesn’t work that you’ll try your best to come back to me and bite me. I don’t want to stay in here alive. Mum never knew I was listening, but I heard a few stories Dad told her about the prison. Unless you’re a full loon like Bellatrix Lestrange was, it’s not good to be a woman here.”

“Don’t worry,” he told her, “the only way you’re not getting out of here is if they kill me while I’m trying to kill them. I--” He had to pause now. “I’ve tried not killing like Dumbledore did, but I don’t think I have that luxury now.”

“Do what you need to Harry. I promise I won’t think any less of you for anything you have to do to rescue us or defend us. I’ll be there every step of the way and if that means I have to kill the Death Eaters or their supporters who keep us in here, then so be it.”

“So be it,” he murmured.

They held each other as the sky continued to lighten. Before the sun could come in the window, a sound was heard from out in the main corridor. Harry didn’t even say good-bye, he just changed and slithered out of Ginny’s cell towards the main door. He put himself in the crease where the wall met the floor near the door and waited. Despite the sun coming up he was still almost invisible in the shadows.

A few minutes later, he heard two voices and the lock in the door was undone before the door opened. In walked one and then the other, the two guards from last night. Fortunately, neither had his wand out although one was putting keys away.

As the second one turned from the now closed door, Harry coiled and then struck, his mouth open wide and catching the man in the back of the leg at about knee height. His fangs easily went thru the cloth trousers and sunk into flesh where he injected a full dose of venom before he let go. The man did something of a silent scream as he fell to his knees then onto his hands.

Harry didn’t hesitate and slithered to the side and hiding behind the man as he waited for the first guard who was turning and rushing over.

“Jansen, what happened?”

Harry coiled and struck again. Because the man was leaning over and Harry had sufficient length, it wasn’t hard to go for the neck. His fangs plunged into the man’s neck and more venom went in. The man screamed but managed to grab Harry and rip him off, but that just tore flesh and brought another scream before he let go to grab at his neck.

Turning, Harry saw Janson looking at him in horror. Harry also noticed he was looking at the man’s wand right in front of him so he changed back into a human. Grabbing the wand, he didn’t even need to aim and just cast a Stunning spell which hit the man’s lower stomach. A twist at the waist and another spell and the other guard who had been fumbling for his wand was unconscious too, making the whole area very quiet.

“Harry, are you all right?”

He looked up to see Ginny standing at her door and looking right at him.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Surprise made it easier.” He reached over and grabbed the other guard’s wand too so he could test them. The first wand worked a little better so he kept it and handed the other to Ginny. “See if you can unlock it.” He sealed the door to the corridor for a little extra warning if someone came.

“Harry?” He heard Ron’s voice then Hermione’s.

Ginny tried the Unlocking spell, but the door didn’t open. Searching the guards again, he found the ring of keys. The first one he tried opened her door. “Be there in a minute, Ron.” He went to unlock his own door to make it match the others.

“How did you get out?” Ron asked incredulously.

“A story for later,” Harry answered as he opened Ron’s door then moved to Hermione’s. He was glad he could put the tale off for a bit as he worried about Ron’s reaction, at least a little, until he considered Ron was pragmatic enough he’d probably ignore Harry being a snake as long as it got Ron out of prison.

“Harry, is it really you?” Neville asked, obviously woken up after the screaming. Harry would have worried about the noise, but screaming was supposed to be fairly normal in the prison he’d been told, so he didn’t worry too much - just a little.

Luna calmly accepted her release, but Lee and George were more like Neville in their wonder.

“Now what?” George asked.

“Pass the other wand around and find out who can use it the best,” Harry ordered. “We’re going to need a hole in a wall as fast as possible.” He walked into George’s cell and start casting a Cutting then a Piercing hex, finding the Piercing seemed to work a little better although neither removed very much stone from the wall. He would have tried a Blasting Curse but thought that might attract too much attention. “This is going slower than I’d like.”

Surprisingly, it was Lee Jordon who stepped up beside him and did a spell, which removed nearly ten times the amount of rock Harry’s spell had.

“What did you do?” Harry asked incredulously.

“A Vanishing spell?” Lee replied a little apologetically.

Harry returned to the wall and did his best vanishing spell, causing even more stone to disappear. “Better”.

“Try a transfiguration to air or water,” Hermione suggested.

Harry tried that and an even larger chuck of stone disappeared as water dropped to the floor.

“Nice,” Lee said and copied the action.

Maybe ten minutes of solid casting later by the two created a hole large enough for them to exit. Looking down they saw they were on the third floor above a rocky beach. He cast several cushioning charms below.

“It’s cushioned. Lee, cast Arresto Momentum at each person as they jump. I need to get something first.” He moved out of the cell and heard Lee helping the first person out.

Ginny was waiting for him and watching as he cast a spell at each man’s head, encasing it in a bubble but this one didn’t let air in. He couldn’t bring himself to just cut off a head or anything so messy. A few minutes later, each man had stopped breathing so he transfigured each corpse into a long stick like a walking stick; he could hold the two in one hand.

“What are they for?” she asked, not looking like she was bothered by what he’d just done.

“Our transportation, I hope, as well as to remove the evidence and cast suspicion on them.” He gestured to the hole and she moved over and let Lee help her down. He looked at his friend and recent radio announcer. “You or me last?”

“I got this, just be sure you get me when I come out,” Lee told him.

“Right, hit me and then follow immediately.” Harry stepped out and the spell hit him. As he slowly fell, he looked up and saw Lee come out. Harry cast the arresting spell just as Lee started falling. The two floated down, past a couple of prisoner’s windows, but no one was looking out.

When Harry landed, he went to the edge of the water and transfigured one of the sticks into a long canoe. “Everyone in quickly,” he said in a quiet voice. As each entered, he cast a Disillusionment charm on each.

He made George wait until the end, when he Disillusioned himself then George before pushing the wand to George who took it. “I’m getting in and then you’re last. You’ll also be doing the spells to push us. I’m getting tired after all of that and being up all night.”

“No problem, I got this mate,” George told him before he crawled in.

“Give me a wand,” Hermione said and Lee’s was passed to her. “I’ll cast a Notice-Me-Not on the canoe to hide us.

As she did that, George pushed off from the shore and did the first spell to push them along. As they came around the end of the island, they saw the normal dock to come to the prison. Thankfully it was empty.

“How long until we get to shore?” someone asked, Ron he thought.

“Don’t know, but hopefully not too long from now we’ll leave the Anti-Apparation wards and then we don’t have to go all the way back in this. I thought we’d go to your brother’s house as it was hidden. Did anyone see anything happen to Bill or Fleur?”

All he heard was variations of “I didn’t see them at the end”. There was hope for help then.

Five minutes later they felt themselves leave the Anti-Apparation wards. “Luna, you’ve been there. Can you take someone?”

“Yes. Neville is next to me,” Luna replied.

They all heard a “Hey!” before a crack.

“Ron?” Harry called out. As he tossed the unused “stick” in the water.

“Sorry, I can get there but best I don’t take anyone, if you know what I mean,” he said quietly and a little down.

Harry remembered his friend’s Splinching accident. “Right, you go on then.” As a crack sounded, he called out, Hermione?“

“I’ll take Ginny as she’s next to me.” Another crack sounded.

“Lee, come to back of the boat,” Harry said as he grabbed George’s arm then Lee’s when he’d come over. “George, I’m going to count down from three. When I say one, blast a big hole in this boat so it sinks or at least doesn’t look like a boat.

“Ready, three, two, one...” There was a splintering noise and Harry Apparated the three of them and landed right outside Bill’s wards to Shell Cottage. He’d barely landed when the counter to the Disillusionment hit him, then the other two became visible too.

It was with relief that he saw Bill and Fleur standing there with wands pointing them, though the pair didn’t look too friendly.

“Keep the wands pointed down and how do we know you’re really who you are?” Bill said as he covered them.

Ginny rolled her eyes. “Because, brother, I can tell you about the time you came home at three in the morning after visiting with Michelle whom Mum had forbid you from...”

“Enough!” Bill said and actually looked embarrassed. He grabbed his little sister for a big hug. “Don’t ever finish that story,” he said quietly but the rest heard him anyway and Fleur was giving him an interested look. Pulling a piece of paper out he pushed it to those who hadn’t been here before. “The rest of you can go on in, as it’ll be a good test.”

Harry shrugged and started walking slowly towards the cottage, except that he saw Dobby’s grave and stopped to pay his respects. Ginny caught up to him. “Oh,” she said as she looked between the grave stone and Harry.

“Yeah, he died helping us escape from Bella. I’m glad your Mum...” he stopped as he realized what he was about to say.

Ginny nodded but tears were already coming.

“I’m so sorry, I loved them too,” he told her as he wrapped her in his arms and they cried together. Bill came by and gestured at the house as all of the others were already on their way. Harry said, “In a moment.” Bill went on his way.

Eventually, Harry managed to loosen her grip and walk her slowly towards the house as they dried the tracks of their tears and did their best to push their emotions away for a little while longer.

Inside Fleur was handing out tea and water with the promise of food soon.

“I’m so glad you’re here, but how did you make it away?” Harry asked as he sat beside Ginny. “I was told they stunned and locked up the few of us here, but the rest were...” He had trouble saying it.

Bill didn’t have any trouble talking and he was angry. “Murdered,” he finished for Harry. “We were leaving when they all arrived with spells flying almost instantly. We were already half out a side door and there were so many of them I saw we had no hope of winning so Fleur and I ran out the door and lost ourselves in the secret passageways until we managed to leave out of a first floor window and make it to the Forbidden Forest where we Apparated here. The radio said you’d been captured with your friends while the rest resisted arrest and were dealt with,” he ended bitterly. “How did you make it out of Azkaban?”

Harry told him and the others who didn’t know about his getting lucky and figuring out how to become an Animagus overnight and that he was lucky enough for it to be something small and deadly. Hermione explained the rest of their escape.

To Harry’s relief, Ron and all of the others looked amazed at his Animagus transformation but didn’t say a negative word.

“What do we do?” Neville asked. “We can’t stay here forever and I’m sure they’re looking for Bill and Fleur too since they seemed to be going after the entire Weasley family.”

“Percy?” Ginny gasped suddenly.

“We haven’t heard anything about him,” Bill said quietly.

As most thought about family members, Harry said, “I have a possible plan. I think I need some help on parts, but it’s an idea that should work.”

“Should?” Hermione prompted with a lot of questioning in her tone.

“Hey, it’s been working so far but I’m only taking this one step at a time,” he defended himself.

“You’re doing well, Harry,” Ginny told him as she gripped his hand.

“I know what I need to do,” Luna said, “and then I can join you. I’ll need about an hour.”

Harry nodded. “That’s part of it. Do whatever you need before we leave the country, but don’t get caught whatever you do. Meet at Sirius’s house and we’ll go from there. I was thinking of going to France first, but I’m not sure how to leave the country without being noticed.”

“I’ve thought about that already as we were planning on leaving soon to join Fleur’s parents,” Bill told them. “We take one of the Muggle ferries to France. We can disguise ourselves or just hide with magic. Once we get to France we can go to Gringotts in Paris to get money and then to the Delacours … at least for a short time. They won’t want to publicize that you escaped Azkaban, but they will start searching for you very, very soon; therefore, we need to leave within the next few hours.”

“What about wands?” Ron asked and several others agreed.

“Come with me to Sirius’s place first. There are some extras there that you can try and pick the best. That will have to do until we can get others,” Harry suggested.

“I need to go home and turn on some wards and look for Gran,” Neville said as he rose.

“You won’t find her there,” Bill said quietly. “She resisted in a Wizengamot meeting and was made an example of.” Neville collapsed back in his seat and hid his face in his hands.

“I already know about Daddy, but I too need to go home. I know my Mum’s wand works for me. Since I don’t know where to meet, I’ll come back here. Can I leave from here?” At Bill’s nod she Apparated away.

“I have nothing to get,” Ginny said dejectedly.

“We’ll see what we can find for you or else shop in France,” Harry told her gently. “I’ll help anyone else who needs it after I’ve been to Gringotts in Paris.”

“I need to get some things from the shop and close up then I’ll meet you there,” George said. “Lee, I can get you into our meeting place if you want to go with me.”

“Yeah, let’s go to my home first then we can go to the shop,” Lee replied. “My parents need to know.”

“Don’t stay long,” Bill warned, “they may already be looking for you there.”

“I only need five minutes, maybe less,” Lee said. He looked at George and there was a double crack as the two left.

“I’ll go with you too,” Ron said looking at Harry. “Hermione?” She nodded.

“Neville?” Harry said caringly.

The young man took a deep breath and wiped at his eyes. “I’m be fine for now. Tonight might be different though. I need about an hour too. I’ll come back here.” Another deep breath he stood and was gone.

“Bill,” Harry looked at the oldest brother, “I need to get my money from Gringotts, but I’m probably in a spot of trouble with them. If I went there now it could be a long time until we get out.”

“A spot of trouble is an understatement,” Bill said sarcastically. “I heard what you three did.”

“Yeah,” Harry looked down embarrassed. “Do you think we can take care of it in Paris or will it have to be done here?”

Bill looked at his wife who was packing up food when it was decided they were leaving instead of staying for a while. “It can be done in Paris, I think,” she replied.

“Probably so, but you’re going to pay some steep fines and it’ll take longer to get it all straightened out, but it’ll be safer too,” Bill pointed out. “Yeah, let’s wait on the bank until we get to Paris.”

“Right, can you come with us and let Fleur wait for the other two? I need you to remove the Fidelius at Sirius’s place and put up another.”

“Sure, I can do that,” Bill answered. “Give me a few minutes to pack and I’ll be over. It might be a few years before we can come back.” Fleur nodded sadly.

“Let’s go to the back door,” Harry suggested and left.

The other three were only a few seconds behind him before they all entered.

“Kreacher?” Harry called.

The elf popped in. “Master called?” he asked civilly, really more in a bored tone.

“Is anyone else here?”

“No, man from the Ministry looked around but left when one-eye’s trick caught him. No one has come here since,” the elf explained.

Harry looked at his bushy-haired friend. “I know you carried everything in your beaded purse. Where did you leave that?”

“I left it under my bed at Hogwarts. I used the dorm room on the first floor of the girls’ side in Gryffindor Tower,” Hermione explained.

“Kreacher,” Harry looked at the elf, “I want you to go to Hogwarts and look for Hermione’s beaded bag where she just described and get it if you can find it; it’s white. I slept in the first boys’ dorm room in Gryffindor Tower. Look under the mattress for a bundle of silvery cloth with things in it. If you can find it, please bring it all back and without anyone knowing. First, you should probably go to the kitchens and see if you can find Winky the house-elf. Ask her if she’d like to work for a family and if so then bring her back with you. I’d ask you to come with us but I know you’d prefer to serve the House of Black.” The elf nodded and left.

“Harry,” Hermione started to protest.

“Not now, please,” he told her before looking at the group. “You three can go check the bedrooms to see if you can find any clothes that are about your size. I’ll go find the extra wands for you to try in a moment,” he told them just before the elf returned with a visitor.

“They were where you said,” Kreacher held the items out.

Hermione snatched the purse. “I’m sure they took my wand since I left it on the nightstand, but at least I’ll have some clothes in there and my books.”

Harry and Ron shared a look and shook their heads in a moment of mirth.

“Kreacher, are there any trunks here, especially ones with expanded interiors?” Harry asked.

“One, master.”

“Go get it and meet me in the library.” Harry knelt down on one knee. “Winky, we could use your help if you’d like to join us. I’ll do whatever you want to make you happy. You can be free and paid or you can bond with my family.”

“Winky would like to a part of your family,” the elf said with a big smile and held out her hand. Harry took it and felt magic pass between them.

“Harry,” Hermione protested, “you know you shouldn’t bond her to your family. She should be free not a slave.”

“So, you’re saying you want Winky to be unhappy?” Ron asked thoughtfully.

“No,” Hermione denied.

“But Harry gave Winky the choice to do what would make her happiest, which you’re trying to deny her,” Ron pointed out. “That makes it sound like you don’t want her to be happy.”

Hermione started to protest then had to close her mouth as she understood what he was saying.

“He’s got you there,” Ginny said with a smirk, while Harry smiled.

“Let’s go; you come with me, Winky,” Harry said and went upstairs with the others following. Hermione, still not happy, went with Ginny to see if they could find her any clothes while Ron went to Sirius’s room as it was the most likely to have what he needed.

Harry stopped by the study and wrote a short note which he stuck in his pocket for now. He also found the box of about a dozen wands on a shelf that he’d remembered seeing last time he was here. Thankfully, Fletcher hadn’t taken them too.

Using the elder wand, Harry started shrinking the books on the shelves and Winky helped. They had a good start by the time Kreacher arrived with the trunk. “Did Sirius leave any emergency money here? Or any vault keys?”

Kreacher didn’t look pleased to see Harry shrinking the books, but he had to answer. “Yes, he had some money and the main family vault key.”

“Bring them both to me,” Harry requested as he finished shrinking the books and had Winky start loading the very small books into the trunk, which did look fairly large on the inside.

Ron came in wearing different clothes as the elf returned from his errand and handed a small suitcase over along with a key. “I found a few things that should fit me,” Ron commented. “Found a few shirts that would work for you but the trousers are more my size,” he said with a shrug. Harry took his shirt off and threw it in the trunk before putting on an extra that Ron handed him.

Hermione and Ginny returned with each girl in different clothes; Ginny’s looked loose. “I didn’t find any for me and this is Hermione’s,” the redhead said with disappointment. “That’s the problem with being short.”

“I like you as you are,” Harry told her with a smile which she returned. “There’s the box of wands as well as the one I used to escape with,” he said pointing to the ones on the table. “See what works for you since I have my own again.” He didn’t mention the Elder wand.

Bill was heard coming up the stairs and he joined them. “I’m ready.”

When Bill took the old Fidelius down, Harry made him wait before he put the new one up. “Kreacher, can you find Andromeda Tonks? She was raised a Black and I think you could get along with her.”

“She’s a blood--” the elf stopped himself.

“Before she married her husband, who’s now dead, did you like her?” Harry asked with some exasperation.

“He’s dead?” Kreacher perked up. “So it is possible for her to become normal again.” He nodded. “Yes, I think I can find her.”

Harry pulled out the note he’d written in the study and handed it to the elf. “Please find her as soon as possible and give this to her. I need you to bring an answer back immediately, unless she says she’ll come and could be here in a few minutes with your help. If she can come immediately, please bring her.” The elf took the note and left.

“Sorry,” he told Bill, “but I need to give her the house and it’ll be easier now without a Fidelius and then do it while she’s here,” Harry explained.

“Sure, I understand and it’ll give me the few minutes I need to get ready,” Bill answered easily. “By the way, I stopped by Gringotts to find out how much trouble you’re in. They’ve already fixed the bank floor, but the dragon... They had to put the one you took down and buy a young one as an adult won’t go thru the doors in a normal way. Really, Harry, did you have to take the dragon? They aren’t cheap to replace.”

Harry shrugged and then grinned. “Seemed like the best idea at the time, but we didn’t have a lot of time to think about it, you know?”

Kreacher popped in with Andromeda Tonks, who was carrying little Teddy. “Harry, is it really you?” she asked. “I heard you were arrested and in Azkaban.”

“Sorry, but we don’t have time for the story, but we decided to leave. In fact, we’re about to leave the country...”

She snorted. “It’s your only option.”

“Yeah, well,” Harry said, as he thought about what to say. “I don’t see most of us ever coming back here as long as the same people are running things, so I don’t need the house and I thought you might like to take it as it will have better protections than your old house. I’m Sirius’s heir so I can give that also to you, or maybe you and Teddy.”

He dug in his pocket and pulled out the Black Family vault key. “Here, take this, it will help you out.”

“Seriously?!” she exclaimed, truly surprised.

“Yeah, I have a couple of vaults, although maybe not one of them for long,” he replied while Bill snorted and nodded. “If you would, I’d appreciate it if you go to the bank and transfer up to half of the gold into my trust vault as I’ll need it as we figure out where to live. If that doesn’t leave with you much, then please keep more. While I’ll need some extra money, I want you and Teddy not to have worry about money and you’re more important; we’ll find a way to get by if we have to.”

“Oh Harry,” the woman exclaimed with gratitude this time and gave him a surprisingly strong one-armed hug as the other was still holding the baby. “I’ll go take care of it now.”

“Hold on,” Bill told her, “we’re about to hide the house for extra protection and you should be here for that.” He started working and was done a few minutes later, making Harry the secret keeper.

Harry wrote the secret on two pieces of parchment and handed them both to her. “In case you need to bring others in you can show them the secret. The second is in case you have to destroy the first one for some reason. If you need more, well, we’ll have to figure out something but it could take months.”

“Don’t worry, Harry,” she told him, “I’ll make sure one of them is always safe. How long before you leave?”

“I don’t know, twenty or thirty minutes, I’d guess,” he answered.

“Let me go find out when our ride leaves, maybe get tickets too,” Bill told him. “You should stay in hiding until the last moment.”

Harry agreed and the other two left while he went back upstairs and told the other three the secret to the house, before he realized Fleur wouldn’t be able to get in now. With a sigh, he Apparated to Shell Cottage to fix the problem.

He found a confused Fleur.

“Harry, why can I not remember where to go when I’ve been there multiple times?” she asked.

He explained about the change and gave her the new secret. Since he was there and didn’t have anything else to do, he waited too and Luna then Neville soon appeared. He gave the secret to them and let Fleur take Luna. Harry also sent a Patronus message to George to come to Fleur’s house before he took Neville.

By the time Fleur returned, Lee and George appeared.

- - -

Lee and George went to Lee’s parents’ house; his parents were both first generation magicals. After they hugged their son half to death, Lee left to pack and let George give the short version of what happened.

It was really hard to leave, but Lee’s parents understood he had to go as long as Lee promised to get in touch with them in a few months through a relative who didn’t live in Britain. Since his dad’s wand worked well enough for Lee, his dad gave his wand to his son and said he’d get another later. His parents understood they’d have to leave too, or at least go into hiding for a while so they started packing also.

George took the pair to his shop. He had to stop when he realized it was solely his now, or rather majority his with Harry as a minor partner.

“Come on, man, we have to get moving,” Lee reminded him as George stood there and looked around the closed shop.

George nodded. “I need to go take care of the back as it’ll be tricky. Pack up everything you can here, starting with the most expensive stuff. Look in our flat above and you’ll find both of our trunks; pack up there too.”

Lee nodded. “I’ll transfigure boxes into crates. I’ve got a little room left in my trunk too.” He headed for the stairs in the back.

George headed to the workroom in the back to grab the most important things: their notes and raw materials. He and his brother had spare wands hidden there, so he grabbed them so he’d have one now plus Fred’s as a backup. As he was packing quickly with lots of wand waving, he spied something he and Fred had found but had never done anything with. As foolhardy as he knew they both were, there were some things neither messed with without a lot of care.

Looking at the item again, a plan formed in his head. Stopping his packing, he found a box about the size to hold a Quaffle and hurried as much as he dared -- throwing most of his caution to the wind as he still keenly felt his brother’s loss. By the time he was finished and the box was wrapped in plain brown paper, Lee came in with multiple trunks behind him.

“I got most of it,” Lee told him. “There were some girls outside and I gave all but two pairs of the pygmy puffs to them since they are alive; we can breed these two pairs to have more.”

George gave him a horrified look.

“Relax,” Lee said easily, “I wore a disguise, they never knew who I was. I thought you’d be done by now and what’s in the box?”

“A present to someone from Fred,” George replied far too calmly as he did a few more waves of his wand for the last of the items in this room go flying into a wooden crate which he shrunk down. Lee shrunk the three he had before George grabbed the small crate and the plain box. “Come one, I need to mail this then we can go.”

A Patronus came thru the wall and hit him. “Ah, change of plans, back to Bill’s place Harry said. Can you take this crate while I put on a disguise and mail the other?”

Lee stacked the now very small crate on top of his shrunken crates and trunk and left.

George disguised himself, locked the shop for the last time, before he left knowing he’d never get to return. Mailing the box took but a few minutes as the post office was nearby. He paid a little extra for it to be delivered later this evening.

Finally, he went to Bill’s house where Fleur met him, locked her house, then he took him to Sirius’s old house where everyone was waiting on him.

- - -

Harry had returned again with Lee, who was with the others. While he was waiting on George and Fleur to arrive, Andromeda returned and she was smiling. She handed him a new vault key. “I never knew how well off the main branch of the family was. Half is more than enough to take care of us even if I don’t work. To protect you, I opened a new vault and put enough in there to hold it. The transfer will happen tonight so it’ll be ready when you need it. Thank you, Harry.”

“I’m glad to help,” Harry said as he played with Teddy who was laughing at Harry and trying to grab his nose.

Ginny, Hermione, and Ron each had a wand now, although it wasn’t a great match for any of them.

Lee searched thru the box and found a wand that worked. “Hey, I’ll be back in less than a minute; I need to take my dad’s wand back to him.” He Apparated away on his own since he knew the new secret.

“What’s our timeline?” Harry asked Bill who’d only returned a few minutes ago and was busy working on something.

“We need to leave in about half an hour. I purchased tickets on the ferry to France while I was there. Used up most of my Muggle money though, but it’s for a good cause,” Bill said as he did another duplication spell.

“I have plenty from Sirius’s emergency box, maybe 50,000 Pounds I’d guess. There’s a bundle of French Francs in there too. I can pay you back,” Harry said casually. Bill stopped working and looked at him as did everyone else. “What?” the younger man asked.

“That’s a lot of money, be careful with it,” Bill said before he picked up what he’d been working on and handed it to Harry. “Hold that while I do a spell.” The spell hit Harry and the little book.

Harry looked at the finished product. “Oh, a passport and it now has my picture. Hmm, I’m James Evanson now. I guess it’ll do.”

The others looked at Bill and almost at once called out, “I want to pick my own name!” Bill was glad they had a few extra minutes.

While that was going on, Harry asked Winky, “Can you be invisible and follow us?”

“Yes, Master Harry. Elves be very good about being invisible while working,” she told him proudly.

After a last round of good-byes to Andromeda and Teddy, and even a few to Kreacher who was ordered to take orders from Andromeda now, the group took a Portkey that Bill made to an alley near the dock. He handed out their tickets and then guided them to the ferry. The small group got a few funny looks when they walked up, but most of the people ignored them. They ate the lunch Fleur had packed earlier on the ferry. Winky stayed invisible while staying near Harry.

- - -

It wasn’t until the ferry left that the group sighed in relief. While they had little doubt the Aurors now knew they had escaped, they felt they had gotten away with it. In reality, despite it had been about three hours since their escape, the other guards were only now missing the two who’d left early this morning since it was common for them to take a few hours to “have fun” with the prisoners, that being the only form of entertainment other than playing cards.

- - -

Once the group arrived in France, they had only a short wait before a three hour train trip to Paris, arriving in the late afternoon. They were going to stay in a hotel until Fleur told them “Non!” emphatically and led them around for a bit until they reached a gate that people were ignoring and walking by.

Inside, they found Paris’s version of Diagon Alley. For a little money, they used the Floo Network and were soon at the Delacour Manor house, where Fleur greeted her parents happily and they returned the feelings. She introduced her friends.

When she introduced Harry, both parents hugged him and touched cheeks. “Thank you, Mr Potter,” Apolline told him. “We still remember you saving our little Gabrielle.”

Her husband agreed. “Yes, that has not been forgotten. But even without that, Fleur’s friends are always welcome. Come in and sit and tell us why you’re here, hmm?”

“Get them drinks, Jean,” Apolline told her husband. “I’ll tell our cook there will be extras for dinner. We should eat before all of the stories.”

After a lovely meal, the group went to the formal living room and became comfortable. Harry had to tell the story again. He finished with, “I don’t understand how good can become bad and bad becomes good.”

Jean Delacour nodded. “It is difficult when bad people are in power over a country and the people stand by and do nothing.” He sighed. “Eventually a resistance will form, but who can know how long it will take for the government to fall. What will you do now?”

“I hope you don’t mind,” Harry said sincerely, “but we need to stay here a few days to buy some things, I need to deal with Gringotts…”

“Me too,” Neville added.

“Me three,” George chimed in.

Harry nodded at them. “Yeah, then we need to get tickets to continue on. I was thinking of leaving for Australia at the end of the week.”

“Why there?” Hermione asked a little suspiciously.

“First, for you to find your parents, and second because it’s on the other side of the world from here, mostly. Third, because it’ll be easier to move on to even more remote places from there if we need to,” he finished.

“I would suggest moving on sooner rather than later,” Jean said. “Australia is part of the ICW as Britain is, so when a request for capture comes along, if they find you then they will send you back. On the other hand, New Zealand is not part of the ICW. I’d think you’d have at least a few weeks and maybe even a month before Britain would say anything, but you do need to disappear for the next year and possibly longer.”

Harry nodded. “Thanks for the advice; that seems reasonable.”

“I’ll go with you to Gringotts tomorrow too,” Jean offered. “It sounds like it could be interesting. I enjoy crossing words with them about once a year and it’s about time again.” At Harry’s and Bill’s incredulous looks, Jean added, “It’s really all a game to them and so if you understand that and go along, it’s not so bad and can be fun.”

Harry wasn’t sure he believed that, but said, “Thanks, I’d appreciate any help you feel like giving.”

“Thank you for thinking of my parents,” Hermione told him. “I do have to ask how you’re doing all of this. You said you were making it up as you go, but it doesn’t seem like it.”

Harry looked down. “Honestly, I sort of had a plan, I mean I had one after we left Azkaban, but getting out was more luck and desperation than planning as I never expected to be there.” He sighed and they let him gather his thoughts.

“Some nights when I couldn’t go to sleep while we were hunting for how to kill Voldemort, I’d sometimes think about what to do if the hunt didn’t work out. I really thought it’d end with me dying most of the time, but I sometimes wondered if I failed but survived, then what? So I considered leaving the country after taking what I needed from Sirius’s house and getting all of my money from Gringotts, before going to France for some initial safety before continuing on to Australia. That’s really about the end of what I came up with.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know where we’ll go exactly, but I’ll try to find us a big house and we can all live there.”

Ron stirred uncomfortably. “Mate, I appreciate what you’ve done so far, but … well … I can’t really afford a share of a big house and you shouldn’t have to buy the whole thing.”

“I feel like I need to since a lot of this is my fault…” Harry was cut off by almost everyone shouting at him that it wasn’t his fault.

“Wait!” Harry shouted back into the bedlam and held up his hands to get them to stop. “Let me fully explain that.”

“It’s not your fault,” Ginny insisted with a glare.

“You’re right that it’s not,” he replied, “and yet it is. I know all of you helped in some way and that’s why you were taken in, probably when you didn’t fight back too much. You all helped in the war and that’s why it not only my fault. However, when I, err, remove Tom Riddle, Malfoy told me that I may have removed the head but the body was still alive. He didn’t say it, but I sort of got the feeling that he likes it more this way, probably because he’s more in charge. So you see, it’s this way because I killed Riddle so there was no one to stop them.”

“It’s still not your fault,” Hermione told him pointedly, “they would have done this anyway. It was only a matter of time; so don’t go thinking this was your fault.” Others agreed with her with emphatic nods and murmurs.

“Ignoring what might or might not have happened, you have an excellent start for someone who’s never had to do this before,” Jean complimented him. “I have a few ideas to help. You’ll need your better clothes for tomorrow, but I can think of a few steps that will help you a lot.”

Harry looked embarrassed again. “I don’t really have any other clothes. In fact, some of us don’t much more than what we’re wearing.”

Apolline brightened as did Fleur. “I’ll be happy to take all of you shopping tomorrow,” the mother said.

“Harry will need at least a few things before then,” Jean said and stood. “Come, Harry, and any other man who has nothing for tomorrow. I know a store which is still open and we will get you at least a few days of clothes. You can do more shopping after the trip to Gringotts.”

“Perhaps a quick run for a few necessities for the women,” Apolline said and stood also. “Come ladies.”

“Gentlemen,” Jean said and lead them to the big fireplace. “Do not worry about money, you don’t even need to repay me unless you want to.”

- - -

In the end, it was only Ron that joined Harry and Jean. While Ron had a few clothes from Sirius’s house, he needed underpants and socks right now. However, Harry needed it all. He knew he could use cleaning spells on his clothes, having done that multiple times over the last ten months, but he really preferred laundered clothes. He was also looking forward to a shower and a bed this evening despite his naps on the ferry and on the train.

Harry lent Ron some money as his friend felt better about that then taking it from Jean, but even then Harry could tell money was still a sore point with Ron.

When they arrived back at the Delacours’ house after taking longer because Harry had so much more to buy, he found George waiting for him, who pulled him aside while Apolline showed Ron to his room. Fleur seemed to be waiting for him.

“Harry,” George said quietly after they were by themselves, “we never really told you because we were waiting for you finish Hogwarts and then see what you wanted to do, but Fred and I set aside 20 percent of the profits for you since you were our initial investor.”

“George, I didn’t--” Harry started to protest.

“No, you listen, mate,” George stopped him. “There really haven’t been many profits to hand out since we put them back into the company to grow the business, but there was some left over from the last year. And now, well, we…” he had to pause for a moment. “I had to shut things down. I have some left over products and a number of ingredients we can use in potions as needed, but I will have all of the money from the business tomorrow and you are going to take some of it.”

Harry glared at the now very serious friend but his friend didn’t budge. “I was trying to say I didn’t do it for the money but because I thought we all needed some laughs.”

“Doesn’t matter, you invested in us so some of it is yours.”

With a sigh, Harry gave in. “Fine, but don’t give it to me. Ron needs it far more than I do. Give it to him and say its family money your dad gave you or something. Even if it’s a lie, it’s a small one and won’t hurt anyone.”

George snorted, “You mean like you had us buy him those new formal robes? Yeah, I suppose I can work it like that. Are you sure, Harry?”

“I’m sure.”

“You’re really a good friend,” George clasped him on the shoulder and then pulled him for a hug. “Although I suppose that if Ginny gets her way we’ll get to call you brother.”

When they let go, Harry had a hard time looking at the older boy, which caused George to laugh. “Chin up, Harry-kins. I don’t have a problem with you and her because I know you’ll treat her right. Bill may glare a little but I know that after what you did for her in her first year he shouldn’t give you a hard time either … but remind him of that time if he does.”

“And Ron?” Harry queried.

George sighed. “He’s the only one likely to say anything, but if what I’ve noticed between him and Hermione continues, he’ll be too busy to say much. If he does, be sure to point out his actions; deflection is usually the best defense with him, as I’m sure you’ve found.”

“True,” Harry agreed and then yawned. “Sorry, I’m really tired after everything. I’ve been awake for far too long.”

George pulled him back towards their host. “Thanks Fleur, he’s all yours.”

She laughed. “I do not think Bill or Ginny would appreciate that, so I should show him to his room.”

Harry blushed slightly as he figured out her teasing. It seemed she wasn’t done as she grabbed his arm at the elbow and steered him as if he was escorting her, going slowly and letting George go on. “Come, Harry, you are safe here; no need to rescue anyone.”

Deciding to play along, he replied, “That’s good because I don’t think I have the energy to rescue anyone tonight.”

“Of course,” she continued as she led him up the stairs, “some rescues are much easier than others though. Also, remember that every damsel in distress loves to be rescued by a chivalrous knight. Keep your eyes open for one, hmm?”

“I’ll be sleeping, so she’ll have to be a dream damsel,” he quipped, which made her laugh again before she stopped at a door.

“Here we are, our best room for visitors. It has a bathroom and everything else you might need,” she told him with an impish smile he didn’t understand. “I’ll come by and knock on your door at eight, so sleep until then. Father wants to leave by nine. Have a good night’s sleep.”

She smirked at him before leaving, confusing him. Not knowing what else to do, he entered and closed the door behind him. He dropped his sack of new clothes on a chair next to another sack before he headed for the other door in the room. It wasn’t until he almost reached the door that the idea of another sack being there struck him.

He was about to go find Fleur and tell her she made a mistake on the room when the door in front of him opened and Ginny walked in from the bathroom. She was in what looked like only a long T-shirt based on what he saw on top and went down to only the middle of her thighs and showed some very nice legs.

“There you are,” she said casually as if expecting him. “I wondered what as taking you so long. If you don’t mind, can you hurry in bathroom? I don’t…” her breath caught. “Well, I’d rather not go to sleep until you’re in bed too.”

“Err,” he said as his tired mind tried to process that as he looked between her and the only bed in the room, even if was a large one. “But…” Words just failed him at what he thought she was suggesting.

She stepped forward and placed her hands lightly on his shoulders. “Would sleeping, and I do mean only sleeping, with me be so bad?”

Not trusting himself, he merely shook his head.

Stretching up on her toes she kissed lightly him before dropping back down. “Then go take a shower. I need to hold someone and for someone to hold me and make me feel safe. Don’t take long because you look as tired as I feel.” She let go and then pushed him into the bathroom and closed the door.

Harry shook his head as he worked through it all in his head. Realizing the problem he was about to be in, he went back into the room to grab his sack. When Ginny looked at him in surprise, he said sheepishly, “I forgot my clothes.” He hurried back into the bathroom to take care of cleaning up -- quickly.

Ginny smiled to herself as she turned down the bed. She might have looked confident, but inside she was a bundle of nerves. She knew what she wanted, even needed, and hoped Harry was the same. She also hoped she wasn’t rushing things, but she felt she really needed him like this tonight … and probably for some time to come.

Walking to the curtains, she moved one to the side and looked out the large window. There were no other houses nearby, though there were lights in the far distance. A quarter moon gave some illumination to what were probably beautiful grounds during the day.

That gave her pause and some interesting thoughts. If things hadn’t gone so badly at home and she and Harry did end up together, as Mrs Potter she could have expected a fine home from what she knew and she’d hoped to play professional Quidditch. Now, they’d be living on the run for a while and then in hiding -- at least until Britain sorted itself out and she had no hope that would be soon since the general populace hadn’t truly rebelled in the last year. This really sort of sucked since she’d built up such a nice picture of what life could be like. Thinking it through some more, she decided that fantasy life didn’t really matter. Harry was an amazing person and he was who she wanted, not some made-up life. Even if they were on the run and in hiding, they’d be together and that was good enough.

The door behind her opened so she closed the curtain and turned around to see Harry in just pyjama bottoms -- so shirtless. It took all of her control not to gasp. With supreme effort, she tried to act normally and walked over to where he was standing and looking at her, still with damp hair. “Come on,” she told him and was pleased her voice didn’t betray her.

When he reached the other side of the bed, she picked up her wand from the nightstand and turned out the lights so it was almost pitch black in the room. “Crawl in, Harry. I won’t bite unless you want me too.” She heard him snort quietly and she smiled, please he hadn’t lost his humor. The bed shifted as he crawled in too.

“In the middle please,” she told him. He joined her, lying on his back. She laid beside him on her side, found his face with her hand, and stretched up and kissed him softly before lying down with her head on his shoulder and an arm across his chest.

“I’ll apologize now for making your shoulder wet,” she whispered. “I’ve been holding this in all day and trying not to think about it…

“We won the war and you put down a dark wizard, but we’re the bad ones. They threw us in Azkaban and we were the lucky ones. Many of my friends at school are gone forever. Then there’s Fred and probably Percy too. And my parents… Dad tried to protect me and I think that’s why he…” Her voice broke and she lost it at that point and started sobbing in the dark. She felt his arms go around her and she snuggled in even more as her warm tears went down her face and onto his shoulder.

After a long moment, she barely heard, “It’s not your fault. All of it is so wrong, but I have you and you’re safe now.” That made her sob a little harder even if it was what she wanted to hear.

Harry just held the shaking girl in his arms and told her she was safe and that he knew he couldn’t replace her missing family but he was there for her. He understood more now; she’d seen her parents killed with her father protecting her as his last action. She clung to him tighter and threw a leg over him in an attempt to get closer. He also rubbed her back and did his best to relax despite his own tears as he considered the loss of the woman who cared for him and her easy-going husband -- neither of whom he would get to see in this lifetime again.

Eventually, she quieted down and her breathing slowed, but her grip didn’t lessen. Harry decided he didn’t mind and eventually his exhaustion gave way to sleep.




(A/N: I can’t recall a story where Harry -and- his friends end up in Azkaban right after the final battle, so here we are as they become … exiles.)

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Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Author's Notes: (A/N: I’ve had a little extra time this week, so you’ll get this a couple of days early. I should point out this will be mostly a character driven story and not action driven. A reader asked about Charlie. In my mind, he was still in Romania during the final battle. However, a quick search shows 1 and only 1 reference to him running up the steps to the battle and nothing else. It was like JKR did that just to show he was there but she didn’t really use him for anything. Hmm, so we’re going to say he is safely back in Romania with no one being the wiser he was ever there; I did not kill him off.)


The next morning Harry was startled awake by a knock and the door opening. He turned his head but didn’t see anyone as he heard Fleur’s voice. “Time to get up.”

“Thanks,” he said softly before she closed the door.

“What if I don’t want to get up?” Ginny asked just as softly. “It’s warm and comfy this way.”

They were on their sides with her spooned in front of him. “We’ll have a lie in another day,” he told her with a squeeze on her arm before he forced himself out of bed, as he did agree with her. Putting his glasses on, he could see her watching him so he smiled.

“Go on,” she told him. “You need to be somewhere first and I don’t have to pee that badly.”

Harry just blinked at her bluntness.

“Get used to it,” she told him, “we all do that and more. Now go because while I can wait a little bit I do need to go.”

He shook his head and went over to get some clothes before going into the bathroom to go himself and then get dressed.

Harry came out a few minutes later to find Ginny sitting up in bed and leaning against the headboard. He dug into his trunk to pull out a stack of French Francs and some Galleons from Sirius’s stash. “The bathroom is all yours as is this.” He dropped the money on the bed.

“Thanks, but what’s that for?” she asked as she rose.

“Money for shopping. Use what you need, including any of the others like Hermione if needed,” he replied.

“Uhh, all right, thanks,” she told him as she kissed him lightly. “Go ahead to breakfast; it’ll take me a little longer to get ready than it did you.”

He watched her walk to the bathroom with interest before he left. The situation as a whole seemed a bit unusual, but he wondered if she would have moved in with him after she finished Hogwarts next year. Obviously, he’d never know what might have happened, but he did have to admit he wasn’t against this arrangement.

Arriving downstairs, he found Fleur and her parents already at the table. “Sleep well?” the mother asked, while Fleur gave him a knowing smile.

“Yes, thank you,” Harry answered, trying to be polite and yet not mention Ginny since he didn’t know what might be said about that. “Again, thank you for letting us stay here.”

“It’s no problem at all,” Jean said. “It’s sort of nice to have company actually since Gabrielle is at Beauxbatons this year.”

“Yes,” Apolline agreed, “although our daughter will be disappointed she missed you. She still remembers you rescuing her.” The mother smiled at him, much like Fleur had been and was now again.

“It seemed the right thing to do at the time,” Harry replied and was glad Bill and George walked in as it changed the topic.

Neville, Luna, and Lee joined a few minutes later. Ginny and Hermione came in about five minutes after that.

Once everyone was there, Jean held up a copy of the Daily Prophet. “I had our house-elf retrieve a copy from Paris; they sell a few there. News of your escape wasn’t mentioned, thankfully, but I did find one other thing.” He looked at Harry. “I believed you mentioned you saw Lucius Malfoy in the prison and he seemed to be in charge?”

“Yes. Why?”

“The Aurors aren’t sure what happened at the time the newspaper went to press, but it seems that Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were killed instantly in their home last night as something destroyed their dining room. Their house-elf took their son, Draco, to St Mungo’s but he died shortly after arriving. The elf reported they’d received a package but there was no magic on it.”

Harry just blinked at him. “Seriously? That’s, ah…”

“Two more Death Eaters gone,” Ron said a little savagely, with Ginny and George agreeing instantly.

“I was going to say unexpected, but not unwelcome either,” Harry finished. “Any other details?”

“Just the expected ‘a great family in society’, ‘Aurors will find out who did it’, ‘it was terrible’, that sort of thing,” Jean commented, not seeming to be too bothered by it all.

“That would be only the start to fixing things, but I won’t shed any tears after what they’ve done over the years and especially for putting us in Azkaban,” George said a little savagely.

Most of the others who had gone to Azkaban nodded. Harry noticed that only Luna wasn’t nodding and he wasn’t completely sure how he felt but had to conclude the Malfoys’ actions hadn’t been good over the years and magical Britain would be better off without the Malfoys.

When everyone was finished, Jean rose. “If everyone who is going to Gringotts for business will join me in the other room please?” He led the way with four of the teens following him.

Inside his study, Jean closed the door. “I have a few words for each of you, although perhaps only Harry needs all of my advice. I have found over time that the Goblins tend to take their dealings with wizards as a game, although perhaps a more serious game than you normally use the word game. They can be easy to get along with or surly, depending on how the Goblin feels like playing or even depending on his mood. Beware when dealing with them, but if you understand this then you will have an easier time.

“An example of this is always look for hidden meanings and double meanings in their words; they love their word games. Also, never straight up say yes or no unless you’re willing to be held to exactly what was said. If you generally agree with what they said, say something like ‘That sounded fairly reasonable, but I want to clarify something’ if you have any doubt about what was said. If you don’t like something, try ‘I’m not sure about that, what about this’. They love to negotiate and that’s what you need to do to be successful with them.”

He looked at Harry. “From what Bill and Fleur told me, you have a more difficult job. Bill did say that the damage to the bank lobby is already repaired, so you can attempt to point out it was minor. Of course, you’ll still probably have to pay something for it. The dragon is going to be the big issue. They’re going to want to yell and rant. Let them and say nothing until you’re asked a question. Again, be as vague as you can. If you can find something that’s minor to you but they make a big deal out of it, focus on that and eventually give in on that thing to get a concession on something that matters more to you. Remember, you’re negotiating.

“Finally, Harry, I won’t be able to say much even if I am there. However, if you are in doubt, look at me and I’ll try to help. I’ll almost always shrug or give a neutral look, but watch the hand in my lap. Palm up means neutral and it’s up to you. Lifting only my thumb is a positive. A slight shake side-to-side palm down is a negative.”

“All right, I think I can remember that. Should I bring up why I did what I did?” Harry asked. “There is also the fact that a goblin helped us and they received the Sword of Gryffindor back.”

“Yes, I think mentioning why and the Sword when you need to sway them your way. Mentioning the Goblin helping you could be problematic and I’d think not,” Jean told him. “If there aren’t any other questions, let’s go.”

Apolline told Luna before they left that they’d come find her at the bank in an hour and go shopping. Neville and George were invited but each already had most of what they needed as they’d been able to visit their home, although the boys would need Muggle clothes. Jean expected he and Harry would be gone all day.

As they trouped to the bank George grinned to himself in regards to what a large phial of Erumpet fluid with a purely mechanical striking mechanism could do when surrounded by conjured small steel balls all inside of a cardboard box. Or really inside two boxes with the balls between the boxes so it wouldn’t be too heavy. That also meant there was no magic to be found as the fluid wasn’t a charm to be detected. Fred would be so proud of him.

- - -

After the Floo travel, Jean leaned over to Harry. “Remember stay calm and negotiate. When you arrange to transfer your vaults here, ask for gold bars for the equivalent value because those can be sold in the non-Magical world whereas a Galleon cannot. You might have to pay a small fee for that but it’ll be worth it to you.”

“All right.”

“Also, I have my secretary purchasing tickets for you to Australia on Saturday or Sunday. That should be enough time for you to conclude your business. I’m not trying to get you to leave,” Jean told him with a hand on his shoulder, “but you said you wanted to leave soon and I would agree you’ll want the extra time on the other end.”

“Err, do I need to worry about the Goblins telling the Ministry back home that we’re here?” Harry wondered, concerned about that.

“As long as you work out taking care of the damage, then no,” Jean assured him. “They’ll actually view knowing where you are as a game as long as they are compensated for the damage, even if it really should be the Ministry that pays for what happened because you did the Aurors’ work for them.”

Harry could agree with that last part.

All too soon they were in the bank and Jean arranged for English speakers to help Neville, George, and Luna, all of whom only needed to transfer their families accounts out of Britain for safety. Since they were not considered troublemakers like Harry was, their business was easy. While they planned to only move their accounts to France, Harry was planning on closing all of the Potter vaults.

Going into a back office, Harry found an older Goblin with a second joining before business started. When the newest one introduced himself as Ragnok, Director of Gringotts of England, Harry knew he was in for a long day.

- - -

As they headed out of the bank, Jean put an arm around his shoulders and leaned down to speak quietly. “Back straight and look normal until we’re out. No matter how tired you are, don’t look it.”

Harry did as he was told but looked at the man. “Easy for you to say.”

Jean chuckled as they went through the doors and past the pair of Goblin guards. The man steered him to the side and Harry saw a small café with tables outside, with George, Lee, and Neville at a table and finishing lunch.

“There you are, took you long enough,” Neville said, then “Hey! That’s mine,” as Harry grabbed his plate and pulled it over, to take the half of a sandwich left.

Swallowing his first bite Harry said, “Sorry, but I’m ravenous. Order two more; you know I’m good for it.”

“That’s not the point,” Neville said as he waved the waitress over and did order two more plates and Jean ordered lunch as well. “How did it go?”

“Exhausting as they wanted to argue every little point.” Harry looked at their guide. “Jean, thank you again for doing this. You’ve been very helpful.”

Jean waved it away. “I’m enjoying it. It’s sort of like having sons but not all of the responsibility,” he said with a smile.

Harry nodded before looking at his friends. “I think we have the problem of the damage to the bank mostly worked out. They were a little more understanding once I told them what I was after, but I still feel like I was taken advantage of. Nevertheless, at least that’s generally behind me.”

George looked at him for a moment. “Harry, do you have more than the Potter vault to help you with that? You know I can help a little.”

Harry realized he was again talking about a return from his original investment in the twins’ shop. “Thanks, George, but I have two Potter vaults and a Black vault to pull from.”

George nodded, still thoughtful. “Harry, didn’t you say you did that to break into Bellatrix Lestranges’s vault?”

“Yes, why?”

“And her husband and brother are dead too, right?”

“Yes, why?” Harry asked again.

“Well, technically Mum and I suppose Ginny took her out from what I heard,” George continued, “but Mum’s not here to take credit and it looks like you and Ginny will get together, so if you took credit for that, I’d think you’d get Bella’s vault by right of conquest and you’d have that gold to help out. Then you’d be using the Death Eaters’s gold against them, sort of.”

“You can do that?” Harry looked between his friend and Jean, but it was Neville who answered.

“Actually yes as the Goblins believe in and uphold trial and conquest by battle. You should see if You-Know-Who had a vault as it’s be yours too,” his friend said as the waitress brought three plates over. Neville grabbed his and made sure it was out of Harry’s reach.

“He’s right and that’s a good idea,” Jean said as he took his plate and started his lunch.

“Err, I didn’t do anything to the Malfoy’s, but can I claim their money too since I don’t think there are any more Malfoy’s and Narcissa was a Black and I’m still the head of House Black until Teddy turns seventeen?” Harry asked before taking a big bite of his new sandwich.

“Hmm, maybe, let me think about that,” Jean replied quietly. After a long moment he said, “Perhaps you can, but you may have to give up upwards of 20 to 25 percent in fees, as they’ll call them, but we all know it’s a bribe.”

“Unfortunate, but it’s better than nothing and better than letting the Ministry get ahold of it,” Harry stated and saw nodding heads all around.

“Harry, I see a trunk shop not far away,” Jean said. “We should go visit them to see if they have a cargo trunk available.”

“George, I saw a joke shop earlier,” Lee said. “Maybe we should go and see if they’d buy your extra products because we can’t use an entire box of rubber chicken wands and I doubt we’ll have more opportunities to sell them if we have to hide.”

When George looked down, Lee put a hand on his friend’s arm. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it to hurt you by bringing that up.”

“I know you didn’t, it’s just…” George had to pause. “It’s sort of the end of a dream that Fred and I had.”

“Perhaps it’s not the end but a change of direction,” Jean offered.

George smiled weakly. “That does sound a little better.” He looked at Lee. “It’s a good idea. We can go look at the shop today and come back tomorrow with our extra products that would work best and see if we can sell them.”

As Harry finished his lunch, Jean looked at him. “Let’s go look at a cargo trunk for hauling the things in your vault, then back to the bank.”

Harry nodded wearily. “If we must,” but he rose and bid the others good-bye.

- - -

That evening, everyone was feeling better. The girls had spent most of the day shopping and were in a better mood. The boys except for Harry had gone shopping too, led by Bill; Harry would go tomorrow afternoon.

“Well?” Ginny asked. Harry explained about the morning and how stressful it was. However, the afternoon had gone better.

“Then George had the idea of trying to take over vaults of the Death Eaters we killed,” Harry explained. “Tom Riddle didn’t have a vault, but -- I hope you don’t mind, Ginny -- I pressed for the claim of trial by combat with Bellatrix even though I knew it was you and your mother who took care of her; I also pointed out I was the head of her birth family. They agreed and I was awarded her vault minus some hefty fees. While I won’t get the Lestrange family vault as there are other Lestranges, it seems like the Malfoys were very … err, efficient … in eliminating any competition in their family. We think there are no other Malfoys and I’ll probably get their vault minus more hefty fees. Because of that, I’ll actually gain money after and despite how much they charged me for the damage to the bank.”

Ginny hugged him. “Good for you and I don’t mind, although…” she batted her eyes and smiled overly sweetly at him, “I do expect something for that.”

Harry blushed slightly and looked down. “I’m sure we can work something out.”

Ginny leaned up and kissed him lightly and whispered something in his ear that caused him to blush more and have to clear his throat as if choking, which caused her to look very pleased.

When Harry was able to control his voice again, with the rest being amused by his discomfort, he added, “I have to return tomorrow for a couple of hours to wrap things up and to receive the contents of my vaults. I bought a cargo trunk at lunch thanks to Jean’s prompting and gave that to the Goblins to pack up my vaults in England, plus the other vaults, and bring them in tomorrow.”

“With more fees for the rush, I assume?” Bill asked lightly.

“Of course,” Harry confirmed. “Still, this preserves everything and gives us money going forward. Jean and I have also worked out an agreement for him to help me have money available going forward. I have the vault that Andromeda set up and Jean can pull money out of it in the form of gold bars to sell in the Muggle world and deposit that in a Muggle bank I can access from anywhere in the world.

“I also found out,” Harry said with a new grin, “that they don’t like taking Muggle money and converting it into Galleons because no one ever wants to buy the Muggle money from them; they do it because the last treaty forces them to do it but they see it as almost worthless. I believe you told me,” he looked at Hermione, “the rate was ten to one?”

“Yes, ten Pounds to one Galleon,” she confirmed.

“Yeah, well, I’m getting twenty to one for taking it all off of their hands -- all of the Pounds from the London branch, that is.” Harry enjoyed seeing Hermione’s mouth fall open at that. “They also brought up perhaps selling me all of the French Francs here too and I agreed. I won’t have as much gold but I actually need Muggle money more right now so it’s a win for me.”

“I’m disappointed in myself for not thinking of that as they’ll have been collecting Muggle money for many years,” Jean said, “but congratulations for coming up with a big win for you that makes them feel like they won that game even if you really did. I think that makes up for them taking advantage of you in replacing the dragon, and I do agree they took advantage of you in that.”

“Your secretary sent  a note,” Apolline spoke up. “She said she has the plane tickets you requested. They’re for Saturday.” Most of the group looked at her in surprise.

Harry explained to them. “We’re taking an airplane flight to Australia on Saturday. That way we’ll be there quickly and because it’s non-magical it will be harder for Aurors to follow us.”

“What will we do there?” Ron asked.

“Like we discussed, other than let Hermione and probably you look for her parents, I’m thinking we go further west, based on the fact that Jean said we need to avoid the ICW countries. I found out today that everything east of Australia until you get to North America is not part of the ICW. Most of South America isn’t either, but parts of it are. That leaves us a lot of places to be lost in and yet still have a nice place to live.”

“I trust you, Harry. You’re doing well as our leader,” Neville told him. The others agreed and Ginny smiled and squeezed his hand that she’d been holding.

“Thanks,” he said with relief they were going to stick together. He looked at the last two. “Bill, Fleur, thank you for your help so far. Are you going to come with us or stay here?”

Bill looked at his wife for a moment and received a nod. “We’ve decided to come with you for at least a year or maybe two. We have a leave of absence from the bank. It won’t help our careers, but better to be alive.”

“All right, then we all have tomorrow and the day after to get ready before we leave,” Harry told them. “Get whatever you need, although I can’t tell you exactly what we’ll be doing yet. I’d think we can get a few things in Australia if you forget something here. Oh, be sure you can pack whatever you buy in a trunk and that it’ll survive in there, so no animals.”

George and Lee looked at each other. “Maybe Gabrielle would like the last of the Pygmy Puffs,” the redhead said and Lee agreed.

“What is a Pygmy Puff?” the mother asked with a quizzical and very unsure look that left the pair a little uncomfortable and Ginny snickering.

- - -

Harry wasn’t surprised Ginny followed him into his room. Inside he saw a larger stack of bags, evidence she had been shopping. “Do you need help shopping tomorrow?” she asked as she kicked off her shoes. “Oh, I put the extra money in your bag.”

“Thanks, and sure,” he replied easily. “Come to the bank at lunch time; I’m fairly sure I’ll be done by then. Jean offered to be my guide again.”

She nodded and started searching through her clothes. He searched for his pyjamas too.

Soon, they were crawling into bed together and Ginny snuggled up against him again, although this time her emotions were in check.

“Harry?”

“Hmm?"

“What do you want to do?”

“I think I’d like to find a little place where we can have a house and live peacefully,” he replied. “I have no idea what we’ll be doing, but that’s the least of my worries right now because we have enough money that having a good paying job isn’t required -- just a job. As long as we have enough to buy food then I think we’ll be fine. Or maybe we’ll grow our own food then a job may not be required at all.”

“That sounds nice. What about us?” she asked calmly.

“What about us?”

She lightly slapped his shoulder in a token warning. “Just answer the question.”

He sighed. “Again, I don’t have an exact answer, but I’m thinking we continue on like we are now and I think it will all work out. I expect we’ll live together and eventually have a few children. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“It’s a good start,” she admitted. “I do hope a ring comes before the children.”

“I think I can arrange that,” Harry told her before turning so he was lying on his side too, but facing her. He proceeded to kiss her in the dark for quite some time before they fell asleep.




Harry was a little nervous as they all piled into a van Jean had rented through his company. Thankfully, a driver came with it, one who didn’t know about magic so they had to be careful. Nevertheless, they would be at the airport in an hour to start their journey on Air France which would take a full 24 hours with a couple of stops in the middle. While Bill and Lee had a little knowledge of traveling like a Muggle, Harry felt like he wasn’t much better and so Hermione was the only expert -- as she’d been traveling like this every summer for most of her life. They followed her every direction. Jean had given them a few pointers, as he traveled like this about once a year for business, but he said he wasn’t an expert either. Therefore, this was going to be an adventure.

To help, Harry now had a credit card with a large limit and he still had cash thanks to Sirius. All of the remaining money from the Goblins were in shrunken trunks which would stay that way and had charms on them to not be noticed and not stolen either.

Harry was also nervous about Winky coming with them. She promised she could stay invisible and find hiding places on the airplane, despite the fact she didn’t know what one was. With great reservation, Harry agreed she could stow away and made her promise to come find him if there was any trouble at all.

All of the Francs and Pounds from the Goblins was in Harry’s Muggle bank account and gave him a large balance. Harry had also left half of his gold bars with Jean. Per their agreement, Jean had promised to sell two bars of gold a month from what Harry left him and then when that ran out he’d get more from the Black account, depositing all of the money into Harry’s Muggle bank account.

Andromeda was selling off Black assets she didn’t want and also calling in old loans made by Sirius’s father and grandfather in order to deplete the money from some of the Death Eater families. Despite Harry trying to make Jean take some money for the service, Jean and Apolline had refused, citing this as their contribution to helping the group because of the persecution from their home government.

On the airplane Hermione was pleased, and told them they should be also, to find their seats were in business class. Harry and Ginny did enjoy the comfortable seats, even if they didn’t have any comparison to make to it, as they’d never traveled this way before.

During the flight, Harry and Ginny switched seats from time to time so they could each look out the window.

“We’re so high up,” Ginny exclaimed quietly after her first look.

Harry agreed when he had the opportunity to look. He also saw something else that gave him an idea. He didn’t mention it to Ginny as he was sure she wouldn’t be able to tell him anything useful. He almost asked Hermione but didn’t think she would either. Nevertheless, when they stopped in Abu Dhabi Harry walked around to a few book stores in the airport and actually found a book that looked useful.

Ginny was sticking close to him so as not to get lost. “Why do you want that book?”

“I saw one earlier when we were flying and wanted to know more,” he told her vaguely; she didn’t ask him more as she continued to watch all of the people around them and still hold his hand or arm so as not to lose him.

They slept a little on the airplane, but it still had been a long trip when they arrived in Sydney. After collecting their luggage, they found it took four taxis to take all of them and their luggage to a hotel. Jean had arranged their reservations here too, so Harry only had to present his credit card so they could collect their room keys.

Ron wasn’t pleased to find out Ginny was staying in Harry’s room, but a look from Hermione and a glare from Ginny kept him quiet. George didn’t care and Bill just gave a thoughtful then resigned look before they all turned in early to recover from their long journey.




They all slept in late and took it easy the next day to recover. Harry and Ginny lounged around the hotel and also took walks in the area. At dinner he found that Hermione had spent much of the day trying to find some evidence of her parents and had found nothing so far. She did have the idea to get mobile phones; so Harry went with her to a store and bought two mobile phones with pre-paid time so they could keep in contact when the party split while she searched.

After dinner, Harry invited everyone to his room to explain the next part of his plan, or so he hoped. He even had Winky sit with them. He passed his new book around as he said, “I think I’ve found our new home.”

“Harry, this is a book about boats,” Neville said as he held it up.

“I know,” Harry said with some excitement. “I was thinking I could buy a big yacht and we could live on it. We could sail wherever we wanted, so if we became tired of one place we could go on to somewhere else. We just have to stay away from ICW countries, but we could go all over the world.”

“Seriously?” Ron asked dubiously. “Live in a boat? Would it be big enough to hold us all?”

“Yes, Ron, yachts are huge compared to the boats that took you to Hogwarts,” Hermione said as she took the book from Luna who’d barely even looked at it. “See, they can be very large,” she showed a picture of one, “but those are also very expensive.” She looked at Harry and waited with a pointed look.

“I think it fits our need,” he answered a little stubbornly.

“Who is going to sail it? And work on it? These things take a crew, a crew whom we can’t tell about magic,” she pointed out. “This one here says it takes a crew of eight to twelve.”

“Well, I thought we could learn,” he answered slowly. “I’m sure Winky would be willing to cook.” He looked at the elf who nodded happily. “I and at least one other person could learn to steer it. Others can do other jobs too. We won’t be sailing all of the time, so there will be time to relax.”

Hermione handed the book to Bill. “I think you’re underestimating what it will take to do this.” She sighed. “I’ll wait another day to look for my parents as I think I need to be there when you go looking for this, at least for the first one or two.”

Despite her looking and sounding doubtful, Harry wasn’t dissuaded from at least looking into this.

“I’m not sure about this,” Bill said slowly, “but I can see the appeal of being able to move around and be comfortable while doing it … or some of these boats look really nice.” Fleur agreed as she looked at the book with him.

“Daddy and I sailed on a boat around Norway one summer,” Luna said quietly. “It was very nice.”

Harry smiled at her and was pleased she smiled back. He hadn’t heard her say much since they’d escaped and he was a little worried about her. Looking at Ginny, he could see his girlfriend looked worried for the blonde too.

“We’ll go look tomorrow then,” Harry said happily. “I found out there is a builder and seller not too far away, sort of on the edge of Sydney. No one has to go, but if you want to, let’s all be ready to go by nine.”




The next morning, George, Lee, and Neville wanted to go look at the magical community here, but the rest wanted to go with Harry. So Harry hired a van for the day to take them wherever they wanted to go.

An hour later they were being dropped off at a ship builder’s yard with the driver finding a shady tree nearby to wait under. They walked into an office and were quickly taken to the sales office where they saw an older man with a head of salt-and-peppery gray hair talking on a phone. He waved them in and pointed at the chairs in his office as he quickly finished his conversation.

Since there weren’t enough chairs, Hermione almost pushed Ron into one before she sat on his lap. Fleur thought that was a good idea and did the same with Bill. Ginny indicated to Luna to take the last chair and she stood near Harry to show support.

By the time the others had sat, the man hung up the phone and stood, holding his hand out to Harry. “I’m Simon Cummings.”

Harry shook his hand. “James Evanson. I’m looking for a yacht. I’d like it to have at least eight cabins and be able to run mostly on its own so it only needs a small crew. We don’t really need people waiting on us.”

- - -

As Simon Cummings was finishing his phone conversation and giving a hasty good-bye, he looked at the small group that had been shown in. It wasn’t uncommon for a wealthy young man to come in with an entourage, although generally they were older.

Normally, the person was about the age of the red-haired man with a scar on his face and the very pretty girl with him, who had to have dyed her hair as it seemed to have streaks of silver in it. What these two did wasn’t obvious, perhaps support in some way.

The little blonde was interesting as it seemed like she was barely aware of what was around her. A few more seconds though showed her to suddenly turn and look at him, almost as if dissecting him. He started to wonder if she was one of those who only looked spacey but in reality could probably describe everything in his room including the paperclips on his desk after only a single glance around. He’d met a few like that in his years.

He didn’t have a read on the other pair in the chairs yet, but the young man looked something like a bodyguard with the way he was looking around while the girl on his lap was looking at a book on yachts; so maybe she was the advisor. Then again, if he was really a body guard he wouldn’t have had the girl on his lap, so maybe just best friend?

Who was going to be buying was obvious. The others deferred to him even if it was subtly; he was obviously the leader and looked to be barely eighteen. He was also the best dressed of the lot.

The girl at his side, who looked a little under eighteen, which wasn’t his business if she was or wasn’t, was the bimbo girlfriend … or so he thought until she looked at him directly. Those eyes, they had seen things others haven’t, he concluded. Then there was her stance; near him but not encumbering. Smart, she was a guard, probably one in training since he didn’t see an obvious weapon and she did look young.

This would be an interesting but probably unprofitable morning, he thought as he hung up the phone and stood to greet the prospect. “I’m Simon Cummings.” He was pleased to receive a firm handshake.

“James Evanson. I’m looking for a yacht. I’d like it to have at least eight cabins and be able to run mostly on its own so it only needs a small crew. We don’t really need people waiting on us.”

“That many cabins will make it larger than normal, unless you’re looking for a smaller one with smaller cabins,” he offered, curious what the young man would say.

“I think a larger one,” Evanson said. “I’d like to be able to sail the Pacific Ocean and we’ll be spending a lot of time on it.”

“Good choice as that makes it safer. A new custom one or used?” Cummings asked, wanting to find out how serious he was. He’d never heard the name Evanson before and Cummings knew almost every name who could afford a new and custom super yacht in this part of he world.

“An existing one as I’d like it soon, preferably within the next week or two.”

Simon nodded, ready to ask the final initial question. “We have a few. What’s your budget?”

“I’d like to stay under 10 million Francs,” the young man said without batting an eye.

Simon grinned on the inside without changing his expression. Maybe he’d make some money today after all. “I have a couple of choices available now, although only one would be considered larger. I have a picture of it over here,” he said walking to the side of his office. “It’s about thirty meters. It only has six cabins, but we could convert a few of the crew cabins to make a seventh and eighth. It’d probably only take us about a month. Would you like to go see it?” He handed the large photo to the young man and was pleased to see his eyes light up.

“Excellent, let’s go see The Maiden of the Sea. It’s actually 32 meters and has a double-hull for safety,” he started as he led the group from his office. “It has all required safety equipment and ratings and is fully insurable by Lloyd’s of London.”

An hour later, they were finishing the tour and Simon was still feeling positive about this. He’d found they really only needed six or maybe seven cabins now, but thought they might pick up another couple soon. He thought it amusing the “advisor” didn’t look happy to hear that for some reason, but he was used to the “leader” making decisions that his followers didn’t like but did anyway.

He’d finished the tour on the bridge and was taking them down to the foredeck at the front of the boat.

“Mr Cummings,” Evanson said, “we’d like a few minutes alone of you don’t mind.”

“Certainly, as long as no one tries to go swimming, either in the hot tub or overboard,” he said with a chuckle and most laughed with him. “Can I provide you with lunch? It would probably have to be simple since I didn’t know you were coming beforehand.” The longer he could keep them here the more often he made a sale, or such was his experience. The younger lanky friend/bodyguard nudged his buyer friend, who smiled back and gave a yes.

“I’ll be up on the bridge making a few phone calls and have the food brought to us. Wave when you need me,” Simon said as he left.

As he hurried one deck up, he pulled out his mobile and called his secretary. “Courtney, order a tray of the good sandwiches, better make it two, and bring them out to The Maiden with drinks as fast as you can. Offer a big tip to speed them up. Oh, and I know you like to flirt with the buyers, but whatever you do don’t flirt with this one. I have the feeling his little redheaded bodyguard wouldn’t like that. Hurry girl!”

He hung up and watched the group take seats on the deck chairs. “That’s right, make yourselves comfortable like you own the thing,” he said to himself with a grin before called the head engineer to find out how long it would really take to convert the smaller cabins.

A half hour later Courtney was coming with food and one of the yard boys had been conscripted to bring the cooler of drinks. True to his warning, Courtney behaved herself. Normally he didn’t mind her flirting and thought it probably helped him a bit. However, his read on this group said that would be bad and the unwelcoming look the little redhead gave the busty Courtney proved his guess correct.

After they had eaten in the big dining room, Simon had to ask. “So, Mr Evanson, what do you think? If I don’t need to do any conversion of the cabins, I can have it ready for you in a few days, as that is how long wire transfers generally take -- that’s assuming if you have a captain’s license. It might take a few more days beyond that to round up a crew if you don’t have the license. If you would like us to convert the crew cabins into passenger cabins I can have that done in three weeks.” The young man smiled and continued to be polite, for which he was thankful. He’d had to deal with a number of “entitled jerks” over the years.

“It’s really very nice, but it’s too small.”

That surprised Simon as he thought it would have been just the right size. He would have been happy to have sold a larger yacht but he didn’t have one at the moment. “We have a 48 meter yacht on the line, but it’ll be another four months before it’s ready. Can you wait that long?” he asked hopefully.

“I’m afraid not. I guess we’ll have to go elsewhere.”

Simon watched the sale figuratively fly out the window … unless. “I have many contacts. Perhaps you’d like to stay here and enjoy the boat while I make a few phone calls. I’m sure I can find something you’d like far faster than you could.” It was a lot less commission for him this way, but he still make some money for getting the lead if he brought the lad in and he made the purchase.

The young man looked at the bushy-haired advisor and she gave a nod. “Very well.”

“Make yourselves comfortable,” Simon said and hurried to his office. He really did know everyone in the business in this part of the world.

- - -

Although it had been a pleasant afternoon on the large boat, and eye-opening to see a boat like this in person, Harry felt it was late enough they needed to be leaving. Guiding his friends back towards the offices, Cummings came out just before they arrived.

“Mr Evanson, good timing,” Cummings told him with a smile and thrust a sheet of paper at him. “It’s only a fax of a photo so it’s not the best picture, but I found a 54 meter super yacht with ten cabins. You really should have a crew of at least twelve, but you could probably do with four to six if your group is willing to help out. The décor and features are comparable to what you saw on The Maiden and it can sail over 3000 miles if you start with a full tank of diesel. It can also be ready in a week. The bad news is that you’ll have to travel to Singapore to look at it and they won’t be ready to receive you until two days from now, but since it’s an eight hour flight and you won’t be leaving before tomorrow morning that works out for you.”

When the man paused, Harry nodded as that did sound about like what he wanted, and although the picture in his hand was a little grainy, it still looked like decent boat. “And the cost?”

Simon did his best not to wince as he said, “While it is ten years old, I’m told it’s in pristine condition. When I mentioned you’d be paying in Francs they asked for ten million.” Almost everyone gasped, all except for Evanson.

“I see,” James Evanson said slowly as he looked the man right in the eye. “What do you think, Mr Cummings; is it really worth 10 million.”

Cumming was surprised the young man asked that so evenly based on the reactions of the others. “I will have to point out I haven’t seen the boat, Mr Evenson, so maybe it is but perhaps not.”

“That’s a lot money,” the advisor said softly.

Evanson nodded an acknowledgement but looked at the little redhead, making Cumming wonder if she was more than a bodyguard.

“It is a lot of money,” Glenda/Ginny said, “but you’re also buying eight houses and common rooms as well as making them all mobile.” She turned to look at Cummings. “If we decide we no longer want it in ten years and we bring it back in ‘pristine’ condition to sell, how much could we get for it?”

Cummings thought that was a good question. “No one can predict the future,” he wondered why a few of them smiled at that, “but you should get at least half back, maybe a little more if it’s a sellers marker and you have it in pristine condition and modernized where needed.”

“So in the long term, he’s not really spending 10 million,” Glenda said, “but only half or less.”

“That is a smart way to look at it,” Cummings agreed readily, trying to encourage that thinking.

Evanson smiled at the girl who smiled prettily back at him, making Cumming think there was more than a professional relationship there, even if it was only starting to bloom.

“Art,” Evanson looked at the older redhead, “what are your thoughts on traveling to Singapore?”

“I don’t foresee any problems there,” the older redhead said.

“Can I assume you get something for this, even if you don’t sell us your boat?” Evanson asked Cummings.

“The finder’s fee is small, but it does exist.” Cummings saw no reason to lie about it.

“Very well. I’ll go take a look at this boat on the condition that you come too and look at it honestly, for you seem to have been honest with us as far as I can tell. In addition, I’ll give you ten percent of what you save us off of that 10 million. What do you think, Mr Cummings?” Evanson smiled at him mischievously.

Cummings chuckled softly. “Good negotiation and I accept if you’ll pick up my plane ticket and hotel.”

“If you’ll make the reservations I’ll pay for it,” Evanson countered.

“If you’ll step into my office, we’ll make the reservations for you and your crew to be to be flying tomorrow morning.” Cummings waved them in.

Half an hour later, including a phone call to Jean for him to go to the bank and have a letter of credit faxed to show he could pay for it, Harry and his friends were traveling back to the hotel to prepare for a flight to Singapore the next morning -- except for two of them.

As Hermione looked unhappy and Ron didn’t look much better on the trip back to the hotel, Harry felt like he had to say something. “I know you want to come with us, but you must find your parents. It’s one of the reasons we came here and honestly, that is important enough I won’t let you come until you find them and fix the problem.” He wanted to say “restore their memories”, but that had to be implied because of their van driver.

“I know but--” she started before he interrupted her.

“I know, but you feel like you’re being left out. Look,” he sighed and did his best to lower his voice as he had become a little passionate and raised it before. “Look, family is more important. You find them and fix it. I promise you, nothing short of death will prevent us from coming back and picking the two of you up. The offer for your parents to join us is also always open; it’s why I wanted the extra cabins.”

Hermione looked down and nodded slowly.

Since she had accepted it, he now turned to Ron, who didn’t looked thrilled either. “Ron, I’m sorry if this isn’t an adventure you want right now, but I really need you to go with her. No one should be alone. I’d go but I have to take care of the boat and only I can do that. If you, if either of you, think you need it, then talk to George or maybe Neville. I’m sure either of them would go if you asked.” He saw the two mentioned nod but Harry was fairly sure the couple wouldn’t ask.

Ron nodded stoically. Harry felt that acceptance was a win here. They both knew it needed to be done and was the right thing to do. With a grin, Harry added, “Besides, this could be a good time for some personal conversations.”

While Ron glared at him, Hermione piped up a little accusingly, “What about you and Ginny?”

Harry and Ginny looked at each other and smirked. “We have been,” they both said at the same time, causing each other to laugh. Hermione looked piqued but didn’t press the issue any more.

Harry wondered why Bill or Fleur hadn’t said anything, but they looked happy and carefree, seemingly along only for the ride, and maybe to prevent anything too crazy from happening.




The next morning there were almost tearful good-byes as most of the group readied to leave. Harry had Ginny keep Ron occupied while he pulled Hermione aside.

“The hotel is paid for no matter how long you stay,” he told her. “So stay here until you’re sure they’re not in Sydney and you have a good lead to follow.” He pulled out a thick envelope and pushed it into her hands. “When I was getting a credit card at Jean’s bank, I had an extra made with your passport name on it just for this trip. I know you’ll be careful with it, but it’s there for when you travel and hotels and anything else that’s expensive.”

“Harry,” she practically hissed, “you don’t need to do that.”

“Oh, so you have a big bank account to draw on?” he quipped and she had nothing to refute him with. “I also put some of Sirius’s extra money in there. You’ll have to have it changed to the local currency, which you should do soon as you can, but at least you’ll have some cash for emergencies that way. Be bloody careful and call me at least every other day even if only to tell me you’re still looking.” He pulled her in for a tight hug, which she returned.

She also sniffled once and said softly, “Yes, dad.”

He chuckled and pulled back. “In that case, avoid magic so as not to draw attention to yourself but have a little fun too. All right?”

“I will.”

“And don’t be frantic in a hurry; I’d rather you be safe. I’m sure it’ll take us at least a month to sail back -- assuming we like this boat -- and we can take longer if you need the time.” He hugged her again, though quickly this time, before leading her back to a worried looking Ron.

Harry gave Ron a quick manly hug. “You’ll do fine, just follow her lead … sort of just like with your homework for school.”

“Ha -- ha -- really funny,” Ron replied sarcastically. “You’ll take care of her?”

There was no doubt who he was worried about. “Yes, Ginny will be fine. Besides George and Bill and Fleur will be there too.”

Simon Cummings joined them at the airport and soon they were heading towards Singapore, with Winky stowing away again.

- - -

The next morning, the group took a van to the shipyard here. Simon led the way. He took the spec sheet from a man he introduced as Mr Li, who also joined them on the tour and had excellent English.

It was everything Cummings had said. It was probably a little more luxurious than the boat in Sydney had been. There were ten passenger cabins and a dozen much smaller crew cabins. The owner’s cabin was double sized, and two other cabins were a little larger than the remaining seven “normal” cabins, which were luxurious in their own way. They found a hot tub for twelve as well as a lounge area that included a piano. There was also a large motorized skiff hidden in the back to act as transportation between the yacht and shore since the yacht would routinely not be able to dock. The bridge had every modern instrument required and a few extras. It didn’t look ten years old it was in such good condition. Even the engine room looked spotless.

Mr Li understood their need for a discussion without them asking and said he needed to check on something and left, promising to return in a half hour.

Harry looked at Cummings. “I like what I see. What do you think think in regards to the price?”

The man sighed and looked at the spec sheet in his hand for a moment. “Honestly, the boat is in very good condition and is probably worth what they’re asking; they’ve done a good job on fixing it up. About the only leverage you have is that they’ve had the boat for almost a year. I don’t know how many potential buyers they’ve had looking, but perhaps they’d come down a little in order to make the sale. Yes, perhaps they will as I know they have another large new boat about to be completed soon just like we do.”

“So…” Harry tried again to get more of an answer.

“I’ll probably be able to get you a small price break, but I’m not sure how much. Make yourselves comfortable.” Cummings pointed to some bottles of water left for them before he left.

Ginny looked at the others and smirked. “Harry and I call dibs on the owner’s cabin.” Everyone except Luna gave her an eye-roll.

By the end of the day, Harry had spent nine million Francs and depleted much of his bank account until Jean sold some more gold, but he had a new super yacht to show for it. Provisions for a month were also thrown in and he gave up the piano as a concession since no one knew how to play it. Mr Li was also willing to put out a call for crew, but the expense for them was Harry’s responsibility. Simon Cummings was very pleased with his extra 100 thousand Francs.




Six days later when the boat was ready and wire transfer had completed, Harry and his group moved themselves aboard and settled in. Harry and Ginny took the “owner’s cabin”. Bill and Fleur took one of the larger cabins and the other larger cabin was reserved for Ron and Hermione when they rejoined the group. The others took the first passenger cabin they found since the remaining ones were all the same size and still very nice.

Winky was given one of the crew cabins over her protests about it being too large. Neville used another crew cabin to set up plants in, along with a few spells to produce artificial sunlight before it was locked so the Muggle crew couldn’t get in. Winky could still get in of course in order to pick herbs and other things as needed.

Lee and George agreed to Harry’s request to learn about the engines and other maintenance tasks, since they had inventive minds. Harry and Ginny planned to learn to captain the boat and get licensed. Winky was in charge of the kitchen as long as she made sure the Muggles didn’t see her. They all would keep the boat clean as needed, but Luna was put in charge of overseeing that, which mostly meant reminding them to pick up after themselves when they forgot.

Part of his offer to the crew they hired was that the crew needed to willing to teach the group how to operate the boat in exchange for a bonus as well as a plane ticket to anywhere they wanted to go at the end. With those incentives and an expected cruise for only two to three months, it hadn’t been too hard to find volunteers to hire. Simon had told him that it was expected for crew members to not ask personal questions, so that helped.

One of the first conversations with Captain Moore had brought up the travel time.

“Captain,” James/Harry asked, “how long will it take to sail to Sydney from Singapore?”

“Twelve days won’t be hard. We might could do eleven if you really needed to. However,” the man smiled, “if you want to learn how to be a captain, it will take at least two months of hard work -- perhaps more. That also means at least a few stops along the way for experience with ports, which will add to the twelve days. You can do the extra time either on the way or around Australia.”

Harry wondered how quickly Hermione would accomplish her task. He also considered he needed to give her long enough she and her parents could get to know each other again too. “Let’s plan for a leisurely month to reach Australia itself, then we can go fast or slow around the coast as needed until my friends are ready to be picked up.”

“Very good, sir, we can do that,” Moore answered. “Perhaps our first lesson should be on navigation and route planning. Then I have some books for you to read once we’re done with that.” Harry called Ginny up and they started some new “classes”.

- - -

As dinner approached, Harry and Ginny returned back to their cabin. “I think that was interesting; I had no idea what it took to travel by boat. What did you think?” he asked.

“Damn, I spilled something on my blouse. I hope it wasn’t that way all afternoon,” Ginny groused and started taking her top off.

Harry just stared at her in her bra as she walked into the closet to find something else to wear. She had started wearing a little less around him since they had come to Singapore. When she first did it she claimed she wasn’t ready to show everything. While that had disappointed Harry at the time, he now saw the wisdom in going slow and working up to more intimate times. Nevertheless, this sort of thing was still very new to him.

When she came back out of the closet shrugging on her new blouse, she told him, “I was confused at first because there was so much information. However, after I understood that our speed multiplied by time sailed equals our distance traveled, then a lot of it suddenly made sense. I’m not sure I could accurately plan a trip yet, but I think I could plan one and not be off by more than a half a day to a day.”

Harry nodded and walked over to her. Gently, he grabbed her hair and pull it out of the back of her blouse; he also kissed her neck before letting the hair go. “I see what you mean. Fortunately, we’re not in a hurry to go anywhere, so if we’re late by a day it probably wouldn’t matter.”

“Thank you, and true. We’ll get this.” She turned around and put her arms around his neck and kissed him languidly. “Considering how much you’ve enjoyed watching me in just my under things, I think we should try out the hot tub tonight. Fleur talked me into a two piece swim suit that I think you should like.”

He couldn’t help his grin. “I like the idea. You know, it seems like you and Fleur have started getting along better now.” He left his question implied and could tell she understood as she sighed.

“We have because we don’t have much choice.” She looked at him intently. “If I’m fully honest, will you keep this to yourself?”

“Of course.”

Ginny sighed again. “She’s never going to be my best friend. I still find her to be fairly arrogant and then there’s the whole Veela thing that I can’t begin to compete against…”

“There’s not a competition,” he injected into her explanation.

“I know, it’s a girl thing; but it’s still there so don’t try to understand it,” she replied. “Anyway, we’re sort of forced together and I have figured out that we’re going to have to live together for a longer time than a summer. I mentioned being around each other more to her and she agreed and pointed out that if we weren’t friendly with each other it was going to get a little lonely amongst us girls. So we’ve sort of called a truce and are trying to get along and it’s mostly working.”

“Mostly is a good start and I’m glad you two are doing this.” He kissed her more soundly than before. “Thank you for trying and for sharing.”

“You’re welcome. Shall we go to dinner?” she asked as she let go.

At dinner with just their group, as the crew ate separately, Ginny announced that she and Harry were going to try out the hot tub this evening that she’d seen earlier and everyone was invited. Lee perked up and had to explain to George (so the others were reminded too) what a hot tub was.

As it grew dark, the group started to make their way to the hot tub on the foredeck. Harry found the switch for the lights and turned all but one off to make it a little more private. Ginny dropped her robe and Harry was just stood there and enjoyed Ginny in her black two piece walk into the huge tub and get comfortable in the water. It wasn’t one of those itty-bitty bikinis as it covered everything, but the black bikini was a nice contrast with her pale skin and her red hair. With a grin, he joined her in the warm water.

“This is really nice and we can see a lot of stars too,” she commented as she pulled her hair up and kept it up with a band she’d brought.

“True, but not as nice as you,” he quipped.

“Stop it,” she said with a blush and a tone that indicated she didn’t really want the complements to stop.

Harry watched her sink a little until her breasts were just at the surface of the bubbling water. Based on her grin at him, he knew she’d done that on purpose. “You are a tease sometimes,” he told her softly as he heard the footsteps of others coming.

“You seem to like it,” she returned. “Hi Luna. Come sit beside me.”

Harry noted the blonde had a one piece swimsuit on, but she looked good in it. Fleur and Bill came next, with Fleur also in a one piece, which was probably for the best. The three boys were coming behind her and didn’t seem to be in a hurry as they were watching her. He looked at Ginny and saw her shaking her head at the boys’ obviousness.

Sitting back with his arm around Ginny’s shoulders, Harry kept up with the conversation as they all talked about the boat and what the first day of sailing was like, including the few other ships in the distance. Captain Moore had said they’d see more boats and ships for the next day, then not so many, and then more again when they neared Australia.

While Harry was content to just sit and talk about whatever, he noticed that Ginny was asking the others about the boat, what they liked, would like to do, and things like that. When Fleur mentioned the Yule Ball at Hogwarts over three years ago, Harry was surprised to see Ginny’s eyes light up.

“I know, we should have a formal dinner, on Friday night I think,” Ginny said excitedly. “Everyone can dress up. I’ll also lock the doors to make it private so we can talk about anything we like. What do you think, Harry?”

Harry saw that Bill and Fleur seemed to like the idea, as did Neville. Luna didn’t seem to care. Lee looked amused, while George seemed to be the only who didn’t care for the idea, but he didn’t say anything either. “Sure, that could be fun to do occasionally.”

“You’re right,” she continued in her excitement, “if it goes well we could do it every Friday evening.” Now George groaned. “What?” she asked him with an expectant look.

George sighed. “Never mind, it’s fine. Not sure if I brought anything smart with me though.”

Ginny lifted her hand out of the water and waved it a little in the motions of a transfiguration spell. “Just fix it.”

George shrugged and didn’t say anything more.

Ginny looked at Harry in puzzlement. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I could be wrong, but my guess is he isn’t enthusiastic because it reminds him of Fred. Be gentle.”

She gave him a silent “oh” before she whispered, “Thanks.” Turning the group, she asked, “Any requests for food?”

After a while, Lee and then George got out and went to the bow of the boat and looked out, having a private conversation for a few minutes. That seemed to be the signal to the rest and they slowly started to get out and then leave for their own cabin.

Ginny grabbed Luna’s arm as she started to leave. “Are you all right?”

Luna shrugged. “I don’t know. I seem to have a terrible infestation of Wracksports and I don’t know how long it’ll take to get rid of them.”

“Let me know if I can help,” Ginny offered.

Luna looked at her and then Harry before she smiled. “I don’t think you can, but I’ll let you know if that changes.”

As she left, Ginny looked at him; it was now only the two of them left. “I tried; I think she’s depressed about her father.”

“You did,” he agreed, “and we both will keep on trying. I think you’re right about her missing her father. We all need time to find normal again, or our new normal. Stand up please?”

She was confused as to why but did. She was then pulled onto his lap where she was held securely around the waist.

“I have you now.”

“What are you going to do with me?” she asked in amusement.

“I think kissing sounds like a good start.”

“I think that’s about all you’re going to get,” she told him, “at least for now. I haven’t made up my mind yet about moving things forward, but be a good boy and it’ll happen.”

“So good kisses then,” he grinned at her before starting the kissing.

Eventually, they returned to their room. They still slept together, but it was still just sleeping. Harry wondered when it would go further.




(A/N: No, I don’t have the means to live on a yacht of any size, but I can read about them. Pretty much everything mentioned about them is true about yachts in general or at least one I found online.)

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Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Author's Notes: I do want to address 1 thing since it’s come up a few times. My goal is to write “semi-realistic” stories. What that really means to me is that I do enough research on things I don’t know that it should pass casual inspection and make sense generally, unless you are well versed in the topic. An example of this is the yacht mentioned in this story. Why did Harry buy one so big? Because if you want more than 6 cabins, generally speaking you have move up to the “superyacht” category which means it’ll be 33m-60m long. Yes, there are a few smaller ones that would work and you can have custom built ones that are smaller with more cabins, but for Harry and friends time was of the essence so a “pre-owned” one it was going to have to be which means I had to pick from what most yachts were like that I found online. If I’ve described something about the yacht, that means I’ve found at least one example of a yacht like that. I also want to stress the “semi” in that goal too because sometimes I do “wing it”; a case in point was the price. To get the real price, I would have had to take $10M-USD (about what something like this would go for today), take that back to 1998 USD, then find the conversion rate to Francs for that time. Umm, I’m a little too lazy for that so I did wing the price and as 1 person pointed out to me who did work through that research and math, I gave Harry a “great deal” on that boat. :) If I was paid to write, I can promise I would have not only done the research and math, I would have finagled a tour on a few yachts too to be even more realistic. But this is fan-fiction, so this is what you get. :)


A couple of evenings later, they were sitting on the deck near a light so Harry could read an assigned book on maritime law while Ginny worked on something in a notebook.

“Harry?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you plan on finishing school? You know, your seventh year?”

Putting his finger on a paragraph, he looked at her and found her to have a very contemplative expression. “Why?”

“Just wondering as I was thinking about what to do for myself.”

He considered the question. “While I was gone, I looked over some of the books Hermione brought. I learned the spells that I thought looked useful; I didn’t bother with the theory too much. I don’t know for sure, but I guess I’ll look over the books some more and finish learning the rest of the spells when I get time in a few months, but I won’t ever sit for my NEWTS.”

She nodded. “I’ve thought about something similar. We also have all of the library books you brought so we can look through those for extra things we want to learn if we want.”

“True,” he agreed.

“Hermione didn’t do lessons? I’d sort of expected she would have.”

He laughed lightly. “She did for herself but she also knew we had more important things to do. I think me looking at the books and learning at least some kept her happy enough.”

“Will you let me know when you’re ready? I think I’d like to join you. The others who didn’t finished might like to as well. It shouldn’t be too hard with several that have already finished available to tutor us.”

“True.” When she didn’t say anything else, he returned to his reading, but considered she had a point. After he finished his captain’s license, which was a higher priority, would probably be a good time.




As Thursday afternoon ended, Harry looked at his teacher. “Captain, I thought I’d let you know that I won’t be up here tomorrow as I need to take the day off to take care of personal business. Also, we plan to have a private party tomorrow evening, so the dining room and kitchen will be closed. However, Glenda said we’ll bring food for everyone up here so the crew can eat when they want, sort of a buffet.”

“Thank you for telling me, Mr Evanson, and for the buffet. I’ll let the rest of the crew know,” the older man said.

“Are you all right? I only ask because you look a little extra tired.”

The captain smiled, briefly and tiredly. “I am reasonably fine, as is Mr Pappas, although he’s hiding it better since he’s younger.”

Harry nodded as the First Mate was still in his late twenties, though Harry didn’t see him much because Alex Pappas normally took the late shift.

“We’ve been working longer shifts than normal because there’s only two of us, but we’ll be in Jakarta day after tomorrow even at our slower pace and I plan for us to take at least two if not three days there. We’ll get a lot of rest, you can restock any food that you need -- especially fresh produce. When we continue, I plan to change the shifts so you and/or Miss Glenda will cover six or seven hours during the day, although I plan to be available for at least two of those for training. It won’t be so tiring that way as that will make it closer to the normal three on the crew who can pilot.”

Harry was shocked. “Are we even ready for that this soon?”

“Officially,” Captain more said with a smile again, “I’m still in charge of the boat and you’ll be sailing under my instruction so you’re covered legally. Otherwise, it’s time for you to gain some experience and we’ll be sailing in open water in only light traffic since we’re not going by the most direct route, so I believe you’ll be fine. I’ll watch you closely the first day or two, but bring your books and you can study for your license during that time when there’s nothing to watch out for.”

Harry nodded. “I guess it’s a step forward and I’ll tell Glenda.” Ginny had the same slightly shocked reaction he’d had.




After breakfast the next day, Harry returned to his cabin while Ginny was busy talking to Winky and planning for this evening as well as making a list for food supplies to buy when they came into port.

Harry had two cargo trunks. One was almost full of gold bars, although it was only half of his original amount as he’d given the other half of the bars to Jean to sell. That money, and the Francs and Pounds he’d received from the Goblins, had gone into his Muggle bank account and had purchased this boat. In fact, buying the boat had used nearly three-quarters of that account, but he had enough left in there to live for a while and Jean still had more bars to sell over time, so his account would go back up. Harry had also sold a couple of bars in Sydney and several more in Singapore to have some ready spending money to pay the crew. He also still had most of Sirius’s emergency money for an emergency.

In addition, he was receiving money from the Black account as Andromeda was selling a few things off and giving him half. He had found it amusing some of the money came from old loans the Black family had lent to Death Eater families that hadn’t been repaid and she was calling those due. It would create a bit of a financial hardship for some of those families, but none of them would really miss a meal. Still, he had no problem creating a major annoyance for them.

Ignoring the trunk of gold and the trunk of library books from the Black house, he opened the third trunk that was filled with non-monetary items from the vaults of the Potters, the Blacks, the Malfoys, and Bellatrix Lestrange. Part of him was curious as to what he’d find, yet he was also apprehensive. Fortunately, everything was in boxes and marked as to which vault it came from.

He pulled out the “Potter” boxes first and the first one showed him the contents were shrunken, so there would be a lot of things in this trunk as it was full of boxes. He started to suspect much of his parents’ house was in here given the many mundane things he found, but he had no idea if it really was his parents’ or not. Most of those things he just put into a box to decide on later.

“Oh,” he said to himself as he pulled out a shield, “that would be the family crest.” He sat that to the side; he’d hang that in their cabin later. He found a box of real silverware with the same crest on it.

The books he pulled out were sat on a few shelves that had been empty; he’d look through those later, probably when they were sailing and there was nothing in front of them but open water.

A small ornate chest came out next. Inside of it he found some things that Ginny might like. He pulled a few items out to put in his drawer before he sat the chest on Ginny’s dresser for her to find later.

There were items he couldn’t identify. Some photographs were very welcome as he no longer had his family album that Hagrid had made for him. He could identify his parents and he guessed the older couple with them were his grandparents. Others were of people he didn’t know and there was nothing on the back to help identify them. Then there was an entire box of records; those would have to wait too.

The box for the Blacks held mostly financial records and business papers. Since he thought Andromeda had kept those he was surprised to find them. He’d have to go over these later too, but not too much later in case Andromeda needed them. If required, he mail them to Jean to give to her.

Fortunately, the boxes for the Malfoy’s and Bella hadn’t been too much different from the Blacks, and so his fear of finding a lot of Dark magical items never materialized.

Ginny returned around lunch time. “How is it going?” He’d told her last night what he planned to do today.

“Well, I suppose. I’m about done with sorting through it all, at least generally. There is a lot more to look at in detail later,” he waved his hand negligently towards the books and the boxes of records nearby, “but at least I know what’s here. Then there are multiple boxes of normal household items. It almost makes me wonder if maybe Dumbledore boxed up my parents’ house when they were killed and had it all stored in my family vault or something.” He shrugged. “It could be items from some other relative too for all I know. I suppose the worst part is that I have no one to ask.”

He grinned suddenly. “I found the family crest.” He pointed at the shield he’d found.

“Oh, that’s nice,” she told him as she walked over to look. “Will you hang it up?”

“Yeah, probably on that wall unless you have a better place for it.”

“No, that one will be fine.” She looked around. “Wait, what’s that on my dresser?”

“Something I found from the Potters. I thought you’d like it,” he told her and walked over to watch her.

“Wow, this is nice,” she said as she looked through her new (to her) jewelry box. “This will be nice for tonight.”

“Good, enjoy it,” he encouraged her. “Let’s go find lunch, I’m starving. Did you work everything out with Winky?”

“Yes,” she replied as she closed the jewelry box, “or at least we have tonight planned and a good start on what to buy when we make port. We can do this,” she said with a smile as they walked out.

” ” ”

Pius Thicknesse was still in charge of the Ministry. That was mostly due to Lucius Malfoy being gone now and no one else really had enough power by himself to force a change. Also, he was probably the least offensive of the people available and he’d held the position for nearly a year, so being an incumbent really helped.

“Let’s get started,” the Minister said. “Stills, have the Aurors found Potter yet?”

Geoff Stills, the new Director of MLE, didn’t look happy. “No, he and all of his friends still haven’t been found. I will point out they hid for nearly a year, so it could be difficult to find them. I’m fairly sure they’re in the country though because any Apparation or Portkeys off the island will be sent here to a Ministry holding cell and they haven’t shown up yet.”

“What about at relatives’ homes?” Thicknesse asked.

“Whose?” Stills asked rhetorically. “Potter has none that we’re aware of, except for his Muggle ones and they are nowhere to be found.

“The Weasleys are gone except for the oldest son who’s missing and the second son who’s in Romania and hasn’t been in the country for three years according to our records, which are a bit of mess so I can’t guarantee anything about the last year. Arthur Weasley’s house was destroyed a year ago and we don’t know where they lived in that time. The Weasley shop in Diagon Alley is empty.

“We sent someone to Granger’s parents’ home only to find they’d left the country a year ago.

“We had hope for catching Lee Jordan, but his parents’ house is completely empty.

“There were plans to recover something from Longbottom Manor after Augusta’s passing but by the time we got there blood-based war wards were up.

“Last is Lovegood Manor which has wards up no one understands.”

“Send the Department of Mysteries,” someone suggested.

Stills sent a glare. “When I said no one, I meant no one. In addition, the Unspeakable I talked to just laughed at me when I mention the Longbottoms, so I suspect someone there is related to the family. If you want to enter either of those houses you’ll have to hire a Curse Breaker. Don’t ask us because we don’t have the expertise nor the manpower to take on wards of that capability.”

“Fine,” Thicknesse said with resignation, “but keep looking. Finance, what have I been hearing about paychecks being late?”

Bert Appleby sat up a little straighter and leaned forward. “Tax payments have been a little late for months because of the war, but we’ve had a cushion. That cushion has now been exhausted, so paychecks will be about two days late.”

“Why didn’t you arrange a short term loan like we normally do in these situations?” Thicknesse asked.

“Because the Goblins have raised the short term interest rates from three percent to ten percent and we can’t afford that.”

“What?!” multiple people shouted.

“You’d need to ask the Goblin Liaison to get the details, but from what little I could find out the Goblins are a little short on ready Galleons so they’re limiting large withdrawals and they’ve raised the interest rates to help themselves,” Appleby explained.

“Creswell, what’s going on?” Thicknesse’s question was met with silence and everyone looked around for the man. “Where is he?”

A quiet voice from behind the Minister spoke up. “I received his resignation this morning by an owl.”

The Minister turned and scowled at his secretary but she only shrugged. “You’ve been too busy to give it to you. I have two other resignations plus Arthur Weasley isn’t here either, so that’s a total of four sub-heads to replace,” she told him.

“I’d suggest,” Appleby said into the silence, “that you don’t replace them for a while if you can help it because that would save us money. I’d also suggest that if there were people any department had been considering laying off that you do so now.”

“I can’t!” “We’re too short-handed now!” “Are you daft?!” “We can’t run that way!” And so the shouts went for over minute.

Thichnesse just rubbed his temples until they quieted down to only mutterings.

Appleby just made it worse with, “Or if you don’t want more delayed paychecks, then everyone in the Ministry, and that includes those in this room, need to take a ten percent pay cut until tax revenue returns to a normal level.”

That started a new round of shouting. This time Thicknesse looked at the ceiling and wondered if he should resign and let someone else deal with all this.

” ” ”

Harry straightened his tie. It had taken him only four tries to get it looking mostly right. His hair was combed and straightened as much as he could. He considered getting it cut shorter when it was only his friends on the boat; fortunately it didn’t grow quickly.

Ginny came out of the bathroom fully dressed in a black dress that came to her knees. The top was two wide strips that started on each hip and crossed to cover each breast before tying behind her neck. With her hair up, some golden jewelry, and in modest black strappy heals, it made her look several years older. “Very nice,” he told her appreciatively.

She smiled broadly and gave a slow twirl. “You like?”

It showed a little stomach with some cleavage but not too much. It showed about half of her sides but the back was completely bare as were her shoulders. While her breasts weren’t large, there was no doubt she was a young woman now. “Yes and I’m lucky you’re mine. I’ve never seen that dress before; when did you get it?”

“I got it that day in Singapore when you went to sell the gold and Fleur, Luna, and I went shopping for a few more things. Fleur suggested we get some formal clothes since we’d be on a luxury boat and we might need to look the part. That’s also when I purchased that suit for you.” She smiled at him. “It looks good on you.”

“Thanks, but I believe you’re the better looking one. Shall we go?” He offered her his arm. “I have my wand in case we need it.”

“I have mine too, but yours is probably easier to get to,” she told him.

“I’ll be happy to get it for you,” he offered suggestively.

Ginny laughed, “Good try, but no. It’s only for emergencies anyway. You can put up the privacy charms.”

When they arrived in the dining room, Harry found it was decorated and the table (which looked small in the large room) was set for the eight of them. There was also several large platters that were covered in cling film. “Be a dear and take those to the bridge, please,” she asked. “I took bottled drinks up earlier.”

“Sure.” He grabbed the two large stacked platters and took them up. Captain Moore was on duty and looked pleased to see the food.

Back down in the dining room the others had come in. All were dressed smartly, even George. Harry put up the privacy spells so they couldn’t be heard outside the room. It also allowed Winky to come out, although she always stood or sat near the entrance to the kitchen.

Harry was directed to one end of the table with Bill and Fleur to sit near him. Ginny took the other end of the table with Lee and Luna near her. George and Neville took the chairs in the middle of the long sides. Harry held out Ginny’s chair for her before walking to the other end to take his own seat. Bill did the same for his wife and Neville did it for Luna.

Winky brought out a large ham on a platter, followed by bowls of vegetables, a pineapple sauce, and a couple of wine bottles -- the boat had come with a large selection.

After they started eating, Harry said, “I’d like to use part of this time for a meeting. I heard from Hermione this afternoon and they’ve left Sydney and are heading south, so our schedule of not arriving at Australia’s coast for about another three weeks is still holding. After we get there, we’ll slowly sail around the coast to whichever port is nearest to their location.

“Next, Ginny and I are making progress in learning to pilot the boat, the most important task of captaining the boat. We should be making port in Jakarta at about noon day after tomorrow. Captain Moore said he planned for us to be there for about three days. We’ll pick up supplies before leaving too. So if you’ve found anything you need but don’t have, you can try to buy it there. In case you don’t know, Jakarta is in Indonesia which is not an ICW country, so we should be safe during the stop.”

Ginny spoke up, “I’ve started a list of food to buy, but if you’d like anything special let me know by breakfast tomorrow morning.”

Harry looked to his right. “Bill, I guess you can go next.”

“Right. I should start with thanks for letting me use your Invisibility Cloak; it’s been very helpful,” Bill said. “Fleur has been helping me and we think we have the wards you want up. Anyone, except for the eight of us, who try to Apparate or Portkey to the boat will find themselves being bounced off at least a hundred meters. That means I’ll have to key in Ron and Hermione when they join us. I think that will protect us from being boarded by magicals, at least for those that try to get on the easy way. Fleur and I are now working out what other protections we can do, such as fire protection and making the hull harder. It’s unusual for me to be working on a moving location that I can’t tie to a piece of land,” he said with a grin.

Everyone chuckled at that.

“Thanks for the help, Bill and Fleur,” Harry said graciously. “Neville?”

“Our indoor garden is doing well. Thanks to Fleur,” he gave her a brief smile, “the room appears nine times larger than it really is, and that includes wall height which will let us put small trees in there as the ceiling is a little under eight meters up. I may try to get a few miniature fruit trees when we go ashore. Winky has already been harvesting a few herbs. The vegetables will be ready in about another month or so. The plants for potions need at least a couple more weeks, except for those that have special harvesting conditions, like on a full or new moon, or on an equinox, or whatever.”

“Good, that will help us.” Harry looked at the last pair.

Lee shrugged so George said, “It’s going well down in engineering, or well for the two of us who’ve never done this before. The head engineer Russo is a grouch, but he knows his stuff from what we can tell. Mia, the assistant, is a lot easier to work with so we tend to hang around on her shift more and help her out. Lee especially.” He grinned at his friend.

“What? She’s pretty and easy to talk to,” Lee protested lightly.

“Lee, be careful there,” Ginny warned. “Don’t get too involved and then hurt her when she has to leave because that time will come.”

“I know,” Lee said a little heatedly before he paused and took a deep breath. “Look, we’re just friends and I think it’ll stay that way, but she is easy to talk to and fun to be around. She does have time when she’s not on duty and she has to do something besides hang out in her cabin or the crew room by herself.”

“Lee, all we’re saying is be careful for both her and your sakes,” Harry said lightly. “Does anyone have anything else to report?”

“I have a non-personal suggestion,” Lee said a little defensively after the previous item. “I had an idea the other day but I don’t know if it’s possible. If you think about it, there are three main reasons we have to go into port: parts, food, and fuel. I found out we carry replacement parts for the most common repairs we might have to make, so that’s mostly covered until we have to replace them. Neville is working on the food, although if we can expand the freezer we could carry more and we also have an ocean with a lot of fish in it.

“That leaves fuel. We have a really big tank, but it will eventually run dry, which causes us to have go to port and spend money. But I’m wondering if magic can help “ when it’s only us. We have duplicating charms for paper and parchment, and there are a few other specialty duplicating magics. Could we build something that duplicates fuel?”

“Duplicated things eventually go away, turning back into free magic like other conjured things, so that wouldn’t help,” Bill countered.

“Sure, if you wait long enough,” Lee agreed. “But what if you duplicated it just before it was used? By the time it goes away, it’s already burned and in fact having it go away would be a good thing. It’s like duplicating paper then burning it. You get the heat from it being burnt as that happens before the duplication reverts.”

“Oi, that could work!” George exclaimed.

“If we could figure out how, it could,” Bill agreed thoughtfully. “Now that you remind me, when I was in Egypt and we were low on wood, someone broke up what wood we had into small pieces and enlarged them. They would burn to give us warmth before the charm wore off so our wood supply lasted a lot longer than it would have otherwise. I haven’t run into anything that would do what you suggest though and it would have to be rune based.” He looked at his wife.

Fleur shook her head. “I have not, but I can check my books.”

“I’ll set up the books we took from the Black house in the cabin we’ve reserved for Ron and Hermione. People can look thru them to see if they find anything when they have time,” Harry said and everyone nodded. “I also have a few books from the Potter vault.”

“I should probably look over all of the books for curses first, especially family based ones that probably only you could open,” Bill told him. “Put the trunk in there and I’ll unpack it tomorrow and start checking for curses.”

“We … for safety,” Fleur told him.

“Right, we can start that.” Bill gave her an apologetic look and received a smile.

“I’ll come look after you’ve checked some,” Neville offered, “since I have more free time than most of you who are learning about the boat.”

“I’ll help with that too,” Luna said.

“Good idea, Lee,” Harry told him with a big smile. “Even if it takes us a while to figure it out, I think that will help a lot. Is there anything else we could do to reduce fuel usage, other than not sailing?” Everyone chuckled at that.

“The only other things that use fuel are the skiff we’ll use to go to shore when we have to anchor in the water, but we won’t be using that very much,” Lee replied.

“The generator,” George added. “It’s a small motor that Russo said that runs all the time when we aren’t sailing and have the big motors running. He said it’s to power the lights but I don’t think it should have to do much for just the lights.”

Lee rolled his eyes. “George, it’s for more than the lights. Remember what Mia said? It’s for everything that uses electricity on the boat, which is actually fairly large as that includes the kitchen and all the instruments on the bridge, which makes it very important.”

“Do you know how a motor works?” Harry asked. “Could we duplicate what it does with magic? I ask because I don’t know how one works.”

“No I don’t know,” Lee said with a shake of his head, “but I’ll do my best to learn over the next week. We have some smaller motors down there and I think I saw one in the supply room with extra parts. Hopefully Mia can explain it well enough I can understand.”

“Well, you know more than me in this case,” Harry told him. “It’s really you, me, and Hermione when she joins us, with a Muggle background. I can see the rest of you are learning quickly, but there’s a lot to learn.” Everyone agreed with that.

“Since we’re done eating, let’s go sit in the lounge area where it’s more comfortable.” Everyone stood and Harry led the way with the wine bottles in hand.

” ” ”

Mario Russo grumbled as he read the note on the door about the kitchen being closed tonight and that there was food on the bridge. Swearing under his breath he turned for the stairs to go up yet again to get a late dinner. Inside the bridge area he found the Captain in his chair and the First Mate at the radar station, each with empty plates nearby.

“I can’t believe they closed the kitchen so I had to come all the way up here,” Russo groused. “Where’s the food they said would be here instead of in the crew area?”

“Mr Russo,” the Captain said raising his voice slightly and adding extra enunciation. “That is a poor attitude for a well-paid Chief Engineer on a luxury yacht.”

Russo looked like he wanted to tell the Captain what he could do with the attitude but held his tongue.

“In addition,” the Captain said, “they’ve held far fewer parties than most luxury boats I’ve served on and I suspect that to be true for you as well even if we’ve never served together before. Also, they have provided excellent food, well above the normal fair.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re an Aussie and the owner is a Brit,” Russo retorted.

“Err, not really,” Alex Pappas replied, “the food is really very good, probably the best in the five years I’ve been piloting. If you don’t want plain ham, try the ham salad on one of the rolls with some Swiss cheese. Drinks are in the small fridge over there.”

The engineer glared at the young man, who just shrugged off the look from the cantankerous old man.

“Take the food you need and leave if you’re going to be that way,” the Captain said with a steely look. “In fact, if you’re that upset, get off the boat at Jakarta and go back to Italy. I’m sure we can find a more pleasant engineer, one who would gladly take your pay and bonuses.”

That earned another glare, but the engineer now kept silent, grabbing a large plate of food and leaving to eat elsewhere.

“You know,” Pappas said casually when the two were alone again, “I’m enjoying this cruise, but that man is a real pain in the neck, I think you’d say.”

“I’ve never met him before or I would have warned Mr Evanson not to hire him,” Moore said eventually with a shake of his head. “I do believe you have the right of it though. I agree that Evanson and his bunch are very decent. Are you ready to take over?”

“Yes, sir!” Pappas took his plate over and placed it on the table with the food to be cleaned up later.

“Very well, the helm is yours,” the Captain said, adding his plate to the stack before he left for his cabin nearby. He wondered if he should make a few phone calls to find a new chief engineer or not.




Harry slowly turned the ship and smiled. “How’s our position?”

“About 24 kilometers to the coast of Western Australia, so we’re in international waters. Good job, Harry.” Ginny beamed at him from the navigation seat. “We could be in Perth in about a day if we went to full speed.”

“I don’t see the need because--” the phone rang and stopped him.

The two looked at each other, but it was Ginny who walked over to the communications center as the phone rang again. “It’s going to your personal number.” She pushed the proper button and said, “Hello, this is the bridge.”

“Ginny?” came out of the speaker.

“Hermione, this is a surprise. I thought you talked to Harry yesterday.”

“I did, but I’m calling to tell you that my guess was correct and my parents really are in Melbourne, or really in a small town right outside. I’m following them home now.”

“Great, I’m happy for you,” Harry told her. “We plan to be there in about a week. That will give you some time to get to know them again.”

“I know, it’s just that...” Hermione trailed off and her voice now had a hitch in it.

Harry locked the controls into place and walked over. “Ginny,” he said quietly, “take the helm.” He picked up the receiver and pushed a button so the conversation went to the receiver in his hand and not the speaker.

“You’re off speaker but I’m still on the bridge,” he told his friend as Ginny sat in the captain’s chair. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m so nervous about this and then...” She trailed off.

“Then what?” he asked gently.

It took a moment before he heard, “Then there’s Ron. He’s hardly speaking to me anymore. I’d hoped he was just having a bad day at first but it’s been like this for nearly two weeks.”

Harry just blinked at hearing that and looked at Ginny, who was looking concerned even if she hadn’t heard Hermione’s answer. “Do you know why?”

“Maybe. He’s … he’s really unhappy. He’s … he wants to leave and join everyone else,” she finally got out.

Harry took a deep breath, then two more. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“I didn’t want to worry you,” she said in a timid voice.

Harry rolled his eyes even if she couldn’t see him. “Do you have a phone number where he is right now?”

“Harry, I don’t think--”

“Hermione, give me the phone number to the hotel and his room number.”

“But--”

“Hermione, you don’t need this, so let me fix it. The number please.”

It was a long moment before Hermione told him.

“All right. Don’t return for at least an hour,” he told her. “When you return, if he’s still a problem then grab your things and leave. You have my credit card so you can even get a room in another hotel -- tonight. We’re going to full speed and should be there in about four or maybe five days at the most. Call me if you need me. If there’s an emergency, call me immediately because we’ll be at Perth tomorrow and I can get off and fly on an airplane to help you out if you need me.”

She sniffled for a moment. “You don’t have to, but thank you, Harry.”

“I’ll do what I need to do for my friends.”

“Thank you, Harry. I need to go. I’m not sure if I’ll talk to my parents tonight or not, probably not with the way I’m feeling,” she said.

“I understand. Take care of yourself and call me tomorrow unless you need me before then,” he told her.

“All right, thanks, bye.”

Harry hung up and looked over.

“What’s Ron done, because it’s obvious he did something,” Ginny said with some exasperation.

“He’s made her life difficult and I’m going to see about fixing that. You have the helm until I get back. If you need help, call the Captain. Oh, and go to full speed, but gradually so you don’t alarm anyone. After we round the southwestern corner, we’ll head straight to Melbourne instead of following the coast ... assuming I don’t have to get an airplane ticket and fly there tomorrow.”

He turned and stormed to his cabin. “Damn it! This is the second time he’s done something like this,” he muttered. Fortunately for the others, he met no one on the way.

Once inside his cabin, he grabbed the phone and called the number Hermione had given him. He was thankful the boat had a communication system that could do this. It was expensive to make calls like this, or expensive compare to normal calls, but this would be worth it.

The hotel answered and then transferred him to the room number he gave. The phone rang three times before it was answered in a familiar if quizzical voice. “Hello?”

“Ronald. Billus. Weasley. What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing to my best friend?” Harry didn’t pause for an answer. “When you left you told me to be good to Ginny, but I didn’t say anything to you about Hermione because I thought it was obvious you should take care of her since I sent you to protect her. Yet she just called me in tears about how nervous she is about her parents but she couldn’t go to you for support because you weren’t talking to her anymore. So why, Ron? Tell me why and make it good.”

The silence stretched out.

“Ron, answer me or I swear to you that I’ll find a way to be there tomorrow and you won’t like what I say or do.”

“That’s not fair. It’s not my fault. You don’t know how hard it’s been. All the Muggle stuff everywhere. I can’t use magic for anything. It’s not normal.”

Harry had to look at the phone to make sure he was on a call and wasn’t imagining this. “Are you bloody serious? That’s the excuse you’re going to use this time?”

“What do you mean this time?” Ron retorted. “And yes I’m serious.”

“Oh, you don’t remember walking out of a tent and leaving us just because you couldn’t take a little hardship?” Harry asked more than a little sarcastically.

“That was totally different!”

“You wanted out physically then, and you’ve walked out figuratively now by not supporting Hermione.”

Ron didn’t say anything, so Harry went on.

“Listen Ron, you have one chance to fix this. Get your act together and grow up fast. Do the right thing for once and suffer a little for the good of a friend. When I next talk to Hermione, I better hear from her about how sincere you were in apologizing and then helping her without complaint … and that better continue. If you don’t, I swear to you Ron, when I get there you will not like what else I say to you and I also swear that you won’t get on this boat. If you are so selfish that you won’t help one of your best friends for something that’s easy, then you can go and live on your own without us.”

“You can’t leave me here!”

“Don’t tempt me!” Harry he yelled and slammed the phone on the hook before looking out the window and trying to get his emotions back under control. It took nearly five minutes before he trusted himself to leave the cabin and make his way back to the bridge.

When he arrived on the bridge, he found Captain Moore and Alex Pappas standing near Ginny. “Err, is there something wrong?”

“I think that’s something we should ask you,” Moore said. “I felt the ship change to full power; I’d noticed something like that even if I was asleep and I wasn’t.”

“It woke me up,” Alex said softly.

Moore nodded and looked at his employer.

“My friend has an unexpected problem and she’s in Melbourne. I’d like to get there sooner than in the seven or eight days we had planned. My guess is about four or five days from now at full speed. I’ll find out tomorrow how big the problem is and if we need to stop at Perth for me to take an airplane to meet her.”

“You mean we,” Ginny said pointedly.

Harry looked at her for a moment. “Yes, that probably would be a good idea.” Looking at the captain. “If we both had to leave, you could come slower if that made it easier. After Melbourne, I can take a full shift again. I’d like to head to New Zealand and that’s probably where we’d drop off the four of you.”

The two crew members nodded in understanding. “Very well, if that’s what you want,” the Captain said.

“Captain,” Ginny looked at him, “do you mind if we go to our cabin for a bit? I think I need more detail about the problem, but we can return to finish the shift.”

“This sounds important, so go ahead and don’t worry about coming back. It was only another two hours until the end. I can take that until it’s Mr Pappas’s time,” the Captain said.

“Thank you,” the two teens told the captain before Ginny almost dragged Harry out of the bridge.

As soon as they were in their cabin, Ginny demanded, “What’s my brother done this time? Tell me all.” Ginny was not happy at the end of Harry’s story.

” ” ”

An hour later when everyone came to dinner, neither Harry nor Ginny were feeling any better. As they sat down, George indirectly brought it up and Harry couldn’t really hold it in completely.

“Harry, why the big increase in speed?” George asked. “We noticed it in the engine room.”

“I received a phone call from Hermione about an hour ago. She found her parents,” he answered gravely, working to keep his temper in check.

“Err, shouldn’t that be a cause for joy?” George continued, perplexed at Harry’s reaction. “You don’t look happy.”

“It should be a good thing, but something’s happened and we need to get to her sooner rather than later. In fact,” Harry paused and looked around the table, “if you’re … part of the red-haired family,” he didn’t want to give their name away in case one of the crew walked in right then, “there’s a mandatory meeting after dinner in our cabin. If you’re not, you can come or not as you like.”

Everyone but Ginny looked surprised. “Hmm, Hermione’s in trouble and you need to talk to the three of us, so that means Ron did something and it was probably stupid,” George speculated.

Harry looked at him with a tight expression. “After dinner please.”

George looked over slightly, since Harry and Ginny were sitting next to each other as they usually did for normal meals. “Ginny, do you know?”

“As he said, after dinner.” Her voice sounded overly controlled.

“This must be a good one,” Bill commented. “All right, after dinner, but I think it should be a quick dinner as I’m now dying of curiosity.”

“Thank you,” Harry said with the barest of nods.

A few attempts at conversation were tried, all failed so the meal was mostly eaten in silence.

Luna was the last to finish eating, although only a little after Fleur. As soon as she was done, Harry stood and offered Ginny his arm to lead her to their cabin. Everyone followed.

The owner’s cabin was double sized compared to the normal ones. Besides a nice bedroom, bathroom, and closets, it also had a sitting area that was completely separate from the bedroom. Once inside, Harry brought in two chairs from the bedroom into the sitting room before he sat on the couch beside Ginny. “A couple of you will have to make your own chair.”

Bill conjured a love seat for him and Fleur before he asked, “I suppose I’m head of the Weasleys now, so what’s happened?”

“The medium version,” Harry started, “is that Hermione called us and said she’d found her parents in a town outside of Melbourne, which is where I was sailing towards anyway since she’d told me she was heading south. She broke down into tears and she said she was nervous. When I was able to get her to answer ‘why’ on the tears she said it was because Ron wasn’t supporting her and had hardly spoken to her in the last two weeks because he was tired of the Muggle lifestyle.”

“Seriously, he’s doing it again?” George asked incredulously.

“While it’s wrong of him not to help her,” Bill said, “what do you mean by again?”

George started the story. “Six months ago, or something like that…”

“A bit before Christmas,” Harry filled in at George’s look before George continued.

“Yeah, then, Ron abandoned Harry and Hermione while they were hunting for the way to kill You-Know-Who. He just walked out and left them.” George shook his head.

“I heard he did go back, eventually,” Lee added, “right?”

Harry nodded. “Yes, near the end he did come back. This time, he hasn’t walked out physically, but he has abandoned her emotionally. I’m even more upset because one of the last things he said to me before he left was tell me to take care of Ginny. I didn’t bother saying the same thing about Hermione, who I think of like a sister, because I thought it should have been a given after all we’ve been through. I mean, that’s why I told him he had to go so she wouldn’t be alone and I knew they needed to work out what was between them. Instead, he abandons her.”

“I’d be very tempted to hit him if he was here,” George said and made a fist.

“I did tell him how … disappointed I was in him and threatened him.” Harry looked down for a moment before looking at Bill. “I threatened that if he didn’t grow up and make things right I’d leave him in Australia.” Several gasped at that. “I was really upset and now that I’ve had a little bit of time to think, I don’t believe I’d really do that as I don’t want the ICW to catch him; but I am seriously considering bringing him with us, locking him in a cabin during the trip, and leaving him in New Zealand. If he wants to be selfish then he can live by himself.”

Bill tiredly ran a hand over his face and looked down for a long moment. “I’m trying to think of what Dad would do. I know he’d be very disappointed in Ron, and probably upset too; but I don’t think he’d abandon him in a foreign country. That’s about all I know and I’m not sure what to do.” He looked over. “Ginny, you’ve been very quiet about this.”

Ginny’s forced neutral expression hardened. “He’s very lucky I’m not there or he’d have bat bogeys coming out of every orifice and attacking him for a long time. I really thought he’d grown past things like this, but I guess not. However, to be complete, what Harry said about leaving Ron behind was only if he didn’t grow up and make things right. If he’ll do that in the next twenty-two hours then he’ll only be in the dog house and not facing my wand -- probably.”

Bill nodded. “I can see your point. He could fix this … for a loose value of fix. Harry, would that remove the worst punishment you were thinking?”

Harry nodded. “I did tell him to grow up and fix this and then keep doing the right thing before I threatened him. If he will do that, I won’t kick him off the boat. I don’t expect him or anyone else to be perfect, but to not support one of us just because he’s experienced a little discomfort is what bothers me so much.” He gestured at George, “As he said, this is the second time recently.”

“Just like in my third year too,” Ginny added, “or your fourth during the Triwizard Tournament.”

Harry nodded again. “I was trying to not bring that up, but I haven’t forgotten him turning his back on me then either.”

“Apparently there’s more history here than I was aware of,” Bill said slowly and looked at his wife who didn’t have any advice for him. “I’m not sure what to do, but I will agree something has to be done. How about we make sure one of the normal cabins is ready and put him in there when we pick him up. Hermione can take the cabin you were preparing for them.”

“Yes, I was thinking something similar. That means we need to move the books out of there,” Harry commented.

Ginny snorted. “Or if you want your project done quickly then leave them in there.” Everyone chuckled at that, even Luna. “We have enough cabins to put Ron in his own and still have one left over for Hermione’s parents if they decide to join us. We can decide what to do with him over the next few days. Or maybe you can, Bill, because I wouldn’t be very charitable to him right now.”

George nodded solemnly. “I can’t say I would be either. He was trying to start something with Hermione which would have made her family except now he’s abandoned her.” His looked down and put a hand over his face as he quietly finished, “And we’ve lost too many.”

Bill shot a spell at George’s chair to widen it before he sat down and put his arm around his brother. “You’re right, Ron needs to come with us because family sticks together. I’ll figure out something to show him the mistake he’s made and have a talk with him. Harry?”

“Sure, he’s all yours,” Harry agreed. “Just don’t expect me to say much of anything to him or be around him for a little bit.”

“I do have a little bit of good news,” Bill said in an effort to help the group. “I was thinking about the issue of duplicating fuel and remembered how the Goblin can make fake duplicate Galleons when someone tried to rob a vault. It was done with runes on the vault.”

Harry snorted. “Yeah, I’ve been there and seen that.”

“Right, I’d forgotten.” Bill smiled a little. “I have a general knowledge of how that was done and I think Fleur and I can figure it out exactly. If we can, I think we can change it so it would work on the fuel. You’d probably need a small extra tank after that as the duplicate fuel needs a place to go, and you’d have to change the system to only send it through there when the level in the extra tank drops instead of feeding fuel constantly like it probably does now. But I think we can do this given some time.”

“I found out something in talking to Mia about saving energy,” Lee brought up. “It seems there’s something called solar panels that will convert sunlight into electricity. You’d also need more batteries to store it for the night. If you had enough of them you wouldn’t need to run the generator at all, or so she thought. Unfortunately, she also said those are pretty expensive, although cheaper than they used to be.”

“I’ve given our situation a little thought,” Harry said. “If we can convert the lights and a few other things to run off of magic then we’d need less power. So maybe if we did all of this, reduced our needs and had enough of these solar panels, then we wouldn’t have to run the generator?” he half said half asked.

Lee nodded. “Maybe. Let me try to work up something with Mia’s help to try to figure that out. Err, can I say one more thing?”

“Sure,” Harry said, leaning back as he felt better about dumping the Ron problem on Bill.

Lee suddenly looked nervous. “I know this is crazy as I’ve only known Mia for about six weeks total, but I was thinking about asking her to stay … with me when … you know … the rest of the crew leaves.”

The room went silent and everyone looked at each other. “Well? Say something,” Lee demanded after a long moment of silence.

“In theory,” Harry said slowly as he tried to think this through, “I don’t have a problem, but I’ve always heard it’s a big change to live with a Muggle as a … companion.”

“He’s right,” Bill agreed. “The difference in world view can be difficult to overcome.”

“I know, but we’ve come to really like each other,” he said. “She’s from New Zealand originally; she’s Māori. She said they respect the elements and believe in balance and harmony. They’re also big on family and community. That’s not so unlike us.”

“I’m not saying it can’t work,” Bill told him, “but the problems come from lack of magic for her.”

“I think she’s a Squib or else a low level witch,” Lee said firmly.

“Why do you think that?” Harry asked, interested.

“Because I’d left my wand on my dresser and she came to visit me and picked it up. When she did a single spark came out.” Everyone sat up and a few started to protest so Lee hurried on. “I told her it was for a prank on George but the battery was wearing out so it didn’t make many sparks any more. I know it was lame, but I managed to distract her and then it never came up again, but I was sure surprised when my wand reacted to her.”

“But she still won’t be able to do magic as a Squib,” Bill pointed out.

When several started to protest again, Harry held up his hands. “Let’s not argue about this right now as we have a few things that need dealt with first. I would think it’d be at least a couple of weeks before we reach New Zealand, so we have time to talk about this. Let’s handle the problems with Ron and Hermione and her parents first.

“Bill and Fleur are working on the fuel duplication device.

“Lee, see what you can figure out on the solar panels you talked about. Even if they are a little expensive they may be worth it.

“In the meantime, we can all think about what it might mean if Mia was asked to stay. It is possible she’d say no and then we don’t have to explain magic to her at all.”

Even Lee acknowledged that possibility, even if he was sure Mia would join them.




The next day Ginny was listening and watching Harry closely. He nodded and uh-hmm’d. The fact that he wasn’t getting upset seemed to be a good sign she thought. “Call me every day about this time,” he told her. “Take care.”

When he hung up, she asked, “Well?”

“Apparently Ron has gotten his act together and apologized last night without her prompting him after she went back to the hotel late in the evening. He also spent about ten minutes explaining why he was wrong and covered most of her mental list. This morning he’s behaved himself, although she still felt wary.” He shook his head.

“Anyway,” he continued, “she feels good enough about things now she’s going to reveal herself to her parents this evening and remove the memory spell. She also said she plans to do that without Ron present as she thinks that will go better. Her plan is to bring Ron with her the next day if all continues to go well.”

Ginny considered that. “It’s a start.”

“It is,” he agreed, “but I’m not slowing the boat down.” She agreed to that.




(A/N: To pre-empt a few complaints… No, I am not bashing on Ron. Yes, I am continuing his behavior from book 7 in a small way, which was only about 6-7 months ago in story time. As should be obvious from the last scene, this will not go on for long. HTH)

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Chapter 4: Chapter 4

Author's Notes: (A/N: It seems that notifications haven't been going out too well, which means I only now just found the reviews from past chapters. If you haven't seen a notification for review responses you can go look for those. Because I have some extra time, you can have this a little early. For those that celebrate it, Happy Christmas!)


Harry and Ginny walked hand in hand talking quietly. “What do you think?” he asked. “Any misgivings about this?”

“None yet, but thank you bringing me along and not doing this all by yourself,” she replied.

He snorted. “I’ll take all the help I can get on this one. Besides, you may notice something as another girl that I don’t. Lee is too smitten to notice.”

“I agree about Lee. What did Mr Russo say when you asked about her?” she asked.

“He said she was competent for her experience level. He didn’t say much else,” he told her.

“He’s been sort of a grouch for the few times I have been around him,” Ginny said, “but he has been more polite lately and done his job from what Captain Moore has said.”

“Uh-huh, I’ve also noticed he’s become a little easier to talk to over the last month. There is Lee’s room,” Harry indicated the open door down the corridor, so they walked the rest of the way in silence.

Harry nodded on the doorframe. “Can we come in?”

“Hi James, Glenda,” Lee said and stood hurriedly. “Come in and make yourselves comfortable.” He indicated the open couch as he and Mia were in the chairs across from it. “Thanks for coming.”

Harry closed the door behind them and took the offered seat. “Well you asked us to come by,” Harry replied with a mischievous look. “Mia … wait, can I call you that or would you prefer Miss Kaur?”

“Mia is fine, Mr Evanson.”

“That will be James and Glenda please. While formality has its place, we aren’t formal most of the time,” Harry answered before he smirked slightly. “If I was being formal, I’d have to call your boyfriend Leroy instead of his nickname of Lee.” Lee mock glared at him while Mia looked like she was supressing a giggle.

“Now,” Harry continued, “I understand there is discussion of you joining us longer term.” He watched the two of them nod. “In general, I don’t have a problem with that, but there are a few conditions for you staying that you need to be aware of.

“First, after we pick up our friends in Melbourne, and maybe do a stop in Sydney, we’ll be heading to New Zealand. I’m told you’re from there?”

“Uh, yes. My family lives just outside of Auckland,” she answered.

“Oh, how convenient, because that will be our next stop and we’ll be there for about a week, or maybe a little longer. Anyway, you’ll have until we leave there to fully decide if you’re going to join us. I would encourage you to talk to your family about this change because once we leave there we won’t be back in the area for some time, possibly a few years. So this really does need to work out … as in you believe this relationship will probably change into a permanent one.

“If things don’t go well, we can drop you off at a major city and give you a plane ticket to fly home, but that’s a last resort sort of thing. How do you feel about that?” Harry asked

“I, uh,” Mia looked and sounded a little lost. “I hadn’t thought about it like that.”

“I think this leads to point number two. If you stay with us, you’ll be doing so as a friend and become part of the group and expected to contribute in some way like everyone else -- which for you will probably be as our new chief engineer. Being part of the group means you won’t be hired anymore and therefore won’t be paid -- that is after the pay and bonus you were promised for this part of the cruise. If we do something that creates money, which I’m still working on what that might be, then you’ll get an equal share since we all will be pitching in. This means a change in your career in that you won’t be hired out. I will promise you that if this doesn’t work out and you leave us, I’ll be happy to write a letter for you stating you were a long term employee for the whole time you were with us in order to help you. Is this change a surprise?”

“A little,” she answered. “I had considered it would affect my career, but not really how much.”

Harry continued. “Lastly, I’m sure you’ve noticed that there are a few topics that Lee and possibly the rest of us have been a little vague on … mostly in regards to some of the past.” He watched her nod and glance at Lee; thankfully, it wasn’t accusingly. “I’m sorry to tell you that we’ll continue not to answer those questions until after New Zealand. If you do stay with us, we’ll answer any question you want, but not before then.

“You may not believe me after having just said that,” he smiled slightly, “but I’ll assure you that we’ve not committed crimes. We have found ourselves in a difficult situation with some whom I would consider criminals and we left to avoid breaking the law by fighting back. I’ll ask you to please not ask Lee any more about that. If that explanation doesn’t sit well with you, then it might be best if you don’t come with us as I really can’t answer more at this time nor can Lee.”

Mia nodded once. “That helps a little, and yet it doesn’t.” She shook her head. “I’m not sure what to think, but all of you have been very reasonable and kind so I want to think the best of you.” She looked at and smiled at her boyfriend. “Lee’s been pretty special and he might even be worth this.” She ended with a teasing expression and he gave her one back.

“That’s all I have, so we’ll let you two talk about this,” Harry said as he rose and offered a hand to Ginny.

Lee exclaimed. “Oh, I do have something for you.” He grabbed a few sheets of paper off of the end table and handed them to his friend. “This is what we’ve worked up for powering the boat without the generator, and how much power each system draws.”

“Or how much we think it draws,” Mia added. “It was a little uncertain in some cases. There’s also how much battery capacity you’d need to last for 24 hours, which would give you a bit of a buffer in case of a lot of cloud cover for a day. Your friend, Selene, she’s really good with math and helped a lot.”

Harry nodded, understanding Luna’s alias. “All right, that means I need to make a phone call. Thank you and good luck in your decision.”

The two visitors left the hopeful pair. When they were far enough away, Harry asked in the same low tones he’d used before, “What did you think?”

“Besides the fact that you surprised her a couple of times?” Ginny asked and received an affirmative. “She seemed genuine enough. She was a touch nervous, but I think that was to be expected. I don’t think I’d mind her joining even if she can’t … you know.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I’d mind either and I agree I think she was being honest with us,” he commented.

“She’s pretty,” Ginny stated, “and with such a lovely … caramel coloring I guess I’d call it. I may try to spend a little more time with her over the next week or so to get to know her better, but she seems pleasant so far.”

Harry led them into their cabin and closed the door. He found a business card in his desk before he picked up the phone to dial a number he didn’t think he’d use for years. “Mr Cummings, this is James Evanson. Remember me?”

“Mr Evanson, of course; it wasn’t that long ago. How’s your yacht? Is everything all right?”

“We’re doing well, thank you. I was talking with the engineers and they talked about adding something called solar panels and a bigger battery so we could power the ship when we were anchored without running the generator. I have a sheet of figures from them about what we’d need. Are you familiar with this sort of thing and could you do that work for us?”

“Yes, Mr Evanson, to both questions. We’d be happy to do that work for you. It’s a newer technology but it’s catching on for the newer boats. Retrofitting can be interesting but it’s very possible. I don’t believe it’d take too much notice to get the parts. Installation would take close to a week though based on what we’ve done for other boats. When would you be in the area for us to do that?”

Harry noticed a price wasn’t mentioned. Then again, if he could afford this yacht, he could afford the work even if he had to sell a few more bars of gold to pay for it. He consider the time. They’d be in Melbourne tomorrow, two or three days there, then a couple of days to Sydney. “Could you be ready in five to seven days?”

“Hmm,” Cummings vocalized and then went silent, obviously thinking about it. “It’ll be a little tight but I think it’s possible. I can probably add a couple of small aerogenerators to help out; they would have to be small so the vibrations don’t damage the structure, but that’s a good addition.”

“Aerogenerators?” Harry asked, unfamiliar with the word.

“A small wind powered generator, think of it like a small windmill,” Cummings told him. “While I can guess as to how much power you need, to be most helpful I’d need your power requirements. I believe you said you had some figures? Can you fax those to me?”

Harry smiled at the idea, not having a clue. “I’m sure Captain Moore can help us.”

After getting the fax number and a promise of a call back, Harry hung up the phone and looked at Ginny. “I guess to the bridge to see if the Captain or First Mate can help us.” It was the First Mate who was available and he taught the two how to send a fax.




Harry had been on the bridge with Ginny as she piloted the boat when a multi-page fax arrived from Cummings detailing the work with a cost and timeframe. It wouldn’t be cheap, but then again, he had the money and this would make it a lot easier on them if they found a place to stay long term and used the yacht like a house.

While he looked that over, a call for his personal number came in. He noticed it was about that time of day. “Hello?”

“Harry?”

“Hi Hermione. We’re close and should be there about three’ish, or in about two hours, give or take half an hour. I can’t be more exact than that,” he told her.

“That’s fine and was one question,” she replied. “The other is how will I know which boat is yours? I went to the docking area you mentioned yesterday to make sure I knew where it was and there were multiple boats already there.”

“Oh, we’ll be in the big white one…”

“Ha-ha,” she said sarcastically. “That describes all but a few of the boats.”

“We’ll anchor in the water and then come in in our skiff, so you’ll see us as we come to you,” he explained.

“Oh, all right.”

“Is Ron still being good?”

“Yes.”

“He’s standing there, isn’t he?”

“Yes, but that’s the real answer.”

“All right, we’ll see you in a couple of hours. Bye.” Harry hung up and looked at Ginny. “Apparently Ron is still being good.”

She nodded and said, “He may live yet.” She then giggled and he chuckled.

” ” ”

It was Bill driving the skiff, something he’d learned with practice at the last few ports they’d stopped at, with Harry and Ginny in the back. In this way, they did look like the rich young couple. It was only a little cool in the sun in this area’s winter, but with the skiff going across the water is was cooler still so they wrapped light coats around themselves as they scanned the dock. The three Grangers weren’t hard to find. Ron was standing a few steps away, either not wanting to intrude upon the family unit, or because he was still somewhat in the doghouse, or perhaps both. They’d find out soon.

Dan Granger leaned down so his mouth was near his wife’s ear and he could speak privately. “Why couldn’t Hermione have hooked up with someone like him? Obviously rich and willing to help her out no matter what.” He was pleased he wasn’t elbowed for that, which he took as a sign that she agreed with him.

“Be nice,” Emma told him casually, not bothering to whisper and so received a questioning look from her daughter, which the mother ignored.

Dan didn’t know all of the details of why Hermione wasn’t pleased with her friend, Ron, at the moment; but he could guess in a general way having been a teenaged boy once. Sadly, it looked like her real friend, Harry, was already taken based on the fact that the young redhead with the long plait was sitting so close to him and having an intimate conversation as he’d just had with his wife. Perhaps there were others, he thought after another quick glance at Ron.

When the boat docked, Bill jumped out and tied the little boat off and then gave a hand to his two passengers before he took the lead to those waiting. “Hello, I’m Bill and it’s good to see you’re safe and to meet you.” He shook hands with the two parents before he gave Hermione a quick hug. He moved aside to give Harry and Ginny room by going over to Ron and giving him a hug before pulling him to the side even further away.

Harry and Ginny were right behind him. Harry gave Ron only a nod, while Ginny ignored him. “Hi, I’m Harry and this is Ginny. It’s good to see you again although I don’t know if you remember meeting me a few years ago at the train station.”

“Dan Granger,” they shook hands, “I do remember you, although we were all a little younger, although not so wiser.”

Harry saw him glance at his daughter and thought there must be a few difficult and probably conflicting feelings there, which he could understand. He shook hands with her mother before Hermione practically threw herself at him for a hug while Ginny greeted the parents.

He patted her jacket covered back and told her, “It’ll work out eventually.” She squeezed him hard for a moment before she let go and he saw unshed tears in her eyes. Ginny stepped forward to hug her as well. Turning, he looked at Bill and saw him pat his pocket, the sign he had Ron’s wand. Turning back, he said, “I’d like to invite you to our boat. We could talk more privately and you’re welcome to stay for dinner and beyond.”

“I’m not sure that’s needed,” Emma said quickly. “We wouldn’t want to impose.”

“It’s no problem,” Ginny assured her with a smile. “There’s not much difference between dinner for ten and dinner for twelve. Please come, we’d love to have you. Wait, weren’t you supposed to bring an overnight bag too just in case? I know Hermione was told about that.”

“I have them,” Hermione said, patting her ever present white beaded bag that held so many things.

“Then please come,” Harry told them, “I insist as I’m sure you have questions for us.”

The two Grangers shared a look before Dan said, “Since you’re being so good about it and I would like to see your boat. It’s far larger than I was expecting.”

Harry smiled. “A tour was always a given and I’ll be happy to show it off. Come.” He led the group back towards the skiff and noticed Bill had taken Ron to the skiff already and had him sitting in a seat next to where Bill would be in the front. The group of five came aboard and sat in the back.

Before Harry sat down, he motioned Bill over and turned them around a little, puzzling Bill. “Look over my shoulder at the two men on the park bench. Notice anything unusual?”

Bill discreetly did that before he looked at Harry. “Besides it being a little hard to figure out what they look like? Oh, right, wizards under a charm; I should have noticed sooner. I’ve gotten too comfortable during our trip.”

“Jean hadn’t heard anything about us being looked for yet when I talked to him last week, but what do you think?” Harry asked.

“Possible,” Bill conceded with a pause before he added, “or maybe they just noticed a boat with magic come into the harbor and wanted to check it out. To someone who was looking for magic where it was unexpected we’d stand out like a beacon at night being the only boat covered with it.”

“I guess we need to be watchful,” Harry said before he took his seat and Bill went to the controls to take them back to the yacht and slip the skiff into its birth in the back of the bigger boat.

“Trouble?” Ginny asked quietly when she leaned over to whisper in his ear.

“Don’t think so, but be vigilant,” he grinned at her and received an eye-roll before she smiled at the visitors. “I hope you’re coming back, Hermione. It’d be nice to have another girl to talk to.”

Hermione nodded but didn’t say anything. In fact, not much was said on the short ride, but it was a little noisy with the little boat’s motor and with the wind so talking wasn’t easy. When they returned, Bill kept Ron back to help him with the skiff as the others left.

Harry gave the three a quick tour of the parts of the boat that passengers used the most. That included a normal cabin that the Grangers were told they could stay in if they came too or even just for the night, the cabin reserved for Hermione, and the public area ending with the lounge where the others were waiting and introductions were made.

As with their formal parties, the lounge, kitchen, and dining room was closed to the crew and privacy spells were up; food was in the crew’s public room for when they wanted dinner.

The Grangers were given a glass of wine and allowed to become comfortable, although it looked like they weren’t totally.

“Mr and Mrs Granger, you’re allowed to say anything you like in here this evening,” Harry told them. “Normally, magic and our past aren’t mentioned except in our cabins to prevent the crew members from overhearing in case they should happen to be walking by, but this is all protected tonight.

“I do want to welcome you here again and tell you to enjoy yourselves for the evening. You’re also welcome to spend the night. If you want, you’re also welcome to join us on our trip as we see the world or at least parts of it. We’re also pretty flexible as far as time goes.”

“We also would like you to join us for a party tomorrow afternoon and evening if you can stay that long,” Ginny added with a smile.

Harry looked puzzled. “Why? I’m sure you told me we’re having a party tonight.”

“Sure, we’re having a party tonight too since it’s Neville’s birthday. Winky has a cake and the food is already prepared,” she explained. Neville looked a little surprised. “You’ve forgotten that tomorrow is your birthday, haven’t you?” she teased him and others chuckled at him.

Harry looked sheepish as he took the teasing graciously. “I suppose I have. It’s been a busy couple of months.”

“All the more reason for a couple of parties,” Ginny told him matter-of-factly and looked as if the matter was settled. “Everyone gets their own party over the next year.”

Harry nodded to her to concede the argument before he turned to the Grangers. “Are there any questions you’d like to ask us? We’ll even tell you embarrassing stories about Hermione, like the time she said we couldn’t do something because,” he held up his hands to make air quotes, “we’d be killed or worse expelled.” He grinned and Hermione hung her head and covered her face while the others all laughed.

“She really said that?” Emma asked with incredulousness and her husband looked about as shocked.

Hermione sat up and looked defiant. “I was flustered and mixed my words, obviously.”

“Hmm, I don’t recall any corrections at the time,” Harry said, still teasing her.

“Yes, I mixed up the order of killed and expelled,” she insisted.

“If you say so,” Harry said unbelievingly and still smiling.

“Err, I have one, or maybe two,” Dan said. “Are all of you redheads related?”

“I’ll take that one, yes,” Bill answered. “Ginny is the youngest, Ron is next, then George, and myself as the oldest -- at least for those here. There is one between George and myself who is in Romania last we talked not long ago.” He paused and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “One more is gone, one has disappeared while in a place a he shouldn’t have been and is presumed gone, and our parents are gone, making me the head of the family decades before I should have been normally.”

“Our condolences for your family’s loss; I’m sure that has been difficult,” Dan said softly. “I asked because I understand our daughter had some issues with the young man who was with her, but she nor he will say and I’d like to know what happened.”

Bill glanced at Harry then back at Dan. “My understanding is that it would best be described as he wasn’t a good friend by not being as supportive as he should have and nothing untoward happened, which I’d guess is your concern. At the moment, it’s being treated as a family matter, which means what happens with him is mostly up to me, although I do acknowledge Harry has a say in the matter as it is his boat.”

“And I’m leaving it up to Bill generally,” Harry said as solemnly. “I’m satisfied with what Bill has planned and is doing to correct Ron’s thinking, although I do plan to have a talk with Ron tomorrow. If you’d like more details, I think those will have to come from Hermione as I don’t even know them all.”

“She hasn’t been very forthcoming,” her father commented lightly with only a slight glance at the young woman.

“Perhaps a good reason to stay here as it would give the three of you time together to discuss things,” Harry returned as lightly, earning slightly displeased look from his friend. “It’s a little early, but perhaps we can start appetizers?” He looked at his girlfriend.

“We don’t have many, but I think a few decorations should be put up first then appetizers,” Ginny said as she stood and headed for the entrance to the kitchen where she picked up a box.

As Ginny handed out the few birthday decorations they had to others and directed where the people should put things, Emma refilled her wine glass before she walked slowly over to the young redhead who was making sure the work was done to her satisfaction. Noting her husband was talking with their daughter, she asked, “Are you in charge of all of this because you’re his girlfriend?”

Ginny looked at her and smiled. “Sort of. He’s going to be the captain as soon as he finishes with his license in a couple of weeks. I’ve been working on it too, but he’s our leader. That means when things go wrong, Harry fixes them. I hope to be,” she cleared her throat lightly and smiled more, “Mrs Captain one day. I decided that if that’s to be so, then I needed to act like it. He does his part for the boat and I’m doing my part to keep it running too, just more on the people side.”

“So the support?”

“We’re all support, but I’m more for him directly. In addition, helping everyone else also helps him too. Excuse me, please, I need to get the food coming and don’t be alarmed by Winky. She’s a friend too, just with a different look.” Ginny headed back towards kitchen.

Emma found the conversation interesting. Before she could take that thought further a small non-human creature and Ginny exitted from the kitchen each carrying a large platter of food. Looking over, she saw Dan was as wide-eyed as she probably was, except that Hermione was saying something to him, explaining it she was sure.

“Don’t worry, she won’t harm you and she can’t get or give you Nargles.”

Emma turned to see the young blonde who was standing next to her that hadn’t been there a moment before. She also had a totally serene look on her face as if nothing could bother her … except another look into her light blue-gray eyes said that might not be true as they looked vulnerable at a second longer look. “Umm, I’m sorry, all I can remember is your name started with an ‘L’.”

“I’m Luna. You’re fortunate. I wished I’d thought to send my father away, but I’m also afraid of what the memory charm would have done to him.” Luna blinked slowly. “It might have been worth it anyway,” she ended sadly.

Emma caught on and put an arm around the girl’s shoulders. “I’m sorry you lost him. Hermione has only said friends and family were lost. She wouldn’t give any details.”

“Magic is amazing. It’s allows us to do incredible things: both good and bad.” Luna looked at her, still serene. “You don’t really want to know all the details.” With that said, she walked away towards the table with the drinks.

“All right, mum?” Hermione asked as she walked up. She leaned forward to whisper, “Ginny just told me to be careful and understanding with Luna as she’s not doing well with the loss of her father.”

“I think I might agree,” Emma said slowly as she looked at her daughter carefully while thinking of what she’d just been told. “I’ll go tell your father, but no more discussion on the hot topics tonight; we’ll save that for tomorrow. I’m also starting to see that perhaps we don’t need all of the details, but you’re going to have to tell enough to reassure us of some things.”

Hermione hugged her mother. “Thank you.”

” ” ”

Later that evening, the Granger parents retired to their room; Neville had led them back since his room was nearby.

After Dan had closed the door, he looked at his wife. “I’m surprised, but I had a reasonably relaxing time.”

“Knowing we have the day off tomorrow and three glasses of wine, I’d like to hope so,” she said with a smile.

“What did you think of Neville?” he asked.

She gave him an exasperated looked. “Dan, stop trying to set up a boy with Hermione. She doesn’t need it and besides, that’s my job.”

He sniffed. “Well, she needs something to set her straight. What are we going to do about her?”

“We are going to not talk about our daughter and go to bed,” she told him as she started to dig into her bag that Hermione had told her to bring. “That can wait until tomorrow. But to help that along,” she smiled slyly, “I did enlist Harry’s help to talk to her in the morning before we did. So we shouldn’t appear in the dining room before ten to give him time.”

“That’s sounds helpful,” he admitted as he also started searching the bag for his pyjamas. “Just one more general question. Do you think Harry and that redhead, uh, Ginny, will end up together for certain?”

“Dan, Dan, Dan. You are blind if you have to ask that question. Those two will be together unless one of them makes a major mistake, but I seriously doubt that will happen. She has him right where she wants him. Come on and brush your teeth and then let’s see if I can get you were I want you,” she told him mischievously. “I’ve never been on a yacht before and may never be again.”




The next morning Ron heard a knock on his door and wondered who it was. As he was confined to his quarters, he hadn’t talked to anyone other than Bill last night, and that hadn’t been a comfortable conversation. At least his quarters were comfortable although he was a bit bored.

Opening the door, he wasn’t too surprised to see Harry standing there. “Err, come in.” He closed his door after his friend, noticing his friend didn’t look too happy. He also noticed a labeled bottle and two glasses in his hand. “Isn’t it a little early in the day for Firewhisky?”

Harry took a seat and actually smiled for a brief moment. “It’s a Muggle drink in origin, but it’s really just a sparkling apple juice. Can’t really get pumpkin juice and I’ve decided I like this better anyway.” He poured into the two glasses and took a sip of his before leaning back in his chair.

Ron picked up the other glass. “Mum used to make apple cider and we’d drink it at Christmas.” He took a sip. “A little different, but acceptable.”

“I’ve just spent about an hour with Hermione. It was hard to get her to talk at first, but when she did start a lot came out. I heard about her hopes and fears, mostly in regards to her parents; but your name came up surprisingly often and most of it wasn’t good. There are a number of questions I could ask, but I suppose they all come down to why. So why, Ron?” Harry took a large drink and swallowed slowly as if to savor it.

Ron put his drink on the small table next to him. Elbows on his knees, he leaned forward in his chair and looked down for a moment. Steeling himself, he looked up at his friend. “I was really angry when you called and threatened me,” he said calmly. “I’m sure I would have done something rash had you been there. It took a little bit for me to calm down and start to plot as to what I’d say to you next time we talked. Somehow in that thinking, something Hermione said to me a couple of weeks ago came to me and it hit me harder than a Bludger once I really thought about it.

“I’m not even sure I can remember exactly what I’d done to make her angry, but she told me, ‘How would you like me to do that to you? Or what about all the things you’ve done to me over the years?’ She stormed out of the hotel room and I thought she was just being a girl about things at the time, but I realized later that’s when things changed between us.

“Anyway, what she yelled at me came back after you called. For some reason, I actually thought about what she’d told me before.” Ron grabbed his glass and took a sip before setting it back down; his friend had remained quiet, for which he was grateful.

“It’s hard to admit it to myself even now, but I’ve been pretty terrible to her over the years. And you were right, I needed to grow up. I didn’t come to that conclusion immediately, mind you, but you were right. I think a lot of it was being the sixth boy. A lot of people, starting with my parents, did a lot of things for me so I didn’t have to and I took advantage of that. I got used to life a certain way -- an easy way -- and when things didn’t stay on that path I didn’t always react well. The loss of Mum and Dad hasn’t helped and it’s possible I might be a little jealous of Hermione right now.” Ron sighed heavily and was bit uncomfortable in saying that.

“After your call, I was a little worried when Hermione took so long to come back that evening, but it was probably for the best as it gave me more time to think. I won’t say that all of my attitudes and thinking were wrong, but a lot of it was. I still prefer the Wizard lifestyle, but there are a lot of acceptable things in the Muggle world if you look and are patient -- not one of my strengths if you hadn’t noticed.” Ron was again grateful for Harry’s silence, although he did noticed a brief smile.

“I screwed up a lot. I lost a wonderful girlfriend and I wonder if I can ever win her back or not. I hurt you and the rest of my family that’s here from what Bill told me. Oh, I think he did mention that all of our friends don’t think well of me either, so I’ll have to prove myself to them too. This really sucks. The worst is, even if I want to blame others for influencing me, I know deep down it was my actions that did it.

“I’m really sorry about everything. I’m going to try to fix it. I only ask that you let me try. I’ll make mistakes along the way, but I want to try.” He grabbed his glass and leaned back in his chair but couldn’t drink as he was nervous about his friend’s reaction.

Harry just looked at him for a long moment, studying him. “I still want to yell at you,” he said softly, “but after that, it’s kind of hard as you seem really sincere. In your favor, Hermione did say that after you apologized, she found little fault in your behavior over the next four days -- even around her parents.”

“I really do like this,” Harry said as he looked at his glass, drained it, and then set it down. “I’ll let you come and be a part of the group again, under Bill’s supervision for a while. You can try to mend the fences you broke. I’ll give you a chance by not throwing you overboard. But I warn you Ron, being an idiot around me is one thing, but if you ever hurt Hermione like that again, I swear you will not like what I do to you -- and that’s after Hermione gets through with you, and probably Ginny too.”

Ron nodded, not surprised by the statement or the serious tone. “If I do something like that again, I’ll save you the trouble and just jump overboard.”

Harry snorted and then smiled as he stood and motioned Ron up.

A little afraid he was about to be punched, Ron set his glass down and stood up anyway, knowing he deserved it. Therefore, he was surprised when Harry stepped forward and hugged him briefly.

“You are growing up, because that’s actually smart as it’d be less painful,” Harry said with a grin. “Grab your glass and come on.”

With relief, Ron drained his glass and followed his friend out.

Harry pointed to a sign next to the door in the corridor that said “Ron”. “You and Hermione have been called that during the trip, so you get your normal names, the rest of us are still using our passport names. You can explore it later, but you’ll find that most of the group is on this deck.” He waved at “Selene’s” door as they passed it before going up stairs.

On the next deck, Harry said, “The rest of us are here. Bill and Fleur are that way. Up this way is Hermione’s cabin.”

From the look Ron could tell Harry really meant “It could have been yours too”. He appreciated it not being said out loud though. The next caused him to wince.

“The last one here is mine and Ginny’s.” The nameplate by the door only said “J & G”. “We’ll change that after the crew is gone. One more flight of stairs.”

On the next deck Ron was amazed. Half of it was enclosed and he could see what must be a large dining room and then a sitting area that looked very comfortable. They could have put most of the Gryffindors in the two rooms. The rest of the deck forward had what looked like a small swimming pool and lots of chairs. Part of the amazement was Ginny, Luna, and Fleur -- all in two piece swimsuits -- in the chairs sunning themselves near the little pool and talking. In a purely objective way, he’d admit he’d never seen his sister look so good, and the same could be said for Luna. As for Fleur, he had to look away and saw Harry smirking at him.

“Yeah, just imagine Hermione joining them; they’re quite the sight, aren’t they?” Harry asked before guiding him into the dining area. “Ginny said not to bother them as they were having some girl talk. Sadly, Luna isn’t dealing well with the loss of her father and I’m sure the loss of her mother years ago doesn’t make it any easier. I think this session is to see if Fleur can help. Give me your glass and have a seat.” Harry disappeared through a doorway.

Ron couldn’t help but look out the window towards the girls for a moment again. Feeling it for the best, he turned and sat so he couldn’t see them.

Harry returned with two plates, each with a large slice of cake. “We had a little left over. Sorry you missed the birthday party for Neville last night, but tonight is the party for me so more cake.”

Ron stopped with the bite halfway to his mouth. “Mate, sorry, I forgot. I don’t have anything for you.”

Harry waved it way. “No worries, as they say. No gifts since no one can get to a store easily. Not sure it’d be a good idea here. I saw two wizards at the dock watching us. Not sure if they were there just because we have wards all over the boat and therefore magic, or if they were looking for Harry Potter and friends. They left later and haven’t been back, so we’re hoping they were only checking out a magical boat that showed up and that’s all.”

After a few bites, Ron had to ask. “Would you have really left me here?”

Harry took another bite and chewed slowly. “I’m sorry I threatened you with that. At the time I said it, I would have. After I cooled down, however, I realized how unfair that would have been to you. You could have been captured and sent back to Britain and to who knows what. I then decided I’d just stun you and bring you onboard and then leave you on New Zealand for being so selfish. Now, you’re trying to grow up like I asked so I have to be nice and keep you.” He grinned at his teasing.

Ron shook his head and smiled slightly. “I’ve really missed this since we split.”

” ” ”

By lunchtime, the girls had returned to their rooms, but the three Grangers joined Harry and Ron, who were still in the dining room talking and joking.

“Did you know you have a putting green at the stern of the boat?” Dan asked in amazement.

Harry blinked at him for a moment. “Oh, you mean that area with the green carpet and holes. Yeah, I’ve played a few times. It’s pretty hard when we’re sailing; best to try it now when we’re anchored.”

“I did try a few shots; I hope you don’t mind,” Dan said as he sat.

“Not at all,” Harry said easily and noticed the two women looked a little red in the eyes. “Have you considered joining us?”

It was Emma who answered. “We’d love to, but we have started a life down here and it sounds like it’d be best not to return to Britain given what we’ve just learned. In addition, what would we do? It be a nice holiday for the first month, but after that we’d probably want to do something else.”

Harry nodded. “Yes, that’s one of my questions: What to do next? The next few weeks are planned, but after that it’ll be just us and we can go wherever we want. We will tour for a while, but I do think we need to figure out something for the longer term. I haven’t had inspiration yet, but we do have a home.” He grinned.

“That you do, lad, and some home it is,” Dan said as he looked around yet again.

” ” ”

After the party where Harry had to admit he’d probably drunk a little more alcohol than he should have -- although he’d remind anyone who asked that it was his 18th birthday -- at least he wasn’t truly drunk. He’d admit to being a little tipsy perhaps, but definitely not drunk. It was a good thing he didn’t have to pilot the ship right now though. Captain Moore had a rule about not piloting unless completely sober and Harry agreed with that.

Shutting the door to their cabin, he saw Ginny standing in front of the dresser in her dark blue very form fitting dress that was held up by little straps and showing some lovely and lightly freckled shoulders. As she finished taking her jewelry off, he walked up behind her, slipped his arms around her stomach, and held her close. “Thank you for the party. It was the best I’ve had yet. You also looked amazing tonight.”

“Thank you,” she said and watched him intently in the mirror in front of them. “Would you unzip my dress please? While I could use a spell, I thought you might like to do it.”

He couldn’t help it since she was right there. He leaned down and kissed her neck, trailing the kisses down to her bare shoulder. “What I’d like is for this dress to fall off and there be nothing but Ginny under it.” He continued the kisses and slowly pulled her zipper down, enjoying her almost but not quite silent moaning due to his kisses. In his state, he didn’t notice her nervousness.

When the zipper hit the bottom, Ginny reached up and pulled the thin strips of her very slinky dress down over her shoulders before she let the dress fall. It didn’t take long for Harry to notice that she was now wearing only her knickers.

“Wow! I should have asked for this sooner! Simply amazing in every way.”

Ginny couldn’t help her giggle, not only at his statement but in relief that he liked what she looked like. Turning in his arms, she pressed herself against him and put her arms around his neck. “Happy birthday,” she told him before she kissed him.

When they parted both were breathing heavily. Ginny put her head on his shoulder and said quietly, “This is a far as it goes, Harry; you don’t get to see me with my knickers off unless you talk to Bill first as you would have my father and you ask me the magic question with a ring in hand.”

“Oh, I’ve got one of those here somewhere.” He tried to move but she held him fast.

“No, no trying to go there now. In fact, I won’t even take the question from you until September because I want you to have a month to really think about it. This is for life Harry and it’s serious; it’s until death do us part if we start down this road. Know that I want you; I want a life with you; I want a family with you too. But I also want to know that you really mean it and have thought it through, that we’ve talked it through as much as we can without really living all of it.”

He let a hand roam downwards until it touched the top of her knickers before he started to pull it up, rubbing her bare back. “You are wise, wiser than me.”

“Someone has to keep you in line and pointed in the right direction,” she retorted. “Speaking of which, get ready and join me in bed. I just need to hang up my dress.”

“And a little time before we fall asleep?”

She kissed him before she pulled back. “Yes, you silly boy.”

“Hey, you like me that way, just as I like that you’re a girl.”

Ginny knew he was looking so she bent over facing away from him to pick up her dress and heard him suck in his breath. With a smile from knowing he was definitely attracted to her, she also grabbed her shoes and took it all to the closet. She really did love him, but she also wondered exactly who was chasing whom. In the end, she decided the best answer was when they were each chasing the other and that seemed to be happening.




Harry sat back and watched Ginny pilot the boat out of Melbourne harbor area. She was completely concentrating on her job as she knew she was being judged by Captain Moore, and to a lesser extent by Harry himself. Harry knew she’d do fine as she was taking it slowly and checking her position in relation to the other boats on the radar constantly.

Besides the need to make sure their departure was going well, he just watched her because he enjoyed it. Then there was the question she’d placed in his mind the evening of his birthday two nights ago. In fact, he’d had trouble not thinking about it once the question had been raised. He wondered if Ginny had done that on purpose, but if he was fully honest with himself he’d have to admit to wondering about it a little before then. It was just that now he had trouble not thinking about it.

Of all things to interrupt his thoughts, it was the phone. Considering Hermione had just returned from taking her parents back to their house, he assumed something had been left behind. Since he was free he answered it. “Hello?”

“Harry, it’s Jean.”

“Oh, hello. Since this isn’t our usual time to talk, what’s happened? Is your family all right?”

“My family is safe, thank you, but yours may be about to have a little trouble. How freely can I speak?”

“I’m on the bridge but using the handset.” Harry saw Ginny give him a quick glance but she was otherwise still focused on her piloting job. The captain didn’t spare him a glance, knowing it was private business.

“I’ll let you read between the lines then. I don’t know if they know you’re not at home or if they’re just blindly grasping, but they let the international confederation know you’re missing and would like all of you to return and to answer a few questions. I think that wasn’t requested until yesterday, but my contact in that department couldn’t get a better answer for me. I don’t know how long that request will take to reach all of the local levels, but you should be on your guard if you’re near a place that could be difficult.”

Harry considered that for a moment. “I see. I don’t think that will pose too much difficulty, but thank you for letting me know now as I might want to change one plan. We can talk more at our normal time in a couple of days. Anything else before then?”

“No, everything else is normal, I just thought you should know that as soon as possible.”

“Thanks for the heads up. I’ll talk to you soon.” Harry hung up and returned to his chair.

“Anything I need to know now?” Ginny asked in a hurried tone as she was still being careful as the boat left the harbor for open ocean.

“No, other than I think it will be better to be in New Zealand. In fact, I probably need to go make a phone call to Mr Cummings to see about speeding up that work. I’ll be back soon.” He saw her nod and thought she understood. They’d talked about what to do if Britain asked the ICW for help before they were finished with Australia. The plan had always been to get to New Zealand as soon as they could.

Down in his cabin where he had privacy, Harry made the phone call. “Mr Cumming, James Evanson.”

“Good day, Mr Evanson. You have good timing. I was going to call you today to say that we’ll have the last of the materials later today or tomorrow morning at the latest. I also have a team of two lined up for the four days required for the install. It was tight, but we managed.”

“That’s good to hear, but I hope you won’t mind too much that I’d like to change the timing of it,” Harry told him. “I’ll still to be there in the morning the day after tomorrow as planned. However, I’d like to have everything loaded onto the boat as quick as possible and then take your lead installer with us so the system is installed on our way to New Zealand. I will of course pay the arranged price plus his wages for any overtime. I will also pay for his flight back and give a bonus for the inconvenience. I have two or possibly three junior engineers who can assist him as needed over the few days he’ll be with us.”

There was a very definite pause. “Umm, that’s very interesting. Can I call you back at the number I have for you? I don’t have a problem with the change, but I’d have to find out if one of our workers would be willing to do that; I hope you understand.”

“Of course, I fully understand,” Harry told him with sympathy. “I’m sorry for this last minute change but we’ve had a change in plans that requires us to move forward more quickly.”

“I understand changes in plans,” Cummings replied, “it’s really more of a coordination problem. I’ll call you back when I find out.

It wasn’t until late in the afternoon Cummings called and said he’d found a person who would sail with them. That made Harry feel better. Now he just had to hope the notice about them from the ICW took longer than two days to reach the Aurors in Sydney and to hope they didn’t think to look in the boatyard.




Harry left the boat and met Cummings to start the materials transfer, pay for it all, and meet the technician who’d be supervising the work. Steve was tall and lanky, like Ron was, and looked to be about 30. Cummings thanked him for his business and Steve walked back with Harry with a bag on his shoulder.

“You sure you don’t mind coming with us to do the work?” Harry asked.

Steve smiled. “It’s not the most convenient arrangement and the wife isn’t too happy about me leaving her alone with our baby, but I don’t mind and the wife wants the bonus money so here I am.”

Harry laughed as they walked up the gangplank onto the boat. The first pallet of supplies was already being lowered by a crane to be stacked wherever there was space just to make the transfer faster; half of it was stacked on the putting green. The four large pallets of materials didn’t take long so they were soon leaving.

Just as they were leaving the dock, Ginny -- who was also on the bridge -- said, “Two new people just arrived and they’re talking to someone and pointing at our boat. I wonder who they are.” She would have asked about Aurors if Captain Moore hadn’t been standing there.

“Sounds like inspectors, but I don’t know why they think they’d need to inspect us,” the Captain said casually. “If it’s a real problem, they’ll contact us on the radio.”

No calls came and the two shared a relieved look as they left the harbor.

Meanwhile below, Steve was checking out the boat as to where everything went. George and Lee were at his beck and call, while Mia would help out during her free time.




The next evening, they had a group meeting at dinner. Harry called it to order after the food had been dished and everyone had started eating. Privacy spells were already up.

“Status time,” Harry announced. “We’ll be in Auckland in about 48 hours at our present speed as we should have good weather the entire time. How’s the install going?”

“We’ll probably make that,” George answered, “or we probably will because of magic. Magic makes it a lot easier to run the wires in tight spaces. One of us distracts Steve so the other can do it. He’s a good bloke, by the way.”

Lee nodded his agreement. “Yeah, but we’ll have to get back to it for a few more hours after this break for dinner.”

“All right, I’ll slow us down a little to give you a little more time. Bill, you’re leading phase 2,” Harry said.

“The rest of us are making magical lights and that’s going well,” Bill replied. “We don’t have to have them all done this week as we can add them as we go, but it’s an easy thing to do in our cabins where we can’t been seen doing magic. I’ve looked at the freezer and refrigerator and I can convert them to stay cold with magic after we turn them off. We’ll need to pick up a magical stove in New Zealand though, and put the one we have in storage along with any other large electrical devices we don’t plan to use. The work won’t be hard, but it will take most of a day and that can’t be started until after the crew has left.”

“Very good. Anything else that’s important?”

Ginny spoke up. “The girls have reserved the front foredeck tomorrow morning. No boys allowed.” She ended on a teasing note.

“Oh, why?” George had to ask and he was grinning.

“We’re going to get to know Mia a little better if you must know. Also,” Ginny looked at her brother intently, “no pranks or interference or I’ll show you some pranks in some sensitive places. Understand?”

George just blinked. “Message received.”




Harry was piloting the boat by himself and it was getting close to lunchtime. He’d have called Winky, but was afraid Captain Moore would come out of his quarters at the wrong time; the Captain’s quarters had a door to the bridge. He checked the radar and looked out all of the windows to find only one large ship a long way away, so he reduced his speed a little and locked the wheel in place before he hurried out and down to the kitchen area.

As he neared his destination, he found he had clear sight of where the girls were. He found he had to stop and, well, gawk. All five of them were in two piece swimsuits. He’d barely taken in the sight of that gorgeous group of girls when Mia stood, said something to the others, and turned and headed towards him. He found himself agreeing with Ginny that she had a lovely caramel coloring as he was looking at a lot of it.

He watched her as she walked towards him, then he smiled and said hello as she passed, she returned the smile and the greeting. When she was by him, and it was hard not to turn and watch her go, he looked forward again to look at the other girls and he was very glad he hadn’t turned around because now he was looking at the rest of the girls walking towards him with Ginny in the front and she didn’t look overly happy.

“Harry,” she said evenly.

“Ginny,” he returned with a smile. “May I say that you look especially lovely right now.” He also was hoping for a good response given his faux pas, although he thought it was minor considering the circumstance. He also kept his eyes on her eyes, as difficult as that was.

She tilted her head slightly as if trying to divine something. “A passable save. You’re lucky I love you.”

“Thank you, I love you too,” he replied. “However, what was I supposed to do when all of you took this moment to walk by me?”

He heard Hermione hiss playfully, “Oh, so close as he goes from a passable save to crashing and burning.”

As it looked like Ginny was about to agree based on her expression, he did the only thing he could think of. He took a step forward to close the space between them, grabbed her quickly, and kissed her. She resisted for a few seconds before she started to melt into his embrace and put her arms around his neck.

When he pulled back slightly he said, “Girls, if you could continue on while my eyes are closed, please?”

He heard movement and Fleur saying as she walked by, “I think he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Surprise kisses are always good.”

“It’s his saving people thing,” Hermione commented as she walked by, “it’s just that this time he saved himself.”

“Yummy,” said the last one, which caused Harry’s eyes to fly open and see Ginny looked as amused as he felt.

“I agree with Fleur on this,” she told him. “And for the record, you may be right logically, but logical doesn’t always rule the heart or the emotion.”

“I’ll try to remember that,” he breathed before he kissed her again. “Sadly, I must leave to you get my lunch and hurry back to the bridge.”

“Since we delayed you, go on back and I’ll bring lunch to you in a few minutes after I change,” she told him as she let go and walked passed him too.

He couldn’t help but turn and stare now plus he gave a very soft wolf whistle. Ginny just exaggerated the swing of her hips for a moment before she twisted and blew him a kiss over her shoulder. As he hurried back to the bridge, he thought he really needed to talk to Bill soon.

Back to index


Chapter 5: Chapter 5

All of his friends were standing in a line which led to the skiff; Harry was last and Ginny was beside him.

Mario Russo came first with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder. Everyone shook his hand and thanked the man for his service as chief engineer. When he reached the end, Harry shook his hand as well. “Mr Russo, thank you for your work, especially in teaching Lee and Gawain.” He handed an envelope over. “I believe this takes care of our promise: your last paycheck, the bonus, and money for the ticket you wanted to return home plus a little extra.”

“Thank you, Mr Evanson. Again, I’m sorry for things being a little rough at first, but I’m glad I stayed and it all worked out.”

“As am I. Good luck.” Harry watched him walk the short distance to the skiff and climb in.

Mia was being hugged by Ginny, who told her, “I wished we had made the effort to know you sooner, but maybe that can happen anyway.”

“Probably,” Mia allowed.

“I have your phone number,” Harry told her as she turned to him. “I’ll call you in a week as we’ll be here at least that long. Here’s your last payment and bonus. Since you’re not traveling I put an extra bonus in there to be fair.”

“Thank you, Mr Evanson, that’s very thoughtful.”

“Remember, you have an opportunity, but do what’s best for you,” he advised her.

“Yes, sir. We’ll definitely talk later.” She headed on.

“Steve,” Harry shook the man’s hand and gave him his envelope. “Thank you for being flexible and working with us.”

“I enjoyed it, even if it was long days.” Steve held up the envelope. “My wife will enjoy this. Thanks for the work.” He headed on.

Alex was next to reach Harry who said, “Thanks for all of your help and training. I liked our talks about your early years on the job. This is for you.”

The young man laughed as he took his envelope. “Thank you, Mr Evanson, even if you do make me sound old that way.”

As Ginny released the hands of the last crew member, Harry stood a little straighter. “Captain, I can’t say thank you enough for your help, training, and encouragement, not to mention signing our license paperwork. Becoming half as good as you will be an accomplishment.”

The older man smiled. “I think you’re already there; all you need is some experience … that’s to each of you.” He looked at Ginny also. “Just remember to be cautious as the ocean is a harsh mistress and is not forgiving.”

“I shall not forget that, nor to check the weather,” Harry told him, having been reminded of that often in the beginning.

“Then I have accomplished much,” he said with a smile and took the envelope when Harry held it out. “Good luck, I have enjoyed serving here. You have my contact info if you need my services again for any reason.”

“I do,” Harry told him and shook his hand one more time. “Thank you again for signing our license papers and good luck to you as well.”

Bill followed the man. Harry gave him a thanks for taking care of ferrying the group to shore. He and Ginny stood there and watched them leave, waving at the end.

When they turned to go to their cabin, he asked, “You ordered the supplies, right?”

“Yes,” she replied. “They’ll be ready to pick up tomorrow at three. They said if we’ll pull into their berth they’ll deliver them by crane since the order is so large.”

“Good. Still like Mia?”

“Yes, but not as much as Lee,” she said with a chuckle. “It’ll be nice not to have to use our aliases anymore and we won’t have to be as secretive. I know Ron will be happier too as he can start using magic outside of his cabin.”

“I’m looking forward to going somewhere I can fly my broom again,” he told her.

“Me too, and thanks for buying us all brooms,” she said with a squeeze of her hand that was around his waist.

“They’re fun and they might come in handy too; you never know. Let’s head to the bridge and look at the maps,” he suggested. “I’d like to figure out where we’re going next.”




Bill was standing next to the rail on the bow of the boat looking over the water when Harry found him. The man was leaning over, both elbows on the rail and looking contemplative.

“Hi Bill.”

He turned his head. “Hi Harry.” He went back to looking over the water.

Harry joined him and leaned on the rail too. “Problem?”

“Not in the usual way,” Bill replied. “I was again thinking about what happened to us and the spot we find ourselves in as exiles, or essentially so. I never could have predicted this.”

“I know what you mean,” Harry agreed. “Ginny and I will be talking normally and then something is said and before you know it one of us is upset about what happened. Usually it’s Ginny about the loss of her parents but I’ve had my moments too about the unfairness of it all.”

They stood in silence for a moment before Bill asked, “Got plans for how to handle this afternoon?”

“Yeah,” their new captain answered. “It’s all supposed to come in boxes so I thought we’d get everyone up and form a line. The first person grabs a box and passes it to the next and so on until the last person gets it and can stack it. Hopefully, the last person is under cover and Winky can be there to send it to the appropriate storage room. I don’t think it should be too hard. Ginny has done a great job taking care of the ordering and management of things around the boat.”

Bill nodded thoughtfully. “That she has. I’ve been a bit surprised but I supposed all of you had to grow up sometime and the last couple of months has forced that.” He snorted. “I’ve noticed Ron doing reasonably well too since he’s returned.”

“He has,” Harry agreed. “Say Bill, can we talk about Ginny and the future?”

Bill turned his head and looked at him, taking his measure for a moment, before turning and looking back out over the water. “It wasn’t until the second night at the Delacours that I discovered where Ginny was sleeping. I mentioned something about it and received an earful from my lovely wife who I also found out had helped that along. She pointed out Ginny was so close to being of age that the small difference didn’t matter.

“It was at that moment when the idea of her being with you at night and the loss of my parents came together and I knew I’d be having a conversation with you about her.” Bill sighed. “Yet another thing I shouldn’t be having to do.”

Bill snorted in amusement. “Even stranger is that I can’t do any of the normal things that Jean did with me. I can’t posture and threaten you about taking care of her because you’ve already saved her life twice, and that doesn’t count you just defeating the most recent dark wizard. I don’t need to ask if you can take care of her needs because of this.” His hand slapped the rail a couple of times.

“And I don’t need to ask if you love her, or if she loves you, because I’ve watched you two around each other. I find it a little sickeningly sweet, while Fleur says it’s cute and then reminds me that we used to be that way not so long ago. What’s a man supposed to do?” Bill sighed.

Harry waited and after a long moment when Bill still didn’t say anything else he suggested, “You can say yes.”

Bill chuckled which turned into a laugh. He stood before he turned to Harry and stuck out his hand, which Harry accepted, and said, “Good luck, she’s all yours. You have my permission and blessing, although I don’t think it’s required.”

“She asked for it,” Harry commented as they let go.

“She’s just following tradition because she thinks that would have made our parents happy -- she is right about that,” Bill replied. “Mum would have been over the moon and Dad would have been happy for both of you. Are you going to ask the magic question tonight?”

Harry snorted. “I’m not allowed to ask until September because she wanted me to really think about it and give us time to talk. I was thinking of waiting a week more just to have fun with her and make her wonder.”

Bill laughed. “I like the idea, but be careful as that might be playing with fire. She’s always been a handful, even to the point she could keep the twins in line.”

Harry smiled. “I know, it’s part of what I love about her. I don’t expect life with her to ever be boring.”

“I think you’re right there,” Bill agreed.

Since Harry felt they’d finished the previous subject he asked, “Hey, while we have a few minutes, will you show me the work you did on the space expansions and the cold charms? I’d like to learn.”

“Sure, it’s not too hard and it’s something you probably should know.” Bill led him off.

Harry was happy that had gone so well and was also now done.




Harry and Ginny stood at the side of the boat and watched the skiff return. Ron was driving with Bill beside him to watch and guide. This trip was Ron’s first time to do it.

“Ron’s doing well with the skiff,” Ginny commented. “I’m glad he’s starting to pick up jobs around the boat and learning about it.”

“He’s been doing well for the nearly three weeks he’s been back with us,” Harry told her. “I think he’s really turned a corner. However, Hermione doesn’t seem to spend much time around him.”

“She’s still wary of him.” Ginny shook her head. “I don’t think he burnt that bridge, but he certainly singed it really well. Only time will tell if they get back together or not.”

Harry looked at her and smiled. “Since we have a moment...” He leaned down and they started to kiss. In fact, they lost track of time and it was about to turn into a full out snog session when they heard a throat being cleared loudly behind them. Not embarrassed at all, they pulled back slowly and turned to see Ron, Bill, and Mia.

“Really, Harry?” Ron complained a little sarcastically.

“I thought he was James,” Mia said, puzzled.

Harry smiled. “Why don’t you come with us to the lounge where everyone else is and we can answer that question and others. I know Lee will be happy you’re back and I do hope you decide to stay.”

“You make it sound like I might not want to,” Mia said as she followed them.

“I’d like to hope your decision to join us will continue, but as I told you when we talked on the phone, this will always be and should always be your decision and no one else’s, not even Lee’s,” Harry told her as he led her into the lounge. She’d said she wanted to join them when they’d talked on the phone, but he wondered if this discussion would change that.

Everyone else was seated and waiting, although Lee stood and came over to her, greeting her with a quick kiss.

“Feel free to grab any kind of drink you like,” Harry said as he grabbed some apple juice and headed for the seats. Ginny followed with some tea. Mia joined them with coffee and sat beside Lee.

Despite his smile, Harry felt nervous. “Mia, there is one large secret we might as well start with and get it out of the way. I think everything after that will be easy.” He paused and took a deep breath. “This was so much easier in my mind than for real.” A few of the others chuckled, while Mia looked concerned.

“The truth of the matter is, Mia,” Harry started, “there are two kinds of people in the world. You’re probably thinking, right: male and female. While that is true, I’m making the distinction between those who can do magic and those who can’t.”

Mia looked puzzled. “Like pull a rabbit out of hat? What’s so secretive about that?”

“No, like do things that should be impossible kind of magic. Who has an empty cup?” Harry asked as he pulled out his wand. Hermione held hers out and Harry levitated it from her hand and moved it so it was in front of Mia and hovering. “Grab it and examine it. It’s a normal cup. The reason it’s floating in the air is because of me.”

Slowly and with a hand that was no longer steady, Mia reached out and took the cup, allowing Harry to end the spell. She looked it over for a long moment. “It seems normal,” she finally said and looked at him in wonder.

“Drop it.”

“What?!”

“Drop it.”

“It’ll break!”

“I know and it’ll be fine.”

Mia looked like she still didn’t understand but dropped it on the wooden floor and the cup broke into almost five main pieces plus some little ones.

Harry waved his wand again while saying `Reparo` in his head and all the pieces jumped back together. “Pick it up and check it out again. You won’t find a crack on it as it is completely repaired.” He watched her do it. “I can do a lot more if you need to see it to be convinced, but are you satisfied magic really exists?”

Mia slowly nodded as she looked back at the cup then at Lee. “You’re like this too?”

Lee pulled out his wand and conjured a rose to hand to her. “I’m sorry I lied to you, but we’re not supposed to reveal magic to others … unless that person will be living with magicals. That’s what this is about. I really meant it when I said I wanted you to come live with me, but you have to accept I have this extra gift.”

Harry wasn’t sure he’d ever seen his jovial friend this serious while Mia looked at and then smelled the rose and smiled.

“I think you might have a touch of the gift as well. Remember how my wand gave off a spark when you waved it around?” When she nodded, he held out his wand again. “There are no batteries in it; it takes magic from within you to make it work. Take it and wave it again and try to make it make sparks.”

She hesitated before she slowly took the wand. Looking like it was hard to move, she waved it a little and two white sparks fell out, limply, making her wide-eyed.

“Look at me,” Luna commanded and Mia did lock gazes with the blonde; she also didn’t seem to be able to look away until Luna did.

“I believe she’s a very low-powered witch after all,” Luna confirmed. “I doubt she’ll ever be able to do more than first year spells and even most of those will be hard for her, but she is magical. A custom fitted wand would be the best thing we could do to help her.”

“How could you possibly know that?” Hermione snapped.

“Isn’t it obvious that a custom fitted wand would be most helpful?” Luna returned, not bothered by the outburst at all.

Hermione looked exasperated. “No, that you can tell she’s a witch just by looking at her.”

Luna still wasn’t perturbed. “It’s a gift, just like we all have gifts. Some have more than others, whether in number or in size or in both. You know that. Your best friend is the most gifted of us all, that’s why he is our leader and partly why Ginny can’t help but want him “ beyond the fact that he’s yummy.”

Harry just looked at her and blinked as she turned to him and smiled in her enigmatic way.

“You know it’s true even if you don’t want to admit it,” Luna told him. “Ignoring modern day politics, the strongest has always been the leader.”

Harry decided to hurry off that subject. “Mia, that’s the big secret. We’re all magical here, apparently even you. So if you come live with us, you’ll have to keep the secret and hide it too.”

“Even from my family?” Mia asked in surprise.

“There are exceptions for immediate family,” Hermione informed her. “My parents know even if they aren’t magical, but my extended family does not. I’d suggest you fully come to terms with this before you tell them.”

Mia nodded a little numbly and continued to look at Lee’s wand in her hand. “This might explain a few stories I’ve heard about my mother’s parents.”

Harry said, “It’s not uncommon for magic to return to a family in later generations if it disappears. Anyway, that is the most important part of us and we can all teach you more later if you stay. The why we are here and not in Britain may be important to you too.”

Going slowly so as not to confuse her, Harry explained about the war and the government’s reaction over the last few years. Then he explained about winning the final battle only to be thrown into prison unjustly and then their escape.

“So after we escaped our illegal imprisonment, we took on new names to leave the country and ended up here to be far away from Britain and to find a new life. It was either that or stay and start a new war,” Harry ended. “If that’s all right with you, you’re welcome to join our group and be like one of us. You can stay with Lee or have your own cabin … or maybe start in your own and move in with him later.” Harry shrugged. “None of us will care as its your life. We only asked that no one gets hurt and that you help out around the boat. Being our chief engineer would be an obvious position, but if you’re tired of that, you can find something else to do “ although I’d ask that you be willing to continue to teach Lee and George as needed.”

Mia nodded slowly. “It’s a lot to take in.” She waved the wand again and another spark came out, which made her smile. “I’ll stay. I really like Lee and think that will work out. Magic is just a bonus, even if I never master it.”

Ron snorted. “I’m not sure any of us really master it, but welcome aboard.”

The rest smiled and echoed his welcome. The girls all jumped up and rushed over to give her a hug. They had a new member and Lee definitely had a girlfriend.




A phone call to Jean, who talked with the Goblins of Gringotts, revealed that most of the magical population in New Zealand was on the southern island, not that the population was all that large. So they sailed that way as they were in no hurry. In the magical community they found an old wand maker who was able to create a wand for Mia. He also agreed with Luna that Mia would never be able to do more than simple spells, but then again, many magicals only did simple spells most of the time anyway.

Harry made sure there was a party for Ginny’s birthday. He even made Ron and a slightly unwilling Hermione help him with some of the details “ unwilling because Ron was involved. Afterward in a private conversation, Hermione admitted that Ron was getting better, but it was obvious the bridge between them was still singed, as Ginny would have said.

Rounding the island and heading north on the eastern side, then soon left New Zealand behind as they headed for New Caledonia and its neighboring islands. Harry never went more than about half speed as they were in no hurry and there were no significant storms.

Next on the itinerary was Vanuatu and its islands. They generally stopped at most islands “ even if they were small -- wherever they went to see what was offered and get some shore leave to have fun. Going on shore was also a better way to have some private time even if they were on a big boat.

” ” ”

Their first evening on Vanuatu during dinner, Bill told them all, “Don’t leave when you’re finished eating, Fleur and I have something to show you.”

“Oh?” several asked at once.

Bill just smiled. “You’ll have to wait,” which earned him several groans.

Bill finished a little early and left to retrieve his props; meanwhile, Fleur conjured a table, a bucket, a funnel, and a couple of tubes. He returned a few minutes later with what looked like an overly large tin can with a connector on each end.

He attached a tube to one end of the small device then attached the funnel onto that. A tube was attached to the other end and hung off the table over the bucket that was on the floor. “Watch this,” he told them as Fleur handed him a cup of water which he poured into the funnel that led into the device. A moment later a deluge came out of the other tube, almost filling the bucket. “For any liquid I pour into here, you get about ten times the amount of the same liquid out, whether that’s water or diesel fuel “ the magic doesn’t care.”

Harry grinned, “Brilliant! Between this for the fuel and the changes we made for electricity, we’ll need very little energy to stay on the boat.” Everyone was happy, but none more than the three engineers who said they’d install the device in the morning.

” ” ”

The next evening Harry decided to put his plan into action as it was now the third of September and Harry was noticing frequent expectant and thoughtful looks from Ginny. He didn’t think she knew he’d talked to Bill already, but there was no doubt in his mind she was wondering when he was going to propose to her. They’d had a lot talks in the evenings about what they wanted to do, especially in regards to children. Harry was tempted to wait a little longer to tease her a little more, but decided that might not be healthy for him.

Since almost everyone spent their free time on the forward deck, Harry set up a private area on the rear deck with Winky’s help, and he warded it for privacy. They had dinner on the putting green, in fact. As dinner ended, Harry walked around the table as if to help her up, but instead he dropped down to one knee. He didn’t care about theatrics or being flashy, but he did want to give her at least a little romance.

He surprised her when he went to one knee and grabbed her left hand. He then held up the engagement ring he’d pulled out of the jewelry box before he’d given it to Ginny months ago and held it up so she could see it. “Please marry me, Ginny, because I love you with all that I am and I want us to spend the rest of our lives together, until death do us part.”

Ginny looked overcome at the suddenness and nodded briskly, barely managing a husky, “Yes.”

He slipped the ring on before he stood and pulled her up where she hugged him tightly and kissed him hard. All of his other plans were thrown overboard as she suggested, “Let’s go back to our cabin where we have more privacy and discuss this.” He didn’t object so off they went.

A few minutes later he was glad he hadn’t objected as not only did her dress come off, so did her knickers. They didn’t make an appearance the next day until it was time for lunch.

At lunch they appeared to a number of grins and teases about sleeping late … until Ginny showed her new ring. The girls squealed and had to come over to look. The boys were less excited, but still raised a cup to Harry and said, “Congrats.”

“When’s the big day?” Bill asked.

“Are you going to marry yourselves as the captain of the boat?” George asked in jest.

Harry rolled his eyes at George before he answered Bill. “That was a big topic of discussion. Ginny is thinking in two weeks or maybe three.”

“What?” It was Bill who’d exclaimed but others were looking at Harry in shock too.

It was Ginny who answered though. “I’d like to buy a special dress, but otherwise there’s not much else to do, other than get a camera for someone to take pictures as I’d like some. Otherwise, we just have to find someone who can do a magical wedding and pick up a few flowers at a shop. I think getting married on the beach sounds nice.” The girls agreed a beach wedding sounded good.

Bill asked the last major question too. “I can give the bride away, but who will be your best man?”

Harry looked at Ginny and she shrugged before nodding to him slightly. `Chicken` he thought at her; she must have guessed that because she also smiled and batted her eyes at him. “At this time, we’re thinking we won’t do that tradition because I’d hurt someone’s feeling no matter who I picked and you all can’t be best man. Same thing for maid of honor. Sorry.”

While the girls all looked disappointed, Bill said, “That’s actually probably for the best, for you and all of us.”

“Where do you want to get married? What island?” Fleur asked.

“I was thinking Fiji,” Ginny answered. “I like the pictures of it in the book we bought about the islands. We can spend our honeymoon in one of this little huts on the water too.”




When they were ready to leave the area around Vanuatu, Harry and Ginny were on the bridge looking at the maps and getting ready for their next journey.

“I think straight to Fiji,” Ginny said, “there’s not much else near here to see unless we go north.”

“There’s nothing between here and Fiji though, so it’s a straight run,” Harry pointed out. “We could do it in a single long day if required, or do you think we should go at our usual slower speed and make it two days?”

“I don’t really care,” she replied. “Two days is fine if you want. While I am looking forward to getting married,” she said with a grin, “I don’t think one extra day is going to matter. We’ll probably have to be there several days anyway, and Jean said the magicals in that area are mostly on a smaller island to the east and call it the Isle of Magic. So I expect we’ll need to go to both, but at least the two places are only a couple of hours sailing apart.”

Harry pulled out a report he’d received only a half hour before. “Look at this though, there’s a storm to the south. It looks to be … here.” He put his finger on the map to the south of them where the report indicated. “It’s heading east too, but should stay south of us. I think we can go ahead.”

Ginny scanned the report. “Yes, I’d agree, although I will note we’ll be heading slightly south to get to Fiji.”

“Not very much, maybe 150 nautical miles or so at most.” He nodded. “We got this.”

” ” ”

By late afternoon of their second day, it was obvious the storm they thought wouldn’t be a problem was a problem as it had turned northward. The wind had picked up as had the waves. The boat could still handle it, but it was rougher seas than Harry had ever sailed on before, even when Captain Moore had been with them.

Their best hope was to make it to Fiji and anchor on the leeward side of the island to let it shelter them. He’d also gone to full power to get there faster, but they were going to get tossed about for a while and the bigger waves also slowed them down. This was a lesson he was going to take to heart “ storms can change paths even if they’re big.

Ginny was standing on lookup at the front of the bridge, making sure they didn’t run into anything and give warning if land suddenly appeared. Ron was watching the radar for land or other ships. Hermione was watching the depth finder to make sure nothing surprised them from underneath. Normally, the pilot could watch them all as long as they weren’t in a harbor or someplace tricky, but now Harry wanted everything watched continuously because he was feeling stressed.

Ginny returned to the map station and looked at their GPS coordinates then at the map. “Harry, I have a suggestion. I think we should head for this little island ahead and a little to the north. Turning will have us go more with the waves and even if the island is small it should give us shelter until the storm passes.”

“Is it big enough to have people and a harbor?” he asked as he fought the wheel wanting to turn more than he wanted.

“Doesn’t look like it. I don’t even see a name on it and if I’m reading this right, it might be about a kilometer in size, maybe, but probably less,” she replied.

“I don’t know if that’s really big enough to help, but it’d be better than being out here in the deep water,” he thought out loud. “How far?”

“About ten nautical miles, I think. Fiji is another two or so hours beyond it in this weather and rough waves, so it’ll save us that,” Ginny answered.

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Hermione told them, looking a little green despite have had a motion sickness pill.“ Ron looked all right, but he’d been quiet for some time.

“The waves are still building and slowing us down, but ten miles isn’t that far.” Harry thought for a moment. “Let’s do it; heading?”

“Thirty degrees more north,” she answered before returning to the glass windows and taking the binoculars this time. When she stopped to think situations like this through, she was a little amazed at how fast she’d picked up the Muggle sailing technology, or at least how to use it as she still had no idea how much of it worked.

The boat turned as needed. There was still the up and down motion but less side to side. “It’s a little better this way,” Hermione commented.

“It’s getting darker as evening comes plus the dark storm clouds, but I think I can see something way out there,” Ginny said suddenly.

“Hermione?” Harry called out.

“It’s getting a little shallower, but you still have over 200 meters of depth,” she replied.

Harry considered it all for a moment as they continued to head to the island. Captain Moore’s warning of the ocean being a harsh mistress was really coming home to roost. He also needed to know which was the best side of the island for them and his map of this area wasn’t as detailed as he would have liked “ something to rectify at his first opportunity in a larger port.

“I need to know where to go,” Harry finally said and looked at Ginny who’d turned to look at him. “I hate to ask this, but can you go get your broom and fly out to the island as you can go a lot faster. Take one of the radios so you can tell me if I need to go to the north side or if there is an atoll with an opening we can get into.”

“Probably best if two of us did so we can cover more area. Ron?” She looked at her brother who nodded at her, so she Apparated to her cabin. Ron realized what she was doing and left with a crack too. The two returned a moment later, each with a broom.

Ginny grabbed a small radio and turned it on and tested it before putting the strap around her neck. She also grabbed the phone on the wall and pushed a button. “George? Good, Apparate to your room and get your broom and then come to the bridge, immediately.” She hung up before he could have possibly answered.

“You think we need him too?” Ron asked.

“Can’t hurt,” she replied. “The only other really good flyer is Harry and he has to pilot the boat. Despite being a Weasley, Bill’s told me he’s not great on a broom like Charlie is.” Her other older brother appeared with his broom.

“What’s up and why the emergency?” George asked.

“Come on, we have to go scout the island and find a good place to shelter the boat.” She led them out of the bridge and they all took off.

“Sorry, Hermione, but you’re going to have to watch the radar too. Or maybe call someone else up,” Harry told her.

Hermione had learned the communication system like everyone else for emergencies, so she pushed the proper button to make a ship-wide announcement. “Neville to the bridge and hurry.”

She’d barely returned to her station when Neville Apparated in. “What’s going on besides rough water?”

“Take the radar station and tell me about anything that lights up,” Harry told him, straining to look out the front windows for where to go as the darkness continued to fall and they headed towards a dark shape.

“You mean like this big lump that looks like an island right in front of us?” he asked.

“Yeah, especially that. How far?”

“Err, if I’m reading this correctly I’d say you’ve got maybe three miles or so.”

“Harry, come in.” Ginny’s voice crackled on the radio.

He grabbed the mic near him. “What did you find? Over.”

“I don’t see any lights, so I think no one lives here. There’s an atoll on the northwestern side and it’s large enough for us. We’re heading that way to find an opening. Over.”

“Good. I’ll need you and Ron to hover as best you can in this wind over the edges of the opening so I know where to go. Over.”

“Roger.”

When there was no more conversation for a long moment, Neville said, “I assume we’re going to the island for shelter, but what’s an atoll and how does that help us?”

“You know that an island is really only the top of an underwater mountain, right? And usually a former volcano.”

Neville shrugged. “I guess I do now. Why is that important?”

“Some islands,” Harry explained, “have a ring around them or part of them. Usually it’s from coral, but sometimes because the volcano blew out one side and a little is left over at the original edge. That ring of rock or whatever it is creates a lagoon. If we can get through the ring and into the lagoon, we can anchor in shallow water and the ring will protect us from the worst of the waves while the island will help with the wind “ hopefully.”

“Oh that makes sense. Hey, you’re getting close to it, slightly less than a mile,” Neville told him.

“You’re losing depth fast but are still at about 100 meters,” Hermione announced.

Suddenly there were multiple flashes of red light in front of them and Harry turned the boat slightly to head that way.

“That was spell-fire,” Neville said as he looked out the window too.

“Probably making an opening bigger,” Harry commented as he slowed to half speed.

Flashes continued in front of them, then a few flashes started occurring behind the others so there were three sources. “I do hope they hurry,” Harry said just as it started to rain heavily. He locked the wheel for a moment and took a couple of steps over and hit a few switches to turn on all of their lights, including a floodlight facing forward.

“Yes, we see you’re coming,” Ginny’s voice sounded suddenly. “Slow down more, we need more time. Over.”

Harry dropped back to idle speed and let the boat coast forward, even if he really wanted into the lagoon now. More red flashes, probably from blasting hexes, were seen.

A couple of minutes later, white light from two lit wands were seen and moved around and then up. The red flashes further in were still ongoing.

“Come in slow and stay between us,” Ginny’s voice said. “George is working on the lagoon. It’s a lot calmer there. Over.”

“Why is George working on the lagoon?” Neville asked; he didn’t have much to do now.

“Could be shallow spots he’s trying to fix,” Harry said absently as he sped up to quarter power.

“Thirty meters and rising to twenty ahead,” Hermione said with concern.

“Tell me if you see ten,” Harry said, watching for the wand lights and trying to get between them.

“Go starboard then swing to port as you’re going to have to go left soon after entering, and slow some more. Over.”

“Roger that,” Harry returned and slowed so he was barely moving. He was also having trouble seeing the wand lights through the rain. The bow was heading inside and he could feel less rocking now which gave him some comfort.

“Twelve meters and decreasing to eight. We aren’t going to make it! You have to stop!” Hermione shouted.

“It’s fine, Hermione,” Harry told her tensely. “Ten is my preferred limit; we can do five if we must. We will ground at four for certain.” She still looked to be in a panic as the boat was now going through the opening.

Suddenly, the light on the starboard side dropped and there was a bang on that side.

“What was that?!” shrieked Hermione.

The light returned and Harry smiled at her. “I think that was Ginny trying to make the opening a little wider with a spell and you just heard the blast through the hull.”

“Uh, mate, both my eyes and the radar say there’s a rock wall in front of us,” Neville said overly calmly but heading towards dread.

“Yes, the lights do show that,” Harry agreed, working to keep his voice level.

“Ginny, how much more until I turn to avoid the rocks? Over.”

“Almost there, steady ... steady … hard to port! Go 45 to port!”

Harry spun the wheel and the boat slowly turned. A new light was up ahead.

“George says don’t go past him. Over.”

“Roger that.” Harry cut power a moment later and coasted the rest of the way. He applied reverse thrust for a moment before shutting the engines off and hitting the button to drop an anchor at each end. A gentle jerk later told him they were stopped and he hadn’t scrapped the bottom. The water was calm enough in the lagoon the large boat barely moved, just the occasional sway from the wind.

“We made it,” he announced to his two friends. “I wonder where everyone else is?”

“Lee and Mia are in the engine room and the rest of us were in the lounge watching out the windows,” Neville informed him. “I’d like to see where we are but that’ll have to wait until morning. It’s really dark outside with the storm, plus I don’t want to go out into that. Thanks, Harry, you did a good job.”

Harry snorted. “I had a bad read on the weather and we got lucky to find this place. Besides, it was a team effort. Thanks for your help, mate.”

Neville nodded and Apparated away, probably down to the lounge so he didn’t have to walk outside.

“All right, Hermione?”

She’d dropped her head to the console just before they’d stopped and only now raised up. “That was almost too much for me. I’m tired enough I feel like I’ve been in a fight.”

Two thumps where heard outside before the door opened and two very wet and bedraggled redheads with hair and clothes plastered to them walked in.

“Good piloting,” Ginny said, “but you owe me for having to fly in that.”

Harry’s wand came out and she was dry almost instantly, although her hair looked a mess. He did the same for Ron.

“A good start but not enough,” she told him firmly.

“Err, thanks,” Ron said. “It was really wet out there.”

“Thanks for the work, Ron. I’ll tell George that tomorrow. Thanks to you also, Hermione. Come on, Ginny. How about a hot shower, some warm red wine, and a good snuggle?” He grinned and then tried to give her a suggestive look.

Ginny held her demanding look for a few seconds until she snorted and then started to chuckle. “I’m not sure if that’s really for my benefit or yours, but I’ll take you up on it.” They walked to the inside stairway to go down to their deck and then cabin; it was longer then going outside but they wouldn’t get wet this way.

Hermione looked at Ron. “Thank you for doing that,” she said quietly. “I couldn’t have flown like that.”

Ron looked back for a moment before smiling. “You’re welcome. The wind made it a challenge but it was also a little exciting.” He paused for a moment. “Would you care to join me in the dining room for some tea? I’d like a hot drink after that.”

It took a long moment before she said, “Sure, a hot drink would be good.” She led the way to the dining room and through a halting but calm conversation.




(A/N: Just 1 more chapter to wrap up.)

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Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Author's Notes: (A/N: Time for the big wrap up. Yes, there will be time skips over only normal everyday life.)


The next morning Harry was awakened by the rising sun since he’d forgotten to close their curtains. Well, he was awake anyway since they’d gone to bed somewhat early. Trying not to wake Ginny, he rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom.

When he returned, it was to see a topless Ginny sitting up in bed and looking around sleepily. It was a sight he enjoyed. It was made even better by her smiling at him and then getting up to walk over to him fully naked, as he was. She kissed him and went into the bathroom.

She was really amazing he thought as he got dressed. They’d been intimate for only about a week and it had to be one of the best weeks of his short life. He hoped to continue on to Fiji later today and work out how to get married sometime in the next few days.

Ginny came out and headed to her dresser.

“I thought we could go take a quick flight and look at the island, especially the atoll to see about leaving,” he told her as he picked out his socks.

She started putting on shorts and a t-shirt, with nothing underneath, making him look at her. “It’ll be just the two of us,” she told him as she grabbed socks and her shoes. A few minutes later with a broom in hand, each walked outside and took to the air.

The first thing he noticed was how green the island was, which was nice as many small islands weren’t much more than rock, coral, and/or sand with a few pieces of greenery that lived on whatever rain that found them. This place had done better.

Harry saw why the waves hadn’t bothered them much because the atoll ring was fairly tall as far as atolls went. The water in the lagoon was reasonably clear though a little hard to see the bottom as the sand was a light gray … the same color as the rock walls ahead. He also thought that with care he could turn the boat around, although it might be better to try and back out -- a decision for later.

“This looks nice,” Ginny said as she went into formation by flying next to him. “I’ve liked the whiter sand on other islands, but as long as it’s not prickly to walk on then I suppose that color will do too. Let’s fly to the upper level.”

He agreed and they angled up. The rock wall was about ten meters or so taller than their boat, which made it fairly tall for an island. On the upper level, they saw a fairly large pond or a small lake that looked full, probably from all of the rain last night. There was some green vegetation up here too, but mostly small stuff like ferns, whereas below it has been a number of palm trees with ferns under them.

Going around some more, the backside showed to be a very steep angled rock face going straight down into the water, so the only place with a beach for humans was inside the atoll where their boat was. There was definitely no humans living here, just some birds. It was a small island that was close to circular (if you counted the atoll) and probably about a square kilometer in size, so there was no reason for people to live here.

They had almost circled around back to their boat when Ginny exclaimed “Look!” and angled down to the edge of the rock wall. They found small spot where the water from the upper lake escaped over the edge in a small waterfall to go down to another ledge about halfway down before it fell again. Following her, they landed at the very bottom by a small pool that was fed by the second waterfall off the ledge in to a small pool which drained into the lagoon.

Ginny dropped her broom and stood at the edge of the pool and looked up about fifteen meters to the ledge in the middle of the wall. She held her hand out and laughed as she splashed herself a little, getting part of her t-shirt wet. Turning to look at her fiancée, she asked, “What?” at his dumbfounded look.

He dropped his broom and came over to her, grabbed her around the waist and kissed her hard. As they parted, each breathing heavily, he said, “I just had a fantasy about you standing under that waterfall, naked and glistening, preferably in the full moonlight.”

Her eyes widened. “Me?” she all but squeaked.

He kissed her again as his hand touched her bare side and started to move up slowly.

She moaned in pleasure at his touch. “We will have to come back and fulfill that idea, but later.” She looked into his eyes deeply before he felt a squished through a tube and they fell to land on their bed and clothes started to come off.

After an energetic time, they managed to leave each other alone long enough to get up and get dressed again, although in different clothes. They had trouble not grinning at each other. Ginny put on undergarments this time and wanted to brush her hair, so with a couple of extra minutes, Harry Apparated back to the waterfall and retrieved their brooms.

They were hungry now and went for breakfast to find only Neville there and it looked like he’d just sat down. A glance at the clock showed this was about the time people normally came to breakfast. The couple dished food that Winky made and joined their friend.

“Been up long?” Harry asked, also noticing that Ginny frowned for a moment before she shrugged off whatever it was and started eating, her expression normal again.

“No, I arrived just before you did. I did look out the window at the island though,” Neville told them. “I think we should explore it while we’re here.”

Harry and Ginny looked at each other and smiled, each thinking they were lucky they hadn’t been seen earlier at the waterfall. “We were thinking the same thing,” Harry said. “I think we should get our brooms and fly around and to see what we find.” Ginny nodded as if it was a something to do and wasn’t something they hadn’t just done.

“Not sure about that flying part,” Neville said hesitantly, obviously remembering his flying class in first year.

“You’re going to have a hard time getting up that rock wall, or so I’d think, if you didn’t fly,” Ginny commented. “It has to be at least thirty meters tall from what I saw looking out the window.”

“You can do it,” Harry told him confidently. “Fly as slow as you want and remember you have a good broom now, not like those old ones the school had. That wasn’t your fault in first year, mate.”

“Maybe,” Neville said, still without confidence.

As the others came out, the idea was presented again and most were in favor except for Hermione and for the same reason as Neville. The other exception was Mia.

“Wait,” Mia said looking around in confusion. “That wooden broom in Lee’s closet isn’t just some prank item but you fly on them?”

Everyone, including Luna, smiled at her, but it was George who said, “Yes, it’s a lot of fun too. Hmm, I wonder if she can fly on one by herself or if she’ll have to sit behind Lee?”

“I didn’t get one for her because she wasn’t part of the group back then,” Harry commented, “but we can see if she can and if so I’ll get her one next time we find a place that sells them.”

As they’d finished breakfast, everyone hurried for their room. Harry and Ginny were the first up in the air as he’d told Ginny to wait while he Apparated to their room and returned with both brooms.

They shot up at a steep angle and then leveled off and flew slowly side by side. “It is peaceful here,” Ginny commented.

“I was thinking that with a few small changes we could live here,” Harry returned. “We could live on the boat but do whatever we wanted on the island; I just don’t know what that would be.”

“A beach and lagoon for swimming,” Ginny started. “You could put chickens and goats up top. With a little fencing you could put a garden up there too. I’ve learned to like fish over the past couple of months. The boat can give us all the water we need as long as we keep up maintenance on it.”

The others started coming out.

“It’s a fun idea but what would we do? You can only read so much “ no matter what Hermione says,” he joked with a grin and Ginny laughed.

Mia rode behind Lee and was in awe of flying, especially while he took it slow like Neville and Hermione were doing. They noticed Ron come down and fly near Hermione to try to give her some tips. To their surprise, Luna was sporting a pony tail like Ginny and she was flying near Neville.

“What do you think?” Harry pointed at Neville and Luna.

“It’s possible,” Ginny speculated. “He’s the gentle type and won’t make fun of her.”

They saw several land near the lake so they went to join the small group. Bill was casting spells at the water while Ron and Hermione were looking around.

“What do you think?” Harry asked.

“The sulfur content is a little higher than I’d like, but it’s not high enough to hurt you if the smell doesn’t bother you. It’s also cold, so no danger from the temperature.” Bill looked around. “It would be a nice place to live in many ways.”

“Yeah, Ginny and I were just talking about that,” Harry told him. “My only concern is what to do to keep busy because we could survive here pretty easily with a few animals and a garden up here and then living on the boat.”

“True, especially since it doesn’t get cold,” Bill nodded as he continued to look around, including looking at his wife who was checking out a plant.

“This is a weird rock,” Ron said from not too far behind them. “It’s like the dirt doesn’t want to stick to it. This sort of smoky and slightly yellow color is pretty interesting though.”

Those near walked over to see the rock Ron was holding. It was size of a small chicken egg and a bit lop-sided.

“Can I?” Bill held out his hand and Ron dropped the rock in to it. Bill cast a few spells at it before he nodded and handed it back to Ron. “Take care of that. It’s worth at least a 50,000 Galleons, maybe more.”

Ron got out a strangled, “Wha’?” The others looked at Bill too.

The oldest Weasley laughed and smiled. “It’s a raw diamond. Not top quality, but its size helps a lot. To really know what it’s worth, you’d have to try to sell it; probably after it’s cut into a main stone then others from the remains. It’s something you can learn. I’ve watched Goblins do it on bigger rocks than that. Given our status, probably best to sell it in the Muggle world.”

“I wonder if there’s more,” Ron said in awe and pulled out his wand. He pointed away from everyone and said, “Accio diamonds”.

Harry saw them coming and tackled Ginny, twisting so he was on the bottom and Ginny landed on him. Bill managed to dive to the side also. Ron turned and stood in front of Hermione to cover her and was pelted with a dozen rocks, most the size of the end of his thumb. Ron cried out and picked up a few light bruises.

Hermione glared at him for a moment. “Not a good idea.” She softened before adding, “But thank you for the protection.”

“Thanks,” Ginny told her fiancée before she asked with concern. “You all right?”

Harry took a few deep breaths. “I think so; just got the wind knocked out of me.”

“Thanks again.” Ginny kissed him slowly but not passionately, then she got up and helped to pull him up.

Harry stepped over and reached down to pick up a raw diamond while the others were making sure everyone was all right. This one was smaller than the first but was white smoky.

“One of the better quality ones, I think,” Bill said as he looked at what Harry had.

Harry looked at him then at Ginny then back to Bill. “Is mining diamonds hard work? When you have magic to help you, I mean?”

“That would give us something to do and earn a living,” Ginny commented.

“Yes it would and it wouldn’t be hard to do with magic,” Bill said thoughtfully, “but you should buy the island before you even mention them to anyone else, assuming you can find out who owns it.”

“I think we may have just found a place to live,” Harry said with a grin. “We can still sail around, but we can make some money this way.”

They called everyone over and showed the raw diamonds and explained the plan. The vote to do it was unanimously yes.

” ” ”

They took all of the diamonds they could find lying on the ground and put them on the boat. It was a surprise to everyone that they almost filled a small bucket once everyone had started to summon diamonds, being careful to make it a low powered spell to get only a few at a time they could catch or else pickup.

Harry blasted the opening in the atoll ring so it was five meters wider than before and then very carefully, with Ginny and Ron on brooms again to watch as he went through, backing out of the protected lagoon. With everyone onboard, they headed for Fiji and a little over an hour later in calm waters they entered the harbor area for boats like theirs.

It only took a few questions of people they encountered to make it to the government building. They decided that only Harry and Bill would go in; the rest found a café and ordered drinks.

With the GPS coordinates, it wasn’t too hard to find the island on a map. The man they spoke to was very pleasant but not very helpful. Harry wondered if they should have brought Fleur with them as perhaps he’d be more helpful with a hint of her allure, but he also considered that cheating.

Eventually, the clerk admitted, “That little dot of an island is owned by the government, as it owns all unclaimed islands in the region.”

“So how do we buy it?” Harry asked again. The man again looked at him skeptically. It was Bill who figured out what the problem was.

“He wants to buy it for his father and my uncle as a birthday present,” Bill said. “We have the money if it’s not too expensive.”

The man nodded and looked into a book on his desk. “What will you be paying in?”

“I can do British Pounds or French Francs,” Harry answered in a bored tone, trying to make it seem like he did this all of the time.

The man then tapped on the keys of a calculator. “Ah, let’s call it an even million British Pounds and it’s yours in about three months. The paperwork is difficult.” He looked like he expected them to leave.

Bill leaned forward and in a quieter voice said, “How about 950 plus 50 more for you to expedite it so it’s done in a week?”

The man blinked and wet his lips slightly. “Can you make the admin fee be in cash?”

“Do you have the information for whom that wire transfer should be sent to?” Harry asked before he waved vaguely at Bill. “He’ll bring his lunchbox with the admin fee with him to pick up the papers.”

Harry filled out one form with his banking information while Bill picked up a paper to look at before he set it back down with a stack of a thousand Pounds under it which made the clerk smile. Harry was sure he’d hear from Jean as this would put another large dent in his bank account since it hadn’t fully built back up. At least after this large purchase he’d start to put money back in … besides what Andromeda was still giving to him, although that had slowed down as most of the outstanding loans had been taken care of.

As they headed for the café to join the others, Harry looked at Bill. “Why did you say it was for my father and how did you know to offer him an admin fee to get it done faster?”

Bill slapped him on the back and grinned. “Experience in Egypt. It doesn’t always work and I was very prepared to Obliviate him of the offer if he started to protest, but it’s not uncommon to have to bribe officials to make the system work as it should -- sadly. As for the story, I finally realized he wasn’t taking you seriously because of your age. Now we just need to go find the Isle of Magic and get you married off.”

Harry nor Ginny noticed as they was busy in conversation about the wedding, but Bill borrowed Hermione’s phone and stepped outside, returning a few minutes later with a big smile on his face.




The next day, they sailed for about two hours in the direction Jean had told him and Harry called Jean while they sailed. Jean did give him an earful about what he was doing to his bank account. When Harry told him he’d purchased the island for the diamonds and any other precious stones, Jean was quiet for a long moment before he started to laugh. “I do not know how you do things like this, but it will be good to see money come into your account.”

They did find the island where most of the magicals in the area lived without too much trouble. After a group meeting about who was doing what, Ginny and the girls went to go shopping for a dress and get the flowers while the Boys took care of the rest. Again Bill went to the government office and arranged for an official to marry his sister and Harry the next day.

Since Ginny wanted stay in a hut on the water and the two islands weren’t that far apart and there was no phone service on the magical island, Harry did what most of the residents here did and Apparated back to Fiji to reserve a room for the week. The boat would be left here so the others could do what they wanted on the magical island while having a free place to stay at night.

” ” ”

The next day, everyone got a surprise at breakfast when Bill came into the dining room with a visitor. Wands started to come out until Ginny screamed, “Charlie!” and ran over and wrapped him in a hug. “How did you get here?”

“Someone thought all of the family should be together for this and I had to agree,” Charlie replied with a look at his older brother. “It was a Portkey to Greece, supposedly for some sightseeing, then a disconcerting ride in an airplane. I’ve been up almost all night but I think this is worth it.”

“Aren’t you tired?” George asked as he gave his brother a hug. Ron followed.

“Yeah, but I have a Pepperup potion to keep me going until the newlyweds leave,” he told them with a chuckle. “I’ll sleep a day after that, spend a couple of days with the rest of you, then head back.”

“Are you safe?” Ginny asked with concern. “You know...”

Charlie gave her another hug. “I was asked a few question by the Romanian Aurors where I denied having been in England recently. I’m sure the answers were sent back to Britain, but I haven’t been bothered since. When I leave here, Bill will Obliviate the name of the island from my memory.”

The dragon handler spend as much time as he could with Harry and Ginny and he was happy for them. Late that afternoon, the couple was married on the beach with everyone else in a semi-circle around the couple, just as Ginny had wanted. After a fun dinner in a private room at a restaurant, the newlyweds bid Charlie a good-bye before Harry Apparated Ginny to Fiji for their honeymoon for a week.




Harry had barely sat down for breakfast their first day back after their honeymoon when Ginny “ instead of Winky “ brought out breakfast. “Thanks,” he told her, “this is a change.” He took a bite. “A bit different than usual, but good.”

Ginny smiled. “Thanks, I tried. I’ll get better.”

“You cooked this?” He was surprised.

She nodded. “The morning we found the island it occurred to me that I really needed to make sure I knew how to cook for my husband. I know Winky will do most of the cooking, but I felt like I needed to know this. I guess I got that desire from my mum.”

Harry put an arm around her waist as she stood next to him. “I’m sure you’ll do fine and will be as good as your mum was soon. Grab a plate and join me.”

Ginny smiled at him and kissed on the top of his head before saying, “Back in a minute. Start thinking about what you want to do for Hermione’s birthday later in the week.”




As Harry walked up the gangplank to the boat, he was glad they’d deepened the lagoon to be able to pull the boat up to near the rock ledge. In fact they’d made the little island a nice place to stay in the last six months. It was a pretty stress free life.

To make it more fun, he thought they now had a group game as he dropped into a deck chair and Winky popped in with bottles of cold beer and cold juices. Ginny took the chair next to him with a large grin also.

Ron dropped into his chair with a sullen look. “That was not the children’s game I grew up playing.”

“We didn’t have wands and we had not gone to Hogwarts either,” Ginny retorted. “You’re just upset you were the first found.”

Mia landed her small flying carpet nearby, having been the observer and something of a judge for the game of Hide and Seek. She had heard that last exchange. “Ron, your biggest problem is that you stayed in the same place the whole time.”

“What about Bill?” Ron asked and pointed at his brother who was walking up.

“I used a lot of magic to make my hiding spot hard to find,” Bill explained. “I was second only because I was lucky. If we ever play that again I’ll have to change my strategy.”

“I’d like to play again another day,” Ginny said, “but I think we should make it a rule you can’t stay in one place for more than ten minutes, although five might be better.”

While Luna joined them in her usual serene manner, there was a slightly pleased looked on her face. She was also sporting her radish earrings again, which most of them took as a good sign.

Harry and Ginny, both individually and together, had talked with Luna a lot over the months. Each of them now considered Luna a sister.

Hermione trudged up looking very tired, as did the rest of the group, but Hermione also went around and checked to make sure everyone was all right, healing a few scratches and bruises. She’d become the healer of the group, mostly from reading books, but also from taking a few lessons from a healer on the Isle of Magic when they went there.

“You know,” Harry said slowly, thinking out loud, “we could spice it up a bit and allow some battles with low-level spells so you’re not really out if you’re only found. Besides adding a new dimension to the game, it’d help to keep our skills sharp.”

“Can we use more than our wand?” George asked with a grin.

Lee looked at his friend. “I thought you sold all of your extra joke products.”

George gave a ’meh’ look. “I can make more.”

“Well, I had fun and would like to do it again,” Harry said.

“Because you won,” Ron groused.

“This time, but Ginny almost got me as did Bill,” Harry replied to try to keep the peace. “It was also good to use magic like that again. We could even do teams sometimes.”

The rules changed a little over time, but Magical Hide and Seek (with optional battles) became a favorite group activity. A close second was a modified Magical Capture the Flag (without Apparating).




Harry was glad they’d widened the beach because that’s where they were now and they needed every inch of the narrow strip of sand. He was checking the ritual circle yet again, as was Bill and Hermione. Luna was guiding everyone to their place with Mia in the middle.

Harry was standing back as he wasn’t to participate in this as he didn’t want to hurt Mia. In the Black family book of magic he’d found a ritual to increase the magic of a person who definitely had some but only a little. He surmised this was the basis of Umbridge’s complaint about Muggle-born stealing the magic of Purebloods … except that’s not what this ritual really did.

After a lot of study years ago, it had been determined that the ritual increased the flow of magic in the person. The increase was the average of the group that powered it … or so they believed. Harry had brought it up as he wanted to help the girl, but he was also a little fearful there was something they didn’t understand and would hurt her too.

However, after lots of discussion and research by Bill, Fleur, and Luna, Mia had said she wanted this as she wanted to experience magic more than she did, which was a Lighting spell, a low powered Levitation, and a handful of other first year spells. She could almost fly a broom, but the broom would only hover. She could use the small flying carpet they’d found and purchased for her, but she couldn’t make it go very fast. She was unable to control the larger flying carpet at all.

They might have waited to do this, but Bill and Fleur were heading back to France in a couple of days. The couple had decided, after a discussion with Jean, that it was safe enough for them to return to France since they hadn’t been one of the ones to escape Azkaban.

When everyone was in place, Harry launched himself to fly around and not even be touching the ground, just in case that mattered. Luna started the ritual.

As predicted, about a minute later a small glow left everyone else in the ritual circle and hit Mia, causing her to glow for a few seconds before she fell to the sand. Luna and Hermione were the first to her, closely followed by Lee, Ginny, and Bill.

Harry landed and waited nearby with the others. All were silent and hoped they hadn’t just done something terrible. Whether this worked or not, they’d not be repeating it.

It was Ginny who stood first.

“Well?” Harry asked.

“She’s breathing normally and doesn’t seem to be in any danger. Hermione says she doesn’t show as magically exhausted, so I don’t think we hurt her.” Ginny sighed. “I guess we’ll have to wait until she wakes up to see if it helped her.”

” ” ”

While Bill and Fleur could have Apparated back to Fiji and flown home from there, Mia said they needed a few parts for the boat, so Harry decided they’d sail the week or so it would take reach Auckland and they’d sail direct as the weather report looked good for the entire time “ although they’d check that every day. That would give them a little more time with Bill and Fleur plus a visit to Mia’s family for her to introduce Lee and the concept of magic to her family.

Bill and Fleur would also be taking all of the diamonds they’d found with them to be sold a little at a time. Magic hid their cargo so they felt safe doing that. The group had proposed to give Harry the first five million Francs for buying the boat and the island. Harry only agreed to that if the rest of the money was split evenly amongst the group as all had worked on the mining. There was agreement to that.

When they were ready to leave on their voyage, they let Mia try a broom again. For the first time she could fly one by herself, which made her very happy. She could levitate heavier objects than before, but not as much as Lee could; still, she was happy with the change and thanked them all profusely. Mia would never be able to do than more third year spells, but she accepted that as it was better than what she’d had.




Six months after Bill and Fleur had left, during one of their formal dinners Ron cleared his throat nervously. “Uhh, I’d like to propose a trip to Hawaii.” Everyone else collectively blinked and gave him a surprised look.

“Err, it’s possible, but why?” Harry asked.

Ron fidgeted for a moment. “Last time we went to Fiji, I stopped by a jewelry store and asked about selling a few of our raw diamonds. I got into a discussion with the owner and he said they didn’t really buy any and it wasn’t in our best interest to sell them like that anyway. He said we really needed to learn to cut them ourselves as we’d make more money that way.

“I asked about it and he said there was a place to learn how to do that in Hawaii and it’d take from three to six months. I checked and the islands there, while part of the Muggle US, are separate magically and are not part of the ICW so it should be safe enough. So I’d like to go check it out and see if I can find a place that will teach me. I don’t mind doing the mining, but it’d be good to get the most money we can “ you know?

“Also,” Ron seemed even more nervous now, “Hermione has said she’d like to take more healing classes and Hawaii is a bigger place so there should be a school there.” He looked at her now. “I promise … I swear, if you’ll come and stay with me I’ll be good and do the right thing. You can have your own bedroom and anything else you need; I’ll make any promise you like if you’ll come with me.”

While everyone else held their collective breath and looked between the friends that had been spending a little more time together since their island had been found, Hermione looked at him just as intently as if trying to divine the right thing to do. “Harry has said no one should go off alone and I agree with that,” she said thoughtfully before she looked at Harry. “This, for both of us, seems like something for the good of the group. What do you think about these classes coming out of the group’s fund?”

Harry looked at each of them for a moment and then at Ginny. She grinned at him and nodded. “Since Ron’s and Hermione’s training would help the group, does anyone have any objection to the group paying for this? I mean not only the classes but everything while they’re staying there?”

Since no one objected and most thought it a good idea, Harry said, “Make some calls to find out about your class, who does it, how much, when the next one is, that sort of thing and we can plan a trip to take you there and for the rest of us to tour the islands. I don’t know that we’ll stay the whole time you’ll be there, but at least a couple of weeks would be good and we can also pick up some more food supplies for things we don’t grow here.”

“We should ward the island to discourage others from coming,” Neville spoke up. Everyone agreed with that. There were other preparations to make also, like food for the small herd of animals to eat while they were gone.

” ” ”

Two weeks later they started sailing for Hawaii. Harry figured they’d take about six days; they could have done it a day faster but the class Ron registered for didn’t start for a week after that. Hermione’s classes started a week after Ron’s. Each was excited about doing this.

Much like there was a separate hidden island near Fiji for the magicals, it was the same in Hawaii with their hidden island near the big island of Hawaii. So Harry took them to the big island and they sailed around it and visited the two major cities there. Ron’s class would be in Hilo while Hermione’s would be on the magical island. The magical island was close enough for Ron to Apparate between the islands so the pair could stay in a magical house.

As they were slowly going around the big island, it was just Harry and Ginny on the bridge at the moment. Harry wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close from behind. “Gin, we’ve been married close to two years now. What would you think about starting on our children soon?”

She turned in his arms and teased him. “You mean have our three and a third children?”

“I told you I’d like three or four, I don’t think you get to have something in the middle,” he teased back. “You said you were fine with my answer.”

“I am,” she replied as she checked the radar and found nothing of interest. “I’d say we could practice some more, but if I get off the potion it’s very likely I’ll be pregnant soon if I’m anything like my mum.”

“I’m fine with that,” he replied. “I don’t believe we have to stop once you get pregnant.”

She smiled and giggled. “No, no you don’t. Maybe we should ask Hermione to take a class on delivering babies. I know we’re the only ones married right now, but I think that will happen with Mia and Lee soon. I don’t think Neville and Luna will get married despite the time they spend with each other; they seem to be just enjoying the friendship.”

“I’ve noticed and I think I’d agree … in each of those cases. So no more potion for a while?” he asked.

“My current dose runs out in about a week and I can stop taking them,” she agreed. “You do know what this means though, right?”

“Err, lots of sex?” Harry suggested.

Ginny laughed. “Beside that. It means we’ll have to start talking about baby names. It also means we’ll have to figure out how to arrange rooms. Probably best to divide our sitting area then put space expansions on both parts so we can keep the sitting area and have a bedroom for the children.”

Harry took a deep breath and let it out slowly with a smile. “Children. It’ll probably be crazy and scary and so many other things to be a parent, but I’m looking forward to that.”

“With you...”

“Absolutely, with you!” Harry would have taken her to their cabin to “practice” right then but they were piloting the boat.

” ” ”

Four months later, Ron and Hermione flew back to Fiji and Apparated to the island. They were holding hands and said they were boyfriend and girlfriend again.

Ron and Hermione also found out Ginny had a small baby bump.

That same evening, Lee and Mia announced they were engaged and planned to marry in a month.




They were anchored in the harbor of the Isle of Magic in case they needed emergency help, but Harry and Ginny were in their cabin with Hermione in attendance. Privately, Hermione had told Harry she still wasn’t sure this was a good idea, but it was what Ginny wanted so Hermione had taken an extra class just for this.

Ginny was squeezing his hand, fortunately the one without his wedding ring. Harry did his best with comforting words. “You’re doing well. You’ve got this. You’re almost done.”

Hermione looked up at her patient who was in a very unique chair, leaning backwards at a 45 degree angle. “All right, Ginny, push gently… gently...” Ginny gave a muted scream and Hermione excitedly said, “Got him, relax Ginny!”

Ginny was only panting now and Harry wiped her brow and then kissed her. “I told you that you’d do well, amazing even.” She looked at him and tried to smile but seemed to have a hard time in her exhaustion.

Hermione stood and handed a wrapped bundle of messy baby to Ginny for her to hold. “Just think about your son while I make sure it’s all finished below. What’s his name? You haven’t said.”

“Orion James,” Harry said softly as he gazed upon his son. “It was Sirius’s middle name.” He looked at Ginny. “The next one will have Arthur.”

Ginny touched his face. “Thank you, but not any time soon.”

Harry smiled at her. “I’m in no hurry and I’d like to get to know this one first. You do amazing work.” He leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips before standing straight and looking at his son again.




Harry was walking with Ron across the main square towards their favorite restaurant where their wives were waiting.

“I don’t know why I can’t convince Hermione to have a second one,” Ron said sounding just short of a complaint. “How did you convince Ginny to have a second and a third?”

Harry smiled. “She wanted the children as much as I did. Now that Suzzy is two, we’re discussing if there will be a fourth or not. I told her I was comfortable with her decision. I would suggest not making a big deal about it so there’s no pressure.”

He shrugged before he noticed something he didn’t care for. Lowering his voice he said, “Ut-oh. Be ready.” He also saw something else that made him smile.

A gesture caused Ron to change paths towards the two strangers who looked to be harassing a young teenager who looked very uncomfortable. Everyone looked over when the two arrived and Harry tilted his head a little to the side. “Go on, Giles; we’ve got this.” The teenager hesitated only for about a second before he turned and ran.

Two men both in a dark blue suit -- one about 50 years old and graying while the other was younger, maybe a little more than Harry’s thirty with light brown hair -- looked at a glowering Harry intently as if determining if he was a threat. They barely spared the slouching Ron a glance, which they’d regret if this turned into a fight. “Are you Harry Potter?” the older one asked.

“My passport says James Evanson, but since I know all of the local residents and you’re not one, who are you?” Harry asked, his hand not far from his wand and Ron looked ready also.

“I’m Migel Santos and my assistant is Jacque Lemur; we are what you’d call Aurors from the ICW.”

Harry noticed a brief irritated look from the “assistant”.

“Are you Harry Potter? Answer me,” the older one insisted firmly.

“I don’t know where you’re from,” Harry said casually knowing he had plenty of backup, “but here we don’t harass people. Shouldn’t you know that if you’re an Auror?”

“We were just asking a few questions,” the man insisted. His hand started to move towards his waist when a floating knife suddenly appeared with the point next to his ribs, causing him to freeze.

Harry smiled. “Reaching for a wand or actually anything without asking first is a really bad idea, Mr Santos.”

Santos turned his head a little back and forth but there was no one to see. “How?”

Harry smiled again and this one wasn’t friendly. “Mr Santos, you’ve come here and threatened at least one friend that I’ve seen, and you’re acting like you’d be willing to threaten my family. While I am not happy about you making threatening noises, I can promise you that my amazing wife -- who snuck up on you -- would probably do worse things to you.

“The reason she was able to put a knife at your side without you seeing her is because she is exceptionally good at stealth and excels in our games of Magical Hide and Seek to the point I have to work very hard to beat her and I still lose more than I’d like. Over the last few years, she’s also shown some amazing skills in the kitchen such that she cooks as well as her mother, who was a legendary cook. If that wasn’t enough, she’s also so amazing in another way that it’s a real surprise we don’t have more children.”

“James!” was hissed by a female voice from behind Santos and surprised the two visitors even though they knew someone had to be there.

“Mate, too much info there,” Ron said quietly. “Perhaps we should find out what they really want before Robert comes over.”

“Yes, good point,” Harry agreed.

“Who’s Robert?” Lemur asked.

“Our local Auror and someone we’ve helped a number times over the years, so as long as I don’t hit you with a Killing Curse while he’s watching, we can do about whatever we want,” Harry explained. “So, what do you want with Harry Potter? Perhaps I’ll pass a message to him.”

When Santos hesitated, Lemur said, “We just want to ask a few questions about what really happened in Britain as there is now doubt about what the British Magical government has claimed over the years.”

“Lemur!” Santos seemed upset, perhaps more had been shared than the older man liked.

Harry turned to Ron. “Why don’t you reassure Robert we’ll take care of this and make sure they leave after a conversation?” Ron nodded and headed over to the uniformed man sitting on a park bench and watching avidly from across the square.

“Follow me,” Harry gave the order casually, “and I’d suggest you be very careful and non-threatening. Sure, we can heal you if it turns out there was a misunderstanding, but do you really want to take the chance on if that blade hits something vital or not?” He turned and started walking away towards the restaurant.

A wand appeared and was pointed at Lemur. “Slow and easy, gentlemen,” the female voice said. “While it’s true I can do very bad things to you, he’d actually be worse if you tried to hurt me. I’ve seen some of the things in the family magic books and it grosses me out far worse than some of the nasty nappies I’ve seen.”

The two men start to walk slowly after Harry, who was now a good five steps in front of them and with his back to them. They also saw the end of his wand was now visible, something they hadn’t seen before. Lemur looked at his supervisor and shook his head ever so slightly as they continued to a table with a large umbrella outside of a restaurant.

Harry signaled to the waitress; she smiled and headed inside. He pointed to two chairs. “Have a seat. We can talk here in the shade.” The two had barely sat when Ron rejoined them after his hasty walk and sat across from them with his wand on the table within easy reach and it was pointed at them.

The waitress returned and placed a tray with a number of bottles on it and then left. “Help yourselves,” Harry told them as he grabbed a beer and leaned back. Ron grabbed one too, although with his left hand.

When Lemur grabbed one, Santos looked scandalized. Lemur said, “He’s in control here and he’s being gracious, not to mention it is warmer than we’re used to.”

Santos refused to take a drink. “Actually, we’d like you to return to ICW headquarters in Zurich to answer a few questions.”

Harry looked at Ron and they both started laughing. They also heard a ghostly snicker since there appeared to be only four of them at the table and neither of the visitors were making a sound.

Ron said with a nod of his head towards Harry, “I’ll save him the effort. Not only no, but bloody hell no. Besides I heard there was an article written about it all just after it happened about ten years ago, and it was in all of the major magical newspapers in Europe. What could you need to know beyond that? Whatever government is in Britain is a dictatorship which enslaves those that dissent and that is not good for anyone but those running it.”

Jean had written their story and made sure it was sent to all of the European newspapers the week Britain had requested their return.

“Whoa, dictatorship and enslaves and dissent? Those are big words. Is your wife rubbing off on you? No wait!” Harry exclaimed, “don’t answer that as it’d definitely be too much information.” Ron grinned at him unrepentantly.

Lemur saved him. “The article is well known and was read, although it hasn’t been until the last year that it’s been taken seriously. Until about a year ago, Britain kept a very tight grip on everything and almost no news had come out. Recently though, we’ve started to sneak some of our people in and the reports have not been good.”

“I’m going to remove you from the force if you keep going,” Santos threatened his younger colleague.

“A political appointee with no real experience?” Harry asked while looking at Lemur, who seemed reasonably competent, unlike his superior.

Lemur smiled and looked at his bottle before looking at Harry. “I think you understand the situation you find yourself in.” Santos didn’t look happy but couldn’t really protest the vague answer.

“So, is the ICW finally about to do something useful in regards to Britain?” Harry asked Lemur and just ignored Santos.

“As you can guess, there is discussion. Always discussion.” Lemur looked up as if pleading for patience. “My cousin who works on the diplomatic side says it’s getting more serious though.”

“And the right information could help that along?” Harry added thoughtfully.

“So the theory goes,” Lemur told him casually.

Harry considered it all for a moment. “Since you seem competent, can I assume you have an evidence kit?”

“Certainly.”

“Be very slow in opening your jacket and pulling it out. We’ll enlarge it,” Harry commanded and shifted so his beer bottle was above the table now instead of in his lap. Ron also reached forward and placed his hand on his wand, though he didn’t pick it up.

Lemur nodded and understood that bottle would be coming at him with a wrong move, and it would probably be coming at a speed where he couldn’t avoid it. That didn’t count any other magic from the redhead and he could still see the “floating” knife next to Santos’s ribs.

Very slowly, Lemur opened the left side of his jacket and with two fingers withdrew a small flat brown wooden case the size for cigarettes and placed it on the table. “I’ll need to be touching it when you do the Ending spell on the shrinking charm.” He put one finger on it.

Ron picked up his wand and did the spell silently, causing the box to expand into a full sized brief case. Ron also stood and walked around so he could watch Lemur better as he opened it.

“What did you need from here?” Lemur asked, still calm despite him not being in control.

“Phials for memories; three I think.”

Lemur pulled one out and held it out. He was shocked and almost threw himself back in his seat at the speed the supposed Harry Potter pulled out his wand. He managed to hold his position, but Santos wasn’t so lucky and did jerk backwards, only to cry out slightly in pain.

“You were warned not to move suddenly, so it’s your own fault for throwing yourself onto my knife,” Ginny’s voice told him. “Sit still like your partner; you were only pricked.”

Harry grinned at his success with the idiot before he pulled out the memory of his conversation with Malfoy in Azkaban and put it in the phial. When Lemur put that away and held out another, Harry said, “I think we need yours from the Great Hall, my love. From just before the attack until you went unconscious.”

Ginny shimmered into view behind and between the two men with her hand now visible on the knife at Santos’s side and her wand pointing at Lemur. Her wand went to her head and a memory was pulled out and dropped into the phial that Lemur held out to her.

“Luna?” Harry queried and Santos gasped again while looking at Harry and probably would have been stuck by the knife yet again except that he was already pressed against the back of his chair. “Are you sure you’re magical Mr Santos? Because you’re acting like you’ve never seen magic used before in practical ways.” Harry had managed a straight face and received a glare from the older man while Lemur held out the third phial towards Harry, the corner of the man’s mouth quirking up in amusement.

Taking the phial, he held it up next to his shoulder and saw a memory being dropped in, as Luna would have had to have “appeared” behind him based on Santos reaction. “She’s pretty good at sneaking up on me too.”

“If it makes you feel better, Harry, it’s hard to do,” Luna told him. He received a pat on the shoulder as he handed the phial over.

“Thanks, Luna. Well Mr Lemur, there’s evidence for you to back up the story about what happened,” Harry said.

“What about your escape from prison?” Santos asked, finally finding his courage to speak again.

Harry barely glanced at him and returned to looking at the younger Auror. “You were lucky we came in today. I don’t suggest returning since this country is not a member of the ICW and you don’t have any jurisdiction here; but if you do return Mr Lemur, everyone would appreciate it if you returned with someone who knows what they are doing.” Harry shrunk Lemur’s briefcase now that he had closed it again. “You can easily Apparate to Fiji from here if you need to fly back, or take your Portkey back to where you came from.”

Ginny stepped back and kept her wand trained on the two men, as did Ron, and Luna. Harry placed his empty bottle on the table and stood, wand by his side.

“Thank you for the help and the drink.” Lemur put his shrunken briefcase back into his pocket and pulled out a fountain pen. “Sir?” he said casually as he held it out.

“I’m going to write you up,” Santos threatened.

“As I will be writing up a report on this mission, what you did, and how you jeopardized it, plus submit a memory of it,” Lemur replied in a mostly bored tone. “Touch the Portkey, sir, before they get even more tired of us than they already are.” When Santos continued to glare at the younger man, Lemur touched the pen to the man’s neck and rapidly said, “Fire, fire, fire.” The two disappeared instantly.

“What a wanker,” Ron said with a shake of his head.

“I can’t argue with that,” Harry said with a grin as he tossed a few coins on the tray for the drinks. “Let’s get what we came for and return to the boat. I think we should do a short cruise to a few of the other islands before heading home.”

“And check the boat for tracking spells,” Ginny said, not suggested.

“Are the children with Hermione?” he asked just before their three children came running out of the restaurant with Neville and Hermione following quickly. “Never mind. I think we’ll head back to the boat as we don’t need anything. Don’t take too long,” he told the others.

Ginny Disapparated with Suzzy after picking her up while Harry grabbed Orion’s and Ian’s hands and left.

“What a day,” Ron said, shaking his head again. “All right, let’s get going. I’ll tell Robert the brief version and to watch out for them and contact us if needed.”




It was another eight months later when Winky came to Harry while the family was on the beach and playing. “Master Harry, there is a phone call from a man in France.”

“Jean or Bill?” Ginny asked.

“I’d bet it’s Jean, but there’s only one way to find out.” He left with a crack.

Ginny shifted uncomfortably, holding her baby bump as she did. “This is definitively the last one.”

Ron almost cracked a joke about it being her own fault, until his very pregnant wife glared at him; so he returned his gaze to their little girl and smiled as she played in the sand beside the Potter children.

Harry returned a few minutes later with a thoughtful look.

“Well?” Ginny asked.

“It was Jean. We need a group meeting,” he replied.

“What did he say?” Hermione asked with concern.

Harry just called out “Winky!”

“Yes, Master Harry?” the elf asked after she appeared.

He wondered if she’d just stayed and turned invisible since he hadn’t heard a pop from her. “Please go find the others and tell them group meeting on the beach. I think Lee and Mia may be in their hut on the upper level.”

There was a pop this time when Winky disappeared. Harry pulled out his wand and started conjuring umbrellas, like the ones Ginny and Hermione were sitting under, and some chairs.

Multiple cracks started sounding as the others appeared, except for Mia and Lee who arrived on brooms.

“I just received a phone call from Jean,” Harry announced as they all settled into a chair. “I didn’t get many details since Jean didn’t have them because it just happened last night, but the Ministry of Magic back home finally collapsed. Apparently there was a coup from the common people that toppled them. A lot of people were hurt, but it’s over. The new government has issued amnesty for everyone who was persecuted for political reasons. They even had a list of those known to have suffered and our names are on that list.”

“We can go home?” Hermione asked incredulously into the silence.

“If we want to, or we can stay here. Or we can go home, see what we think, and if we don’t like it then come back. Or anything else we want,” he told them.

“What do you want to do?” George asked.

Harry snorted. “You’re not going to get me to say first as I want all of you to think about what you want. Also, I’d have to talk to Ginny about it. I honestly don’t expect everyone to know without some thought. I’ll admit to not really fully knowing myself.”

It was Neville who spoke up first. “I think I’d like to go back. I have a manor house there that I’d like to check on. I’ve enjoyed my time here and with all of you, but I’d like to go back.”

Luna looked at him for a long moment. They never really become an official couple, although they had spent a lot of time together over the years. “I too have a house to check on. Perhaps we could do that together so no one is alone?” Neville nodded slowly and she smiled.

“I think I’d like to go back and help the country, after the baby is born,” Hermione said. “Ron, what do you think?”

Ron played with the sand for a moment. “I don’t know. I kind of like it here and I enjoy shaping the diamonds we sell but I can understand what you’re thinking. Maybe we should talk about it -- later.” She nodded.

Lee and Mia had their heads together and nodded at each other before looking at the group. “We’d like to stay. Also, Mia is pregnant.”

Everyone was stunned for a moment, still not used to the way Lee would drop bombshell announcements like this, just as he had when he’d announced wanting Mia to become part of their group or that she was magical. Everyone congratulated the couple after they recovered from their shock.

George shrugged. “Don’t know that I care, except…” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “I think I’d like to talk to Gail first.”

“The girl who runs the Potions shop?” Ginny asked in surprise before her expression brightened. “I think she’d be a good one for you. I hope it works out.” Everyone else was happy that George might have finally found someone for him too.

Ginny looked at her husband. “I don’t know, but what if we sailed back to find out what it’s like. If we don’t like it, we can return here. I’d like to see how Hogwarts faired. Orion will be eligible in three more years.” The mentioned boy looked at his mother in surprise as he’d already started learning a little, mostly potions so far.

“I could see that trip taking three months or probably more if we don’t hire help like Captain Moore. You’ll give birth probably before we get there, and Hermione is due even sooner,” Harry pointed out. “Even if we waited a few months for each of you to give birth, I’d still want to hire help to go back and then there’s the problem of having to explain magic to them because it can’t be hidden now with so much many things using magic on the ship.”

“We either remove the memory of magic from them when they’re done or else we put a compulsion on them not to tell,” Hermione said then held up her hand. “Yes, I know, I’m the last person that should be suggesting that and I don’t like it, but it would solve the problem if you want to be really sure. My real opinion is that we just ask them not to tell and I think Captain Moore would do that.”

She looked at Ron. “We could also go to Australia where my parents are and have the baby there. Then fly back to England and see what we want to do. If we don’t like it, we could come back here.”

“And miss the time with them?” Ron asked in surprise as he waved towards Harry and Ginny.

“I’m not saying we should do that, but it’s an option,” his wife told him and Ron acknowledged the option.

When no one said anything for a moment, Harry spoke up. “Right. George can figure out if he wants to stay here with the lovely Gail or not.” George actually blushed a little but his smile was large. “The rest of us can prepare to sail back to England to see what it’s like. Tentative departure is in two or three weeks with a stopover in Australia. I’ll contact Captain Moore to see if he’s available and if he could meet us in Austrailia. Maybe Alex is available too. If they’re not available hopefully they will have a good recommendation.”

Harry looked at Lee and Mia. “Since you’re staying, the island is your responsibility and whatever you dig out is yours since you’ll be doing all of the work. We’ll help put up more protective wards to repel people before we go.”

“Thanks,” Lee told him gratefully.

“Wait,” Hermione said suddenly and with worry. “All of our engineers are staying behind.”

“I’ve picked up a lot from George,” Ron told her. “I can do that job generally. It might be good to find one person to hire, but I don’t think we need a full crew down there. A lot of it just runs itself and maintenance isn’t hard if you do a little every day. I think,” he looked up for a brief moment as if visualizing something, “I think it is about time to schedule a larger check according to the manual and we probably want to upgrade a few things on the bridge, so maybe we do that in Sydney. Since that would take a few weeks it would be about the time Hermione is due and her parents might want to be there for that.”

Hermione gave him an appreciative look. “Thanks.”

“Right,” Harry agreed. “If Captain Moore can join us, I’ll ask if he can find an engineer.”

“Or maybe we come with you and fly back,” Lee thought out loud. “We’ll have to talk about it.”

“If you’ll stop in Auckland and drop us off for a couple of weeks on the way so Lee and I can spend time with my family, we’ll come back with you like he said. We can catch up with you in Sydney when the maintenance is complete,” Mia bargained.

“We’ve got a plan and we can do this!” Harry shouted. The others cheered, even the children.

--The End--

(A/N: This seems like a good place to end it as their time in exile is over. As I finish this, it seems like Harry’s bad luck is generally confined to Britain, so he might should stay on the island but you can decide where H/G ultimately live. :) I hope you enjoyed this as something different. -- Kevin)

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