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The Brewmaster's Mystery
By Mutt N Feathers

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Category: Post-Hogwarts
Characters:Harry/Ginny
Genres: Drama
Warnings: Sexual Situations
Story is Complete
Rating: R
Reviews: 150
Summary: MMB is growing, Charlie and Seph are about to be parents and Harry and Ginny will be wed in mere months; life appears to be perfect. But when unexplained failures begin occurring around the brewery, Harry can't help but wonder if something is afoot.
Hitcount: Story Total: 88145; Chapter Total: 2379





Author's Notes:
Hello, and welcome to another chapter. I appreciate all of you reading, and love reading your reviews. Thanks to my amazing beta, Arnel, as well as Stephanie, my pre-reader. Harry's back, and not happy. The song for the chapter, "Safe and Sound" is by Taylor Swift from the "Hunger Games" soundtrack. See you next week. MNF




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Chapter 17:
Safe and Sound

February 20, 2000
C. Weasley Home, Wales
Ginny POV:


Returning to Britain had been difficult. It wasn’t that Harry and I didn’t miss everyone, for we did. Honestly, we didn’t go more than a half an hour or so without mentioning one of the girls or Connor; so we had definitely missed them. However, our honeymoon was nothing short of the most romantic and decadent trip I would probably ever take.

I’d expected Harry to take me someplace warm, it was February; instead, we were somewhere in Europe. It was chilly. I inwardly growled, I had brought the best little green swimming costume. He surprised me when we Apparated to a rather dingy passage between some buildings in a Muggle neighbourhood. We were behind the last building on the street; it appearing derelict and ignored. I thought it quite strange, seeing how everything else was well kept. It wasn’t until we ascended the flight of stairs to the most wonderful flat I’d ever seen that I understood why we were in Amsterdam, rather than anywhere else. The building was privately held by a Wizarding firm, although Harry couldn’t tell me which one due to the enchantments on the building. The flat we were using belonged to Elizabeth Engelsley, Seph’s mum. I found it interesting this was how Harry had explained it to me, that this was something she had owned. I wondered if it had been how he’d been informed? Something to ask Seph about in the future. Usually husbands were given their wives’ holdings in arranged marriages.

We’d lived in luxury for the last week, my every wish or desire granted to me. From days at the spa to lavish meals to the finest lingerie of silks and lace; Harry made our honeymoon utterly unforgettable. I was thankful the apartment was magical, as it would have been quite embarrassing to have had to explain some of the situations Harry and I found ourselves in, and the items we required. All he had to do was ask for something, and the place responded to him, similar to the Room of Requirement. If anyone had seen us, or we’d had to explain ourselves it would have been mortifying. The trip was over, and we were back in Britain. Our homecoming wasn’t going exactly as I expected, however. I lowered my wand after completing the Muffliato charm.

“I can’t believe you didn’t get in touch with me!” Harry yelled at Seph. “You are the one person who could and you chose not to! Why? You, or one of the kids or Charlie could have been killed!”

“Harry, we were all fine,” Seph passionately responded. Her voice wasn’t quite as loud as Harry’s, but she definitely wasn’t tolerating being yelled at. “I saw no reason to interrupt you on the first day you were there.”

“But it concerned the breweries. I should have been notified --”

“Harry, I was running these breweries long before you knew they existed. As the elder partner, I made a judgement call. You could be grateful I left you and your wife alone.” A staring match ensued, which was uncomfortable to watch. Harry finally relented and gave in, which I was thankful for. “Now, if you can keep your voice down, I’ll finish discussing with you what exactly happened and what was found. Charlie is getting the kids ready upstairs. They’ve really missed you.”

Harry took a deep breath and nodded, which I was thankful for. I hated when these two fought, and thankfully it wasn’t a common occurrence. I decided to keep the charm up until I was certain they wouldn’t begin yelling again.

“Why don’t you have a seat?” Seph suggested and Harry sort of threw himself onto the long leather couch across from the fireplace. I looked through the large glass panes at the garden behind the house. The snow was falling in big, fat flakes; sticking to the hedgerows and grass, making everything look pristine. I wished other ugly things in life could be repaired as easily. We’d Flooed directly over and seeing the farmhouse in its current condition had been a shock. I sat down next to Harry, and Seph dropped down into her rocker and sighed. I watched the pair with an apprehension, unsure where their passions might lead them.

“Seph, I’m sorry I yelled,” Harry said in a way in which I knew he meant it. “It was just so shocking to hear about the fire, and then to see the farmhouse --”

“That’s why I’d left a message at your house to come see us here. I never expected you to return from your honeymoon and go in to work before you’d even dropped off your luggage,” she explained. I couldn’t believe Harry when he told me what he wanted to do. The Portkey brought us back to London. Harry called Kreacher and had him take the luggage home, and we used the Floo network to go to MMB.

“I really wanted to see you,” Harry explained. “It was after three, and I knew Connor would be down for his nap and I didn't want to disturb him. Ginny and I went to MMB to find you, so I could see if I could take everyone out for dinner...” he trailed off.

“Thank you for the offer, but your mother-in-law has already planned quite the feast. She missed her babies,” Seph teased and Harry's ears turned red. We'd been taking a fair bit of flack from my brothers and their wives or girlfriends since we'd had our family meeting over breakfast a few weeks back. Harry really had not expected a stupid comment by someone to become such a memorable issue with my family. I’m not sure why he didn’t anticipate this, since he’d been around us enough.

“Yeah, yeah,” Harry grumbled. “So, what exactly happened?”

“The fire was set to the barns, greenhouses and empty fields. There was slight fire damage to the back of the main house, but the smoke damage was much worse. We've had magical cleaners in there every day this week, but I'm not taking the girls back until I'm sure it’s safe.”

“Absolutely,” Harry quickly agreed. “You know, if we need to gut the house and start over, I have the money --”

“Harry, that's really sweet,” Seph cut him off, a clement laugh playing at her words. “We don't need to gut the house. If there were big problems, we could live here long term; but there aren't. Thank you, though, for worrying about the kids.”

“Okay,” Harry said, sounding embarrassed. “What about the barns and greenhouses?”

“Complete losses,” she replied and Harry took a slow, deep breath. “I've already ordered new brewing equipment, and Charlie has contracted with the builders to start rebuilding the barn when they've finished my sister's house. I should have the test brewery up and functioning by spring.

“The greenhouses are another matter. The glass melted and made quite a mess; it’s going to take longer to repair them. Under the advice of the contractor, we’re waiting until spring to even begin rebuilding the buildings. Additionally, we lost all the speciality hops and other grains we had germinated. I'm not sure what to do about the spring seasonal because of this. I could order supplies from other growers, but we'd barely have enough time to experiment.”

“What about using what we've got in the hop barn at MMB?” I asked. Seph leaned forward and ran her fingers through her hair.

“I've thought about that,” she confessed. “However, if we were to develop a brew with what we have, we could be at a loss when it’s time to brew. I don’t think we’ve got enough of anything to do a full batch of a new beer. I'm thinking we need to reintroduce a classic for the season. If we were to do that, I could have the order placed tomorrow for the ingredients we need.”

Gwen’s Grog?” Harry inquired and Seph nodded before looking down and away. She could talk about it, but things associated with Sirius still gave her pause. Harry and I had talked to Charlie about it, worried that it bothered him. My brother surprised me when he explained he would be far more worried if memories of Sirius didn’t cause Seph pain. Sirius was her first love, and it was only death which parted them. It didn’t change how his wife felt now, so he never begrudged the place Sirius had in her heart. Harry gave a satisfied nod and then squared his shoulders, deciding to leave the memories of the one they’d lost alone.

“What evidence was found? Do we know who was behind this and the other attacks?” he asked, sounding driven to somehow understand what felt to be against understanding.

“Unfortunately, there wasn’t any evidence,” Seph explained. “Arthur had the Crime Scene Investigation team from the Ministry over, but they collected very little. There wasn’t a magical signature, although there was evidence of a magical aura not belonging to Charlie, Elizabeth or me. However your family, Ginny,” she said looking at me, “is in and out so often it could have been one of them.

“Strangely,” Seph continued, “the fire was set without using magic. In fact, a Muggle accelerant was used; automobile petrol. It’s all so strange. We can’t even conclusively say whether it was a Muggle or magical person who is behind all of this. The one thing the investigators did find was a partial boot print. It belongs to a man.”

“Well, that’s something,” I said hopefully.

“Not really,” Seph retorted. “We’ve got workers on the other side of the property, building the house for Phila and her family. The boot print was found on the edge of the forest. Cutting through it is the quickest way to get from our house to the construction site. It could very well have been the foreman who left it. He doesn’t like Disapparating, preferring to walk places if he can.”

“None of this is making sense,” Harry said as he raked his hands through his hair. I swear it was always going to look like he was letting a doxy nest there. “Forget that we can’t come up with a motive; we can’t even narrow down a segment of the population to be looking at.

“I sat down with Arthur and Hermione, and there is no one whom I can think of who might have a grudge against me. We’ve fired no one from the breweries in the last four years. I don’t have any enemies, unless someone is upset about the whole Lestrange mess. They’re all dead though, so it can’t be them. Other than Eliza I don’t have any friends anymore. As far as I know, all my current employees are happy with me. After brainstorming, we came to an unwelcome conclusion: it must be someone who is upset at you,” she said with sad resolution in her voice.

“Seph, I hate to bring this up, but...” Harry trailed off.

“What, Harry? If you have an idea, please share it,” she begged.

“What about your sisters? They were rather upset when you had them over for Christmas. Maybe they--”

“No! My sisters might be rude, but blood does not turn on blood. They can ridicule my choices and snigger at my life all they want, but they are still family. Mother made sure we understood that blood always protects blood.” Seph had stood and was speaking in a clipped and tight voice. It was different from when she was yelling earlier, this was full of much more emotion.

“Okay, Seph,” Harry calmly said, holding his hands up in front of him for emphasis. “It was just a thought.” Seph nodded and sat back down. “Look, you’re probably right, this is most likely someone who is after me. Voldemort had followers, and they were true believers in his crusade. I can think of at least two or three who had issues with me personally, who have avoided Ministry capture. It’s probably one of them.”

We sat there quietly, and I watched Harry’s face drain of colour. His physical demeanour changed as well; it was if a heavy weight was placed on his shoulders, causing him to slump. I knew this look well, he’d worn it the day he broke things off with me. “I’ve put all of you in such danger.”

Fearing where he might take this, I spoke up. “Harry, we don’t know that. Maybe it’s someone who just doesn’t like our mascot...he is a little creepy, don’t you think?” I tried to lighten the mood. Seph started to giggle, and I joined in. Finally, Harry’s shell cracked and he smiled too.

“Yeah, perhaps we just need to retire St. Dolf,” he teased and Seph glared at him in a playful way.

“Listen, Seph,” Harry said, returning to his more serious nature. “You, Charlie and the kids are my family, and I won’t let anything happen to any of you. Let me look into security for the farm and this place. I couldn’t bear it if anything were to ever happen to any of you.”

“Harry, you don’t need to do that,” Seph protested, but then paused. A slight rumble was heard on the stairs. I lifted my wand and released the muting spell I’d put up earlier. A moment later Connor tore into the room, making a bee-line for Harry. I swear the little guy flew up into Harry’s arms.

“Harry, Harry, you back!” Connor cried as he wrapped his arms tightly around Harry’s neck and pressed his little body into Harry’s chest. “It not the same wif out you.”

“I missed you too, little guy,” Harry told him, his face showing the joy at holding the child. “Were you good for your Mummy and Daddy?”

Connor pulled back so he could see Harry. “I was,” he said emphatically. “I even helped wif the girls’ nappies.” Connor made the most hilarious face at the word nappies. I would venture he didn’t enjoy his sisters’ dirty diapers.

“That was very grown up of you,” Harry told him just as my brother came in with my beautiful little nieces. I stood and took Sunny from him.

“Hello my little sunshine,” I cooed. “I think you’ve grown since I saw you last week. Did you go and grow on Auntie Ginny?”

“Gin, they’re babies,” Charlie reminded me. “They are constantly growing.”

“Nice to see you too, Charlie,” I quipped back. My brother bent down and kissed my cheek.

“You must have had a good time, sis. You’re glowing.”

“I did. Harry was so good to me. He --”

“Look, I get you’re married and all, but I don’t want to know what Harry did for you. Seeing him shirtless and gyrating in front of you was enough to last me a lifetime.” Everyone laughed at that.

“Got it,” I finally told him, leaning in so that he could wrap an arm around me and give me a hug. I’d always been close to Charlie, but since he moved home and married Seph, we’d become closer than even Ron and me.

“Alright, everyone is fed and poop free,” Seph said as she stood. “We need to Portkey to the Burrow before someone needs a change.” Again, we laughed and I couldn’t even imagine what had happened to cause her to say that.

“Why aren’t we just using the Floo?” Harry asked. It didn’t even cross my mind, but once Harry brought it up, I realised it was odd.

“Connor prefers not to be around flames,” she quietly explained, ruffling her son’s hair. We both nodded, not missing the sadness in her eyes over the situation.

Even with a baby in his arms, Charlie was able to turn a large serving tray into a Portkey, making it glow blue. A few seconds later, children safely in our arms, we were gone.

Mum had the door open, welcoming us in, unfazed by the reason we were all standing in the yard. As Seph was about to go through the door, Harry put his hand on her arm. “I wasn’t kidding, Seph. I am going to protect you. No one messes with my family and doesn’t face the consequences.” Harry was deadly serious. Seph looked down, and then closed her eyes and nodded before stepping inside. Harry didn’t look at me before following suit. I swallowed down my concern and put a smile on my face before heading to see my family.
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