|
The Brewmaster's Mystery | ||||||
|
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: 88273; Chapter Total: 2730 Author's Notes: Sorry this is a little late, I was away for the long weekend here in the US celebrating my daughter's 17th birthday. If you enjoy my writing, say a little mental thank you to her, for she is the one through whom I was introduced to Harry, Hogwarts and of course, Padfoot. Two songs for this chapter, not because there are two POV, but rather, because the chapter is a tad jarring in its contrasts. The first half is represented by "The Violet Hour" by the Civil Wars, who I have simply fallen in love with. The second is an old chestnut which gets pulled out around Halloween. Enjoy, and thanks for reading and to whomever nominated this story for the Silver Trinkets. I am honored. MNFeathers. |
Previous Next |
|
||||
|
Chapter 3: Violet Hour/You Put A Spell On Me October 31, 1999 Persephone POV: “You ready to go?” Harry asked as he popped his head into my office. I nodded and stood up from behind my desk, tottering slightly at the shifting of my centre of gravity. I grabbed my cloak from behind my door and wrapped it around my shoulders. Harry offered me his arm, and I wove my hand through his elbow. Even wearing flat shoes, I was still rather unstable. I had no memory of being this large with Connor three years ago; then again I’d barely awoken and moved through my day then. Perhaps my increased activity was what was making this pregnancy so different. “Let me just tell Susan not to disturb us,” I suggested. Harry nodded and we walked down the short hallway which lead to the reception area of MMB. The staff were mostly inside The Stag, Dragon and Flaming Crown, getting it ready for the Halloween party tonight. Generally the offices weren’t open on a Sunday, but this was a special day, and Susan had volunteered to be here to take care of the calls. Before the party tonight, however, Harry and I had somewhere we needed to go. It would be a first for either of us; but at least we were going together. Stopping in front of the reception desk, I waited until she ended the cell phone call she was on. “Sorry, that was Anthony,” she explained. “He’s working on the seating arrangements for the reception. We think we’ve got things ready, and then someone goes and changes something and it feels like we’re back at square one.” “Having never had to worry about such a thing, I can’t give you any advice; however, if there is any way I can help, please let me know,” I offered. Susan’s wedding was now less than two weeks away. “I think you had the right idea, just have the wedding and lots of food and seats and let people do the rest,” she surmised and I snorted in response. I then put my hands to my face and blushed, embarrassed over the noise I’d just made. “Can I blame that on the baby?” I sheepishly asked. “Nope,” Harry cheerfully replied. “That was all you in your porcine glory.” I playfully swatted at him, but he just ducked and spun away. “This is how my family treats me? Pregnant, swollen up like a balloon and he’s still heaping abuse on me. No wonder Connor likes to follow me around the house, waddling like a penguin and holding his back. I can’t imagine where he got such behaviour from?” Harry pretended that I’d shot him through the heart, wounding him. “How you pain me. As if I would ever corrupt my little man?” “Oh, yes you would,” I rebutted. “Just like your godfather corrupted you. I’m certain Connor will pass it on to your children one day.” Harry wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kissed my cheek. “I can only hope so. Susan, we are headed out, and we don’t want to be disturbed. Charlie and Ginny know where we are, if it’s a true emergency they will get us. Okay?” “I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Susan replied with a nod of her head. “Hermione is in there coordinating the party details.” I noticed Susan’s eye roll, and I think Harry did as well, but there was no comment needed. Without another word, we left the building and Disapparated. **** Dusk was already falling when we arrived in Godric’s Hollow. While it didn’t really get dark any earlier than in London, there was something about the landscape of desolate moors which made it seem so much darker here. The lack of street lamps and neon signs was probably contributing to it as well, I thought. Muggle houses had their front lights on, little ones inside getting costumes on. Magical families were preparing their home altars for the Samhain celebrations at midnight. I enjoyed peeking in the windows, knowing my husband was home preparing for both magical and Muggle celebrating tonight. “You sad you’re not home getting Connor ready?” Harry asked. “Not really,” I responded. “He and Charlie are keeping his costume a secret, which is shocking considering Connor can’t keep anything private to save his life.” “Well, it’ll be interesting tonight,” Harry commented as we reached the town square and the memorial to James and Lily. Neither of us had ever been here on Halloween night, the night my dear friends and Harry’s parents were taken from the world. We stood before the memorial, one which looked like a generic war remembrance to those without magical sight, but for witches and wizards was a happy family, forever frozen in stone, for it was the only way they now existed. “They look happy,” Harry commented, gazing upon the loving smile of his mother while she held the sweet baby in her arms. James’ protective arm and proud grin spoke of a father in love with his wife and the small child which was the ultimate expression of their devotion to each other. “Sweetheart, even with everything else swirling around them, your parents were happy. You made them deliriously happy. Your mum was born to be a mother, she took to it so naturally. I know when Connor was first born I was terrified I was going to break him. It was only Andi and Beaghy who kept me from going insane with fright. Your mother never had any of that. And your dad, my goodness, for a man who wasn’t known for his maturity growing up, he certainly gained his responsibility gene when you came along. He double checked to make sure doors were locked and windows secure. He charmed the electrical outlets so you couldn’t put your little fingers into them when they were at our house, since it was a Muggle place. Even with all that, I don’t think the smiles ever left their faces, Harry.” “I guess it makes me feel better to know they were happy, even if it ended too soon.” I put my arm around his mid-section, he was too tall for me to reach his shoulders without being in my high heels, and I hugged him sideways. Much to my dismay, tears began rolling down my cheeks. Harry said nothing, instead wrapping his arm around my shoulders and directing me toward the little church and cemetery beyond. I stayed back while Harry spoke with his parents, the whole time thinking about how unfair this boy’s life had been. He lost everyone who loved him in one night -- not just his mother and father, but his aunties and uncles. Any of us would have raised him happily, giving him the love and care the Dursleys didn’t see fit to provide. When I thought about how we had been kept apart, even still it made my blood boil. I knew Albus’s family was buried here, but I would not pay them respects. The name Dumbledore was not a welcome one to my mind or lips. Harry walked away from the grave, headed off into the mist to assumedly be alone. I kept him in the corner of my eye as I walked to the joint headstone of my lost friends. “Oh, you two, how I wish you were here. How I want you to see him, see what a remarkable man he is. He’s come so far in this year. He’s a man now, one you would be so honoured to say was yours. I promise you, I will never leave him alone again. He will not face the troubles of this world without me at his back. I should have fought harder for him. I should have made Dumbledore give him to me. I won’t ever truly forgive myself for that, although I’m sure the two of you are begging me to. “Say hello to Sirius for me. I know he’s with you, and that he’s happy my life is full. He told me he wanted this for me, but part of me still loves him and misses him every day. I look into our little boy’s face, and I can’t help but see him there. Please, all of you, Remus and Tonks and Sibéal and Fergus and even Peter, if he found some way to redeem himself; take care of each other. I love all of you, and I promise to watch over our boy; even if he is a man now.” My tears were falling furiously, and I conjured a handkerchief to wipe them away. Harry walked back to me, his eyes red and puffy as well. No words were said, but we both knew it was time to leave. We’d said our piece to the dead; we’d remembered those who had passed on. Samhain was believed to be the night when the curtain between the living and the dead was the thinnest. For magical folk, tonight was when we honoured those who had left us; and in our own ways, Harry and I had. Now it was time to return to the living and celebrate the ghosts, goblins and ghouls. *** Standing behind the bar, I was amazed to be watching my son and husband making their rounds. Connor was a bigger draw tonight than the beer or festivities or even the food. How Charlie had charmed the costume was still beyond me, but it was fabulous. Connor was a giraffe, and it was his voice coming out of the nearly six foot tall head, even though he was sitting three feet below. The body of said giraffe looked like it had once been a wooden sawhorse, expanded on top so that my little boy could sit on it. He was covered by the ‘belly’ of the beast, as if it were a barrel he was inside. Growing up in front of this ‘Connor cocoon’ was a three foot neck, complete with moving mouth and long tongue which often extended to “kiss” unsuspecting passers-by. The whole thing walked and talked and moved like it was alive; the tail even swatting at nonexistent flies. “That is quite a costume you created, dearie,” my sweet mother-in-law commented. “I had nothing to do with it,” I confessed. “That was all Charlie and Connor. Although, I suspect they might have employed Percy’s painting skills to make the giraffe look so realistic. They’re very much like the ones in his bedroom.” “I never realized my children had so many talents,” Molly proudly remarked. “You’ve got one remarkable brood there.” “Speaking of broods, how is my little one in there? Still dancing up a storm?” Her hand went to my belly, and while I was tired of people touching me, it was hard to tell “grandmum” she couldn’t interact with the newest little one when she wanted. I loved her far too much. “Dancing, playing football, tossing a Quaffle. I don’t know exactly what Bumpy is doing in there, but they are having fun,” I quipped back. Molly looked at me slightly confused. “What happened to Schmoo?” “Connor decided since the baby was moving so much, Bumpy was a better moniker. I don’t particularly like it, but Connor and Charlie do, so it’s not worth attempting to dissuade them.” Just then the ladies were distracted by little Teddy Lupin running by, his bottom half completely bare. He was laughing loudly as he ran away from his Grammy Andi, who had his underpants and costume trousers in his hand. She was followed by giraffe Connor, calling after his little friend. “Teddy, you can’t run around naked! My mummy says no one should see your wee!” Harry was running after Connor, trying to shush him. The entire bar broke out in uproarious laughter at the strange goings on. I simply looked to heaven and shook my head, knowing there was nothing I could do about it. Andi eventually caught up with her bottomless grandson and wrangled him back into his bottoms. He was dressed as a punk rocker, complete with spiked green hair. Clearly Tonks’ free spirit and music taste were alive and well in her son. “There’s never a dull moment, is there?” I asked Molly. “Absolutely not,” she replied. “Just be thankful George is not here with us. I’m quite certain he would have added to the madness.” I was about to ask how he was doing when Arthur came over to join his wife, pushing his empty pint toward me. “A little more of your Witches Bitter Brew if you don’t mind?” he asked and I took the glass to pour him another. It was our first “Halloween” brew, and I was pleased with how well it was selling here in our pub. Even more importantly, it was doing well in Muggle London, marketed by North London Brewing. I truly believed that it was our expansion into the Muggle world which would prove our greatest success. After finishing the pour, I handed it back to Arthur. “Don’t know exactly what it is I taste in there, but it’s very, very good.” “Ah, well, we tried to imagine what it would be like if we added pumpkin juice into a brew. There are pumpkin seeds in the mash, and then when we steam the wort, we seasoned it with cinnamon sticks, allspice berries and anise stars. You want a real treat, let me put a slight warming charm on that. It won’t be ‘warm’ per se, but it will be at a better temperature for the flavours to truly come through. Do you trust me, Dad?” Molly and Arthur both laughed at my calling him such, given how close we were in age. We all were happier with me referring to them as either Molly and Arthur, or when around Connor, as Grandmum or Grandmummy and Pop-pop. “I trust you to raise my grandson, and to bring that sweet little one into the world safely,” he kindly told me. “I can certainly trust you with my beverage.” “Well, alright then,” I said even as I was raising my wand and setting the charm to his glass. I looked around the pub, seeing the smiling faces of family and friends celebrating side by side. Our staff was busy, serving hot dishes from the kitchen and clearing away the dirty as to open up seats for those waiting around the sides of the room and at the bar. I watched my son and nephew playing with each other, knowing another would be with them next year at this time and couldn’t help but smile at it all. Then I started crying again, not exactly sure why, but deciding it was all the pregnancy’s fault. |
| Reviews 150 |
Previous Next
|
