Chapter 15: Weighting anchor
"Ok, so you want to go back and attend school," Tonks acknowledged what she had just heard during dinner at the villa, forcing her voice into an air of nonchalance. She gingerly placed down her silverware and dabbed at her mouth with her napkin before neatly folding it onto her lap.
"Are you crazy? We went through all this to get you away from Dumbledore, and now you want to go back there? Why?" she suddenly shouted at the two kids, her hair an angry purple. The two sat still, a calm look plastered on their faces, they had expected this and thus, they honestly weren't surprised it happened. Though the volume of the outburst had been an unexpected edition to it, being so loud it caused the remaining people at the table to cringe away from the crazed and powerful woman.
"Dumbledore is irrelevant in the big picture," Harry insisted. "Yes, he is a nuisance until I'm of age, but that's all he amounts to."
"Nuisance? A bloody nuisance? He's one of the greatest wizards of our time! Have you gone mad?" Tonks screeched in response.
"Yes, nuisance," Hermione calmly insisted as well. "While he likes to have things going his way, he is still playing for the right team. Remember, he still has Fawkes as familiar. So while he can be ruthless sometimes, he still has good intentions. He is not the enemy, only a hurdle."
Tonks didn't leave it at that. "Apart from the old codger, you know that this would also mean getting exposed to Him, don't you? He is just waiting for a sign of you showing up somewhere!"
"Yes," Harry acknowledged, "but all of you know that while we all liked our vacation here, it was never stated that we wouldn't be returning to Britain. And with the prophecy stating that only I can deal with Voldemort, I couldn't stand to look at my face in the mirror, knowing that people were getting killed because I decided to sit on a beach," he stated flatly, cutting off Tonks who didn't know how to reply to this properly. While Henry had talked to Harry about the deaths in Britain and how he shouldn't shoulder the guilt of every lost life, a part of Harry wasn't ready to let go of the responsibility he felt for the people there. Harry still believed to a degree that every life lost was partly his fault if he couldn't stop Voldemort before it happened, he just couldn't shake the blame off as easily as people wanted him to.
"The longer I sit around doing nothing, the stronger his grip on Britain gets. You know that Dumbledore and the Ministry are losing the war as badly as they did the last time," Harry told them what everybody knew but didn't dare to speak out.
"Then take your ship and hit Him in the money bag, if you think you have to do something," Fred proposed. "That would hurt Him badly and you and Hermione would still be rather safe here, and you would do something to soothe your bloody conscience! You know that He wants you even more dead than He did before!"
"Fred! You are a genius!" Harry mock-cheered with his eyes wide open. "Why didn't I think of that? Where would I, a mere mortal, be without your wisdom and council!" Fred harrumphed and turned away when Harry finished his outburst with a look of very fake admiration.
"You see, this idea has come up between us already," Hermione quipped. "We actually went and had words about it with Matty."
"And? What did he say?" George demanded, while Fred was still pouting in a very dramatic pose for being mocked.
"In a word: Don't!" Harry stated calmly, savouring the feeling to have the others hanging at his every word as he made a dramatic pause.
"Matty told us that there is no way the men would follow him into a fight with a warship, yet," Hermione spoiled his moment, while putting her hand on Harry's slumping shoulder. She knew that this had irked him slightly, although he couldn't blame them.
"I didn't say he should go mano a mano with the Victory, I said he should capture some cargo vessels," Fred defended his position. "Surely, the men would follow him for that," he smirked.
Harry blushed slightly before he replied in a murmur. Upon collective request, he was forced to repeat his answer, under the slight smirk of his girlfriend. "Matty said that if I practice very hard for a few more months, they might consider it."
"Didn't Matty say the men would follow you, back when they tested you?" Henry put his two pence in.
"Well, that obviously meant they would fight alongside him, but not that they would trust him not to run the ship aground, again," Tonks noted with a sweet smile on her lips, batting her eyebrows at the embarrassed Captain in training.
"I just scraped that reef," Harry gnarled through his teeth while trying hard not to imitate a tomato too much. "I got confused and mixed up port and starboard for a moment - I corrected my mistake in time, didn't I?" That rebuttal was presented with crossed arms and the huff of a true leader. Hermione petting his back in support destroyed the picture a bit, but Harry let her do her thing, as he quite liked what her massaging hand did there.
"Anyway, Matty said that this point was moot anyway, as they surely would encounter a warship at some point, and the men are very much aware of the extra risk," Harry added.
"What extra risk?" Margret inquired nosily.
"Let's suppose we are successful in capturing a pureblood merchant," Hermione stipulated in her usual mind-game way of talking. "What would the logical reaction be?"
Tonks was the obvious candidate to answer the question quickest. "Increase patrols in that area," she replied instantly, ever the Auror.
"Exactly. This would probably be a massive increase, as they value to be protected is high, and there isn't that much else to do for the fleet. If we are able to capture a merchant, we take top priority in comparison to smugglers," Hermione lectured, and drew a very dark picture while doing her usual thing.
"The islanders are not in favour of drawing too much attention, so we would only be able to make attacks far away from the island, and only few. Apart from limiting the damage we can cause; given the sheer number of enemy warships, we will certainly run into a few of them," she added, waiting for the others to catch up on the facts.
"Then we outrun the bigger ones,"
"And fight the smaller ones,"
"Problem solved!" Fred and George chorused.
Remus put his hand up. "Fred, George" he said soft and slowly, just like in class. "Battling ship to ship is always a fight for death; you can't just apparate or portkey away from a moving platform," he said in his teacher's voice. "The guns don't care if you shield, and you can't dodge a cannonball. And even if we manage to evade the patrols, they would start creating convoys with escorts. There is a reason why historically, piracy only worked as long as they were few and kept the hell away from warships. There is nothing to gain in such a fight," he said, putting things into perspective for the trigger-happy redheads.
"Thank you, Remus. Actually, this is the normal risk. The men are much more concerned about the extra risk," Harry told them, drawing a deep breath to launch his explanation.
"If we start hurting Tom's finances badly, it is only a matter of time until anybody finds out, one way or another, that I'm responsible for it. So it won't take long until Voldemort himself comes here looking for jolly old me. The men aren't exactly fond of this possibility," he illustrated the men's fears Matty had brought up.
Fred and George each shuddered at this thought. This would be the worst scenario. Fighting against Voldemort with nowhere to run would be a nightmare. In Britain, you had at least the theoretical chance to run away. Even if wards were present, you could run until you passed them and then simply apparate away. Not so on a ship or an island.
"Even worse," Remus voiced his concerns, already having sided with the kids. "You said that Harry would need at least a few months to learn leading this ship properly, never mind in a battle. By then, He might already have taken over Britain," he speculated. As Henry and Margret shot him alarmed glances because of that statement, he shortly interrupted his speech to explain his rationale.
"The situation isn't really that bad now, but who knows what might happen in the next months. For all we know, He might manage to install a puppet Government by then, and come here with an armada and army," he explained, and while no one was particularly glad about it, nobody could disagree with his prognosis, especially not the kids. They had come to this conclusion all by themselves already during their brainstorming session.
"That's why I decided to take no risks. I want to keep this hideout out of Tom's knowledge and grasp for as long as possible and take the fight to him," Harry stated with no room for doubt in his voice.
"But you aren't ready, yet!" Tonks insisted.
Harry gave her a wary snort in response. "And when will I be? When do you think I will be ready? I can already outfight each of you, even when I hold back. And I can take on you and Remus together if I don't. Tell me, how much more can you teach me?" he asked her.
Rather unexpected, Remus came to his aid. "He is right, Tonks. We have done all we can. We know defence well, but we are just average teachers, nowhere in the league of what Hogwarts or the Academy provides. Can you teach him advanced transfiguration like Dumbledore did in the Ministry battle? Or charm work like Voldemort showed there? Maybe you can teach him all about wards?" he continued in a soft voice, as Tonks slowly backed down and surrendered to the unavoidable. When he had ended Tonks had slumped down in the seat, her hair mousy and handing limply from her head.
"Exactly. That's why we want to get back into Hogwarts. Even only the first year of NEWT courses will help us tremendously in developing our skills, which we need when we finally fight Voldemort," Hermione agreed with her boyfriend, although with slightly different priorities on the order of reasons.
"What about tutors?" Henry inquired weakly.
"The only way would be an apprenticeship, and these run for years, and only one topic at a time," Hermione told her father. "Also, they require NEWTs to start with and would leave us separated and completely open to attacks, as we would have to live with our Masters. We are much safer in Hogwarts, where we are well warded and can access all the teachers at the same time."
"Okay, but why Hogwarts?" Henry whined. "Can't you just go to another school? I remember you talking about two other schools, something French and something Russian, wasn't it?"
Hermione shook her head. "No, Dad. Hogwarts is the only way; the other schools won't help much."
"Why? They can't be that bad," Henry demanded. "Especially since they don't have this arse as Headmaster! Heaven knows what he would do to you!"
Tonks shook her head ruefully. "I hate to say this, but that arse is still better than Durmstrang. Dumbledore might be manipulative, but he's not dark, or his phoenix would have left him long ago. He tries to do the right things, but he has a tendency to run over individuals for the greater good," she told Henry, who harrumphed annoyed at her as she dared to hit him with logical arguments.
"Durmstrang, on the other hand, is a tad different," she continued, to be interrupted by the twins.
"You can say that! They even have a class that teaches Dark Arts!" George commented.
Fred took over immediately. "Harry and Hermione would be murdered in their sleep, the first night they dare to actually sleep. The whole school is basically a breeding ground for potential Death Eaters!"
"Stop kidding us," Margret demanded. "A whole school?"
"Certainly not everyone, Victor was very nice…" Hermione rose to Durmstrang's defence, but faded out with a blush under the looks of the others. She felt mortified when Harry gave her a questioning eyebrow, while smirking at her. It had only been a harmless kiss, nothing more!
"While these two are exaggerating a bit, it's still part true, Margret," Remus took control of the discussion. "That school is far up north in probably eastern Europe or Scandinavia, and over there on the continent, the life of a wizard is a bit harsher. Britain is very isolated and thus easy to keep civilized. This makes the British wizards life rather easy. Apart from the Death Eater attacks, there is not really much to fear for the average wizard here in this sanitized utopia. But in Europe, you have to live with Vampires, Werewolves, Dragons and all the other nasty creatures that live there," he lectured, getting a glare and an elbow from Tonks as he counted himself among the 'nasty creatures'. This argument would certainly continue later, he knew.
Taking a deep breath and stretching his aching side, he continued. "This creates a certain type of wizard. Most of them have absolutely no qualms to use Dark Arts, and in some countries, they do so on a daily basis. And of course, there are some people in this school who would join Voldemort in a second for a few coins. Also, while they would certainly teach the stuff Harry would need, they don't accept Muggleborn there, so Hermione wouldn't be able to go there."
"Ok, that's a reason," Margret agreed. "But how about this French school? Beaux chapeau?" she inquired.
"Beauxbaton," corrected Hermione. "It's a good school, but it's not in Hogwarts' league, not even in Durmstrang's."
"It's not that bad," Remus interrupted. "Truly, it's not the premier European school, but it is far ahead of the small institutes and has been a part of the Big Three for centuries."
"Sorry to interrupt, but isn't it girls only?" Harry asked. "When they visited, they only had girls with them, hadn't they?"
"No, they have boys attending - actually lots of them - but there were only a handful accompanying them to Hogwarts. But these were very calm and well mannered, so you might not have noticed them in the crowd of cute girls," Tonks told Harry, and morphed into a copy of a younger girl with long, brunette hair and a distinct 'French' look for a moment, batting her eyelids seductively at the boy.
"And why were only so few at Hogwarts?" Hermione inquired with a slight frown at the flirting Auror. She still was self-conscious to some degree and didn't like if Harry was exposed to girls that looked much better than she did, even if they were only artificial. She know that there was no danger coming from Tonks - or any other girl, if she were to believe in what Harry told her - but she couldn't just turn off years of conditioning.
"There was a simple reason for that, the same reason why they had me and other female Aurors attending for security," Tonks said as she changed her form again, with a wink at Hermione. She didn't exactly manage a copy of Fleur, but it was close enough for someone lacking Veela powers.
"The Delacour girl. She had to attend, since she was the best student of Beauxbaton, but they knew this would cause problems," she said as she had reverted to her bubblegum-pink haired favourite form.
Everybody settled back into his seat as Tonks continued her explanation. "You know that she is part Veela - and as any young Veela, she experienced burst of her allure. Usually, the best thing to avoid incidents is to isolate her from men, but this was impossible in the cramped quarters inside the carriage."
"In order to avoid problems, Beauxbaton just left most of the boys at home, and took only those who could deal with the allure. Because there were only few, they settled for taking mostly girls with them, who naturally were better at school, anyway," she ended with a dig at the men at the table, receiving the frowns she had aimed for in return.
"There was always one female Auror on duty in the carriage to ensure that no boy strolling by would be drawn in by her allure and act rashly. Additionally, I usually shadowed her in various forms during the day, just in case. I actually had to turn that Corner boy away three times," she chuckled, with the twins joining her.
"Doesn't matter, the school is certainly not what we need," Hermione said quietly, with Harry snorting and nodding his agreement.
"Oh, really? Elaborate, then," Tonks quipped, making a twirling motion with her hand, prompting them to answer.
Hermione took a second to formulate her thoughts before starting to explain. "You see, Beauxbaton is a school that specializes in good manners, above all. Because of this, the defence-related topics are a bit neglected."
"I don't understand what you're hinting at, darling," Margret said.
"You know that the Goblet chose Fleur as the best of Beauxbaton. Still, she finished every single task last. She even had to be rescued from the lake. Yet still, after only a year of tutelage at Gringotts, she is a proficient curse breaker. Since that shows that she isn't dumb or magically weak, her failure at the tournament must be laid at the feet of the school. We need the best."
The others were looking pensive for a while after Hermione concluded her speech, but then started to nod approvingly, one after the other. Hermione smirked at Harry in triumph, getting a peck on the cheek by her boyfriend.
Tonks rolled her eyes at their behaviour. "Well, fine. But how do you want to deal with Dumbledore? You're not really on his birthday present list anymore, you know?"
"We're all ears," Remus prompted, waving his hand in a 'get to the point' way. Tonks actually enlarged hers, smiling innocently at them.
Hermione cleared her throat to start her presentation. The first version had been impressive and over twenty minutes long before Harry made her simplify it. She even had made a huge string diagram of all factors she deemed important. At first, she tried to defend its use, but faltered after Harry gave her a long, hard look. They negotiated a truce at a simple presentation chart, but at least Harry used the inspiration to show her his own version of a string diagram later that night. Hermione shook her head to banish the sweet memories and got straight to the core of the matter.
"The biggest problem in all this is that while we thought about what to do, we realized that we actually still need Dumbledore," she proclaimed.
"Why's that?" Margret interrupted her daughter. As everybody was looking expectantly at them, Harry cleared his throat and took it upon himself to clarify this point.
"While we are going back to further our education, our main reason - well, at least my main reason," he quipped at Hermione, who harrumphed and averted her face in a pout, "is to find a way to finally take the fight to Voldemort."
"According to these two clowns," he said with a nod at the twins, who were waving back cheekily, not the slightest bit annoyed at the title, "Snape is still needed to brew potions in bulk. So I have seriously weakened him. I have to press this advantage and move in for the kill before he finds a cure. And this takes us directly to the root of the problem."
"Does anybody of you know why Voldemort didn't die back then?" He asked into the round. Naturally, only dumb looks and shrugs were aimed his way. Harry smiled at them in return.
"Exactly, no one knows. Or at least, that's what we were told," he said, letting the words linger for a moment.
"Figures," Fred said, having connected the dots quickest. "Trust Dumbledore to keep everything worth knowing to himself," he snickered as his brother was having a visible epiphany as well.
"What do you mean?" Margret asked the two boys sitting across the table. It would take her a while to learn not to ask the twins questions.
"Our esteemed Headmaster is very fond of knowledge," Fred told her with a wide grin.
"And not only because he is leading an institute of learning," George helpfully added before Fred was allowed to continue.
"Actually, he is especially fond of knowledge no on else…"
"but him …" George quipped.
"Thank you, brother dear - no one else but him possesses," Fred finished.
"You know, that word sounds nearly as scary as Harry when he talks to snakes," George observed with a strange look at his brother.
Fred looked confused for a moment before beaming a smile at him. "Indeed, it does. And if I were to have a lisp, it would be even worse. Maybe if we..."
"Yeah, and then we also could..." George replied thoughtfully.
"Parsel Pastries?"
"I am thinking Parsel Pumpkin juice; we're getting to predictable by using confectionery..."
"Indeed..."
"What they were going to say," Harry spoke up, diverting the attention back to the real topic, away from the train wreck in progress between the muttering twins, "was that Dumbledore knows more than everybody else about Voldemort and the things he's done."
Remus nodded gravely, and Tonks also agreed. "Right, if anybody knows how to stamp His ticket, then it's our esteemed Mugwump."
"So the only man who can help you defeat Voldemort is the man who wants to control your whole life?" Margret demanded. As Harry nodded his agreement, she threw her hands in the air in frustration. "This is getting ridiculous! Like straight out of a penny dreadful!" she huffed.
Henry was still computing everything. "To be perfectly clear about this; you need Dumbledore to show you how to finally get rid of Voldemort? Bugger, I'd hate to see how that plays out; he holds all the aces in that game."
Harry's grin took a diabolical note as he was about to reply.
"Not all. For there is still that pesky prophesy, which states that only I am able to vanquish the Dark Lord. No matter what he tries, only I can do it. So I hold half the aces," he grinned, and this time, everybody had to agree with his reasoning.
Hermione used that break in conversation to hand Harry her chart and rose to explain their little plan.
"Well, to bring this back to topic, I want to show you what we came up with" she began while Harry stuck her chart to the wall, enlarging it while doing so. "At first I thought trying to threaten him to destroy him politically with the blood wards and Harry's childhood would be the way to go, but this raises some problems," she recited, stepping next to the poster-sized sheet of parchment.
"First things first, while it is an outrageous thing, blood bindings are not exactly outlawed; you see, in fifteen-sixty-one, there was…" Hermione continued, starting to point out various legal writings on her chart, which magically enlarged themselves when she tapped them with her wand, and how they contributed to her conclusion. The twins leaned back, yawned and conjured nightcaps, putting them on. Hermione only gave them a scathing look of disapproval, but knew better than to fall for their shameless baiting.
ooOOoo
"Also, people we don't want to know and ruthless enough to use them would learn about that technique," Tonks threw a valid point in when Hermione had finished after a few minutes.
"Right, didn't think about that one," Hermione admitted sheepishly.
"So we thought we would use the good old-fashioned way," Harry smirked, winking at Hermione. "Blackmail," he said his keyword, and Hermione launched into another monologue about what she thought to be a suitable plan to cover all the bases, pointing at different sections of her chart. The twins were already asleep by then.
ooOOoo
"Ok, so basically you think that, Dumbledore wants Harry back badly because of the prophecy, and with the additional the possible public backlash if Harry went to the press, you have enough to make him agree to an oath not to intervene in your lives if Harry comes back to Britain and will help him fight Voldemort?" Remus concluded after Hermione had finished, which she confirmed it with a nod.
"Sorry, but I don't think that will work," the now well tanned werewolf threw a spanner in her works. The hurt face she made when he told her so was as cute and accusing as like from a kicked puppy.
"Don't pout, Hermione. With everyone else, it might work, but you forget we are talking about Albus Dumbledore," Remus laughed.
"So he is too magical powerful to listen to reason?" Margret quipped, demanding clarification about why her daughter's plan was deemed impracticable.
Tonks roared with laughter as she heard that. "Merlin, no," she chuckled. "Although powerful wizards are very full of themselves, there is a bigger problem. He has been a politician for over fifty years! He'll never agree to anything that will be binding in any way."
"And even if he agrees to an oath, you can be sure that he will find a way to circumvent it, and it will be even worse than if he did what he wanted to do outright, because of the restrictions he has to work with," Remus added sombre. "He has been getting what he wants for decades, until lately. This is his game, and we only can loose if we play it his way."
"So we can't?" Hermione whined, and clung to Harry. The boy in question stroked her back, and looked angry. To think that he would be forced to sit by and watch the death toll rise for over a year because of the Headmaster trying to run his life was a bad potion to swallow.
"I didn't say that," Remus grinned, and widened his grin as Hermione's head shot up and swivelled round to face him. "You are only not thinking complicated enough!" he stated, a certain first regarding to Hermione.
"We just have to think more like the pirates we allegedly are! We'll cross and double cross him so hard that he doesn't knows what happened when we are done - let me tell you what I am thinking about..." the old Marauder began with a glint in his eyes, while everyone else was skidding to the edge of their seats.
"At first, we need something more tangible to keep you both safe during the year," Remus started to lay out his plans. "By mere coincidence, this was already halfway done by Sirius."
"Really? Did he emancipate me with his will?" Harry asked, earning himself a sigh from his girlfriend and a reprimand that made him shrink into the couch.
"If he did so, would we still be trying to get you out of Dumbledore's and the Dursleys' claws? Honestly, Harry!" she told him with an exasperated roll of her eyes.
"Don't be so harsh with him, Hermione, a bloke can hope, can't he?" Remus laughed. "No, Harry. But he made you the Patriarch of the Blacks, the Black of Black by making you his primary heir. Since all of his will was to be executed immediately, you have gotten his title already, and not when coming to age like with the Potters. While not emancipating you, the position gives you some certain rights, even if you are still underage."
"Oh? Such as?" Harry asked, intrigued.
"Well, you have the right to call honour duels if someone insults or threatens you or your relatives or even call feuds with other houses, and you can bring people into or expulse them from the family."
"One moment, Remus," Hermione interrupted. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember duelling was banned internationally."
"It was, but that doesn't cover official competitions, blood feuds and honour duels if issued by Heads of old Houses or Wizengamot members. You know, some people are more equal than others," Remus winked.
"So Harry could just call for a feud with some Voldemort sycophant and get it done with?" Henry smirked smugly. He had but a second to feel smart before Remus, Tonks and even the twins replied with variations of "He better not," spiced with a wide range of expletives.
"Why not?" he whined as his unbeatable plan was shot down.
"Because if he starts doing so without proper reason and evidence, they might call in their alliances with other Houses, and we all would end up in outright warfare with half the wizarding world," Tonks replied, her hair still cycling through colours after the shock.
Seeing Henry still looking confused, she rummaged in her Muggle glossary. "It's equivalent to tossing the first nuke without provocation," she tried to explain. Henry had to swallow as he became aware of how bad his idea might have turned out.
"Okay, that was important info, no starting a huge war needlessly," Harry said thoughtfully.
"Say, is there any book I can read about this 'Patriarch' business? Just to know the ins and outs, so I don't accidentally start declaring feuds left and right," Harry chuckled at Remus with a glint in his eyes. Remus had a slight suspicion about his godson's motives, but promised to find something for him, whether in the library or at a shop.
"Moving on, any paperwork needed for that family business?" Harry continued, concentrating on the task at hand, and running way with it.
"Nothing important, a short, formal notice to the Ministry and Gringotts is enough," Remus replied in confusion at the sudden change of topic.
"Great! Tonks - consider yourself a Black again, if you want to. And ask your mother, too. I'll sign the papers as soon as you give them to me," Harry said; only to stop at Tonk's unbelieving expression focussed on him. "What?"
"Do you know what you just offered? By taking mom back, you would be forced to pay an appropriate dowry to her - that could cost you thousands of Galleons!"
That information made Harry's eyes widen and his mental wheels whirr. He had no idea how much money was still left; in all the action, he had completely forgotten to check on their stash. "Can I still afford that?" he meekly asked Remus, who had been tasked with keeping the money.
The Marauder only rolled his eyes and snorted a laugh. "Easily!"
"Good, so no problem there. And bring me whatever is needed to kick out Bellatrix," Harry said with a grim face. Remus nodded, frowning equally fiercely.
"Don't forget about the Malfoys," Tonks quipped. "While a House of their own, they are in line of succession via Narcissa and Draco," she explained, and had to smile at the smirk Harry developed while she was talking. "Spill!" she commanded.
"Oh, nothing particular - I am just imagining the tantrum Draco will throw when he gets notified of this status change," Harry said, smiling in a dreamy way.
"What about the Grangers? Can I also bring them into the family so that they gain protection?" Harry suddenly asked.
"I want to make sure that Dumbledore can't do anything to them to blackmail me with," he stated with a concerned look at his girlfriend and her parents. Hermione was sorely tempted to snog the stuffing out of him if he continued to be so god-damned chivalrous.
"Hold your horses, pup," Remus laughed. "I was just getting there when you tried to give us all a whiplash with your sudden change of direction and went off on your tangent. There is a way to do this. I doubt you two would be averse to this, since it is only a formality with you two. What would you think about making your relationship with Hermione official?" Remus concluded with a broad grin.
Henry had to fight a sudden coughing fit with the help of his smirking wife. He had arranged with the fact that his daughter and Harry were 'living in sin' - as his mother had called it back then with Margret - he wasn't ready for that big a change, yet. Margret, on the other hand, was already devising colour schemes and flower arrangements in the back of her mind.
While everybody would have expected otherwise, the twins didn't comment or tease. This was much too important, and they never would destroy such a moment with jokes. They would wait and tease the hell out of the two later...
Meanwhile, the teens were looking at each other like snakes at a rabbit. Was this what they wanted? Engaged to be married? Marriage? Harry would certainly think so, but was he worthy of Hermione? He would have been surprised if he knew that Hermione thought the same thoughts, just the other way round.
"You consider setting up a formal marriage contract," Tonks interrupted her lover, not asking, but stating it as fact.
"A marriage contract?" Margret asked in a displeased voice, her eyes boring into the other woman, while the children had squeaked in unison at Tonk's proposal. Henry didn't react visibly anymore; he was petrified with shock from all he had heard.
"I know, that's medieval, barbaric, demeaning to the girl in question, yada, yada, yada," Tonks said in a bored way, gesticulating appropriately. "But think about it - after announcing it officially, Dumbledore can't separate these two."
"You think he would do that?" Margret asked in a fearful way. She never had thought about this possibility.
"As neither of them have magical guardians, he does have a token guardianship over the both of them. It would theoretically allow him to separate them or even negotiate marriage contracts for them, although this hasn't been done against the child's wishes for centuries," Tonks replied. "And if it would serve his plans, I think he would."
"He will of course bemoan the sad necessity of doing so for the greater good after the fact, but he won't hesitate a second," Remus agreed. Of course, this didn't really lighten the mood in the room, not that the kids in question would have heard a word about it. They were currently far, far away with their thoughts.
"But hey, no need to panic, folks. Just take a look at them," Remus laughed at the teen's reaction his small suggestion had caused. "Don't think about it as a binding, unwanted contract; it's just to make it official - it's not as these two aren't destined to do this anyway. With these two, this step is really not much more than an official announcement in the Prophet that gets filed in the Ministry, too," he clarified while the two kids slowly reconnected with reality and paid attention to the topic, again.
"What effect would this have?" Margret inquired while she carefully watched the suddenly awkward interaction between the two kids in question. She could have laughed out loud as they behaved like teens on their first date after these announcements. Both of them were fighting blushes and stealing glances at each other, both obviously trying to espy a sign of approval in the other without giving their own hopes away. It was just too cute.
"Entering such a commitment would cement Harry's position as Prince Black. To be precise, being sixteen already, they both would become something like emancipated minors in our law, in order to arrange the marriage and all. Dumbledore couldn't claim any legal influence over any of them after that," Tonks explained. Being the daughter of an old pureblood line, even if disgraced, meant that she had greater insight in the customs than anyone present.
"It also would make you all practically members of Harry's family, allowing him to extend Patriarch rights over you. And before you get any ideas, Harry - no, that wouldn't get you to cohabit a dorm with Hermione at Hogwarts - you would have to be married for that," she smirked at the teen.
This made not only Harry, but also Hermione pout. This return to Hogwarts had some serious downsides, she had to admit.
"But doesn't Harry need approval from his guardians to do that? He is still underage, as well as Hermione," Margret pointed out the crux of the matter.
"Yes, that remains a problem, Margret. They need both, muggle and magical," Tonks added with a huff, "I don't think you would disapprove of their union," she told Margret before turning to face her lover. "But I'd really like to hear how you want to get that from the Dursleys and Dumbledore, Remy."
"Nosey, aren't you?" Remus chuckled. "You see, even with Harry's power, it wouldn't be safe to break the enchantments on the Dursleys; so instead, what would happen if Henry and Margret went to the police and filed charges of child abuse?" Remus stated a rhetorical question, continuing spinning his ideas into a plan.
"Let's assume they would tell the tale that Harry, a school friend of their daughter, did join them for the summer, and that they all noticed his many scars at the beach. Not wanting to push the boy, they carefully tried to get to the bottom of that. After a few weeks of spending the holidays with them and starting to officially date their daughter, he had started to open up to them, and tell his story; and they now wanted to report it to the authorities," he concluded with a smile that bared more teeth than a human should have. The twins gave approving nods as they found that lie entirely believable, themselves.
Margret couldn't help but laugh at the plan their friend had come up with. "As we both are medical professionals, they would certainly believe us," she confirmed. "We would probably be able to make the police get a search warrant to confirm things; like the cupboard or the cat-flap and locks on Harry's later room. It should be easy to get the court to give us custody over Harry, as he already is integrated in our lives to some extent."
"And if we get lucky and Vernon is as stupid as we believe him to be, he might even throw a tantrum that gets him arrested on the spot," she added as an afterthought, an idea that made the twins grow pensive.
At this point, they had to make a short break to calm Harry down, since he was getting very emotional about people actually caring enough for him to want to make the Dursleys pay. Hermione would have gladly hexed them into the next century - that much he knew - but having Margret going all bear-mother for him was touching him deep inside. Even Henry was more than eager to get the Dursleys their due, while the twins had started whispering excitedly with each other, which was no good sign for Vernon.
"Wouldn't Dumbledore just memory charm everyone and undo that?" Harry finally asked, sure that there was something that would go wrong. It was just too good to be true.
"He might try, but once we make our complaint, it will be in the Social Services computer network and distributed to at least two or three different places. They would chew out the officers for forgetting to continue investigation and take it up, again. I doubt your Headmaster would be able to hack himself into the servers or find all the files spread on desks everywhere in the SS," Henry stated, his conviction getting confirmed by Tonks.
"He couldn't. Even if he tried, he would also act illegal doing this. The only thing that allows such measures is to protect the Statute of Secrecy. But this would be a pure Muggle custody matter, which would make him endanger the secrecy with his machinations. Even the Supreme Mugwump isn't exempt from that law," she tweeted, remodelling her hair into a judge's wig.
"I am more afraid that he would try to do this memory stuff to the kids," Margret warily stated.
"Hermione told me about the way you are protecting your secrets by deleting memories of nonmagicals left, right and centre without hesitation. While I reluctantly agree with you that he's still not a bad person per se, I doubt he would hesitate to do that to them."
"I think I should tell you a few things about obliviations, Margret," Tonks said softly. "First, we are only able to delete a memory, but not to give you new ones. This means when the secret is exposed, we arrive, delete the last few minutes and they won't know. They might not even notice the missing time."
"In Harry's case, it is different," she stated affirmatively. "Dumbledore would have to delete the whole summer from his memories. Since Harry does know about obliviations, he would suspect foul play after a bit, especially since other people could remind him. Also, it is much harder to delete the memories of a powerful wizard. We even tried to memory charm Harry once in training, and I couldn't. Dumbledore has seen the power Harry can wield, and he isn't dumb enough to antagonize Harry any more by trying such a stupid stunt."
"But Hermione," Margret interjected, but let Tonks continue when the woman raised a defensive hand.
"He might try to use her, that's right. But you have to remember, that if we pull this off, she is Harry's betrothed by the time he can touch them. If Dumbledore does anything to her, he would face Azkaban and a justified blood feud with House Potter, Black, and all their allies. He needs Harry, so he wouldn't touch Hermione with a ten foot pole," Tonks insisted.
"You see, this would force Albus to play nice," Remus tried to regain control of the conversation. "Where was I…? Right - charges against the Dursleys! After we filed them, it should be easy to have Harry placed with the Grangers, as he already is familiar with them and only needs guardians for less than two years," Remus summed up the first part of his plan, which found whole-hearted approval with the present company.
On the magical side, things were a bit more complicated. There was no way they would manage to get the guardianship away from Dumbledore, but the plan to make Dumbledore give approval was even better then Operation Dursley; a real Marauder masterpiece. Given that Remus had been the planer of that group, and the twins were not lacking in this compartment, either - Dumbledore would never know what hit him.
ooOOoo
"Okay, that being clear, I also propose to get the both of them portkeys to Grimmauld place. It'd be best if they are necklaces with password activation," Tonks stated. "I want these two to be able to get out of any trouble they might run into."
Then, she added an afterthought. "And I will teach you both apparition, starting tomorrow, rules be damned," causing both the kids to light up in anticipation.
"Maybe we should also add Portkey creation," Hermione tried her luck, her whole body poised in anticipation. She bounced happily in her seat as Tonks gave a short "Ok, we'll try," as reply.
"Alright, that would cover everywhere outside of Hogwarts," Remus agreed. "But there's a problem with that, neither would work in or around Hogwarts, they'd be sitting ducks there," he said, a grave look on his face as he peered at Tonks, who nodded thoughtfully in return.
"Then they just have to run out of the wards," George quipped.
"Or use one of the secret passageways out," Fred agreed.
"See, no problem," George concluded.
"Provided they manage to slip out of our esteemed Headmaster's grasp," Fred added.
"Theoretically, but I wouldn't put it past the Headmaster to put the wards into lock-down to keep Harry from leaving at the end of the year," Remus admitted. "This means that he would use the same means that prevent him from entering Black Manor to keep Harry inside the castle," he added for Henry's and Margret's understanding.
"Won't the tunnels be under the wards?" Harry asked.
"No, the wards extend about fifty feet deep into the ground, to prevent tunnelling," Remus told them. "Remember, it is a castle, and it was laid siege to multiple times before and after it got turned into a school."
"Wait! I remember that half of the lake is inside the boundaries, and it's deeper than fifty feet," Tonks suddenly exclaimed happily.
"I very much doubt he could dive under the wards," Henry retorted. "Fifty feet down is a lot for someone without scuba equipment."
Hermione had thought along the same lines, but had a viable solution. "We could use a bubblehead charm, or Gillyweed," she proposed. "The first is an air bubble and the latter makes you grow gills and flippers for some time," she told her parents.
Tonks snorted at their exchange. "Oooor," she drawled, grinning smugly as Hermione squinted at her in irritation, "you could use a huge ship capable of submerged travel to wait for you in the lake, just like the Durmstrang ship in the Triwizard Tournament," she toothily tweeted at them, laughing out loud as Hermione groaned at her oversight.
ooOOoo
So, as a final backup plan in case of everything going south, it was agreed upon that Remus and Tonks would bring the Revenge over to the Hogwarts Lake, acting as escape vessel. It would stay there, submerged, waiting to get them away. If they went to the island at August 30, since only Harry could send them over, they would manage to get there by the end of September.
With the use of the Boatswain's Whistle Charm they could even call the ship to the surface in case of an emergency, the two of them just enough to man the ship in emergency mode. They planned to contact the adults and arrange a rendezvous point on the British coast to pick them up for the Atlantic crossing. With the new additions to the crew they could make a proper escape into the ocean.
The last correction to the plan was that Henry objected to the timing. Since these troubles weren't expected early, rather near the end of term - when it would matter - it wouldn't do to have the only two - competent, he added with a smirk in the twin's direction - magical minders away on a ship, thus unreachable in the case of an emergency right at the start of term. They agreed to have them bring it over when things had settled a bit. After all, Hermione, being of age by mid September, could always escort Harry home at Hogsmeade weekends.
That being settled, all of them began to prepare for the return to England, so they could start the first parts of their operation.
*** August 18th, Black Reef, after breakfast ***
Like every day, Hermione and Harry went out to the garden behind the Villa for training. Chatting, they stood on the lawn near the cliff that Tonks had designated the training area.
"Okay, you dripping bags of Flobberworm puss, pay attention!" Tonks yelled from behind them, on the cliff's side. She must have apparated there.
Harry and Hermione whirled around scared, both already in motion to draw their wands, but stopped and stared at their tutor in shock. Tonks had gone crazy. Her hair was in a blonde buzz cut, her jaw squared and her body looking like she had slept in a steroid solution. The combat fatigues completed the picture.
"I love you, Harry, but I'm going to kill you, Remus and Dad," Hermione groaned with finality as she connected the dots.
ooOOoo
Henry had taken to playing various movies from his collection every other night after he managed to power his entertainment electronics with the help of an Emergency Power unit from his old garage. When he had that idea, he made Dobby find and resize all his stuff, and after a test run in one of the Villa's living rooms, he found that the unit was powerful enough to run the TV and the VCR player. The only downside was the headache-inducing noise and the fumes, which were not really adding to the joys of television. He had to do something for that, and get some supplies for the gas guzzling machine. Maybe even a satellite dish.
When he had inquired Remus about it, they quickly ruled out using a silencing charm and an air cleaner, for Remus feared that such powerful charms would most likely fry the electronic stuff in the room. Henry had already mentally settled for the inconvenient solution of having a wire run through the house and the unit somewhere in a shed outside, along with a barrel of gas, but he got more then he had bargained for.
After a few hours of inspection, Remus had charmed the generator to be self-propelling without using gas. Since that device always ran at a fixed speed, Remus had taken the thing apart and just charmed the crankshaft to permanently rotate, something that would be very bad on a car, but worked fine here. A very weak silencing charm later, the unit could be in the same room, although in the far corner, without the remaining annoying whirring sound being too bothersome, eliminating the need to run wires through the villa. People had just to be careful with further magic in that room, lest they fry the sensitive electronics of the entertainment stuff in there.
Yesterday, it was guy's choice evening, and they had chosen 'Full metal jacket'. It had seemed such a good idea at the moment.
ooOOoo
"I said atteeeen-shun!" she yelled again at the gaping teens, which finally got the hint and assumed something akin to a straight stand.
"Today's lesson will be - Apparition! This is the instant teleportation to a desired location. It is a word and wandless skill, but roughly seventy percent of wizardkind can do it, so I expect you both to ace that skill, even though you don't know a Newt from a Hippogriff," Tonks shouted, and then fell silent, looking at them expectantly.
"I can't hear you Bundimuns!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.
Being used to harsher words aboard the ship, the teens shrugged and decided to play ball. "Ma'am, yes, Ma'am!" they both shouted back; Harry was smiling broadly while Hermione had never felt so stupid in her life, but played along.
"Now, that was at least decent, you keep that up and you might turn into Horklups someday," Tonks replied.
"Ma'am, thank you, Ma'am!" they chorused.
"Alright, now - Apparition," Tonks continued yelling, although the kids were only a few feet away. "This is the manual of how the Ministry of Magic would like me to teach you," she said, holding a thin booklet into the air. With a shrug, she tossed it over her shoulder, and over the cliff. Harry had to grab Hermione's arm to keep her from jumping after the book in reflex.
"You can read that for the written test - I'll teach you the way that really works. First, I'll side-along each of you a few times so you know how it feels," Tonks told them while pacing up and down in front of them, drawing two circles on the ground at their feet, and another pair a yard away. "Then you will try to recreate that feeling, just like your word- and wandless magic, while you concentrate on being inside the next circle. The only movement necessary is a turn. Understood, so far?"
"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am," the couple canted.
"Good. When doing this, keep your full attention on the target - will yourself being there and then unleash your magic. If you fail to concentrate properly, you will either fail completely, or flicker, or succeed partly. The last one is called splinching, which means that you leave some parts of you behind. This will be at least very annoying for you, and most entertaining for me. I can reverse that, but it will take time, and I won't hurry. I might even take a lunch break. So, a successful lesson for you means that you bore me to death," Tonks concluded, slapping her hands together and rubbing them eagerly.
Unsurprisingly, the lesson proved that Hermione had no problem at all to keep her focus. Harry did rather well for the first few tries, and due to his superior power got it right faster then Hermione, but then he got a bit overconfident and distracted at an attempt. It wasn't that bad - at least he could now claim that he had managed to lick his own elbow. Both women had rolled their eyes at him for doing and bragging about that, and Tonks had brained Harry with his own arm before reattaching it.
*** August 20th, Privet Drive 4 ***
Vernon Dursley frowned at the newspaper, taking another sip of his coffee. "Crooks and liars, all those politicians," he thought as he read about some new projects planned. Petunia carefully placed the plate with the scrambled eggs in front of her husband. He had snapped at her yesterday for setting the plate down too hard. She had also carefully mixed the eggs and ham, as he complained loudly about the uneven mix the day before. She hoped that the bad phase in his office would soon be over. Vernon was complaining all the time about how bad his co-workers were doing their jobs the last few days, and raved about how he had to yell at a few of them to get them to work properly. With all the stress at work, Vernon was a walking powder keg at home.
He even shouted at Dudley-poo last evening as the poor boy was inquiring if they could watch his favourite program instead of the boring news. Of course, she did not admit to herself this outburst had been entirely warranted, Dudley just couldn't do wrong. It was only fair that he had thrown a tantrum as the channel wasn't switched when he had demanded so. He had entirely not deserved and was completely disturbed by the sudden aggression. So, to avoid more incidents and keep her son pacified, she had sent her poor boy to spend the day over at his friend Piers.
She flinched when the doorbell rang during Vernon's breakfast. When the bell sounded, Vernon had scrunched up his newspaper. His head was already starting to colour when he lifted his mass out of the chair to answer the door. When he had done so, the bell rang again and Vernon's face turned purple as he stomped out into the hallway to shout at the early, unannounced visitor.
ooOOoo
"I'm coming! Stop that racket!" An angry voice was heard after Officer Matthew Dully had pressed the doorbell button for the third time. Shortly later, the door was jerked open and a massively overweight man came into view - at least the parts of him that weren't obscured by the rest of the house. Even those visible parts were twice as big as Dully's partners for today's business, Officer Charlene Morrisson. Officer Patrick Cheng, the third man for this search wasn't much bigger.
"What?" the fat man roared, before he noticed the uniforms on the visitors. "Would you care to explain yourself, Officers?" he said, in a slightly friendlier way, but only barely.
Dully just handed him a copy of the search warrant and waited a moment for the man to read the title. "Mister Dursley, we are here to search your house because of certain charges. Would you please step aside and let us proceed?" he asked in a very polite voice.
"This is an outrage!" the man raged, having read a bit more of the document by now. "You are here to check on charges made by that boy? What lies did he tell you?" Vernon roared, the vein on his temple pulsating rapidly.
"Nothing, this was brought to our attention by some medical professionals, and we are here to check up on the allegations. Would you please step aside to let us begin?" Matthew said, still trying to sound politely, but already believing some of the charges he was familiar with.
"Of course I will not! This is MY home! MY house! I won't have any of this!" Vernon bellowed.
"Sir, for the last time - please do step aside or you will be found in contempt of the warrant and we will be forced to arrest you," Matthew demanded forcibly, his patience wearing thin.
Vernon frowned fiercely and made the final mistake. He gave the man a shove.
Across the street and under an invisibility cloak, a certain teen and his girlfriend were straining the silencing charm a disillusioned Remus had cast on them to the breaking point while Harry's uncle was introduced to pepper spray and handcuffs. The warning wards they had placed a few days earlier, after the Grangers' deposition, had gone off during breakfast, and they had apparated in just in time to see the policemen approach the door. While the kids were still laughing at the officers trying to bring Harry's walrus-sized uncle under control, Remus vowed to have a serious word with the twins while the kids were off to their morning training with Tonks. Their Choleric Coffee was too dangerous to be made available to the wizarding public.
Three days later, Harry Potter-Black was declared officially under muggle guardianship of Mister and Misses Granger, of High Barnett. The party was loud, long and would have broken the Statute of Secrecy, if it weren't on a secluded island far away in the Caribbean.
ooOOoo
"Hermione? Could you spare a minute?" Harry said nervously as he approached his girl at the salad table near the pit Henry was burning meat beyond recognition, calling that process 'grilling'. Hermione's father already had a few beers too many, and the cooking was the first to suffer. Thankfully, they didn't need to tell him, as the elves were doing something to the coal pieces he handed out, making them edible again.
"Of course," Hermione said with a smile as she put her platter with cucumber salad down. Harry didn't like the taste of this dish at all, but he had made sure that they always had some of that particular dressing and vegetable in stock after he found out that Hermione was nearly addicted to that stuff. She had noticed the way Harry had been stealing glances at her all the evening, and was eager to find out what he would want from her.
Curiously, Hermione followed Harry a bit away from the party, where Harry pulled her into a hug. She nearly squeaked in surprise when he suddenly spun her around and disapparated them both away.
ooOOoo
Materializing in the lush jungle, Hermione took a moment to look around. She absently-minded noticed and named the various tropical plants around them on the small clearing, and the presence of a small streamlet. The sound from where it disappeared at the horizon and the lack of trees at that direction indicated that they were at the edge of Skull Beach, near the waterfall.
Of course, she had noticed the blanket and the basket lying near a fallen tree and sighed in disappointment. Still, she allowed Harry to lead her over to that place, where Harry turned her around and made her sit on the tree.
"While I appreciate the planning," she said with a smirk and a shake of her head, "I don't think this is the right time for that."
"Why not?" Harry said in a flabbergasted way.
"Because everybody is having a party down there," she said, pointing vaguely out towards the cliff.
"Well, yes," Harry fidgeted. "But I thought that it would be the perfect moment to do it, I even had Dobby prepare everything!" he said as he stepped closer and reached for her hands.
"It's a sweet idea, and a really romantic spot, but what will the others say if we steal ourselves away for something like that," Hermione insisted softly as she squeezed his hands in return.
"I don't care. They talk about all the plans and stuff, but I realized we all just assumed that it would happen in a certain way, and I didn't even bother to ask," he said sadly.
"Ask? Ask what?" Hermione inquired as she felt slightly confused and lost concerning where this conversation was leading to.
"Hermione, we have had many adventures already, and we know each other like no one else does. I have never asked for anything, but right now, I have to ask for the biggest favour you could ever do to me," Harry softly said, and Hermione's confusion gave way to a severe spell of dizziness when Harry dropped to a knee in front of her, still holding her hands.
"Hermione Jean Granger, would you make me the happiest man on earth and become my wife?"
ooOOoo
Down on the beach, two women exchanged knowing glances when suddenly a squealing scream sounded from across the bay, scaring some local birds into flight. Even though Harry had led Hermione away from the group before apparating, their disappearance and the state he had been in all the day hadn't been unnoticed, or unexpected.
While Tonks went to share the news with the bewildered Remus and the twins who were all wondering about the source of that scream; Margret thought it would be best to leave her husband oblivious for the time being. She would tell him tomorrow, during hangover, she decided with a smirk at her party animal.
*** August 24th, the Headmaster's office, Hogwarts ***
Albus Dumbledore sat in his office, fighting his way through his paperwork. There was still no sign of the boy, and although he rather would continue searching, he had not the tiniest clue where to start. But he had procrastinated with the menial work that made up most of his job long enough already, even discounting the time he spent hunting after Potter, and he still had a school to run.
He looked up when a motion had caught his attention. With in the time it took him to look up, Hedwig had swooped into the office, turning hard and releasing her letter at the perfect moment to have the piece of parchment smack squarely into the wizard's face. Before the Headmaster had recovered from this surprise, the snowy owl had already left his office again, and was heading off into the distance, making barking sounds.
A bit annoyed but curious as well, he picked up the note, just in order to nearly drop it again as if it were on fire. With a wide open mouth he stared at the simple note, stating that Harry Potter and Hermione Granger would attend Hogwarts next term, if he agreed to keep out of their relationship. If he did promise to do so, he should send a note to the Daily Prophet, to have them print the simple statement 'I approve' in the personal ads tomorrow.
He frowned when the written note vanished from sight after being read, but he noticed the small notch in one of the corners of the parchment. This marked the parchment as Order message parchment - self deleting after being read by the recipient, or when someone else tried to read it. They used it to keep messages out of enemy hands when doing Order business - this was definitely Tonks' and Remus's work. He knew that there was no way to restore or track the message; these parchments were one of Filius' finest works.
Ignoring the small setback, he pondered the situation. It seemed that the boy had finally come to reason, and this was obviously only a petty ploy to make it look like he was still in control while he rushed back into the safety of Hogwarts embrace.
Albus briefly reminisced whether he should dismiss the demand and insist on total submission, but there was a slight chance that the boy might react stupid if he did so. After all, Albus was glad to have the boy back with as little as a simple promise.
After all, the demands weren't upsetting at all - he could deal with Potter having a different girlfriend than planned, especially since Miss Granger had a very good sense for the greater good. Miss Weasley had lately shown some selfish tendencies, which could prove to be a hindrance to the sad, but necessary things that would need to be done. The meek and plyable Miss Granger, on the other hand, had a habit to look up to authority figures that was nearly challenging Percival Weasley's obsession with power, which could be exploited.
Also, he wouldn't have to deal with Molly Weasley as much as he would have in the old scenario, which was a definitive bonus. After a bit of pondering, he realized that if the worst case should occur, he could also use Miss Granger as a bargaining chip against Mister Potter without too much outrage from the public. Yes, that small concession would actually make his plans much easier, especially as the boy didn't even demand an oath, but just a simple promise.
After all, what was a promise worth to a politician?
Smiling at the naivety of the boy and his friends, Dumbledore wrote a note to the specified content and called an elf to send it to the newspaper via Hogwarts owl.
After the elf had popped out, Dumbledore went to find his Deputy and Severus. He had good news to share.
ooOOoo
Debby Cornwall, the clerk at the Daily Prophet Announcements Desk, took the note from the tawny owl and opened it. She couldn't understand to what the Supreme Mugwump wanted to have his approval printed in the next edition, but that wasn't her job. She only had to take these ads and place them. Shrugging her shoulders, she looked for an appropriate place on the page and copied the content of the note onto it.
When Harry Potter and his entourage showed up at her desk a few hours later, and proclaimed they would like to announce his engagement to the girl next to him, her first reaction was to nearly faint and thusly, she was too shocked to draw the connection. But when Mister Potter had asked her if his guardian, Mister Dumbledore - who sadly was indisposed at the moment and near future due to his multitude of functions - had already sent the necessary note of approval to the Daily Prophet, as promised, she remembered and retrieved the strange note, handing it over as demanded.
As soon as the group had paid the three Sickles fee for that kind of announcement, she put the ad on the corresponding page and sent copies of the marriage contract and the permission slips from the guardians - along with the necessary Sickle - to the Ministry's Registry, and - including thirteen Knuts - to the Gringotts customer relationships office, making it official. This procedure had become standard in the last century, in order to make announcements watertight and to keep contracts from going missing.
After the group had left her office, the next thing she did was to take another copy upstairs to the Editor. Although she didn't like the man too much, she wore a genuine smile as she entered his office, since this was the kind of announcement she got paid extra for relaying it directly to him.
ooOOoo
The next morning edition of the Daily Prophet featured a huge headline of "THE BOY WHO PROPOSED!" - along with a photo of Harry and Hermione below, a re-run of a photo used by Rita Skeeter years ago, in her article about Hermione's alleged love triangle with Harry and Victor Krum. Coincidentally, Rita would be next to unbearable for the next few weeks, basking in her skill as reporter for being the first to report on this. The story and background info filled a whole third of the paper, as the end of summer left them with little else to report. Other papers would quickly pick up the story and run it as well, each with their own slant and varying approval of their relationship.
While the whole magical society was in uproar about the news, Dumbledore wasn't exactly happy when he read the Headline that would fuel gossip for days or weeks. A quick glance into the article showed him that he had been tricked like a school kid. There was a contract submitted, and it was even paid already. This meant that Potter was legally his own man and had access to the Black vaults.
'This practically reeks of Lupin, I'd bet one of my names on it,' the old man mulled as he grudgingly had to pay respect to that man's plan. 'At least, the article states that Harry will really return to Hogwarts. Let's see how he will fare without their help,'Dumbledore thought with a serene smile, his eyes twinkling. Soon, the boy would come around and accept the wisdom of his elders again.
ooOOoo
Meanwhile in Devon, all birds in a small town near a river took flight and left the area as a loud shriek pierced the peaceful quiet there.