A New Halloween
DISCLAIMER: That part of this world and those characters you’ve seen before belong to their Creator: JKR. The rest is mine - although I cannot quit my day job as I make no $$$
A/N: Hopefully, my writer’s block is fading into a distant past. No promises, though.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO: A NEW HALLOWEEN
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31 st , 1993
Another quiet week had passed from the perspective of Harry and those around him. Ron had met the Bells, dreading it beforehand. Fortunately, the Bells knew a little about bonds and far more about Quidditch. While neither of them had played, Mrs. Bell’s best friend had been on a team and had told her about Quidditch Partners even though it never came to that. Ron said that Mrs. Bell had thanked him profusely for helping her daughter. Mr. Bell was a bit standoffish at first, but later admitted it was at least in part due to the fact he now would never have the chance to scare off a would be boyfriend. The tension subsided even before Ron could reveal that he would be able to support Katie which made things even easier. Harry still had not told Ron just how much he would be getting.
Ron meeting the Bells the previous Sunday during Time Compression was really about the only drama of the week as far as Harry knew. The newspapers made it clear that the ICW was still dithering over the incident at Gringotts. This meant that the Wizengamot was unwilling to do anything that might be undone directly or indirectly by sanctions. It also meant Dumbledore was out of the country. For Harry and the others, this meant that there was a rat that remained in stasis at the Estate and whatever schemes Dumbledore had to regain control over Harry were still on hold. So from Harry’s perspective, nothing much was happening outside of Hogwarts.
Nothing much was happening inside of Hogwarts either. There wasn’t a corridor on the Third Floor on the right hand side promising a painful death to inspire curiosity. No one had been petrified. The dementors were long gone. A part of Harry found that Hogwarts without such life threatening things was actually rather dull. Classes were classes. Binns was just as boring as ever and Snape just as snarky and arbitrary. Harry thought his electives were absolutely brilliant, but it meant more homework which was one of the reasons he had extended his weeks. For the rest of the school, they had to get it all done in seven days. For House Longbottom, Potter and the Weasleys (less Percy), they had fifteen days so none of them was terribly worried about the number of assignments, not even Ron.
Ron had dropped Divination and was now taking Runes and Arithmancy meaning he now had the same courses as Harry, Hermione and Neville and at least a few of the other Third Year wives. It was obvious from the first class that Ron had made the right decision at least when it came to Arithmancy. All though he was still Ron Weasley, meaning he was slightly more enthusiastic about being called on in class as he was about walking into a dell filled with huge spiders, when he was called on in that class it was clear even to a grudgingly impressed Hermione that he understood the material better than most. Runes was harder for him, but he wasn’t complaining about the work as he could see how “cool” they would be in time. If one wanted to hear complaints about school work from Ron, they were pretty much limited to History and Potions. Then again, there were few who did not complain about those classes.
Defense classes were infinitely better and harder than they had been before. It struck the Third Years (and upper years as well) that their new Professor actually knew what he was doing. This was a good thing. But Professor Lupin also seemed to be trying to get all Fifth Years and below caught up to where they should have been had they had competent Defense instruction before he arrived which meant more work for everyone. Still, his classes were only slightly less talked about than Hagrid’s and almost everyone liked Hagrid’s classes.
The real “drama” of the week was the further unraveling of the aura that had followed young Draco Malfoy into the school a little over two years earlier. The news that his father was now sitting in Azkaban and would remain there for the rest of his life had knocked the pompous boy off his supposedly secure pedestal in Slytherin House. But two articles in the Daily Prophet the prior Wednesday had destroyed whatever respect for his family that had survived. After all, for some students a former Death Eater doing life for murdering “undesireables” was still a badge of honour. But the article disabused any notions that the former Death Eater was still fighting for “the Cause.”
The first article was more relevant to Harry and his friends. It stated that House Malfoy had been planning to bring suit against Hogwarts for an “attack” on its heir by a Hippogriff during a class at Hogwarts. House Malfoy was seeking the head of the “deranged creature” literally and was further planning to sue the school and Board of Governors over the incident. With Malfoy Senior now locked away in prison, the suit would go nowhere. Apparently, the mother had refused to continue it and the lawyers had quit when their bills went unpaid. It made the “aggrieved party” a laughing stock at school as his bad acting had gained him nothing at all. It also saw him suspended from the Slytherin Quidditch Team for all of a day before his Head of House intervened on his behalf. Of course it did help Draco a little that there really was not a better option at Seeker. There were plenty who could play as poorly as he had, but not one who was truly an improvement.
The second article was clearly more relevant to Draco and Slytherin. The arrest of Draco’s father had led to several more arrests, some related to the murders for which Lucius Malfoy now occupied a cell in Azkaban and others related to the business interests that led to those murders. Fifteen wizards had been arrested in the past couple of days for being part of a drug ring. All of them fingered Lucius Malfoy as a key player in the ring and DMLE had not revealed his arrest was for murders related to that vile business and refused to comment as it was an ongoing investigation. The article reported about the raid on the Malfoy home and suggested that piles of illegal drugs had been found within mainly because DMLE had not openly denied the speculation preferring to stand on “No comment.” There was no doubt in the paper’s opinion that Lucius Malfoy was the leading figure in what was clearly the largest illegal drug supplied in magical Britain. But, as no one official had confirmed the story, it read as the same rumour mongering drivel most came to expect from that paper and most enjoyed for the entertainment, but never truly believed.
Information had leaked out, however, and whether that was intentional or not was anyone’s guess. DMLE was said to be certain Malfoy’s trade was not limited to witches and wizards. His drug enterprise might well be the largest in Muggle Britain as well, if not all of Europe. The raid had found “hundreds if not thousands of pounds” of cocaine and heroin as well as “tons” of cannabis. There was also a huge supply of LSD and Bufotenine which was made from the toxins found in poisonous toads and was also a known potions ingredient. Most of the drugs came from overseas specifically Asia and the Americas which meant there was more to this operation than a few former Death Eaters.
The article speculated as to why Malfoy would dirty his hands with such filth. The sale of Muggle drugs to witches or wizards was on par with using Unforgivable. All fifteen of those caught could expect to spend the rest of their lives in Azkaban unless they had something to offer to get a deal. The article went on to explain that Malfoy would be no better off if he was a Muggle as the scale of his operations pretty much meant he was looking at a life sentence. What would possess seemingly reputable men to engage in such vile business? The paper noted that Malfoy was a Death Eater who claimed he had been under the Imperius Curse the whole time. Unnamed sources said to be with DMLE revealed that Malfoy had been that organization’s “money man,” whose job was to get money by any means necessary. He had been known to “shakedown” otherwise law abiding citizens by of means threatening their families with untold horrors unless a suitable payment was made. But the paper opined that had not been enough for the insatiable organization. Malfoy had spent a considerable amount of his own fortune to fund the Death Eaters and may have turned to the sale of drugs to refill his vaults and fund the organization. Afterwards, he kept at it because “it paid better than honest work.”
Draco had capitalized on his father’s stature in society whether real or perceived to raise his own within the school. Without his father and his father’s name, he had little to distinguish himself from his peers. With it, he was powerful at least within Slytherin. It had helped that his father was a known and feared Death Eater during the War. But this news destroyed whatever stature being the son of Lucius Malfoy may have had. The son of a drug dealer was lower in the eyes of his peers than being the son of a Muggle. Nothing could erase the stain of what his father had done.
Draco’s fall from the heights was largely unnoticed outside of his House. Harry and the others noticed that he was no longer the brash, cocky and insulting little snot that he had been; but aside from that his misery went both unnoticed and unremarked upon. It was as if he ceased to exist. Then again, Draco only existed when he was being a git and now he knew he could not get away with that as easily as before.
Harry and the others who considered the Farms as their home were aware of one more crime on the ledger of House Malfoy. The Daily Prophet had not written a word on the four Muggle girls found imprisoned in the basement. Harry and Neville and their wives knew of them because they were told about them and asked to extend House Protection over them. But they knew little more than that. Sirius was acting as their guardian, so even though he had yet to visit them, he received reports from Andi and Cissy.
The former Madam Malfoy was another change that was not known to Harry and the others aside from Hermione. Hermione had not told them mainly because it had never come up but also because she did not want the families to be the source of this news before it came from somewhere else. She was pretty certain this was information beyond her abilities with the Fidelius Charm. For now that was House Black business so there really was no need to let them know about that. Harry and the others were not the only ones unaware of the annulment. That too had not made the paper nor had that information been passed to any of the faculty or Draco Malfoy. So, as they were unaware of much that had flowed out of the trial of Sirius Black, it was only the topic of Draco’s father that occupied conversations leading into the weekend and the scheduled Time Compressions.
The Sunday Time Compression would be another week. With the Estate gaining thirty-six hours of charge for every day Time Compression was not activated, the Trunks gained forty-eight hours of charge a week despite the eight extra days under time compression. Now that the Basilisk had been dealt with, Harry had signed the contract with the Goblins agreeing on the price for the various bits, and the processed materials were being delivered to Gringotts; Peter “Spidey” Parker and Amanda “Mandy” Crosby (the Flamels) were able to join the growing numbers who spent their Sunday’s on the Farms. It helped that two of their classmates (Astoria Greengrass and Anna Fitzhugh) were also regular attendees as they did not wish to draw undue attention to themselves. House Potter and Longbottom were looking forward to spending time with their families, getting or keeping ahead of their classes and resuming training with the Flamels.
It was mid morning on Sunday and Time Compression had just activated. Harry and “his girls” were out on the veranda of the Manor which looked out on the vast back lawn and gardens where he had taught Hermione to fly a broom the previous summer. It was autumn both Outside and in most of the Estate, but the veranda and lawn were part of the Summer Gardens which were a tropical environment year round. As such, his girls could “not wear” what they wanted when they were alone with him. It was too chilly to do so elsewhere on the Estate.
“What’re you reading Harry?” Ginny asked.
Harry really was not reading at all. He held the Sunday edition of the Daily Prophet and had been staring at the date and pondering it. The truth was he had skimmed the paper and there was nothing of interest really.
“Nothing,” Harry said.
“Don’t be silly,” Luna said. “Then again, that is the Daily Prophet which on a good day is not much. Most of the time it is ‘nothing.’ Or are you saying you’re not reading it?”
“Um… sorry. I was just thinking about the date.”
“It’s Halloween,” Daphne noted. “Or at least it is Outside.”
“Oh I do hope there’s pudding at the Feast when we get back,” Luna said.
“There’s always pudding,” Hannah said.
“Is there? I know there was last year. I assume you’re saying there was the year before. But always?”
“I’m sure there’ll be pudding, Luna, even if there hasn’t always been pudding,” Daphne said.
“That’s good,” Luna sighed. “What’s life without pudding? Is that why you’re so quiet, Harry?”
“Hmmm?” Harry sounded distracted.
“The pudding at the Feast, Harry.”
“No Luna,” Harry said. “I just haven’t decided what day this is.”
“Now that’s silly,” Luna said. “It’s Sunday, October 31st, 1993 and it’s Halloween too.”
Harry nodded. “Outside it is. But I’m hoping Inside time rules ‘cause to you, Hermione and me it’s more like March 18th, 1994. Daphne, Hannah and Ginny have not had as much Time Compression as the three of us, you see.”
“You figured that out?” Hannah asked.
“Did the maths after my last Quidditch Practice,” Harry said. “Well, actually I went to the Control Room and let the system figure it out.”
“Why?” everyone but Hermione asked.
“Halloween’s never been a good day for me,” Harry said. “It was the day I lost my parents, for one. Then it was the night First Year when the Troll got in and almost killed Hermione. Then last year…”
“You missed the feast last year,” Hannah said. “I remember that.”
“Nearly Headless Nick invited me to his Death Day party,” Harry said. “I thought it couldn’t be worse for me than Halloween usually was. I haven’t decided if I was right.”
“Death Day?” Daphne asked.
“Don’t know if all ghosts or even most celebrate it or whatever,” Harry said. “I’m pretty sure Myrtle doesn’t - her own that is. She was there for Nick’s at least until someone hurt her feelings. Anyway, it’s the anniversary of the day they died.”
“That sounds… odd,” Daphne said.
“It was,” Harry agreed. “Most all the ghosts Nick knew were there including a fair few who don’t haunt the school normally. They had food - after a fashion…”
“But ghosts don’t eat,” Hannah said.
“No,” Hermione agreed. “But I dare say most want to. Ron and I were there too. I think Ron was a little put off by the ‘food.’ It was food once, but apparently the ghosts prefer it to be almost as long gone as they are.”
“It was all rotten,” Harry chuckled. “Smelled terrible, and no I have no idea what it tasted like. Anyway, Nick’s idea was we’d be his special guests. He’s been wanting to join something called The Headless Hunt for ages. Don’t ask me what that is ‘cept you need to be a ghost and apparently you needed to be properly beheaded to join.”
“Hence Nick’s problem,” Hermione snorted. “The headsman botched his beheading.”
“His head’s more unhinged than off,” Ginny giggled. “It’s funny once you get over the shock of it.”
“Anyway,” Harry went on, “Nick hoped we could convince the head of the hunt or whatever that he was properly scary and should be allowed to join. Didn’t work. They seem to be rather insistent on having loose heads to knock about.”
“Now that’s a disturbing image,” Hannah said.
Harry shrugged. “They’re dead. Must be pretty boring, you know?”
“Well, dealing with Trolls for afters does strike me as a bad night,” Daphne said, “but the ghost’s party? You did have a choice, you know?”
“Ah… well, the bad bit came later after Hermione, Ron and I left to find some real food. We came across Filch’s cat, Mrs. Norris…”
“That thing’s a menace,” Ginny began.
“And it gives decent cats like our own a bad name!” Hannah protested.
“Still, running into that thing is hardly something that would be memorable,” Daphne pondered. “I mean, if you’re the type to engage in behaviors Filch - and therefore his cat - find… interesting… well, it’s hardly extraordinary that the cat found you out, is it?”
“Ah… well the cat wasn’t as… annoying as it usually is considering… ,” Harry drawled.
“It was petrified,” Hermione finished.
“I was possessed,” Ginny began protesting.
“Now Ginny,” Luna said calmingly, “are you going to say you would never have petrified Mrs. Norris even if you knew how to do it with a wand and not a basilisk?”
“Um… okay, you have a point,” Ginny sighed. “Mrs. Norris getting petrified did not really bother me at all at the time. I’d heard all kinds of things ‘bout her from Ron and the twins and anyone at the school might’ve done it given the means. I didn’t see it as a connection between what was happening to me at all until much later. Fred and George even thanked me for an almost Mrs. Norris free year last year when they found out I was behind the petrifications.”
“It did make sneaking around late at night easier,” Harry agreed. “But what made that a bad night was Filch blamed me for it and it seemed like a fair few in the school agreed. Fred and George later said if I had managed it on purpose, they wanted me to show them how to do it again; although I think they were joking a bit.”
“When was that?” Hermione asked.
“‘Round about the same time they started announcing my arrivals throughout the school: Make way for the Heir of Slytherin!” Harry imitated. “Seriously evil wizard coming through! Will petrify you as soon as look at you; assuming he’s in a good mood that is.” The girls laughed.
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Luna said.
“I suppose,” Harry sighed. “In hindsight, shoving my wand up a troll’s nose was kinda funny too. At the time, however…”
“So you haven’t had much luck with Halloween,” Daphne said. “Is that way you did the maths? To prove to yourself that it’s not really October 31st?”
“Um, no,” Harry replied. “Actually, I did the numbers before realizing it meant today is not today really.”
“Then why did you do the numbers?” Hermione asked.
“Um… well, we’ve been here a while, right?”
The girls nodded.
“Well, I wanted to figure out how long, you see. Luna pointed it out to me a couple weeks ago or so and I wondered… well, this time counts and doesn’t count, you know?”
“We may have an idea,” Hermione said, “but what do you mean?”
“Well, it doesn’t count in some ways,” Harry said. “I mean your monthlies, for example. They happen on Outside Time, right? We don’t get older any faster either if we’re otherwise magically stable. But then there’s my Mum, you know? She was ‘bout two months pregnant when we found her and Dad. That was three months ago Outside and now she’s due any day now so Inside Time also counts. And there’s no denying we’ve experienced far more days than the people Outside. It’s why we’re ahead in all our classes given that we’ve had extra days to do our homework and stuff so it counts for that as well. So I think it should count - or be counted - in other ways given there’s a load of us living on the Estates now.”
“The seasons are the same regardless,” Luna observed. “It was summer here for a long time and now it’s fall in here yet you say it’s really March? That’s Spring Outside.”
“Um… well, that’s a feature of the Trunks. I can tie Inside seasons to the Outside ones which is how it’s working now. Neville’s place has always been that way, but he and his Gran almost never used Time Compression before this summer. If you rarely use it, there’s not a huge difference in the odd day here and there. Aside from our first few weeks here, I really hadn’t thought of using it all that much either but it hasn’t worked out that way, not that I’m complaining. So the plan is to continue as we have been recently and before you say it that’s not a problem. The last three weeks or so I’ve used eight days Time Compression per week. My recharge rate is fifty-seven hours more than that so each Saturday we’ve been sitting on a full charge of 1440 hours. That gives us more time to plan and train, once the Flamels figure out what to teach us beyond Occlumency. Given our use of the Time Compression, I’ve been thinking of disconnecting the Trunk seasons from Outside seasons. That means if it’s March Inside, it won’t matter what month it is Outside.”
“Might be a little odd if it’s winter inside and summer outside,” Hannah commented.
“It’ll still be summer in the tropical gardens,” Ginny said. “They are tropical after all.”
“So, you have that sorted,” Daphne said. “I’m not complaining. We get to see our parents and families all the time and I like that.”
Hermione snorted. “Mum likes it too. Dad’s been commenting that if we keep this up he’ll be a Gentleman Dentist, what with working only one day in three not counting Holidays. I really didn’t get that.”
“I’m a Gentleman Farmer,” Harry said. “I own a farm, I oversee it to some extent, but you don’t see me hoeing the fields or stacking the hay…”
“You have done a little,” Ginny commented.
“‘Cause I wanted to, not 'cause if I don’t it won’t get done. But I think the term means I’m a farmer who sits back 'cause I can as I have others who keep it running. Hermione’s Dad’s term suggests he’s sort of part time, I guess. But this is beside the point. I’m thinking 'bout doing something about this time thing.”
“Such as what?” Hermione asked skeptically.
“Well, on the one hand I’m not suggesting we observe Outside holidays just ‘cause it’s the same calendar day Inside. Christmas is only Christmas Outside. But days that are unique to us - those who live here - that’s different. So I calculated our birthdays…”
“Calculated?” Hermione asked. “Isn’t it just whatever day is our birthday inside? Shouldn’t yours still be July 31st and mine September 19th?”
“For those two examples, you’re right Hermione. Luna’s is also on September 3rd Inside as well as Outside. But the three of us are the only ones here who are so easy to figure.”
“Okay,” Daphne drawled, “this requires an explanation.”
“A birthday is an anniversary, right?” Harry replied. “It’s supposed to mark a full year of experiences since the last one. Well, time Inside is different than time Outside. Since I’ve gotten the trunks, I’ve had a hundred and forty more days of experiences than those who’ve never been here. Hermione and Luna have the same amount of time here so that’s why our birthdays are the same on the Inside calendar as on the outside although in reality the two days don’t line up. For example, I turned thirteen Inside on July 31st when outside it was June 26th, the day after Ginny joined us.”
“None of us noticed,” Hermione said sounding contrite.
“Nope,” Harry said. “We weren’t thinking ‘bout such things, were we? We had a lot more on our minds at the time so we didn’t notice that bit, or that we’ve also missed everyone else’s Inside birthday except Hannah’s. Hers will be on May 20th Inside which, if we stick with our recent schedule will fall during time compression on November 28th Outside time.”
“But my birthday’s April 15th!” Hannah disagreed.
“Outside. Inside, taking into account the added time from time compression and the fact that the Insider calendar I’m talking about did not begin to depart from Outside time until our first use of time compression and factoring in that you missed twenty-eight of those days as they occurred before we were married and you joined us, your Inside birthday shifted to a new date. Ginny’s is now September 15th and Daphne’s is December 3rd Inside time. What that is in Outside time, I can’t say. It all depends on our use of Time Compression.”
“So, you missed our Inside birthdays as you call them?” Daphne seemed to growl at Harry. Then she smiled brightly. “Guess we can give you a pass on that seeing that you didn’t miss any in Outside time yet. That and none of us knew there was one to miss. You haven’t forgotten mine, have you?”
“Unless you’ve done some time magic I don’t know about, yours is still November 12th or a week from Friday Outside, right? And before you ask, I did get you something and no I’m not telling you what or where it is.”
“You’re no fun,” Daphne said with a false pout.
“Well it wouldn’t be a surprise if you knew, would it?”
“Why did you ponder all of this?” Luna asked. “It seems somewhat amusing, but trivial in a way too given what we’re to face, don’t you think?”
“Good point,” Hermione agreed. “I mean if you’ve got nothing better to do than reinvent the calendar, perhaps this time compression thing’s too much as you seem to have too much time on your hands.”
“But it was thoughtful,” Hannah countered.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Harry complained. “It’s not like I’ve been sitting around just thinking about this. Not at all. I only did this yesterday afternoon after Quidditch when you lot were all out and about and Ginny was still in her bath.”
“Practice was even more grueling than usual,” Ginny huffed. “Our next match isn’t ‘til February but you’d think it’s tomorrow and we’re nowhere near ready the way Wood was going on about it. I swear he won’t be satisfied until all us girls are bonded to teammates after a bout of Disconnect!”
“I hope you’re not serious,” Hermione said.
“No. It is a bit of an exaggeration,” Ginny said. “Besides, although Harry’s my Quidditch Partner, according to Madam Pomfrey I’m not at risk for Disconnect ‘cause of the bond that already exists between us 'cause of his claiming the Life Debt and binding me as his concubine. It’s not like yours or Luna’s, but it’s enough. Ron got very lucky - and I don’t mean that the way you think. I think Katie’s a real good match for him. We were told what happened between them was really rare so I doubt if Wood could do it even if he wanted to and I’m sure Angelina and Alicia would make him wish he never heard of Quidditch if he tried. My point was Wood’s practices are almost harder than the game. But that’s beside the point. It has nothing to do with the calendar thing and I think it’s odd, Harry, that you should dwell on something so… not important in the big scheme of things.”
“It came to me a few days ago,” Harry began.
“I do hope this isn’t a dream thing,” Daphne said. “Divination’s rubbish, you know.”
“No, nothing like that. I was thinking of my Mum. Well her and my brother or sister who’ll be here anytime now. That's… weird. Well, anyway, so I was thinking and Mum and Dad said they’re going to have the kid up at the cottage. All this time I thought babies came from hospitals,” Harry quipped.
“When I was really little, Mum said they came from the lettuce patch,” Ginny said. “I used to run out and look now and again ‘cause I figured I had to surprise it or it wouldn’t be there and I didn’t want to always be the youngest. All I ever found were Garden Gnomes. And no, even at that age I knew the difference.”
“I thought it was a cabbage patch,” Hermione said, “or is lettuce a magical thing?”
“Um… well, it wouldn’t make sense to say a cabbage patch when there was never one at the Burrow, I should think. Aside from Ron, none of my brothers’ll eat the stuff,” Ginny explained. “Then again, Ron’s not a good example in that way.”
“Guess that makes sense,” Daphne nodded. “I knew where they came from ‘cause Mum was always having another it seemed. She didn’t tell me about how they came about 'til I was eleven and she caught me… you know.”
“My Mum told me I came from her tummy when it was time for me to be there,” Luna said. “For a time, I wondered if my tummy rumbles were babies. I was very young then.”
“Anyway,” Harry interrupted, “so my Mum’s going to have the kid up at the cottage. She told me that’s where I was born. So I began thinking about that and somehow Time Compression got into the mix. The kid’s going to age based upon the days Inside, not Outside until it’s magically stable which won’t be ‘til it’s about five or so after that it grows and ages on Outside time. But when would that be? And don’t say in five years. What I mean is when would that be in Outside time? When is its real birthday? That got me to thinking about birthdays and Inside and Outside time and how we’re using time compression more than I thought we would. And then I realized we need to use it more than we have. I know from what little has been revealed from that other future that I’ll have to face Voldemort and know it will be much sooner than it should be ideally. I doubt I was prepared at all last time. Given what we’ve seen at school, how could I have been? I can’t just hope that it’ll all sort out in the end, can I? That means I need time to prepare and time is not on my side - outside of the Estates. But in here? Well, that means my brother or sister’s gonna grow up quick if you only see them Outside so I came up with the Calendar to keep track of such things and set to plotting birthdays Inside and such and then… October 31st!”
“Okay,” Hannah said, “it was making sense. But you lost me with October 31st.” The others nodded in agreement.
“Well, it’s my Mum’s birthday although I don’t think she knows it is.”
“How can she not know when her birthday is?” Ginny asked.
“And it’s October 31st Outside, Harry,” Hermione added. “You said it was March something Inside!”
“I said before a birthday is an anniversary,” Harry said. “It happens three hundred and sixty-five days after the last one. Now that’s what I hoped to continue, mainly for my brother or sister. He or she could well have lived close to two years or seven hundred and thirty days by the time the Outside first birthday rolls around. And what makes us any different? True, we don’t age on Inside time at all; but we still experience the days so why shouldn’t we also mark the events? So, this calendar is simply a reflection of the days that have passed since I first activated time compression and my days deviated from Outside time. As I said, Luna and Hermione were here for that bit. Neville’s trunks have the ability, but he and his Gran never used it or saw any need to. When we visited House Longbottom back in August (Outside Time), it was the first time for them. The different birthdays are so that they correspond to the passage of one year since the person’s last Outside birthday. To get it I had to take into account that person’s degree of time displacement in the trunks which means you date changes for the days of time compression you missed. There’ve been a hundred and forty such days as of this morning, but most residents have had less than that. So, I take the number of time compression days they fell short of the total and counted forward from the date of their last Outside birthday to arrive at their first Inside birthday. I’m assuming the residents will miss few of the future compression periods.”
“And who do you count as residents?” Hermione asked.
“Um… well, so far I only figured on us, Neville and his girls, my parents and Sirius as they live here all the time…”
“Um, you may want to rethink that,” Daphne said. “My family’s been here most such days. They only missed the days before you had them over after we married, when we were in France and that two weeks when Sirius first arrived. They practically live here.”
“Same here,” Hannah nodded.
“My parents haven’t missed a day since you first let them come,” Ginny added.
“It’s your own fault, you know,” Hermione chuckled. “You have horses for my Mum and golf courses without fees or waiting lists for my Dad and skiing in the mountains once it snows for both of them. The lot of them practically live here now.”
“And now there’s Ron, Katie, Fred, George, Angelina and Alicia…”
“I get the picture,” Harry moaned. “But we’re off point again. The adjusted birthdates take into account time displacement. So, I did the figures for us and such and then my parents. Then with my parents, I realized I made a huge mistake.”
“The stasis spell!” Hermione gasped.
“Exactly!”
“Um… I don’t get it,” Ginny said.
“They went into stasis October 31st and came out on July 31st!” Hermione explained excitedly.
“Okay. I got that bit, but it was years later.”
“For them, no time had passed at all! Well, a little as it did take them hours to get over their spell. But it was if they went to sleep October 31st and woke up the next day but instead of it being November 1st it was July 31st.”
“My problem,” Harry agreed. “They had the additional time displacement that saw to it they did not experience the time we did except whereas my figures before were dealing with the displacements between Inside and Outside time - which applies to them as well for their Inside birthdays and such - they also had a similar displacement entirely in Outside time; one which left them aged twenty-one for a dozen years. I had to adjust their Outside birthdates so that they would turn twenty-two after they had experienced twenty-two years of Outside time without that stasis stuff. So I had to adjust their birthdays to take into account the gap from when they entered stasis - October 31st - and when they recovered several hours later for them which should’ve been November 1st but was actually July 31st and when you do the maths, that means my Mum’s adjusted Outside birthday is now October 31st instead of January 30th. Dad’s is now December 26th. With their adjusted Outside birthday’s I could then calculate their Inside birthdays and we missed their Inside twenty-second ones as well: December 20th for my Mum and February 14th for my Dad.”
“So that’s why you were thinking about Halloween?” Ginny asked. “‘Cause it’s now your Mum’s birthday?”
“As I said, it had never been a favorite day for me before. Now, not only is it not the day my parents died - I just lost them for a bit - it’s also my Mum’s birthday so I should… well…”
“Forget about the past?” Hannah offered.
“Not dwell on it, more like,” Harry said.
“Gramy and Grampy always said there are lessons to be learned from the past,” Luna mused, “but you should not dwell on it for it can’t be changed. They make more sense now, considering how long they really have lived.”
“Have you told anyone but us about this?” Hermione asked.
“Told?” Harry replied, “No. I sent my Mum a card - I got a bunch of them during our Hogsmeade visit just in case, you know - and told the elves to deliver all sorts of flowers today. I explained why in a letter and said we’d be by later today. I think Hedwig was looking forward to an excuse…”
“I haven’t seen much of her,” Hermione mused. “Where’s she been?”
“An excuse for what?” Hannah added.
Harry chuckled. “Very busy. I’ve never seen her happier really. Then again, I think she fancies herself as the world’s best Post Owl and I haven’t given her many opportunities to prove it until recently. It wasn’t like I sent loads of post before and the only work she really got was delivering letters for Hermione. But ever since we got back from France she’s been here and there with the mails. We had the business with my parents and Sirius to deal with so they could go to Gringotts. Then there was the ‘formal’ meeting with House Longbottom to arrange. After that there were a lot of posts preparing for Sirius’s trial and other legal stuff with Mr. Tonks. She had a short break and then it was all the back and forth to Gringotts about the basilisk. As for what I think she’s been looking forward to? Albert the Younger said the Valley’s ‘overflowing’ with rabbits and squirrels, although I think he was exaggerating. There are fox there, you know. Still, I think Hedwig knows that and was looking forward to a good, long hunt in the woods up there.”
There was a slight “pop” as Dobby appeared standing before Harry. Dobby was dressed in a black jacket with the Potter crest over the left breast. He had a white, collared shirt and tie and grey trousers which were in the Elf Fashion. Elves did not wear shoes. In the winter if they were to work outside they wore some kind of boots, but otherwise they were generally barefooted. Elf trousers were cut off about mid way between the knee and ankle and in Dobby’s case he wore a pair of socks, neither of which matched. It was his own affectation which Harry had not seen any other Elf emulate. The “Dobby Socks” were a badge of honour and respect for it was with a single sock that Harry had broken the bond between Dobby and House Malfoy.
“Great Harry Potter, Sir!” Dobby said bowing. “Dobby bes apologizing for being interruptings Harry Potter Sirs alone times with his Ladies, buts Lord Black bes in the Entry. Lord Black bes knowings that Harry Potter Sir not being receiving guests yet, but Lord Black bes sayings he needings to see Harry Potter Sir on something being urgent, Sir.”
“Isn’t our portal connection off line?” Harry asked.
“It being not usable, yes Harry Potter Sir. Manor not beings open for guests to bes comings and goings as they pleases.”
“How’d he get here then?”
“Motor car, Sir.”
“Must be important if he came by car considering… ,” Harry said to his ladies and earned a laugh in reply.
Sirius Black had the dubious distinction of having been involved in the first and so far only motor vehicle accident in the history of the Estates. It had happened before the school year had begun and aside from “bending” one of the Estate vehicles and damaging a hedge along one of the country roads, it had not been terribly serious. The only injury had been to Sirius’s pride. He had “borrowed” one of the vehicles and figured he could drive as well as any of the others forgetting that the others were either Elves or the Grangers, Tonks and Mr. Greengrass; all of whom had been driving for years and James and Lily Potter who also drove. Sirius drove a little too fast for the turn and had his accident. His excuse was he was certain he was not going too fast because he could have easily have made the turn at that speed on his motorcycle. He had been barred from driving any estate vehicles ever since. The car could be repaired. The hedge had to be replanted. But Harry told Sirius that they were not working to clear his name just so he could wind up dead on the road. Sirius had avoided the Estate vehicles ever since in protest to his “severe treatment at the hands of the so called authorities” and stuck with a broom or the internal portal system; unless of course one of the other adults offered to give him a ride to a golf course. Sirius had yet to decide whether he would bring his motorcycle to the Estates. It turned out that the bike was not something that could be easily moved in and out; it had to be taken apart Outside and reassembled Inside which meant that the reverse had to happen for him to use Outside again.
“I guess you should see what compelled him to submit to allowing one of the Eves to chauffeur him around,” Hermione said with a laugh.
“Which means we should have our Elves pop us up to our rooms in case we need to be presentable,” Daphne added.
“I certainly don’t want to see him now,” Hannah agreed.
“Oh pooh!” Luna huffed. “It was supposed to be a green card day.”
“Well,” Harry said, “we’ll see if that’s even necessary. There’s no need for me to bring him out here that I can think of and if there is, I can have the Elves help you sort out your attire. I see no need for you lot to do anything but relax and no need for Sirius to do more than imagine what it is you choose not to wear when it’s just us together. Enjoy the sun.” With that Harry turned and entered the Manor. After a walk through the Great Hall and passed the now animated portraits of his ancestors, Harry entered the Entry Hall and saw Sirius standing near the large front door which was open. Sirius looked upset.
“Your portal’s out,” Sirius said irritated.
“It usually is at this time,” Harry said trying to ignore the irritation. He reminded himself that this was his home.
“I got to the Terminal and had to hire a car,” Sirius continued.
The “Terminal” was relatively new. That was a change that had become an idea during the trial and a reality following the joining of the Potter and Lonbottom Estates. The prior arrangement had been far too confusing for everyone. Before, every place had a series of doors that were portals that led to every other place on the Estate with similar portals. The front wall of the Entry Hall had become a line of doors: one to the main trunk, four to the access trunks currently in use by his girls' families, one additional access trunk that allowed Ginny to get from her dorm to the Estate and then there were twenty others that were portals to other places on the Estate. To include similar access with House Longbottom would make the ridiculous even worse. Now, there were only two doors on the wall other than the front door: one was the main trunk access and the other was a portal to the Terminal. The Terminal was a new building on the Square in the Elf Village. All the Access Trunks now were connected to their own doors in one large room in the Terminal. Another large room had portal doors to other locations on the Potter Estate: the Manor, Farm House, his parents' cottage in the Valley, the four guest inns and the Island resort, six clubhouses for the nine golf courses, a boathouse on the Great Lake, the three separate riding stables, two ski facilities in the Valley and the Quidditch Pitch. A third room currently held only one portal that led to a similar terminal for House Longbottom. The three rooms opened onto a large lobby that exited onto the Square outside. It was a lot less confusing. The new Terminal also had the advantage of keeping his Manor from resembling Platform 9¾ at times.
There were some like Sirius who had wondered why Harry did not have an internal floo system. The truth was while he would use one if he had to, he hated them. The portals were cleaner (one invariably wound up covered with ash and soot traveling by floo, they were chimneys after all) and less disorienting (for whatever reason, one spun like a top in the floo and in Harry’s case arrived dizzy, disoriented and often flat on his back or face). With the portal one just stepped through the door from one place to the other. The others ways to travel about were by broom, bicycle, on foot or by car. None of which were nearly as fast given the distances now involved. A drive from the Manor to his parents' cottage would take over an hour. The Numbus 2001’s could cover the distance in about a half an hour.
For whatever reason, Sirius had needed to see Harry. He had taken the portal probably from the Mountain Lodge where he and his wife currently lived to the Terminal and had found that the portal to the Manor was closed. This would have been obvious as the door would be closed and locked. He had obviously found an Elf and asked for a ride, hence the term “hire a car.”
“Getting around’s not too bad,” Sirius said calming down a little, “but communicating in a pinch needs work.”
“Oh?” Harry replied.
“Wouldn’t have come all this way if you had floo calls,” Sirius continued.
“I’ve never used that and, to be honest, it doesn’t excite me. Was thinking of something like a telephone system, but haven’t gotten ‘round to setting it up. What do you mean by communicating in a pinch?”
“Like in an emergency!”
“There are Elves for that, Sirius,” Harry deadpanned.
“I… bugger, why didn’t I think of that?”
“And the Patronus Charm can be used here as well, although the girls and I aren’t that far along with it.”
“I… okay, maybe I got caught up in the moment…”
“What moment?”
“Um… well, James came ‘round all out of sorts. Course he was the last time too. So I was off 'cause he was all out of sorts and then you’re portal’s closed so I had to ask for a car and had to wait and wait while one was brought up to the village and…”
“Why was my Dad all out of sorts?”
“‘Cause of your Mum.”
“What’d he do this time to get her riled?”
“She’s not… Nothing. She’s just… She’s in… She’s having the kid!”
“What?”
“She was due any day,” Sirius began.
“My Mum’s having the baby?”
Sirius nodded. “There’s no need to panic,” he said.
“I’m not. It’s just a surprise… well, no. She was due any day now. Is the Healer there?”
“Both Madam Pomfrey and Cousin Andi are there. Madam Pomfrey arrived just as I was leaving to come here. Andi was already staying at the Mountain Lodge with Ted and Dora came with Madam Pomfrey.”
“What’s Dora got to do with this?”
“She’s family, Harry. She' my cousin, your cousin, your father’s cousin.”
“Sorry, I thought she had something to do with Healers the way you said things.”
“My fault?”
“I didn’t say that…”
“Maybe,” Sirius continued ignoring Harry. “Might be I'm… more out of sorts than I should be. Can’t say if having to get a ride here helped, but… Course you might be out of sorts too. Then again, to a crazy person everyone else is out of sorts. The looney’s the only sane one of the lot.”
“Um… yeah. Well, you’ve done your bit so maybe I’ll just activate the portal and you can head back…”
“You’re just going to stand there? Your Mum’s having a baby!”
“Which you told me.”
“HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM?!”
Actually, Harry was not really calm. But even in his heightened emotional state he was nowhere near wherever his Godfather was.
“And just what am I supposed to do now?” Harry asked in a calm tone of voice. “I’ll admit I’ve never been a big brother, but I always thought that role had nothing to do with the birth itself, or did I miss something?”
“Umm…”
“Sirius, right now the Portal to the Terminal is deactivated, right? That means I’m about thirty-four miles from my Mum by broom and about sixty-three by car. I suppose I could fly there in about twenty minutes or so, but my girls can’t. Well, Ginny and Daphne probably could, but Luna and Hannah don’t like flying that fast and Hermione’s never flown anywhere near that far. Neither have I, come to think of it. So that means a car which will take over an hour from the time we leave.”
“Then what are you waiting for…?” Sirius began.
“It’ll only take me a minute or so to open up the portal connection…”
“Well do it… !”
“But, my ladies will want to make themselves presentable for some reason, although I’m not certain if there is appropriate attire for going to a birth. Although I am certain what they’re wearing now is not appropriate. Well… it might be in some foreign cultures, but not here in Britain. And of course I’ll be stuck here waiting for them, won’t I? Well, maybe they’ll tell me to go on ahead without them, but I can’t act on that, can I? And I can’t just leave, you know? You know what’s scarier than facing Voldemort, don’t you? It’s facing a witch who’s angry with you and you can’t really run and hide. And I’ve got five to deal with!”
“Oh bugger… ,” Sirius said.
“What?”
“Um… ,” Sirius blushed.
“You didn’t!”
“What?”
“You haven’t told your wife yet, have you?”
“Um…”
“I might only be thirteen, but I think I know that’s a mistake.”
“I was caught up in the moment,” Sirius pled as an excuse. “I… Harry, there’re certainly some things I know at least as well if not better than you do. You’ve faced a form of Voldemort twice, which is twice more than I have. But I have stood in the line and gone toe to toe with the worst of them in a situation any sane person would avoid and came out almost none the worse for wear and I can’t say that about the blokes on the other end of my wand. But you do have more experience at this husband bit than I do.”
“Not much more,” Harry admitted.
“But you thought of them first and I didn’t.”
“That’s ‘cause I know they’re all smarter than me and scary when riled.”
“Connie’s gonna kill me.”
“I’ll open the portal. You go back and throw yourself at her mercy. If you’re very lucky, she might not have noticed yet. If not, beg!”
“And if that doesn’t work?”
Harry shrugged. “Either take it like a man or run. I find running never really works, though. I’ll be along as soon as I can.”
Sirius nodded somewhat contritely.
A few minutes later, with Sirius gone, Harry returned to the veranda where the others were still lounging. He took his seat and sighed.
“Sirius’s not sticking around?” Hermione asked looking up from a book.
“No. He just came by to deliver a message.”
“In person? That’s odd, don’t you think?” Daphne noted.
“He got a little carried away, perhaps,” Harry nodded.
“Was it important?” Ginny asked.
“It must’ve been to come all this way. The portal is shut down.”
“It was,” Harry agreed. “He made it to the village and then came by car.”
“He didn’t drive, did he?” Hermione asked.
“No. The hedges are spared yet again.”
“So what was this message?”
Harry shrugged. “Just that my Mum’s having the baby.”
“WHAT?” five voices shrieked.
“And you’re just sitting there?” Hermione added.
“Well sure. Why not?”
“Why not?” Hermione began.
“I assume the lot of you want to go too,” Harry interrupted. “While I can probably go as I am, you can’t. So why not sit down as it’ll take you a few minutes at least to get ready and pacing back and forth won’t speed anything up.”
“Ooooh!” at least two of them groaned as they all but flew towards the door. The other three followed, albeit not quite as quickly.
Harry and the five girls walked through the Portal from the Terminal into the main lobby of the Mountain Lodge about forty-five minutes later. Harry had kept his seat on the veranda until they all had returned and Daphne was the last by about a minute. Hannah had edged her out, although Harry figured it would be a close run thing as it was. An Elf awaited them.
“Milord Potter, Ladies,” he said, “James Potter has requested you join him in the cottage across the road.”
A couple of minutes later, Harry and the others entered the front door of the Cottage and another elf guided them to the largest parlour which was at the back of the house with a view of the mountains. Sirius was there with his wife and daughter as were Ted and Dora Tonks and Professor Lupin. So was Harry’s father who looked worried.
“What’d we miss?” Harry quipped.
“Don’t be such a prat,” Ginny said speaking for the other four.
“Um… it’s still happening,” Sirius said.
“Madam Pomfrey and Healer Tonks are with your Mother,” Ted said.
“Her water’s broke, but that’s all we know and that only tells us it’s soon but not how soon,” Connie said. “Could still be hours, although I’d hate to be her if it was. Anna here was out within an hour of my water breaking…”
“Mum!” Anna exclaimed turning beat red.
“Consider yourself lucky, Harry,” Ted said. “I’m sure if she wasn’t busy, your Mum would be going out of her way to embarrass you at this moment. But, just you wait…”
“Great.”
“Oh goodie, there’s food!” Luna exclaimed. She noted a sideboard with trays of sandwiches and snacks. “What? It’s about time for lunch anyway. And there really isn’t anything else we should be doing.”
For Harry and his Ladies there was no arguing with Luna’s logic. Harry placed a couple sandwiches on his plate and some other things and took a seat beside his father who looked scared or sick or something.
“How can you eat at a time like this?” his father asked.
“Well, it is almost lunch time and as we may be here a while, why not?”
“You know your mother’s up there giving birth?”
Harry thought of a snarky response but decided against it. “Madam Pomfrey’s up there. If she could put me back together after some of the stuff… Well, having babies is pretty normal for a wife, isn’t it?”
“My Cousin Bella never had one,” Sirius said. “Then again, she’s not quite sane or maybe she is. I’m not sure if her former husband qualified as being human.”
Harry bit into his sandwich and chewed for a moment. “Funny,” he said after swallowing, “I always thought there’d be a lot of noise, you know?”
“Silencing charm,” Sirius said.
“There wasn’t one the last time,” James added almost in pain.
Sirius laughed. “Yeah, I remember that. Poor Prongs down here having to listen to your Mum screaming ‘bout how she was going to castrate him once she got 'round to it.”
“Um… ,” Harry began.
“She didn’t, obviously,” James said. “At least not yet.”
“Supposed to be painful?” Harry asked.
“Lils said it was almost up there with the Crutiatus Curse,” James nodded.
“She’d know?”
“We were Hit Wizards during the War,” James shrugged. “Getting hit with that was an occupational hazard and yes, she was hit with it once… for a couple of seconds… before I relieved the Death Eater of his head for doing that,” he added darkly. “Those weren’t pleasant times.”
“Mr. Potter?” a voice asked.
“Yes?” Harry and his father replied. The voice belonged to Madam Pomfrey.
“Lord Potter,” she said, “I think I mean the other gentleman seeing as you are not the father of the child. Mr. Potter, you may see your wife now.”
Harry’s father stood with a broad smile on his face and tried not to run out of the room. He mostly succeeded.
“Well?” several voices asked. “What is it?”
Madam Pomfrey replied with a mischievous smile. “A lesson in the customs of our world,” she replied. “It is our custom that the parents reveal that information when they are ready. You will either be asked to visit the mother and child or the father will tell you in a few minutes.”
A/N: Yes, I am evil…
As for Lily’s adjusted birthday, it did work out that way and I didn’t plan it in advance. If one treats the day his parents woke up as their November 1st, then January 30th becomes October 31st. As for the child being born October 31st, that was in the original outline.