The Return of the Griffin

Chapter 5

The family party had gone deep into the night, and even the children stayed up, their bodies not yet acclimated to the time change. After a while, everyone started to drift off; either apparating or using the floo if they had children with them. Harry and Ginny put the children to bed, then wandered to their room.

"It feels naughty sleeping together in here," Ginny said when they fell into her old bed together. Harry grinned tiredly. "Mum said Charlie will be here at 9 for you," Ginny added as she wrapped an arm around him and kissed him warmly. He held her close and fell into a troubled sleep.

Harry was speaking with his mother. He was a child, and she was correcting him.

"You know you did this. If you break it, what do you have to do, Harry?"

Young Harry rolled his eyes, "I have to fix it." Draco sat nearby, snickering behind his hand.

The scene changed and Harry was at Stonehenge. Rodney Jeffries was there dressed as a muggle magician. He was speaking to a giant crowd of people, wizards and muggles alike. "Does no one believe? Does no one believe in Magic?" As he said this, he pulled a rabbit out of a top hat. The crowd groaned and began to move off.

"No, no! You must believe!"

Rodney began throwing cards out into the audience. Harry caught one. He looked at it carefully, the six of swords. It had been years since he had had tarot reading with Trelawney. He could almost remember what it meant, certain that it was important.

Harry woke up in a cold sweat. Ginny was shifting sleepily next to him in the pale morning light.

"You're dreaming again, aren't you?" she asked with a look of concern.

Harry nodded, then swung his legs over the side.

"Please find time to talk to Maggie, okay, Harry? We don't need you getting sick, you know." She stood as well, stretching as she yawned. "Hey, I know! When was the last time we got to run together?"

Harry smiled at her. "A long time." He paused. "Probably since before Tory was born."

"Well, the kids will probably sleep late anyway, and mum will watch out for them. How about it?" she asked, smiling brightly at him as she pulled on her running clothes. Harry grinned in response, and pulled on his own. They giggled like children as they rushed to beat each other down the stairs.

"Well, you two are certainly up bright and early! I thought you might have a bit of a lie-in after the moving and party," Mrs. Weasley spoke over her shoulder while she stood at the stove. Arthur was sitting at the new table that had been shrunken back to its original size after last night's dinner. "Good morning all. Where are you off to so early?" he asked.

"Well, we thought we'd take advantage of you," Ginny said with a smirk. "The children are sleeping, and since you are here, we're going to take a run together."

"Okay then," Molly smiled. "Well, one of you might want to go talk to your snake. She's been hissing. I expect you won't eat breakfast right now?"

"Thanks Mum. After we get back from our run," Harry answered. Ginny left the room to get Sandy. "Come on, Gin! You don't want the children to torture your mum too long!" he called out.

Once outside, they began to do their stretches. Ginny laughed as she explained Sandy's hissing. "Sandy was just unhappy about being stuck inside." Sandy was wrapped around Ginny's arm and shoulder.

"You get stuck in the house like that. But it is very nice out here."

"Remember, Sandy, you'll need to come with me to speak with the dragons," Harry reminded her.

"It is as I expected. They do not feel well."

They smiled at one another as Sandy made herself more comfortable. They ran through the large garden, and up to the orchard. Around and around they went, enjoying the easy and silent camaraderie.

When they returned to the garden holding hands, they dropped down in the damp grass to do their cool down stretches.

"What are you going to do today?" Harry asked.

"Well, we're going to enroll Davey at Hogsmeade. And then mum has two different places for us to look at. We figured, we would look, then if they looked like they would work, you and I would go back. Mum is good for finding what a magical house needs, but I'm afraid she probably wasn't thinking about the sorts of things we'd need." Ginny continued stretching.

"Do you think we'll have enough time this afternoon to bring all those plants to Neville? Maybe we could even stop in to Ollivanders. I'm sure he'll be intrigued."

"We'll see. We don't know how long you'll be with the dragons. Don't know how long I'll be with the house hunting, either. We'll figure it out when we both get back," Ginny answered.

Harry sat up. "Well, I should probably go eat and take a shower. Charlie will be here in a bit. "

Harry bounded up the back stairs into the bright kitchen.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Davey was sitting at the table, eating kippers. "See what Grandmum made for me?"

Molly was bustling around the counter, smiling widely. "And your sister is eating her porridge!" She beamed at the infant sitting up in her high chair. There was a small silver spoon hovering in the air next to her mouth. Tory chased it with her mouth, and clamped down on it. The spoon pulled itself away, and she giggled.

"Victoria, don't giggle with food in your mouth. You'll choke!" Molly chuckled. She was clearly in her element.

"Now what can I get you, Harry?" Harry smiled at his mother-in-law.

"I can get my own, Molly. You're going to spoil us," he laughed. "But first, I need a shower."

Harry ran upstairs and jumped in the shower, shaved and pulled on his clean robes. He was attempting to pull a comb through his hair (the mirror tut-tutting him) when he heard a big commotion downstairs. He put the comb down and hurried downstairs.

Tory was squealing and Davey was climbing all over a stocky red-haired man who looked quite happy to see them.

"Uncle Charlie, will you take me to the Forbidden Forest?" Davey finally calmed down enough to sit on the man's knee and ask.

Harry spoke up, "It's called Forbidden for a reason, Davey." He laughed.

"Aw, Daddy," Davey moaned.

"Have you eaten yet, Charlie?" Mrs. Weasley asked her son.

Charlie looked at the food spread across the table. Instead of answering, he sat down, and pulled a plate toward him. Harry sat down across from him, and grabbed a few pieces of toast off the platter on the table.

In between bites, Charlie caught Harry up on the dragons' condition.

"We haven't heard from the reservations outside of Europe, but every European reservation has had this illness. It seems to be some sort of wasting illness. First their skin gets dull, then, at least with the Hebrideans, their eyes get red. They start having trouble flying, then eating," he sighed and spoke more softly. "Near the end, they start having trouble breathing." Charlie looked at Harry. Harry could read the desperation in his eyes. Harry nodded abruptly.

"Let me go get Sandy." Charlie nodded in reply, as Harry quickly went to the garden, where he found Sandy lounging on a warm stone.

"It is time?" she hissed lifting her head from the coil she created with her body.

"Yeah. You ready?"

"Yes." Sandy unwound herself, stretching out before slithering toward Harry. He lifted her gently, and set her across his shoulders. Charlie met him at the door.

"We're going to floo over to Hog's End, and leave from there," Charlie said, leading the way to the large fireplace in the Burrow's living room.

"Why Hog's End?" Harry asked, curious.

"Remember I said there were two reservations of Hebridean Blacks? One is in the Forbidden Forest. The can go out on the moors and beyond Hogsmeade, there isn't anything for miles, going north, and we have a shielding charm to the south, to keep them from wandering into muggle territory."

"Hagrid would've been jealous. Remember when we had to send Norbert to you?" Harry reminisced.

Charlie smiled, "Yeah, and remember the first task at the tournament? How many guys do you know would take a date to see a dragon?" He reached into the pot on the mantel. "Ready?" He grasped Harry's shoulder.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Hog's End," he spoke clearly, and pushed Harry into the green flames, following closely behind.

The kitchen at Hog's End was nearly as hectic as the Burrow had been. With two families living there, the kitchen was almost always a bustle.

"Hello, Mr. Harry Potter!" a tiny voice piped up cheerily. Harry looked around for its source, and saw a young house-elf, dressed daintily in a mauve wraparound skirt and pink scarf.

"Hello," Harry said, looking confused. "How do you know my name?"

"Why every Elf knows who you are! Thanks to you and Mrs. Granger we're free elves now!"

Harry blushed. "What is your name?"

"My name is Eppy. I am Winky and Dobby's daughter." She smiled up at Harry, her large green eyes unblinking.

Harry did a double take. "Dobby and Winky? Well, I'll be..." He chuckled then sobered. "Your father was a fine elf. Best elf I ever knew."

"Hiya, Eppy. Is Perce around?" Charlie asked from behind Harry. Harry turned around to look at Charlie. "The Aurors are also investigating, in case it is related to dark activity."

"I will go get him for you, Mr. Charlie." And with a pop, Eppy disappeared.

"No one ever told me Dobby had a child," Harry murmured.

"Well, elves have a really long gestation time, you know, but a very short childhood," Charlie reminded Harry. "Eppy was born after you left for America."

Harry nodded. "Percy is coming with us?"

"Yeah, I am." Harry turned to see Percy walk in behind Eppy. "We all ready to go?"

"Just waiting on you," Charlie said.

Harry followed them out onto the main street of Hogsmeade. It was slightly jarring, as the last time he'd seen the village, it had looked like a collection of decrepit shacks. He hadn't returned to Hogsmeade since he had left Hogwarts. The village was as he remembered it, the quaint cottages with small gardens giving way to businesses along the dusty street. He took a deep breath. He felt Sandy tighten around him.

"Thanks," he hissed to her.

"You are tense. You must relax."

Harry took another deep breath, focusing on the tension in his neck and shoulders.

The men walked in silence, entering the Forbidden Forest before getting to Hogwarts proper.

"We're almost there," Charlie said.

After a few more minutes, the forest opened up. There were a few buildings, but there were also paddocks. Harry could see dragon's nests in a few, with very dull looking dragons standing over them.

"They are glad you are here," Sandy hissed quietly.

Harry moved slowly to the closest one, a rather large male as though he were drawn to him. Percy stepped forward as if to stop Harry, but Charlie grabbed his arm.

"Let him go. He knows what he is doing."

Harry was level with the paddock enclosure before he spoke. He focused on Sandy and spoke slowly, "Can he understand me?"

"Yeeeeeeeeeessssssss," a deep voice rumbled.

"What is the matter?"

"Magic. No magic. Mother neeeeeeds it. We are tiiiiirred. Mother says things aren't balanced."

Harry stopped in shock, the mention of Mother throwing him off. He looked closer at the dragon in front of him. Purple eyes, shot through with red, look at him listlessly.

"Why have you been in my dreams?" Harry demanded fearfully.

"You are speaking in human language," Sandy hissed.

"Ask him, Sandy, ask him. Why has he been in my dreams?!"

"We have had youuuu in our mind for yeeeeears, Two-foot," the male answered.

"Is there anything we can do? Does he have a name?" Harry asked.

"My name is Mushussu. You have seeeeeen the Mother. You must speeeeeeak with the Mother again."

"How? I don't know the Mother. You speak riddles!" Harry cried out.

"You must speeeeeak with the Mother," was all Mushussu would say.

"But why me?" Harry asked.

Mushussu gave him a hard look.

"You know why, Two-foot. You just chooooose to forget. I must sleeeeeep now."

Harry sighed, knowing he had been dismissed, and walked back to Charlie and Percy.

"Thanks, Sandy," Harry murmured, stroking her smooth skin as he came up to the brothers.

"Well?" Charlie asked hurriedly.

"Mushussu said the Mother is taking their magic. That things aren't balanced. It's making them tired," Harry said tersely.

"Well, blimey. Who the bleedin' hell is the Mother?" Charlie demanded.

"Well, we need to find out. Mushussu..." Harry began.

"Mushussu? That is the dragon's name?" Percy said, looking thoughtful. "That sounds familiar."

"Mushussu says to fix it, I need to speak with the Mother," Harry added tonelessly.

Percy and Charlie looked wide-eyed at Harry.

"I think I need to speak with Maggie." Harry sighed heavily.