Furious Angels

Chapter Three: The Truth, Or Something Like It

Albus Dumbledore and Filius Flitwick stepped out of the Floo and into his office. "Well, this is another fine mess we find ourselves in. Why can't things ever be -- ?" He brought himself up short. Harry Potter was sitting at the breakfast table, toast in mid-bite. For a moment, the irritation Dumbledore was feeling was visible on his face, but he hurriedly replaced it with his usual, slightly amused expression. "Ah... Harry... I didn't think you'd be here."

Minerva McGonagall sat next to the boy. "He never had a chance to eat breakfast at the Dursleys'... you pulled him out of there while he was cooking it. I felt it best he go ahead and eat, since no doubt this will be a very busy day for him."

"Ah, yes, excellent thinking, Professor." Dumbledore turned his attention back to Harry, who was slowly working the piece of toast. The headmaster proudly noted that the boy was carefully taking everything around him in, trying hard not to miss a thing. "Well, Professor Flitwick and I did our best to reconstruct the wards around the Dursley home. Unfortunately for us, we couldn't. Oh, we can add the standard anti-Apparation wards and the usual security measures protecting the house from dark creatures and so on... but of course those wards are as tissue paper to Voldemort. He simply cannot go back to that house for any length of time."

Dumbedore looked grim for a moment. He took his seat at the table and stared a bit disheartedly at his cold poached egg. Sighing, he turned to Harry. "My boy, are you sure... absolutely sure... that nothing was said by either you or your aunt that could be construed as a voluntary negation of the wards? Denying that you were her nephew or she was your aunt? Or that you weren't welcome there any longer?"

Harry shook his head. The boy's expression soured, as his home life wasn't a subject he liked to discuss. "No, Professor... last night was actually relatively pleasant, considering."

"Considering?" Flitwick asked the question before McGonagall could.

"Well... they've sort of been ignoring me since I got back from school. I wake up, help in the kitchen, do my chores, and then I'm basically left alone until bed-time. It's been really difficult, too, since I haven't received any mail from my friends." Harry's face lit up for a moment. "Professor... now that I'm out of the Dursleys', do you think I could send some letters to Hermione and Ron?"

McGonagall leaned toward him. "I'm sure you'll get a chance later, Mister Potter. Now pay attention and stick to the subject. This is important."

Harry was chagrined. "Yes, ma'am. Sorry, Professor."

"Quite all right, Harry," Dumbledore muttered absently. "I can't think of any way the blood ward would have collapsed like that..."

"Neither can I, Albus. Neither can I." Flitwick leaned back in his seat and ran his hand through his beard. "That sort of ward is dependent on the family bond. As long as Mister Potter is a child in that house, the ward would stand. Now, technically it could still be overpowered, but an assault of that magnitude would have destroyed the house, not just the wards, and likely the houses around it. But you saw it, Albus... except for the wards shattering like they did, nothing was out of the ordinary. It's just another pleasant morning."

"Well, it's a true mystery, then. I'll continue looking into it. In the mean-time, I will need to speak to Arthur and Molly about Harry staying with them for the rest of the summer. The Burrow already has some impressive wards around it -- "

"Bill's work, no doubt," McGonagall interrupted.

"No doubt," Dumbledore said with a smile. "I could easily add some special touches to those wards, making them a tough nut to crack. Not as tough as the blood wards, but there it is."

Harry had been taking all of this in, his eyes going from one professor to the other. "So... I'll be able to stay at the Burrow, then? If Mister and Missus Weasley say I can?" His voice carried a hopeful sound.

"I'm certain of it. You'd find it more entertaining, I am sure, than staying here at the castle. It is a drafty, empty place without the joyful sound of children..." Dumbledore tapped his wand on his glass and it filled with an amber liquid. "And I'm sure that by the end of the coming school year, we'll have the wards sorted out and you can go back to stay with your family at the end of term."

"Oh..." Harry suddenly sounded so dejected that the change in mood was clear to all three professors.

"Harry..." McGonagall tried to be delicate. "Is there something that you'd like to tell us about how you were living at your aunt's house? They aren't... mistreating you... are they?"

It was obvious that the boy didn't want to get into it. Harry hesitated just a moment before speaking. "Not really... not any more. I haven't really been beaten in a long while, and I've got a bedroom of my own now. Mostly they just ignore me."

McGonagall's face grew grim. Even the almost always cheerful Flitwick was scowling. "I must say, young man, I was hardly impressed by your uncle and his bluster," the Charms Professor said in as low a voice as he could muster.

Harry shrugged again. He searched for some way to change the subject, and found it in the rolled up parchment. "Sir... what should I do about this? The letter from Gringotts?" He picked up the parchment and held it out to the headmaster. "It says something about the Potter Family Vault and security. They want me to go and talk to them today."

Dumbledore read the scroll, frowning ever deeper as he went. "I must confess that this makes no sense to me."

"Why is that, Professor?" Harry bit into another piece of toast.

"You aren't scheduled to come into possession of the Potter Family Vault until you reach adulthood, Harry. It's in your parents' will."

"But sir, I've had access to my..." Harry began. He broke off when he saw Dumbledore shake his head.

"No, Harry. The vault you have been using is for the Potter Trust, a separate fund set up to pay for your tuition, your books, your clothing... and to have a little fun with occasionally," the headmaster explained. "This document is written as if Gringotts considers you an adult," Dumbledore smiled. His eyes twinkled with the absurdity of it all. "You haven't been time travelling, I take it? Or perhaps have been fooling us all into believing you were only twelve when you were really seventeen?"

Flitwick chortled. "Perhaps Mister Potter went found himself a child bride in the weeks since the end of school." The Charms professor nudged Potter and laughed. "You were uncommonly close to Miss Granger last year. Perhaps congratulations are in order."

Harry blushed to his toes. "But I'm not even twelve! Not for another two weeks! I mean... I like Hermione fine... she's really nice and sweet, and I guess she's pretty, but she's... " He groaned and hid his face in his hands.

"You seem to have embarrassed our young guest, Filius," Dumbledore chuckled. "It's all right, Harry. We were all young once, too. And one often finds the closest of lifelong companions when you are your age" The headmaster read the scroll from the bank one more time. "Hurm. Gringotts treats you like an adult..."

XxxxxxX

Arthur stuck his head up through the entry hole carefully. The tree house had been around since Bill was Ginny's age, and he wasn't sure it could hold his weight any longer. "Ginny... "

His daughter looked around at him with a scared look in her eye. "Daddy... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to yell like that... I don't know what got into me... I didn't mean to say that... Why did I yell at Mum like that?" She'd been crying... was still crying in fact.

Arthur sighed. He wasn't completely sure what was going on, but he knew that it wasn't going to be something they could simply shrug off. Not if what the Unspeakable told him was true. "Sweetheart, come on inside so we can sit down and talk about what's going on, okay? It's probably been a strange morning for all of us. I promise you that there won't be any yelling... we're just going to talk, okay?"

Ginny nodded. She reached a hand out to Arthur and he smiled at her. "Come on, Ginny... it will be fine, I promise." She climbed down behind him, and as soon as she touched the ground he picked her up. He wasn't sure why. He hadn't carried Ginny since she was six or perhaps seven. But it seemed the thing to do. She turned her head and buried it against his neck, all the while holding on to the lapel on his robes.

He noticed the ring she was wearing. That looks suspiciously like an engagement ring, he thought to himself. Could that diamond be the Soul Stone? I forgot to ask... Arthur cleared his throat. "Ginny, darling... where did you get that ring?"

She raised her head and looked at it with a beatific smile. "It was on my bed when I woke up this morning."

"And you just put it on?"

"Yeah..." Ginny said, dreamily. "It was calling to me."

"Calling to you? What did it say?" he asked. Arthur carefully topped the stairs to the kitchen porch and put his daughter on her feet at last.

"Nothing, really... it didn't talk to me, Daddy... it... it's almost like it sang to me..." Ginny stared at the ring for a moment. "It's pretty. And it has my name on it."

She opened the door and rushed in, making a bee line straight to her mother. Before Molly could react, Ginny was hugging her tightly and apologizing at the top of her voice. "Oh, Mum! I'm so sorry... I don't know why I said that... I'm sorry, Mum! Please don't hate me..."

Molly buried the sour look underneath a cloak of motherly understanding. "Yes, well... we'll talk about the appropriateness of yelling at your mother later. Right now, your father and I want to ask you a few questions about your ring..."

"Come sit, Ginny." Arthur pushed a glass of pumpkin juice toward her as she sat across from him. "Now... we're just going to talk about the ring, all right?" His eyes were on his wife as she sat down next to him. She still looked upset, but she nodded.

"Now... Ginny... when exactly did you find the ring?" Arthur asked.

"I found it this morning. The lady in the dream was saying some strange things, and when I woke up I heard something calling me," Ginny said nervously.

Molly frowned. "Something was calling you? What was calling you, dear?"

"The ring, I think. I mean, I couldn't see anything when I got out of bed, and I did check the door and the window. When I sat back down on the bed, there it was. The ring I mean. And it was... calling to me. And when I picked it up I saw it had my name on it, like it was my ring."

"So what did you do then?" Arthur asked, though he already knew.

"I put the ring on. That's all."

Molly looked at Arthur, and then asked, "Did Harry give you the ring?"

"Oh yes!" Ginny's face went vague for a moment. "Wait... no... he wasn't here. So... no... I don't think... " She brightened. "Yes! It was his mother's engagement ring! He gave it to me before he left."

"Left? He left? So he was here?" Molly, despite her promises otherwise, was getting louder by the question.

"No... he wasn't here this morning. He gave it to me before he left!" Ginny said, as if it explained everything.

"Ginny that makes no sense!" Arthur pulled his face, thinking. "He wasn't here, but he gave you the ring before he left?" As far as he knew, Harry Potter had never been to the Burrow. Ron had talked about inviting his school friend over for a week or so during the summer, but... "Sweetheart... you say he left... when was he here?"

Ginny thought about it. "I... I can't remember..."

"You can't remember... all right... do you know where he was going?" Arthur asked. He was trying to get to a new track, because this one was getting them nowhere.

"Yes! He said he was leaving with Ron and Hermione and they were... going... to be gone... but..." Ginny trailed off, looking confused. "I can't remember!"

Molly was exasperated. "Is there anything you can remember?"

Ginny thought about it. "Yes, Mum... I remember something. We have to go get Harry... today... and get him away from those horrid Muggles he lives with. They don't treat him well, and Dobby will only make it worse!"

Arthur stared at his daughter. "Ginny... just how is it that you know how the Muggles Harry Potter lives with treat him?"

"What do you mean? You've seen how they treat him first-hand! Don't you remember? When we went to pick him up for the... the..." Her face fell. "... I forget..."

Molly was tired of dancing around it. "Ginny... when Harry gave you that ring, did he tell you that it had a Soul Stone in it?"

Ginny shook her head. "What's a Soul Stone?"

"He didn't tell you?" Molly asked again. "He didn't tell you what would happen if you took the ring?"

"Well..." Ginny's face was a map of utter confusion. "Um... he wasn't here this morning, Mum. I told you! So he couldn't have told me what would happen." She looked up at her mother. "What do you mean, what would happen? What happened? I just put on the ring!"

"No, Ginny... you put on a Soul Stone! That's almost like he force-fed you a Love Potion." Molly was on a roll now. "We're going to contact Professor Dumbledore immediately, and we're going to get him to take this curse off of our daughter! And then we're going to demand that he expel that... that... boy!" She got out of her chair and stepped toward the fireplace.

"Now, Molly... that's not quite the way..." Arthur rose to intercept her, but it was unnecessary. As soon as he said the first word in disagreement, Molly had turned back.

She was wagged her finger at her husband. "He entrapped our daughter, Arthur! What other possible explanation could there be... The shame of it all! What are people going to think? A ten year old girl..."

"... I'm almost eleven..." Ginny whispered to herself. No one else heard.

"Getting roped into a marriage like that, just by putting on a ring! That's outrageous, Arthur, and we are not going to stand for it!"

Ginny's head shot up at her mother's words. What did she just say? Married? Who got married? Me? When did I get married? Who am I married to? She could feel a full-blown anxiety attack building... but as soon as the last thought was formed, an answer appeared in her head. I'm married to Harry Potter. Now and forever... and suddenly she was as calm as a meadow on a spring day. All was right with the world.

Molly turned back around and once again headed toward the fireplace. As she passed the staircase, she yelled, "And what are you looking at, you lot! Come down here... if you're going to eavesdrop, you might as well be here for the show. Come on!" One by one, Ron, Percy, George, and Fred came down the stairs. "Sit! And be quiet, for the love of Merlin!" She looked around the sitting room for a moment. "Which one of you has hidden the Floo powder? Ronald! This is entirely your fault! He's YOUR friend, Ronald Bilius Weasley! I expected you to take better care of your sister!"

Ron looked stunned. Even when his mother was mad, she usually didn't jump to that sort of odd conclusion. "I'm not even sure what's going on, but somehow it's my fault?"

"Now, Ron... this isn't the time for your cheek," Percy interjected. He turned to Ginny and opened his mouth, but Arthur's look shut him up.

"So... Dad..." Fred leaned in close. "Did we hear right? Ginny's married to Harry Potter?"

Arthur took his glasses off and pinched his nose right between his eyes. "It does appear that way, yes."

"But, Dad... she's only ten," Percy whispered. "How can that be legal?"

"... I'm almost eleven..." Ginny whispered again. Still, no one heard her.

"It has something to do with a magical artifact dealing with true love. It's... complicated, boys, and I'm not sure I understood the explanation all the way. It had something to do with two people being soul mates, and the artifact protects and nourishes their love, or something. If one of these artifacts is given by a person to their soul mate, it counts as a legally binding marriage."

"Wow... so Harry Potter's our brother-in-law?" Fred and George had almost joyful expressions on their faces. Percy was scowling, and Ron looked murderous. "Fantastic!"

"I'm going to kill him. OW!" Ron had said this loud enough for Ginny to hear, and without even thinking she had punched him in the arm as hard as she could manage. "What was that for?" Ginny just glared.

"But, Dad, even if this thing actually happened, we can just get it negated and everything will be fine. After all, even if Harry did give this thing to Ginny, he didn't likely know what he was doing. He's only a year older than she is after all," Percy said.

"Look, we need to talk to Dumbledore first... There are implications to the entire situation. It's just not as simple as having the marriage annulled; from what the Unspeakable I talked to said, that might not be an option. So let's all wait until we talk to Dumbledore. All right?" Arthur looked from one boy to the other. All of them nodded in acquiescence. Ginny wasn't nodding... she was staring daggers at Ron.

"Found it!" Molly held up the bag of Floo powder. "Now... let's get to the bottom of this!" She knelt and was about to toss the powder into the fire when Arthur arrived just in time to grab her hand.

"Molly, dearest... you're upset. Perhaps I ought to..." He gestured toward the fire.

Molly huffed. "Fine. You do it then." She stood up and walked to the kitchen table. "Don't you glare at your older brother, young lady? You're the one who took a bauble from some boy like a cheap..." Molly's voice failed her. The look her daughter was giving her wasn't that of a child angry at being scolded by their parent, but rather the look of a witch about to cast a curse in righteous anger.

XxxxxxX

Flitwick chortled. "Perhaps Mister Potter went found himself a child bride in the weeks since the end of school." The Charms professor nudged Potter and laughed. "You were uncommonly close to Miss Granger last year. Perhaps congratulations are in order."

Harry blushed to his toes. "But I'm not even twelve! Not for another two weeks! I mean... I like Hermione fine... she's really nice and sweet, and I guess she's pretty, but she's... " He groaned and hid his face in his hands.

"You seem to have embarrassed our young guest, Filius," Dumbledore chuckled. "It's all right, Harry. We were all young once, too. And one often finds the closest of lifelong companions when you are your age" The headmaster read the scroll from the bank one more time. "Hurm. Gringotts treats you like an adult..."

"Not to worry, Potter. It will all get sorted out," Flitwick said. "Now, headmaster... I was thinking. I need to go to Diagon Alley later today myself. It would be my pleasure to accompany young Potter to Gringotts so he can get whatever it is cleared up. If that's all right with Potter, of course." The little man grinned at Harry, who returned it.

Harry had already decided that, regardless of any other consequence, today couldn't be all that bad if only because he got away from the Dursleys' early. And now not only was Professor Dumbledore sounding uncertain about his ever going back, but one of his favorite professors was offering to take him to Diagon Alley! And to think that when he woke up, he thought the day would be boring. "That would be fine, Professor Flitwick! Thanks."

"Oh, tish tosh... think nothing of it..." Flitwick was interrupted by a roar from the fireplace.

The fire flared green and Arthur Weasley's head appeared. "Professor Dumbledore, are you there? Something... important... has come up and Molly and I need to speak to you about it."

Dumbledore knelt by the fireplace to speak. "Right now is not the best of times, Arthur... something has come up for me, as well. Can I Floo you back tomorrow?"

From somewhere behind Arthur's head, a voice floated through the Floo. Everyone in the room could hear it. "... You tell that old goat we need to see him right bloody now, Arthur..." Arthur's head blushed, as much as it could while wrapped in lime green fire.

"Erm... sorry about that... Molly rather... insists... that you see us this morning. It's a bit of an emergency. Something's come up involving our girl, Ginny..." Arthur looked sheepish.

Dumbledore nodded. "Come through, then." The headmaster turned to Flitwick, McGonagall, and Harry. "Professors, I'm sure Mister Potter would have no objection against using his old room until we get him settled. If you two could..."

Behind him, the fireplace flared as the Weasley's came through. Arthur came first, but Molly brushed past him quickly, shrieking, "YOU! STOP RIGHT THERE!" McGonagall and Flitwick both glanced uneasily at Harry. "DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY! THAT DEVIANT CORRUPTED MY LITTLE GIRL! STOP HIM!" The older woman started slapping around her various pockets, obviously looking for her wand.

Harry was gobsmacked. "What? I did what? I corrupted someone?" He looked from Professor Flitwick to Professor McGonagall. Neither had a clue what was going on.

"Molly, calm down." Arthur wrapped his arms around his wife. "Sit down... let's figure out what's going on before we start throwing curses." He managed to turn Molly back toward one of the plush chairs in front of the headmaster's desk just as Ginny stepped through the fireplace. Arthur immediately directed her to another one of the chairs.

Dumbledore looked at Harry, who was still standing confusedly by the door to the office, and back to Molly. He pursed his lips and said, "Molly, I take it that this problem Arthur mentioned has something to do with young Mister Potter there?"

"Oh, it involves him, all right! He's right in the middle of it! It's his fault all this happened!" Molly twisted in her chair and screamed at Harry, "SHE'S ONLY TEN YOU... YOU... PERVERT!" McGonagall's eyes went wide as she regarded Harry. Flitwick began to eye Harry with some concern.

Dumbledore flicked his eyes toward the girl in question. Ginny was staring at Harry with a rather caring and dreamy expression, and was utterly ignoring her mother. "I'm almost eleven," she whispered, so softly that only the headmaster heard. It was only his thick moustache and beard that allowed him to hide his quick smile.

Dumbledore turned his eyes to Harry. "Molly, am I to understand that Harry has somehow made..." it hurt Dumbledore to even use a euphemism. "... improper advances of a physical nature against your daughter?" Harry's eyes grew as wide as saucers. The young man began shaking his head in denial.

"YES!" "NO!" Molly and Ginny yelled simultaneously. The fact that Ginny yelled got Molly's attention.

"Ginny, be quiet, now... let me and your father handle this." Molly opened her mouth to continue speaking, but Dumbledore held up a hand.

"Molly, one moment... Harry, come here." Dumbledore gestured the boy forward. "Do you know why Missus Weasley would accuse you of such a thing?"

Harry swallowed as he approached. "No, Professor... I'd never hurt Ginny! She's my best mate's sister! Besides, I've only met her once, and it was for maybe five minutes on Platform 9¾ before the train left for school last year! I barely spoke to her!"

Dumbledore was silent for a long while. "Arthur..." The headmaster was looking directly at Molly while he spoke. "Would you be so kind as to tell us all the circumstances around this rather... disturbing accusation?"

Arthur nodded. He cleared his throat and said, "Certainly, Headmaster. You see... erm... This morning, I was notified by one of the Unspeakables at the Department of Mysteries that a record had been made regarding the transfer of a Soul Stone. Apparently, this morning at about seven, my daughter Ginny received and accepted a Soul Stone from Harry here."

Dumbledore backed up involuntarily until he was leaning on the edge of his desk. "A Soul Stone? This morning? Really?" The old man shook his head and chuckled. "What was it you said this morning, Filius? Wondering whether Mister Potter had gone out and found himself a bride? Apparently the only thing wrong with your joke was who the young lady would be."

"They aren't really married! Not really, Professor! They can't be... she's only ten!" Molly was visibly shaking. "We came to you to find out how to get this... this... reversed."

"Molly, I'm sorry... but there is no reversing this. A Soul Stone has been given from one to the other, and the transfer has been approved by the Magic of Love itself. Your daughter, for good or ill, is irreversibly linked to Mister Potter, now and forever," Dumbledore sighed. "It certainly explains the wards shattering like so much spun glass. Harry and Ginny are married now. Which means that in the eyes of the law, at least, they are adults... which mean the wards came down." He looked down at the letter from Gringotts, still clutched in one of his hands. "Ah... and I suppose this explains the mystery of the Bank Letter..."

"Well..." Dumbledore shrugged as he circled his desk to sit down. "I certainly never saw any of this coming.

"What do you mean adults?" Arthur asked.

"They're legally married, Arthur. Mister and Missus Harry J. Potter. In the eyes of the law, that makes them adults. Now, I am by no means suggesting we allow them to make all their own decisions as if they were physically adults... but as far as the law is concerned, they are emancipated..."

"WHAT?" Molly bellowed.

"Yes, I am afraid that's what it means." Dumbledore steepled his fingers and tapped them against his lips. "Harry... why did you risk giving Miss Weasley..." Ginny glared at him. "... my apologies... why did you risk giving Missus Potter a Soul Stone, dear boy?"

"I haven't given Ginny anything, Professor! I've barely even spoken to her in my entire life!" Harry looked to Ginny, who was gazing back at him with some strange look in her eyes that made his stomach flutter for some reason.

"Then you deny giving Miss Weasley a Soul Stone this morning?"

"Professor," Harry began, "until you came and got me, I was at Privet Drive cooking breakfast all morning! How could I have given her this Stone thing?"

"The boy has a point, Albus," Minerva McGonagall said, stepping forward.

"Professor, I don't even know what a Soul Stone is. I certainly don't know where to go to get one so I can give it to Ginny." Harry turned toward the girl, only to find her almost nose to nose with him. He looked into her eyes, with a vaguely hurt and confused look.

"Hello, Harry. I've missed you so much." Ginny brought a hand up to his face in a gentle caress. For the second time, the open bond closed. Harry's eyes widened as the power of the Soul Stone... much gentler this time... rushed in to fill the empty places in his soul. He smiled at Ginny, willing her to feel the great love he felt for her.

"It's you!" Harry said quietly. "I thought I'd never see you again. We were apart for so long..."

"Yes, it's me..." Ginny smiled in reply. "It doesn't matter that we were apart. We're together now and that's all we need to worry about."

Everyone in the room was quiet for the longest time as the two children simply stared into each other's eyes. Finally, Dumbledore sighed once more. "And that, I'm afraid, is that..."