I Saw My Lady Weep

Chapter 11: Still Loving What's Gone

With a loud crack, Harry and Arthur appeared in front of the Burrow's gate. Out of habit, Harry glanced over his shoulder toward the end of the row. He could see a handful of figures standing there. There was a suddenly white flash that caused Harry to jump.

"Are you all right, son?" Arthur asked. He put a hand on Harry's shoulder and maneuvered him through the gate.

Harry was shaking. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Harry... did I tell you we held a family meeting? Molly and I and the children all got together and discussed you." Arthur's face grew stern. "And as a group we all agreed that for you, the word 'fine' means 'I'm having trouble and don't know what to do, but I am too noble and mule-stubborn to ask for help'. So... let me ask again. Are you all right, son?"

They reached the steps leading up to the house. Arthur paused, clearly expecting an answer. "Harry?"

Harry sighed. He gave a wistful look toward the door to the house, and then gestured toward the bench that ran along one of the outside walls. As they sat, Arthur patted Harry on the arm. "It's okay; just... tell me however you need to. Now... what happened at the gate to make you so jumpy?"

Harry was quiet for a long time. "There was a photographer at the end of the row. He took a picture of us as we were walking in."

"And this made you jumpy?" Arthur looked confused.

"No... he was using a flash. I... You see... When..." Harry sighed. "Bright lights, loud noises... they scare me these days. I suddenly feel like I'm back in the thick of it and someone's casting Avadas at me again."

Arthur just nodded. "Yes. Hermione was having the same problem at the memorial service. It's a normal reaction, Harry. You were under a great deal of stress for a long time... that's going to leave scars, and they're not going to heal immediately."

The older man was quiet for a while, and Harry began to wonder if the conversation was over. Then Arthur spoke again. "Harry, I know you don't like troubling the rest of us. I know you think that, especially with Fred's death, we have enough problems on our plates. But it is better for us in the long run to come together and help each other than mope about things we can't change."

He looked at Harry, an almost expectant air about him.

"So... I should stop saying I'm fine when I'm now." Harry looked at his hands. "And I should stop trying to shoulder the weight of the world."

Arthur smiled. "Someone else has had this discussion with you, I take it?"

It was Harry's turn to grin. "Yeah... Bill, Charlie, Percy, Molly, Fleur. Never thought I'd hear it from Fleur, but I heard it from Fleur."

"Dad?" Arthur and Harry looked up. Ginny leaned out from the porch, craning around the corner of the house to speak to them. "Mum says that dinner is almost ready. Oh, and she says we have company, so... and these are her words, Dad... hurry it up."

Harry watched as she went back inside the Burrow. In the failing light of the evening, with the sun glinting from her spectacularly red hair, she looked like a goddess. The dreamy look on his face caught Arthur's attention immediately.

"Harry... if I might ask one more question..."

Harry's attention returned to earth. "Yes, sir?"

"Sir... hmmf. Well. I want to ask you about your future. Have you made any plans at all?" Arthur asked.

"I don't know." Harry was thoughtful. "For the past year I've been too afraid of not having a future to actually put a lot of thought into it. When my life was all about stopping Voldemort, I thought I might be an Auror. Maybe I still do."

Harry looked back at the door to the Burrow. "But now that it looks like I might have a chance at a normal life... or as normal a life as I can, I think... What I really want to do with the rest of my life... Is... I want to be with your daughter. I think I'd be good at it. I want making her happy to be my job."

Arthur frowned. "Seriously, Harry..."

Harry's head whipped around. "I'm being totally and completely serious."

Arthur nodded, slowly. "But what will you do with yourself? I know that you won't ever really have to work... but I can't see you being the type to sit back on your wealth and do nothing."

"I'm not sure right now," Harry said. He was quiet for a moment, but then smiled. "But at least I know I have time to figure it out."

Arthur looked deep into Harry's eyes. He seemed to come to some important decision before saying "Harry... I know that I haven't talked to Molly yet... but you have my blessing. Just... let her finish school first before you take her away from us. That's my only condition." With that, he stood. "Let's join the rest of the family, plus our dinner guest. Wonder who's here?"

But Harry didn't move. He was too surprised and shocked at what Arthur just implied. Implied? No... what Arthur just outright said.

XxxxxxX

Still gobsmacked by Arthur's words, Harry followed Mr. Weasley into the house. They wandered into the kitchen, where Harry could see Molly, Hermione, and Ginny all gathered around a seated Andromeda Tonks. All three were making what Harry could only describe as "goo-goo faces" at the wriggling infant in Andromeda's arms.

Ron turned to Harry with a bemused look on his face. "Glad you're here, mate... you can save me from all this unabashed womanhood."

The ladies at the table all looked up. When they spotted Arthur and Harry, each smiled. It was Andromeda who spoke. "I really wouldn't bet on that, Mister Weasley. I brought Teddy over so Harry could have some time with his godson."

"I'd love to!" Harry's face lit up. "How has he been? And how have you been, Mrs. Tonks?" He took the miniaturized trunk out of his pocket, put it on the table in front of him, and immediately reached out to take little Teddy from his grandmother.

"So how did the meeting go, dears?" Molly Weasley asked.

"There was a lot of paperwork," Harry said. He cooed at Teddy, making a series of moogly-faces at the infant that soon had the baby smiling. As Harry watched, the wisps of hair on Teddy's head went from brown to a sea-foam green.

"So did your folks leave you anything good?" Ron asked. "What?" Ron's question had been met with a collection of stony faces. Then they all turned their attention to Harry, who was busily making raspberries with the baby.

Harry looked up, his tongue still in his lips in mid-flbbbrt, and noticed everyone staring at him. "Um... I'm sorry... did I miss a question?"

Ginny had apparently been holding her breath. She let it out and said, "Only Ron being insensitive again."

"How do you mean, Ginny?" Ron put on a hurt expression. "It's an honest question, I think."

"What was the question, Ron?" Harry asked.

"Oh, you know... I asked if your parents left you anything good." Ron shrugged at the question, a bit more sheepishly than before. "So... did they?"

Harry made another face at the baby. "Yeah, that box there. Ooobly -ooobly -oobly." The baby giggled and Harry's smile grew wider.

Ron looked at the shrunken trunk. "That's it?"

Harry laughed. "No, Ron... that's just what I was able to carry back to the house. Some of the rest of it is rather larger."

"Well, however large it is, it needs to move, or you won't have any dinner," Molly Weasley said. She used her wand to levitate plates, forks, and spoons to the table. Harry nodded to Ron, who moved the shrunken trunk to a side table.

As dinner began, Ron continued to pepper Harry with questions. "So... Seriously, what happened?"

"Well..." Harry took an awkward bite of his dinner. With Teddy curled up asleep in the crook of his other arm, he was having a hard time of it. "There's some more money... apparently what I'd been using so far is some sort of 'operational fund' to handle things like school expenses and to give me some pocket money."

Harry tried unsuccessfully to use the side of his fork to cut his meat, but gave it up. He sighed, looking down at his sleeping godson. He didn't want to put the boy down, but at the same time his dinner would be cold before he could eat it. He pushed his plate away, looked up, and froze in place. Molly and Andromeda were both giving him strange if affectionate looks. Hermione was looking at him in a warm manner she usually reserved for Ron. And Ginny, sitting next to him... Ginny was beaming at him.

Harry blinked, wondering what was going on. "Um..."

Ginny sighed and smiled at him. She moved Harry's plate over so she could reach it better, and then proceeded to cut his food into bite-sized pieces. Watching her, he was filled with incredible warmth.

The moment was burst, of course, by Ron. "Okay, so you were rich, and now you're richer?" Ron wasn't even watching; rather, he was concentrating on his mashed potatoes.

Harry blinked, still enraptured by Ginny. "Huh? Oh... well, yeah, I suppose." He felt mildly embarrassed by that, given the state of finances in the Weasley household. "And there's a bunch of stocks, and a couple of houses." Ginny shoved Harry's plate back over. Harry took a bite, and smiled a thank you.

Arthur coughed. "Five."

All heads at the table turned to Arthur, then back to Harry. "Five houses?" Ginny asked.

Harry shrugged. "Well, you know about Sirius Black's house on Grimmauld Place already, and the house in Godric's Hollow where... you know." He took another bite. "I've also inherited a rental property on the Isle of Man, and my grand-parents' old manor house in Hogsmeade, and... I've apparently inherited Malfoy Manor."

There was a general uproar at the table. Ron was bouncing up and down. "Way to go, Harry!" Hermione was wondering how that was possible. Ginny and Molly had just looked surprised. But it was Andromeda's reaction that caught Harry's attention.

"Ah... So you are one of the other ones!" She said it with an air of revelation, as if Harry had just answered an important question.

Harry waited for the noise to die down. "One of the other ones?"

Andromeda looked around the table, a little uncomfortable at finding herself the center of attention for everyone present. "Yes... I spoke to the solicitor... my solicitor, yesterday, and he told me that as one of the two heirs to the Black fortune, I was standing to inherit from my sister Bella..." She paused for a moment, suddenly aware of where she was. "Um... yes, and he told me about what was happening to Narcissa and her family, and said I stood to get a portion of the Malfoy fortune also because in that case I was one of four so-called 'heirs' of the Malfoys."

"It never occurred to me, Mrs. Tonks. I asked about Narcissa, but I completely forgot that you were her sister. So why did I get their house?" Harry was vaguely disturbed. He wasn't too happy about what the Ministry was doing to Narcissa Malfoy, but even worse he didn't want Andromeda Tonks to pay for her in-laws' mistakes.

Andromeda took a deep breath and suddenly Harry could see that she was every the inch a daughter of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. "I originally wanted to turn it down, but in the end I accepted it. I had my solicitor put it all in a trust for Teddy. But I only took money, Harry... I don't touch anything owned by Lucius Malfoy."

"So who are the other two?" Ron asked out of the blue.

"Sorry? The other two?" Andromeda Tonks asked in return.

"You said there were four heirs to the Malfoy fortune? Who are they? You and Harry and who else?" Ron asked.

"Ron," Molly began in a warning tone.

"No, it's fine, Molly. In fact, I can answer this one." It surprised everyone when Arthur spoke. "The other two heirs are Neville Longbottom, through his Great-Uncle Harfang.... And... well..." Arthur shrugged and blushed. "Me... Through my mother."

Everyone was silent for a long while. All of the Weasley children stared at their father in shock.

And then chaos exploded. Molly clasped her husband to her, holding on for great long minutes. Their children were cheering and dancing and hugging their parents. All except Ron, who just sat there.

When the noise died down, Ron asked, in a quiet voice. "So... You're rich now, Dad?"

Arthur looked at his youngest son, and the embarrassed smile he'd been holding turned into a look of great understanding. "Does it matter?"

Ron was quiet. He seemed to be staring into nothing, obviously thinking.

"Ron?" Ginny asked, concerned.

Ron looked at his sister, then back to his father. "No, it doesn't matter." He grinned. "Harry taught me that... I'm just glad that you and Mum are going to be... You know..."

Arthur nodded, and silence descended again.

"I'm turning the Malfoy house into a hospital," Harry said, suddenly.

Arthur leaned over and whispered something in Molly's ear. Harry watched her get all teary-eyed. She pressed both of her hands to her breast. "Oh, Harry... that's wonderful."

"That is a pretty good one, mate," Ron said. "So... what's in the box?"

"Oh... Er... I'm not really sure. Mister Forrester said it was personal items from Godric's Hollow. Things my mum and dad owned. They were put in the box for safekeeping."

"Let's see then! Open her up?" Ron insisted.

"He's not even finished eating, Ronald." Hermione's voice was scathing. Harry shook his head and smiled. He carefully handed the sleeping infant over to Andromeda and began eating in earnest. Minutes later, he was finished.

"I'll clear up," Molly said. "The rest of you can all go into the parlor and we'll see what's in Harry's treasure box." She took her wand out her wand and began moving the dirty dishes into the sink. With another wave, they began washing themselves.

Harry set the trunk on the floor in the middle of the parlor and tapped it with his wand. "Engorgio." The trunk grew from small enough to fit into his pocket to as big as his normal school trunk. He pulled out the key ring Mr. Forrester had given him, and methodically matched the keys with the trunk's locks. It took him a moment to find the correct keys, with a few false starts.

When the trunk finally popped open, it was as if everyone in the room had been holding their breath. The trunk seemed tightly packed with many different sorts of objects. There were boxes, and books, and objects covered in cloths and in bags. But on top of everything was a broom.

Harry pulled the broom out and looked at it curiously. The handle was finely shined, though the twigs were beginning to fray a bit. The copper binding on the tail had begun to tarnish, and one of the foot-rests was slightly bent.

"Oh, my..." It was Arthur. "Harry, I do believe that's a Rocket 150." He held his hand out, and Harry handed the broom over. "I don't think I've seen one of these in close to twenty years." He rolled the broom over, examining every part of it.

"Don't think I've ever heard of the Rocket 150, Dad." Ron was also looking at it with some interest. "Good broom?"

"I'd say. It was the Firebolt of its day. Not just one of your everyday riding brooms... this one was a top-of-the-line racer." Arthur handed the Rocket to Ron, who began his own very close inspection. "Even today, I'd take this broom up against any one of the Cleansweeps. Harry's Firebolt would leave it standing, of course, and likely one of the Nimbuses would also, but nothing less. It's a fine broom."

Harry took a matched pair of wooden boxes out of the trunk and opened them. They contained wands. "I think these were my parents'." One was about a foot long and made of mahogany, the other slightly shorter and made of willow. "I wonder which was which?" He held them for a while, noting the warm feeling he got from both, and then replaced them in their boxes. He handed both to Ginny, then turned back to the trunk.

He took a series of books out of the trunk. Reading off the titles, he handed them to Hermione. "The Three Musketeers, 1984, A Princess of Mars, The Name of the Rose, Now We Are Six, Winnie-the-Pooh, The House At Pooh Corner, Leaves of Grass, Mastering the Art of French Cooking... There's one for Fleur... "Harry smiled.

"I haven't ever heard of any of these," Ginny said. "Are they any good?"

Hermione smiled. She seemed to be bouncing up and down at the discovery of the books. "They're fantastic. Muggle authors, of course. That's why you've never heard of them."

Harry kept reading off titles. "Don Quixote, The Paradoxes of Mister Pond, Great Expectations, The Bell Jar, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe... don't laugh too badly if you read that one, Ron... The Wind in the Willows, Wuthering Heights..."

"Oh I love Wuthering Heights! It's so romantic." Hermione opened the book as soon as Harry handed it to her and read the first page to herself. "Ginny, you've got to read this."

Ron looked scandalized. "Thanks, Hermione... give Ginny ideas why don't you." He'd set the broom aside and was inspecting the wands.

Harry grinned. "This is quite a collection of books. I guess they were my mum's."

He reached back into the trunk and pulled out a smaller wooden box. "Oh." Harry stared at the open box for a moment without speaking, and then handed the box to Ginny.

Ginny looked into the box and her eyes grew wide, and then turned the box so everyone could see. The box held three rings, one with a large diamond. "Do you think these were your..." she asked Harry.

"Yeah." He kept his voice flat. "Yeah, I think so."

Harry pulled out a stuffed bear. He turned it over in his hand. The bear looked odd, and it took a moment for Harry to realize that there was a patch of fur on its back that was longer than the rest... as if the toy bear had some sort of sickness that caused all of its fur to fall out and regrow unevenly.

"I suppose this was mine. I don't remember it." He handed it to Ginny and turned back to the trunk.

XxxxxxX

Ginny took the bear and smiled. She could imagine an infant Harry playing with his toys as he crawled around at his parents' feet. The image made her feel strangely squiggly inside. She turned the bear over in her hands, immediately noting the odd pattern in fur length.

The bear had an oddly scorched smell as well, she noted. Ginny turned and rolled it in her hands, holding it this way and that, until finally she had it in a position where the pattern of long fur became apparent. It was a handprint. She put her own hand over it and compared. The pattern was from a woman's hand, definitely.

She glanced over at Harry, her face reflecting her confusion. Harry had pulled a rolled up mass of cloth and leather that turned out to be a full set of Quidditch robes. Harry's dad was a chaser, just like I am, she thought to herself. She looked back down to the bear.

Other than the hand-shaped patch, the rest of the fur had been scorched and shortened. Ginny thought about it for a moment. It was like the bear had been hit by a powerful curse... Oh no! Oh Merlin no!

Ginny's mouth fell open and she felt her eyes tear up immediately. She turned her eyes to Harry. He was talking to Ron about his dad's Quidditch gear. Ginny turned to Hermione. Like Ginny, Hermione was staring at the bear with tears in her eyes. They stared at each other for a moment.

Harry's mother had to have been holding this when she was killed, Ginny thought to herself.

She wiped her eyes and sniffed, grateful for once that Harry was paying her no attention at all.