Chapter 27 of 30
Birthday Party
Okay, first he instinctively orbed out at the scare, coming back soon after and smiling sheepishly and blushing about being on his pajamas with all those people there. Though it helped that all the Halliwells except for Paige, Coop and Prue were on their pajamas as well.
Apparently Paige, Coop and Prue had been the transportation mode for the British guests. The Weasleys were there including Bill, who Chris had learned from Ron, had asked to be transferred to Gringotts at London to help with the war, and according to Ron was getting along very well with Fleur Delacour who had gotten a job at Gringotts to improve her English. Hermione had come and of course Sirius and Remus were there. And they had summoned his Grams, grandma and adoptive parents’ spirits again.
What had really surprised Chris was a broody presence in the corner, someone he would never ever had expected to be at his birthday party and he didn’t know how to feel about that.
“I wanted to talk to him,” Lily whispered in his ear. “So when we had talked about the birthday party the last time we were here I asked Prue. You don’t mind do you? It’s just that coming down to earth is a privilege and we can’t do it so often, or else I’d asked Piper to summon me some other time.”
Chris shook his head, “It’s okay mum.” He took her hand and walked with her to the man. “Er, Professor. My mum wants to talk with you. If you don’t mind, you can talk in my room so no one will bother you. She knows the way.”
Snape arched an eyebrow, “I’ve never known Lily to need to be introduced Potter.”
“Oh, Sev! Don’t ruin it!” she sighed grabbing his hand and pulling him away. Snape eyed the spirit of James Potter who was talking to Sirius, who were both glaring at them, warily. “Don’t mind them. They’re okay with this even if they don’t look like it.”
“What?” Wyatt asked “Can I open my eyes already? You know, this is Chris’s birthday, he’s the one supposed to walk around with his eyes closed.”
“Open them,” Sirius said as he stopped Wyatt on a specific spot of the front lawn.
Wyatt opened his eyes and his mouth dropped as in front of him was the most beautiful motorcycle.
“We smuggled it with your Uncle Coop. He was very cooperative.”
“Can I?”
“No, I don’t want to get killed!” Sirius cried aghast. “And neither does your father. What you can do is I can take for a ride. That’s what your mum allowed us to do after hours and hours of pleading and begging from your brother. And I had to assure her that I would be very careful and that at the first sign of trouble you would orb out back to safety. Is that clear?”
Wyatt nodded fervently as he ran his hand over the bike.
“So, let’s go.”
“Not now,” Sirius sighed exasperated. “It’s plain daylight! We have to wait till night falls so no one will see us take off.”
“But-”
“Look, at home I just take off and turn the invisibility shield on because we’re secluded. No one will see me disappearing. But here, even if I turned the shield in the garage they would find it strange for the garage door to open and no one come out.”
“No they wouldn’t,” Wyatt smiled. “Come on, help me get this inside.”
Little Henry ran as fast as he could but he wasn’t fast enough. Right in front of the garage door he was tackled by five girls.
“HELP!” he cried.
“Give it to me!” little Prue cried and tried to grab the remote control from his hand.
“NO!” he cried but she grabbed his hand and somehow the button was pressed and the garage door started opening.
“OH! See what you did!” he cried. “Now how do you close it?”
Mrs. Nobel, the neighbor, saw the children trying to fix their bundle and took pity on them. She slowly walked towards them, she wasn’t that young anymore, and took the remote.
“Here honeys,” she said pressing the button and the door started closing.
“Thank you Mrs. Nobel,” they all chorused together.
“Now stop picking on Henry,” Mrs. Nobel told the girls sternly and they nodded properly chastised. As she left Mrs. Nobel could swear she felt a breeze pass through her. She never saw the satisfied smirks on the children’s faces.
“So, are you just going to stare at me? I’m sure Potter would much rather have you downstairs gushing on him?” Snape said, his arms crossed as he leaned back on the desk.
Lily rolled her eyes from the bed she was sitting on, “Are you talking about Chris or James?”
“Both.”
“Look Sev. I wanted to talk to you. I’m proud of what you’ve been doing. Helping Dumbledore, the Order.”
“Don’t say that!” he hissed. “If not for me-“
“My son would be dead.”
“Voldemort wouldn’t have come after you,” he snapped back.
“Really? You don’t think he had other reasons other than Chris to want us dead? Like for instance, everything we were doing against him? Or that James was funding the Order? We were targets anyway Sev. I’m not going to lie to you. I didn’t approve of what you were doing back then. Becoming. But I do approve of what you’re trying to do to help now,” she got up and put a hand on his crossed arm. “I don’t approve though of this punishing yourself you’ve been doing. Brooding over me forever. You have to move on Sev. I love you, just not the way you wanted me to. I’m sorry, but I never did. I always saw you as my brother, a sibling.”
“You know, that’s exactly what a guy does not want to hear,” he said drily.
“That’s all I can give you,” she shrugged and tapped his nose lightly. “Start enjoying your life Sev, it sometimes can be too short,” he looked down sadly, “And you have to stop hating Chris for being ‘just like his father’ because last time I checked you had nothing against Leo.”
“Yes, well, you fooled everyone didn’t you?”
“And you never saw past the Potter name and saw Chris, you might enjoy what you find,” she smirked at him.
“Hardly.”
She got on the tip of her toes and kissed his cheek, “You’re my best friend. And I expect you to start acting like it. Because, I hate to tell you this, but on the Uncle department, Sirius is way ahead of you. Yup, his brownie points are up there and yours,” she looked down, “Well, they’re on the negative side. And do you really want Sirius Black to come out best?”
He just looked at her as if she was crazy and she shrugged, “Can’t blame a girl for trying.”
He pulled her into a hug and whispered, “I missed you. I’m sorry, so sorry. For everything.”
“I know,” she smiled.
“And you could see the whole city from up above and the wind rushing through my face, it was beautiful!” Wyatt sighed dreamily from the dinner table where they were all seated and Chris looked at him eagerly.
“No,” Piper said firmly. “Only after you’re sixteen too.”
Chris looked to the side and was faced with another resolute woman, “Hey, I agree with her. For me it would be never. I couldn’t believe it when Sirius turned up with that motorcycle. And he was an Auror too! Breaking the law like that!” Lily huffed.
“It was really fun to ride though,” James sighed dreamily resting his elbow on the table and his head in his hand. He looked around as Ron, the twins and Ginny were trying to convince his parents to let them on the bike a little farther away in the room, they weren’t having much luck and there were cries of:
“But Bill just left on it! Sirius event let him ride alone!”
“Well Bill is an adult and it was up to me he wouldn’t have!” Mrs. Weasley had said in a no nonsense tone.
“Where’s Prue?” he asked seeing every member of the family engaged on something or other throughout the living room but not spotting the Whitelighter.
“She went to take Snape home. I think the man had all he could stand of this family for a year,” Henry snorted coming from behind him and taking a seat next to his wife.
“Humph,” Piper huffed and Lily looked at her.
“Thanks for letting him come. I know he’s not your favorite person in the world.”
“Well, he better start watching it because now, I can complain about his attitude.”
“The Wizarding world still doesn’t know,” Remus said as he served himself another piece of cake.
“They could,” Leo shrugged. “Doesn’t make a difference anymore.”
“Yeah, but, let’s just not put it in the papers yet. I don’t need the attention,” Chris winced and the British people in the table flinched.
“What?” Henry asked.
“It’s just,” Hermione sighed from next to Wyatt. “You’re name has been in the paper lately. And not in a good way.”
“None of that. We agreed,” Mrs. Weasley joined the table huffing. “It’s Chris’s birthday.”
“Doesn’t stop what’s going out there Molly,” Arthur said gravely standing behind her. “And Chris should know what he’ll be facing once he goes back to school.”
Piper stiffened at that but said nothing.
“What?” Chris asked. “You said Voldemort is lying low. Regrouping.”
“Yes, he’s also trying to find out what the prophecy says,” Sirius said. Though the Order hadn’t been told the contents of the prophecy they had been told there was one and there had been a discussion whether or not to protect it or not. Sirius also knew that one of the first things Piper and Leo had done after Chris had woken up from the Third Task and said he had realized he was a Horcrux was tell him the prophecy, so he wasn’t worried about talking about the subject here. Chris had also explained, only to the family, that he had sensed Voldemort in Nagini, Voldemort’s pet snake which led them to believe she must be the last Horcrux.
“Dumbledore told us,” Leo nodded. “We’ve told him to let Voldemort get it. It won’t make a difference for us and while he’s busy with that he won’t be attacking anyone.” And it was true, Voldemort already wanted Chris dead, knowing the prophecy wouldn’t change that, unless he figured out he had made Chris into a Horcrux because of the “mark him as his equal” part, but they only thought that he might want to capture Chris instead of kill, either way Chris was a target and spending resources protecting the prophecy was useless. Besides, from what he had learned, only Chris and Voldemort could touch it and Voldemort wasn’t about to waltz in the Ministry of Magic, so while he didn’t find that out, they had time to try to form an attack plan.
The Order had gone back to Little Hangleton but of course Voldemort had not stayed there. They did find a house that belonged to the Riddle family and realized that must be where Voldemort had been the whole year. Leo had shivered once he realized how close Sirius and Remus had been from Voldemort when getting the ring Horcrux, Sirius had told them they’d seen the house from the shack where the ring was.
“Also, since Fudge has been trying to refute Voldemort being back, he is taking advantage of that to work under the radar, which is why we believe he hasn’t done anything yet. But our current problem is that Fudge is doing so by discrediting you and Dumbledore,” Remus added. “Which hinders our chances of getting people ready to fight Voldemort once he decides to attack.”
“But the Aurors saw Voldemort!” Victor who had seen the gathering around the table said as he approached.
“He’s claiming it was either someone under Polyjuice or that most probably the Aurors were mistaken. He’s saying it was dark, the person Disapparated fast. And since no one wants the war back those arguments are gaining force. The only two witnesses that could be more reliable are Chris, who was there for long enough, and Dumbledore, who knew Voldemort well enough to be able to recognize him in those conditions. All the other ones there had never known Voldemort so well. Voldemort always liked causing his terror from his throne. Very few actually came face to face with him in a battle. He usually just sent his men,” Remus explained.
“So, by discrediting the two biggest witnesses he discredits the story,” Arthur finished. “He already managed to get Dumbledore deposed from his seat as head of the Wizengamot. And he made sure Pettigrew’s and Crouch Jr.’s trial were swift and closed. So all the public knows was what Fudge let the Daily Prophet print. That two delusional Death Eaters tried to kill Chris and for that were sent to Azkaban. They both got the kiss too.”
“Because of their crimes?” Wyatt asked.
“Their crimes were enough for the Kiss,” Sirius nodded. “But they probably got it to shut them up.”
“And now the Daily Prophet is feeding on what Rita Skeeter wrote in her last article to discredit Chris. They’re making you out as an attention seeker liar or that you’re plain delusional,” Ron winced at Chris’ incredulous look at his words.
“And to top it all, Fudge managed to infiltrate Hogwarts. Dumbledore had offered me the Defense Against Dark Arts post, since I had been an Auror but Fudge cut it saying that the abysmal record of Defense Against Dark Arts teachers Hogwarts has had warrants the Ministry to take action and appoint their own teacher,” Sirius said grimly.
“So you kids have to be prepared. That teacher will be there to do Fudge’s biddings and look for anything she can to take Dumbledore out,” Remus looked seriously at the teenagers and they nodded. “Don’t let them goad you. Especially you Chris, she’ll do everything she can to discredit you. And Dolores Umbridge is not a nice woman. She especially despises half-breeds, which means she’ll use our relationship against you and if she knows you’re half-Elder she’ll probably use that too.”
“I don’t think they know,” Arthur shook his head. “Ever since the schools left it’s like you’ve never been there. No one is even mentioning that the Charmed Ones helped much less trying to find out what’s going on this side of the pond.”
“Still,” Remus said. “No need to give the woman ammunition.”
“Maybe if she knows he has parents looking out for him she won’t be as quick to target him,” Piper said shrewdly.
Remus snorted, “Umbridge thinks she’s above everything. She’s the one who passed that nasty legislation last year that makes it impossible for me to get any job in Britain. She won’t mind that he has parents, actually she’ll think you lesser citizens because you are not only not from the Wizarding World but not even from England.”
“Besides,” Phoebe leaned in with a positively evil smile, “if she doesn’t know Chris has parents she might get careless.”
“What are you saying Aunt Phoebe?” Wyatt asked smirking with her. She looked at Chris and said:
“Maybe you should play along with her, give her some rope. See what’s she’s capable of, who knows? We might be able to get rid of her. If she thinks herself above the law, who knows to what measures she might resort? And that she thinks she is, doesn’t actually mean she is.”
Everyone looked at Phoebe speculatively and Lily was saying she’d make a good Slytherin when James nudged Sirius and Sirius shook his head.
“What?” Chris asked seeing the exchange.
“They’re letting something out,” James said flatly.
“Nothing happened.” Sirius said.
“Spill,” Paige said.
“We weren’t there. We’ve been living at Grimmauld but,” Remus said. “We heard that two rogue Dementors were found roaming close to our cottage. They weren’t able to get near, probably because of the wards, but they almost kissed someone from the village close buy. The luck was that a wizard had been shopping there. It’s mostly Muggle you see, and he ran the Dementors off, but we can’t stop thinking it’s too much of a coincidence, after all, for all purposes, that’s where Chris is supposed to be living.”
“So you think Voldemort sent them?” Leo asked.
“We don’t know. But Fudge has been on a snit about that, it was a scandal. He keeps saying the Dementors are under the Ministry’s control but that would mean that someone at the Ministry sent them, and then he goes back to saying they were rogue and contradicts himself. He tried to muffle it, as usual. But the wizard that ran the Dementors away wasn’t just anybody, he was a Wizengamot member that didn’t like that no one can account for those Dementors. He’s demanding an investigation, and since Fudge has been stonewalling every attempt Madam Bones and Scrimgeour have tried to make to prepare against Voldemort they’re both more than happy to oblige the request. Tonks, that’s my cousin, said Fudge is furious because they are interrogating every member of the Ministry. Even the ones who didn’t have access,” Sirius explained.
“Yes,” Arthur chuckled. “I was interrogated too. I think Amelia’s tactic is, you annoy me I’ll annoy you right back.”
“But that still doesn’t change the fact that instead of arresting known Death Eaters and protecting public places such as Diagon Alley and Hogsmead, the Aurors are wasting time annoying Fudge’s secretary,” Remus sighed, and then winced as he remembered Fudge’s secretary was Percy, who had had a row with his parents because of Dumbledore and Fudge.
“Tonks told me that Scrimgeour and Amelia have asked the Aurors to do it off the record if they can, on their spare time. So they’re keeping the working hours of those who are willing at a minimum so they can have the time to patrol off record,” Sirius said.
“Isn’t that interfering with the Order,” Phoebe asked. “Aren’t some of them in the Order?”
“Dumbledore wants the same so we’ve managed the schedules in a way that the Aurors are free to help patrol,” Molly explained reluctantly. And Chris knew she really didn’t like them knowing this. He saw her glance at his cousins, who were all entertained with a video game many times, and his Empathy let him know she wished that he and the other teens were there instead of listening in this conversation.
“Yeah,” James said. “But I just thought of something. You see, we can’t peek on everyone; we can only peek on the lives of people who we love. It’s a drawback to being spirits, or else we’d make great spies. But anyway, like everyone, I’d been thinking Voldemort. But Phoebe made me think, what if it wasn’t him? What if it was someone else that also wanted to shut Chris up?”
“Umbridge?” Coop asked worried.
“Why not?” Paige asked. “She certainly has the access.”
“I’ll try to find out if she was already questioned,” Arthur said. “I doubt it. As Undersecretary to Fudge she may be under his personal protection. But I’ll see.”
“If you’re right,” Remus said worried. “Getting her out of Hogwarts is of paramount importance.”
“For that, we need dirt,” Henry nodded seriously and looked at Chris who nodded back.
“It’s your birthday, not ours,” Hermione said eying Chris who was extending a gift for her and Ron in each hand.
“Come on, please. This isn’t a gift. It’s a necessity.”
They took them and opened them and Hermione gushed and awed as Ron looked perplexed.
“What’s this mate?”
“It’s a mobile, he smiled and at Ron’s still perplexed look Chris took it and opened it showing to him. He dialed the number of the Halliwells and the phone rang. “It’s a mobile phone. And it runs off magic so it will work at Hogwarts. My parents had adapted theirs last year so they could talk to the people here. Since I’m not connected to the floo I thought this would be a good way to stay in touch. And Hermione can talk to her parents and whoever else she might want to too.”
He said not wanting to mention Wyatt. She had seen them both go to Wyatt’s room to talk and had been a little miffed as his brother had dimmed the bond. He had been training with Phoebe too. But on the other hand he really didn’t want to know what was going on there. After they came back they had seemed okay but they weren’t holding hands anymore and Chris got worried.
Hermione looked at him shrewdly, “Sorry, I won’t be becoming Mrs. Halliwell. We broke up.”
“You did,” Ron asked interestedly and realizing he sounded to chipper he cleared his throat, “I mean, what a bummer.”
Hermione eyed him suspiciously, “Yes, well. We’re still friends. We just realized that with me in England and him here- I mean, since I’ve been at Headquarters under a Fidelius all summer we barely even talked. It wasn’t working out. It’s better this way, so we don’t get frustrated with each other.”
“Hum hum,” Chris could just nod. He could feel Hermione wasn’t at all disappointed and from what he had felt before from both her and Wyatt they were just having fun. Besides, he did feel the flutter Hermione felt when Ron showed so much relief at her relationship with Wyatt ending, so he wasn’t worried. And since he hadn’t felt anything bad from his brother he’d decided to just let it go. After all, Hermione and Wyatt seemed to be okay with it, why wouldn’t he be?
“Anyway,” Chris said nudging the phone in her hand. “This way, even under a Fidelius we’ll be able to talk. I’ve already put the Manor’s number, my parents, Wyatt’s, mine,” he said pulling the cell phone his parents had given him as soon as they had gotten home from Hogwarts and waving it. When that happened Wyatt had remarked that his parents liked to know exactly where they were at all times. “Hermione’s parents, all my Aunts and Uncles if you need, and the ones we got for Sirius and Remus. After all, we only had two two-way mirrors and now people are a lot more spread out. Oh, and my mom got one for my Aunt Prue. Can you believe she hadn’t had one all these years as a Whitelighter? My Aunt tried to tell her she didn’t need one but my mom rebutted that there are occasions when our Whitelighter senses are blocked and it might come in handy. Her number is there too.”
“By the way, she hasn’t come back yet,” Hermione frowned. “Should we be worried?”
“She was probably called by some charge. Mum gets annoyed at that. She frequently has to leave in the middle of stuff because of a charge. Dad said that that was his and mom’s biggest problem when he was a Whitelighter. That she celebrates the day he decided to become mortal every year. She calls it the jingle free day!”
He snickered and the other two laughed.
Leo tapped the think envelope to his hand worried as he walked to his son’s room. He walked in and found Chris playing a video game. Chris looked up and smiled.
“Hey dad! Wanna play?”
“Not now. This just arrived for you,” he said extending the letter.
“Oh, my Hogwarts’ letter,” Chris said getting up and ripping the letter open. He scanned it and looked up. “Can we orb to Diagon Alley sometime this week? I’ve got to get my new books. And I think I might need new robes, mine are a little small.”
“Yeah,” Leo winced. “About that. We might have a little bit of a problem.”