Now And Forever
Chapter 14
By Abraxan
Author Notes:
Many thanks to my brilliant Brit-picker, Kelpie, and my fabulous betas, Alexander, Asad, Iris and Rich! Thanks too to Mark Anders Harrison for help with a Latin incantation, and Mike McKean for his help with a sports question!
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The tiny elf nearly vibrated with excitement. "Oh yes! Harry Potter, sir, gave Dobby new tools! And Miss Ginny gave Winky beautiful earrings!"
"Tools? What for?" Ron said, handing his cloak to the elf.
Dobby’s ears drooped a bit. "Erm . . . for repairs."
Ron frowned. "I thought this place was in pretty good shape now."
Hermione patted Ron on the arm. "Tools are a lovely gift for a house elf, Ron. Something he can use, right, Dobby?"
Dobby’s expression brightened again. "Yes! Harry Potter, sir, will be right down." He led them into the living room and offered them drinks, which they refused politely.
"Hey! Are you ready for a day in the country?" Harry said as he bounded into the room. He’d awakened feeling absolutely fantastic, as he’d done every morning since Ginny came home.
"You look well," Ron commented, a wry grin on his face.
Harry grinned, refusing to rise to Ron’s teasing. "A good night’s sleep does wonders for me."
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Ginny said as she joined them.
"What do you have Dobby working on?" Ron said. "He said you gave him tools for Christmas."
Evading the actual question, Harry shrugged. "He likes to work on things. I got him a set of tools that are small enough for his hands."
"So what are our plans for today?" Hermione said. "You told us to wear warm clothes. Are we going to be outside?"
"Yeah, for a while, anyway," Harry replied. "At least it’s a fairly warm day today, and sunny. We should be okay."
"Where are we going, though?" Hermione persisted. Harry just grinned at her.
"He won’t tell me either," Ginny said, shaking her head in mock disapproval. "Says it’s a surprise."
"If you’re ready, then—" Harry said, standing up. He was both excited and nervous about what he’d planned. He rarely pulled surprises on his friends. He hoped they’d like this one.
* * * * *
"Where are we?" Ginny said when Harry transformed back to himself after flashing her to the country. Once Ron and Hermione were steady on their feet and released Merlin’s tail, the phoenix soared to a tall oak tree nearby and settled there, singing one liquid note that sounded quite satisfied.
"He seems happy," Ron said, watching the magnificent bird.
"He is. He loves it here," Harry replied. He turned to Ginny. "As for your question, sweet girl—" He turned and swept his outstretched arm in a half-circle encompassing the beautiful valley surrounding them. "Welcome to Godric’s Hollow."
"Godric’s Hollow?" Hermione said. "I thought that was a village!"
"It is. It’s about three miles that way," Harry said, nodding toward the east, "but this is the actual hollow. The town didn’t grow here because this was Godric Gryffindor’s land."
"Wicked!" Ron said, glancing around. "Is there anything left of his home?"
"That was over a thousand years ago, Ron," Hermione reminded him. "Anything left would be a ruin."
"And so it is," Harry said, pointing toward a stand of ancient oak trees at the edge of the valley. "His home was over there. There are still ruins to be seen."
"So we’re exploring ruins today?" Hermione said, her face brightening. "That sounds like fun! It’s a beautiful day for it."
"We’re not exploring those ruins today, no," Harry said, grinning now. "I have other things in mind."
"Like what?" Ginny said, picking up his infectious good humour.
Harry took a deep breath and blew it out, then looked seriously at Ginny. "You may hate this idea. If you do, that’s OK. We’ll do something else. But it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while, and I decided it was time to tell you about it." He chewed his lip for a moment, then took Ginny’s hand and led her a few paces away. "D’you see this stuff?" He stood before a widespread pile of rubble. Parts of three walls still stood where there had once been a dwelling. "This is the remains of my parents’ home."
Hermione gasped. "Why did you bring us here?"
Ginny shivered, but not from the cold air. "Oh, Harry, I’m so sorry."
Harry wrapped his arm around Ginny’s shoulders. "I’m OK with it, really, I am. That’s all past history. I may have this cleared out and made into flowerbeds. I think Mum and Dad would like that. But we can decide what to do with it later."
Ginny looked up at him. "Huh?"
Harry took a deep breath. "If you like it here, if this seems OK to you, we can live here. I own this land."
"Blimey, mate! It’s in the middle of nowhere," Ron said, looking around.
"And so’s the Burrow!" Ginny reminded him.
"Yeah, you’re right. But Harry’s always lived in town," Ron replied, his brow furrowed in confusion.
"That’s true, but living in London now is a nightmare with all the fangirls and paparazzi and reporters everywhere. I want to live where it’s quiet, where our children can run and play and yell without anyone complaining. I want room for Ginny and me to fly, and to teach our kids to fly." Filled with his visions of the future, Harry pointed at a wide flat area in the distance. "We’ll put a regulation-sized Quidditch pitch there." Moving his hand to a low spot in the rolling land, he continued. "I thought we could put a pond there. A place to swim and row boats, y’know? With fish and lilies and frogs. The kids will love it."
A fond smile crossed Hermione’s face. "You already have so many plans for your family."
"Yeah. But everything’s open to change." He put his hands on Ginny’s shoulders and gazed into her eyes, hoping she’d like his plans, but unwilling to force her into anything. "We don’t have to do this right away, or ever, if you don’t like it."
Without a moment’s hesitation, Ginny replied, "When we talked about living in Godric’s Hollow, I thought you meant the village. This is so much better! I love it! It’s beautiful here, and you’re right, the privacy will be wonderful!"
Harry had been nervous about Ginny’s reaction, but the smile on her face was genuine. All the worries he’d had about this idea vanished. Now he felt like flying! "You really like it? You’re not just saying that?"
She cupped his cheek in her hand and looked at him tenderly. "I think we’ll be very happy here, Harry."
Harry picked her up and whirled around with her in his arms, then kissed her soundly. He set her back on her feet and stood grinning at her for a moment before he remembered the other things he had to tell her.
"I’ve talked to Grandfather about putting the same protections here as are on Grimmauld Place and Hogwarts." Harry led her away from the ruins of his parents’ home to the top of a small rise nearby, and then turned back toward the ruins, which were near the dirt track that was the only road through the valley. "I thought we could put a tall hedge across the front, with a gate in it. We can set up a spell that will show us who’s at the gate, kind of like a Foe Glass."
Ginny nodded. "I’d like that."
Harry grinned. "I knew there was some good reason I loved you."
She laughed. "Because I like the idea of hedges and a Foe Glass at the gate?"
He pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. "Among other things."
"This will be very nice," Hermione said, wandering around the area near the rise.
"Yeah, it will." Harry grinned at her. "I’ll bet you’re wondering why I invited you two along, aren’t you?"
"Well, the thought did cross my mind," Hermione admitted.
"A regulation Quidditch pitch?" Ron said, his mind still on Harry’s plans.
Harry grinned. "Yeah, mate. Full size."
"Wicked!" He looked up at Harry, who still stood on top of the little rise with Ginny. "Erm, you are going to let our kids play there too, right?"
Harry laughed. "That’s why I brought you two with us today. I don’t want us to be completely isolated. I happen to know that the land next to us is for sale, and the price isn’t bad."
"Really?" Ron said.
"Define ‘not bad,’" Hermione, ever the practical one, said.
"The price will depend on how much land you want," Harry replied. "I’m sure terms can be worked out."
"How much land will you and Ginny have?" Ron said, looking around.
"I thought we’d start with twenty-five to thirty acres," he said, looking down at Ginny, still enfolded in his arms. "That should be enough room for your horses."
Ginny gasped. "Horses?"
Harry chuckled. "That spot right there—see the little yellow marker? I thought we could put the stable there, but you’ll need to design it. I have no idea what horses need."
"Horses?" Ginny repeated. "I can have a horse?"
"You can have as many horses as you want, love," Harry said, delighted to see her pleasure.
"Oh, Harry! I love you!" She stood on tiptoe and pulled on his shoulders so he’d bend down, then kissed him before running down to the yellow marker. She spun around on the spot. "A stable! For my horses! I don’t believe it!"
Ron and Hermione laughed at Ginny’s antics. "What’s that other marker for, mate?" Ron said.
"My workshop. I’d like to do more mosaics, and there’s bound to be a lot of stuff to do on a farm, don’t you think? I’ll need loads of tools and room to work in."
"You look so happy, Harry," Hermione said softly. "You’ve been dreaming about this for a long time, haven’t you?"
Harry blushed. "Yeah, I have." He looked up at her, then at Ron. "You could have as little as an acre or as much as thirty if you want. You just have to decide what will work for you."
"Up to thirty acres? What would we do with all that land?" Ron said.
"I’ve always lived in a city, except for our time at Hogwarts," Hermione added. "I wouldn’t know what to do with a farm."
"You could raise horses, hippogriffs, whatever," Harry said. "Or you could just have a small garden, if that’s what you want to do. You could leave the land natural for the wildlife to enjoy. It’s up to you. And I won’t pressure you to live out here, but nothing would please me more than having you two living next door. I want our children to know you two well, and hopefully you’ll have some kids for ours to play with."
Hermione blushed. "We haven’t even thought about children yet."
Harry laughed. "There’s no rush, Hermione." His smile softened, as did his voice. "I’m planning for the future here. I never had one to plan for before. Now I do."
"It would be cool to be your neighbour, Harry," Ron said. "We’ll talk about it."
"That’s fine. No pressure. I knew you were getting ready to sell Hermione’s parents’ house, and I heard you talking about a flat on Diagon Alley. I just wanted you two to know this option is available if and when you want it."
A crooked smile crossed Ron’s face and he punched Harry lightly in the shoulder. "Thanks, mate."
"Is anyone else going to live here?" Hermione said.
"I invited Remus and Tonks, but they like living in Hogsmeade for now. I thought about Neville, but he’s on a research vessel in the Mediterranean. He’s enjoying that, so I don’t think he’ll be interested in a place in the country for a while. Fred and George like living over their shop, and Charlie’s happy with the dragons in Wales, so I guess it will just be us."
"Somebody else might buy some of this land and build on it, though," Hermione said, looking around. "It’s so beautiful here, and more people are building houses in the country all the time. And what’s to keep Muggles from buying land in here, as well?"
Harry shook his head. "This entire valley has ancient wards on it that keep Muggles out, so that isn’t a worry. And the rest of the land isn’t for sale, nor will it be."
"How can you be so sure?" Hermione said.
Ginny had returned to Harry’s side and looked up at him now. "That’s a good question."
He shrugged. "Because I own it."
Ginny raised an eyebrow and grinned at him. "I suspected that."
"How much of it, mate?" Ron said, looking around. "This valley is huge."
"All of it." At their shocked looks, he went on. "I inherited this bit where my parents lived. The house was in my dad’s family for generations. I got Gringotts to work things out so I could buy the rest."
"Who owned it before?" Ron said.
"The Ministry of Magic. Somewhere along the way, they took possession of all the unclaimed land near certain magical villages or residences."
Hermione sighed. "You two never did pay attention in History of Magic, did you?"
Both Ron and Harry shook their heads, slightly guilty expressions on their faces.
"Professor Binns talked about it. Oh well, it doesn’t matter anyway."
"Blimey, Hermione," Ron gasped, his hands on his hips, a look of disbelief on his face, "I never thought I’d hear you say that about a school subject!"
"Well, history’s important. We need to learn from it or we’ll repeat the bad bits. But since Harry’s bought the land, there’s no reason to dwell on the Ministry confiscating land that didn’t belong to them."
Ron turned to Harry. "If they just stole the land . . ." He frowned, trying to work something out. "I mean, it should be yours. You should’ve inherited it, you and Dumbledore, right?"
"I suppose. But they didn’t give me much trouble about it. Killing Voldemort has given me a bit of pull with the Ministry." He grinned. In truth, the Gringotts goblins had pulled quite a few strings of their own and then added the fact that the wizarding world owed a tremendous debt to Harry Potter to their arguments with the Ministry.
He turned to Ginny. "I have something else to show you." He led her down the hill a bit, then pulled a piece of parchment out of his pocket and spread it on the ground, revealing a diagram or drawing of some kind. "Watch." When he tapped it with his wand, a lumpy, roiling blob of blue light emerged from it. Harry sent it to the very top of the rise, then spread his arms wide, which opened up the light into a recognizable shape.
"That’s a house!" Ginny cried.
"It’s huge!" Hermione said, gazing up at it in awe.
Harry laughed. "Yeah, it kind of grew as I worked on it." Sitting grandly atop the rise was a shimmering blue line drawing of a two-story house with big windows, window boxes with scribbled-looking shapes that resembled flowers, and a tall, wide door. There were chimney pots on each end of the house, and the roof looked as if it might be slate. The house was at least three times bigger than the Dursleys’ house on Privet Drive.
"What kind of spell is this?" Hermione said, taking a few steps toward the house.
Harry shrugged. "I made it up."
She turned to gape at him. "How in the world did you make up a spell that complex?"
Harry fought the grin that tickled the corners of his mouth. "Thanks so much for your confidence in my skills!"
Hermione’s cheeks turned a very fetching shade of pink. "I, uh . . . Oh, Harry, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean—"
Harry laughed. "Y’know, it’s quite fun to take the mickey out of you sometimes. You blush so prettily."
"Flirting with my wife again, are you?" Ron said mildly.
Harry shrugged. "Sometimes." He reacted with a huge "Oof!" when Ginny elbowed him in the ribs. "You Weasleys are a rowdy lot," he whinged, acting horribly wounded but giving her a crooked grin.
"Don’t flirt with your almost-sister-in-law," Ginny said, rubbing the spot where she’d elbowed him as he continued to wince as if in terrible pain. "Did I really hurt you? I didn’t think I hit you that hard."
"I have at least three broken ribs," Harry lied, then straightened up and laughed.
"You are in entirely too good a mood!" Ginny said, laughing with him.
"Yeah, I am." He turned back to Hermione. "To answer your rather impertinent question, I saw something like this on the telly one time, part of a program on how computers are used to design things. I just made it work with magic instead of a computer." Harry knew it was an impressive spell, and it had taken him a long time to work out. Every line of the house was a glittering line of blue light that sparkled in the sunlight as if it were embedded with crystals.
"You haven’t seen inside the house," he added, walking toward the front door.
Hermione didn’t move an inch. "But it’s just an image . . . isn’t it?"
Harry grinned at her over his shoulder. "It’s a three-dimensional image, Hermione. That means we can go inside it. C’mon, it won’t hurt you."
"Have you done this before?" Ginny said, watching as he opened the door with a wave of his wand.
"Gone inside? Yes, once, as an experiment. I pulled up a small version of one room and opened it in my room at Remus’s house. It worked fine. Come on, I want to show you the house."
Harry led his amazed friends through the house, showing them the living room, library, kitchen and the absolutely gigantic dining room.
A startled laugh escaped Ron when he saw the size of the dining room. "You could feed an army in here!"
"Have you noticed how many people are in your family?" Harry said reasonably. "Once everyone’s married and has kids, it will be an army!"
"What a good idea!" Ginny said, then wandered into the kitchen. "I love the view from the window."
Harry walked up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. "I thought you would." The window faced the spot marked for the stable and an area next to it that looked like a pasture that only needed fences. "Gin, if you want anything changed, it’s easy to do." He raised his wand and pointed it at the dining room, shortening its length by several feet with a small gesture. "See? You can change where the rooms are, their shapes and sizes, add or subtract rooms, all with the flick of a wand. Easy."
"Wicked!" Ron said, having overheard Harry’s statement.
"What’s through there, Harry?" Hermione said, pointing at a small door off the kitchen.
"That’s Dobby and Winky’s quarters." He led them through the door, which opened into a miniature apartment. "It has a sitting room, a dining area, two bathrooms, and two bedrooms for their kids when they have them. It’ll be easy to add more rooms if they have more children than this flat can hold."
Hermione beamed. "Oh, Harry, it’s wonderful! They’ll be so happy here!"
"They think so too. I’ve talked with Dobby about this project several times. That’s why I bought him the tools. He’s going to help me build some things, like fences, the front gate, workshop and stable, I think. He’s quite excited about it."
Ron was looking out of the window. "What’s that wing over there for?"
"That’s a suite for Grandfather when he retires from Hogwarts," Harry said. "Ginny and I told him we want him to live with us whenever he decides to leave the school."
"You’ve really planned this out!" Hermione said. "When did you have time, with going to school and playing Quidditch?"
Harry gave her a rueful grin. "I haven’t slept well in months, remember? When I get past the nightmares, sometimes I can’t fall asleep for a long time. That’s when I think about this. By the time I worked out how to do the spell, the plans were pretty much finished." He walked toward a door at the far end of the flat. "Let’s go outside and I’ll lower the first floor so you can see that."
Once outside, the four friends turned to face the house. Harry pointed his wand at the edge of the house’s roof, then pulled down with his wand, stopping with the first floor was sitting squarely on the ground and the ground floor merely an extra-bright line around the bottom edge of the house. "This is a balcony. We can go in through that door."
Once inside, Ginny stood in the centre of the room and turned around slowly. "What room is this? It’s enormous!"
"Our bedroom. There’s a bathroom through that door, and the hall is through that other door," Harry said, nodding toward each door as he mentioned it.
"This room is as big as our whole dormitory at Hogwarts," Hermione said, amazed.
Harry turned to face her. He wasn’t certain how to explain why he’d made everything so big. It just felt right to him when he did it. She was his best friend. If he just told the simple truth, she’d understand . . . he hoped.
"I, erm . . . I lived in a cupboard under the stairs until I was eleven years old. Then I had a small bedroom that wasn’t much more than a closet. The times I feel most free are when I’m flying, with the open sky around me. I want to feel that way in my home, Hermione. I don’t ever want to feel confined again."
Hermione’s eyes were wide by the time he finished. "Oh," she said in a small voice.
"Don’t blame you a bit, mate," Ron said bracingly. "I like the feel of these rooms. We’ve always been crowded at the Burrow too." He looked hopefully at Hermione. "Maybe we’ll build a big house too, yeah?"
A hesitant smile crossed Hermione’s face. "Maybe so."
Harry led them down the hall, pointing out the two bathrooms and the vast, empty space that would become bedrooms for however many children they had.
"I thought you were planning to have seven kids. Why not a room for each one?" Ron said.
"I know my parents said we’d have a whole Quidditch team of children, but I don’t want to jinx it by building seven bedrooms to start with," Harry replied. "And some of them may want to share. This is just the basic layout. Bedrooms can be added without a lot of trouble, either by dividing this space or adding on to the house. I can even add more bathrooms if we need them. And if we do have seven kids, the more bathrooms, the better."
Hermione gave him an amused glance. "You already have your family planned, don’t you?"
Harry hesitated before answering. When he spoke again, his voice was so soft, they had to almost strain to hear it.
"All I’ve ever wanted was a family of my own." He looked at Ginny and felt the happy bubble rising in his chest that appeared whenever they were together. "We want a big family."
"And all of them are going to have black hair and green eyes," Ginny said, giving him a quick hug.
"Some of them could be redheads!" he protested.
Ron held his hand out to Hermione. "C’mon. I think they need a bit of snogging time in their house." Hermione grinned and took his hand, then followed him through a window and back onto the grounds outside.
"Do we need snogging time?" Harry said, smoothing a stray hair away from Ginny’s face and enjoying how she fit so perfectly in his arms.
"Always." They kissed, then held each other in a warm embrace.
"Are you happy with this? Really?" Harry said.
Her brown eyes sparkling, she grinned, her smile warm and sincere. "It’s fabulous! I love it! Imagine this house and garden full of children playing."
"Yeah," Harry said, his mind full of happy images. "Imagine that."