Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Writing's On The Wall
By : Carfunky
Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female
Views: 158 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Chapter List
- 1-Ch. 1
- 2-Ch. 2
- 3-Chapter 3
- 4-Ch. 4
- 3
- 4
Two weeks passed quickly, and Sunday came much faster than it seemed it had any right to. The Burrow was quickly filling up with guests. Molly had asked Bill, the eldest Weasley son, to line up the picnic tables in the yard and transfigure them. Bill had turned the two long rectangular tables, which had a jousting history with one another, into one large round table. This was then placed inside the Burrow as the air was now colder with winter fast approaching. After the war, Molly and Arthur had found the concept of the round table to be more accommodating than not.
Fleur, Bill’s wife, was flitting about the kitchen, helping Molly with preparing food as people either Apparated into the yard or arrived in the fireplace via Floo Network. Ron and Parvati were the first ones there, having only been living above Parvati’s shop in the village center. They were less than a mile’s walk and easily Apparated in, as Parvati did not keep the shop open on Sundays, anyway.
Harry and Ginny were next to arrive through the fireplace, Molly and Arthur greeting them with bone crushing hugs from Molly and a firm handshake and smile from Arthur. Moments later, both Neville and Luna showed up, accompanied by Augusta Longbottom – Neville’s overbearing grandmother, and Xenophilius Lovegood – Luna’s eccentric father. There had been some tension between Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Matt towards Xenophilius. They met after the war ended and Xeno apologized profusely for his actions, stating, as they all knew, that he was merely trying everything he could to save Luna. They had forgiven him and now they often were friendly towards him. The Quibbler, the magazine Xenophilius printed, would run stories about Harry and Ron’s exploits as Aurors, interviews with Hermione about her work at the Ministry in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Even Matt got an interview once or twice about recent potion studies he had headed at St. Mungo’s.
Hermione arrived next and was greeted warmly by Molly, reminding her that even though she and Ron had not married, she was still part of the family. Hermione smiled and was incredibly appreciative of this. Her parents had been surprised to learn about the war after they had returned from Australia. Although, Hermione had not told them she had been the one to alter their memories, Mr. and Mrs. Granger felt a distance between them and their daughter, Hermione felt it too. She had grown up suddenly and found her place in a magical world, a world they did not and could not fit into. It felt good to be a part of a magical family, even if only adopted.
Surprisingly, Matt was next to show up, happily greeting everyone, even Hermione gave him a hug which he smiled over. He was glad to be there, and it felt good to be amongst friends, even Augusta Longbottom, clapped him on the back and said she felt better that he was working at St. Mungo’s. Matt had even recommended some potions for Neville’s parents that seemed to help and every now again, they appeared less deranged on visits than normal. It was a small step, but something that gave the entire family a small grain of peace they did not have before.
In a move that came as no surprise to anyone, as they were setting the table, Geroge Weasley, Ron’s next oldest brother, appeared alongside his, in his own word, long-term semi-permanent partner, Calista Warrington. Calista always rolled her eyes at this, seeing as she was wearing a wedding ring on her left ring finger and George sported a matching one on his own hand.
George had discovered that Calista, who lived on the opposite side of Ottery St. Catchpole was a witch, with long black hair, and no discernable pure-blood relatives. Her appetite for fun and pranking rivaled George’s own, and the two were often called a match made by Merlin himself. Charlie had even given his approval on the single occasion of meeting her, after the war.
George was the last member of the family to arrive, as Percy was already there with his wife Penelope. George teased Percy that he was just showing off by being early to be in their mother’s good graces. Percy laughed and said it was a better joke than showing up late, like Geroge.
“What’s everyone been up to?” Molly asked the table as she and Fleur were bringing the last of the food over and sat down.
“Yes, I hear you’ve been busy, Bill.” Arthur said turning to his oldest son, as Molly pushed an extra helping of chicken onto Harry’s plate.
“You’ve no idea.” Bill said with an exasperated sigh.
“’E ‘as been working nonstop for ze past two weeks. It is ‘orrible, not seeing my ‘usband!” Fleur said in her French accent with a frown as Bill grasped her hand.
“What’s been going on, Bill?” Harry asked, curious himself. Hermione was looking furtively around the table, as if she knew what was about to be said.
“Well, you all likely would not have heard about this, but Gringotts has been expanding recently. At an alarming rate.” Bill said. “The goblins have been working round the clock for over a month now. They’ve called in help from the Ministry and independent contractors to help with the underground expansions.”
“Why are they expanding so much?” Neville asked.
“Ah, well, that would be because of what Shacklebolt found…” Arthur said.
“This isn’t anything to do with the Order, is it?” Matt inquired, knowing Kingsley had taken over leadership of both The Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry of Magic following the deaths of Albus Dumbledore and Alastor Moody, and the end of Voldemort.
“No, not the Order. Besides, we’d have told you if it was Order business.” Arthur assured him. Matt nodded and looked to his left where Hermione was sitting. Her expression had not changed, and he knew Arthur was telling the truth then. Hermione had quietly joined the Order when she turned seventeen during their sixth year, having approached Dumbledore himself over the Christmas holiday that year. Matt had done the same the following July, just before Harry was moved from Privet Drive. Neither of them had told the others though, as not to draw outrage from either Harry or Ron, both of whom were forbidden by Molly from joining.
“You know, Perce. Don’t you?” George said, turning to his brother. There was an empty seat between George and Percy always reserved for Fred, who had died during the Battle of Hogwarts. A seat directly between Bill and Percy was also empty, reserved for Charlie who was back in Romania, continuing his work with dragons.
Percy sighed heavily.
“You may as well son, they’ll find out soon enough anyway.” Arthur said, as if giving permission. Percy had resigned his position under Pius Thicknesse during the war but was so incredibly effective at his job, that Minister Shacklebolt had granted him a new position. Kingsley had given Percy a position as the head of Department of Magical Transportation.
“While it doesn’t pertain specifically to my duties, I do report directly to the Minister,” Percy began “And as such, I learned something from him. Minister Shacklebolt discovered an index of magical families residing in Britain.”
“That’s nothing new! That list has been around since wizards were around!” George said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
“While true, dear brother, this list was started back in the 1950’s and the families listed, aren’t on the official register. They’re mostly Muggleborns and Squibs or families that were thought extinct.”
Silverware dropped onto plates and a stunned silence descended over The Burrow.
“What?” Harry looked distressed.
“Preposterous!” Augusta Longbottom exclaimed.
Molly gasped and held her hand over her mouth.
“It’s not. It’s entirely legitimate.” Bill said. “According to what the Minister found, there was some heavy anti-Muggleborn rhetoric going on around the ‘50’s. Lots of leaflets and fliers being handed out.”
“I remember that!” Molly exclaimed.
“So, do I. I always thought it was obviously rubbish. People surely didn’t buy into that nonsense, did they?” Augusta said with a wave of her hand.
“I’m afraid they did…” Xenophilius piped up.
“Enough so, that the Minister for Magic back then, went to Hogwarts and enchanted The Book of Admittance and the Quill of Acceptance.” Percy continued.
Neville gasped at this.
“So that’s why you’ve been visiting Hogwarts so much, Bill!”
Bill nodded.
“True. McGonagall herself came to visit me at Gringotts. As soon as Shacklebolt found that list and why it was created, he went to her. She, in turn, came to me. Asked me to come in and break the enchantments on the Quill and Book. I had to research them and dispel them entirely and then redo the enchantments. Not easy work.”
“How many families were affected by this?” Ginny piped up.
“Loads. There had to have been three or four hundred families. Now, some of them have died off since the list was made. Some during war, some were targeted by Voldemort and his crowd. Others were just old and went because of natural causes.” Percy replied.
“That much anti-Muggleborn rhetoric going around…” Harry said deep in thought. “That would explain where Voldemort got his ideas about blood purity in the first place. He first went to Diagon Alley alone. Dumbledore offered but Riddle wanted to go himself…”
“Oh yeah…that’d do it alright.” Ron said coming to the same conclusion.
“I could imagine a young and impressionable wizard being easily swayed seeing those leaflets and pamphlets posted and passed around without any context or counter arguments.” Hermione chimed in.
“No kidding. That’d mess with anyone who didn’t know better. And young Tom Riddle wouldn’t have. It doesn’t change what he became, but if he saw the Minister for Magic promoting this, it would be an easy path to power. And if he was as manipulative and dangerous at that age as you say, Harry. It fits.” Matt added.
“Tom saw what was being handed out and deduced that people were buying into easily, he saw the opportunity to leverage that fear and viewpoint to his advantage…” Harry replied.
“With all these families being revealed…we’ve had to expand massively to accommodate the expected influx we’re about to get.” Bill replied.
“Why weren’t these people contacted or revealed before though? I would have thought being magical would be hard to hide for this long.” Xenophilius asked.
“Minister Shacklebolt visited some of the families on the list. A few of them were wiped out under strange circumstances…” Percy said darkly.
“Strange how?” Luna asked.
“Well…they were destroyed. Explosions. The surrounding neighbors all assumed a Muggle gas explosion.”
Matt and Hermione exchanged looks and an almost mental conversation.
“You don’t mean to say…” Parvati piped up.
“Obscurials.” Matt and Hermione said in unison.
Percy grimly nodded his agreement.
“These families were all spread out and some dismissed the magic as simple quirkiness, others, though, repressed it and well…”
“How many are left?” Calista asked, shocked.
“Still between two and three hundred families that are Muggleborn. Some of them quite wealthy.” Percy said.
“That’s a lot of money and people coming into the Wizarding World. And not necessarily acquainted or maybe even well adjusted. Are they going to make the adults go to Hogwarts?” Matt asked. The idea of a thirty-something-year-old adult in the middle of a first-year transfiguration class was amusing to him, and the stuff they made Muggle comedy movies out of.
“No, but there is talk of there being some courses taught at Hogwarts on a specialized curriculum to bring adults up to speed enough to function anyway.” Percy said.
Neville looked surprised.
“This is the first I’m hearing about it.”
“It’s been taken to the board of governors, I’m told.” Arthur added. “I’m sure once they decide how to approach it, they’ll let McGonagall know.”
“Hermione,” Matt said and turned to face her. “You must have known about this.”
“Well, you’re right of course. My department works closely with the goblins you see. They’ve been in and out of my offices about a hundred times in the past month asking for help with the expansion. But I didn’t know why they were doing it.” Hermione replied.
“Well, that’s all fascinating! What about you Matthew, what are you working on at St. Mungo’s?” Molly asked, turning their attention to him.
“Well…I had a special project assigned to me about six months ago. I’ve been making steady progress and just two weeks ago, had made a major breakthrough.” Matt explained.
“What sort of a breakthrough?” Hermione asked immediately, leaning forward and turning towards him. The table turned their attention to Matt now.
“Well…we’re calling it Project Lykos. If it works how it’s projected to…it’ll act as a temporary cure for lycanthropy.”
There was a collective gasp at the table.
“You’re joking!” George said in disbelief.
“You’re serious?” Parvati was wide eyed.
“W-what?” Bill’s hand shook, his fork almost dropping his food.
It was Matt’s turn to nod, smirking.
“Yeah, it’s a temporary cure. I’ve managed to modify the standard Wolfsbane potion, so its effect is stronger and actually prevents the transformation. However, at the current moment, it only lasts about twelve hours before it wears off. The project goal is a full twenty-four hours. That way, a person with lycanthropy can take the potion once a day, for three days, during the full moon, and they won’t transform. They’ll be effectively safe. We have to call it temporary or a treatment though, because it’s not a one and done thing…but still…” Matt replied with a shy smile.
“Matt, that’s wonderful! The difference in people’s lives you’ll make!” Hermione exclaimed.
“Blimey Matt, that kind of potion’ll make you both rich and famous!” Ron said with a chuckle.
“How soon do you think you’ll have it all the way to a full twenty-four hours?” Harry inquired, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
“I don’t know. Increasing potion strength is tricky business. Overdo it and the potion’ll be noxious sludge. Go the other direction and nothing happens. I think though, given a few more months, it just might be there.”
“Damn.” Harry said, looking annoyed.
“What’s going on? Harry…did you get bit and not tell us?” Matt teased.
“No, no. I just thought, that well, if you could get it done by the end of the year…you’d be the most eligible bachelor in Great Britain.”
“Oh!” The realization of what Harry was driving at dawned on Matt. “I see what you mean. But you can’t rush science, and this is wizarding science. I’ll have to find another solution to that particular –” Matt was cut off as a large brown barn owl swooped into The Burrow and landed in front of Matt, dropping a letter. He looked utterly confused at the sight of the owl.
“Euclid? What are you doing here?” Matt asked and took the letter the owl brought. Euclid was Matt’s personal owl. He never brought the owl home, he usually left Euclid at St. Mungo’s in their owlery as his apartment was in a Muggle building, and not friendly towards owls or pets in general. Matt scanned the letter, reading it over and he began to frown, his brow furrowing in worry and sadness.
“What is it?” Hermione asked, seeing the upset look on her friend’s face.
“I have to go…there’s been an accident at Gringott’s. They were working on that new expansion and there’s been a partial collapse of the cart tracks they were working on…dozens injured, both wizard and Goblin alike. They need more potions for the pharmacy.” Matt stood in a hurry, grabbing one more forkful of Molly’s delicious cooking.
“That’s terrible! They don’t have some already, though?” Ginny asked.
“No, we only keep a handful of potions on hand for goblins. They don’t tend to trust wizards with medicine except in very dire circumstances. As a result, we don’t keep much on hand because there’s no need for them, most of the time.” Matt explained as he pulled on his jacket. “Thanks for having me, I hate to rush off like this, the food was wonderful Molly!”
“Oh, you’re welcome, dear! Do try to stop by more often, we miss you!” Molly said and stood up to help Matt with his heavier jacket. “And one thing before you go, Ronald told us about your…well…your situation with your mum. Don’t you worry. We simply cannot let you be sent back!” she whispered the last part to Matt. He gave a thankful and yet sad smile as she hugged him, and he was out of the door and Disapparated a moment later.
“Bill, does zis cure mean zat some of your…tendencies weel be managed?” Fleur asked.
“Possibly so…” Bill replied with a sigh.

After dinner the entire group retired to the living room of The Burrow. Xenophilius sitting in an armchair, Luna lounging on the arm of it while Neville sat on a kitchen chair beside her, their hands clasped together. Augusta took a nearby seat on the couch and Hermione sat beside her, giving Neville a bit of welcome distance from his grandmother.
Harry and Ginny shared a loveseat while Ron and Parvati took the floor in front of them. George took the last remaining seat on the couch, Calista in his lap, while Bill and Fleur stood by the fireplace.
“Harry dear, that was a lovely thought you had for Matthew.” Molly said as she and Arthur brought in tea.
“I agree. Dear boy, a breakthrough like that, a cure for lycanthropy, and no use whatsoever of Moon Frog hairs.” Xenophilius observed. “His career would be made.”
“But what did you say his timeframe was again?” Molly asked the group.
“The end of the year…” Hermione piped up.
“That’s not long…” Augusta said. “What’s his mother playing at?”
“It’s American pure-blood culture.” Arthur said. “They like to say they’re that little country on a hillock, but they’re just as traditionalist as we can be.”
“Agreed. It’s terrible what she’s putting him through.” Molly replied.
“And he’s tried everything?” George asked. There were solemn nods from Harry, Ginny, Ron, Neville, Luna, and Hermione most of all.
“Even Padma said she wasn’t interested.” Parvati said. “I asked the minute Ron told me what Matt called them together for. I feel terrible for him!”
“Oh, this really is all my fault!” Hermione wailed and buried her face in her hands.
“No, no it is not!” Molly said and stood up, moving over to Hermione and placing a hand on her shoulder. “If I’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that these kinds of things are not your fault, nor is it your responsibility to fix.”
Hermione looked up at Molly Weasley.
“It’s not?” she asked. “What if…I can fix it though?”
“Dear, it is not your place to marry him, just because you’re single. I know, things did not work out between you and Ronald, but that’s ok too!”
“Yeah, Hermione. Mum knows what she’s talking about. This isn’t your fault.” Ron said.
“But but the Yule Ball…” Hermione sputtered.
“You had your reasons for turning him down. And that’s good enough. Your job is to help him as best you can as well as doing what’s right for you.” Molly said. Hermione nodded and regained her composure, somewhat.
“Thank you.” Hermione said and stood, hugging Molly. She returned the hug, patting Hermione’s back.
“If you want to marry Matthew, you do it. But don’t do it out of necessity. Do it because you actually love him. If you don’t, then don’t, and help him another way.”
Hermione nodded and sat back down; she was clearly losing herself to thought as she reflected on what Molly had just told her.
- 3
- 4
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Writing's On The Wall	By : Carfunky Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 158 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

Writing's On The Wall