Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Returning to Sanity	By : AchillesTheGeek Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 31212 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter books or films, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 63
- 64
- 65
64. Returning to Matters Courting and Matrimonial
After the meeting at the Manor had concluded, Harry and Draco Flooed to the Burrow to find Ron and Hermione were already there, together with the other Grangers, Andromeda and Teddy. It was teeming down with rain, but fortunately the marquee from Harry's birthday celebration was yet to be struck, so everyone was outside, enjoying a late afternoon tea in its shelter, while the two babies were playing under the baby-gym, supervised by Kreacher.
"Harry! Draco!" Hermione exclaimed as they hove into view. Teddy's head immediately jerked up.
"Har!" he said. "Dray!"
Draco stood stock still, flabbergasted that Teddy had called his name – albeit truncated - as the tiny metamorphmagus crawled to them. Harry delightedly picked his godson up and swung him over to Draco, who happily caught him.
"How are you, Teddy?" Draco asked, and the baby gooed at him as his eyes turned silver and his hair white blond to match Draco's. As he came and sat down, Draco found Molly was pouring him a cup of tea, and Hermione was already tackling Harry about the meeting.
"Come on, Harry, spill! Arthur was gone for two hours, something had to have happened!" she was saying.
"Well," Harry said, taking a deep breath, and keeping his voice very quiet, "a good deal of it was confidential, Hermione. The Aurors are pretty sure that they know what's going on, and who's behind the attacks at Hogwarts; so they will take steps to make sure they stop."
Hermione took a long hard look at her friend. "Are you sure that will be enough?"
Harry thought for a second, then nodded. "Yes," he said, simply. "I trust Robin."
"OK," Hermione said. "Anything else I need to know?"
"Kingsley's agreed I'm to do an interview with Rita Skeeter about the Dragonrider Goblinfriend thing." And then, Harry had a Lumos moment. "Actually," he said slowly, and rather slyly, "we could all do it. The three of us."
To Harry's surprise, Hermione seemed to be quite taken with this suggestion. "That's a really good idea," she said. "Just for once, it won't all be about you."
She looked over to her fiancé, who was rather awkwardly comforting Miriam now that Teddy had deserted her.
"Ron!" she called. "Over here!"
Ron gratefully gave Miriam into Margaret's outstretched arms, and came over to sit with his two best friends.
"What's up?" he asked.
"I have to do an interview with Skeeter," Harry began.
"Sorry, mate," Ron said sympathetically; but Harry just grinned.
"… and you're going to help," he continued smoothly.
"What?" Ron said. "How?"
"Kingsley says we can tell people about the new titles," Hermione said. "So Harry thought it could be a united front: 'The Golden Trio honoured' or something like that."
"What, you mean we actually have to get interviewed by her?" Ron replied, looking daggers at her.
Hermione swatted him and continued, "come on, Ron. Here's a chance for it not to be all about Harry for once. You know how much he hates being in the spotlight."
Arthur, coming in to the tent at this point, repressed a snort as he watched the simple byplay between the two. He loved Hermione like a daughter, and he was glad to see she was pushing Ron along; he loved his son, but he knew he could be rather lazy and needed a forceful personality behind him if he was going to achieve his potential.
Ron sighed. "All right," he said, not sounding particularly happy about it. "When is the interview?"
"Six o'clock," Arthur replied, startling the trio, who had not seen him come in. "I've just set it up with the Prophet. And Harry, I've brought along someone who would like to see you."
Harry looked round; almost hiding behind Arthur he could see a familiar form.
"Dudley!" he yelled excitedly, and jumped up to greet his cousin. Dudley had been at Harry's birthday party; but he had been rather overwhelmed by the wizards and witches, so had left after only fifteen minutes. Harry had not really had a chance to talk to him, and was grateful that Arthur had brought him over now that there was time for discussion.
At the same time, the two babies, startled by the noise began to fuss, and he turned back to them. "Oh, Teddy, Miriam, it's all right."
"Who are those two?" Dudley asked. "I remember seeing them at the party, I wondered why two babies were there."
"Teddy is my godson," Harry replied, "and Miriam is Hermione's sister. So really they're both family. Come and meet them!"
Dudley came over and sat next to Draco, who offered him Teddy. Dudley looked rather uncertain, but took a deep breath and accepted the boy, who came to him without demur, though he did look a little apprehensive.
"It's all right, Teddy," Harry said soothingly, "this is Uncle Dudley."
"Uncle?" Dudley mouthed in surprise.
"Uh-ee," Teddy said, reaching out to Dudley's face. Dudley automatically grasped his hands, and the little boy giggled with delight.
"That's right, Teddy, that's Dudley," Harry responded enthusiastically. "And Dudley, I'm his godfather so you can be his uncle, OK?"
"Um, yeah, I guess," Dudley replied, looking round at the assembled company. He noticed at once that they were all smiling at him warmly, and it came as a shock that the sudden feeling of belonging he felt was the very thing he had been wanting, but never found, at Privet Drive.
"Looks like I have a whole new family," he said with a grin.
"Haven't I been telling you just that for weeks, young man?" Molly retorted.
"What?" Harry asked, confused. "You've been talking with Dudley?"
"I've been coming here once a week," Dudley replied. "Mrs Weasley—" and here Molly looked at him sternly, and he continued, "er – Molly got the creature to bring me over. I guess she took pity on me because I had to stay at school." Here Dudley seemed to feel a bit defensive, and continued, "there's no way I was going to stay with Vernon and Petunia, and they seem to have vanished anyway; but Smeltings let me stay on there after the exams until the results come out, and I've been sneaking out occasionally, meeting him in a lay-by and coming here. I hope that's all alright?"
It took Harry a moment to clock that Dudley was actually concerned that he might have done the wrong thing; the idea that Dudley cared what he thought was so novel that he just couldn't get his head around it for a few minutes.
"Alright?" he replied eventually. "It's wonderful! Molly, thank you so much for looking after him. And I'm sorry, Dudley, I haven't thought about you much since we came back from our break."
"That's understandable," Dudley replied. "I never thought much about you when you were at school, either."
"Yeah," Harry said, "but we're not going back to behaving like that, OK? We're brothers now you're a Potter; so, tell me all. You're staying at Smeltings till when?"
"Well, me and that Mr Malfoy had a chat and we decided it was better for me to stay there till I get my results – something about your house not having a proper postal address, so Royal Mail couldn't deliver them there. They're due out on the twentieth of August, and I'll need to leave Smeltings soon after that."
"And you'll know where you're studying?" Harry replied.
"Hopefully," Dudley replied. "If I get in on the first round."
"All right," Harry said. "Well, you can stay in Grimmauld after that as long as you need to, and we'll just have to see about getting your mail forwarded somehow."
Dudley gave a big grin, and Harry looked at him askance.
"Did you really think there would be a problem?" he asked, and smiled at his cousin and blood-brother. "We're family, all of us here, and we look after each other."
"Thanks, Harry," Dudley replied, and Harry smiled. There was more emotion and heart-felt gratitude in those two words than Dudley had ever shown him at Privet Drive.
-#-
To avoid having to deal with Rita Skeeter at his home, Arthur had set up an interview room at the Ministry. He invited the 'Golden Trio' and, at Harry's request, Draco, as the blond had also been present at the ceremony.
Rita Skeeter entered the room just on six o'clock, immaculately turned out as ever. Today's colour appeared to be mauve; her entire ensemble was in shades of the colour, and even her Quick-Quotes Quill seemed to have been transfigured from its familiar acid-green colour. But no matter; as soon as she produced it, Arthur took it from her and handed her another.
"I think we'll all find this more to our liking," he said.
"What is it?" Ron asked.
"One of the twins' failures," Arthur replied. "It was supposed to be an Automatic Essay-Writing Quill; but it never worked properly. They were trying to get one that would elaborate the facts without actually fabricating them. But what they ended up with is a Faithful Reporting Quill; it records what you actually said, only tidied up, no 'er's and 'um's and so forth."
Rita's face fell when she heard this. But she wasn't about to go against the Deputy Minister for Magic when it could cost her an interview with the Golden Trio.
"Right!" she said with a fake smile plastered on her face. "Let's start, shall we?"
They explained to her how they had received the invitation to Gringotts; and the ceremony. As they spoke, the Faithful Reporting Quill merrily wrote away on a piece of parchment. Harry sneaked a look occasionally and was delighted to see that, just as Arthur had said, it was creating a true but polished version of what they said. Rita was also scribbling notes of her own on another pad; these he could not read. When she wasn't scribbling, she did keep interrupting them; she was very obviously skeptical about the whole thing.
"Wizards? Honoured by Gringotts? And no-one found out?" she asked eventually, and the source of her disbelief was clear: not that it had happened so much as that it had not leaked.
"Goblins are very close-lipped, as you know," Arthur said gently. "And the Ministry has been suppressing details; we have to protect these three while they are students. But they have now agreed to let events become public."
"Very civic-minded of you," Rita said.
Harry was rather surprised by Arthur's presentation of events; what he had said was entirely true, but it also allowed the inference that the trio's safety was the only concern, and their agreement the only criterion for publication. And Rita had clearly not missed this, making a note on her pad. As she did so, Arthur gave Harry a sly wink and mouthed 'Lucius' at him. Harry got the point immediately: the words had been suggested by Lucius, rather than Arthur. But they did the job perfectly, Harry thought. It gave him quite a warm feeling that Lucius was still looking after him even though he wasn't there.
The interview moved on to the Sword of Gryffindor. Of course, it was now well-known that there was a sword in Gringotts' lobby, which the goblins said was the Sword of Gryffindor; but it was clear that Rita didn't believe that either.
"Oh yes," Hermione assured her. "It really is the Sword of Gryffindor. Headmistress McGonagall presented it to the goblins as a sort of a peace offering. She said something about it being a symbol that the … what was it?"
"That 'the Wizarding world and the Goblin nation can work together and have shared treasures without petty jealousies'," Draco supplied.
Hermione beamed at him. "That's right," she said. "Goblins have different views of ownership; they think the sword should have been returned to them when Godric Gryffindor died."
"Very interesting," Rita said, her tone making quite clear that it was nothing of the sort. "But what if it is needed again? I understand Mr Longbottom would not have killed that awful snake without it?"
Harry explained how the sword returned to Hogwarts via the Sorting Hat when it was needed, so would surely do so again should a further need arise.
Rita asked a few more questions; it was nearing seven when Arthur exclaimed that these students would be wanting their dinners, and thanked Rita for her time.
"No, no, the pleasure is all mine," the reporter said as she left the interview.
"That's what we're worried about," Ron said under his breath.
-#-
Monday 3 August
Having dined at the Burrow and returned to Hogwarts Castle quite late, the four students didn't really catch up with their cohort until breakfast time. As they walked in to the Great Hall, Harry and Draco could feel the frostiness in the atmosphere; the normal chatter from the Beauxbatons students seemed to have halved, and everyone else seemed to have become very quiet as a result.
Looking over to the French girls, the source of the problem was quite clear: instead of sitting together and jabbering away at each other like they did at every mealtime, Marie Thibault and Eva Thillin were sitting at opposite ends of the table, and pointedly ignoring each other. Harry decided it would be fun to make mischief.
"Is everything all right, Madame Dubois?" he asked innocently, as he seated himself nearly opposite the Beauxbatons chaperone, who herself was sitting next to Marie Thibault.
"No!" the Frenchwoman wailed. "Everything, it is decidedly not 'all right'! Marie and Eva, zey are always ze best of friends, but today! Zey will not even sit near each other! And zey will not tell me what it is ze matter! Alors! My students always get along so well! What can 'ave 'appened?"
"Zey were most 'appy at the lunch on Friday," Blaise chipped in, and Harry was amused to notice that the Italian had subconsciously adopted the same sort of pronunciation as the French girls.
"Yes!" Madame Dubois replied. "Eet must be because of that woman they were with! That Glinda Daba-whatever! She 'as poisoned my girls against each other!"
Draco, who had quietly sat himself next to Harry, fought hard to suppress the smirk that formed on his lips, and schooled his features to their normal neutral mask.
"I'm sure that can't be true," he said mildly. "Our Aurors are highly trained." He turned to Marie. "Marie, will you tell us what happened?"
Marie looked up, sniffling, her face red and blotched. For an instant, Draco thought there was something actually wrong; but then he spotted the little signs: a slight twinkle in the eye; a tremor on the mouth; no, Marie was faking it for all she was worth. But Draco had to hand it to her: she was doing a brilliant job.
"So – many – things … And she – she called me – UGLY!" Marie said haltingly through her sobs.
"Non! Non!" Eva cried from the other end. "I said 'er beauty was plain!"
"See!" Marie hissed, jumping to her feet. "She thinks – I'm plain!"
And with that, Marie ran out of the Hall.
"Merde!" Madame Dubois swore softly, and rose to her feet. "I 'ad better go and find 'er," she said wearily, and stomped off towards Dumbledore Tower.
Harry leaned back onto Draco.
"A lovely bit of theatre," he whispered into the blond's ear.
"I thought so," Draco whispered back.
At this point, the talk calmed down as the morning owls arrived with the Daily Prophet and the daily mail. With a groan, Harry opened the paper. It was every bit as calm and circumspect as he had expected. At the top of the page, a garish headline stood out, over a photo of the three of them that Harry recognised as one that had been taken at the Memorial service.

GOBLINS HONOUR GOLDEN TRIO!
Can Wizarding Honours be far behind?

"I bloody hope so," Harry said softly, mostly to himself. "I don't want any more. 'Destroyer of Voldemort' is bad enough."
He read on, slightly heartened to find that the article did actually extol the efforts of all three of them, and gave Hermione credit for the brilliant idea of riding the dragon out. Good, Harry thought to himself. Someone else can deal with the fame for a change.
Of course, the students all knew about the goblin ceremony and the names that Harry, Hermione and Ron had been given, thanks to Ron spilling the beans almost two weeks ago; but Harry could tell, by the sharp intake of breath, the moment that the Hogwarts students started reading the article beneath.

SWORD OF GRYFFINDOR AT GRINGOTTS!
We can now confirm that the Sword displayed at Gringotts for the last ten days is indeed the fabled Sword of Gryffindor, as claimed by the Goblins. It seems that the Sword was presented to the Goblins by none other than Hogwarts' Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, as a gesture of peace and a symbol that was can work together, Goblins and Wizards alike.
See more, p12.
Have your say: Powerful act, or misguided idealism? Opinions page, p13; editorial p14.

Harry put down the paper. It was immediately obvious from the phrasing what the Prophet thought about that last question, but to be honest he didn't really care what any of their opinion writers thought. He looked across at his classmates, particularly Neville; the blond Gryffindor was the only student he knew of, apart from himself, to have wielded the Sword in anger, so probably the only one with any real right to express an opinion.
"What do you think, Nev?"
"I'm a bit gobsmacked, to be honest, Harry," Neville replied, and Harry started to frown, not sure how to take that. Neville, seeing the frown, smiled at him. "Don't get me wrong," he continued, "I think it's a brilliant idea. It's just incredible that it took a woman to have the balls to do it."
Ron very nearly choked on his tea, while Harry grinned, at both the sentiment and the fact that the pureblood had used such coarse language. He picked up his mail; the pile was enormous, and he was pleased to see that Hermione and Ron had piles nearly as large. He calmly cast Draco's sorting charm on the three piles, and elected to send simple polite 'thank you' notes to the many well wishers; and, after a moment's thought, similar notes to those who had written hate mail, deciding that being polite and kind in return would be the best way to piss them off.
He was left with only a couple of real letters; the top one was from Ken Barnett and he opened it quickly, eager to see if Darren Dyson's trial was over. He scanned it quickly, and broke into a broad grin.
"What's up, Harry?" Hermione demanded.
"Darren Dyson, the guy who got the injunction against me, has just been convicted of blackmail," he replied.
"Wicked!" Ron said. "Is he going to prison?" Harry nodded. "For how long?"
"Ten years," Harry replied, his eyes sparkling. This was, at last, some measure of vindication for him; and he found it made him absurdly happy.
"'Arry?" Gabrielle Delacour asked, teasingly, "now that ze 'ole world knows, do we have to call you Monsieur 'Arry Potter Dragonrider Goblinfriend ze Boy-'OO-Lived?"
"And Destroyer of Voldemort," Seamus added with a grin.
Harry laughed. Even though he hated all the titles, the teasing couldn't touch the good mood he was in from the letter.
Ron, noticing that Harry seemed to be in a happy mood, decided it was a good time to broach something he'd been worried about for a few days.
"Harry?" he asked tentatively.
His raven-haired looked over at him fondly. "Yeah, mate?" he replied.
"Um, there's something Hermione and me want to ask you. Can we talk? Maybe you and me, while Draco and Hermione are at Arithmancy?"
"Sure," Harry said, rather mystified at Ron's behaviour. Surely his friends knew they could discuss anything with him, and they didn't need appointments. "How about we meet in our room?"
"That'd be brilliant," Ron replied with a grin, and went back to his breakfast.
-#-
Eva Thillin was beside herself with frustration. She had to get hold of that Thibault brat one more time. But the girl was playing hard to get. This stupid spat was so petty! And so ill-timed! It was almost as though she knew …
Surely not. Thillin had covered her tracks well, she thought; there was no way that stupid girl would have worked out what was really happening. Add to that the fact that her contact's memory charms were outstanding, and that they'd got that meddling Auror to do the legilimens rather than Ionescu; no, her position should be solid.
What to do? She had to plant a memory. Just one memory. Just one little accidental brush. She looked over her timetable for the day. Charms, Arithmancy, double Potions. Hmm. Potter didn't take Arithmancy; that would probably be the best opportunity. She would just have to hope she could engineer it.
She just had to.
-#-
Harry waited till Eva had left the Charms class to quietly ask Marie for a moment. She was ecstatic to be asked; but the joy on her face faded somewhat when she learned what Harry wanted her to do.
But this was obviously important – important enough for Harry Potter to ask about. And he was right, the Auror had helped her greatly, and she would do this one thing for them. One thing to help, and she could then keep away from that horrible, manipulative cow Eva for good.
-#-
After his chat with Marie, Harry returned to Dumbledore Tower, and found that Ron was already waiting for him outside the door to his and Draco's room.
"Come in, Ron," he said, entering the room and dumping his bag. He conjured two armchairs and sat down in one, gesturing to Ron to take the other. "What's this about?"
"Um, well it struck me and Hermione that you two have pretty much nabbed the only weekend that is possible for a wedding before the end of school," he began. "I mean, we could get married over Christmas, but Hermione is mental enough already about exams, she'll be impossible by then."
"I see," Harry said. "And you were wondering if perhaps we could have a joint wedding?"
"Um… yeah," Ron said. "I mean, tell me if you think it's a crap idea and would ruin your special day-"
"It's brilliant, Ron," Harry replied. "We're going to invite a lot of the same people; and if we get married at different times, we're going to have to avoid having them close together as we'll both want to go to each others' wedding."
"You're sure?" Ron asked.
"Absolutely," Harry replied. "Of course, I'll have to ask Draco about it, and you'll have to ask Hermione-"
"Nah," Ron said. "It was her idea, actually."
"OK," Harry said. "That only leaves one problem."
"What's that?" Ron asked.
"Well, er, I was going to ask you to be my best man," Harry said, rather sheepish that he had not asked before now.
"Well, of course I would have, like a shot. Maybe you could ask Dudley?"
Harry grinned. "That's brilliant," he said. "Who will you ask?"
"Well, it would have been you," Ron replied, "but Mum's pressuring me to ask Percy. He's really working on being part of the family again. And he doesn't really know any embarrassing stories about me to tell at the wedding."
"Right, well, we just need to discuss it with Draco," Harry said, smiling, and Ron reached out and shook his friend by the shoulder.
"Thanks," he said, "I thought this was going to be difficult."
"Why?" Harry asked. "We're friends, remember."
"Yep," Ron agreed. "Best friends."
-#-
"Marie! Wait up!" Eva called to the girl she still thought of as her best friend as they were leaving Arithmancy.
Marie turned around. You can do this, she said to herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Draco watching. She had to trust that he would not let anything bad happen.
"What is it, Eva?" she said, letting her voice sound tired and teary, as though she were emotionally wrung out.
"I don't know why you are zo upset," the other said, looking down; and then, raising her head to look Marie in the eye, "but can we still be friends?"
As Eva glanced into her eye, Marie could feel faint tendrils, and there was a tug on the memory she now knew to be false. Something had been injected into it, something stirring up inside it.
Marie took a deep breath. She would let this work itself out, because Harry had asked her to; but she was done with Eva. This was positive, definitive proof that the girl was trying to manipulate her.
"I don't think zo," she said bluntly, and turned on her heel and left the classroom.
Draco looked closely at Eva. She looked crestfallen; but he could see it was a front. Underneath was a face that had achieved what it had set out to, and, for the moment, was content.
Draco hoped it would not be long before they removed that contentment.
-#-
"What did Ron want to talk to Harry about?" Draco asked Hermione as they exited the Arithmancy classroom.
"Ah," Hermione said, picking up her bag. "Walk with me."
She took them outside to a quiet little corner with a stone bench, and sat down, motioning for him to sit next to her.
"Ron and I were discussing wedding dates last week," she said, and stopped.
Draco looked at her; and, as she had anticipated, worked out the whole thing from that one hint.
"You want to get married on the twenty-sixth of September?" he asked.
Hermione nodded.
"A joint wedding?" he asked, just to be sure.
Another nod.
"Harry will love that," he said simply.
"How do you feel about it?" Hermione asked. "We're stealing your date, after all."
Draco looked at her, deep in thought for a few moments, then shook his head, evidently unable to reach a decision. "Yeah, you are," he said at last. "Stealing the date, I mean. I'm not really sure how I feel about it, actually. Can you give me some time to think about it?"
Hermione smiled at him. "Of course. Thank you for even considering it."
Draco looked at her as though she had suddenly grown another head. "We're friends," he said, simply, as though that explained everything.
And, somewhat to Hermione's surprise, it did.
-#-
It was just after dinner that it became clear to Marie exactly what Eva had implanted. She surreptitiously sought out Harry, who was studying in the library.
"Excuse-moi, Monsieur Potter," she said, then looked with interest at the parchment in front of him. "But what iz this you are studying?"
"Oh," Harry replied, his voice modest, "just some potions calculations for Draco. He's trying to work out if he can build a potion to help with animagi. How can I help you, Miss Thibault?"
"Please," the girl giggled, "call me Marie. Anyway, did Monsieur Draco tell you that Eva spoke to me after Arithmancy?"
"Yes, he did," Harry replied; then he clearly suddenly got the point. "Ah, have you remembered something?"
"Yes, I 'ave," she replied. "Someone said—"
"Please don't tell me," Harry replied. "I will let Robin know that you have something to tell him, alright?"
"Yes, that is fine. Zank you so much!"
Before she went to bed, Marie received an owl, politely inquiring if she would be available to see Auror Banks directly after breakfast. She smiled as she sent off her acceptance. She couldn't wait for this to all be over.
-#-
"Draco?" Harry asked as they got ready for bed.
"Mmm?" the blond replied as he pulled his jumper over his head.
Harry, not quite sure how to broach the subject, decided to do the Gryffindor thing and jump right in. "Ron came by to discuss wedding dates with me," he said.
"And they want to get married in a joint wedding with us," Draco finished for him.
"Yes—how did you know?" Harry replied.
"Hermione," they both said together, and Harry felt foolish for not having expected it.
"So, what do you think?" Harry asked nervously.
Draco was silent for a moment, and then made up his mind. "I think it's going to be a big wedding," he replied, and snuggled under the covers.
"You're sure? You're OK with it?" Harry asked, as he joined Draco in bed.
"Yes," Draco replied. "As of now. We're friends, after all; and I know it will make you very happy."
"That's true," Harry said. "But I don't want to do it just for me."
"No, but I do. I really do, Harry. I'm OK with this. But we should owl my mother and make sure she is, too."
And so saying, Draco got out of bed and walked over to his desk, where he took out parchment and quill and wrote out a letter on the spot. Opening the window, he called for Ozymandias, who must have been nearby as he sailed through the window almost immediately.
"Take this to mother at the Manor," Draco instructed. "Bring the reply in the morning."
And the owl happily flew off into the night.
Draco closed the window and crawled back into bed, wrapping his lover in a big hug.
"Ooh!" Harry said. "You're all cold now."
"So warm me up!" Draco replied, and they cuddled together happily.
"Have I told you lately that I love you?" Harry said.
"Yes," Draco drawled, "but feel free to tell me again."
-#-
Tuesday 4 August
"Now, Miss Thibault," Robin said, having settled his visitor with a cup of hot chocolate, her preferred morning beverage, "I believe you have something to tell me?"
"Yes," Marie said. "I 'ave remembered somezing. From that night when my parents were taken."
"I see. So the memory, which we know was false, has been tampered with?" Robin asked.
"Zat is correct, yes."
"And what did you remember?"
"It eez not a very – co-something, 'ow you say, together?"
"Coherent?" Robin suggested, and Marie beamed.
"Yes, zat is right, It is not zo coherent – just a mention of somezing called 'Devil's Crag'. Somezing will 'appen zere on the eighth of August."
" I see," Robin said, "and do you have any idea what?"
" No," Marie replied, "just that it seemed important."
" I see," Robin said, handing her a copy of her statement that his recording quill had taken down verbatim. "Well if that's all, please sign this statement, and I shan't keep you any longer."
Marie did so. "Zo, I can now cut 'er out completely, yes?"
Robin smiled at her. He could quite understand Marie not wanting to have anything further to do with her former friend.
" Yes, indeed," he replied. "And we might, with your permission, have Mind Healer Ionescu check you out after Friday's lesson? Just to make sure that nothing else is there."
" Zat would be good, zank you," Marie said, and took her leave.
Crockford, who was partnering Robin for the day, and had been present at the interview as a witness, but kept silent, now spoke up.
" Seems pretty clear to me," he said. "Matches the transcript from yesterday pretty much exactly."
" Indeed," Robin replied. "Hmm."
" What's on your mind?" Crockford asked.
Robin thought for a few seconds; but why not tell him?
" I think I should probably discuss this further with Mr Malfoy. Rosier wants us to storm them at the ritual; why? He might have some ideas."
" Makes sense," the other Auror agreed. "He's pretty good at cunning plans, that one. But you haven't got long; aren't you teaching this afternoon?"
" No, Professor Merrythought is running through most of the remaining theory with them. It's an exceptional class, Dandelus; they soak everything up like sponges."
" Good-oh," the other replied, deciding not to suggest the quality of the teachers might have something to do with it. Robin Banks had a big enough head already, and Dandelus Crockford was not one to throw compliments around like confetti. "Well, I'll sit in on the class just in case, and you can visit Mr Malfoy this afternoon, if he's available. And agreeable, of course."
" Thanks," Robin replied.
-#-
It was lunch-time before Ozymandias arrived with the reply. Draco had wondered why he hadn't arrived at breakfast-time, but as he read the letter he understood why. His mother, ever mindful of the proprieties, had Floo-called both Molly Weasley and Margaret Granger to ensure that they all were happy with the arrangement, which apparently had been thoroughly thrashed out over morning tea. Draco smiled as he read the letter; he could practically see his mother's influence at work. The wedding was to be at the Manor, as that had the most room; Molly and Margaret would be providing most of the food, while Lucius and Arthur were charged with the drinks.
Once they had all finished lunch, Draco pulled Harry, Hermione and Ron into a quiet corner.
" Hermione, I have made a decision about your request from yesterday," Draco began.
" Yes?" Hermione replied, tensing up visibly, while Ron looked a bit mystified until Hermione hissed "about the wedding" to him.
" Oh," the red-head responded.
" Yes," said Draco with a smirk, then repeated his remark from the previous evening to Harry as he passed the letter to Hermione. "It's going to be a big wedding."
Hermione read the letter and her whole body relaxed. By the end of it, as she handed the letter to Ron, she was beaming.
" Oh Draco!" she said. "I don't know what to say."
"' Thank you' would be enough," the blond rejoined.
" I don't think it really would be," she replied. "But, thank you."
" Of course," Draco replied. "It's what friends do."
-#-
Lucius was indeed available, and delighted to make time for Robin. He was happy to hear that Eva Thillin had implanted this one last, false memory; and that Marie was going to cut ties for good.
"So," Robin asked, "do you have any theories about why Rosier would want to sabotage the ritual?"
"No honour among thieves," Lucius replied promptly, and, seeing that Robin looked bewildered by this comment, continued, "Rosier has pretty much failed at Hogwarts. That means Harry is still in the picture, and I think he hadn't counted on that. So he's worried that the plan needs something else that will entice us to give him what he wants. If you attack Barnes and Rookwood during the ritual, they will probably do something stupid, and get caught. He doesn't need them – remember, he knows the phrase he needs to unlock the memories – so he'll happily sacrifice them to get Umbridge into position."
"How do you mean, into position?" Robin asked.
"She wants to be Minister. So first, he'll say that she needs to be treated kindly, given memory loss. Then, I'd expect it to become a call for a fresh trial as her memories will say she was under Barnes's hidden Imperio the whole time. He knows we'll find it hard to avoid that."
"And then …" Robin prompted, musing on the older man's word.
"And then, I imagine, he will have witnesses lined up to show corruption in the Ministry and that Umbridge was wickedly misjudged."
"Wow," Robin exclaimed. "Do you really think something like that could work?"
"Oh yes, a Rosier would make it work," Lucius replied gravely. But then he added, with a smirk, "but it won't work now that we have wind of it. Just as long as he doesn't suspect we know. Otherwise he'll pull his head in and be the devil to catch."
"Thank you, sir. That's very clear. I shouldn't trespass on your time any further."
At this point there came a knock on the door, and Narcissa entered. Both men got to their feet as she did so.
"Ah!" she said, a genuine and warm smile on her face, "Auror Banks! How lovely to see you again. Will you join us for afternoon tea? I thought we might have it in the garden."
"Well, ma'am," Robin replied, "I was just leaving…"
"Please, do stay," Narcissa enjoined him.
"I'd love to," Robin replied.
-#-
Afternoon tea was served in Harry's garden. Robin found it very relaxing to sit in the garden, which was full of late summer blooms and lovely scents wafting about.
Conversation turned to Harry's birthday party, and how pleasant it had been; and then naturally to Harry and Draco's wedding.
"You will come, of course?" Narcissa asked him.
"Of course, I should be delighted," Robin replied. "Please let me know if I can be of any assistance. I don't yet know what the Auror roster will be that far out; but if I'm on duty, I could perhaps arrange to be here in an official capacity?"
"Oh," Lucius said, with a dismissive wave of his hand, "I'm sure we can sort that out."
"There is one other thing," the Malfoy matriarch added, fixing Robin with a very maternal stare. "Would I be right in thinking we may have another engagement to celebrate first?"
Robin did a swift double-take as he realised that Narcissa was alluding to Ginny and himself.
"Um – I do hope so," he replied.
Narcissa smiled, pleased to have guessed correctly. "I know that Auror salaries are not particularly generous; and in that case, you will be needing a special piece of jewelry, is that not so?"
Robin blushed. "Um, yes, that's right."
Narcissa smiled. "I wonder if this would suit?" she asked, and passed him a small box.
Robin opened the box and stared gobsmacked at the ring inside. The thin band of gold sported a purple amethyst surrounded by two small emeralds. He imagined it in situ on Ginny's finger; it would, he realised, be perfect.
"Is it not acceptable?" Lucius asked, his face schooled to impassivity, his eyes with the faintest twinkle that would have given away his amusement had Robin been looking.
"It is beautiful," Robin said. "But I cannot accept such a valuable gift."
"And why not?" Lucius replied. "Not only are we very fond of you, Mr Banks, but we are practically family – Harry may not be blood to us, but he is our son in every other way that matters; and Ginny is his sister in much the same sense. So you are practically marrying into the family. As such, we cannot allow you to feel inferior."
"I see," Robin said, "you're not going to let me refuse, are you?"
"No," Narcissa said, her face serious, but bordering on a smile.
"Good, that's settled then," Lucius continued. "Now, I understand that Miss Weasley's birthday is Tuesday the eleventh? Were you planning on …"
"Yes," Robin said, "I was going to organise dinner out somewhere."
"Ah," said Lucius, passing over a slip of parchment, "there again, I regret I have taken a liberty …"
Robin opened the parchment, and his eyebrows shot up.
"I can't…" he began, then stopped. "I couldn't afford it," he said, bluntly.
"You don't have to," Lucius replied.
Robin looked at him appraisingly. "I see," he said. "And just what favour, I wonder, will you ask in exchange for your generosity?"
"Looking a gift hippogriff in the mouth?" Lucius asked, playfully. "Very wise. I wonder, Mr Banks, which house you would have been in, had you gone to Hogwarts?"
"Please, call me Robin," the Auror replied. "And according to my family, there was never any doubt about that. While I have always been called charming, I have always been very good at using that charm to manipulate people to get what I want."
Lucius roared with laughter. "I see, Robin, that you are an honest knave!" he chortled. "Yes, I can see you in Slytherin. A shame you were at Durmstrang; Draco lost a good role model. Anyway, in exchange? No favour, Robin. I don't need favours at the moment, I need allies. And I think we already are that, really."
Robin smiled. "If that is your price, Mr Malfoy, I agree."
"Lucius, please," Lucius replied. "We are nearly family, after all."
-#-
Wednesday 5 August
Rosier sat alone in his office, drinking his afternoon tea and reading and rereading the memo in front of him. It was a report from his little spy inside the Aurors. There was nothing definite, of course; but the word was that something was happening on Saturday night. All hush-hush; but people will let little hints slip, and Angelo was always quick to pick up on hints. That was what made him so valuable, Rosier thought. That, and the fact that one slip would see his father exposed as a secret Death Eater.
It was very satisfying to have such threats hanging over people; it made it so easy to deal with them. But business before pleasure, he thought, steepling his fingers and deciding just what his next move should be.
It was clear that the message from the Thillin girl had been planted, and believed. Good. The Aurors would climb all over Devil's Crag; but they were not so stupid as to interrupt a partial ritual, he was sure of it. Banks was very irritating; but he was also very smart, and Rosier was confident that he would let Rookwood and Barnes finish, if only to be sure of Umbridge's sanity. But perhaps he shouldn't rely overly on the Auror to work out what was going on. Yes, Angelo could plant something about full moon memory rituals, and suggest that was a very bad idea to interrupt them.
Best to be sure, he decided, drafting a very short, and very private memo, then, as always, heavily charming it so only the recipient could read it, and no-one else could even tell where it had come from. Then he used the standard Ministry charm to turn it into a paper plane and sent it on its way.
He smiled. Things were going well. He would have liked to have been there to see Rookwood's face when they were caught; but unfortunately that would stretch co-incidence altogether too far. His thoughts turned to the two escaped wizards. Rookwood was smart, and might conceivably be useful in the future; but Barnes was really a liability. How to get rid of him permanently?
The idea came to him instantly, and he laughed mirthlessly at the thought of how simple it was. Cast Barnes as the next Yaxley: produce some evidence that he had been throwing memory spells and Imperio around, implicate him in the supply of the false galleons used at Hogwarts, and the Ministry would fall over itself to lock him away forever. That Barnes was in Azkaban when the galleons were supplied was no real issue; he had the paperwork to show that they were put in place after Barnes's escape. Paperwork, he thought with a grin, was never really a problem.
All of this could only help him to exonerate Umbridge, when the time came. If, that is, it did. He was still hopeful that he might succeed on his own. Doge couldn't stick around forever; it was just a case of being there when he finally stepped down, and seen to be the obvious choice to replace him. In some ways, the issue was to delay his retirement long enough for Rosier to shine.
He sat and pondered this until it was time to go home. It was a most pleasant train of thought.
-#-
Thursday 6 August
Minerva McGonagall had instituted a staff meeting every Thursday, ten minutes after classes finished. That gave them fifty minutes before dinner; which meant that the tendency for meetings to drag on was curtailed by people's hunger, which Minerva found very appealing. She hated long meetings.
It had been noticed that the attacks on students had calmed down somewhat; the headmistress explained that she had a personal assurance from the Head Auror that the culprit at Hogwarts had been identified and effectively neutralised.
"Neutralised?" Professor Sprout spluttered. "What does that mean? If they've been removed, why not say so? Though all the students were accounted for in Herbology on Tuesday. And if the student or students are still here, why not remove them?"
"I asked Head Auror Robards the same thing," Minerva responded sympathetically, "and he told me it was for operational reasons."
"And just what exactly does that mean?" Professor Babbling asked.
"It means," Professor Slughorn replied, a touch acerbically, "that they're not going to tell you."
"That's a touch cynical, don't you think, Horace?" the headmistress asked, but the corners of her mouth were creased in a smile, and these colleagues, who knew her well, gathered at once that she was only teasing. "But I'm afraid you are right. At least, he would not explain anything. Professor Banks, who cannot be here this evening because he is still on duty and we felt it better that he be watching the students, assures me that he is well aware of the situation, and has it in hand."
"Meaning he's roped in Potter and Draco and their cronies to help," Snape's portrait muttered under his breath.
"I suspect you are right there, Severus," McGonagall replied drily. "I'm afraid the tradition of the students knowing more than the staff may not be entirely history. But that brings us neatly to a matter that a number of staff have raised. As you have all told me, these students seem to be extremely advanced; Professor Flitwick's ambitious, not-so-secret goal of finishing teaching by the end of the calendar year is beginning to look achievable."
Filius Flitwick bowed.
"And in addition, the two students former Headmaster Severus Snape has alluded to are well ahead of even this schedule. Libatius, you were telling me about their potions work?"
"Yes," Professor Borage began, puffing himself up self-importantly. "In my view, they have already obtained NEWT-level proficiency in Potions; Mr Malfoy is, in my view, quite ready to begin a Mastery in Potions."
Snape's portrait choked on these words. "Potter is competent at Potions?" he said, disbelievingly.
"Well, you did give him your notes," Libatius answered fiercely, "and he had taken them to heart."
"I think, Severus," Dumbledore's portrait chipped in, "that Mr Potter's magical ability has increased beyond measure since his defeat of Voldemort."
"Hmpf," Snape replied.
"You'd better believe it," Flitwick said. "This year, I have yet to set him a Charms exercise he can't do first try." At this, Snape's eyebrows started to rise.
"His Herbology essays are second only to Neville Longbottom," Sprout added.
"And he has walked in to my Ancient Runes class as a complete beginner and eclipsed even Miss Granger," Professor Babbling continued. "So, Severus, I think you may need to revise your opinion of Mr Potter. And put your eyebrows down, dear, you look ridiculous like that."
Snape, whose eyebrows had indeed gone as far up his face as they could, did indeed look rather comical; but as soon as he was alerted to it, his face resumed its usual scowl.
"Well," he said, "if they're so good, why not have them sit the early NEWTs Aptitude tests?"
"That is an excellent idea," McGonagall agreed.
"What are these tests?" Professor Merrythought asked.
"Ah, of course, you would not have encountered them before," the Headmistress replied. "NEWTs Aptitude tests are a special avenue used where students are ready for NEWTS well before their cohort. If the students pass, they are awarded their NEWTs; otherwise, they can resit the exams with their cohort without penalty. In any event, they are given a moderation score which allows us to evaluate how successful our teaching has been, and areas that may require improvement."
"Well, I must agree. That sounds excellent," Professor Merrythought replied. "I'm quite sure Mr Potter is ready for his NEWTs exam in Defense; he is practically one of the teachers anyway. When would you suggest they sit them?"
"There is a week at the end of their first teaching block dedicated to revision," Professor Flitwick replied. "They could easily set the tests during that week. I understand they are getting married at the end of the following week?"
The headmistress nodded in reply.
"Then it seems to me that this would dovetail neatly," Flitwick finished.
"If, of course, they are agreeable," Headmistress McGonagall added promptly. "There is, of course, no requirement for them to do so. Filius, would you discuss the matter with them?"
"Yes, of course, Minerva," the Charms Professor replied, making a note on the parchment in front of him. Professor Flitwick rarely forgot anything; but he always made notes of anything important, just in case he did.
With this, the meeting went on to discuss other matters. But there wasn't much interest in them; the staff had heard about a wedding, and weddings of their students always touched them deeply. It was always so lovely to see their students settling down.
And, more than one of them thought, especially lovely that Harry Potter would be happy.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have set up a thread for replies at http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/56042-review-replies-for-returning-to-sanity/ . Please indicate which chapter you are reading, as aff doesn't make that clear. I will generally try to reply to posts before posting a new chapter.
The story is betaed by the wonderful BickyMonster, http://members.adult-fanfiction.org/profile.php?no=1296919762, with assistance from ruth_lity. The remaining errors are all my own!
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Returning to Sanity