"My relatives?"
Harry pondered this, finding it hard to imagine a scenario where the Dursleys would come to Hogwarts to visit him.
A godfather? That was possible.
"Do you still have living relatives?"
Poppy Sweating asked from beside him.
Harry: ?
He looked down at Poppy and gave her a nudge with his foot.
"Look at what you're saying. You're one of my relatives too—unless you've passed away?"
"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh." Poppy let out a string of five "ohs," then shrank her head back. "I know who's here—you absolutely must not tell Veratia what I just said... absolutely not..."
"So you do know fear?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Hehe!" Poppy giggled. She looked adorable and very innocent.
Harry didn't say anything else. He stood up, walked through the corridor off the Great Hall, and pushed open the door to the antechamber.
Viktor Krum was in a corner of the room, speaking rapid Bulgarian with his dark-haired parents; he had inherited his father's hooked nose. On the other side, Fleur was jabbering away in French with her mother. Fleur's little sister, Gabrielle, was holding her mother's hand.
She waved at Harry; Harry waved back and grinned.
Then he saw Mrs. Weasley and Bill standing before the fireplace, beaming at him. Not far away sat Sirius, elegantly reading a newspaper.
"Surprise!" Mrs. Weasley said warmly.
Harry walked forward, beaming.
"We thought we'd come and watch you, Harry!" Mrs. Weasley bent down and kissed his cheek. "We wanted to come for the Second Task, but we just couldn't get away."
"Oh, how are you?" Bill grinned, shaking Harry's hand. "Charlie wanted to come too, but he couldn't get time off. He said your performance against the Horntail was incredible—simply unbelievable. I really can't imagine a fourth-year student facing a dragon and defeating it head-on. It's an impossible feat!"
Harry noticed Fleur Delacour eyeing Bill with great interest over her mother's shoulder. It was clear she had no objection to long hair or earrings with fangs.
Pretty girls always liked Bill's... well, his type, Harry realized.
But what Harry didn't know was that it was simply the classic appeal of the "bad boy"—much like how rock stars always seem to attract a certain kind of rebellious girl.
"I suggest you save your surprise; there will be plenty more to shock you later," Sirius said to Bill without looking up, seemingly very interested in the contents of his newspaper.
"I really didn't expect you all to come watch the task," Harry said happily. "I know Sirius has been busy lately, ha... Heaven knows, I actually thought it was the Dursleys who had arrived."
"They won't be coming," Sirius said, looking down. "But that great lump of an uncle of yours asked me to pass on a message: stay safe, and don't let some magic trick cost you your life."
"That sounds exactly like the Dursleys," Harry laughed heartily. "A very familiar flavor. I used to hear them talk like that all the time, though usually not in such a polite version."
"Indeed, Muggles never seem to understand what manners are," Sirius said, unable to suppress a smile. He recalled Vernon Dursley's red-faced, awkward expression when he had said those words.
"But your aunt..."
Sirius pulled a photograph from his pocket and handed it to Harry. "Your aunt asked me to give this to you. It's a photo of your mother... She said she hopes your mother can watch over you and keep you safe."
Harry took the photograph. It was a picture of his mother standing beneath a tree. She looked to be about sixteen or seventeen; her smile was brilliant and warm, like a little sun.
He looked at it for a moment, then tucked the photo into his robes.
"I'll be safe," Harry said earnestly. "Don't worry, Sirius, I'll be perfectly fine."
"Oh," Sirius said. "I'm not worried about your safety. I just think the magical creatures placed in that maze are about to have a run of very bad luck—and, well, you know."
As he spoke, Sirius winked at Harry.
Harry knew Sirius was referring specifically to Voldemort.
"What can I say?" He shrugged and sat down on a nearby chair.
"Where is Veratia?" he asked Sirius. "Honestly, I actually thought she would come."
"Have you not read the newspaper?" Sirius shook the paper in his hand. "Oh, my dear godson, this is the biggest news of the day—explosive news, one might say..."
Yes, Harry thought, truly explosive. Poppy, Hermione, and I have all had our minds blown...
"Of course I saw it," Harry said. "But that doesn't stop me from wondering, does it?"
"You have a point," Sirius said, spreading his hands.
"Is it the news about Miss Grindelwald?" Mrs. Weasley asked. "I saw it this morning too. Arthur spat his milk all over the newspaper—he couldn't believe Miss Grindelwald, at only seventeen, has become the Minister of such a large Ministry of Magic..."
"Oh, it wasn't just Mr. Weasley," Harry said. "I sprayed pumpkin juice all over my paper when I saw the news, too."
"She is indeed impressive." Bill looked around at the walls, chuckling. "Ah, it's good to be back... Eh? Isn't that the Fat Lady? What's she doing here? Isn't she supposed to be guarding Gryffindor Tower?"
Following the direction of Bill's finger, Harry saw the Fat Lady waving at them from inside the frame of her friend, Violet.
"Oh," said Harry. "The Fat Lady doesn't work the day shift. A Sphinx guards the door during the day; she only takes over at six o'clock."
"A Sphinx?" Bill said with interest. "Oh, I remember now. It seems those two pranksters mentioned it to me. Come to think of it, that's an Egyptian specialty."
Harry knew that Bill worked for Gringotts in Egypt, and Sphinxes appeared in Egyptian mythology.
"The Fat Lady," Mrs. Weasley said with a nostalgic expression. "She was there when I was at school. One night I didn't get back to the dormitory until four in the morning, and she gave me a terrible scolding... I can't imagine what would have happened to me if a Sphinx had been guarding the door back then."
Bill's focus, however, was clearly different. He latched onto the key point...
"What were you doing outside the dormitory at four in the morning?" he asked his mother, staring at her in astonishment, as if he had never imagined his mother could be that kind of student.
Mrs. Weasley smiled, her eyes twinkling, clearly swept up in memories of the past.
"Your father and I were out for a walk. He got caught by the caretaker at the time, Apollyon Pringle—your father still has the marks to this day."
Bill was choked into silence.
He hadn't expected to be force-fed a display of parental affection so suddenly.
Clearly, he wasn't interested in his parents' love life; he was still single, after all.
"How about..." Bill scratched his long hair and looked down at Harry. "Shall we go for a walk? After all, as you know, I haven't been back to Hogwarts in quite a long time."
"Let's walk," Harry agreed. "Better than doing nothing."
As they walked out, Bill continued to praise Harry's heroic feat of battling the dragon.
"That was nothing, Bill," Harry said with a grin. "You know what? Just yesterday, a truly heroic deed happened in Gryffindor—you absolutely wouldn't be able to guess just how much courage he had."
"Well, it is Gryffindor," said Bill. "Gryffindor is the House of bravery; I wouldn't be surprised by the courage of any student there."
As he spoke, he walked over to the long table in the Great Hall, tapped the surface, and summoned a glass of iced coffee.
They strolled out of the Great Hall as Harry continued, "You might not realize just how brave he was—he actually drew his wand on Professor Snape right to his face, and even called him a greasy old bat..."
Crash.
The glass slipped from Bill's hand and shattered on the floor.
"What did you say?" Bill asked, dumbfounded.
He had already run through various scenarios in his mind of just how brave this student might be—perhaps dismantling Professor McGonagall's office, or devouring Headmaster Dumbledore's entire candy stash. But he had never imagined that someone would confront Snape face-to-face.
And even...
Bill just wanted to say one thing: Brilliant! That's the spirit! Didn't let the side down for Gryffindor!
Harry repeated the story.
"Who on earth is this person!" Bill asked excitedly. "I really want to meet him... Good heavens, how did such a prodigy appear in Gryffindor? Why did I graduate so early and miss the chance to know this true Gryffindor?"
Harry: ...
He held up a finger. "Actually, you do know him."
"Who?" asked Bill.
"Your brother, Ron," Harry said, spreading his hands.
Bill: ?
"No, impossible," Bill shook his head. "I don't believe Ron could be such a warrior... How would he dare? He's always been rather timid. I mean, whispering about Snape behind his back, sure, but cursing him to his face? And drawing a wand? ...Is that even Ron?"
"That is the reality, though," Harry laughed. "Later, after Ron finishes his History of Magic exam, he has to go to Professor Snape's office for detention... But I strongly suspect that Professor Snape hasn't even figured out a punishment strategy yet."
"He must be absolutely furious," Bill sniffed, still finding it hard to accept. "So, my brother, Ron, drew his wand on Professor Snape to his face and insulted him?"
"Oh yes, and he even used a Stupefy, though it didn't cause any damage."
Speaking of this, Harry recalled the scene and couldn't help laughing aloud.
"He really has too much courage," Bill exclaimed with emotion. "Anyway, I definitely didn't have that kind of nerve when I was in school—and the same goes for now."
Just then, a pleasant voice came from behind them.
"Are you speaking of Ronald?"
Harry and Bill turned around together; it was Fleur.
"Yes, it is," Harry said. "Something that happened this morning—oh, you probably wouldn't know."
He was still wondering why Fleur had suddenly come out.
Was it for Bill?
He couldn't help feeling a bit of gossip stirring in his heart, and he even looked back and forth between the two of them with interest.
"Hello," Fleur said, looking up to greet Bill. "I am the Champion of Beauxbatons, Fleur Delacour. It is a pleasure to meet you."
"William," Bill said, graciously extending his hand to clasp hers. "William Weasley, but everyone generally calls me Bill... That Ronald, or Ron, he's my youngest brother."
Once their hands parted, Harry issued a timely invitation.
"We were just about to go for a walk. Would you like to join us?"
"But of course," Fleur agreed happily.
The three of them strolled across the sun-drenched grounds, passing a very pleasant morning.
As an older alumnus and someone working in Egypt, Bill was naturally a social butterfly.
This was evident just from his daily attire.
Fleur felt very comfortable chatting with him; it wasn't tiring at all.
"Do you see that? The Whomping Willow," Bill said, pointing to the tree in the distance. "That tree was planted after Mum left school; she used to talk to me about it often."
"Yes, that was for Professor Lupin... well, when he was at school, Dumbledore had it planted for him," Harry said with a smile. "Theoretically speaking, Mrs. Weasley had indeed left the school by then."
"Eh?" Fleur asked curiously. "Why? Why plant a tree for him?"
"That I don't know," Harry said, spreading his hands, then changed the subject. "What about Percy? How is Percy doing lately?"
"Ah, Percy," Bill thought for a moment. "Percy's spirits have been quite good lately. According to him, he's getting on quite well at the Ministry. Mr. Crouch is finally able to get his name right, instead of calling him 'Weatherby'."
Harry stiffened his face, suppressing the urge to laugh.
After all, that was his best mate's brother. Although he wasn't close to Percy, the connection through Ron was there.
"That sounds all right, then," Harry nodded. "At least Percy is starting to make his way."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Bill laughed. "Building seniority in the Ministry is a war of attrition; you can't make your mark in just a year or so... Oh, Miss Grindelwald is an exception; she doesn't count."
Harry thought to himself that Veratia had connections, and besides, when it came to magical accomplishment, ten Percys cubed might not even compare to Veratia...
Percy might be a top student, but there are gaps even between top students.
You might score an Outstanding because that's the best you can do; Miss Grindelwald scores an Outstanding because that is the highest grade the parchment allows.
Seeing the sun reach its zenith, indicating lunchtime, the three returned to the castle to prepare for the meal.
Fleur seemed very happy, and she even asked Bill for his owl post address.
After Fleur had left, Harry winked at Bill.
"I can tell, mate," he said with a grin. "That Miss Delacour seems to have a bit of a thing for you."
--
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