Chapter Thirty Nine – Lady Hermione

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe belongs to JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. Me, I'm just a PR professional. I don't profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world. However, its her sandbox and she's left the gate unlatched so we can go in and play a bit. Which, I've done.

Chapter Thirty Nine – Lady Hermione

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

Finally, it was the 21st December and the Express was leaving for Kings Cross that day. Harry had spent the days following the 'incidents', as he'd come to call them, having the students giving him wide berths; and looking at him in fear; wherever he went.

It was only his friends, Luna Lovegood, and - funnily enough - the Weasley twins who refused to be scared of him.

When sitting at the Ravenclaw table for breakfast on the Saturday the next day, Luna came up and asked to sit next to him. Surprised, he invited her to sit.

"You're not afraid of me, Luna?" he asked.

"No," she replied, in her light and airy voice. "Why would I be?"

"Because the rest of the student body seems to have it in their heads that I'm the Heir of Slytherin," he said.

"Oh, I have no doubt you're an heir, Harry," she replied, filling her plate and making a face with the food as she went. "But, when you stop to think about it, most wizards and witches who have blood that goes back a few hundred years or more, are likely to also be heirs. Me included."

"That's what we said," replied Harry, surprised. "I'm glad you, at least, realise that."

"I do believe, however," she said, still playing with her food. "That you're the true Heir of Gryffindor."

"Huh?" he asked. Daphne smacked his arm. He barely acknowledged it.

"I'm the Heir of Gryffindor?" he asked the girl, in a little shock.

"Oh, yes," she said, preparing to attack her breakfast 'face'. "You'll see."

Harry, not knowing what to make of the odd girl's statement, decided to ignore it and let her eat.

Instead, he turned to Hermione and asked, "Have you managed to contact your parents, yet, and tell them about how we want to take you to Gringotts to have a special kind of test done?"

"Yes," she replied. "But, like me, they want to know what this test is. Are you going to tell me now?"

"No," he replied. "I don't want to 'jinx' it. Plus, there's only a slim chance it will work out like we think it may, and we don't want to get your hopes up in advance."

"And, it's not dangerous, right?" she asked.

"No, it's not dangerous," said Daphne breaking in. "You just need to trust we know what we're talking about. And, don't forget, it's Harry's responsibility as your Protector to keep you safe. That includes in this."

"But you're keeping a secret about me, from me," pouted Hermione.

"No," said Daphne. "Only a faint suspicion."

Looking more fully at Hermione, she begged, "Please let us do this for you. Think of it as an early Christmas present and you're not allowed to open it until we're at Gringotts."

With a sigh, Hermione said, "Alright."

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

On Tuesday morning, the day after they arrived back in London, the Grangers floo'ed to Greengrass Estate.

They were joining the Greengrasses and Sirius for the trip to Gringotts, and then helping with the kids while they went Christmas shopping.

Walking in to Gringotts together, Harry asked to speak to Bloodfang, with whom they had an appointment. They were shown into Bloodfang's office a short time later.

"Lord Potter," said Bloodfang, after the initial greetings were exchanged. "Everything has been arranged." Looking at Hermione, he asked, "I take it this is the young witch of whom we're testing today?"

"Yes, Bloodfang, my friend," replied Harry. "Shall we?"

The goblin nodded and pulled a small dish from within his desk that looked partially full of ink, and placed it on his desk close to the edge nearest Harry and company. Then he withdrew a sheet of parchment and a specially shaped quill. And, finally, a goblin ritual knife.

Hermione took one look at the knife and gasped, as did her parents.

Harry placed his hand on Hermione's shoulder and said, "Easy, Hermione. It's not as bad as it looks. I did this a year and a half ago, just before my eleventh birthday."

Bloodfang looked up and grinned. He said, "Step forward, please, witch Granger; and I shall explain what you need to do."

Hermione took a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming down. Then stepped up to the edge of the desk.

Bloodfang nodded and said, "You need to take the ritual knife in your left hand and make a small cut in your right ring finger. Then let three drops of blood fall into the dish. I will then heal the cut on your finger."

Hermione nodded and, tentatively, picked up the knife in her left hand. Taking a steadying breath she nicked the pad on her right ring finger and held it over the dish. As soon as three drops of blood dripped into the ink she pulled her hand to the side, and Bloodfang reached out and took her hand.

After he passed his other hand over hers, he pulled it away to show the cut was now completely healed. And took the knife from her left hand.

Putting the knife away he then took the quill and used the very tip of it to stir the ink.

Suddenly, the quill looked like it wanted to leap out of his hand. Holding it tightly, he moved it over to the parchment, placing it vertically in the middle of the sheet. When he let go of it, it stood up straight for a moment before it started to quickly write on its own.

It took a little while before it finished what it was writing and stayed still on the page.

Bloodfang reached out and took the quill away, dropping it into the draw on his desk where he placed the knife.

He picked up the paper and began to read.

While the Grangers watched what was happening quite curiously, the Greengrasses, Harry and Sirius all held their breath in anticipation.

The goblin then read, "Miss Hermione Jean Granger, born 19th September 1979, first born child of Wendell Daniel Granger and Monica Emma Granger nee Woods."

Hesitating a moment, because he quite enjoyed having witches and wizards hanging off his every word, he said, "Heiress Apparent of the Noble and Ancient House of Dagworth-Granger." Looking up and, grinning at Hermione, he said, "Congratulations, Lady Hermione."

"Yes!" said Sirius, pumping his fist into the air, while Harry and Daphne laughed. Cygnus and Isabel were also celebrating a little.

"What?" asked Wendell, quite stunned. Monica couldn't even say a word, her shock was that deep.

Harry reached over and hugged his, now gobsmacked, brown-haired friend. A hug joined in by, first Daphne and Astoria, then by Sirius and the Greengrasses.

While they were in the middle of their impromptu celebration, Bloodfang folded the sheet of parchment and dropped it through a slot on his desk before touching a rune.

"I - don't understand," said Wendell, a little dazed.

The hug broke apart and Cygnus said, "Our apologies, Wendell, Monica; but this is a very big thing for us in the wizarding world. A lost heir of a thought-to-be extinct bloodline has been found. And for he or she to be of a noble House..."

"I still don't understand," said Wendell, shaking his head in confusion. "What does this mean?"

Turning and still chuckling, happy for his friend, Harry said to Bloodfang, "Perhaps you should do the honours, my friend?"

Just as Harry was asking the goblin to clarify matters, the box on his desk gave a little 'bong' sound. Bloodfang reached into it and drew out a small wooden ring box, moving it to sit on the desk just in front of himself. Harry recognised it as similar to the one that held his own Head of House ring.

As the adults calmed down, Bloodfang looked at Hermione and said, "The inheritance test does not lie, Lady Hermione. Through magical Primogenitor, you are the now recognised Head of the Noble and Ancient House of Dagworth-Granger."

Turning to Wendell and Monica, he said, "As you, sir, are known as a squib; that is, someone without sufficiently powerful enough magic; you cannot hold the Headship of a Magical House. However, ancestors of yours, the Dagworth-Grangers, were magical and were part of the House of Dagworth-Granger.

"One of your ancestors, Hector Dagworth-Granger, founded the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers. For that act the Ancient House of Dagworth-Granger was elevated to wizarding nobility, hence the Noble House status. And, once given, Noble status cannot be taken away unless a crime of significance by the Head of that House is committed; such as treason.

"And, since Noble status cannot be taken away, neither can the Ancient status, nor the recognised House status.

"The Dagworth-Granger House has been believed by the wizarding world to be extinct for almost two hundred years. With the, now, recognised Lady Hermione here. The Dagworth-Granger House will be removed from the roll of extinct Houses, and placed back on the roll of active Houses."

"And what of the House assets?" asked Cygnus.

"Alas," said Bloodfang. "The Ministry laid claim to those at the end of the first one hundred years of extinct status. I'm afraid there is no way to recover such assets without a very long and protracted legal fight with the Ministry. And I daresay very little will be recovered even then.

"However, the House vaults still exist because we goblins, through our own magics, recognised that House Dagworth-Granger was not, as believed, extinct."

"So, let me get this straight," said Wendell, pinching the bridge of his nose. "My daughter is now recognised as a Lady in the magical world. The title passed directly to her because she is both the recognised heir and I'm a - what you called - squib. She is now the Head of the Dagworth-Granger House, which is both an Ancient House and an ennobled one. She has vaults within this bank, although they are currently empty. And the Ministry claimed all assets belonging to the family nearly one hundred years ago, so they're now considered lost?"

"Yes on all five counts," replied Bloodfang.

"We need to sit down and discuss this," said Wendell, looking a little peaked. "As a family."

"If there is no further need for me, I have other work to do..." said Bloodfang.

"I think we need to go and sit down and discuss this among ourselves," said Cygnus. "How about in a lovely little cafe in the Alley?"

Getting affirmatives from everyone, they were about to leave when Bloodfang said, "Just one more thing before you go." He placed the box in front of Hermione and said to her, "Lady Hermione, please open the box. Inside is a ring. Please take it out and place it on your right ring finger."

Harry, Sirius and the Greengrasses froze and watched avidly.

Hermione opened the box and, taking the ring out, slid it on her right ring finger. As soon as it reached the webbing of her finger, it flashed once and resized to fit her finger perfectly.

Harry and the others sighed a breath of relief.

Bloodfang grinned and said, "And that was the final test. The ring has accepted Lady Hermione as the rightful Heir. Congratulations, again, Lady Hermione; Lady Dagworth-Granger."

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

After words of parting and standing, the party left the office and made their way back to the main doors of the bank. Cygnus then led them to a nice little cafe and ordered a private room.

Once ensconced therein, he quickly cast Privacy Charms and Warning Wards on the room.

As the last seated he turned to Harry and said, "Well, Harry. You initiated today's inheritance test, how about you explain it for the Grangers?"

"I'm happy to," replied Harry. Turning to the Grangers, he said, "After visiting Potter Manor over summer, we came to the conclusion Hermione might have been a descendant of the Dagworth-Granger line. At the time, it was highly unlikely but possible, given what we knew. That's when Cygnus used his position in the Ministry to research."

With a nod to Harry, Cygnus said, "So I went looking through the Book of Bloodlines in the Ministry. That Book showed that the Hector-Granger line didn't die out, per se. It, as we call it, squibbed out. That is, children born of a magical family being born without recognisable magic. At that point, due to the bigotry in our world, they're seen as non-persons; and effectively cast out."

"And that's where my research comes in," said Isabel. "First, using the documents you gave me, Monica, I was able to track Wendell's family back a couple hundred years. Then I hit a dead end. While there was a record of a particular person dying, together with census results of their living in Essex, there was no record of birth. That person was Elphias Granger."

Cygnus continued, "And there was a matching record in the Book of Bloodline of a squib named Elphias Dagworth-Granger being born at Saint Mungo's. The likelihood of it being the same person was too strong to be discounted."

Then Harry took up the explanation again, "As Hermione's Protector, Cygnus and Isabel sent their findings to me. It was my decision to hold off on saying anything about this until it could be confirmed by the goblin's Inheritance Test. I didn't want the possibility of this being true to affect Hermione, or you, until it could be confirmed one way or the other and we could all discuss it in depth."

"What does this mean for my family?" asked Wendell.

"In the muggle world? Absolutely nothing," said Cygnus. "It's only effect will be what you make of it.

"However, in the magical world, this is a huge thing. Hermione is now no longer recognised as being a muggleborn; she's now considered a half-blood like Harry. As Head of the Dagworth-Granger House, irrespective of her position as a protectee of House Potter, she has a social status almost equal to us in her own right. And no one can argue against it. Her wearing the House ring stops that.

"Secondly, as Head of a Noble House, like Harry and me, she has a hereditary seat awaiting her on the Wizengamot; that's our form of parliament similar to your House of Lords." Looking directly at Hermione, he said, "Which reminds me, Hermione, you are now going to need a Regent to take your seat until you're of age."

"I pick you," she quickly said.

"Hold on, young lady," he quickly came back with. "While I thank you for the consideration you've given me. This is something you want to research and talk with your parents about, first. While Isabel and I are currently your magical guardians, my politics may not reflect your own. You want to pick someone who would be willing to vote on the Wizengamot along lines you believe you would vote in their place if you were of age to do so.

"You need to give yourself some time to think it through. And you need to listen to the counsel of your parents and others first. Alright?"

Hermione nodded and her parents breathed a sigh of relief. "Still, you are my magical guardians, you did cause this..." she indicated her ring, "... to happen, and I know I can trust you to do right by me."

"Again, thank you," said Cygnus. "I'm honoured you think that way. But, at least discuss it with your parents, first. Besides, there's going to be a great deal of paperwork to deal with before reaching that stage. The first of which will be reactivating your House.

"Once it becomes acknowledged House Dagworth-Granger has been reactivated with Hermione as its undisputed Head through primogenitor, you're going to find yourselves very quickly courted by others. There will be those who hope you will align your House with theirs; there will be offers of betrothal contracts..."

"What?" blurted Monica, cutting in.

Cygnus nodded and said, "You know why they're important, Monica. To protect the interests of House Dagworth-Granger, it would be wise to engage in a betrothal contract before she marries.

"However, there is certainly no hurry. Most families, these days, allow their daughters to fall in love naturally. Then, when she indicates she wishes to enter into marriage with another, the Heads or Regents of those Houses involved sit down and discuss the conditions.

"One of those conditions - I beg you - will include that at least the second-born son will have the surname Dagworth-Granger, to ensure the continuation of the line. As your familial protectors, both Harry and I will ensure Hermione and her assets are well protected.

"Unlike Harry's and Daphne's contract, there will be escape clauses for both parties. I will not make that mistake again."

"Sorry," she said abashed.

With a nod of acceptance, Cygnus continued, "Now, by rights, as Hermione's magical guardian, those offers should come to me, anyway. But some may try to bypass me by going directly to Hermione.

"The ring she now wears has built in protections against someone trying to place Compulsion Charms or similar on any paperwork they send her. The ring will flash and or vibrate in different patterns if there's any of those sorts of hanky-panky going on. I'll be teaching Hermione what those flashes and vibrations mean and how to use the ring to protect herself from that sort of thing.

"Next. I believe Harry has already loaned Hermione certain books that cover wizarding etiquette and customs in our world..."

Harry and Hermione nodded.

"... But, as Head of a Noble and Ancient House, Hermione is going to have to learn more than what is in those books. I believe Isabel will be the best instructor for her for that."

Isabel nodded.

"That means, young lady," said Cygnus looking at Hermione. "You're going to be spending time with Isabel over the first part of your Christmas break before you go visiting your grandmother with your parents. And possibly after you return."

Hermione was clearly excited about the prospect of more learning over Christmas.

Looking back at Wendell and Monica, he said, "The biggest upside of all this, is that we can now ward your home six ways from Sunday, when we couldn't before due to your status as a muggle household. Because one no longer exists, your home will now be thought of as Dagworth-Granger Manor. A truly magical household that will have muggles living there, instead of the other way around."

"This is a lot to take in," sighed Wendell. "Again, you've done so much for my family, I cannot repay you."

"Well, said Isabel. "What we get out of this so far, is that my research will be recognised as already having found a missing heir and reactivating a once-thought extinct House. And, as it's a Noble and Ancient House, the - kudos, I think is the word - are going to be a lot. It validates my research making it worth that much more.

"Our House benefits a great deal, just from that alone."

"But, it's not something we've done for you," said Wendell.

"I have an idea for you, if you're interested," said Harry, having a brainwave.

"Yes?" asked Wendell.

"Isabel's research would be helped enormously by the application of a computer," said Harry. "I don't know all that much about them, myself. But I do know they're just what you need when dealing with databases."

Monica was nodding and said, "Go on..."

"See if you can get the British Registrars Office to send you the births, deaths and marriages records in database form on a - floppy? - or similar," he suggested. "Then ask Cygnus to send you a copy of all the records in the Book of Bloodlines associated with extinct Houses, and enter that information into the database. And, finally, you need access to the latest magical census to develop your database of known magicals."

"And then I can run a matching script to compare names between the three, looking for similarities..." said Monica, nodding thoughtfully.

"Exactly," said Harry.

"I - don't know what any of that meant," said Isabel. "But it sounds as if you've a way to find other heirs of perceived extinct Houses."

"Yes," said both Monica and Harry.

"A computer is a machine that can count and compare data - little pieces of information - extremely fast," said Monica. "Database management, as Harry described, is one of the main reasons computers exist in mainstream life today. It's what they're built to do.

"I even have the perfect piece of software already installed on my computer to do the job. The longest, and most tedious part, will be taking the information from this Book of Bloodlines, and the magical census you mentioned, and entering that data - information - into the database. However, once it's in, it'll only take minutes for the computer to make the matches."

"You can do this?" asked Isabel a little shocked.

"Yes," replied Monica. "Easily. And I can even show you, on the computer, how it's done. It's just tedious to enter all the data – information."

"If you do this..." breathed Isabel, thinking furiously.

Harry laughed and asked, "How many extinct Houses being reactivated due to your combined research do you think it will take before the Minister wants to hang an Order of Merlin around your neck? And how do you think he'll react when the Wizengamot find out it's a muggle involved?"

Turning to Monica, he said, "Trust me on this. If you pull this off, and I've no doubt you will, she'll be begging Daphne and I to name our first born daughter after you."

"Yes," said Isabel glaring at him with a smirk. "I will."

That had everyone laughing.

"And what about my poor hand, writing it all out?" asked Cygnus.

Harry grinned and shook his head. "Monica only needs to be able to read the pages to transcribe the information into the computer.

Turning to Wendell, he said, "How about you purchase a little pocket camera with an automatic flash for Cygnus and show him how to load the canisters and batteries?"

Grinning back, Wendell said, "Then all he needs to do is photograph the relevant pages and return the canisters to us for developing. That'll speed the whole thing up immensely. Good idea!"

After ordering lunch, and engaging in further discussions and arrangement of times for various visits, they were finally able to get to Christmas shopping.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

Harry was glad when they finally returned to Greengrass Estate to rest. He wanted to just collapse on his bed and snooze, but he also wanted to get his gifts for others wrapped first.

He wouldn't tell them to their faces but he didn't trust either Astoria or Sirius not to peek before they were wrapped. Both thought it was part and parcel of the Christmas present ritual to try and find out what they would be receiving in advance of the day.

Harry was even using the idea of placing small gifts in large boxes and wrapping them; and shrinking large gifts before wrapping them; just to try and throw the two sneaks off.

Luckily, he had all the unwrapped gifts inside his emptied-for-the-purpose trunk, and was only taking out one gift at a time to wrap it, when Astoria came bursting into the room without knocking.

She had a wide, excited grin on her face that quickly fell when she didn't catch Harry with her unwrapped present out in the open.

"Tori!" he yelled at her.

Not catching Harry unprepared, she pouted, stamped her foot and stormed off in a huff.

Harry just grinned at her retreating form. She may have almost caught him the previous year, but not this one. He'd learned and prepared.

Harry had just banished the door close behind her, when Daphne opened the door back up and came in. "I take it Tori just came bursting in without knocking to see if she could catch you with all the Christmas presents you'd bought out in the open?"

"Right in one," replied Harry.

Hesitating for just a moment, she then 'slinked' over to Harry, throwing her arms around his neck and, with a breathy whisper, asked, "Any clues you want to give me about mine?"

Though all the hairs on the back of his neck and arms all stood up from her breath on his ear, Harry emotionally fought through the effect it had on him and squeaked, "No."

She pulled back from him with a frustrated frown. So, turning the tables on her, he spun in her arms and, pulling her in close chest-to-chest, lightly nibbled on her earlobe before asking, "And what did you get for me, dear heart?"

As he lightly nibbled on her ear, Daphne felt the effect right down to her toes and everywhere in between. She moaned ever so slightly before she was able to gather up her own courage and say, "No. You won't get it out of me. That's unfair!"

Pulling back, Harry chuckled and said, "I'm only using your own tactics against you."

She pulled completely out of his arms and, with a frown, said, "I'm a girl! We're allowed to use our feminine wiles on you males."

"Oh?" asked Harry, before quickly darting across and scooping her back into his arms. Once he had her firmly within his grip he bent forward and lightly kissed her neck over and over. After about half a dozen kisses, with Daphne lightly squirming in his arms and mewling a little, he asked, "Is that the way you really want it?"

"Oh, Merlin, no!" she moaned.

Harry quickly pulled back, out of her arms and reach, and with a grin said, "Good." Before turning around and walking back to his trunk, pretending to ignore her.

He had his back to her because, what he couldn't ignore and suspected she would notice, was that she had an effect on him; a very physical effect on him.

For her own part, it's likely Daphne wouldn't have noticed, anyway. Because she, too, felt the effects of his kissing on her own body. When she did notice it, she just squeaked a little and fled his room.

After she left, Harry used his wand to, once more, banish the door close.

'Damn,' he thought, thinking of his own bodily reaction within his pants. 'I didn't expect that to happen just yet.'

But he was pleased that part of his life was finally starting to occur. He was getting worried something was wrong because he noticed the other boys in his dorm were beginning to have bodily changes. Hair was starting to grow.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

"So, each rhythm of the flash, and each colour of the flash, show different things," said Hermione.

"Exactly," replied Cygnus.

Harry and Hermione were in the informal dining room with Cygnus. He had laid out parchment and various drinks that had been potioned in one form or another, or charmed in one way or another, or any combination of the two.

Each taking turns, Harry and Hermione were able to identify various potions and charms placed on or within each. A parchment had a Compulsion Charm placed on it, a drink was spiked with a Loyalty Potion, a letter had both a love potion and a Compulsion Charm on it, and others included various poisons.

"Each is designed in some way to control you, or just flat-out poison you," instructed Cygnus. "Therefore, each is picked up by the ring you wear. For example, the Compulsion Charm could be keyed to make you sign a document; and a love potion, such as Amortentia, can be keyed to make you fall in love with someone. Combinations of what are otherwise pretty benign can become quite nasty. A Compulsion Charm keyed with a love potion can lead you to committing murder; something which happened almost a hundred years ago now.

"Thankfully, there are laws against these sorts of things, and the rings help. As you're an unattached witch, Hermione, such things can also be considered an attempt at Line Theft; which can see the perpetrator executed or just stuffed into Azkaban for the rest of their life.

"However, it needs to be caught before it has an affect on you. And you need to be ready to push charges against the culprit. That's why you must always wave your right hand down low over everything that arrives via owl or elf, whatever is handed to you, and anything not prepared specifically by your own elves. Especially, first check all the food and drink you're going to consume at Hogwarts before putting it in your mouth."

Hermione nodded, recognising the severity of the matter.

"Good," said Cygnus with a nod. "Now, I believe Isabel will be waiting for you in the parlour."

"Thank you, Cygnus," she said, before darting off.

"I see what you mean about how she's an information sponge like you, but in a different way," said Cygnus looking at Harry.

"Hermione doesn't have my eidetic memory," said Harry. "But she makes up for it by studying even harder. I would have never, on my own, been able to get our little group of friends up to holding the top seven spots in school. That is a combination of Hermione's drive and the intelligence of our friends."

"And of your leadership, Harry," said Cygnus with a smile. "Don't sell yourself short. You're the glue that holds that group together, irrespective of the House boundaries. And it's your leadership that makes your group excel in their studies.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

On Christmas Day, Harry had a prank planned for Astoria.

He rose early and quietly got ready for the day. Then he put a mannequin head with a black hair wig that matched his own in the bed with the covers drawn up. And he made copies of his pillows and used them to make it look like he was still in bed and sleeping with his head turned away from the door.

When everything was ready he laid down on the floor on the opposite side of the bed from the door. And had a book or two out to read through while he waited.

Sure enough, his door swung open, banging against the stops as Astoria charged in half-screaming, "Haaarrryyyy!"

As soon as the door banged open, Harry set aside the book he was reading and set himself into a low crouch, right up alongside the bed, wand at the ready.

As soon as he knew Astoria had jumped onto the fake Harry he stood straight up and hit her with a light stinking hex right on her behind.

The poor little girl first thought she's killed her future brother-in-law when his head seemed to fly off when she jumped on him; then was frightened further when she noticed movement off the side of the bed. The final straw came when she felt Harry's stinging hex strike her bottom.

With a scream loud enough to wake the neighbours - the closest were almost six miles away - she vaulted back off the bed and turned to face Harry where he was now standing alongside the other side of the bed, grinning like a loon.

"You - you - prat!" she screamed at him, her heart beating wildly in her ears.

Harry laughed and jumped onto the bed before he used his evil wizard laugh and started to quickly make his way towards her. Astoria took off running, screaming all the way; with Harry in hot pursuit.

In the parlour, the family had already gathered. Astoria came barrelling in and loudly declaimed, "Harry Potter is an evil, evil boy; and you should throw him out, Daddy!"

Harry came strolling nonchalantly in through the door with a smile on his face. "And that should teach you not to come barrelling into my room, in future, and attack me in my sleep."

"But you weren't asleep!" she snarled in a little girl fashion. "You were hiding on the other side of the bed and attacked me when I wasn't looking!

"Alright, you two," said Isabel. "That's quite enough. It sounds like Harry got the better of you, this time."

Astoria just frowned and pouted at her mother. However, her attitude completely changed when Cygnus, from where he was sitting on the floor, offered her the first gift.

Harry went and sat alongside Daphne and held her hand.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/