Molly, Molly, Molly

5:48 p.m, still 12th August

Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London

Harry, Hermione and Sirius had just returned to the house by Floo; Kingsley had flooed in with them. Dumbledore was lying in wait.

The first thing Dumbledore said was, "What can you tell me, Kingsley?" Harry said, "You don't need to know that!"

Kingsley answered, "I replaced the Boss Lady in the early afternoon. I don't know what they did before that. After I joined up with them—"

Harry hissed.

Shacklebolt kept talking, but now it sounded like squawking, and his lips looked blurry. Harry snarled, "I said, old man, you don't need to know what we did in Gringotts." "Harry, you disappoint me with your immaturity. Miss Granger, what did you do today?"

Hermione replied coldly, "School is not in session, Headmaster. If you want to know what Harry did today, ask Harry."

"Miss Granger, that is not the attitude I expect from a future prefect."

"And your attitude is not the attitude I expect from an off-duty headmaster."

Harry asked, "Are you really threatening Hermione's prefect badge if she doesn't answer your invasive questions? That's rotten, even for you. But oi, what can I expect from someone who sent four firsties out into the Forbidden Forest when Quirrellmort was attacking unicorns there?"

Dumbledore asked sanctimoniously, "Have you told Miss Granger yet that you killed eleven people today?"

Harry retorted, "Did you tell Molly Weasley, your biggest fan, that you recommended to the Wizengamot that I be thrown in prison for life for saving my cousin from Dementors? Listen up, old man: With that one spoken sentence in Courtroom Ten, you ended forever any chance I ever would listen to you again."

Dumbledore said, "Harry, Sirius, I insist you tell me what you did today—"

Sirius interrupted to call for Kreacher. Sirius ordered Kreacher to bring him the Ward Ledger and a quill.

Sirius looked at Dumbledore and said, "In sixty seconds, I'm going to strike your name out of the Ward Ledger, and I won't write your name back in for at least forty-eight hours. I'm told the Black wards are painful to trespassers. I suggest you floo out of here now."

"Sirius—"

"Fifty-eight, fifty-seven..."

Dumbledore, looking annoyed, flooed back to Hogwarts.

Sirius drew a line through something written on the last page of the book in his hand. Sirius handed the book to Kreacher, who popped away with it.

Meanwhile, Hermione asked Harry, "Is it true? Did you really kill eleven people today?"

Harry rubbed the back of his neck as he sighed. Then he looked at Hermione and Sirius and said, "After dinner, and before we go to bed, let's all three of us talk. I have lots to discuss with you. Oh, and speaking of 'going to bed'—Grimmauld Place is almost as big as a hotel, right? Sirius, I see no reason why Hermione and I must share a bedroom with a Weasley, instead of Hermione and I each having a bedroom of our own."

****

Minutes later, just before dinner

Kingsley Shacklebolt had returned to the DMLE. So now the occupants of Grimmauld Place once again were Sirius and Remus, Harry and Hermione, and six gingers from the Weasley family.

Molly called everyone to dinner; but instead of Harry, Hermione and Sirius sitting down to the table, they said to Molly, "We need to talk to you now."

"Harry, dear, whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait till after we eat."

Harry glanced at Sirius. They each grabbed one of Molly's upper arms, and the two wizards frog-marched Molly into the library. Hermione followed.

In the library, Molly yelled, "HARRY, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS? AND SIRIUS, I'M NOT SURPRI—"

"Oh, shut up," Hermione said.

Molly did shut up—for one second, because she was shocked. As she took a deep breath to yell—

Harry said, "The potions, we know about them. We have write-ups. Soon we will pass the write-ups to Madam Bones."

Hermione said, "My greatest treasure is my mind. You mess with my mind, and this makes me angry. Bitch."

Molly stared.

Harry said, "Lucky for you, all the laws that favour you Inbreds mean that up till this morning, it was legal to potion both Hermione and me."

Then Harry held up his right fist; the Lord Potter ring appeared there. "I now am Lord Potter. And Hermione—"

Hermione held up her own right fist. A ring appeared there.

"—Hermione, whom everyone thought was a Muggle-born, now is Heiress Dagworth- Granger, just thirteen months away from becoming Lady Dagworth-Granger."

Sirius said, "Oi, I have one too." Sirius held up his own right fist, displaying the Lord Black ring.

Harry continued, "And oh, let's not forget—"

Harry raised his left fist alongside his right fist. On Harry's left fist was a different kind of Potter ring. Hermione brought her own left fist up, to show that she was wearing the feminine version of that same Potter ring.

"—besides Hermione and I each being a Head of House now—underage, in Hermione's case, but it still counts—Hermione and I are betrothed."

Molly said, "My dear, you're too young for such things. You should let Profes—"

Harry stepped forwards, so his face was only inches from Molly's. "Azkaban, Molly—you want to go there? For Line Theft, and/or Potioning a Head of House? If so, you just keep potioning Hermione and me. Starting with this meal, if there are any potions in my drink or in Hermione's drink, I'll ask Sirius to call the Aurors. And those Aurors won't be Kingsley, Hestia or Tonks. Understand, bint?"

Seconds later, Harry, Hermione, Sirius, and Molly returned to the kitchen, and to the table. The rest of the Weasleys were puzzled when Molly levitated the cups intended for Harry, Hermione and Sirius to the sink and dumped those cups' fluids in the sink.

****

Dinner was wonderful. (Not.)

Molly was tense, but would not tell anyone else why.

Everyone asked Harry what had happened in his trial that morning. Harry said only "I was acquitted" and "Tomorrow's Prophet will tell you everything."

Molly tried to rebuke Harry and Sirius for making the "dangerous" choice to leave Grimmauld Place and to go to Gringotts. Harry did not argue with Molly, he simply looked at her as though she were a moron. The twins were impressed at Harry's bravery.

Molly demanded to know what the group had done at Gringotts. Harry, Hermione and Sirius all chose not to answer—especially after Hermione gave Molly a lecture how, in the nonmagical world, people respected each other's privacy. Hermione's lack of respect for Molly was clear.

Sirius spoke up then. "Harry and Hermione have a few announcements they wish to make. But before they do, I have an announcement of my own. Harry and Hermione, after dinner I am moving you from the fourth floor to the third floor. Your new bedrooms will be next to mine, so we can easily talk together whenever we want to."

Sirius was grinning, precisely because he knew how Molly would react. But Sirius lost his smile when Molly called Hermione a "scarlet woman."

BANG! Sirius slapped his hands on the tabletop. "Molly, I've already banned Mr Twinkle- Eyes from here for forty-eight hours. Shall I strike your name from the Ward Ledger also— whilst you're in the house?" Molly's face went chalk-white. "The Black wards, they have a certain reputation; it would be a pity if you ran afoul of them."

Then Lord Black looked at Molly, and his face was thunderous. "Harry Potter is my godson, and Hermione is his—well, you'll find out soon. If the two of them want to get down and get funky, even if it's on the kitchen table, I am fine with this. And Molly, it's my house, not yours."

Hermione said, "Sirius, you wrong me. I would never have sex with Harry on a table where people prepare food or eat food. But those big tables in your library? Oh, yeah."

Harry laughed, Sirius laughed, and the twins laughed. Almost everyone else looked like they could not decide what to think. But Molly, Ron and Ginny looked murderous.

Ron yelled, "You think this is funny, Hermione? I fancy you, you know this, and now you make jokes about shagging Potter? I don't care what you say, you are a scarlet woman!"

Maybe Ron was expecting Hermione to run into a lavatory and cry. Instead, she laughed. "This is so funny! You fancy me? Yeah, you sure know how to show it! The troll, the Yule Ball—how many times have you made me cry? Thank god my"—she slapped her left hand onto the table—"betrothed doesn't make me cry!"

Harry said, "Ronald Bilius Weasley, just so you know: Our friendship is over. The next time you call Hermione a scarlet woman, or worse, you will hurt."

Twin One, clearly trying to lighten the mood, said, "Is this your only announcement, or do you have others?"

Harry replied, "Thanks to Dumbledore not thinking his little Harry-schemes all the way through, I'm now an emancipated adult. Which makes me now—ta-daa!—Lord Potter." Harry's Lord Nott and Lord Malfoy titles, he would mention later.

Hermione said, "And I am now the underage Head of the previously dormant House Dagworth-Granger."

Harry said, "Tell them the part that Draco will hate."

Hermione answered, "I have a Squib great-grandfather. He changed his name when he went into the Muggle world. His original name was Stefanus Malfoy, his father was Ramses Malfoy, and Draco Malfoy is my third cousin!"

The twins laughed, especially after Arthur said, "Finally, a Malfoy I like!" No surprise: Ron and Ginny scowled.

Then Sirius said, "I too now have a Head of House ring. I now am officially Lord Sirius Black." Then putting on a pompous voice, Sirius said, "You may call me 'Your Handsomeness' if you wish."

Again, some of the diners laughed and some diners scowled.

Nobody noticed that Harry's scar was not so inflamed as it used to be.

****

After dinner, both Hermione and Harry moved from the fourth-floor bedroom that they each had shared with a Weasley, to a single-occupant room on the third floor that Sirius assigned them. By an amazing coincidence, Harry's bedroom and Hermione's bedroom were next to each other.

Once the packing, moving and unpacking were done, Harry, Hermione and Sirius sat down in the third-floor corridor near their respective bedrooms.

This was when Harry told the other two people what Fudge, Umbridge and Lucius had done at this morning's trial, and what Dumbledore had only pretended to do. Harry told how he was only a few seconds away from being Kissed; Sirius shivered involuntarily. Harry told about the pain that the magical bindings caused to his expanding magical core, how these bindings suddenly snapped—and how Harry then went on a killing spree. Harry told how he was acquitted, after previously being convicted and sentenced to death a half-hour before, by threatening to kill all the seat-holders who had voted to kill him.

But before that second vote on Harry's guilt or innocence had been held, Harry had spoken a magical oath and had made many true statements, which revealed secrets that Dumbledore had not wanted revealed.

Harry still was angry about this morning's trial. Why? "Of all the Wizengamot members there, fifty or so, when I was put on trial when I'd committed no crime, only three wanted to see justice done and me voted 'Not Guilty': Madam Bones, Neville's grandmother and Daphne Greengrass's father. Dumbledore, as usual, was playing with my life like I were a chess pawn. And the others wanted to kill me, seize my vaults, and split up the gold amongst themselves. Bugger the lot of them! They think just because they can use a wand, they're better than everyone else. Instead, they're the Dursleys, but with magic."

But as Harry spoke, the shame hit. His shoulders slumped, and he looked at Sirius and Hermione and said, "You probably think I'm a monster. I killed seven people who hadn't bothered me. Yeah, they'd voted me guilty, and they'd voted to execute me, and they were Death Eaters, but they hadn't attacked me first."

Hermione said, "I don't think you're a monster. I definitely don't hate you, I love you. If it were me in there, and I'd had Merlin-level magic, I would've killed all the seat-holders who'd voted to kill me, and I would've killed Dumbledore the two-face. You let most of them live; I wouldn't have."

Sirius said, "Same here, pup."

Harry stared at Hermione. "You really would have killed them all?"

"Including the ones I don't know? On second thought"—she made the rocking-hand gesture

—"maybe, maybe not. But Lucius Malfoy and Albus Dumbledore, for messing with you? Yes. And if I had your sort of power, Molly Weasley would be dead now. She weakened my mind so the redhead garbage disposal someday could shag me and put his worthless sperm in me, and the Pureblood bint sees nothing wrong with this!"

Abruptly, Hermione cast the Tempus Charm. Then she stood up; so Harry and Sirius, being gentlemen, likewise stood up.

Hermione said, "I'm enjoying our talk, but I need to go in my bedroom and write my parents. I need to explain my out-of-the-blue betrothal."

Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, about that. Hermione, maybe you think I did this only to protect you—well, that's part of it; I'll always try to protect you. But the real reason I got betrothed, even though I don't know if I love you or not—sod it all, I'm making a mess of this—I don't know whether I love you or not, but there is no girl whom I know I love, who is not Hermione Granger. Is this good enough for you?"

"Oh Harry, it's more than enough, because I know you love me, even if you don't!" Hermione dropped to her knees, lunged at Harry and snogged him mightily.

When the teens stopped their kissing, Sirius was grinning.

****

Just before Hermione shut her bedroom door, she looked at Harry and said, "Remember to drink your Purging Potion and let it work, before you drink any of your nutritional potions."

"Yes, Mother," Harry replied. "Don't you forget your Purging Potion—I don't want to catch you snogging Ron."

In reply, Hermione made a "disgusted" face.

Then Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "Erm, Hermione, instead of going into your room and writing your letter, can you came back out here and sit down? There's something I've put

off discussing all night." Harry lowered his voice: "The thought of it terrifies me." Sirius asked, "What is it, pup? What's bothering you?"

But Hermione asked no such question. Instead, she stepped out of her bedroom, shut the door, and sat down on the hardwood floor of the corridor. She said lowly, "You've been thinking about what Director Ragnok told you: That you now control the wards to Malfoy Manor, and Voldemort and his Death Eaters are staying in Malfoy Manor, blissfully unaware till tomorrow."

"I'm in," Sirius said, without hesitation. "No way am I letting you go in there alone."

Harry sighed. "A big part of me wants to say Stay here, Sirius. The mission will be dangerous. But even with maybe-Merlin-level magic, I can't be sure that if I went there by myself, I'd come out alive. This morning at breakfast, I wouldn't have cared. But now?" Harry stroked the Potter betrothal ring that he wore, then gave Hermione a quick kiss. "I don't want to die, since I've so much to live for now."

Hermione's face showed fear, but what she said was, "Voldemort is scarier than any mountain troll; but this time, I won't hide in a corner screaming. Gryffindors charge ahead."

"Gryffindors charge ahead," Harry and Sirius echoed.

Hermione looked at the ceiling, meaning the Weasleys who were asleep, one story above. "Will it be only the three of us going, or will our black op be taking any others?"

"Remus," Harry said. "Voldemort killed two of his closest friends that night; Remus will want in on this."

Sirius nodded.

Harry continued, "But nobody else. Jesus Christ, if Molly heard even a whisper of what I'm planning? Number 11"—Grimmauld Place—"and Number 13 would both hear her screeching."

Both Sirius and Hermione rolled their eyes, imagining Molly's reaction to Harry's plan. Then Sirius sent a message-Patronus to Remus.

****

Harry, Hermione, Sirius and Remus sat in the third-floor corridor and planned till midnight. Early in the planning session, Harry summoned Goldy, the Malfoy head house-elf, to answer questions.

At midnight, Sirius loaned Remus a bedroom, and the three others went to their respective bedrooms for three hours of sleep. At 3:01 a.m, Goldy elf-popped into Harry's bedroom to shake him awake, then popped away to shake the three others awake. (Kreacher had not been trusted with this duty.)

Goldy provided the three wizards and witch with Pepper-Up potions; all four could barely stop yawning long enough to drink their potions. At 3:07, Goldy and Hunky, another Malfoy house-elf, popped Harry, Hermione, Sirius and Remus away from the third floor of Number 12, Grimmauld Place.

Harry found himself in a corridor, lit by torches, whose walls were painted green and silver. Ahead of Harry was a gold-painted door.

Harry saw nobody in the corridor, and heard no noises (except for snoring). It seemed that everyone in the house was asleep.

Goldy pointed to the gold door. He whispered, "That where Ugly Red-Eyes sleeps now."