One Hundred And Forty Nearly Twelve (Completed)

Chapter 23: Moving In

Albus Dumbledore had been waiting impatiently in his office with the Weasley children for more than thirty minutes when there was a sudden pop sound and Dobby the house elf and a rather flustered Molly Weasley arrived, Dobby had not waited to be told if there was anything he should say to the Weasley matriarch so she had no idea why she had been almost forcefully delivered into Dumbledore's office.

The next arrivals were an even bigger surprise for the headmaster when just five minutes later Harry and Hermione arrived with Mr and Mrs Granger. Dumbledore thought he might have been able to smooth things out a little easier if the Grangers had not been petrified, as it was it took him the better part of an hour to convince the Grangers that the danger they were in was truly life threatening and that Harry had acted in their best interests.

While Harry and Dumbledore tried to sooth the ruffled feathers of Mr Granger, Hermione took everyone else out to Gryffindor Manor. Mrs Grangers' mouth fell open when Hermione told her that the house had been a birthday gift from Harry. It did not take Mrs Weasley long to begin to work out what was needed to update the ancient building and she made up plans that would entail very little change to the character or design of the house, she also recommended a specialist wizarding building company who had helped with the Burrow when it underwent some alterations.

Hermione pictured in her mind, the rather wonky building that was the Burrow, after giving it a little thought she decided to ignore the feeling that anyone who helped build the Burrow had to be a least a little cross eyed, and allowed Mrs Weasley to send her owl Godric to the builders with a message.

Ginny and the twins found the bath room Harry had told them about and were soon begging Dobby to take them to the castle so that they could get their swimming costumes, Ginny having persuaded the little elf to take her to the girls dorm arranged to bring back Harry and Hermione's costumes when she returned.

Hermione with help from her mother and Mrs Weasley chose a room just off the main hall to turn into a sitting room, while she and Mrs Weasley conjured some furniture by transfiguring some of the many old cushions that lay around the entire house, Mrs Granger set about arranging the furniture to turn the room into a very comfortable place for them to relax.

Ginny, Neville, Ron, and the twins went swimming in the warm water of the enormous bath. Mr Granger took charge of making plans and drawings for the remodelling of the house after looking over Mrs Weasleys notes; Harry left him working with some house elves in the enormous kitchen that still had stone, clay and brick ovens. Percy was sent to recruit Hagrid who was asked if he could organise for them a more modern means of cooking, which as it happened was a simple task because he had access to the old store rooms up at the castle, an hour and a half after being recruited both Hagrid and Percy stepped back from the work Hagrid had been doing and grinned with satisfaction, the old wood burning cooker he had fitted would be large enough even for Molly Weasley to be happy with.

Harry smiled at Hermione as Mrs Weasley called them all into the kitchen for their evening meal 'well at least we are guaranteed some good food' he said as he took her hand and followed Mrs Granger.

Hermione looked around the large wooden table Mrs Weasley had conjured, quietly watching as everyone chatted away, she turned to Harry and commented as they ate, about how everyone had somehow settled into the large house as though they had lived there for years. Harry nodded and thought how much better it was than having a meal in the great hall up at the school.

With permission from Dumbledore, Harry, Hermione, the Weasleys and Neville were allowed to stay over night at the manor, there was a free for all at ten that evening when Mrs Granger told them it was time for bed, the rush by his friends to find and lay claim to the best bedroom made Harry laugh as he and Hermione stood back and watched.