Nose to the Wind // tomarry

Chapter 9: Only the Silence Remains

Without the threat of a rebellion on the horizon, life seemed to pass far more sluggishly. Ron and Ginny got invited over for a small party made up of mostly muggles the week of Harry's ninth birthday, and Harry made a point to appear super excited about the sweets they'd got him, because he didn't want Ron to be embarrassed at his poor-man's gift. The fact that Will, Chris, and Sirius were all equally excited, especially when Harry let everyone pick something out of the bag, only helped.

Voldemort sent him more rare potions ingredients, as well as a potion recipe that was intended for werefolk suffering from travel-based nausea, because most of the common potions for travel-based nausea didn't work for most werefolk, Harry included.

"Your benefactor is a spy," James decided, and Lily lightly smacked him.

Harry rolled his eyes and made a point of hugging the recipe to his chest, because it was the sort of thing that he'd never have gone looking for himself, and so appreciated it all the more.

The rest of the year passed with very little drama. The youngest four Weasleys and Molly came over to visit every two weeks or so, and Harry and Will introduced them to their muggle friends. Fred and George caused trouble and generally drove everyone bonkers, but Ron and Ginny were easily accepted by the other children, just as Geoffrey had been when he'd started joining them. Ron flourished in a way that Harry had never seen, playing with other children his age who mostly didn't have magic, and there were times when Harry just had to stand back and shake his head in awe at the way the boy that had been his first friend in another life grew with muggle playmates.

By Voldemort's birthday, Harry had managed to track down a cache of books that had survived one of the fires of the Library of Alexandria. About half of them had been beyond saving, but he packaged up the other half and delivered them to Voldemort's office while he was sleeping.

The second half of the school year followed the first half, with regular visits from the Weasleys.

At the beginning of the summer holiday, James decided, "Since our last holiday was so excellent, I insist we take another one!"

Lily laughed and waved a hand at him while Harry and his brothers grinned. "Go on, then," Lily said. "Where and when?"

James let out a dramatic sigh. "Well, I couldn't get any time off until right before Harry's birthday, so we'll have to hold your party overseas this year, pup. Sorry about that."

Harry rolled his eyes, because that was hardly an issue.

James winked at him. "As for where? Well, we could give America a shot, now that they're not likely to decide we're war criminals or some such, or we could try and learn another language in less than a month and go somewhere in Europe."

"Or we could find a guide that could act as a translator," Lily pointed out, amused.

"Or we could do that," James agreed. "Did you have somewhere in mind?"

Lily nodded. "I think I'd like to see Spain."

"What, all of it?" James teased.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Yes, and in one day."

Harry and his brothers all snickered, while James grinned and shook his head. "I'll ask around about popular destinations," he promised, and came home the next day with a list of possibilities to whittle down.

They ended up in Granada for the first week, it being one of the two major magical centres of Spain. Remus hadn't been able to come, with the full moon falling in the middle of the trip, but Sirius and Peter both came, serving as more of a constant source of entertainment than a third and fourth adult to help with corralling Harry, Will, and Chris. (To be fair, Will tended to stick close to Sirius anyway, when he wasn't shadowing Harry, and Chris and Harry both tended to stay relatively close to Lily, when Harry wasn't sneaking off because something had caught his eye, so they managed.)