When Bill Weasley stepped through the Floo into the main hall at Beaumont holding Victoire tightly, he nearly forgot to step out of the way before his wife and baby Dominque arrived straight after him.
'Oh my goodness,' said Fleur. 'Harry has a grand house, has he not?'
Molly rushed forward to take Dominque. And suddenly they were being introduced to Narcissa Malfoy who was speaking fluent French to Fleur. And Teddy and Victoire were already running off together.
'Teddy!' shouted Harry after the boy, 'don't go near the water without Ammy.'
'Awww! Da!!!' but he was already dragging Victoire out of the door and a House-Elf had appeared and Harry was sending wandless traces and wards at the kids.
'They'll be fine,' said Bill as he followed Harry to the door. He let out a low whistle when he saw the grounds. 'It's quite something, Harry.'
'I know. Still not used to it,' Harry grimaced, slightly embarrassed.
Bill laughed as he turned in the spot in the courtyard, staring up at the turrets and the four storeys of sandstone walls. 'Are you sure it's big enough?'
Harry shook his head. 'It's crazy. I think I've got a business idea brewing, so I can make use of some of this. Otherwise, it all seems a bit affluent and pretentious.'
'But you've got a Quidditch pitch,' said Bill, grinning. 'And that makes up for having to suffer all this grandeur...'
'I'll live, I suppose,' said Harry and they walked side-by-side with Hercules, checking Teddy and Victoire weren't heading to the lake without supervision.
'You always did love Quidditch. Do you remember as a little boy? McGonagall used to let you come down to the pitch with me and watch the Quidditch classes.'
Harry laughed. 'Merlin, it was all so innocent back then. You know, I absolutely idolised you. I thought you were the best Quidditch player in the world. I wanted to be just like you.'
'Careful, Harry, all that flattery can go to a man's head.'
'Yeah, well, I was only six. I soon grew up and learnt Charlie was far better!'
'Oi!' but Bill laughed.
They wandered side by side in silence for a while, mostly trying to keep an eye on Teddy and Victoire, though Hercules and Ammy were doing a better job of herding them away from the lake.
'Harry,' said Bill, after a pause. 'I was going to let you know tomorrow but as I'm here. Something came up at the bank on Friday, connected with Triple-F. The Jarndyce account, I don't know if you remember, it was the main holding account that Finch-Fletchley used. We kept it open because there were some cash deposits made which couldn't be traced back to Finch-Fletchley. Well, it's just become active again. Small amounts of cash have been trickling in from Europe, not enough to raise flags. But then a lump of galleons has just been withdrawn.'
'Withdrawn? But surely only Triple-F could do that?'
'Apparently not. There's a suggestion this means there is another key holder. Maybe even the keyholder, from what we could work out, though Finch-Fletchley seemed to have control of it all and he was transferring the large lumps of money into it from his other accounts.'
Harry raised an eyebrow. 'I wonder if this links to the gathering...'
'Gathering?'
'Yeah, we've had a sudden influx of Voldemort's inner circle coming out of hiding or, rather, trying to return to the UK. You'll have to raise this with Nev tomorrow. I'm out of the office for the moment, though he'll keeping in the loop.'
'Everything alright?' Bill appraised the younger man. Sometimes it was hard not to still see him as the carefree little boy that used to follow him around Hogwarts all those years ago. He realised Harry had lost weight, too much really, and he carried an edge that teetered between dangerous and anxiety. He suddenly felt worried for him.
'Wandless magic has gone a bit rogue. I tend to draw on other people's, if I'm not careful. I'm alright here though - a sort of conduit back to my Ancestral Well. We're working on it, that's why everyone's here. Only, when I found the pitch, I called time out.'
Bill raised an eyebrow. He knew what it was like to carry the scars of war. There was a responsibility wrapped up in it all. Of course, Bill's scars were visible, he couldn't hide his, but Harry... Harry's scars were buried deep, his were on the inside and were bursting to get out. 'It's not a curse, is it?' he said quietly.
'No,' said Harry. 'I thought so, at first. But it's to do with being the last-named descendant of an awful lot of Ancient Houses. It's my responsibility to start the rebuild.'
'It never lets up for you, does it?'
'Sometimes. I found my soulmate and, like I said, I also found a full-sized Quidditch pitch...'
Bill still cast a discreet curse diagnosis spell. Just in case. But it bounced back clear.
Ossy and Letty had arranged for a picnic lunch to be taken out to boundaries of the Quidditch pitch. The pitch itself was constructed within a huge bowl in the landscape that had been excavated and the earth mounded higher on one side so there was a spectators' area. It meant the flyers weren't above the tree level of the woodlands on the far side of the pitch.
Draco swept around the parameter on the Nimbus that Harry had bought him, intermittently watching his team and getting distracted by Harry who was circling him and generally taunting him and showing off, as far as Draco was concerned.
Draco scowled at him. 'Back off, Potter. Some of us are taking this seriously.'
'Only because you know I'll catch the Snitch before you,' he teased as he barrel-rolled his new Firebolt.
Bill whipped past them and shot the Quaffle home for Draco's team.
They'd taken it in turns picking their team members. Draco had won the coin toss and went first, immediately claiming Ron with a leering smirk at Harry.
'Ginny!' Harry said, grinning at Draco's scowl.
'Bill!'
'George!'
It suddenly felt electrically competitive. They were almost bolstering up to each other, nose to nose.
'Blaise!'
'Alex!' Harry said, pleased that Alex, Mara, Lee, Cho, and Sheldon had turned up in support of all that was going on.
'Lee!'
Harry grinned, knowing from Auror Department knockabouts that Lee was far better at commentating than playing. 'Ange!'
'Hannah!'
'Mara!'
They played with only one Bludger and one Chaser down because none of the others would get on a broom. Arthur agreed to referee. Blankets and picnic chairs were provided for the spectators and Neville and Sheldon joined Fleur, Pansy, Luna, Cho, and Mione on the blankets with Teddy and Victoire. Minerva, Narcissa, Dromeda, and Molly had a row of seats.
'By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked comes this way...' muttered Draco under his breath, when he saw the four witches huddled together.
Even Hebe came out to watch, and as Kingsley, Gawain, and Gawain's wife Rosamund had appeared mid-morning to check-up on Harry, they'd ended up staying too. Harry invited the House-Elves out too, if they were interested.
With Ron as Draco's goal keeper, Harry's Chasers quickly fell behind and Draco's team steamed ahead before the Snitch even made an appearance. Bill hadn't lost his touch and time after time again, scored for Draco. Angelina and George made a formidable team as Beaters, not quite as good as George and Fred but there was a definite understanding and they didn't hold any prisoners, especially when it came to targeting Bill.
Harry began to wonder if the play was more competitive than some of the Hogwarts' matches. When he finally saw the Golden Snitch, his team were 150 points down without a chance of getting the Quaffle past Ron. He decided to cut his losses and catch the bloody thing before Draco did.
Harry threw himself on the grass next to Teddy, exhausted. It had been too long since he'd flown like that. The final chase for the Snitch against Draco had been neck and neck, but they had always been very evenly matched, no matter what Minnie had to say on the subject. Harry took her favouritism with a pinch of salt.
'It's quite a place you've inherited, Mr Potter,' said Rosamund Robards.
'Overwhelmingly so, I'm still very much getting used to it,' Harry said, gratefully accepting the butterbeer that Draco passed him before flopping down between Harry's legs and leaning back against his chest to lounge in the sun. 'But this, well, this has made my week.' Harry wandlessly cast a sun protection charm over Draco who grimaced at him.
'I feel very privileged to have been able to watch you all. And the Weasley siblings...' she gushed. 'Our very own private viewing of some excellent professional players just having a knockabout...'
'I think you'll find it was a bit more competitive than just a knockabout, darling,' muttered Gawain.
'Well, I don't know about these things, I never was very interested in school. I admit I may have missed out.'
'It was more frightening than one of the department matches,' said Gawain.
'That's saying something,' rumbled Kingsley.
Hebe looked quite frightened. 'I think Arthur was very brave to be up there amongst it all, it was very fast.'
'Grandaddy Art referees the family game at Christmas,' said Teddy proudly.
Molly pursed her lips. 'When Charlie joins the fray against Bill, and when poor Fred was with us, well, I'm sure you can imagine...'
'That's why Gin can outfly us all,' said George, joining in.
'I expect a rematch at the wedding,' said Bill. 'It is the Weasley Christmas Day tradition after all. We can't miss it just because you two are inconveniently getting hitched the same day.'
'I'll think I'll sit out,' huffed Lee. 'I'll commentate for all your guests.'
'We can't have Bill and Charlie on the same side.'
'Oh gods,' whinged Draco. 'They're already arguing, there's going to be a massive family fallout four-months before the wedding day itself. That must be a record, even for a Malfoy wedding.'
Harry smiled. 'I'll invite Oliver Woods and Cormac McLaggen then we can have a full team each.'
'You are not inviting Cormac to your wedding!' exclaimed Mione. 'Not if you value the friendship of any of your female guests.'
'Is there a story here?' said Narcissa with an inquisitive smile. 'I thought the McLaggens were one of the most respected Ancient Irish Houses.'
Harry laughed, particularly at Ron's face. 'Cormac had a bit of a thing of Mione in our sixth year, I believe her exact words were "McLaggen makes Grawp look like a gentleman" and "he's got more hands than the giant squid". Don't worry, I won't invite him. Never liked him. Dray, you must have a Slytherin friend who plays and you could invite.'
'Marcus Flint?' suggested Ron with a wicked grin.
'Ah! I put him in Azkaban last year for match fixing,' volunteered Angelina.
'Who else was there during your time?' said George.
'Adrian Pucey,' said Lee.
'Maybe this isn't the best of conversations,' said Harry.
'Is Pucey in Azkaban too?' said Draco.
'Mhem. Anyway, we're not writing our guest list according to who can play Quidditch or not...'
There was a round of groans and 'aws' and Weasleys muttering 'spoilt-sports'.
'Come on, Vic, let's go to the lake,' said Teddy, jumping up. 'The adult conversation is soooo boring. COME ON, HERCULES...' and the three charged off.
'DON'T GO NEAR THE WATER!' Harry shouted after him. 'I must teach him to swim some more. He did well yesterday. Letty says dad, Sirius, and Remus spent their summers swimming in the lake.' He suddenly smirked. 'I know...' he mused. 'What about Viktor Krum... I'm still in contact with him...'
'Viktor Krum!' said Mara. 'The Bulgarian star? You know him? Oh my word, Harry, why are you keeping all these famous Quidditch friends of yours hidden away. First the Weasleys, now Krum. Merlin, I want introducing, he's dreamy...'
Everyone chuckled, apart from Alex who scowled slightly.
Draco hit his leg playfully and muttered, 'I hope you're not trying to make me jealous. Anyway, we're the Seekers here, we don't need any international stars cramping our style.'
'What about Theo?' said Blaise. 'He always wanted to be a Beater but Flint didn't think he was thuggish enough. But really, that's by the by, you should reconnect with him, Dray. He could also look at all that stuff you don't want to keep, Harry. You know he and Daphne are getting married in Autumn.'
'Really!' said Draco. 'Maybe, I'll call in on him tomorrow, after work. Harry said about his work.'
All the guests were invited to stay on and for dinner too, so long as they didn't mind helping out in one way or another.
'The hall will feel superbly quiet tomorrow when everyone's buggered off,' whispered Harry in Dray's ear.
He set George and Angelina, Bill and Lee to sorting out moving the games room and asked the Auror team to work in the west wing, clearing boxes and bringing them down to the Dragon Room. Minnie, Dromeda, and Narcissa had already made it through all the boxes in there and the turret room.
'Darling,' said Narcissa with excitement. 'We found a cello!'
'Really,' Draco said unenthusiastically.
'Maybe you could play for us later.'
Draco was positively scowling. 'Mother!'
Narcissa was smiling at Harry and she winked.
'You can play the cello, Dray?' Harry exclaimed. 'I love the sound of the cello!'
'You know shit all about the sound of the cello,' muttered Draco.
'There's no need for that kind of language, darling. Harry, we found Sirius's guitar too, you have a music room in the making.'
Harry caught Draco playing later when he thought everyone was busy elsewhere. He played astoundingly well and Harry stood in the doorway with his mouth open, utterly gobsmacked.
'What was it that you were playing, that last piece?' Harry asked later as they faced each other in bed.
'Air on the G String by Bach,' Draco whispered.
'It was beautiful. Why didn't you say you could play?'
'When was I going to slip that into the conversation?' Draco scowled. 'During our first conversation on the Hogwarts Express? "The name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. By the way, I'm a Grade Five celloist. How about you?",' he said in posh sing-song voice. 'I already sounded like a pretentious twat. At least I knew that was one step too far.' He paused. 'Plus, I guess I was a bit ashamed or embarrassed about it.'
'Were you some kind of child-prodigy?'
'Just pushed by mother, she thinks it's a beautiful instrument and that it was worth me learning. I was very mechanical. I didn't learn to put any emotion into my playing until after I'd taken the Mark. I'd play when no one was in the Manor, finally letting go through the music, but we had to hide my cello. Voldemort could never have found that out or Aunt Bella for that matter. I never told people at school either. And can you imagine if that got out at? Their Slytherin Prince, playing Muggle music on a Muggle instrument considering who my shit-eating Death-Eater father was!'
'What happened to your cello?'
'Father destroyed it when he came out of Azkaban and caught me playing. Eviscerated it, in front of me, splintered into thousands of pieces.'
Harry grimaced at the thought, at the madness of it all. 'Do you resent learning?'
'Not really. It just confuses me. Why did he let mother take me to lessons when it stood for something he was so against? So that he could just do something like that? It was like he was taking it away from me, destroying yet another part of me...'
'Does it help to say it's simply beautiful and you're allowed to love the beautiful things in life, no matter the sadness or emotions you feel too.'
'But...'
Harry put his finger on Draco's lips. 'It's beautiful. You're beautiful. If you want to play that cello, it's yours to play, whenever you want. I want to give that back to you, Dray. I think you're astonishing and exceptional and deserve happiness.'
'Thank you,' he whispered and he held onto Harry tightly because no one ever said words like that to him, not even his own mother.
***