|
||||||||
|
||||||||
Author: BabyRuth Story: And Then There Were Twelve Rating: Young Teens Setting: Pre-HBP Status: Completed Reviews: 11 Words: 19,672
When a small finger poked him in the ribs, Harry sat bolt upright in bed, instincts and reflexes honed from years of Auror training and parenting causing him to awaken instantly, wand clenched in his fist and all senses alert to danger. The light in the room was dim, and it took him several seconds to realize he was at home in his bed. A soft whimper caught his attention. "Lumos," he muttered. Bridget cowered by the door, frightened by his reaction, her nightgown sopping wet. Harry sighed and lit the bedside lamp and extinguished his wand, then started to climb out of bed. "Harry?" mumbled Ginny. "It’s all right, Gin. Bridget had another bad dream. I’ll handle it tonight, go back to sleep," he said, smoothing her hair and kissing her cheek. "’Kay," she muttered, sinking quickly back to slumber. Harry stepped over to Bridget who had big fat tears leaking from her blue eyes. She had been with them for the past two months, and while decreasing in frequency, her nightmares were still quite severe. "It’s all right, Bridget. Nobody’s going to hurt you. You just surprised me, that’s all," Harry soothed as he crouched down in front of her. "Did you have a bad dream?" Bridget nodded. "I’m all wet," she said in a quivery voice. "Now you’re not," Harry said, applying a cleansing and drying charm to her nightgown. He lifted her in his arms and walked to the rocking chair situated in front of the master bedroom’s big bay window and sat down, settling Bridget on his lap. As he started to rock slowly, he recalled other late night rocks with his other children. Many a bad dream and teething pain had been rocked away in this chair. As he rocked he felt the little girl finally relax against his chest. "All right, now?" he asked, kissing her soft golden hair. Bridget just sniffed and nodded. "Ready to go back to bed?" Bridget shook her head. "Remember what happens today?" Harry asked. Bridget just shrugged. "Well, today is the last day of school at Hogwarts. So all the other children will be coming home this afternoon. You’ll meet Jamie, or James since he’s all grown up now. Then there’s AJ, short for Arthur James, and then Lily and Molly, who are twins, and then there’s Brian, and lastly Kit, or Christopher. You’ll like them all very much," Harry said softly. "Are they all your little boys and girls?" asked Bridget sleepily. "They are all my little boys and girls, along with Ian, Davey, Rosie, and Hannah."
"I wish I was your little girl," Bridget said on a sigh as she fell asleep in his arms. I wish you were, too, Harry thought as he stood and carried her back to bed. Later that morning, the usual start-of-day chaos was in full swing when Harry went down to breakfast. The children were situated around the breakfast table, Hannah and Bridget perched on booster seats. Pumpkin juice was spilled and cleaned, eggs and porridge eaten, plans for the day listed and changed, and animals fed surreptitiously from the table which went unnoticed by no one. "When does the train come, Dad?" asked Davey, spraying some egg from his full mouth. "Manners, Davey," chided Ginny, wiping up the mess. Davey just grinned sheepishly, green eyes twinkling. "It’s due to arrive at 5:00 p.m., and it’s never been late," Harry said, helping himself to some coffee while dodging an arm reaching across for the sausage. "Can we go, Daddy? Can we? Can we?" asked Rosie, bouncing in her seat, red curls swinging. "That’d be like taking the army across the Alps," Harry laughed. "Come on, Dad, take us, too," begged Ian. "Sorry, kids. I’m going to take a couple of Ministry cars from work and bring them home with me tonight," Harry apologized. "It’s just easier that way. Everyone will be home in time for dinner and you can catch up. And then what?" Harry teased. "Party tomorrow!" the children cried. "That’s right! Party tomorrow! Who’s going to be here?" asked Ginny, her face lit up by a wide smile, just as excited as the children. "Jamie! Lily! Brian! AJ! Kit! Molly!" shouted small voices, jumbling the names together and laughing. "Who else?" "Grammy!" said Ian. "Grandpop!" said Rosie. "Uncle Remus!" said Hannah. "Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione!" shouted Davey. "Actually, all the Weasley uncles, aunts, and cousins," agreed Ginny, wiping up some milk that had splashed out of Hannah’s cup. "And guess who else?" teased Harry, finishing up his eggs and coffee. "Bumbles!" shouted Hannah joyfully, dimples flashing. "Yes, Bumbles!" said Harry. The children shouted in glee, even Bridget who was swept up in the joy of the moment even without understanding everything. Breakfast finished on a happy note as Harry prepared to leave for the Ministry, the children chattering like magpies with excitement. Before activating the study Floo, he pulled Ginny aside. "Ginny, can you get away today? I’d like to take my favorite girl out to lunch," Harry said. Ginny raised an eyebrow. "And talk about Amos’ proposal?" she asked knowingly. "That, and what to do with Bridget," Harry replied. "It’ll be too much of a madhouse around here for a while to have any serious discussions." "That’s the truth. All right, since lessons are officially over for the summer holidays I’ll ask Dobby and Winky to mind the children. I’ll still have enough time to get ready for the homecoming. I’ll meet you at your office at noon?" she asked. "That works for me. See you then, love," Harry said, kissing Ginny warmly, smiling as he felt the smallest Potter give a kick before Flooing to the Ministry. At several minutes past twelve, Ginny entered Harry’s office. He looked up and smiled at her standing in the doorway, as beautiful to him then as at their wedding. "Get that look out of your eye, Potter," said Ginny firmly, her tone belied by the sparkle in her warm brown eyes. "We have a date, remember?" "So we do, so we do," agreed Harry, picking up a sheaf of parchment and placing it in a leather binder. Rising, he walked out from behind his desk, carrying the binder with him. Ignoring Ginny’s quizzical expression and giving her a quick kiss, he took her hand and led her from the office. "I’m taking my wife to lunch, Enid. Back in a while," called Harry as they left the department. Enid just waved them out. "I’ve made reservations at the Leaky Cauldron. That sound good to you?" he asked. "Sure, Harry. What’s in the binder?" Ginny wanted to know. "Just some information we need to talk about." A few minutes later they were ushered into a private dining room at the Leaky Cauldron by Tom, the proprietor of many years. "Welcome, welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Potter. Sit yourselves down here, there you go. Can I get you anything to drink? Tea? Butterbeer? Firewhiskey?" asked Tom. "Just tea for me, Tom, thanks," said Ginny, flashing an amused glance toward Harry. "Same for me, Tom. What’s the lunch special today?" asked Harry. "Lamb stew with brown bread, side of Brussels sprouts," Tom replied. Harry grimaced. Brussels sprouts were not his favorite. Noting the look, Tom hastily added, "Or you can have spring peas instead." "Lamb stew with peas for me, then, Tom," ordered Harry. "Lamb stew isn’t going to sit well with this Potter," said Ginny, rubbing her stomach. "How about just a bowl of soup? With brown bread?"
"Certainly, certainly, not a problem. Will have your tea in half a mo’," said Tom, bowing himself out of the room. "How long have we known Tom? When do you think he’ll relax?" laughed Ginny. "He’s treated me this way ever since my eleventh birthday. I don’t think he’ll ever change," Harry said, shaking his head. Almost instantly Tom was back with their lunch and tea and bowed himself out of the room again. "All right, Harry. What’s on your mind?" asked Ginny, starting in on her soup. Harry thought for a moment while dipping a piece of bread into his bowl of stew. "Lavender gave me an update today on Bridget’s placement," he started. Ginny looked up sharply at this. "Bridget’s placement?" "Well, yes. It’s standard procedure for the DOMC to run searches for any extended family for the children in foster care. Once the search is exhausted or if the found relatives can’t take the child, they’re put up for adoption." Ginny stared at him intently. "And?" "They found no relatives of either Heather or Brian McFadden. Bridget’s the only surviving member of both sides of that family. So Lavender said they would start the process of contacting prospective parents--" Ginny’s eyes flashed. "Stop right there, Potter. Bridget’s ours. She was ours the minute you brought her home and plopped her in my lap. She was ours when she finally started chattering like a monkey after a month of virtual silence. She’s ours every time she wakes up from another horrible nightmare. And she was ours the first time she hit Davey over the head for taking a doll rather than just letting him run away with silent tears rolling down her sad face. She’s ours and that’s that," Ginny said fiercely. Harry smiled widely and reached out and took Ginny’s clenched fist in his larger hand. "Darling, you didn’t let me finish. I told Lavender not to look for prospective parents, that we were waiting right here." Ginny smiled and sniffed, wiping her eyes with her napkin. "Lavender also said Bridget’s counseling sessions are going well. One of the games they play with young children who have suffered a loss is the emotions game. The child gets a bag, puts a piece of parchment on the outside with whatever emotion they want to share with the world, like happiness or sadness, and puts emotions they don’t want to share inside the bag where no one can see. Over the past few weeks, Bridget’s bag has been getting emptier and emptier as she’s come to accept the loss of her parents. Lavender said it was a blessing she didn’t actually see the troll kill her parents, it’s helped in the recovery. Lavender feels Bridget is ready and needs something permanent now. That’s what all this parchment is all about, the application and background information for adoption." Harry opened the leather binder and removed the pages of parchment. "Background?" asked Ginny, gesturing for him to hand them over. Harry smiled sheepishly. "They can’t just give children away willy-nilly, Gin. They’re going to investigate us." Ginny started giggling, then chuckling, then outright laughing at the thought. "Think we’ll pass inspection? The Great Harry Potter, defender of Light, father of eleven, and future Minister of Magic, and his wife, Ginevra, mother of eleven, daughter of the current Minister of Magic, who himself had seven children? What are the odds against it?" she chortled. "I haven’t decided about the Minister post, Gin," muttered Harry. "Anyway, Lavender said they’d expedite the application process. I’ve already started filling these out. You do these, and I’ll finish these." "All of these forms?" moaned Ginny. "Yep. It’s a bureaucracy, Gin. They like paperwork." For several minutes Ginny and Harry ate their lunch and worked on the adoption forms, bantering answers to the questions back and forth across the table. Ginny got down to the end and looked up at Harry, a serious expression in her eyes. "Harry, are we doing the right thing?" "Do you remember Bridget had another nightmare last night?" Harry asked. "Vaguely." "While we were rocking and right before she fell asleep she said she wished she were my little girl." Ginny swallowed hard. "Oh, Harry. Let’s get these turned in right away." They finished the last of the forms, signed their names ‘where indicated,’ and Harry put them back in the binder. "Harry, what have you thought about the Minister position?" Ginny asked. "I don’t know, Ginny. Our lives are relatively normal now, with kids in school and me Head of Department and all. Don’t you think being Minister of Magic would just too much? Another way to deify ‘The Boy Who Lived’?" "I don’t see it that way, Harry. I see it more as the natural progression of your career. You’d be brilliant at it. Just think of all the good things you could do, all the attention you could bring to whatever issue. On the other hand, think of who would be Minister if you weren’t. What would happen to the great initiatives Dad’s implemented?" Harry mulled it over. "What about all the social functions we’d have to attend? Wouldn’t we be away from home a lot?" "Dad and Mum don’t attend every little event now, Harry. Two or three a year, the big Ministry party and a couple more. Most of the Ministry social calendar is set well in advance so you could pick and choose which to attend, and who to stay with the children." "Don’t you think someone like Percy or Ernie McMillan would be better suited?" Ginny snorted. "Percy would love the title, not the position. He wouldn’t do anything except further his own image. Ernie would be too bogged down in ceremony and officiousness to be effective. You’re the better candidate, Harry. You would work the position, not let the position work you." "Well, I still haven’t decided yet. I don’t have to declare until September, elections are slated for first December," said Harry, rising to help Ginny to her feet. "I’ll support you one hundred percent, no matter what you decide, Harry," said Ginny. "If you’re not going to be happy in the position, there’s no need to go for it." She reached up and kissed his cheek. "See you tonight with the rest of the galloping hoard," she grinned and Apparated home, leaving a thoughtful Harry to make his solitary way back to the Ministry. As Harry started clearing his desk at the end of the day, eager to get to King’s Cross to meet the Hogwarts Express, Seamus entered the office and sat in a chair in front of the desk, sighing wearily. "Hey, Seamus. What’s up?" Harry asked absently, stuffing parchment into a desk drawer. "I know you’re getting ready to go to the station, just thought you might want the latest on the Orkney troll." Harry looked up sharply and met Seamus’ tired but smiling face. "What’s happened?" "Well, you got that preliminary report from Nigel that the troll was reacting to a mixture of various hexes, including Furnunculus, Confundus, Tarantellegra, Conjunctivitis, Stupefy, Engorgio, a couple of Reductos, and residue of a wicked Banishing Charm which is how we suspect it ended up in the Orkneys anyway. The only thing holding up the investigation was getting a line on the magical signatures." "Yeah, you were going to work on identifying them," Harry said, everything else forgotten. "Well, guess what I discovered?" "The culprits?" Seamus nodded. "Turns out that one Mr. Jordan Mansfield and one Mr. Walter Ashburn, ages twenty-two physically but with the maturity of five-year-olds, have been having a bit of a feud over a Miss Lovelace, a witch of the female persuasion. Up until April they had kept their animosity level to salted well water, trip hexes, and pranks that have gotten progressively more vicious. Then said Miss Lovelace agreed to be married to Mr. Ashburn, and when Mr. Mansfield found out the hexes started flying. Of course the gits didn’t keep the magic confined, but started shooting randomly into woods where these two miscreants happened to live. Hexes and jinxes flew everywhere, and guess what was caught in the crossfire?" "The hapless troll." "And a few others, but the majority of the hexes only affected the one we caught. Hermione’s checked out the others and they’ve all shaken the curses and things off." "And the miscreants?" "Both Mr. Ashburn and Mr. Mansfield are enjoying all the comforts of Azkaban even as we speak, charged with involuntary manslaughter. Trial set for next month," Seamus said smugly, leaning back in the chair, linking his fingers behind his head, and propping his feet on Harry’s desk. "Excellent work, Seamus! And perfect timing! Ginny and I just today gave the DOMC the paperwork to adopt Bridget. Got the prosecution lined up yet?" For several minutes Harry and Seamus discussed the troll situation, the prosecution of the perpetrators, and the likely defense. After a casual glance at his watch, Harry sprang to his feet. "Merlin, it’s late! I’ve got to get to King’s Cross! Great job, Seamus! Put yourself in for a nice fat bonus!" hollered Harry as he sprinted out of the department. At ten past five Harry was dashing through King’s Cross Station, pushing and squeezing his way through the throngs of Muggles in order to get to the barrier between platforms nine and ten. He recognized Ron’s bright red head towering above the milling crowd and hoped his offspring were with him. "Ron! Hey, Ron!" he yelled, hurrying up to him. Ron turned at his name and looked relieved to see Harry. "Harry! You’re late! Thought I was going to have to squeeze your lot in with mine," Ron said, greeting him with a hearty handshake and a clap on the shoulder as adolescents and teenagers chattered all around them. "Dad!" squealed a lovely fourteen year old girl with glossy bright red hair as she launched herself at Harry. He had to verify where her twin was to realize he held Lily. "Lily! Welcome home!" he said happily, giving her a squeeze. Suddenly he was surrounded and giving and receiving hugs from all sides. "AJ! Good to have you home! Where’s the rest of the Triple Threat? Molly, my little ginger newt! Heard about that great save in your last Quidditch match! Brian, you didn’t get into any trouble on the train home, did you? Good man! Where’s Kit?" Looking around, Harry spotted the shy first year at the edge of the crowd and pulled him into the circle. "Kit, great to see you! Mum and I missed you a lot! First year go all right?" he asked, giving his son Christopher a gentle squeeze. Kit hugged him back and nodded. "Dad," said Jamie, holding the hand of a lovely sandy-haired young woman. Anyone watching would have known they were father and son immediately; the pair was identical from black hair and emerald eyes to lanky build. The only difference was James’ forehead was smooth and unblemished from any curse scars, for which Harry gave thanks daily. "Jamie! Finally finished Hogwarts! N.E.W.T.s go all right?" Harry asked, pulling his firstborn into a warm hug. "They were a right pain in the--" "James!" admonished the girl holding the young man’s hand. Jamie just grinned at her. "Dad, this is Anne Hathaway. Anne, my dad, Harry Potter." "Nice to meet you sir," said Anne. She stood about a half a head shorter than James. Her sandy blonde hair was cut in an ear-length bob. Dark lashes fringed bright blue eyes and a light blush covered her cheeks. "Nice to meet you, Anne," Harry said, shaking her free hand. "Will you be joining us tonight or coming for the party tomorrow?" "I’ll be there tomorrow, Mr. Potter. James, my folks are over there," she said, leading him away. Harry felt a pang at the sight. Was this how it started? All around the station parents were picking up returning students. AJ had wandered off and was talking with two other boys, Max Weasley, Ron and Hermione’s oldest son, and Sean Lupin, the firstborn of Remus and Tonks. The three were born in April of the same year, and all were in the same dormitory. Growing up with tales of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, the boys had fashioned themselves into the "New Marauders." Harry and the rest of the family just called them the "Triple Threat." Waving at Remus over the crowd, he called AJ back. "Everyone here? Got all your luggage? Menagerie? AJ, Brian, let’s go, you’ll see everyone again tomorrow. Lily, Molly, got your owls? Okay, let’s go." With that, Harry led the parade of young people, luggage, and pets through Kings Cross to the waiting Ministry cars. James turned up flushed and panting while Harry and the drivers were shoving trunks in the boot of the cars. The trip back to Potter’s Folly was very enjoyable, the children sharing tales of their school year, classmates, professors, and Quidditch. As the car pulled up in front of the house the other children spilled out of the front doors, closely followed by Ginny, arms outstretched. The shouts of laughter, squawks of owls, and yowls of confined felines all added to the general cacophony of the joyous welcome home. Little ones were picked up and swung around, older ones exchanged mock punches of affection. Feeling someone latch onto his leg, Harry looked down and smiled at an apprehensive Bridget. "Everybody, this is Bridget. Bridget, that tall one that looks like me is Jamie, then the boy with black hair and hazel eyes is AJ, these are the twins, Molly and Lily (you can tell them apart because Molly has a three freckles right over her nose like a triangle), that’s Brian with the red hair and green eyes, and this is Kit with the black hair and brown eyes." Bridget peeked around Harry’s leg at all the new faces looking at her. Lily walked over, crouched down, and said, "How do you do, Bridget? I’m Lily. There’s an awful lot of us, huh? Want to come with me? Hannah and Rosie are going to help me unpack. Won’t that be fun? We always play dress up together. Want to play with us? Knew you would," she said as Bridget left the security of Harry’s leg and raised her arms to be picked up. Harry smiled as he watched Lily shepherd Hannah and Rose in front of her, Bridget in her arms. Yes, adopting Bridget would work out just fine. He and Ginny had made the right decision. A/N: I originally planned to include the party in this chapter but it grew bigger than I expected. Next chapter will be "Party at the Potters’."
|