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Author: Caitlyn Story: Lessons for Life Rating: Young Teens Setting: Pre-OotP Status: Completed Reviews: 2 Words: 87,853
A flashbulb exploded in Harry's face. Sirius blinked. The reporters had come out of nowhere as usual. "Mr. Potter!" one of them shouted. "What do you think of the verdict?" "Harry! Harry, look here!" "Mr. Potter, do you feel that your Aurors presented a good case?" "Harry! Over here! Tell us what you think of Draco Malfoy!" "No comment!" said Harry loudly, holding up his hand to shield his eyes from the flashes. The press didn't seem to want to take that as a valid answer and they seemed to get louder. "Mr. Potter does not have a comment!" shouted one of the Aurors. Harry waved the Aurors off and they hesitated before leaving his side. "Over here!" said Sirius loudly. Harry smiled grimly and tried to push his way across the street. Of course, once the press recognized Sirius… they began to run across with Harry. "Mr. Black! Are you here to support your godson?" "Mr. Black, do these trials remind you of the time of the first You-Know-Who uprising?" Harry finally made his way over and handed Sirius a small slip of paper and Disapparated. Sirius glanced down at the words printed on the paper and made a face at the reporters. "Shove off!" he grunted before Disapparating. They had Apparated to the café that Harry had printed on the paper. The maitre de bowed to them as they walked through the door. "Monsouir Potter! You're always so prompt with your reservations!" "Thank you," said Harry shortly. He then looked slightly guilty for his snappy tone and murmured a short apology. "My apologies, Jaques. I'm a little preoccupied." "Ah, non, non! Do not apologize, Monsoiur Potter! We shall go to your table now, oui? Outside, perhaps?" ~*~ Harry was fuming over his cup of coffee. "He deserves to go to Azkaban!" said Harry furiously. "I can't believe he got off the hook!" Sirius raised an eyebrow and nodded at the waiter poured him coffee also. "Harry, not every Death Eater is going to pay the consequences. People like the Malfoy family are going to worm their way out of it, especially the ones that can afford the expensive lawyers. It doesn't matter that your Aurors are the best." "How could have I lost? His alibis were absolute fairy tales!" growled Harry. "Draco Malfoy will get it in the end, Harry." "You've got that right, even if I have to finish him off personally." Harry's face was turning very pale and it was making Sirius nervous. "Calm down. That's not what I meant. Don't let yourself get so worked up." Harry didn't seem to hear him. "He'll think twice before trying to commit another murder... I'll be watching him like you wouldn't believe." "Harry, you be careful; Malfoy doesn't exactly like you and he's got some pretty powerful people in his corner too." "As do I." Sirius regarded his comment for a second. He had nearly opened his mouth to lecture Harry about acting in anger, but he remembered that Harry was an adult… and didn't need his lectures. "Let's just not think about the stupid trial, all right? I really just showed up to have a late lunch and talk about how you're coming along with Chloe." "Well, if you say so," he said huffily. Harry's face suddenly lost its harsh edge at the mention of Chloe. "She's so bright," said Harry with obvious pride. Sirius was reminded of the look James used to get when he mentioned Harry. "She can already read a little bit, write all of her letters, and she picks up new things so quickly." "So she's not a difficult child?" said Sirius, putting two heaping spoonfuls sugar in his coffee. "Difficult?" laughed Harry. "No, not on purpose anyway. She's just extremely curious, which makes it a bit difficult on me. She had me stumped the other day, Sirius, absolutely stumped." Sirius laughed heartily. "I'm glad you took her on. Frankly, you need someone around who can keep you second guessing." Harry smiled and looked a little embarrassed. "If you say so." "Is she accepting that she is a witch?" said Sirius, sipping his coffee and making a horrible face and spooning a few more heaps of sugar in it. "Yes and no. She wants to be one but she doesn't realize that she really already is one. It is sort of a hard concept to grasp at first; how do you tell someone that they have something but they can't see or do anything with it?" "Well, that'll change once she figures out a spell or two." Sirius said wisely. He cautiously took a taste of coffee. "That'll be interesting," Harry said, as he watched Sirius add yet more sugar. "Would you like some coffee with your sugar?" Sirius made a smirking face and ignored the comment. "Did you know that they are finally going to have the Christmas Ball again? It's going to be in celebration of a Christmas without Voldemort. I'd say it's been about thirty years since the last one." "They didn't have one… the first time?" said Harry slowly. Sirius shook his head. "People were still too scared to really celebrate. Sure there were parties, but not anything organized. It wasn't right to celebrate with a ball… since your parents…" Harry ran the edge of his spoon around the rim of his coffee mug. "Oh," he said, not lifting his eyes. "But," said Sirius in an obvious attempt at a brighter tone, "it'll be wonderful to see the Christmas Ball back again." "A Christmas Ball? Like the Hogwarts Yule Ball?" said Harry, wrinkling his nose. "I take it you don't want to attend?" said Sirius dryly. "Not really," said Harry. "Don't shove this one away just yet, Harry. They're a lot of fun. You can get a sitter for Chloe and go out and have a good time…" "I think Chloe and I will go traveling or something," said Harry firmly. "Well, er, you can't exactly do that," mumbled Sirius. "What?" said Harry, who was beginning to have a faint awareness of what Sirius was going to say next. "Well, you see, you and Dumbledore are kind of the…" Sirius muttered something incoherent after that. "Would you mind saying that again?" asked Harry with a sigh. "The Guests of Honor," said Sirius quickly. "Uh-uh," said Harry, "I'm NOT going. End of story." "Dumbledore would be upset if you weren't there," said Sirius lightly. "I hate these things," grumbled Harry, defeated. "Ha!" said Sirius happily. "I told Moony I could talk you into it!" ~*~ Chloe ran to Harry when he Apparated into the room and crashed into his legs. Harry looked down and saw he now had two small green handprints on his robes. "Someone has been painting," he said with a grin. Chloe had a streak of blue paint on her cheek. "Yes! Art is the last thing we do everyday! I'm not quite done yet." Ginny smiled. "Go on and finish; I'll talk to your Uncle Harry while you paint." Chloe took off and galloped back to her painting. "It's washable," said Ginny when she saw the handprints on Harry. She began scooping up paintbrushes and plunking them into a bowl full of water. "It's not a problem," said Harry smiling. "I'll just remember my smock." Ginny laughed and displayed her very colorful, handprint-covered smock as if it were the finest thing she owned. Harry noted with a private smile that she had a mark of green paint on her forehead. "We paint every Wednesday and Friday, the other days are clay, drawing, or whatever I feel like getting into." She dumped the paintbrushes into a bright red bathtub filled with clear, clean water, and with a flick of her wand they began scrubbing each other. "Goodness, she did get you good, didn't she?" said Ginny, motioning to the handprints. "I don't mind a little paint; I think the handprints could do these robes some good. It would make for an interesting picture in the paper anyway," he said laughing. "You've got paint on your face too, you know." "I do?" "It's really quite attractive. Rather like war paint." "Harry! Where?" "On your face." "I know that!" laughed Ginny, holding up a paintbrush in a threatening manner. "Where?" "Right… here." He reached over and ran his finger along the side of her forehead. "Oh," Ginny murmured, pulling away. "Yes," said Harry quietly, "I think you've got it." Ginny's cheeks were turning pink and she cleared her throat. "Thanks." "Am I always late?" Harry asked, looking to change the subject. "There are never any other kids in here when I get here." "No, I have to send them all five minutes early. They come and go by Floo Powder. The parents just wait for them at home. Most mums and dads don't have a dual Apparating license like you," she said teasingly. "Most mums and dads aren't good friends with the Minister of Magic either," shrugged Harry. "Perk, I guess…" "I think Percy would come get Meghan, but he and Penelope have seven other kids to keep track of," she said with a laugh. "How is she doing in class?" he asked. "Chloe? Oh goodness, she's wonderful. She and Meghan Weasley are great friends and she plays very nicely with everyone. The other children accepted her right away, she's actually one of those kids that is a natural leader," said Ginny, glancing back at Chloe. "No problems?" said Harry. "Of course not," said Ginny. "She adores you," said Harry. "I get a daily nursery school commentary at supper. She loves this place." Ginny blushed. "I try to make it a wonderful place to learn." "Would you like to come for dinner?" Harry blurted. Where had that come from? "We can certainly add another place, it'd be no trouble. I don't want you to have to go home and eat by yourself. Everyone is always so busy, that I never have as many visitors as I'd like." Harry shut his mouth before he rambled on any more. Ginny's eyes widened. Was this a friendly dinner invitation or something else? She shook herself out of the stupor. Don't be stupid, Ginny, she told herself, Harry is just feeling sorry for you. He feels guilty about your husband dying and doesn't want to picture you in an empty house. "I really can't," said Ginny blushing to deep red. She had always had this stupid schoolgirl crush on Harry. It was so insane of her to think he liked her more than a friend. Even if he did, she would never let herself become involved. She couldn't betray Neville like that. Harry watched her twist her wedding band around her finger nervously. "Really, Ginny, you can just have dinner and go. We'll even have a quick dinner if you have things to do." He was turning red also. What was he doing? She didn't want to eat with him. He reminded her of Neville. "I don't want to intrude!" "Intrude? I hope you never think that! My goodness, Ginny! I thought you would consider me a closer friend then that!" Great, she thought guiltily. She had offended Harry. She was so stupid for thinking something more of this. "Okay, I'll come to dinner." "Good!" said Harry. Inwardly, he was convincing himself that he was doing them both some good… they hadn't visited in awhile. Chloe ran back over. "I'm finished!" "Wonderful!" He wiped the blue streak on her cheek with his robe sleeve. "Ms. Ginny is going to have supper with us," he told her. "Yay!" cheered Chloe. ~*~ "Do you have any brooms?" asked Chloe. "Go fish," said Ginny. Ginny then turned to Harry. "Do you have any wands?" Harry groaned and handed her a few off his cards. "Do you practice at school or something? I'm losing! Okay, Chloe, do you have any spell books?" he asked hopefully. "Go fish!" laughed Chloe. Harry gave them fake suspicious glances. "I think I'm being played by card sharks." After being defeated twice in a row by Chloe, Harry was rather relieved when supper was announced. After they were seated around the dining room table, Harry turned to Chloe. "Would you like to say the blessing I taught you, Chlo?" Her eyes lit up and she nodded. Ginny and Harry bowed their heads solemnly. Chloe put her little hands together and bowed her head very seriously and took a deep breath. "Good food, good meat, good God, let's eat!" Chloe said exuberantly. She lifted her head and beamed at them. Harry buried his head in his hands and his shoulders shook with silent laughter. Ginny could be heard trying to stifle her laughter in her napkin. "Chloe," Harry choked, "not that blessing, the other one," he said, trying desperately not to laugh at her sincere efforts at a nice blessing. "Oh," said Chloe. "Never mind, that'll do until tomorrow," said Harry. Dinner was a lovely occasion and Ginny thoroughly enjoyed the company that Chloe and Harry provided. She was glad she had agreed to come. After dinner, Harry said that he and Chloe were going to put up a few Christmas decorations. He invited Ginny to help them, but she nervously refused and stammered something about lesson plans and was gone as quickly as she had come. Chloe jumped up and down when she walked back into the living room and found a towering Christmas tree. Harry grinned at her. "You like it?" Chloe was running around it and looking underneath it. "It's real!" she shouted. "Wizards don't cut down a tree like Muggles do, it's wasteful," he explained. "We magic a tree from the forest and plant it right into the carpet. See the dirt? After we take the ornaments off of it after Christmas, we just magic it right back. It's easy." Chloe was excited; she had never seen such a big Christmas tree. The cathedral ceilings in the living room allowed for them to have a towering, magnificent tree. Much better than the plastic one that her old house had. "Watch," said Harry, he brushed his wand against one of the branches and a glittering silver Christmas ornament bubbled out the end. Chloe reached over and touched it in awe. The glass was paper thin and delicate. He set his wand in her hand. "Go ahead," he said. Chloe looked up at him incredulously. "I don't know how to do that!" He smiled. "Now seems a good of time as any to learn, don't you think? Close your eyes and imagine a Christmas ornament and then touch the wand to the tree." Chloe scrunched her eyes closed and tapped the tree. She opened her eyes expectantly and her face fell; nothing had happened. She looked sadly back up at Harry. "Try again," he smiled. "Imagine it coming out of the wand and growing bigger and bigger and then hanging off the tree." Chloe was concentrating very hard. She pictured the ornament. Then she felt the wand grow warm and a slight tingling sensation in her fingers. She opened her eyes again. There on the branch was a gold Christmas ornament. Uncle Harry's eyes were sparkling at her. Chloe put her hand to her mouth in surprise and gazed back at Harry with her huge green eyes. He lifted her high above his head and laughed. "That's so great, Chloe! You did your very first magic!" She learned quickly; she was able to put ornaments on the tree without closing her eyes and concentrating so hard after awhile. They decorated the bottom half of the tree full of silver and gold ornaments. The ornaments weren't as boring like Muggle ornaments in just a spherical shape, they were cubes and pyramids and other shapes, more interesting. Harry was really impressed when Chloe could make the complicated ones like he could. She had no clue how to spell Dodecahedron, but she could certainly make one. When they couldn't reach the top half of the tree Harry put a spell on them so that they could float! Chloe loved that; several times he had to pull her back down next to him. After the finished the tree they hung garland with silver and gold ribbons from the ceiling. The room looked very festive indeed. "Now for the best part," said Harry after they stopped to admire their work. He clapped his hands once and soft white lights twinkled in the tree. "I like the star on top of the tree the best," she said as he picked her up. "Me too. It's a nice tree." "I feel sorry for Dudley Jr.," she said. "Why?" asked Harry, glad to see the transition from jealously to sorrow. "He doesn't get to make ornaments, or have a big tree —" She yawned and laid her head on his shoulder before she could finish her sentence. "Tomorrow when you get home from school, the whole manor will be decorated. The house-elves usually do the rest of the house for me. It would take the two of us forever to do the whole house. They are going to put a smaller Christmas tree in your room, would you like that?" he told her. She nodded, almost too drowsy to answer. "I like house-elves." With that said, she dozed off on his shoulder. Harry carried her upstairs and had a time getting her into bed. Gingerly, he managed to get her pajamas on her without waking her up and set her favorite dragon in-between her lax arms. He then went into his own bedroom and took off the paint "decorated" robes with a smile. He then fished through one of his clothes trunks and found a hunter green sweater and blue jeans. Mrs. Weasley had made this for him two years ago and it was one of his favorites of the numerous "famous" Weasley sweaters. Harry went back downstairs and sat on the couch in the warm glow of the fireplace, and the twinkling Christmas lights. It was a very nice spot to think. Dobby appeared with a tray. The moment Harry had built his home he had offered to pay Dobby to work for him. Dobby had apologized to Dumbledore for leaving Hogwarts, but had politely explained that Harry needed him. Dobby handed Harry a steaming cup of wassail. "Hello, Dobby," greeted Harry. Dobby took off his tea cozy hat and bowed very deeply. "Dobby is thinking you would be liking this to drink." Harry nodded. "Thank you very much, I did want some wassail, as a matter of fact." Dobby looked proud of himself. "Harry Potter is very good to Dobby, and Dobby is making sure Harry Potter is happy." "Well, you do an exceptional job," yawned Harry. "Do you like the decorations Chloe and I put up?" Dobby beamed. "They is very nice! Harry Potter's Chloe seemed to like putting up decorations very much." "It was fun," smiled Harry. "Does Harry Potter need anything else?" "I don't think so." Dobby beamed and left the room with a sincere and dramatic bow. Harry went back to his wassail and gazed at the tree again. He had almost dozed off when he heard a whisper of a cloak and he turned sharply around. Ginny stood in the doorway, obviously impressed at the sight of the Christmas tree. She looked shocked as Harry interrupted her trance and turned around to face her. Green eyes met brown and there was a long silence. "I-I left a few school things and I need them to finish my lesson plans. I'll just show myself out!" she said, finally speaking up. Harry shrugged and ran a hand through his tousled hair. "I don't mind. Would you like some wassail? It's freezing out; I think it's going to snow." He gazed at her in her cloak, it was the most bizarre thing, and she was staring at him like he was a complete stranger. "Are you all right?" he asked. "You looked quite... unlike yourself, just for a moment." Ginny was thinking the same thing. He hadn't looked like himself either. Was she going mad? He had turned to look at her and something odd had happened. She had been thinking how handsome he looked facing the tree. Then when he had turned, she felt guilty. How could she do this? How could she shun Neville's memory? This was stupid. It was a stupid schoolgirl crush. Who wouldn't admire the heroic, brilliant, and kind Harry Potter? He was a oh, … she didn't know what he was! She twisted her wedding ring and shook herself out of her idiocy. She fumbled for her papers. "No, no, thank you, thank you for the kind offer, I should really be going," she said jerkily. "Perhaps you should get some rest," he said looking concerned again. "Are you upset about anything?" "Oh, upset?" she practically squeaked. "Oh — no, I'm just busy with the school." "If you need to talk, come over anytime," he said, looking at her, trying to figure out what on earth had came over her. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow when I pick up Chloe," he added. "Yes, tomorrow," she said automatically. "Goodnight!" "Good—" Harry began, but she was already gone. Harry drained his wassail glass and shook his head. What was going on?
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