Chapter Text
"I don't know what your plans were Arthur, but this is goodbye," Molly said leaving her rapist curled up on the floor after kneeing his groin. As she had already sent most of the belongings ahead with Bill to the Prewett Manor, Molly was not encumbered as she left the Burrow. As she Apparated to her Great Aunt's place, she hoped that the owl she had sent earlier had come back with a response. It all depended on if Rita, first off even read her letter, as well as if she was willing to talk about everything that had happened. Molly was a little shocked to find only Muriel waiting for her when she turned up at the manor as her great aunt informed her that Bill had gone to the bank to take care of something for work.
Molly and Muriel spent the next hour or so putting away the belongings she had removed from the Burrow into the rooms Muriel had set aside for everyone. Molly was sure all her kids would love their new and larger rooms, though there may be some jealousy geared at George and Fred due to them getting a Master Suite since they were Heirs of the Prewett Line. Molly made sure that all other joke and prank items, sans anything to do with Love Potions, were put into a separate room that the twins could use as a Potions/Researcher Lab so she did not have to worry about them getting sick or injured due to exposure of possibly harmful items.
As they worked in getting everything put into place, Molly came to realize that besides the enchantments she had been under, one of the reasons that Muriel had acted as she had done when Molly was bound to her rapist. Muriel did not want to give him any access to any funds, knowing that Molly had been promised to another before he got involved. As they were using magic to put up Ron's Chudley Cannon posters and decorations in her youngest son's new room, the Prewett Owl she had sent her message finally arrived. Molly gulped seeing only nine words on the parchment.
The usual place at seven. Don't be late.
Rita
Reading the letter, Molly felt a small twinge of apprehension as she had done during the first meeting she had with Rita back in their first year at Hogwarts. Their first since Rita and her parents set up a contract between them after their playdate as toddlers. Since Rita's mother had been an international newspaper correspondent, Rita had not spent much time in England when she was younger. Though thankfully her folks had her attend Hogwarts for all seven years of her schooling.
Molly and Rita having been sorted into Gryffindor and Slytherin had been best of friends all through their time at school. The pair had allowed the bond from their magic to grow as they started to date each other after the Yule in their Fifth Year. At the time Molly knew that she would follow through with her contract with Rita after they both graduated from Hogwarts. During the first summer after they had started to properly date each other, Molly and Rita discovered a small tea shop/book store in Kelpie Alley that became their go-to place for dates when not at school.
But it seemed that some people did not like that, Molly recalled Headmaster Dumbledore telling her she needed to drop Rita as a friend and stick to making friends in Gryffindor or if not that Hufflepuff House. Molly had blown him off after all he was just the Headmaster and had no right to dictate his students' friendships and relationships. Either by his own attraction to her or on the orders of Dumbledore, Arthur had tried to start to court her in her Sixth Year no matter how many times she turned him down. If she had to guess, Molly would say the bastard started her on potions after one of her Quidditch games when he gave her a drink when she landed. After that Molly hardly ever hung out with Rita thanks to the enchantments she had been placed under making her focus on the future rapist.
Molly could only assume that the usual place was the tea shop/bookstore as she tried to decide what to wear. She felt like a teenager again about to go on her first date having trouble deciding if she should go former, casual, maybe a little dressy. Muriel had to step in to help her calm down, she had Molly sit on the bed in her new room as she picked out a simple royal blue robe before she started to work on styling Molly's hair. "I think your hair always looked so good in a pixie cut," Muriel said as she cut Molly's hair before taking her to a large basin sink to wash and use some Hair potions in it. After her hair was done, Molly slipped on the blue robe and as a last touch used her wand to create a fake yellow tulip recalling it had been Rita's favorite type of flower.
Still feeling a little nervous, Molly arrived almost half an hour early to wait for Rita. The fake tulips she had created were held tightly in her fist as if afraid that if she let them go she would find out she was dreaming and was still bound to Arthur. "You're early," a voice said breaking Molly from her thoughts and making her look up with a smile at Rita who was wearing her favorite color and cut of robes. "I have expected this to be some big prank on your part like the last time," Rita said as she took the seat across from a slightly confused Molly and motioned to a server to bring her a drink.
"Last time?" Molly asked.
"You know right after our Sixth Year ended, you sent me a message asking me to meet with you to discuss why you had suddenly broken off our relationship and started to date Weasley. I waited for you to show up for over two hours before I went home and... cried myself to sleep," Rita said not wanting to reveal such a moment of weakness.
"I don't recall sending any such message, but if I did it had been under enchantment," Molly said.
"A likely story," Rita said with a sneer.
"I know, I know you want proof, at least you used to," Molly said recalling some of the articles and books she had read over the recent years that Rita had published. "I don't know why he did it, but Arthur had me under Love Potions and Compulsion Charms," Molly explained as she pulled out the results of a test her Great Aunt had paid for her to get done at Gringotts after Molly had found herself suddenly free of the enchantments placed on her.
As Rita read over the results her hatred of Arthur Weasley, which had already been higher than most for the Muggleloving Fool, made her feel like she could spew lava, like any volcano. If she had received evidence of anyone else enchanting their partner, Rita would not have hesitated a single moment before publishing the dirt but looking up at Molly and the worried expression on her old girlfriend's face as if Rita would not believe it, she decided just this once she would keep the matter out of the public eye. No matter how much she wanted to make sure everyone knew how much of a bastard Arthur Weasley truly was.
Putting down the results she had been handed and ignoring her drink that had arrived as she read the document, Rita shifted her chair closer to Molly and pulled the one person she ever loved into as tight a hug as she could. "The bastard will pay for what he did to us," Rita said to Molly as she ran her fingers through Molly's short hair.
"What about my kids? Can you accept them? For despite how they came from him, I do love them," Molly said looking up with a pair of puppy dog eyes that just melted the ice wall Rita had built around her heart since her Sixth Year.
"I am sure, I will grow to love them as I do you, especially if they are anything like you," Rita said.
"I think out of all of them Percy is the closest to my personality before I was enchanted. I think you might get along with the twins for besides loving pranks they tend to find out things that they really shouldn't know. My youngest boy Ron is a little lazy but his heart is in the right place, and Ginny is the apple of my eye," Molly said.* "My eldest Bill, works for Gringotts and has been working from home for a bit, while my second eldest, Charlie works abroad in a Dragon Sanctuary in Romania," Molly explained as she pulled out some pictures of her boys as well as an old family photo she had cast a spell on to banish Arthur's form from appearing in ever again.
"They look lovely," Rita said flipping through the photos one-handed as she held the other tight around Molly's waist. "I have not heard much about you after Hogwarts what have you been doing?"
"I had stayed home to raise my kids but after a talk with Bill, I thought about getting in touch with Healer Noble and taking her up on the offer she gave me to become a Medi-Magical after I served as her assistant at Hogwarts before she transferred to St. Mungos."
The pair of old girlfriends spent the rest of the date catching up with each other, with Molly asking Rita if she felt satisfied writing gossip when she wanted to be a major correspondent like her mother had been. Rita admitted she sometimes felt a little guilty but also felt it was sort of her duty to report on some of the corruption she uncovered about various high-ranking people. Having decided to stay for more than just a drink the pair soon ordered some food as Molly told stories about her kids, which Rita did like and laughed at some of them though felt a small twinge of jealousy that none of them were from a pregnancy involving both of them. The biggest laugh that Rita had from the date was Molly's story of what she had done to Arthur after she had been freed from his enchantments. Both agreed that while the attraction they had as kids was still there, they would take it slowly and go through a Courtship again. Molly admitted she would need to get new rings for her old family rings were now, in her mind, tainted for she had given them to Arthur during their bonding.
Flashback to a couple of hours ago: Gringotts
After helping move most of his younger siblings' stuff out of the Burrow to Prewett Manor, Bill returned to his boss Grindstone. "I got some news, sir," Bill said stepping into his boss's office.
"Good news I take it?" Grindstone asked.
"Great news," Bill said taking the seat before the Goblin's desk. "My mom appeared to somehow get Cleansed of some spells and Potions that Arthur had placed her under. I can only assume thanks to Lady Magic or one of the other Elder Ones stepping in to do it themselves."
"It was the Lady," Grindstone explained, "A few hours ago the bank received notice that she had passed down some punishments to not only your father, and younger siblings, but Albus, and the Granger girl. Not to mention those Dursleys we met a couple of weeks ago." Grindstone was not surprised by what Bill was sharing with him for the notice from her Ladyship had mentioned one of Arthur's kids getting the power the thief had sought by finding the money he had stolen.
"Yes, anyway, my mom wanted to move out as soon as possible. I helped her pack in hopes of finding the hidden bank books. Which I did," Bill said passing over the three bank books hidden inside the secret compartment of the Muggle washing machine.
"Good work William," Grindstone said taking the books to look over not only to find how much, if any the three had spent of Prince Bonecrusher's client's money but also to find out if he could see which Goblin had helped set up the accounts.
"There is more, sir," Bill said smiling slightly at the praise that Goblin bosses hardly gave out to their subordinates. "As I said I was helping my mother move out leaving just Arthur to live in Peverell's Secret Burrow."
"Which means that since we will not be forcing the majority of your younger siblings and parents out of their home with nowhere else to go we can return it to Heir Potter," Grindstone said leaning forward in excitement.
"Indeed," Bill said with a large smile on his face.
"Brilliant, I shall pass on the information to Prince Bonecrusher," Grindstone said thinking that he and Curse Breaker Weasley could get a promotion and a raise for this.
Hogwarts
Albus rose from his bed drenched in sweat after the strange dream he had of being forced to weed a garden in the middle of summer wearing oversized clothing for a horse-faced woman without magic. Though he knew it was a dream, he could not help but look down at his hands to see if they were cut up or covered in dirt as they had appeared in the dream. Finding them clean and healthy Albus moved to a nearby basin and splashed some water on his face to help wake himself up. As he did so his flowing dressing gown knocked a small bit of parchment onto the floor that was his notice that Lady Magic had been called on and judged some of his behavior.
Besides the strange dream, Albus had a normal morning as he sought out Potter sitting at the Slytherin table giving the brat a very disappointed look anytime the boy looked over. Not that the brat looked up that much as he was in deep conversation with those Dark Cored monsters sitting around him. Albus did seem to notice something strange when he went up to his office after breakfast to do some work. At first, he noticed that the pile of documents he had today was smaller than normal, but as that sometimes happened, he ignored it. It was only after dealing with the third item in his work pile that he realized that so far everything he had worked on pertained to Hogwarts school. Albus stopped working on his current page as he began to thumb through his work pile. He found not a single document from either the Wizengamot or ICW. Now maybe one of the bodies might not have any new business on a random day, but for both to have it happen on the same day was a stretch. Leaving his desk Albus moved to the special PO boxes he had set up for the Wizengamot and ICW in case for whatever reason his person Elf had not done their duty today. As he thought of it, he had not seen Dobby since he had sent it to watch the barrier at Kings Cross to prevent Potter from getting through it.
When he looked into both boxes, Albus found only a single document in each. Still confused at the low number of documents for the day, Albus looked over them. His face drained of color as he read first the document from the ICW and then the Wizengamot that informed him that since he was no longer the Head of his Family line, he could no longer hold the office he had due to ancient rules. Albus was further confused not knowing how he could have been removed from his place as Head of the Dumbledore Line.
His brother never cared for things like that, lacking Albus's patience and vision, as for his sister she was still his pawn for his plans for Potter. He was also kicking himself for it had been his use of an unregistered Veto in both groups that prevented motions from passing that allowed non-Heads of the House to hold positions. Albus was going to get to the bottom of this as he swept from the room unknowingly sweeping the message from Lady Magic into the fire. Thanks to it being sent by the Lady the notice did not burn but sat in the middle of the flames untouched its contents unread.
Harrison was in a good mood, much like many of his new Slytherin classmates, due to Draco's conversation during breakfast. Harrison had also, thanks to Lady Magic's sentencing the day before, recalled his desire to go by his birth name and not the one he assumed Dumbles had given him. Having shared it with his new classmates at breakfast caused Draco to start laughing. When he was asked what was so funny he shared a dream that he had the day before returning to Hogwarts where he had felt the block on Harrison and his bond being removed and had dreamt of various ways to greet Harrison that year. With the use of Harrison's true name having never entered into the dream at all as a way to say hello.
All the second-year students had begged Draco to share some of the interactions he had dreamt about, leading to a blushing blonde and the others busting their guts in laughter. "How do you know Muggle TV shows?" Harrison had asked.
"I spent a lot of my time when my parents were at work staying at my aunts and uncle's places. One of them is married to a Muggleborn who has an enchanted TV. I spent many a summer day watching them with my cousin Nymphadoda, though if you meet her make sure to call her either Tonks or Dorra unless you want an earful," Draco explained.
Harrison was still laughing as he headed to their first class of the day, Herbology, as he recalled some of his favorites. The Muggle flirty line from the show Friends and the commercial "Wazzup" were fun but some were just plain strange. Such as the one wherein the dream Draco had watched himself climb onto the desk situated before where "Harry" had been sitting and holding out his hand while singing, "I can show you the world."
One where Draco had approached "Harry" with a deck of cards asking for Harry to take one. Dream Draco had guessed random cards never getting the one that Harry had pulled from the deck. "Well, it looks like you won. I can not guess your card," Dream Draco had said.
"Oh, and what did I win?" Dream Harry had asked in a bored and from the way, Draco had explained it slightly annoyed voice.
"A date with me," Dream Draco had answered.
A Dream Draco had come to the classroom in leather armor with a shield, in one hand, a sword attached to his waist, with a bow and quiver on his back. "Harry, would you like to join my adventuring party to rid our world of evil?" Dream Draco had asked in an overly heroic-sounding voice while striking a pose making Dream Harry burst out laughing at him.
Dream Draco arrived in a leather jacket and used a sugar quill as a cigarette as he took the seat from the desk in front of Dream Harry and sat on it backward, "Harry you me, the big dance this weekend."
"Are you on something?" Dream Harry had asked.
A pair of Dream Dracos who had shown up in the classroom one of which had a Muggle boombox the other with a small hand-held harp and began to serenade Dream Harry with romantic music.
A Dream Draco dressed in a parody of a Star Trek series uniform which had stated in a straight face, "Live Long and Prosper Harry, do you want me to beam you up." A comment in which Draco said he had buried his face in his hands due to the double entendre.
Another Dream Draco who was "smoking" with a sugar quill this time dressed in a trench coat and wide brim hat pulled low over his face. "I have found you to be guilty of the crime of being too cu..," Dream Draco had started to say before Draco had started muttering "No, no, no. Not going to happen."
One Dream Draco had not said a single word but walked right up to Dream Harry pulling him to his feet and kissing him only to get knocked out.
As he got near greenhouse three Harrison was pulled out of his memories as a bright flash went off right in front of him. "What did you do that for?" Draco asked as he and the others walking with Harrison blocked their eyes to get over the flash.
"Sorry," a small mousy-haired boy in Gryffindor House Robes said lowering what looked like an old-school Muggle Camera. "But that is Harry Potter, and I just wanted a picture of him to send home to my dad."
"Why," Goyle asked in his normal low voice making the kid jump and mistook his tone for one of anger.
"Well, um you see. I am a Muggleborn and my dads were not sure about me learning magic so we got some extra books that talked about what Harry did for the Magical World as a baby. One of my dads was impressed for he could not believe the boy who he sometimes saw tending the garden as he delivered milk that we heard was slightly disturbed was a Magical," the boy said rambling a little.
"Who are you?" Harrison asked still blinking to clear his eyes.
"Oh, sorry," the boy said with a blush. "I am Colin, Colin Creevey."
"Well hello Colin Colin Creevey," Harrison said with a small smile. "Next time ask before you take a picture." Harrison and the other then moved past the first year, utterly ignoring Ron's little sister who was trying to catch Harrison's attention. Harrison was sure that as the door closed on the greenhouse he was sure he heard Ginny offer to pay for a copy of the photo of "Harry."