Three Years Later: ReceptionFic (1/2)
Title: Three Years Later: ReceptionFic (1/2)
Author: kanedax
Spoilers: Deathly Hallows, Previous Chapters
Rating: R for language, mild situations, and uncouth discussions
Characters/Pairings: Too many to mention
Summary: The wedding is nice, but the reception is when things get interesting
Disclaimer: I own the Granger family. Everyone else belongs to JK Rowling.
Three Years Later: WeddingFic / Previous Chapters / ReceptionFic (2/2)
“Seriously, Lavender, you look great.”
Neville, taking a sip of his butterbeer, had to agree with Seamus. Considering how Lavender Brown looked after the Battle of Hogwarts, there were barely any noticeable marks on her face. Of course, in the light of the lamps that glowed on each and around the edge of the Burrow’s lawn, it was difficult to see, but he still thought she looked well enough for someone who was close to death.
Lavender looked around the table at the nine faces staring back at her, and her cheeks reddened, causing the remaining scars to become enhanced. “You don’t have to stare,” she said, dipping her head.
“We’re not staring,” said Ernie Macmillan, and Hannah Abbott shook her head vigorously beside him.
“We were just worried about you, that’s all,” she said. “We had barely heard anything from you since the battle.”
“I think it’s a fine thing,” said Neville’s grandmother to Lavender. “You should wear them proudly. Not many can say they fought Fenrir Greyback and survived.”
“I didn’t, though,” Lavender said quietly. “I was unconscious. Hermione was the one that beat him. I just…”
At this she cut off, and tightened her hand around the front of her high-collared dress. Neville couldn’t see much poking out of the top, but he knew that the damage had to be much worse underneath.
“You’re alive,” said Parvati, putting her hand on her best friend’s shoulder. “You’re alive and you’re still human. That’s all that matters.”
“Have you talked to Bill?” Dean asked.
“Who’s Bill?”
“Ron’s brother,” Dean replied, pointing his thumb to another table, where Bill and Fleur Weasley were talking to Hermione’s uncle. “He’s been through the same thing you have. Got bit by a human Fenrir. Torn up pretty bad, actually. But he turned out okay. I lived with them for a few months, and he’s just fine.”
“I just feel ugly…” Lavender said, her voice choking. “And I get these thoughts sometimes…”
“But you’re not ugly,” Seamus insisted. “Seriously, you look fantastic. And about those thoughts, you really should talk to Bill. He’ll help you through it.”
“Okay,” Lavender whispered, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“You weren’t the one to bring it up,” said Luna. “Seamus did. You can blame him.”
Seamus snorted laughter. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Luna.”
“Any time,” she said. “Are you going to finish your cake?”
“Have at it,” he said, pushing the cake across the table.
“Do you want me to introduce you to him?” Dean asked Lavender after swallowing a bite of his own cake.
“Maybe later,” she replied. “After I calm down a bit.”
“Ooh, ooh!” Padma Patil squealed, bouncing up and down in her seat. “First dance!”
Indeed, the band had finished tuning and started up a slow ballad. Harry and Ginny walked out onto the dance floor, with Ron and Hermione close behind. The two couples stopped in the middle, and began to dance.
“See that?” Parvati said, poking her twin sister. “Now they learn how to dance.”
“Guess they just needed the proper motivation,” Padma replied, taking a slug of firewhiskey. Neville couldn’t tell how much of her tone was sarcasm or how much was regret. They had been Harry and Ron’s dates to the Yule Ball, after all, and Neville could never figure out how much of it was through desperation on their part, or how much they regretted the experience.
“Guess they just needed to grow the hell up,” Lavender said, and the three girls giggled amongst themselves, a tone of vindictiveness in their laughter that made Neville remember the old Lavender Brown, along with that phrase about a woman scorned.
“Don’t they look just lovely, dear?” Gran asked Neville as the surrounding crowd applauded, and Arthur Weasley and Charlotte Granger walked onto the floor, followed by Molly and Daniel.
“Yeah,” he said. “They look great.”
“When are you going to find someone like that?” she asked. “I’d like to have some great-grandchildren someday.”
Neville blushed. “Trying my best, Gran,” he said, poking at the tart on his plate with his fork, trying as hard as he possibly could to not look at the blonde across the table from him.
The song ended, and half of the crowd applauded while the other half poured onto the dance floor. The table of former Hogwarts students exchanged awkward glances.
“We’re dancing, aren’t we?” asked Ernie nervously.
“Of course we are,” said Hannah, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the crowd.
“Lavender?” Seamus asked, extending his hand.
“Are you sure?” Lavender said, and Seamus shrugged.
“No better time to get your feet wet, eh?”
Dean looked at Parvati, who shrugged. “Let’s go,” she said, turning to her sister. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Padma said, waving her off with a raise of her firewhiskey.
“You need someone to dance with, Padma?” Seamus asked.
“I think I’m good here,” she replied.
“See, I know you’re lying,” he said, scanning around the edge of the dance floor. “Oi! Corner!” he boomed in his most carrying voice. “Get your arse over here, Padma wants to dance with you!”
“Oh, God,” Padma said, her head dropping onto her hands. “Haven’t you ever heard of tact, Finnegan?”
“Sure I have,” he said, smiling as Michael Corner walked to the group in a daze, as though he wasn’t even sure why he listened to Seamus in the first place, “It’s a kind of Belgian pastry, innit?”
“Something like that,” Padma said, shaking her head as she took Michael’s hand.
“Speaking of tact,” Seamus said, turning to Neville. “Ask the girl to dance, will you? The tension’s fucking killing me. Pardon my French, ma’am,” he added to Neville’s Grandma.
“No apology needed, my boy,” Gran said, waving him off.
Neville blushed furiously, but turned to Luna. “Do you… do you want to dance?”
Luna nodded. “I would like to,” she said. “Do you?”
“Yeah,” Neville said, his throat tightening as the two stood up.
“Mr. Longbottom!” came a voice from the next table over that caused Neville’s blood to freeze. Whenever he heard Professor McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts, speak in that tone, he instinctively tensed up.
“Hello, Professor,” he said as McGonagall approached.
“Please, Mr. Longbottom,” she replied. “You’re not one of my students any more, you can call me Minerva.”
“Then why are you still calling me ‘Mr. Longbottom’?”
“Touché,” she said. “Anyway… Neville… Now that the formalities of the evening have gone by the wayside, I would like to speak to you in private for a moment.”
Neville cleared his throat nervously, glancing at Luna. “Right… right now?”
“If it would not be too much of a bother,” McGonagall said. “It’s getting quite late, and I have much to do between now and the time the new term starts. After I speak to you I will be making my congratulations to the couples and then will be on my way.”
“Um, sure,” he said, turning to Luna. “Hold my place?”
“Of course,” Luna said, sitting back down with Mrs. Longbottom, who patted her kindly on the knee.
“Inside?” Minerva said, motioning Neville towards the Burrow.
“Yeah, inside should work,” he said, walking with her through the front door of the Weasleys’ house.
“The Wronski Feint is flawed!”
“The Wronski Feint is not flawed,” Viktor Krum replied. “It has vorked vith me for years.”
“See, and that’s just the problem,” said Gwenog Jones, leaning across the table. “It’s worked for years. When it’s unexpected, it’s one thing. But now that it’s become as popular as it has, it’s useless.”
“You are calling my move useless?” Krum said shortly.
“Not your move, though, is it?” Charlie Weasley said to him. “I mean, it’s the Wronski Feint, not the Krum Feint. But I agree with you, it’s a great move.”
“It’s telegraphed!” Gwenog cried out, nearly hitting her sister as she threw her arms out. “Sorry, Hessie.”
“Not a problem,” Hestia said, moving her ale closer to her to avoid spillage before turning her attention back to her own conversation. “What was that you were saying about your garden, Petunia?”
“Vat do you mean, ‘telegraphed’?” Krum continued, his hackles rising.
“It’s too obvious,” said Gwenog. “How often does a Seeker really have to do a nosedive for the Snitch? Someone known for the Feint starts diving, and the Squib in the top row picking his nose could see ‘Oh, look, he’s pulling the Wronski Feint!’ Any opposing Seeker with his salt could see it coming from a mile away. Or if not, one well-placed Bludger from a sharp-eyed Beater, and you’re out of the picture.”
“Muggle fertilizer,” Pomona Sprout said, shaking her head at Petunia in disbelief. “Amazing what they can come up with if they have the right chemicals.”
“Chemicals are overrated,” Petunia Dursley said. “I prefer some of the natural fertilizers myself. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to find quality product unless you know someone who works in the farming industry.”
“Well, you have a compost pile, right?” Sprout asked. “I keep one in the greenhouses, works just as well as anything, especially after the mandrake harvest.”
“Mandrake?”
“Trust me,” Hestia said to Petunia, “You don’t want them in your garden. I remember Sprout teaching them second year when I was at Hogwarts.”
“Oh, right,” Sprout said, dropping her eyes. “That was the year I bought those faulty earmuffs. Half the class got dragged to the infirmary, didn’t they?”
“More or less.”
Pomona shook her head. “Last time I ever bought from that manufacturer.”
“Bloody freaks,” Vernon Dursley muttered under his breath, a bottle of Pepsi, the only thing in the place that he didn’t refuse to drink, rolling on the table between his hands. “We should have left an hour ago, but no, we all want to stay…”
“You’re joking!” Dudley Dursley said from Vernon’s other side. “They actually exist?”
“Ghosts?” said Susan Bones. “Of course they do!”
“Wow…”
“They’re all over Hogwarts,” she explained. “There’s one assigned to each House. We even have a poltergeist.”
“You mean like in Ghostbusters?”
“What’s that?”
“You don’t have films?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, sorry,” Susan replied, but was smiling nonetheless.
“Ah, forget it,” Dudley said. “Every picture you lot have is a movie in itself. Was the poltergeist assigned to your House?”
Susan giggled. “He was a free agent, thankfully. I don’t think any common room would survive Peeves if he was a resident.”
“So what’s this House thing all about, anyway?” Dudley asked, his plate of food forgotten at his side. “How did they figure out who you were with?”
“Death Eater activity’s down, thankfully,” Kingsley Shacklebolt told Dedalus at the far end of the table. Two intimidating-looking Aurors, who appeared to be enough of a deterrent to anyone wishing to crowd the Minister of Magic, flanked him, their narrowed eyes scanning the tables. “I think they finally recognize that he’s gone for good this time. They’re starting to blend back into the rest of society, just like before.”
“Yeah, well, last time they ended up causing a riot at the World Cup even when they thought he was gone,” Diggle said. “You don’t think that’s going to happen again?”
“They might,” Kingsley shrugged. “And until it happens there’s not a lot we can do besides keep our ears to the ground. But this time’s different. With the Potters his disappearance was a mystery, since no one was alive enough or old enough to tell the story. But there are witnesses now. Dozens. Hundreds. They saw the body. Saw the Kedavra. I think that’s helping.”
“Until someone else comes along…”
Kingsley sighed. “Someone always does. Thankfully, they’ll have to start from the ground up this time. Most of Voldemort’s followers are dead. Malfoy’s his closest living associate, and he’s gone a complete one-eighty in the past few years. Disappeared from high society, from what our reports are saying. He and his wife both.”
“You don’t think they’re planning anything, do you?”
“I doubt it. From what Harry said after the battle, Narcissa was the one who saved his life. Draco tried his best to save all three of them after Greyback and Lestrange got a hold of them. I think they’ve turned a new leaf. The fact that Lucius has kept away from the Ministry is as good of a sign of that as any. He’s kept his money and his influence out of things.”
“The Wronski Feint vorked for me in the Vorld Cup,” Krum insisted.
“Yeah, well, you lost the World Cup, so that doesn’t actually mean much in the end,” said Charlie, earning him a cross look from the former Triwizard Champion.
“Ve vere losing badly,” said Krum. “I vanted to end it to avoid humiliation.”
Gwenog shook her head. “No trust in your teammates…”
“I do trust my teammates.”
“Well, if you did, then you wouldn’t have done it, Viktor!” she exclaimed. “God, I’d rather have my team go down in flames than lose it in purpose. Not exactly a confidence boost to tell them that they had no chance.”
“But they didn’t…”
“You only lost by ten, Krum,” said Charlie, sucking the foam from his ale off his upper lip. “You don’t think you could have held the Irish Seeker off for two more goals?”
“That’s why the Schneeberg Spin will never work for you,” said Gwenog. “You have to rely on your teammates, and you can obviously never do that.”
“I have no idea what you people are talking about,” said Daniel Granger cheerily from Charlie’s side. “But it’s absolutely fascinating.”
“I vould like to pit my team against yours sometime, Jones,” Krum said to Gwenog. “See vich von is better.”
“I’d like that,” said Gwenog. “Something for charity? Off-season?”
Krum stared into her eye, his brow lowered. “You are serious?”
“I should take you to a cinema sometime,” said Dudley. “It might not be, you know, magic. But they can do cool stuff with computers nowadays.”
Susan shook her head. “You’re going to have to tell me what a computer is, too. I don’t know much about the Muggle world.”
“Yeah, I guess we both have some explaining to do,” Dudley sighed. “So you weren’t in Harry’s House?”
“No, he was Gryffindor, I was Hufflepuff.”
“Weird names.”
“Yeah, well,” Susan shrugged. “The founders had some odd names. But it’s been this way for over a thousand years.”
“Wow…”
“Yeah, we’re ancient,” Susan said, winking.
“So if you were in separate Houses, how do you know each other?”
“Our Houses shared some classes,” she explained. “Plus I was in the D.A.”
“What’s that?”
“Oh, I love this song!” Susan perked up as the band picked up its pace. “Come on, let’s dance!”
“I don’t dance…”
“Well, you have to learn eventually,” said Susan, taking his hand. “Come on!”
Dudley shrugged, and turned to Petunia. “Be back in a bit, Mum.”
“Have fun,” Petunia said absently, before turning back to Sprout. “So how do you handle your begonias?”
“Bloody ungrateful…” Vernon grumbled, earning him a cross-eyed look from Dedalus. “Disgracing the family name.”
Sprout leaned into Petunia and Hestia. “Unicorn urine,” she whispered, giggling. “Works like a charm. I could slip you some if you want, Tunie, I think you’re close enough to wizard blood where the Ministry would look the other way.”
“Fraternizing with these monstrosities… dancing with a bloody witch…”
“Oh for God’s sake, Vernon,” Petunia said, her patience fraying. “Does it matter?”
“It bloody well does matter!” Vernon Dursley yelled, exploding for the first time all night. “We spent twenty bloody years keeping Dudley away from these… these… wizards,” his face contorted as he said the word. “And now this. This!”
Petunia looked around the table. She could practically hear the air brakes squeal as every conversation came to a complete stop. Thankfully the music was blaring too loudly out on the dance floor for any of the other tables to notice.
“Well, it ends right now,” said Vernon, standing. “I’ve put up with this for longer than I ever thought possible, and I am putting my foot down! Get Dudley, Petunia. We’re driving back to the hotel and taking the first flight back to the States. Then we’re selling the house and moving to Wisconsin and getting as get as far away from these people as possible!”
Petunia Dursley leaned back in her chair. “No,” she drawled, crossing her arms and giving Vernon a dark look.
Vernon glared at his wife in disbelief. “Excuse me?”
“I said no,” Petunia repeated slowly. “We’re not going anywhere.”
“Oh, I see how it is,” Vernon said, his face turning purple. “They’ve gotten to you, too. Turned you. Done their voodoo or whatever and made you think they’re not dangerous. Well, they haven’t gotten to me!”
“They haven’t gotten to me,” said Petunia. “And you’re drunk.”
“I haven’t had a drop of alcohol all night,” he growled. “Wouldn’t touch anything that this lot makes, anyway. Probably some potion that would turn me into a newt. Have to keep my wits about me anyway, make sure I don’t drop my guard around them.”
“You’re being paranoid, Vernon…”
“I’m being realistic!” Vernon yelled. “And you used to hate them, Petunia! Hate them!”
“Things have changed.”
“Why?” Vernon snorted. “Because they saved our lives? Bloody likely story. Effing con job is what it was.”
“A con job?” Petunia said, her eyebrow arched.
Charlie Weasley leaned back in his chair. “This should be entertaining.”
“Of course it was a con job!” Vernon roared. “To keep us quiet! To make us feel like our lives were in danger so we wouldn’t leak their story to the press!”
“So, a con job,” Hestia Jones said, her face pale, her hands tightened into fists. “And those Death Eaters that attacked us on the way to Heathrow? The ones we met in Milwaukee that Christmas? Figments of our imagination, were they?”
“They were sent by the government, of course, just like that lot,” Vernon said, pointing his chin at Kingsley’s bodyguards.
“And the Dementors?” Petunia asked. “The ones that attacked our Dudley?”
“We don’t know there were Defragmenters,” Vernon said. “The Boy’s the only person who claims to have seen them. Dudley even swore to us that The Boy did something to him! And you notice how he hasn’t been the same since then? Been a lot more friendly about The Boy. Probably had his brains scrambled because he saw something he wasn’t supposed to see.”
“Good Lord,” Dedalus breathed. “You’re insane…”
“Now you listen here, you little worm,” Kingsley Shacklebolt said, standing up to his full height. “I’ve listened to enough of your delusional rantings…”
“You can’t talk to me like that!” Vernon said, still surprisingly unintimidated.
“The Minister of Magic can say whatever he bloody well pleases,” said Dedalus. “And considering all the shit you called us in the year we were forced to protect your worthless ass, I think little worm is just scratching the surface.”
“I lost the best Auror the Department of Magical Law Enforcement has ever known while saving you and Harry from Privet Drive,” Kingsley continued unabated. “Voldemort, the man who we were protecting you from, killed Harry’s parents. His followers drove the best man’s parents insane. Killed Harry’s godfather, killed George Weasley’s twin brother.”
“Bloody well had it coming,” Vernon mumbled, but Kingsley’s long finger whipped out, pointing to Dudley and Susan, who were now standing off to the side, their arms linked, taking in the entire scene, along with a few others from the dance floor.
“That girl,” he said, “Lost her aunt, one of the greatest judges that any government has ever known, magical or Muggle. Lost her uncle and his entire family in the first war. All killed personally by Voldemort. The boy who you saw at the wedding? The one with the colored hair? His father. His mother. His grandfather. All dead because of Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
“We lost over fifty people in the final battle,” Kingsley growled, now an inch from Vernon’s considerable gut. “Men, women, and children. All fighting to protect you and the rest of the Muggle world. All fighting for your nephew. And I will not sit here and listen to you belittle their memory with your babbling hatred.”
“My nephew,” Vernon sneered, turning away from Kingsley to Petunia. “The Boy. It always comes back to The Boy. I knew this was going to happen. I knew he was going to turn out like this. Should have drowned him in the bathtub the day he showed up on our doorstep. Margie’s right, you know, and I knew it from the moment your sister spit him out: If there’s something wrong with the bitch, then there’s something wrong with the pup !”
Before she even knew it happened, Petunia’s hand flashed out and smacked Vernon’s face. The gasps from the surrounding guests were louder than she expected, but she barely noticed that more of the surrounding tables were now turned in their direction.
“Don’t… you… ever speak of Lily that way in front of me,” she growled, her eyes flaming.
“Why not?” Vernon said, his hand rubbing his cheek. “You did all the time. Called her a freak, remember? You hated her, were glad to be rid of her.”
“I was jealous of her,” Petunia said, discovering that it was the truth as it came from her mouth. “I wished I could have had the power that she had.”
“You’re joking…”
“I wrote a letter to Hogwarts,” she admitted triumphantly. “Begging Dumbledore to let me enroll. Hoping that I was a witch because Lily was, hoping that my power just hadn’t come out yet.”
“Petunia…”
“I reacted badly when I found out I was just a Muggle,” she said, looking between Vernon and Dudley, asking understanding of one and begging forgiveness of the other. “I called her so many horrible things on the Platform that day. I guess we never really patched things up after that. To this day I wish that I had… maybe she’d still be here if I had. But I’m proud of her. And proud of her son.”
Vernon stared dumbly at her, his face contorted. “You’re just like them…”
“Go back to the hotel, if you like,” Petunia said firmly. “I’m going to congratulate my nephew and his new wife. And then I’m going to stay and enjoy my time with my friends.”
“And how are you going to get back?”
“Oh, I can Apparate her,” Hestia said, grinning at Vernon with a look of triumph. “Gladly.”
“I’ll take Dudley later,” Susan said quietly, “If you want to stay, that is.”
“Of course I want to stay…” Dudley said, turning to Vernon. “Sorry, Dad.”
“Insolent, no good, ungrateful…” Vernon muttered. But Petunia was gone. And Dudley and Susan had also disappeared. The only people who still seemed to be paying attention to him were the witches and wizards at the table.
“Don’t you look at me like that,” he said threateningly to their stony glares. “I can feel you, you know. Trying to make me one of you, just like you did to my wife and son. Feel your eyes burning. What are you going to do? Make me grow a tail? Slice my sodding ear off?”
He turned to Kingsley Shacklebolt, stepping as close as his gut could allow. “Well, I’ll tell you what, Minister. I’ve had enough. I’m going to tell the world about you. You and your kind, all the monsters and demons that you spawn. I’m going to the press, you hear me?”
“No,” Kingsley said calmly. “You’re not.”
“What are you going to do, kill me?” Vernon snorted. “Erase my memory? My family will still remember me. If you wipe them too, The Boy I’m sure is untouchable, and you wouldn’t do anything to his last living blood. You’re over, mate. You’re through.”
And with that, Vernon Dursley turned on his heel and walked toward the front gate. The two Aurors framing Minister Shacklebolt both drew their wands and prepared to follow him, but Kingsley raised his hand.
“Don’t wipe his memory,” he said.
“But, sir…”
Kingsley motioned the Auror to him, until his lips were practically touching his ear. “Shallow cuts, Savage,” he muttered. “Shallow cuts.”
“Sir?”
“Make him forget his need to talk to the press,” Kingsley explained as the band started playing again and the guests decided it was the end of the scene. “But don’t make him forget the fear. We don’t have to have him forget us, just so long as his paranoia still exists. If he thinks his life is in danger, he won’t go on.”
Savage nodded. “Yes sir.”
“Let him remember everything else,” Kingsley continued, looking around as Dudley Dursley sat down at a corner table with Susan Bones, and as Petunia Dursley, wiping her eyes, strode to the main table, where Harry and Ginny Potter sat with shocked, yet expectant, faces. “Let him remember everything his family said to him today. It’s not something he deserves to forget.”
Three Years Later: WeddingFic / Previous Chapters / ReceptionFic (2/2)