Toppers Wallow

Voldemort was beaten. The Wizarding world rejoiced. Harry Potter however, wanted to be away from all the fuss. Ron and Hermione shielded him for a week or two aided by Minerva McGonagall and Poppy Pomfrey. Eventually Harry was persuaded to appear in public at some of the more important functions of the celebrations.

Once the excitement had died down somewhat, Harry managed to dodge the spotlight of fame; trying to piece back a private life that always seemed to elude him, or be taken from him by intruding events. He agreed with Filius Flitwick that building for peace was now the most important emphasis that magicdom should be pursuing. Though exactly what that meant had still to be worked out.

Draco Malfoy and his parents had disappeared from the scene, along with a sizable number of Death Eaters. No one knew of their whereabouts, but the suspicions were that they were holed out in Malfoy Manor. Being untraceable and presumably under a Fidelius charm, there was no way to find them, despite many very thorough searches being carried out. All that was known was that the magical entrance to Malfoy Manor moved around indiscriminately and that only holders of the rings could find the gateway. Unfortunately no rings had been captured, Lucius had, in the confused aftermath of the battle of Hogwarts, removed any such ring from the cadavers of known followers of Voldemort.

Although Hogwarts had been disrupted one thing that everyone agreed on was that the students should carry on with their studies, despite the wreckage around them. Those, like Harry and his coterie, who had missed much of the final year, were to be given another chance by becoming eighth-years – the majority of whom would take their delayed NEWT’s just before Christmas.

Harry could not face school for the time being, wanting to sort out his life. There were things he had left at Privet Drive and, despite their treatment of him; he wanted to see the Dursleys safely ensconced in their home again. Hermione and Ron wanted to accompany him, but bowed to his fervent wish to go alone.

“Use your galleon, Harry, if you need us.” Hermione had urged.

“Thanks guys, I will. You two need some quality time together as well, without me acting as a chaperone. I’ll see you at my birthday party, if not before.”

“Don’t forget it’s at the Burrow, Mate.”

“No Ron, I won’t. I feel like family there, but there are the Dursleys to be settled in first.”

Early Saturday afternoon, Harry Apparated onto the back lawn, surprising Dudley who was cutting the grass.

“Hello Harry, good to see you.”

Harry’s mouth fell open in surprise.

“Okay Cousin. I know I was horrid to you, but things are different now. I’m sorry for the way we treated you. Have you come to see Dad?”

“Um … Yes … And collect a few things. Why are things different?”

“Come and sit in the deckchair, please … Dad was furious at the beginning, and I was sulky too. The big house where we stayed had lots of other Muggles sheltering there as well. Our hosts were kindness incarnate and so were the various witches and wizards who took turns in guarding us. I don’t know when it happened, but I started to realise what a celebrity you were, not in the nasty sense, but in the way everyone was relying on you to save us. It took Dad much longer to come round and Mum still has relapses about magic being unnatural.” Dudley paused and passed Harry some lemonade.

“You know how I like computer games, well that blossomed out too. Dad was worried about work, although officially he was in quarantine with a contagious disease, so he wanted to keep in touch. There were a couple of rooms that were screened so that the magic didn’t interfere with the electronics. Dad’s hopeless at the keyboard, so I was roped in, somewhat unwillingly, to act as his comp-op. Once I got used to the tool trade, it became quite interesting. Actually it’s a great challenge finding or inventing the tools for the job required; much better than boring old school. So now I’m joining the firm, and Dad’s got his old job back. C’mon, we’d better go inside and meet them, they’ll be back from shopping by now.”

Harry had profuse apologies from Uncle Vernon, who seemed to have lightened up. He even managed to giggle about the escapade with Aunt Marge. “She still won’t talk to me you know. At least we don’t have to put up with her snuffling dog anymore.”

Aunt Petunia managed to unbend enough to hug Harry. Something he was very unsure about and he caught Dudley smiling in sympathy. She even managed to cook a meal without demanding that Harry do it. He did offer to help with the washing up, slipping back into his old roll; only this time Dudley did the drying whilst Uncle Vernon put things away. His room was as Harry had left it, though cleaned up. He lay in bed remembering, and when the wardrobe door rattled, he almost imagined Dobby was there.

During their conversations over the next couple of days, some serious rapprochement took place. They agreed that Harry should have his own place and took a trip to Godric’s Hollow to see Magnet Cottage, Harry’s parents’ home. Harry summoned Hermione, as she knew the spell to allow the Dursleys to see through the concealing charm. They all agreed that this would make an ideal abode for Harry and, as he was not quite eighteen yet, Uncle Vernon agreed to set up a rebuilding contract on it.

The following day, Minerva McGonagall and Filius Flitwick came along, and together they lifted the concealing charm, emitting at the same time, a believing charm on the locals.

“Are you the owner of the old wreck?” asked a passer by. “It’d be nice to see it repaired again.” Thus confirming that the charm had worked.

“I’ve got a fixed date contract for you, Harry,” Uncle Vernon said. “I’ve given them the deposit. Are you sure there’s enough in the Potter bank account to cover it?”

Harry assured his uncle that there was, and fixed interval repayments were agreed with the contractor. There was also a problem with the authorities. As Magnet Cottage was in a conservation area, its traditional outline had to be reinstated. This included a peculiar look-out round the centre chimney and a barn, which obscured most of the front of the house. The remains of the barn’s walls had been hidden in the vegetation when Hermione and Harry had visited before going to the Bagshot Cottage, at Christmas time. A compromise was reached whereby Harry could put unobtrusive skylights in the barn’s lean-to roof, and use it as a workshop, but the three pairs of enormous double doors had to be re-erected, even if they were not going to be used.

The Dursleys were surprised at the end of July. Molly and Arthur Apparated to Privet Drive, in order to ask them to come to Harry’s birthday party. They were more surprised when they were side-along-Apparated and greatly surprised at the shambolic house where the Weasleys lived. Nevertheless, the happy family atmosphere helped them quickly recover.

It was Harry’s turn to be surprised next. His present from Dudley was a big four-poster bed, ornately carved and hung with Gryffindor colours. Uncle Vernon added to this gift by giving a matching wardrobe and dressing-table set. Hermione quietly said afterwards, that Harry should take them to the Antiques Road-show, as she was sure they were extremely valuable. Aunt Petunia’s gifts were matching window curtains and counterpanes, plus all the usual bed linen and extras to cover washing, wearing out, etc.

Kingsley Shacklebolt arrived in the afternoon, accompanied by representatives from the Wizengamot. Apart from speeches, Harry was presented with a gold medal as Commander of the Order of Merlin. “That’s higher than first-class.” Kingsley whispered during the prolonged applause.

The fuss decided Harry; he needed somewhere to call his own, where he could hide if he wanted to, and receive the guests only he wanted to invite. So, on the day after the party, he told Ron and Hermione and quietly Apparated to Godric’s Hollow.