Harry shook his head, trying to clear his mind after such a confusing conversation with Ginny. He walked on out the back door and into the yard where all the other guests were already seated around the large, rectangular table that had been magicked there. The smile he had been wearing turned into a scowl, as Harry marched forward and slumped awkwardly into a straight-backed chair in between Bill and Mr. Weasley.
Thankfully Ginny and Dean were at the opposite end of the same row so Harry didn't have to look at them or avoid their gazes for the entire meal. Everyone was chatting amiably and passing around tureens and platters of delicious looking food. "'Arry, you must try ze Paupiette de Veau! I made zit myself," Fleur called across the table, bringing Harry out of his troubled thoughts. He forced a pained smile that bordered on a grimace onto his face as he reached out to accept the platter of veal that Fleur was offering him. "Looks wonderful," he said, truthfully.
"So, Harry... tell us what you've been up to lately," George said, looking expectantly at Harry.
"Oh, well you know... not, er-not very much. How are things going at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?," Harry asked, anxious to steer the conversation away from himself.
"Quite excellent, thank you! Lee, Ron, and I have just finished developing a new line of products for our WonderWitch brand. Shampoos that do different things to your hair. Like our Color-Changing one. Just shampoo your hair and it'll turn whatever color compliments your skin tone best. Unless you buy the Mystery Box. That one will change your hair to any sort of color..."
"We got Mum good the other day! Thought she was dying her hair a perfectly lovely caramel color. Turned green like dragon meat instead!," laughed Ron. Mrs. Weasley looked none too amused however as she shot daggers with her eyes at her sons.
"The Anti-Curl one does work wonders however! I mean, look how straight and sleek my hair is! So much easier than other methods I've tried," complimented Hermione, turning to beam at Ron.
"Yeah, well we sorta stole the idea," blushed Ron as he poked aimlessly at the peas on his plate with his fork.
"Stole it from whom?," questioned Bill.
"Tonks.," George stated simply. Harry's head snapped up from the biscuit he'd been concentrating on at the sound of Nymphadora Tonks' name.
"Speaking of Tonks.... how is Teddy doing, Harry?," asked Mrs. Weasley from somewhere to Harry's right.
"Oh, he's doing well, I guess. I haven't talked to him lately. Andromeda writes occasionally. She says he's excited about starting at Hogwarts soon. She's a little nervous about him leaving home, but I 'spect he'll be alright. Luna, Neville, and Hagrid will make sure he stays safe."
"You won't have to worry much about him getting out of line either, I suppose. Not with McGonagall headmistress," observed Ginny. It was the first time she'd spoken to the table at large ever since they'd started eating.
"No, I guess not.," muttered Harry with a small smile as his thoughts turned to his godson. A pleasant and not uncomfortable silence fell over the crowd then. Nothing but the sound of chewing, knives and forks clinking, and the birds chirping in the trees could be heard. The silence was soon broken however by a question to Harry from Mr. Weasley. "Have you given any thought about going back to work? We certainly miss you at the ministry." Harry had once held the position of Head Auror. One that he had held with pride. A job that he'd expressed interest in as early as his fourth year at school. One that Minerva McGonagall had once sworn to do everything in her power to make sure he obtained. But Harry had been quietly shuffled out the door in the name of his "health" with promises of a job being held open for him at any time that the ministry "saw fit" for his to return to work. Not that Harry had not been good at his job. He hadn't been made Head of his department for no reason. It was simply that Harry had become too good at his job. After one too many innocent people had fallen victim to one of his hexes gone awry, it became a standard joke at the Ministry of Magic that Harry had "pulled a Moody," in reference to Harry's fallen hero and friend Mad-Eye Moody who was a brilliant Auror but would jinx his own mother out of pure paranoid fear. Luckily for Harry the sizable amount of gold that his parents had left him in the wake of their deaths was still plenty enough to provide for him. Harry didn't require much, therefore his vault remained nearly as full as it had on the day he'd first opened it seventeen years ago. The day Hagrid had first introduced him to the Wizarding world he now belonged to.
"No, I haven't really thought about it," Harry finally answered. It was true. He hadn't thought about it. Not even once. After he'd been asked to leave, he was resigned to spend the rest of his days alone and on the couch. Nothing would change for him mentally, so why should he return to the ministry?
"Hmm, well I thought you might be interested in going back now that there's actually been some serious Dark activity detected.," Mr. Weasley confided to Harry. This was news to Harry as he had nearly completely severed his ties with the world outside his flat. Although he still took the Daily Prophet, he no more than glanced at the headlines before tossing them into an untidy stack by the fireplace. They were good for burning.
"'Dark activity'? What do you mean?," Harry questioned, his interest now piqued.
"Well, it's just a rumor I heard mind you, but supposedly an underground nest of Death Eaters was found hiding out in Australia. They were discovered when one of them conjured the Dark Mark in the sky!"
"The Dark Mark? Are you serious? What are they playing at?," Harry questioned nervously. The Dark Mark, Voldemort's sign, hadn't been seen in years. Not since Harry had killed Voldemort himself.
"I don't know Harry, but it's got a lot of people right nervous, I tell you! Not that You-Know-Who has any chance of coming back this time, but still! A lot of his followers were just as terrible as he was, were they not? It's scary to think that there are those out there still willing to take up his campaign! I know we've fought valiantly to bring equality to Squibs, Half-Bloods, and Muggle-Borns alike, but there are still plenty who subscribe to the Pure-Blood school of thought.," Arthur Weasley exclaimed, impassioned as he always was when it came to the rights of Muggles and Half-Blood wizards and witches. He had always had a fondness for Muggles, but now even more so since his daughter-in-law was a Muggle born witch herself.
"I mean to think that anyone would look down on Hermione for who her parents are! She's one of the brightest, most clever witches I know! And her parents are wonderful folks too!," he cried, throwing a prideful smile in Hermione's direction. "Anyway, they used Veritaserum to question those blokes they caught in Australia. Apparently there are more of them, across the world. That is to say, pockets of Death Eaters. The thing is, they seemed to be under the impression that they had a new leader. The ones lthe Aurors caught didn't seem to know a whole awful lot. New recruits apparently. But that's frightening in itself that they are recruiting new people. So what do you think, Harry? Any chance you'll come back now with all this renewed activity going on?"
Harry considered the question for a moment, fear creeping its way down his spine like a trickle of ice cold water. What sort of things were these new Death Eaters planning? And who was this new leader? The bigger question at hand right in that moment was whether or not Harry could handle being under pressure should he choose to retake his previous position.
"You know... I just might," came his final reply after a few more seconds of internal struggle. For the second time in just a week, Harry wondered what in the world he'd gotten himself into.
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