Disclaimer: This story is loosely based on the play/movie “An Ideal Husband” by Oscar Wilde and I do not claim credit for those particular plot parts. Also, certain conversations in the coming chapters are taken from that play and I will point those out as they come.
A/N: Just a quick author’s note, This story is meant to be cannon up to the sixth book which means everything that happened in the HBP happened in the past in this story. Some things might get confusing (like Draco and Harry being friends) but all will be explained, so don’t worry!
Longer Summary: Over ten years after Hogwarts, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny find that they can't escape from all their problems just yet. Harry seeks to escape the past, Ron seeks to forget his past, Hermione seeks to learn from the past and Ginny seeks to improve upon the past. The only catch is: they have to go through it together.
Chapter 1 “ What More Can I Say?
“He was a boy,
She was a girl,
Can I make it any more obvious?”
- “Sk8er Boy” by Avril Lavigne
The house on Godric’s Hollow, Number Three to be precise, was not, at first glance, anything unusual or spectacular. In fact it looked exceedingly the same as every other house on the street. Large in size, built with dark red bricks and off white shutters, it looked about as normal as any other house could be.
That is until you could spot an owl flying to and from the house sporadically throughout the day. It wasn’t even the same owl all the time. More often than not it was a snowy white owl, quite unusual for anyone in England to see. Occasionally there were brown or black owls. About once a week there was a tiny owl that looked no larger than a robin. This owl tended to knock into several things before actually reaching the house.
But the strangest thing about the house was not the owls. It was in fact the small items you could see clutched in their talons.
Messenger owls?
The idea was preposterous! Of course most people who were new didn’t even have to spy on the house to figure this out. Neighbors were happy to oblige and it didn’t take more than 12 hours before a new neighbor got the whole story about Number Three and the scandalous Mr. Harry Potter who resided there.
“He works for the American Government,” Mrs. Nobody insisted. “Those CIA people who come over here to spy on us.”
“What about all those years after his parents died?” Mr. Someone countered. “Disappeared to South America, I’ve seen the treasures myself!”
“Don’t even get me started on the parents,” Miss Anyone cut in. “They were in too deep with the Russian Mafia. That’s what got them killed that night.”
“Well, what about the owls?” Mrs. New insisted. “What are they carrying?”
“Spy supplies? Messages? Who knows?” Mr. Someone answered. He leaned close to Mrs. New and whispered, “Careful around him. You never know when he’s recording everything you say and do!”
The neighbors all turned quickly as the front door of Number Three opened quietly and a tall, handsome man stepped out. Most of them didn’t seem fit to consider him a man. Why he couldn’t be older than 30! And his hair! Sticking out in every which way. No discipline at all. The aura around him seemed to always silence the neighbors, especially when they caught a look at his eyes.
Mrs. Someone swore they were the greenest she had ever seen.
None of them spoke as he walked out a few steps, bending down to gather the morning paper that had been delivered to his front step. He didn’t seem to notice their staring as he glanced at the front page quickly.
Then, suddenly he looked up and all the neighbors didn’t dare move.
His face broke out into an unmistakable smile and he nodded briefly towards the group of them standing across the street.
“Good Morning,” he waved cheerfully before stepping back into his house and shutting the door behind him.
There was silence for several more seconds before Mrs. New finally spoke her mind.
“Well, he seems pleasant enough! A right gentleman!”
The others all whirled on her.
“That’s what he wants you to think!” Mr. Someone insisted.
“Just you wait,” Mrs. Nobody said, her nose turned up distastefully. “Soon enough you’ll see.”
“Yes,” Miss Anyone added. “His awful friends are sure to show up today. And just you wait till you see the first owl!”
They all dispersed then, leaving Mrs. New alone on the sidewalk looking thoughtfully at the quiet house across the street.
She had just about made up her mind to forget the crazy things she had heard when suddenly a curtain in the house was pulled aside and Mr. Potter stood there, drinking coffee and opening the window with one hand to let in the cool April breeze.
She froze and he spotted her, smiling and offering a wave.
Without a backward glance she hurried back up the street to her own Number Ten to bring the news to Mr. New about the eccentric new neighbor they had.
----
Harry Potter chuckled to himself as he saw the newest neighbor bolt down the street in fear.
“If only Voldemort had acted that scared of me,” he said mockingly, shaking his head with disbelief that the rumors were still circulating about him. He had been back in his parent’s old house for over a year now, but he still seemed as new as a foreigner.
“Harry? You awake, mate?” Ron Weasley’s loud and very often obnoxious voice echoed through Harry’s big, empty house. Rolling his eyes, Harry walked back to his family room, spotting Ron’s head in the fire, giving him a smug look.
“I thought you said married people sleep in?” Harry said cheekily, leaning down to look into the fire.
“Yeah, well ‘Mione has to go into the office today and since I don't have practice I was elected to make her breakfast while she caught up on sleep. She was hungry for watermelon and peanut butter at five this morning and I’d like to see you sleep through her incessant hormones wining to me.”
Harry chuckled. “Tell me again, Ron, how wonderful it is to be expecting a child?”
“Bloody bull sh-“
“Ronald Weasley!!!”
Chuckling even more as Harry heard Hermione’s faint but shrill voice, he waited a moment as Ron turned away from him.
“Great Merlin, that women eats things that would make even me throw up,” Ron made a face as he turned back to face Harry. “She’s sending me out now to get fresh turnips and noodles.”
“Why don’t you send Misty?” Harry questioned, referring to Ron and Hermione’s paid and vacation-taking house elf.
Ron grimaced. “Apparently I’ve been ‘using; her too much lately,” he rolled his eyes. “Honestly, I’m lucky to even get a chance to have her make a meal. I swear, the only reason Hermione let us get her was because she’s letting us pay her.”
“I’d offer to help, but I actually have plans today,” Harry sighed dramatically.
“Oh bugger off, Harry. Are you going to be there tonight?”
“What? Do you think I’d miss it?”
“Well, you haven’t exactly been reliable lately, what with all those secret girlfriends that Hermione insists you’re hiding from us-“
Harry retaliated by throwing the rest of his coffee at the fire, dousing a bit of Ron’s head. Ron laughed, pulling completely out and leaving the house silent again. Harry frowned at the fire, knowing Ron wasn’t done.
Sure enough, a second later the emerald flames flashed up again and a small note floated down to the ashes.
Snatching it up, Harry went back into the kitchen to fix himself a real breakfast, wondering what possessed him to start drinking coffee when it left such an awful taste in his mouth.
He left the note crumpled on the counter as he started grabbing things to make an omelet.
Harry “
Hermione threatens you under pain of death. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure she doesn’t bring anyone for you.
- Ron
----
A hand came crashing down on the unsuspecting alarm clock, silencing its persistent “Time to wake up! Time to face a brand new day!” and making it sound more like “Shin fo make ut! Shin fo mace a gand ew bay!”.
“Why do you even set that thing when you wake up so late?” An amused voice asked out of the darkness.
Ginny Weasley finally cracked her eyes open a bit, looking at her roommate, Riley, queen of the sarcastic comments and known all around for her dislike of serious people.
Riley was bustling about the room, packing for a short business trip, while Ginny was currently enjoying her vacation under the warm blanket.
“Leemelone…” Ginny mumbled, taking her hand off her clock and burying herself back into her covers. Unfortunately, without her hand muffling the clock, it began its annoying rant once more and Ginny could have sworn it was louder than before.
“Then I guess I won’t tell you that you’ve already gotten an owl this morning.”
Ginny bolted up, flinging the covers off and racing out of the room with far more speed than she knew she possessed. She skidded around the corner of the hallway and raced down the stairs, hardly daring to hope that she had finally received it.
She jumped the last four stairs and saw an owl sitting on the kitchen table. It clicked its beak impatiently and Ginny grabbed the letter off its leg, tearing it open and glancing at it. She knew she had been played before she read the first word. Riley’s laugh echoed form upstairs.
“Argh!” Ginny threw the letter down, letting out a frustrated scream. “Not funny!”
Riley just laughed louder.
Collapsing onto on of the kitchen chairs, Ginny put her arms on the table and buried her face in them, feeling the sleepiness of the morning coming back. She should have known better anyway, it wasn’t as if the Academy was going to be able to go over her application in just a week. Still, there was the hope that her acceptance (or other) letter would come sooner or later. The worst part about waiting was the length of it. She was rudely interrupted from falling asleep by the owl pecking at her head.
“Ow!” She sat up, glaring at it and rubbing her wounded head. “I’m not giving him a bloody answer right away,” she said hatefully. “He should know that by now.”
The owl seemed to give her a hurt look before taking off through the open window, being sure to clip her on the shoulder.
Riley clomped down the stairs loudly, singing “My Girl” with an overnight bag slung over her shoulder. Passing by Ginny’s silent, fuming form, she didn’t look at her merely said, “You might as well write him back, it’s not like ignoring it really stops him.” She giggled once more and opened the door, finally turning to look at Ginny. “Don’t burn the place down while I’m gone,” she said with a wink before she slammed the door behind her and Ginny heard a loud pop a few seconds later as she disapparated.
Ginny slammed her head down on her table a few times before picking up the letter again and reading it all the way through for the first time, thought after getting letters like this one constantly for the last few months, she could pretty much predict what it was going to say:
Ginny-
If you’re not busy this evening, please meet me in Langley Park near the benches. I have something very particular I want to ask you.
-Edward
She sighed. How many proposals had it been so far? Somewhere around 20 she would guess. She was surprised he hadn’t gotten the hint by now, but coming from a traditional pureblood family, he was hell-bent on protocol…and getting what he wanted. However, she had thought those words “We should date other people” and “Please don’t touch me” would have gotten the point across enough.
A loud tapping sounded from the window near her and looked up to see the same owl there, clutching a new note in its talons.
She put her head back down onto the table.
Apparently not.
----
As it turned out, Harry actually did have plans for the day, but they didn’t start until noon which left him plenty of time to respond to the numerous owls he’d gotten throughout the week. It was quite annoying to still be getting job offer, especially when he just wrote the same reply on each one.
I’m retired. Get over it.
It might have seemed odd that he was claiming to be retired at only 28, but he figured that his supply of gold in Gringotts more than made up for it.
Besides, he wasn’t really retired at all. He just liked to make people think he was. After Hogwarts he had tried several different occupations, none of them really floating his fancy. The longest of which was a type of internship for the intelligence branch of the DMLE. He had thoroughly enjoyed the work, traveling frequently to America and other parts of the world. It had seemed well for a few years, but due to certain…personal affairs, Harry had chosen to leave, going back to the only home he ever really knew, Hogwarts.
He was now gainfully employed at Hogwarts for routine checks on the security measures there and made frequent visits to reinforce the wards. Some might have found it odd that there was still so much security around Hogwarts, especially with Voldemort’s defeat over ten years ago, but Harry knew that it was better to be safe than sorry. There were still scattered groups of Death Eaters that the DMLE had been trying to round up for years, but no matter what anyone heard or claimed, Harry repeated his mantra; “He’s dead. He’s not coming back.”
Apparently some simpletons refused to give up hope of their master returning and Harry was one of the only members of the magical community who had no fear of this. Others on the list included people like Arthur Weasley, head of the Muggle Relations Department, as well as Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts, Ron and Hermione Weasley, Harry’s two best friends from Hogwarts and a select few who Harry knew would trust his word on the final defeat of Voldemort.
Finishing off the last letter and sending it away with a highly disgruntled owl, Harry stretched, leaning back in his oversized armchair and closing his eyes for a moment. He ran through his schedule in his mind, realizing that he actually was going to have time to go to the Weasley’s party tonight. He didn’t know if that was a fortunate or unfortunate thing.
Luckily he didn’t have much time to ponder the thought as a loud knock sounded at his front door and he stood up heavily, grabbing his wand on his desk and slipped it into his back pocket. He grabbed a roll of parchment that was sitting on the small desk near the front door and shoved it in his other pocket. Opening the door, he wasn’t surprised to see a smug looking Draco Malfoy standing there, his blond hair falling loosely around his face, in a sort of disarray that Draco could still pull off as looking dignified. Harry had given up on his hair long ago and resigned himself to the fact that Draco was always going to look like a pompous rich kid.
“Give me a second,” Harry said over his shoulder as he walked back into his study, Draco stepping into the house and glancing around with distaste as he always did. “I’ve got to send a note to Remus.”
Harry didn’t bother to wait for Draco to reply as he scribbled a quick note and sent it off with Hedwig. Sure enough, he came back out into the hall to see Draco looking doubtfully at the muggle TV that Harry had set up in the adjoining family room.
“Ogled enough?” Harry asked sarcastically, grabbing his robe and slipping it on.
Draco spared him an unnerving glance. “God, Potter, you live like a bloody muggle.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Harry smirked, motioning him out the door which Draco readily complied to. “You could have come by floo.”
“Yes, I could have,” Draco watched as Harry locked the house with a tap of his wand and they both started up the street. “But for some reason my magical signature was blocked from your fireplace.”
Harry stifled a laugh. “Wonder who could have done that?”
Draco scowled over at him. “I’ll get you back for that one, Potter, mark my words.”
“Consider them marked,” Harry shot back with a cheeky smile.
If one would have looked real hard they might have seen the slightest hint of a smile appear on Draco Malfoy’s face.
But only if they looked real hard.
----
Remus managed not to kill the bloody bird as it flew onto his desk, dropping a small bit of parchment on his desk before flying right back out the window. He scowled, his headache pounding as he wondered, for the tenth time today, who he had agreed to this job.
He grabbed the note and flipped it open, recognizing Harry’s handwriting and only figuring out just then that the bird had, in fact, been Hedwig, Harry’s owl.
Remus “
Draco’s here. We’ll be there in 10.
- Harry
Rubbing his tired eyes, Remus chucked the note into the nearest rubbish bin and proceeded to bang his head on his desk a few times.
“Careful, you don’t have that many brain cells to loose,” a cheery voice sounded over the muffled sounds of his head coming into contact with the plank of wood.
Leaving his head on the desk, Remus turned his face towards the fireplace and saw his wife’s head floating in the fire, looking highly amused. All he managed was another scowl.
“That joke’s old,” he mumbled, turning his face to be squished by the desk in a futile attempt to stop breathing.
“So is the habit of banging your head on the desk,” Tonks chided. There was silence for a moment and Remus dared hope that she had gone. But a moment later he was proven very wrong.
“Up and at ‘em, Remus!” Tonks’ voice was now much clearer and closer and Remus sighed into the top of the desk realizing she had just flooed there.
“Not now.” His voice was muffled by the desk, but he didn’t bother to move to make it any clearer. She wouldn’t listen to him either way. She was in one of her moods….Remus was in one of his moods too, but it was on a different end of the spectrum.
“Honestly, Remus, it’s only noon!” Tonks had opened the blinds in his office, letting in a stream of sunlight that Remus had forgotten was available to him. He was still getting used to this whole ‘office’ thing, especially considering the jobs in the past he had. “And it’s a beautiful day!”
He groaned, finally rolling his head over so that he was looking over at her without lifting his head off the desk at all. “I hate this job.”
“Nonsense!” Tonks said in surprise. “It’s just your first week, give it more time.” She walked over, grabbing a chair and sitting by his desk, lowering her head so they were nose to nose. “Kingsley sent me over, said you were getting ‘frustrated’,” she made the quote signs with her fingers jokingly.
Remus scoffed. “Understatement of the century, that.” He sighed and finally lifted his head from the desk, Tonks following suit, her eyes never leaving his face. He blew out another long sigh, rubbing his face with his hand. “I feel like I’m being punished for sins from a past life.”
Tonks let loose a string on laughter. “Oh honestly, Remus, it can’t be that bad. Aren’t Malfoy and Harry coming today?”
Remus nodded absentmindedly.
“And when’s the last time you saw Harry?” she asked suspiciously, already knowing the answer.
Remus admitted she had a point. It had probably been at least two weeks since he had seen Harry, something Remus knew he’d never forgiven himself for. Since Harry’s graduation and Remus’ appointment in the DMLE their opportunities to spend time together had been few and far between. It especially was hard with his new promotion as head of WSM (Wards and Safety Measures). He now regretted his thoughts of wanting a real job and wished he was back at Hogwarts, teaching a class on Boggarts or starting a dueling club.
Tonks already had a triumphant smile on her face and she leaned forward, giving Remus a sweet kiss on the cheek before standing up and heading to the fireplace. “He’s excited to see you too. And give it time, you’ll be the best blasted werewolf this department has ever seen,” she paused and he looked over to her as she winked. “Not to mention the only werewolf this department has ever seen.” And with a flash of emerald flames she was gone, leaving Remus to smile at her kind gesture and prepare himself to deal with both Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy in his office at the same time.