Ginny Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Chapter Four: Pictures and Wine

It had been a wonderful day, and as the day turned to evening, the party grew more boisterous. A letter from Fred Weasley was read in which he apologized for not being able to attend the event but asked "to send my regards to our pale friend and ask him if he wished to invest in a supply of Fred's Ferret Folly Food, our newest creation."

Draco took his appointed role as Weasley guinea pig (or guinea ferret?) in stride, but shuddered when Ron decided to create a new drinking game which consisted of everyone taking turns going around to the dozens of pictures in Ginny's house, and telling stories about whatever picture the person picked. The group was then encouraged to guess whether the story was true or false. Anyone who guessed wrong was obligated to drink. Thankfully, Molly Weasley had withdrawn to a playroom with the Potter children so as to shield them from any inappropriateness.

It was Ginny's turn, and she was slightly tipsy, which meant that her brown eyes were darting around with more playfulness than usual. Draco thought idly that if Ginny was this animated on the verge of her thirtieth birthday, she must have been a handful indeed in her teens. Not for the first time, he felt a slight flush of envy of Harry Potter, his former enemy, former friend, and former partner. He beat down the offending thought back into his subconscious and tried to focus on the game - Patricia DePorter, Edwin’s wife was speaking, and that was an event about as common as a lunar eclipse.

"I've always wondered, how did that picture get taken?" She pointed to a framed photograph on the wall, a Muggle photograph that was eerie in its stillness. The objects of the photograph, however, were anything but Muggles. Everyone looked at the picture, even though they, along with most of the wizarding world, had seen it countless times.

The jumbled rubble of the West Wing of Malfoy Manor was the backdrop. The foreground consisted of Draco, Harry and Ginny standing close together, with Ron flanking the to the left of Draco and Hermione to the right of Ginny. Everyone was looking at the camera, although Ron was squatting, holding a chunk of silver that thankfully was not recognizable as a hand. Draco was holding a magical staff at a slight angle away from his body, and Harry had the Sword of Gryffindor in front of him, tip buried in the rubble of Malfoy's ancestral home. Ginny's hair was matted and large black streaks were visible on her face.

Hermione was standing, limply, her wand at her side pointing down at her feet. She looked strangely frail, and her hair was limp and flat, in contrast to its usual bushiness. Only her eyes, wide open with a fierce expression, gave hint that the Muggle-born witch was not to be trifled with. All five were covered with filth, and more than one clotted gash was obvious. No one was smiling, but there was a look of confident superiority on all of their faces. All except Draco's, whose eyes were unfocused and appeared to be slightly sad.

"Just another day at the office." Ron's muttered explanation didn't totally hide his pride. The taking of Malfoy Manor, and the capture of Peter Pettigrew (minus his silver arm, which had been hacked off by Harry in a stunning display of swordsmanship) had been a memorable day, resulting in the final vindication of Sirius Black's memory, who, although he had been officially cleared years earlier, had still been regarded with suspicion by much of the wizarding world.

Ginny looked at the picture, and then looked at Patricia and smiled.

"I've always loved that picture. It's the only one of the five of us working together; it was rare for us to be grouped together like that, just too easy for one spell to hit us all at once. The Manor had already been secured by the Secondary Team, we were just surveying the damage. They moved in to de-curse the house and protect it after we took it. The picture was taken by a Muggle who had been being held and tortured there; we still don't know where or how he got the camera. We were going to alter his memory, of course, but it turned out he had relatives who were wizards and he had a good reason for knowing about our world. We kept the picture. He sure liked the royalties after the picture was picked up and reprinted by half the publications in the wizarding world.

Draco spoke. "Four times, the Ministry had sent Aurors to my father's house with the Order of Seizure and Transfer. Four times, my father had beaten them back."

Draco didn't have to explain that after a Magical Court had found his father guilty in absentia of various crimes it had ordered that his property be seized and delivered to his eldest law-abiding child - Draco. He knew that Harry's sense of irony had reveled at the thought of stripping Lucius of his fortune, and enriching Draco in the process. Draco had been living off of his Ministry salary since abandoning his father and Voldemort, and Fred and George Weasley used to joke about the oddity of a "Malfoy poorer than a Weasley" - not that the Weasleys were poor anymore, Fred and George's business acumen had seen to that. But Harry had always been aware of Draco's taste for the finer things in life, and Draco had been overjoyed to see his ancestral wealth and lands returned to him. Draco never would forget Harry hefting the sword and muttering, "Come on, let's go get Draco's money back."

"I think my father realized he was in trouble when Edwin DePorter, " at this, Malfoy grinned at Edwin, who was studying his shoes with a smirk on his face, "walked up to the front gate and staked the pole in the ground with the Order nailed to it."

"There are some advantages to being an Officer of the Court. I had the easy part, you kids did all the work." Edwin had actually been terrified at the time, knowing that there was an excellent chance his friends could be seriously injured or killed in the assault on Malfoy Manor. It was one of the very few times he could remember being grateful to the Ministry of Magic; the kindly justice who appointed Edwin to serve the Order had known that he wanted to be in a position to defend his former colleagues if need be. Edwin didn't regret leaving the ranks of the Aurors to become an Advocate - ironically, he often defended those accused of crimes involving the Dark Arts - but he did miss the comradeship that was so prevalent among the Aurors but solely lacking in the legal profession.

"Anyhow, to make a long story short, my boys -" Ginny didn't have to tell anyone that she was referring to Harry, Ron and Draco " - kicked ass, while those of us with brains - " a glance at Hermione was met with several eye rolls, " - made sure the boys didn't screw up too badly, and we got Draco his house back, and in the process stripped He Who Has No Income of his greatest source of funds. We were all amazed how much that turned out to damage the activities of the Death Eaters; after all, Voldemort can't go and file for public assistance and put his occupation down as "Unemployed Evil Overlord" - another of my brother's brilliant ideas, I guess he has to have some occasionally."

Ginny smiled warmly at her brother; at the time, everyone had made fun of Ron's obsessive muttering of "Follow the money. Follow the money." Not even Malfoy had been able to follow Ron's strategic reasoning of just how much his family fortune aided Voldemort - only Ron had realized that if Voldemort's network of informants, spies and Death Eaters used terror as its oxygen, it used Galleons as its blood, lubricating the wheels of corrupt officialdom, funding bribery, Dark Magic research, and sundry other unsavory activities. Ron had been the driving force behind the issuing of the Order, which hadn't been used in centuries - another fruit of Hermione's research into obscure legal precedents. The loss of the Malfoy funds and influence had been a crippling blow indeed to Voldemort, although Lucius himself had escaped the assault.

Patricia looked at Ginny as she finished, and then said, "I'd have to rate that as true - but I'm going to drink anyway." With that, she downed her glass of wine.

Edwin leaned over to her and stage-whispered in her ear, "Are you trying to get drunk just so you can tolerate me tonight?"

Patricia didn't say anything, she just refilled her glass and put it up to Edwin's lips, and tilted his chin back with her delicate hand.

Ginny looked at the two of them and thought that it was so odd - Edwin and Remus, who had been in the same year at Hogwarts, had wound up with women who were their exact opposites; Patricia DePorter was quiet, gentle and reserved, possessed of an elegant dignity that sometimes made it difficult for people to approach her - until they actually spoke to her and realized just how caring and open she could be. Remus Lupin, on the other hand, had stunned everyone with his relationship with Evelyn Clearwater. The quiet werewolf and the blond, loud and rambunctious forty-five year old witch with the body of a twenty-year old had been the talk of the wizarding world for weeks. Evelyn's antics and fiery passion was quite the contrast to Remus' reserved, gentle demeanor, and more than one person had voiced the opinion that it was all a front to quiet the never-ending rumors about Remus' sexual orientation. But, Ginny had seen the quiet adoration in Lupin's eyes every time they followe! d Evelyn's every movement - she knew that adoration well, for Harry had once looked at her with the same unquestioning love and wonder. She missed Lupin's presence tonight; she knew that he would have enjoyed the evening.

Ginny's thoughts were interrupted by Hermione, who was suggesting that the party adjourn to town and take in a Muggle-style movie. Ron, who had become obsessed with Muggle theatre and film through Hermione, didn't need any encouragement, and his enthusiasm quickly spread through the group. Ginny knew that her mother had to return to the Burrow that evening, and felt a surge of disappointment that she would not be able to go to town with the rest of the group. Her salvation came from an entirely unexpected source.

Draco Malfoy stood in the doorway of the living room and spoke to the group.

"Why don't you all go on, and take Ginny with you? She needs to get out of this house for awhile. I'll stay and watch Sirius and Elizabeth, as long as Mrs. Potter doesn't mind?"

The last sentence was said with a questioning glance at Ginny. Any misgivings Draco might have had about the offer were swept away with the look of shock and gratefulness on Ginny's face.

"Draco...are you sure? Either one of them can be a handful, and both of then -"

"Go. Have fun. Come home late. Just don’t let Ron drink too much. I’m not there to bail his sorry ass out of trouble when he starts yelling that this is the year of the Cannons. Go."

Ron took charge, as he so often did. "Well, it's settled, off we go!"

As the group swept out of the house, accompanied by a chattering Molly Weasley, Ginny turned as she was headed out the door and silently mouthed thank you to Draco. He gave her a smile and a wave of his hand, and watched the door as it closed. He hoped Ginny would have a good time; he was looking forward to sitting down and catching up on some reading since Molly had already put the kids to sleep.

He turned around and his hopes for a peaceful night were shattered.

In the middle of the kitchen, far from being safely asleep in their beds, Sirius and Elizabeth Potter were standing totally still in their pajamas. They were both looking up at Draco with angelic looks upon their faces, and Draco knew that he was in very big trouble indeed - he knew all about Weasleys, Potters and angelic looks, and how they were usually a prelude to some form of outrageous behavior.

Draco sighed and said, "So. What do you kids want to do?"

His eyes widened as Sirius yelled "Dogpile on Uncle Draco!" and both Sirius and Elizabeth charged forward.