A funeral in the Wizarding World is a Big Thing. Funerals are important everywhere, but they are very important for most wizards and witches. Usually, the deceased wizard or witch had lived a long time, collecting many family members, friends, and enemies. If the deceased was important, then the funeral supplied opportunities for the successors to make, break or renew alliances. Political scheming and skulduggery occurred without restraint. The unscheduled meeting of family, friends and enemies could never be made to happen in the normal flow of events.
The Weasley family had very little to scheme about. Arthur was still the Weasley Head of House. His heir was Bill, but the only thing Arthur had to leave for Bill was The Burrow and a mountain of debt. The Weasley family had some income which was slowly paying back the family debt, but most family members still had to rely on the wages each of them earned from their regular employment.
Debts were a heavy burden in the Wizarding World. There was no such thing as bankruptcy. No debtor could appeal to an authority to be declared bankrupt. There was no escape from debt. Debts were passed down to the debtor’s heir and any others who could be found to inherit a debtor’s estate.
Interest was charged on the debt. If the debtor could not pay the interest, then any money earned by the debtor’s children could be seized to pay the interest. Some money was taken out of any deposits they made in their bank vault to pay the interest on the debt. If there was not enough to pay the interest, then the debt would grow by the missing amount. Until recent years, the joint income of all the Weasleys was not enough to pay the interest on their debt which grew all the time.
The Weasley family debt was run up by Arthur’s great-great-great-grandfather. This wastrel sold the family lands, mortgaged the family estate, and sold anything of value that he could get his hands on to raise money for gambling.
Centuries before this the Weasleys had been slaves. They had been defeated in one of the wizarding wars of the time and were enslaved by their conquerors. A later wizarding war gave them their freedom and a reward of lands which would give the family some income. Arthur’s great-great-great-grandfather blew it all away.
Ronald had inherited the weakness from his ancestor.
Harry had done what he could to help the Weasleys. Arthur would not accept charity so Harry could not pay the debt for him. If he did pay it back, then the debt would then belong to Harry. Arthur would still have to pay the debt back to Harry. This was Wizarding World law. Debts are magical bonds as well as legal and financial bonds.
Harry did find that Arthur’s family had been cursed by the ancient ancestors of the Malfoys. The curse resulted in the transgenerational Malfoy-Weasley feud and the endless indebtedness of the Weasley family. Behind the scenes, Harry pushed the surviving families to take action. The curse was broken, and the feud had finished. It was no longer wands drawn and curses hurled whenever a Weasley saw a Malfoy. They were never friendly. Arthur Weasley was now able to start paying down the debt. There was still a mountain of debt, but it was now shrinking instead of growing.
Harry never revealed his part in breaking the curse.
Investigating the Weasley debt turned up an unhappy fact. The Weasley debts had been consolidated by the Gringotts goblins and sold to a third party. That third party then made the Weasley family their vassals. This gave the Weasleys some protection. As vassals, no legal action could be taken against them without their liege-lords permission. A vassal’s liege-lord could demand service from a vassal and his children until the vassalage was ended and the debt paid out.
Harry found that the Weasley’s liege-lord was Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore was well off, just a bit less than rich on the wizarding wealth scale. He inherited the Weasley debt from his father. The Dumbledores had owned the Weasley debt for many years. Dumbledore made Arthur Weasley his vassal. The amazing level of loyalty shown to Dumbledore by all the Weasleys came from this enslavement.
Harry had plenty of questions and no answers. Why did Dumbledore, the Leader of the Light, keep his most loyal followers as virtual slaves? The only answer that came to Harry was that Dumbledore had no problem with the medieval state of the Wizarding World. Maybe, the whole point of the Wizarding Wars was working out who was loyal to who. The Light didn’t use torture, dismemberment, and threats of death to subdue the general population but there was no concept of personal liberty in their methods.
--ooOOoo—
The funeral was held at The Burrow. Harry arrived with George and Angelina. Harry had always had a close friendship with George. Sometimes Weasley family disputes threatened the friendship but, in the end, George and Harry overcame their differences and resumed their partnership. Their co-ownership of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes continued to prosper.
There was a huge crowd. Harry didn’t try to meet everyone. He could not avoid some and he wanted to show his support for others. He joined a line of people to meet the family. Percy was grim and accepted a handshake from Harry. Bill and Fleur hugged him, and Fleur kissed him on his cheeks. Charlie hugged Harry. Charlie had hardly spoken ten words to Harry over the years but now he seemed to be more open to him. Ginny was there. She turned away and hid behind her brothers when Harry came close.
Arthur was looking old and worn. He took Harry’s offered hand and gave him a half hug. “I’m sorry for the way Ginny has been acting. She will not listen to me. I’m grieving for Ron, but I can’t say that I’m surprised about how it ended for him.”
Molly accepted a hug from Harry. She gave Harry one look and Harry saw the briefest flash of the old Molly anger in her eyes. She didn’t say anything.
Hermione, Rose, and Hugo were seated at the front of the small group of chairs provided.
Rose and Hugo jumped up and ran to Harry.
“Where’s Lily?” Hugo demanded.
“She is staying with Aunt Andi. Aunt Andi is looking after some of the kids who didn’t want to be here.” Harry accepted hugs from his niece and nephew.
Harry held on to Hugo. “Are you OK?” Hugo nodded.
Rose took a deep breath. She looked unhappy.
“Mum said that she doesn’t want to talk to you. She doesn’t want to talk to anybody. Please don’t make her talk or try to hug her or anything like that.”
Harry released the children and sent them back to their mother. He joined the group standing behind the official seating until the ceremony started.
There were eulogies which were short or long, genuine or insincere, truthful or outright lies.
The speakers were carefully selected by the surviving Weasley children. Harry was not asked to speak.
Ronald was finally buried in the small family burial plot found behind the orchards and well away from the house.
The Ministry had wanted to have Ronald buried in the Battle of Hogwarts Memorial Cemetery on the grounds of Hogwarts, but Arthur turned them down. Fred was buried in that cemetery and the family felt strange that he was not with his ancestors in the family plot.
The guests started to leave. Hermione took her children and flooed away from The Burrow. Her isolation and lack of any show of emotion was the topic of many conversations.
Harry lingered in the orchard. He was approached by Bill and Fleur. The Weasley parents and older relations went into the house. Charlie, Percy, and George joined the group around Harry.
“OK! Harry, what do you know? What is it with Hermione?” Percy went straight to the obvious issue.
“Guys, as some of you know, the Hogwarts Golden Trio hasn’t existed for many years.” Harry paused.
“We seemed to be as close as ever. We shared our thoughts and plans right up until Ronald and Hermione were married. Then everything changed.”
George and Bill both nodded. They had worked out for themselves that the old dynamic was gone.
Harry continued. “Soon after they came back from the honeymoon, I asked Ginny to invite them to our place for dinner. Ginny sent the invitation to Hermione. I was going to make it a regular thing. The next day, Ron came to see me at the office. He told me that he didn’t want anyone sending notes or invitations to Hermione. We had to direct everything to him. He would then decide if he would pass it on to Hermione.”
“What! He can’t do that!” Percy was flabbergasted.
“He can and he did. If you look at the details of Wizarding Law and the Wizarding Marriage Ritual, the wizard has complete authority over the witch. He can forbid any or all social contact, he can give orders to the witch which she must obey. Most couples never know about this and don’t see it happen because most couples discuss things and decide together what they will do. Most wizards never go through their lives giving order after order to their witches, expecting them to obey without question.”
Harry looked around the little group. “Someone told Ronald that he could do this, and he did it every single day.”
“That does not happen in France,” Fleur said.
Harry gave a sad smile. “No, it does not. It only happens here in Britain. Why? I don’t know exactly why, but there are some worrying correlations.”
Harry shuffled his feet and continued.
“I started to find out about this when I was an auror. We would investigate a murder. The witch has stabbed the wizard with her kitchen knife. Why? He spent his days giving her one contradictory order after another and magic punished her because she didn’t obey one of those orders. The wizard never thinks things through. He has ordered her not to object to his orders. Then he accuses her of disobeying him when something he has ordered her to do is the direct opposite of an earlier order. The possibilities are endless. The witch can’t take it anymore and murders him. It is the only way out for her. We could never bring her to trial. Her magic leaves her, and she dies within a day.”
They gave a group frown to Harry.
“If a couple is married by Druidic Handfasting, that does not happen. Mundane church or civil weddings, it doesn’t happen then either. It is only for couples married by the Wizarding Marriage Ritual, here in Britain.”
Bill responded. “That’s us! All of us! We were all married in that ritual. Mum insisted. We had to be married the way she and Dad were married. You know what she is like if she gets an idea like that. It was easier to go along with it.”
“When you think about it, have you boys ever seen your father give your mother a direct order? I’m guessing that it is never.” Harry looked around and waited.
Percy spoke, “You’re right. He never has. He has always talked issues out with her and us and tried to persuade us to go along with whatever he wanted.”
Harry nodded. “I know that I never gave Ginny a direct order. I always tried to persuade her and mostly we agreed on things. This latest episode is something that came out of the blue. I still have no hint about why she left.”
“Don’t expect any answers from us, Harry. You two always seemed to be a nearly ideal couple.” Fleur murmured.
The other nodded in agreement.
“Is there anyone who talks to Hermione? I know she didn’t have any close friends. Is there anyone at all?” Fleur asked.
“Not that I know of. I have asked nearly all the people that we knew at Hogwarts and have drawn a blank. I have done that every couple of years since we were married. The only people I know of with who Hermione was allowed any social contact are those of us who came to The Burrow for Sunday lunch. She has been locked away for eighteen years. She writes articles for academic journals and does runes work for security companies. That is all done by written correspondence.”
Harry waited for any more questions.
“There is one last thing I want to point out. Think about this. When we all came here for any gathering, how did Ronald behave?”
No answer.
“I have collected my memories. He always hung back and watched who Hermione talked to. If it was anyone but his mother, he was at her side in an instant. He answered any questions for her. He cut off anything she was saying. She was cut out of any conversation. He was a classic control freak.”
George added, “I saw that. He would tell her to be quiet and she just closed her mouth.”
Harry nodded, “Time after time she was shut down. I had to stand back and watch my friend, the feisty, combative Hermione Granger from Hogwarts be turned into a flesh and blood robot. It was horrific.”
The others looked guilty. Percy spoke. “I suppose we all saw that. We didn’t know what to do about it. I tried to speak to Ron. I’m sorry that I let him brush me off.”
Harry spoke again. “Don’t let me guilt you out over this. I am just as guilty. Also, think of this. Hermione wanted to marry Ronald. I know people tried to dissuade her, but she would not be influenced. She wanted Ronald.”
Harry sighed. “Why? Well, that’s a very good question. I’m afraid the answer will not be pleasant.”
“What about her family?” Fleur asked.
Harry shrugged, “I have no idea what her parents thought. They will not answer my letters other than to tell me to stay away.”
--ooOOoo—
The group moved into the house. Harry asked George to check if Ginny was there. Harry waited at the garden gate.
George came back. “She is holding court in there, telling everyone about how cruel and inconsiderate you are. She wants to live in London and go to every party. You want to live in the country and be a gentleman farmer. Apparently, that is cruel and unusual behaviour.”
Harry puffed out a sad sigh. “I’ll see you in the office in a couple of days. I have some investigating to do.”
The gardens, orchards and fields around The Burrow were the same as they had always been. On the high side, the apple and pear orchards occupied the upper side of the rise that the house was built on. On the low side were the water reed meadows.
Harry surveyed the sights and breathed in the smells of the country that he had come to love.
His childhood had been spent in suburban London. The unnatural cleanliness of his aunt's house was now even more foreign to him than it had been then. Years ago, Harry discovered that his drive to succeed as an auror had died after one too many political interventions in his pursuit of highborn wealthy criminals. He turned his attention to his own family and the inheritance that he had received from his parents and his godfather.
The Potters had rural lands that had been owned by the family since before the Romans had invaded Britain. The Blacks had larger holdings. The income from these lands was steady but not large compared to the value of the land. All these estates needed a lot of upkeep.
Harry visited each estate and found that he enjoyed connecting with the ordinary people who worked on them. He wanted to improve the farms and build the friendships that he had started with the families who worked there.
His wife sniffed at his suggestion that they go to live at Potter Manor. Ginny did not like Grimmauld Place, but she certainly did not want to go back to the rural settings in which she grew up. Her plan was to move to a better neighbourhood in London and to continue to build social and political connections for Harry to gain a leading political position. Harry hated the idea. When he left the aurors he took his seat in the Wizengamot and then voted the way that he wanted to. He would never plot, scheme and plan with people he despised just to gain influence.
Ginny wanted to be part of the London social whirl. Harry wanted to build up his flocks and improve his wheat fields.
The breakdown of the marriage of the age had begun. It would take some time. Ginny contacted friends who would help her and lawyers who could fight the legal contest over Harry’s fortune. Marriages made under the Wizarding Marriage Ritual could not be broken. There was no divorce, and only a legally binding separation agreement was allowed. Only the death of a partner would release the surviving spouse.
The funeral had opened a secret trapdoor under Harry. He was not doing well mentally. He had been forced to get help from mind healers when he was an auror. This had become policy in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The DMLE found that the Wizarding Wars had made a mess of the surviving auror’s secret thoughts. In the mundane world, it was known as PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The help given to Harry allowed him to function in his job. It wasn’t a complete cure.
Harry shook off the thoughts which were threatening to drag him down again. He apparated away to Potter Manor.
The skies around Potter Manor were hidden under the powerful wards which kept prying eyes away. Harry could fly his broom as much as he wanted. He skimmed over the new forest he had planted in some reclaimed land next to the old estate. It was a former quarry, factory and chemical storage site which had been heavily polluted. Harry bought the land and had it cleaned and made suitable for a forest of trees native to the district.
A glade in the forest had a small lake which was surrounded by reed beds. A bird-watching hide had been built on the shore. Harry settled in the hide and prepared to work through his meditation exercises. He needed to do this to get his equilibrium back. The repeated blows to his well-being were beginning to open some old cracks in his sanity.
What had happened to the Hogwarts Golden Trio? Harry reran the horrible history in his mind as the wildlife around him carried on with their own lives.
--ooOOoo--
The battle was over. Harry had told Ronald and Hermione that he would put the Elder Wand back into Dumbledore’s Tomb. Ronald objected but Hermione agreed. Ronald never said that he understood or agreed with why Harry wanted the Elder Wand to die with him when he eventually passed to his afterlife.
Since that time, some mischievous person invented the story that Harry had broken the Elder Wand and thrown the pieces into the ravine. The one proper official history had the true story. Harry put the Elder Wand back into Dumbledore’s Tomb.
Harry thought of Ginny.
In the months of wandering in the wilderness, Harry never wavered in his devotion to Ginny. Ronald abandoned them. Hermione and Harry recovered and continued with their tasks.
The battle was fought. Riddle was defeated. They survived when many didn’t. They didn’t talk about it at the time, but Harry now knew about Survivor’s Guilt. Why was he still alive when so many others were gone? Some were buried in the Battle of Hogwarts Memorial Cemetery; many others were never found.
Harry had no doubt about what he wanted. Harry and Ginny became an engaged couple.
Why did Harry agree to this? After many years, Harry finally worked out some of the reasons why. He listed what he guessed helped to lead to his acceptance of Ginny as his bride.
First, young Harry was an idiot.
Second, Harry was an innocent adrift in the swirling pool of teen angst which was Hogwarts. Auror training wasn’t too different.
Third, Harry had been repeatedly staked out as live bait to try to trap Riddle, leading to his ambivalent attitude to authority figures. He would never ask anyone in authority for help.
Fourth, Harry suffered from many mental health issues which he collected during the years of torment under the Dursleys, and which were compounded by the hostile isolation at Hogwarts.
Fifth, Harry had let Albus Dumbledore control and manipulate him. The Dursley incarceration was arranged and enforced by Dumbledore. Harry’s isolation at Hogwarts and the summer holidays were approved by and sometimes arranged by Dumbledore.
Sixth, as a result of items one to five, Harry had no self-esteem.
Seventh, Harry believed that Hermione would never accept him romantically because she thought that he was so inferior to her.
Eighth, Harry believed that Hermione looked at him as nothing more than an annoying person who she was saddled with because he was a friend of Ronald.
Ninth, Harry could not accept Hermione’s efforts to communicate her love and affection for him. He was completely convinced that she disliked him. Harry was certain that she was play-acting and would cruelly and publicly reject him as soon as she had him hooked.
Tenth, Harry responded to attempts to match-make him and Hermione with a standard reply; “She is a friend; she is like a sister to me.” Harry’s model for family relationships was made by the Dursleys. He expected Hermione to betray him as Dudley had done, for her cruel amusement.
Eleventh, Harry knew that everyone at Hogwarts disliked him. The few who tried to act as though they were friends did so because someone ordered them to, or they had their secret plan to use Harry for their own purposes.
Twelfth, Harry was grateful that Ronald, Ginny, and the Weasleys seemed to tolerate him.
Thirteenth, Harry was convinced that Ginny was the only person who would accept him as a life partner.
Fourteenth, Harry could not understand that almost any girl at Hogwarts or anywhere else would have latched onto him in a heartbeat if he let them. The Cho Chang episode reinforced Harry’s feeling that he was unlikeable.
Fifteenth, Harry never talked to anyone about these secret thoughts; he never revealed the depth of his neurotic disorders.
After they were all married, Ronald made it plain that there was to be no close friendship between the three of them. Harry automatically assumed that this was because Hermione didn’t have to keep up the pretence anymore and now, she could let her dislike for Harry show.
Ginny didn’t seem surprised, she told Harry to relax and let them get back to normal in their own time. Ginny wanted them to make new friends. She threw herself into her quidditch career with Holyhead Harpies and then sports journalism at the end of her playing career. Harry worked long hours for the DMLE and then when his babies arrived, he became a devoted father. The absence of Hermione and Ron in his life caused more wounds which he covered up.
--ooOOoo--
The mind healers at St Mungo’s worked for years to help Harry overcome his secret fears. He finally came to accept that people could like him just because he was likeable. He accepted that his attitudes were the product of the extended emotional abuse that he had suffered. However, his mind healers were still not happy with him. There was one thing that Harry was always good at, that was saying “I’m fine!” when he was dying inside.
Harry had left the DMLE and his progress towards recovery improved. There were issues that his medical advisors still had not tackled. Harry was not in the clear yet.
One issue that Harry never thought about when he was a student at Hogwarts was his temper. Harry thought nothing of letting his feelings flow when he was annoyed. He yelled at his friends, his teachers, the headmaster, his enemies, and total strangers. Everyone got his verbal blasts with no holding back. Hermione, Ron, and others spent significant periods of time tiptoeing around powder-keg Harry. They allowed Mr Potter to get away with this because Harry was ‘special’. There was a rude shock coming for him.
Temper outbursts were not tolerated at Auror School.
Aurors were supposed to be aware of the situations they were in. They were supposed to work in teams, observe people around them and watch for hidden dangers. During simulated operations, Harry reacted to mistakes by fellow team members with full-volume verbal blasts. Every time he did this, he had a DEAD sticker slapped on his forehead.
“What’s this for?” Harry demanded.
“The answer, Mr Potter, is that while you were tearing into your team, a cowardly criminal walked up behind you and stabbed you in the back. Not everyone is going to be awed by your invincible reputation. While you were yelling, you were not looking around you and your team was focused on you. You did not see the close and obvious threat. As an auror, you are a failure.” The instructor was yelling in Harry’s face, giving him the traditional football coach hairspray treatment.
Eventually, Harry had to ask for help.
The instructor quietly revealed to Harry one of the darkest secrets of the universe.
“Temper outbursts are the cheat’s way to get control of people. Every time you lose your temper, you are not losing control of anything. You are using your tantrum to get control of the people around you.”
Harry was stunned. He didn’t realise that he was behaving in the way that his most hated enemies behaved. He was trying to control people around him.
Harry learned what to do about his temper. The instructor continued speaking.
“When you want to yell, turn your temper off. You are in control of it. Your temper does not control you. I gave you some loud, harsh words. That was what I was planning to do. I did not lose my temper and let anything I didn’t plan to say just come flying out of my mouth.”
Harry turned his temper off that day. He did not throw tantrums, or yell at people without a thought from that day on.
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