Chapter 7: Meet the Family

Rose Weasley awoke early the next morning. Yawning, the little 6-year old went downstairs to fetch a snack. She had inherited her father's notorious reputation for eating anything and everything in sight. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she stopped dead in her tracks. A strange, unkempt man was sleeping on her family's couch. She screamed, waking the man up. Harry looked over at her and screamed too, startled suddenly out of sleep. The screaming match woke everyone else in the house. Ron, Hermione and Hugo came running.

"Rosie, baby, what's wrong?" asked Ron.

Rose pointed at Harry. "Who's he? What's he doing here?"

Ron sighed when he realized the object of his daughter's fears. "That's no one to be afraid of Rosie. That's Uncle Harry, your Aunt Ginny's husband."

Rose looked back at Harry and crept up to him. She peered at him curiously before reaching a small hand out and tugging at his beard. "Why are so hairy?" she asked him.

Harry couldn't help but laugh. He thought it best not to tell his niece just yet that he had been in jail, so he simply said he had forgotten to go to the barber's. He then peered at her too.

"So, you're Rosie?" She nodded and blushed shyly. "I'm Harry, your Mummy and Daddy's best friend." He got up off the couch.

Four-year old Hugo, seeing there was nothing to fear, walked right up to his uncle. "I'm Hugo," he stated. Then, suddenly whipping out a toy wand from behind his back, poked Harry in the stomach. "Wham! You're dead!"

Harry played along and pretended to double over in pain. "Oh…wonderful to meet you, Hugo," he said sticking out his hand and the two shook.

Ron and Hermione watched the sight with sad smiles; there were tears in Hermione's eyes.

"Alright, everyone, time to go to Granddad and Grandma Weasley's for brunch." Laughed Ron.

"Yay! Saturday brunch at the Burrow!" cheered Hugo, throwing his toy wand up in the air. Harry borrowed some clean clothes from Ron then went up to shave for the first time in 10 years. He hacked away at his beard, his hair, and even his fingernails and toenails. Finally, the quintet Flooed to the Burrow.

Harry was met with chaos. Everyone was bustling about. Ron and Hermione and their kids went in and greeted Molly and Arthur. Harry hung behind, not wanting to interfere. When Molly saw Harry, she froze. Her hand covered her mouth and then she was rushing at Harry, hugging the life out of him. The rest of the family came in to discover what the hullabaloo was about. Harry did not see Ginny among them. After everyone had gotten over their shock, someone said something about fetching Ginny. Angelina Johnson, who was now married to George, went off to find her. Moments later, Harry could hear his wife's voice floating towards them.

"What are you on about, Ange? I was with the kids-" she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Harry. For a moment, Harry thought his wife had lost the ability to speak. She floated towards him like a sleepwalker and touched his face, as if to convince herself that he was real.

"When did you-"

"The other day. Paroled." Harry told her, wondering why he sounded so clipped. The two slowly melted into each other's arms. Harry felt tears sting his eyes. Then, Ginny brought him into the kitchen. A horde of children was seated around the table. Ginny brought four of them over. Harry recognized his godson, Teddy Lupin, who was now 14 and already at Hogwarts. He always came home on Saturdays for the family brunch. Then he met his son, James, the one Ginny had been pregnant with when he was convicted. The other two were clearly his, as well, Albus and Lily. But he couldn't figure out how. Ginny refreshed his memory by reminding him of the Muggle help they had sought when they were first trying to have a baby. Harry had donated some of his sperm, and later, while he was in prison, Ginny had had it planted in her to have more of his children. James was now 10, Albus was 6 and Lily was 4.

Harry cried as he hugged each of them. Then, he moved on to meet his numerous nieces and nephews. There were Bill and Fleur's kids, Victoire (who was 12), Dominique and Louis; Percy and his wife Audrey's kids, Molly II and Lucy; George and Angelina's kids, Fred II and Roxanne, and of course, Ron and Hermione's kids, Rose and Hugo. 13 Weasley grandchildren in all, if you counted Teddy (which pretty much everyone did).

Harry was interrupted from meeting his family by a smacking sound. Ginny was hitting every part of Ron she could reach.

"You mean to tell me you have known about my husband's release for over 24 hours and YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?" she shrieked. Ron's protests that he had not wanted to inconvenience her the night before only got her more upset. Harry looked over at Hermione. She was covering her mouth with her hand, trying not to laugh at the sight of her husband being beaten up in every conceivable fashion by her sister-in-law. George was also finding it hard not to keep a straight face. Just like George to get a laugh out of his brother-in-law's release from prison, Harry thought.

When someone had finally gotten the sense to pry Ginny off of Ron, the whole family sat down for brunch. The table was strangely subdued. People kept giving Harry furtive glances, as if expecting him to say something dramatic. But Harry remained as casual as could be, surprising some of his family members when he tried to engage them in small talk.

The Weasley family had always been close, so no one was surprised when everyone stayed through the day and long into the evening. When Audrey floated the idea that she and her family had better head home, the grandchildren all gathered around their parents, begging them for a sleepover. The parents finally relented. Teddy also agreed to stay, saying he thought McGonagall would not mind if he spent the night (or, even if she did, he didn't care). The parents summoned pajamas for everyone and all the kids rushed upstairs to get changed. Harry, meanwhile, kept talking with his family, trying to catch up with all that he had missed while in prison. Later, a stampede of feet could be heard as the grandchildren came thundering down the steps. They stood at attention like a miniature army.

"All ready, you lot? Alright, then, time for a bedtime story," said George, rising up off the settee.

"No, Daddy," said Roxanne. She stopped and looked down at her feet, embarrassed. "It's not that you're stories aren't good…"

"They're great, Uncle George!" piped up Louis, thinking this would help.

"…but we want Uncle Harry to read to us tonight." Molly II finished.

Everyone looked to Harry. Harry was trying not to give away any emotions on his face, so he just smiled, nodded and said, "I'd be happy to read to you guys." The kids parted a path on the staircase for him. They followed him single-file up the stairs to a giant room on the top floor Harry had never seen before. A sign on the door read, in a child's handwriting, WEASLEY GRANDKIDZ ROOM. KEEP OUT. Inside, half a dozen bunk beds lay flush against the walls, with a bigger bed in one corner that Harry assumed was for Teddy. The kids all clambered into their beds. Harry held court at the head of the room, surveying the faces of his nieces, nephews, sons, daughter, and godson.

"What story do you want to hear?" he asked them. He knew many Muggle fairytales from his childhood, and Ron had taught him and Hermione some of the Wizarding ones.

"Daddy, can you tell us a story about when you were away?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, in prison?" asked Hugo. This earned him a glare from Dominique.

Harry sighed. These kids were young, far too young, to be hearing about this stuff. Well, maybe Teddy and Victoire were old enough, but he still did not want to take their innocence away too soon. So, he decided to keep his tales as PG as he could.

He sat down in the center of the room, and the kids all leaned forward eagerly.

"Once upon a time…" Harry began.

"What kind of prison story starts with 'Once upon a time?'" scoffed Fred II.

"The best kind," Harry retorted. "Now, shut up and pay attention, Fred." He grinned at his nephew. "Once upon a time, there lived a man named Harry Potter. He defeated Lord Voldemort and became a very famous Auror. One day, Harry made a very big mistake while on a mission and killed some innocent people he thought were Death Eaters. Later, on the day of his best mates' wedding, he was arrested for murder and sent to Azkaban."

"You got arrested at someone's wedding?" asked James. "Whose?"

"Your Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione's, son," Harry told him.

"Mum and Dad's?" asked Rose. Then, partly to herself, she added, "So that's why they look so teary-eyed in their album photos."

Harry nodded. "The Wizegamot nabbed me in the middle of the ceremony. Your Daddy was pretty pissed. They didn't even let me stay for the reception," to which Teddy gave an awkward laugh.

"Anyway, I was sent to Azkaban and became a convict. I stayed there for 10 years-"

"Wait, what's a convict?" Albus interrupted.

"That's not important," Harry deflected. "I was there for 10 years and helped do menial jobs around the prison. I hated it at first, being there and doing that work, but eventually I got used to it."

"Did you get into any fights?" Hugo wanted to know.

"No," Harry said. "I was always a bystander, but usually got beat up anyway." Then, he smiled. "Except for that one time when I punched Rodolphus Lestrange in the face and threatened to turn him into a rodent."

"Awesome!" said Louis.

"What happened?" asked Dominique.

Harry turned to Rose. "I had just found out your Mummy was pregnant with you and Lestrange said something really snide and awful about it. Being as loyal to your parents as I am, I couldn't let him get away with that."

Roxanne raised her hand.

"Yes, Roxanne?" asked Harry.

"I still don't know what a convict is," she admitted.

There was a moment of silence. Harry had hoped this question would not crop up again. He sighed. "A convict is a term for someone who has broken the law. It is given to people who have done something really terrible and been sent to jail for it." More silence followed before Harry continued. "Then, just the other day, Harry was told by the guards at Azkaban that he would be released. He was put into a carriage with 5 other Death Eaters who were being transferred to another prison. One man faked a seizure and another bit one of the guards. There was a huge fight. The carriage spun out of control and landed in a river. I pulled the injured guard out of the carriage and then followed before a big boat ran into it.

"Oh, like in The Fugitive," Lucy piped up.

"What?" Harry asked, genuinely confused.

"The Fugitive. It's a Muggle movie. It's about this guy who's sent to prison for murdering his wife. Except he is on a bus, not a carriage, when it gets attacked by prisoners. And then Harrison Ford jumps out of the bus before it's hit by a train, not a boat."

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, the other adults were trying to listen in to the story.

"What can you hear, Ronniekins?" asked George.

"Not a whole lot," Ron replied. He removed the Extendable Ear from the door and started whacking it. "Your new prototype must be faulty, George. All I've picked up is fugitive, bus, carriage, train, boat and Harrison Ford." He looked over at his wife. "Who the bloody hell is that?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled. "Oh, Ronald…" she sighed. She definitely had to introduce him to more Muggle movies.

Back inside, Harry was finishing his story.

"…and then, Uncle Ron found me in the woods and brought me home. And here I am."

The grandkids were silent before bursting into applause.

"That was a great story, Uncle Harry," said Teddy.

"Yeah," Victoire added.

Harry smiled. "And now, I think it's time for bed." He kissed each of them on the head, lingering on his own children and Teddy. "Good night, troops." He told them.

"Good night, Uncle Harry/Daddy," answered a chorus of voices.

Harry flicked off the light and left the room.

The adults had long sensed Harry's arrival, so they had quietly made their way back downstairs and pretended as though everything was as he had left it. Soon, Arthur conjured up pull out couches and air mattresses to hold all of the adults in the living room. Harry slowly lowered himself next to his wife for the first time in 10 years. Ginny rolled over on the air mattress to face him.

"Harry, I'll admit it, we were trying to listen in on your story with the children. But we didn't pick up all of it. Would you mind telling it to me?"

Harry calmed her with a kiss. There would be years in which he could tell her his story. For now, just being with his family, his loved ones, was enough. For the first time in a long time, he felt truly free. At last, he was home.