The Burrow

Harry was packing what little meagre possessions he had left. When he went on the run, he had let his trunk at Privet Drive and only took a rucksack with him which contained a change of clothes and nothing more. Even now a week after the war, he had only a change of clothes to call his own except for the mokeskin pouch at his neck which contained his most prized possessions including the Marauder's map, the Elder Wand, the resurrection stone and little other knick knacks no one would have cared about.

He tidied up the room with a wave of his wand, slipped into his pajamas and was about to go off to bed when there was knock on the door. Opening the door, he found Ginny on the threshold. She was fidgeting and hesitated to speak. For a moment, it was the Ginny he knew in his fourth who couldn't speak a word in his presence. He asked her, "What happened, Ginny? Do you want something?"

She nodded, "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

He ushered her in, "Yes, come in." As she sat on Ron's bed, he remained standing, not sure what she wanted to talk about. Surely she wasn't there to tell him that she didn't want to resume their relationship anymore?

"What happened to your glasses?", she asked.

'Huh!" he grunted and then realised that he was not wearing his glasses. In fact, he realised he had not worn them at all today. May be the horcrux had been the reason of his bad eye-sight after all.

"This morning when I woke up, I realised that I can see perfectly clear without them so I didn't put them on", he told her.

"You look good without your glasses on", she told him.

He smiled, "Thank you, Ginny. Did you want to talk about something?"

"Yes. I actually wanted to ask you if you were going to Grimmauld Place to get away from me?" she asked nervously.

"Oh Merlin! No Ginny. I am shifting to Grimmauld because with starting my career as an Auror I will have a different schedule and I don't want to inconvenience anyone. Also Kingsley told me that I would need my own place to live after all. With everything that is going on, I will need a place worth my position though I am really confused about all of this. I mean I don't even know what I am to do in Wizengamot. I haven't been there even for once in my life", he said helplessly making her chuckle.

"You will do great Harry. You are their hero after all. They will worship the ground you walk on", she said.

Harry sighed, "And that is what I don't want them to do. It is this fanaticism that gave rise to Voldemort. I don't want that kind of power."

She nodded, "But still you can't deny it, Harry. Thanks for the book Skeeter wrote on Dumbledore's life, you are already seen as the next Dumbledore by most of the wizarding world and now with killing Voldemort you are the most influential person in our world."

He sighed, "You know when I killed Voldemort I had dreamt of a world where I will be allowed to be normal and live life as normally as possible for me. But everybody has some plan for me. Even Kingsley wants to use me for his own purpose and for the good of the wizarding world."

She sighed, "You do know you were never supposed to be normal. I mean which kid can be expected to kill a 1000 year old basilisk or drive away 100 dementors at 13 years of age? Then you won the Triwizard tournament defeating wizards more accomplished than your age. You have battled the Dark for all your life. You can't be normal like us."

He shrugged, "I know and I don't need to be reminded of it every time. I just want to have a life like everyone does. Is that too much to ask for?"

"Not for us but for you, it is", she said earnestly.

The ministry of Magic

Harry reported to the ministry early the next day since Kingsley had flooed him at the Burrow to report before others did. When he arrived, Kingsley was caught up in paper-work. He pointed Harry to a seat and kept at whatever he was doing.

After he was done, he turned to Harry, "Harry, Dedalus told me that your relatives want to go back to their home now."

Harry eyes him warily, "And how does that concern me? You know perfectly well that I severed my ties with them when I left that house shortly before I turned 17."

Kingsley nodded, "Yes but your cousin want to keep in touch with you. He said something about making amends though it might be too late."

Harry didn't reply to his statement but thought over what he had said. Dudley hadn't made his childhood happy by any means but had tormented him at every possible moment but he had started to turn about during his sixth year. May be he was trying to turn a new leaf however Harry was not in a mood to tolerate Vernon Dursley and Petunia Dursley in the same room anymore. If Dudley wanted to meet him, he would have to meet him outside of #4, Privet Drive.

He turned to Kingsley, "Alright but I am not going to Privet Drive. I will send him an owl later though."

Kingsley nodded, "Alright. I will tell Diggle. Now there is another thing that I want you to do."

Harry eyed him suspiciously, "And what do you want me to do?"

"We are going to Hogwarts. The repair works are in full progress and I want to make some new additions to the place."

Harry was not of mind to go with Kingsley to Hogwarts so soon. It was the place where he had lost so many of his friends and he didn't know if he would be able to see the place without breaking down. However if the minister wanted something done, Harry could not refuse him, not unless it was something that he couldn't morally agree upon.

"Let's go to Hogwarts then", he said to the Minister.

Taking Kingsley's security detail with them, they apparated to Hogwarts.

Hogwarts

When they arrived at Hogwarts, Harry could see the repairs were going in full progress. Employees of magical restoration were working upon restoring the castle at full speed and most of the damage which was apparent had been repaired.

He met Hagrid on the grounds itself who engulfed him in a bone cracking hug yelling at the top of his voice, "Harry!"

"Hi Hagrid, how is the repair going on?"

Hagrid said cheerfully, "I got me a new hut, better one than the last and more comfortable. Grawpy is also settling in the forest happily."

Harry was still not comfortable with the idea of a Giant in the Forbidden Forest but he had seen for himself how Grawp had been helpful to them during the battle of Hogwarts. He tried to sound cheerful, "That's great Hagrid. Have the acromantulas returned?"

Hagrid got morose, "Most of them were killed during the battle but many survived and they have taken shelter in the forest again and for old-time's sake, they allow me to visit them sometime."

Harry was too happy with them keeping themselves confined to a part of the forest. He had enough memories of lifetime for them. He noticed Buckbeak tethered outside Hagrid's hut however right now he was not in the mood to go to the hippogriff. Buckbeak reminded him of Sirius when he looked at it.

Taking leave of Hagrid, they proceeded inside. The grand staircase was repaired and fully functional once again. The archways which had been destroyed had been put back but there was too much damage that was not yet repaired and Harry knew it would take a few more months before it will be back to its former grandeur. The house tables had returned in the Great Hall once more and most of the damage done to the Great Hall had been repaired however the transparent roof of the Great Hall was apparently not working still because it was still showing thunder and light on a dark night as it had been on the day of the battle of Hogwarts.

Professor McGonagall met them in the Great Hall where she was directing workers to put up a new shelf for portraits to be installed in the Great Hall. This was new and Harry had no idea about it. However before he could ask, Kingsley started talking to Minerva, "Good Morning, Headmistress. How is the repair work going?"

Minerva breathed a deep sigh, "It has been good so far. What brought you here?"

"Oh, I actually came to see the new additions in the castle. Are they ready?"

She nodded, "Yes, they are ready. You can see the shelves here. As we had agreed, this shelf will contain portraits of everyone who fell in the final battle while defending Hogwarts."

Harry was surprised. He hadn't known that something like this was being planned but at a level it felt good to him that the sacrifice of the defenders of Hogwarts was being recognised.

"Do you want to see the monument?", Minerva was asking Kingsley.

"Only if it is not a bother to your poor old knees, Minerva", said Kingsley jokingly.

"No, it is not", Minerva said steering them out of the Great Hall on the grounds. On the other side of the lake near the tomb of Dumbledore, Harry could see a monument was being raised. It was more like a big rectangular monument made of red sandstones topped by a bird but that was the extent of it. He didn't know how it was supposed to serve as a monument.

He turned to Kingsley, "How is this supposed to be a monument?"

Kingsley told him sombrely, "This monument will contain names of everyone who died in the last two wizarding wars fighting the Dark side. Every person who died in these wars fighting Voldemort or his death eaters will have his name on this monument."

Harry's breath hitched in this throat, "Will my parent's name be included?"

Kingsley nodded, "Yes. They fought for the light so their name will be here. Sirius's name will also go on there."

Harry asked him, "What about Regulus Arcturus Black's name?"

Kingsley asked him, "What Regulus has got to do with it? He was a death eater."

Harry shook his head, "No. In the last days of his life, he turned against Voldemort. In fact he had retrieved one of those things we had to destroy. He intended to destroy it but he had no idea how to do that."

Kingsley understood the reference to Horcruxes and nodded, "I will see to it that his name is also included on that list."

With that they took their leave of Minerva and apparated back to Ministry.

Australia

It had been a few days since Hermione and Ron arrived in Australia. The Australian ministry of magic had been very co-operative with them due to them being war heroes in their country and had made arrangements for them to stay.

They had also found Hermione's parents already and when they arrived, they were told of their location. Hermione however could not gather the courage to go and undo the memory charm. For the first time in their life, her Gryffindor courage failed her.

She and Ron watched them for four days from afar when Ron eventually decided to push her to gather her courage and do it. The Wilkins's (their assumed names) lived in a humble two storey house in a muggle suburb which was in the better part of the city. The house had a garden outside and a backyard which were full of plants and a couple of chairs in the lawn told of them spending a healthy amount of their time lounging in the sun.

The Wilkins's (Grangers) had just got up this morning when the door bell rang which surprised them. As far as they knew none of their neighbours bothered them at all especially not at this hour in the morning. When Mrs. Wilkins opened the door, she could see two young teens standing on her door. The boy was red-haired, freckle faced and long nosed while the girl had bushy hair and she was looking at Mrs. Wilkins hungrily as if trying to get in every detail about her.

"Yes", she asked cautiously, "Can I help you?"

It was the boy who answered, "Can we come inside? It is rather urgent."

She was wary of the two teens who were on her door and asking for entrance but for some reason she stepped aside letting them in. The drawing room was decorated in the same taste as the house in Hampstead, England. Hermione and Ron took seat on a sofa side by side. Before getting the business underway, Mrs. Wilkins asked them, "Can I get you some tea or coffee?"

Hermione replied, "Some tea would be good."

By the time tea arrived, Mr. Wilkins had arrived and taken a seat on one of the other sofas and talking to Ron. Hermione kept quiet and did not speak a word until Mrs. Wilkins offered her a cup and she almost blurted, "Thanks M..." However she shut her mouth when she realised what she was about to say.

After everyone was seated comfortably, Mrs. Wilkins turned to them, "Now what was so urgent?"

It was Ron who spoke, "You see we are wizards..." however Mr. Wilkins interrupted, "Wizards are real?"

Ron nodded, "Yes". He pulled his wand and conjured a flower to show them that it was real. After he had them convinced he continued, "You see, we are from England and we had been fighting a war till recently."

Mr. Wilkins asked him, "What has that got to do with us?"

Hermione spoke this time, "It will be better if we can show it to you."

Mr. Wilkins frowned, "How?"

She pulled her wand but before she could cast, Ron caught her hand, "Hermione, tell them what you are going to do before you do it. They deserve to know."

She motioned for him to go ahead and he turned to the Wilkins, "Actually someone did some charms on you about a year ago. We have come to undo them."

Mr. Wilkins scoffed, "If someone had did magic on us, we would know."

Ron continued in the same tone, "Your memory was altered, Mr. Wilkins. You wouldn't know."

Mr. Wilkins was not ready to believe them however Mrs. Wilkins interfered, "The magic you are doing on us, will it harm us in any way?"

Hermione shook her head, "No. It will undo the charms done on you but not harm your otherwise and return the memories that were altered."

Mrs. Wilkins nodded, "Go on then. Do this charm on us."

Hermione levelled her wand at them and cringed at the slightly horrific expressions at their faces. She however shook that thought out of her mind and firmly incanted the counter charm to undo her spell. It took a few minutes however when the spell took effect and the Wilkins realised they are Grangers, Mr. Granger went ballistic, "What have you done, Hermione?"

Ministry of Magic

Gawain Robards summoned Harry to his office as soon as they returned to the ministry. When Harry reported in, Robards barked, "Potter, you have been assigned."

Harry asked him, "Assigned?"

Robards nodded, "The minister decided that it was time that our recruits are assigned into teams with a mentor over them. You have been assigned to Captain Proudfoot and others in your team are Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas, Ernie Macmillan and Susan Bones. You will report to Robards now who will see to your training."

"What about Ron?"

"Weasley will be assigned a squad when he returns. You may leave now."

Harry saluted him and left his office to go report to Proudfoot. Proudfoot already had others in his team in his office and when Harry arrived, he pointed him to a chair, "Take a seat Potter. This won't take long."

With him being seated, Robards started speaking, "You all have been assigned to me for the time being. My duty is to train you like an Auror whenever I have the time. Come September, you will be enrolled in the Auror Academy where you will start your formal training. From what I have seen of each of you I don't think you'll have much trouble with it. Today our task is to catch some snatchers who have been on the run since the war. After the death eaters were defeated, they went rogue and now are harassing the common public. Each day we receive about 5 reports of such incidents. Since we can't just sit and wait for them to attack somewhere, we will be going out to find them."

With that he led them out of the room to the portkey point where he paired them up and gave a portkey each to a pair, "This portkey will take you to the closest locations to where they were last seen. Make sure that none of you are hurt or Robards will be after my blood."

Harry was paired with Neville and taking the portkey they disappeared with the familiar tug behind the navel. They arrived in woods somewhere and they immediately pulled out their wands. They trudged in a direction for sometime before they realised that this way they won't be able to find the snatchers.

Finally Neville turned to Harry, "This is useless. I mean how do we even find them? It is not like we can track them."

Harry nodded, "Agreed mate but we have to look for them before we can go back and inform him that we couldn't find them."

"What do you reckon we should do?"

"Let's divide and search for them in different directions. Whoever finds them will send a message to other on these badges and take them out after we have regrouped."

Neville agreed, "Alright, let's do that."

Harry went in one direction while Neville went in another. Harry kept walking in other direction for about 15 minutes when he received a message from Neville. Using the point me spell, he started following it to Neville. He came upon him about 15 minutes later. Neville was hiding in shade of trees and when they regrouped, they retreated to a distance. Harry asked him, "What did you find out about them?"

"There are about 5 of them about 500 metres that way in a tent. If there are any more in the tent, I don't know about it. What do you think we should do?"

Harry thought over it for a minute before he replied, "Go and flank the other side. On my signal, light their tent on fire and retreat to shadows keeping an eye on them. In their haste to get away, they won't realise how many of us are here. Use stunners, petrification hexes on them and try to capture them alive."

Neville nodded and went about other way to flank the snatchers on the side. When they were in position, Harry let out some green sparks from his wand and Neville started shooting 'incendio' spell at the tent which went up in flames in a minute.

As Harry had predicted, the snatchers ran out and Harry was standing in the open, bold as brass. As the first snatcher came in range, he shouted, "Halt and drop your wands."

The snatcher in front was in the mood to ram his way through whoever was standing in the way but when he noticed it was the man-who-conquered, he threw his wand and sat on his knees with his hands behind his head. Three others followed suit while the fourth one thought he could get a shot at Harry. He was in the way of pulling out his wand when Harry roared at the top of his voice, "Stupefy."

The snatcher keeled over while the last one ran in the other direction. Harry proceeded about securing those before him not worrying about the fleeing snatcher. He knew he wouldn't be able to run too far before Neville would get him.

Neville on the other hand was mortified when Harry Potter casually stood in the way of the death eaters telling them to surrender. He thought his friend had lost his mind but when the death eater in lead threw his wand on the ground and surrendered, he realised how scared the snatchers were of him. They knew they could not best the wizard who had killed their dark lord. In his musing, he almost lost the death eater who had ran his way but in the nick of time, he came to his senses and shot a tripping hex at his opponent who fell face-forward to the ground. Neville had no problem in stunning him.

Harry after having secured his prisoners was dousing the fire and snorted with amusement when he noticed the tent was the same one they had used on the run. They had been taken by the snatchers who supposedly returned for it later. Collapsing the tent, he took it with him resolving to inspect it later to see if he could retrieve anything from it.

Tying a portkey to the prisoners, they dispatched them to the ministry and disapparated after making sure that they had not left anything behind.

When they arrived in the ministry, they found that Ernie and Susan had returned with a few of the snatchers they were supposed to be catching. Dean who had gone with Proudfoot was also successful. He knew the snatchers were not really powerful and most of them weren't even wizards but some were death eaters. They were just mopping up the remains of what was left of the death eaters.

After reporting their mission, they were told to wait if some news came in since many teams had been sent in the field. The day passed without any more excitement however.

As Proudfoot released them early, Harry decided to utilise this time. He decided to go see Teddy for the rest of the day after he had got changed. When he apparated to Grimmauld Place, he realised he did not had much clothes except for a pair of jeans and a couple of shirts which were a size too big for him. He really ought to go and do some shopping.

Today however he was not in the mood though he thought he should buy some gifts for Teddy. Sirius had given him some very cool gifts when he was alive and Harry wanted to equal him if not surpass him in spoiling his godson rotten. He apparated to a muggle neighbourhood where there were toy shops in a shopping place. There were toys in so much variety that they could have fulfilled Dudley's wildest fantasies.

However he had to be careful in not choosing electronic toys. He knew magic would mess with its mechanism just like the Weasley's Flying Ford Anglia. He spent an hour in the toy store and had fun selecting toys for Teddy. When he finally left the toy shop, he had so many toys with him that he knew Teddy's nursery would be full of bursting with them. As soon as he was in a quiet corner he shrunk his purchases and pocketing them, he disapparated to appear at Andromeda's place.

Andromeda's place

When he knocked on the door, it was opened in Andromeda who exclaimed in surprise, "Harry, come in! Come in! To be honest, I was not really expecting you here today. Did you take leave from work?"

Harry shook his head, "We got off early today. I had nothing else to do and the size of the house is too damn big. Besides I was missing Teddy and thought why I shouldn't spend time with him."

She smiled brightly, "Of course! He is your godson after all. Go on in. He is in the nursery."

When Harry entered the Nursery, he smelt her presence before he actually saw her. Daphne was rocking Teddy back and forth while the toddler kept bawling. Harry rushed to him and took him from Daphne, "hey little guy! Your godfather is here. Cheer up."

To his amazement, Teddy actually stopped crying and eyed him curiously. Shortly his hair turned black and Harry chuckled, "Yes, I know you are excited to see me. Look what I have brought."

He emptied the packages and cast finite on them with the tip of his wand barely showing out of his sleeve. The pile exploded as the toys grew to their size. Andromeda who had heard the commotion rushed in to find Harry trying to console Teddy who had again started crying and Daphne who was looking at everything in part confusion and part amusement.

Andromeda asked raised an eye-brow in question and Daphne motioned for her to join outside. As Daphne walked out, Andromeda too took her leave saying over her shoulder, "Since you brought him more presents than I can handle, please see to it that you put them in their place after placing feather light charm and anti summoning charm on them, Harry."

She left him inside with a toddler who wouldn't stop crying and joined Daphne outside, "What did you want to talk about?"

Daphne did not know how to ask Andromeda about it. Finally she decided to come straight to the point, "What is the matter with him?'

Andromeda asked her, "What happened?"

"He just came in and took Teddy from me. No greetings, nothing but he just straight away started talking to him as if I didn't exist at all. Then he dumped two little sacks on the ground and cast a finite on them. I suppose he had them shrunk and the packet exploded as the toys returned to their original size."

Andromeda shrugged, "I don't know. In fact I cannot claim to know him better than you do. Remus once told me that he likes to keep to himself and does not easily opens up. He generally does not talk to strangers unless prompted."

Daphne was curious, "It is indeed very strange. I mean I never saw him with anyone except the Gryffindors for the first four years and then he was suddenly leading a rebellion against Umbridge. Even then he didn't talk to many people but it was usually Granger or Weasley who did the talking for him. He was always so quiet that you would forget he was there if he didn't speak up."

Andromeda also had no clue. She unlike others was not a party to Harry's life. Her involvement in the war was to the minimum and she hadn't even joined the Order of the Phoenix in any of the wars. What little she knew about was told by Remus. However she understood one thing- Harry Potter was not one who would open up to others due to something which he had faced in his life. Perhaps there was a lot of pain and may be fear of losing people. He had lost almost everyone in his life. His parents, Sirius, Remus, Nymphadora, Albus Dumbledore were just a few to name among many others. She however decided to do something about it if she could.

She turned to Daphne, "Let's go see what he is doing."

When they peeked in the room, the toys were still on the floor clustered around the two boys. Teddy was watching everything interestedly while Harry would explain to him about each toy in detail. Their image of playing together made her heart melt. Harry looked so innocent, so carefree in that moment that she didn't had the heart to interrupt them.

Daphne was saying, "I have an errand to run before I return home, Andromeda. I will come back some other day."

Andromeda stopped her, "You can always run your errand other time. I insist that you stay for dinner today."

Daphne was in turmoil. She didn't want to intrude upon Potter's privacy for a moment more and yet the idea of not having her elf cook for her but to have some company while she ate sounded appealing to her. Finally her yearning for company won, "Alright, I guess it can't hurt to postpone the errand for a day or two."

A tense dinner

Harry insisted that Teddy's pram be near to him while he ate so that he could talk to his godson or enjoy whatever he was doing. Andromeda found it strange that he actually did not care about anyone else. The way he acted, it was like they didn't exist at all.

Finally Daphne decided to break the ice, "Potter, I have heard that the Wizengamot will be reconvened soon. Are you ready to take your place there?"

Harry nodded, "Yes I am interested in it."

The brief answer stung Daphne more than if he had said nothing. It was like he was purposefully avoiding her. She still tried once more, "What do think you want to change in our world?"

Harry again gave her a short answer, "There are too many things that I want to change. Probably I tear down everything that the dark families associate with."

Daphne eyed him curiously, "Please tell me Potter, what do you mean by that? Do you mean customs and traditions which pervade our existence and have existed for centuries? Thing which have endured for millennia or more and yet those things are still around. How do you intend to change them and why? What gives you the right to decide that?"

Harry said a little hotly, "If they were so good that why I haven't seen any one else upholding those customs except Death Eaters and their families?"

Daphne's countenance changed and she looked really angry, "Do you mean to say that my family were death eaters, Potter? Because I subscribe to those customs and traditions. From what I have seen and heard of you, you have never been any wizarding household except the Weasleys and they are not the model behaviour of pure blood traditions and customs."

Harry was getting angry in his turn, "What did you mean by that comment, Greengrass? The Weasleys are better than most."

Daphne clamped on her occlumency shields and controlled her anger and rage. She decided it was not worth it to harangue with Potter. She turned to Andromeda, "Thank you for the dinner, Andie. I will come by later."

Harry followed suit soon. He wanted to vent and he needed someone for it however the two ever patient people who could tolerate him were not there at the moment. He finally decided to turn in early and wake up fresh the next morning.

His plans were however ruined. The floo roared and someone called him from the fireplace, "Harry! Are you there?"

Harry saw Neville's head sitting in the flames and bent down at the grate, "What happened, Neville? Is everything alright?"

Neville nodded, "Yes everything is fine. Can I come over?"

Harry stepped aside, "Yes, come on up."

Neville climbed up and they sat at the dinner table. Harry kept silent waiting for Neville to start speaking. He waited patiently for 5 minutes before he asked, "Tell me Neville, do you have nightmares often?"

Neville asked him in surprise, "How do you know?"

Harry gave a sad sort of smile, "I have been having them for years now. First there was Cedric whose death was unnecessary. He died just because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then there was Sirius who died in the Department of Mysteries. If I had not rushed to the ministry foolishly believing that he was captured perhaps he would have been alive. Then there was Dumbledore who died in front of me after being hit with a Killing Curse by Snape. If he had been quicker or if he hadn't petrified me then he might not have died that day. Then there was Mad-Eye who died in a battle saving me from death-eaters while rescuing me from the Dursley's. Lastly there were people who died in the battle of Hogwarts. People that we knew, grew up with had to die just because I showed up at the castle with a half thought plan. I am well too familiar with nightmares, mate."

Neville sighed, "I can understand that pain that you would be going through mate. Most of these people who died were your friends or like family to you." He kept quiet for a moment before he asked again, "So what do you do when you have nightmares?"

Harry had to really think hard about how to answer this question, "when I have a nightmare, it generally takes quite some time before I can be myself again. So how are you holding yourself?"

"The truth is that I cannot hold myself together, Harry. When I have a nightmare, I generally cry. I have got in the habit of putting silencing spells around Gran's room so she would not hear me crying in the dead of night."

It was at that moment that Kreacher popped in with a bottle of fire-whisky and two glasses, "Fire-whiskey be keeping nightmares away, Master."

Harry looked incredulously at Kreacher and then at Neville. Neville seemed to be trying to not to laugh. An elf suggesting drinking fire whiskey was funny and none of them ever had any experience with it in the past. Kreacher had disapparated after placing the bottle on the table and the boys kept looking at it curiously before they decided that they may as well try it.

Harry poured generous portions in their tumblers and offered one of Neville. Neville's hand was shaking but anticipation could be seen on his face. Cautiously they took a sip off it and it burned its way down to their stomach and they barely controlled the urge to throw up.

Harry asked Neville, "What do you think, mate?"

Neville shrugged, "It isn't as bad as I thought it would be."

They picked up their tumblers and in one go, the fire whiskey was down their throats. They grimaced at the taste and its effect upon them.

The effects started to show almost instantly upon them. Harry had a funny feeling about all of this and an idiotic grin spread on his face. He turned to Neville who was grinning over something, "Remember the fake Mad-eye back in fourth year?"

Neville nodded and he continued, "I still remember how he had transfigured Malfoy into the blond ferret. He made the perfect ferret with the way he was acting in his transformed state."

Neville roared with laughter, "All hail Ferret Malfoy!" Harry joined in the laughter.

Soon Harry was pouring more of the whiskey and they were drinking while remembering many of their instances in the past and reminiscing about them.

It wasn't until Neville started to snore that Harry realised he had passed out. He himself was not in a position to walk up all the stairs to his bedroom the third floor by himself.

He loudly called, "Kreacher!"

Kreacher apparated with a loud crack bowing low to him, "Master called Kreacher?"

Harry said in his slurred voice, "Yes Kreacher. Take Neville to one of the rooms and then take me to my bedroom."