Arthur could easily see there was a lot more going on here than he was being told, it also wasn't difficult to decipher that Bill was heavily involved in whatever these going's on were. Knowing that the 'scarily protective' tag also applied to Bill, especially where his family were concerned, meant Arthur trusted him to do what was best for them here. While Arthur nodded his agreement, Amelia still wanted to make sure he fully understood her position on this matter.
"When the story of what Dumbledore did to Ginny breaks, I will be showing up at the Burrow and demanding answers. It would seem neither you nor your wife knew what Dumbledore was up to but you must know I'll have to take action if Molly cast anything stronger on your daughter than what you suggested earlier."
Once again, Arthur could only nod in agreement before pleading with his son. "Bill, can you get me in to see Ginny?"
"I can ask, dad, I can only ask."
Arthur had loads more questions but didn't think they would be answered. He left Amelia's office silently praying that Molly had indeed cast nothing stronger than what he'd suggested on Ginny. Arthur knew how badly Molly wanted to add Harry to the Weasley family. Had she crossed the line however, there may not be a Weasley family left to add to.
Poppy Pomfrey was an inspired choice as Ginny's temporary guardian, not a single voice could be raised against her unimpeachable character - though Molly's voice would certainly be raised when she discovered this. With Bill already based in Egypt, Charlie in Romania, Molly would be heading for Azkaban and their youngest three sons would all probably stay in Italy with Ginny. This was a disaster waiting to happen, and Arthur really needed to see Ginny to assess the extent of the problem for himself.
....
Arriving back at where she now considered home, Hermione immediately set about tracking down her parents. Dobby informed her they were sitting down on the beach so she headed there while Pomona dragged Harry away to see some drawings of the Institute. After the decent down to the beach, Hermione spotted them sitting on a couple of deck chairs, under a thatched parasol. As she approached, her mother suddenly shot up and hurried toward her. Hermione found herself once more wrapped in her mother's arms.
"Oh thank goodness. We were so worried, and we have to repeat all this tomorrow again."
"Tomorrow's mission has been postponed…"
As her mother clung on tighter at hearing that, her dad wanted to know if anything had gone wrong.
"It didn't go exactly to plan but no one was hurt and the job got done. It just means we're going to take a bit more time to plan the next one more thoroughly. Watching you jump out that chair, and the fact you made it down here, must mean you're feeling a lot better. Are you up for a day's shopping with the gang tomorrow?"
"I might have made it down here but I have no idea how I'll get back up. Your father and I were just talking about sleeping on this beautiful beach tonight when you arrived."
Hermione started laughing before answering her mother. "Harry says he's got getting you back up covered, he'll be down shortly. Dad, that invitation was for you too."
"Of course, you'll need someone to carry the bags."
"Don't be silly, Dobby will pop away with them when no one's looking. There will be four boys shopping with us tomorrow, and none of them have ever been muggle shopping before. Mum and I will have our hands full with the girls, you get to take Neville, Ron, Fred and George shopping…"
All talking stopped as Harry shot over the cliff and rocketed vertically down toward the sand below. He pulled out of the dive at the last second, zooming across the beach to their location. He stopped right beside Hermione and kissed her cheek.
"Harry, stop showing off, and scaring my mother. Mum, it will be a far gentler ride back up there, or that will be Harry's last kiss for a while."
Dan could easily see she was joking about that last part, and called Hermione on it. "Yeah, for at least ten minutes. That was some flying son, you didn't have much margin of error there."
"Thanks, I love flying, and I love this broom. It seems to know what I want to do before I do. I'll take it nice and gentle on the way up, Emma."
With Hermione coaxing and coaching, Emma was soon behind Harry and holding him in a death grip. Harry flew gently out over the waves, flying in a wide circle and increasing height slowly. By the time they passed overhead to complete their third circuit, the broom was fifteen feet in the air and Emma wore a wide smile. As they approached for the fifth time, a now laughing Emma was confident enough to wave as they passed.
"That boy of yours is pretty special, Hermione. It took me years for your mother to gain that level of trust with me. Now I suppose we have to face all these stairs."
"Yes Harry's pretty special, but he also has an unfair advantage. He has all of my memories of mum to work with, and me constantly offering advice. We also don't have to climb those stairs. Dobby!"
The elf instantly appeared and, almost as quickly, had transported them both to the decking above. As Hermione was busy thanking him, her father had a question. "Why didn't you just call Dobby to get your mother and I back up here, and then you could have flown with Harry?"
Dan's answer arrived before Hermione could open her mouth. Harry glided his broom toward them, an overjoyed and giggling Emma riding passenger. As soon as they landed, she kissed Harry in thanks, kissed Dan - while telling him how wonderful it was - kissed Hermione and then kissed Dan again. They walked away, arm in arm, her father turning his head and nodding before they made it inside.
"Thank you so much, Harry. I've never seen mum so happy, and couldn't tell you the last time I heard her giggle. I loved those drawings too - things are really starting to come together."
Harry too was in an incredibly good mood, and fired off a string of suggestions to his betrothed. "Francesca wants to come here tonight, I'm suggesting we make dinner buffet again and let her. That way, everyone can have a say on the design of the institute. When that's over, we drop the shopping bomb on our friends, checking with Remus before the meeting. Then we can sit down and talk with your mum and dad."
"Do you think they'll go for this?"
"Hermione, they're the adults. We tell them everything we know, answer all the questions we can, but the final decision is up to them."
"Mum's out of the temporary infirmary now, and their bedroom has a double bed in it."
"Did you speak with the elves about that?" Harry didn't need to be in Hermione's head to know the answer, it was written all over her smug face. "You, Miss Granger, are a little minx…" Harry playfully chased her back into the house, both of them were laughing.
.....
Want to read ahead by more than 60 chapters. Then join my p@treon Right Now.
Link: p*atreon.com/BookReaderBoy (Remove the *)
Also Free members get 2 advanced chapters for Free as well.