The Survivors

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The hour had gotten late, and most of the party that had remained was leaving for the evening quite intoxicated. Harry, being the gracious host, offered the guest wing of his house to anyone who wanted to stay, and said that they were going to hang at the bar upstairs if anyone wanted to join.

Having already decided to crash in a spare bedroom with Tracey, the two Slytherin girls joined Hermione, Ron, Neville, and Hannah, upstairs to continue drinking and have a good time. Thankfully the youngest Weasley had decided to go home, and even put on the act that she was leaving with Olliver who seemed thrilled at the idea much to the amusement of Susan, Daphne, and Tracey.

When they arrived upstairs Harry told his elves they could take the rest of the evening off, and he would play bartender/host for the remainder of the night.

Harry pulled a bottle of firewhiskey off the shelf, and began pouring glasses by hand for the first time all evening. Daphne wondered if he was approaching magical exhaustion. After all he had dueled half a dozen times, and three of them had to be exceptionally taxing.

He handed each person a glass of the firewhiskey though and he leaned back against the bar, "Another year goes by my friends. Glad we get the chance to all gather, and be together. Not sure how I'd get through this day every year otherwise."

Daphne suddenly felt like Tracey and herself were in on a private moment. By the way Tracey squirmed she sensed that her friend felt the same way, but Hermione broke the brief pause, "Yes, and my goodness Teddy is getting big! Did you see the way he was playing with Victoire? They are such sweet kids."

Harry grinned at the mention of his Godson, "Yes, Andromeda I think is ready for me to take some vacation so I can look after him for a while. I told her I have the week before my birthday off, so I will take him to do something fun. If we are lucky England will be in the World Cup this year, and we can go watch that together. He already has such a heart for quidditch."

Ron begrudgingly agreed with Harry, "You should've heard him when I first got here. Swore to me that the Cannons were going to win the league in a few years. Poor kid is going after my heart with that optimism."

This made everyone laugh, while Daphne had the burning question inside of her, "I met a Nymphadora Tonks once in Hogsmeade. She nearly knocked my drink all over me, and bought me another. Her mother was once Andromeda Black wasn't she?"

For some reason Harry smiled at the memory, "Yes she was, and I find it quite amusing that you met Tonks in her most natural environment."

Hermione smiled affectionately, "Yes she was extremely clumsy all the time. She was a metamorphagus so sometimes she found herself off balance in her own body with how much she changed herself."

Neville sighed, "Her and Remus visited us in Hogsmeade during the year you three were on the run. They were smuggling us what little information about the order they could to make sure we didn't give up hope. We never got anything good like where Harry was, but they tried to keep us going the best they could."

The name Remus echoed through Daphne's head. She knew the name, but still couldn't quite place it. Hannah however solved the mystery for her, "Professor Lupin was a good man. One of the best Defense Against the Dark Arts Teachers I had in all my years at Hogwarts. Except Harry of course."

This caused Neville to grin, "Damn right." Turning to Daphne and Tracey he said, "Lots of people in your house thought I was going to turn into a squib eventually."

Hannah looped her arm through his talking the rest for him, "But look at you now. On the most Elite Auor Team in the country, and nearly a master in your subject teaching at Hogwarts. Don't think anyone would've guessed it."