Opened At The Close...

11: Harpie's Letter

Notice: There won't be another update for another week or two, as I'll be at a place wiyh no wifi. Thanks for your understanding. Luna Page :P
           . . .
  11 MONTHS LATER
"POTTER! TIME TO STUN THEM!" Dudus Elms yellled from across a field. Harry's Auror job had gotten a lot more interesting in a year. He had almost three cases a week, and sometimes they involved the chasing of dangerous beasts. In fact, now, as Elms yelled across a random country field, they had just discovered a wild pack of immigrated crups that had been ravaging local Muggles. Harry had asked Elms, who had been an Auror for a year longer than Harry, why the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures didn't take care of these sorts of things on the very first mission like this. Elms only smiled and said,
"Potter, the kinds of beasts we Aurors chase are not native to Britain. They've been immigrated from other countries, and we have to stun them for the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures while a few other Aurors look for who immigrated them. In a few years, you and I will be looking for the criminals, while the newbies chase the animals. Between you and me, though, I think sometimes the beasts are just as dangerous."
  That did not seem true now, as they stood in this field of friendly jack-russel-like creatures with forked tails. From what they had been told, crups only enjoyed magical humans, and were very violent to Muggles. Harry wondered how these cute little crups would ever attack a Muggle woman severely enough for her to be put in St. Mungo's. They looked too cuddly to do any harm, but, then again, veela also seemed too beautiful to be viscious.
"GOT IT, ELMS!" Harry called. There were only six, with four crups trotting to Harry and two to Elms, so it shouldn't be too hard if they caught them all by surprise. "ONE, TWO, THREE!" hollered Harry."Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy! STUPEFY!" Harry had managed to stun three, but he missed the fourth, which went running wildly around the field. Looking to the other Auror as he chased the crup, Harry saw that the two that were coming to Elms lay on the ground, stunned. Elms was now running after the remaining crup with Harry.
"Petrificus totalus!" Harry said, and this time his curse managed to hit its target. The crup toppled over on the ground, stiff and unmoving.
"That takes care of that then, eh, Potter?" Elms said genially, Disaparating on the spot. Harry smiled, and followed suit. When they had reached the Ministry, Harry made sure that everything was straight with the crups before heading home.
   He had Apparated straight inside, and found the dark, quiet house he had expected. This did not last long, however. "Harry! Is that you? Come help me!" Ron yelled from the kitchen.
"Ron!?" Harry panicked, and ran downstairs as fast as possible. When he saw that Ron was okay, however, he was annoyed. "You git! I thought you had hurt yourself or something."
"No, I just needed you to help inflate the balloons for the party," Ron said, blowing up a gold balloon.
"For what?" Harry asked weakly.
"The graduation party for Hermione and Ginny, of course!" Ron said incredulously, tying the balloon to a red ribbon.
"Oh. Yeah, I remember now," Harry said, plunking down at the table and picking a red balloon out of the bag Ron had brought. "When are they getting here?" He asked before he blew up the balloon.
"About eight - I think," Ron responded between breaths.
"I had better get Kreacher started on the cake," Harry muttered. "Kreacher?"
"Yes, Master?" A house elf popped up out of nowhere.
"I need you make the cake for Hermione and Ginny's Hogwarts graduation party. Do you remember what shape we wanted it?"
"A lion, master, with red and gold frosting," Kreacher replied, pulling the ingredients out of the cupboard.
"What did you get them?" Harry asked Ron. Ron's eyes widened.
"Ummm," he said. "Oh, man! I was going to get them something today after I got offf work, but I forgot because there had been a breakout of Pygmy Puffs!"
"It's fine," Harry said soothingly. "There's still time. Just go get them something now, but make it quick."
"Yeah, right," Ron said, rushing to the fireplace. "What do you think I should get them?"
"Uh, I guess get Hermione a history book or something, or an owl, and Ginny wants a new cage for Arnold and a box of Weasley's beauty products," Harry said acting on whim for Hermione, and remembering Ginny's last letter.
"Okay. Good ideas, see you in a bit," Ron said hurriedly, taking a pinch of Floo powder and throwing it into the new flames before stepping in and spinning away.
  Harry finished blowing up the balloons while Kreacher baked the cake, and ran upstairs when he was done. A bit of rumaging in his closet uncovered Hermione's present, though Ginny's was much easier to find. He wrapped them both hastily, and changed the color of the paper from dull brown to a bright red with gold stripes, to match the Gryffindor party. Harry was absolutely convinced they would like them, but that was for Ginny and Hermione to decide.
"Wow, that was fast," Harry said. When he walked downstairs, Ron was back and Kreacher was pulling the cakes out of the oven.
"Really? It felt like forever in that store," Ron said, exhausted. "Got any wrapping paper?"
   By the time everything was ready for the party, it was 7:30. Mr. And Mrs. Weasley, George, Andromeda and Teddy, Hagrid, and Bill and Fleur all arrived around 7:45, and as soon as they had gotten there, Mr. Weasley announced proudly that he had to go and retrieve Mr. and Mrs. Granger, so as to bring them back using Side-along Apparition, and Mrs. Weasley had to get the girls from King's Cross.
"All right," Harry began from the end of the table."Should we surprise them, or just let them walk in?"
"Ah, jus' let 'em walk in," Hagrid said with a wave of his huge hand. "They'll be surprised no matter what, won' they?"
"As long as Mum doesn't spoil it," Ron pointed out.
"Yeah, she always did have trouble keeping secrets," George agreed.
"Just make sure all of us are in 'ere," approved Fleur.
"They'll have a good time, anyway," Andromeda put in. "Did you decorate this yourselves?"
"Harry and I did the decorations," Ron replied. "Kreacher made dinner and the cake. But don't tell Hermione that; I'm not sure she would eat any of it if she knew," he added.
"Does she hate house-elves or something?" Andromeda asked, bewildered. Harry and Ron looked at each other, then laughed hard for a good thirty seconds before they were able to answer her.
"Hermione is really big on elf rights, 'Dromeda," Harry explained, passing her the badge that he kept in his wallet just for sh*ts and giggles.
"Spew?" Andromeda said, looking even more confused than before.
"Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare," Ron recited. "There are only three memebers. Can you guess who?"
  Before Andromeda had a chance to guess, however, Mr. Wealsey came into the kitchen flanked by a pair of  stunned looking Muggles.
"It's nice to see you again, Mr. and Mrs. Granger," Ron said smoothly, directing them to their seats.
"Thank you, young man," Mrs. Granger said, gathering herself. Mr. Granger, however, looked as disheveled as ever. He began his conversation with,
"You really do that all the time? Avalanching, I mean."
"Apparating," Mr. Weasley corrected patiently. "And, yes. Most of us do that all the time."
"But don't worry, it takes some getting used to no matter who you are," Harry assured them."I still don't like the feeling much."
  That seemed to lighten their mood, and the kitchen was soon buzzing with conversation. Amare was enjoying the attention, and flew back and forth from Hagrid's shoulder to her perch a few times before Harry told her to stop (her wing had almost touched the cake.) Hagrid absolutely loved her, and always brought a new fact on how to care for her each visit to Grimmauld Place. Suddenly, a bright silver patronus (badger) flew into the room, and said in Mrs. Weasley's voice;
"We're on our way, so get things ready."