Hey everyone, thanks for reading and I hope you all are enjoying this ff. Next weeks chapter is, Chapter 15, "The Reasoning"

narnia_potter; Hey Rachel thanks for reading and commenting. Yeah, Harry did overdo it didn't he. In his defense; he wanted to get the morning routines done with because he had something important planned he wanted to do. Next post, next Friday.

Thanks again Rachel.

Harita; Hey Harita, thanks for your commitment to my ff. That was a lot of reading you had to get through. I hope it was worth it. Thanks Harita

VooDroo; Hey Droo, love the name for the holiday! Thanks for reading and commenting. It's good of you to lift the, how you have to post every... while NANO is going on. That's very thoughtful! Thanks again for dropping by here, I understand your work load, and marvel at how you handle it all.


Chapter 14

The Reasoning

Ron rolled his eyes and swallowed hard trying to get his mouth empty enough to talk. “Why so early Harry? You should’ve slept in. You wouldn’t catch me getting up that early.” He laughed at Harry’s nonplussed expression.

“I had things to do.”

“But five o‘clock?”

“Look Ron, I got up at that time every morning. I ate quickly, then made my rounds making sure everyone took their medicine, and had food. Then I got my shovel, pick, and ax and went to work on the mountain the rest of the day until it was too dark to work safely. At that time I went to my camp, cleaned up, ate a bite, then I did my schoolwork until I couldn‘t hold open my eyes. I went to bed and took out my… something I took to remind me of … home and I then I fell asleep. The next morning and every morning after that I repeated, the day’s agenda until the project was completed. Then I started on the next project and worked on it with the tools I had to complete that project. From morning until night, I worked to make these people a safe life.”

“Why did you have to use a shovel, pick, and ax Harry? You’re a wizard,” he laughed as though he thought Harry was a silly little boy. “You should have used your wand. Why would you pick a job that you can’t use your wand? In fact, Harry… you own a diamond mine! You don’t even need to work.”

Molly’s ire was rising as she glared at Percy. She was just about to blow up, when Harry spoke calmly.

“I wanted to marry Ginny. But, I didn’t know what it would require to give all of me to her. Four years ago, I left here on a mission unto myself. I didn’t know or understand about love and compassion. My life with the Dursleys was a world of hate. Then I learned about Voldemort killing my parents and loads of people. I hated him, his followers and all I knew was that I had to kill him. Hate completely consumed me. I even had hateful thoughts towards Professor Dumbledore. I didn’t understand why I had to be used, not to get to have love ... It wasn’t until just before I walked into the Forrest that I understood things. I knew I had love for you guys, for everyone. It had always been the plan for me to die. It had to be that way. After I came back… after the war was over, I felt confused and detached, empty even. I doubted my capacity for love and compassion. I didn’t know if what I felt was real love, or my wanting it so bad. I just knew that when I was with Ginny, my heart danced. There is more to love than kissing and cuddling, and I felt even different from how you feel when you kiss and cuddle. I was confused about it. I had never known of it until I met you guys, and even more so when I began to have feelings for Ginny. When Mrs. Weasley hugged me at different times, like during the Triwizard Tournament in the hospital wing… you know… after Cedric was murdered, I felt love then. I wanted so desperately to be a son in your family. Was this why I wanted to marry Ginny? You see why I was confused? I was introduced to love and I needed to understand it so I could apply it differently to different people. I traveled all over the world. Everywhere I went, I fell in love with the people I met and lived with, whole villages. I learned about compassion, when I seen how they were subjugated and their livelihood taken from them, because someone else wanted it. I fought for them because I learned to love and have compassion for them. Then one evening I spun my wand and it pointed me to a Mountain in Washington State, USA. I left Africa for the mountain. I heard stories of Zombies living on the mountain that this little town sat in the shadows of. I did what I had to do to find the Zombies.” He looked at Percy and told him directly, “These people were all alone with their grief and despair. When I found them and got their story, my heart ached for them. I knew I had to do everything possible, use every bit of strength in me to help them. I used the shovel, pick and ax, because those were available and was required to do the work I needed to do. I would have used my bare hands if I had to; I had to help them. It wasn’t a job that I received a salary. They had a mountaintop dropped on them and nobody knew they were there. I couldn‘t use my wand hardly at all because the people were Muggles. And although I own a diamond mine, I will not sit idle when people need my help.” He continued to watch Percy, and then made a request for the things he said last night and this morning not be disclosed to anyone outside the room in any way.

“Bill, you are the exception to this request. I don’t expect you to keep secrets from your wife, but please ask her not to tell anyone else.”

Bill was grateful to Harry for his allowance and thanked him. “I’m sure she will not speak of it to anyone.”

Harry looked back to Percy, “Percy, will you not speak of this to anyone else please, in any way of communication?”

“Yeah, of course Harry, whatever you want.”

Harry nodded his head in thanks. Then he picked up his fork and was about to take his first bite, although it wasn’t as appetizing cold, but he was hungry and would just eat it anyway.

Then Percy spoke up again. “Harry, so you did meet Zombies? Would you tell us about them?”

Harry looked about the table of people and saw that they all wanted to hear about them. “I will tell about the Zombies…” he stopped suddenly and there was a snap and flames shot out from under Percy’s chair. He jumped off and fell to the floor. There was a collective gasp heard around the table except from Harry who sat scowling at Percy who had gotten up and dusted off his clothes and sat down without a word, and without looking at Harry.

Harry spoke calmly but there was ice in his voice and fire in his eyes, and everyone there feared his wrath. “Percy… Just like the wand is an extension of the person using it, the Quick Quotes Quill is an extension of the user’s imagination. It seeks out and embellishes on the truth to make the writer sound better. I’ve asked you not to communicate what I said to anyone else, and you agreed knowing that the whole time you were collecting a record of everything I said. There is no need for you to have a copy of anything I say. I made records of everything I’ve done, including the killing of the badger last night.”

He held out his hand and a file appeared. Handing it over to Kingsley, he explained, “I’m seeing double, so I can’t guarantee how legible it is, but the memory is there also. I can tell about the Zombies later. We should get that body if you’re done eating.”

“NO!” Molly and Ginny said at the same time. Molly took over and said that Harry would not say another word about anything. “He needs to eat, and you all have been badgering answers from him this whole time, keeping him from his breakfast. Somewhere out there around a round rock, there is a grave of sorts. You all can go out and look for it. Harry will get his answer about if we will give our blessing to marry Ginny. Kingsley, will you go out and supervise the search? Ginny Dear, you will stay in here with us, and Minerva, of course you can remain in here as well.”

“No, I must get back to Hogwarts and work on a few things today. I will be interviewing a new staff member for Hogwarts today.” She started walking around the table to Harry. He started to stand but she told him to stay seated. “Thank you for breakfast, and I’m so glad you are looking so much better. Don’t overdo yourself because you are still recovering.” She smiled and bent her head to kiss the top of his head. “I love you dear, and I’m very proud of the young man you’ve become.”