Gratitude to Miranda

The same Daily Prophet had been delivered to many of the students and the story of the previous night's adventures flew around the castle. As the four teens who had been involved slept soundly, the newspaper articles were being discussed throughout the school. When it was discovered that the students in question were asleep; people immediately turned to the third member of the trio, Ron Weasley. At first he told the truth, that he didn't know anything. But as more and more people kept questioning him, he couldn't resist adding a detail here and there. As the day wore on he reveled in the attention and the details escalated.

"Well, he wanted me to stay here to make sure there wasn't an attack on the castle..."

"Harry begged me to go but I thought it was a trap. I even told him that..."

"Yeah I was there, but I prefer to not make a big deal out of it. I'm not into all the publicity and all..."

It was when Lavender Brown was with him later in the day that he started telling people that he'd been at the Ministry as well. He pointed to a spot just off the main picture of Harry dueling Voldemort in the Prophet. "I was right there and...and" As Lavender looked at him with eyes filled with wonderment and adoration, he couldn't help himself, "I was the one who eventually got the curse in that drove Voldemort away. Harry told them it was me, but I didn't want any of the praise so I just told the Daily Prophet to not put me in the story," A wide-eyed Lavender Brown was now hanging onto Ron's arm proud to be called his girlfriend.

It was a still very tired Harry who finally awoke shortly before dinner. It took a few minutes before he remembered what had happened in the last day. A smile came to his face as he knew a major hurdle had been cleared. Voldemort's return was acknowledged by the Ministry, eight Death Eaters were dead and Sirius was alive and free. A sense of excitement overcame him as he realized how much they had accomplished in only a few weeks. He knew Hermione was still asleep so he decided to thank the other entity who had helped him so much. "Thank you Miranda. Thank you for Hermione and for Sirius Thank you for letting me know the truth of what really happened with my parents. Thank you for everything."

"Oh you're welcome Harry," Miranda replied. "I must admit you and your wife are making me very proud. Besides Death has already promised me two dozen more bottles of Ambrosia if you can get at least three more of Riddle's soul fragments up here by Halloween."

"Why Halloween and why three?"

"With three more, Death would have half of Riddle's soul and could start torturing him at that time. As for Halloween, it's Death's favorite day. By the way did I mention that Death really seems to like you?"

"Uh...yeah," Harry replied nervously not sure if being liked by Death was a good thing. "You mentioned it this morning."

"Oh don't worry," Miranda said. "Death is really nice once you get to know him."

"If you say so... Should I say hi or something to him?"

Miranda giggled. "Sure...I'll pass it on."

"Umm... thanks," Harry said. With great effort he forced his body to sit up in his bed. The stress and tension of the last few days coupled with the physical exertions of the previous night had left him feeling like a hippogriff had run him down. He retrieved his glasses and pulled back the curtains. His eyes immediately fell onto Neville's bed. It didn't look like he'd moved an inch the whole day. Harry smiled as he thought of the young man standing up to Bellatrix and being responsible for her death.

Harry was still contemplating all that had occurred when he felt the mirror that was still in his pocket heat up. Worried that something might have happened while they slept, he quickly pulled it out and found himself looking at his godfather. The smile on Sirius' face let Harry know that nothing serious had happened.

"About time you woke up," Sirius said. "I've been trying this mirror for the last two hours."

"Sorry," Harry replied with a yawn and smirk. "I had a busy night last night."

"Yeah I was up pretty late as well remember; and then I've been up all day today."

"We'll compare lack of sleep some other time," Harry said. "All last year I was sleeping in a tent and some of that time was with a person who can peel paint with his snores."

"Wha...oh yeah," Sirius said. "Well I thought you'd want to know that Dumbledore was here earlier trying to convince me that you'd be safer at the Dursleys."

"THAT.." Harry snarled.

"What is it love?" Hermione called out instantly awake from the anger in her husband.

Harry stopped in mid-sentence to Sirius and told her what Sirius had said.

"That's a good thing Harry," She said with a mental yawn in her voice as the adrenaline started to diminish.

"What? Why?"

"It means he couldn't figure out a way to get guardianship away from Sirius. If he's pleading with Sirius, he has no legal way to overturn it," Hermione explained. "He must now realize our threats are very real."

"Why is he doing it?" Harry mentally muttered. "We could solve this thing quickly if he'd just give us an opening."

"He really thinks he knows all the answers. Besides remember that Miranda said he had a deal with the Dursleys. A deal he still has to fulfill," Hermione replied. "But I think he has to come to us, but if he doesn't soon then we need to make sure he's checking Bellatrix's vault for the cup. If the Ministry gets to it first no telling what they might do to it."

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