The Bargain: Side Effects
Old and New
By Mr. Intel
Old and New
Warm breath blew softly onto Harry’s cheek. He cracked his eyes slightly and saw Ginny’s blurry face, relaxed in sleep. She breathed slowly, but deeply; her mouth was ajar, and was the source Harry’s wakefulness. One of her small, pale arms was draped around his middle and her legs held his hostage under the duvet. A smile crept across his face as he realised that although this was the first time he had woken up in Ginny’s arms, it wouldn’t be the last. He would make sure of that.
Unfortunately, the perfection of their first morning as husband and wife was interrupted by Harry’s full bladder. Once that was taken care of, Harry slipped back under the covers and tried to find a comfortable way to hold Ginny but not wake her up — there would be hell to pay, he was sure, if she was awoken prematurely. As he slid his arm under her pillow, the jostling woke her up just enough so that she flipped sides and buried her head with the duvet. Harry gave a silent sigh of relief and then frowned, having been looking forward to replicating the wonderful feeling of being enfolded by his wife. He quickly recovered by spooning behind her.
Just as he was drifting back to sleep, she jerked her legs, kicking Harry’s shin. He bit his lip in an effort to keep in the groan of pain and howl of surprise that fought to escape him. As the pain receded and Ginny’s breathing deepened, he realised that sleep wouldn’t be returning for him. If he lay there awake, he'd just risk waking her up. Deciding to take the safe route, he slipped slowly back out of the bed, shrugged on a t-shirt and trousers from the floor and padded into the efficient kitchen of their cottage.
The sun was high in the morning sky as he looked onto the grounds through the locked window over the sink. Harry guessed it to be close to eleven o’clock. After their crazy night, he wasn’t surprised that they had had a lie-in. A small pop announced someone Apparating into the cottage and Harry whirled around to find Dobby staring back at him — Harry realized too late that he didn’t even have his wand.
"Dobby!" Harry exclaimed. "What in the..."
"Dobby is very sorry, sir," the house-elf interrupted with a squeaky voice, promptly setting down a large serving tray heaped with food, and closed his eyes. "Master Dumbledore said I would not disturb mister and missus if I came over with breakfast... but he was wrong."
Harry watched in morbid fascination as Dobby curled his ears over his eyes and searched blindly with his hands until he found the leg of a nearby chair. Harry wasn’t quick enough to realise what Dobby intended to do with the wooden chair, and the house-elf had hit himself twice before Harry could snatch it from his hands. "It’s all right, Dobby. You don’t need to punish yourself for bringing breakfast. And you don’t have to cover your eyes; I’m fully dressed."
Dobby peaked slowly out from behind his ears and gave a sigh of relief. He looked tentatively around. "Is your missus...?"
Harry set down the chair and sat in it, just as his stomach gave a large growl. "No... she’s still asleep."
Just then, Ginny’s head appeared from behind their bedroom door. She gave a huge yawn and opened the door fully, tying her dressing gown as she walked into the kitchen. "I’m awake now," she said with a mock glare at Harry. "With all this yammering, I don’t think anyone could even sleep in Binns’ class." Her eyes spied the serving tray, immediately brightened, and she changed the subject. "What’s for breakfast?"
Dobby smiled appreciatively and levitated the tray onto the table. Ginny sat across from Harry pulled the lid of the closest platter. She speared a banger before Harry could blink and demolished half of it in one bite. "A bit hungry are we?" Harry asked cheekily.
Ginny gave an exaggerated nod and continued to chew.
Dobby poured juice and magically re-filled the carafe. He bowed and Harry smiled at him while Ginny finished off the rest of her sausage. "I’ll be going now, Master Harry. Professor
Dumbledore said to be expecting him after noon, sir."
"Thanks, Dobby," Harry said and the house-elf popped out of sight.
Harry turned back to Ginny, who had finally swallowed her food. "I’ll have you know," she said, absently buttering her toast, "that I haven’t had a proper meal since our reception." As soon as she was finished speaking, the toast was inserted into her mouth and ripped in half before she began to pile eggs and kippers next to the uneaten portion on her plate.
Filling his own plate, he absently wondered how they would be taking care of their laundry.
They finished breakfast together, talking about their relief at being finally married, being free of the curse, and how they were now on the road of married life. When Ginny led Harry back to their bedroom, he decided that he could definitely get used to being Ginny’s husband.
*
Professor Dumbledore arrived promptly at noon, but because they had forgotten about Dobby’s announcement, Harry and Ginny had to dress themselves while the headmaster waited in the living room.
Once they were presentable, Dumbledore Portkeyed them away from the cottage and to a familiar sloping lawn.
"Harry?" Ginny asked cheekily. "Have twe been here before?"
Dumbledore spoke up before Harry could reply, however. "You must be the intruders Godric mentioned."
"Godric?" asked Ginny. "You mean he’s the one that chased us out of there?"
With a chuckle and a twinkle in his eye, Dumbledore motioned for them to follow him. "He’s a decent fellow, and a friend of the family. When he needed work about twenty years ago, I could hardly refuse him, and he’s been here ever since."
They approached one of the looming walls that was overgrown with ivy. Dumbledore passed his hand over a part of the wall and a crack appeared, spreading up and down until it formed a doorway. He pushed on the wall and it swung open on great, groaning hinges.
"Wait a second," Ginny said, just before Dumbledore stepped inside. "You’re the owner of this castle?"
The headmaster smiled kindly at Ginny and beckoned them to follow him. "Oh, yes. I’m afraid the Ministry felt the need to reward me for vanquishing Grindelwald and this," he said with a sweeping gesture of his hand, "is the result."
The grounds were just as spectacular as they had been when they’d been there before, but somehow, with the thrill of unlawful trespassing removed, it seemed even more magnificent.
They walked to the door that Harry had managed to open before, and Dumbledore turned to face them once more. "It has come to my attention that neither of you have plans for a residence."
Harry looked guiltily at Ginny who simply raised her brow back at him. "I thought you said you’d take care of that, Harry?"
"I did...I mean, I will," he replied hotly, giving her an impatient look. "I was a little busy right before the wedding and we haven’t had a whole lot of time since then."
Ginny coloured slightly at this comment and began to examine her toes.
Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Yes. Be that as it may, I have arranged to transfer ownership of this property to Mr. and Mrs. Harry Potter for the sum of...fifty Galleons."
Harry’s mouth fell open and Ginny’s head shot up, her eyes as round as the moon. "You mean...." she began.
"You can’t be serious," Harry blurted.
"Indeed I am," Dumbledore said with a chuckle, just as the caretaker appeared from behind a large hedge.
"I’m here, Master," the man called and settled beside the elderly wizard. "I’ve got the papers, just as you asked, sir."
"Well done, Godric," Dumbledore praised. "Shall we retire to the drawing room?"
Not knowing what to think, and even less capable of speaking, Harry simply nodded and followed his professor into the castle.
*
September first came much too quickly for Harry’s taste. His time with Ginny in the Canary Islands was nothing short of magical. The three days they had spent in their new home had been equally enjoyable. Still, it was very good to be back at Hogwarts amongst friends and family.
As Head Boy, Harry, along with the Head Girl, Hermione, was responsible for the ceremonial opening of Hogwarts castle at the beginning of the new school year. Since the students weren’t all at the entrance yet, and some were mingling around the doors before the rest arrived, Harry used the time to find Ron.
Ginny found Hermione first and an excited scream followed by a spate of jubilant twittering momentarily distracted him.
"Mental, I’m telling you," Ron said as they slapped each other on the back.
"Yeah," Harry said, still looking at his wife with Hermione. "They’re pretty mad."
"Not them," Ron replied. "You!"
"Me?"
"Yes! Marrying my sister," Ron said with a sad shake of his head. "As if being around me wasn’t enough Weasley in your life. Now you’re permanently attached to one."
"And it’s a good thing, too." The slimy, taunting voice of Draco Malfoy interrupted their conversation and Harry had the urge to thwack him on general principle.
"Shove off, Malfoy," Ron said and turned his back on him.
"If Potter hadn’t married the littlest Weasley, there’d be no one with enough pity to take her in, let alone shag her."
Before anyone could blink, there was a blast of light from Harry’s wand that struck Draco right in the middle. The blonde boy instinctively grabbed his stomach, but when nothing seemed to happen, he smiled and laughed at Harry.
"Is that the best you could do? I guess being Head Boy has finally made your ego too big for your brains to fit in your head."
Harry simply smirked and waited for Malfoy to posture with his bodyguards some more before he finally left.
Ron gave Harry an odd look and asked, "What’d you hit him with?"
Harry’s smirk increased to a full smile. "Wait for it."
It wasn’t five seconds before Draco was howling in fright and was taking off at high speed towards the lake, almost knocking McGonagall over in his haste.
"Delayed Bladder Buster," Harry explained in a low whisper as McGonagall approached. "Just like with Bill."
Ron’s mouth formed a small ‘O’ as McGonagall began to speak.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, students. This year’s Head Boy, Harry Potter, and Head Girl, Hermione Granger, will lead the students into the castle." She nodded at them and then retreated towards the lake, either to tend to Malfoy, or retrieve the first-years.
Hermione broke from Ginny and walked to the doors with Harry. He caught Ginny’s eye over Hermione’s shoulder and gave her a wink, before moving to grab the knob. He thought twice about it, however, and as he removed his hand, he waved over the doorknob, uttering a quiet incantation.
"You know," Harry said calmly, "you should do the honours. It’s always the man that opens the door, but I think it’d be a refreshing change to let you do it."
Hermione gave him a surprised smile and then nodded. "Of course. That’s quite thoughtful of you, Harry." She grabbed the handle and gave it a firm twist, before the large doors started to creak open. "I was just telling Ginny about how underrepresented women seem to be on the Wizengamot. There’s only a handful of them there now and there’s a long history of..."
She stopped speaking and began to yank on the doorknob, clearly unable to remove her hand.
Harry pinched his lips between his teeth in an effort to not laugh.
"Harry, help me. I seem to be stuck," she whispered.
There was a growing interest in Hermione’s predicament from the surrounding students and her frantic efforts to remove her hand made Harry even more incapable of restraining his laughter.
"That’s a right good Sticking Charm, that is," Seamus Finnegan announced. "Reckon you ought to try the counter charm?"
Hermione blushed and continued to struggle. "I used my wand hand," she said through gritted teeth. "I can’t perform the counter-spell with my other hand."
Whispers from the younger students now mixed in with the not-as-quiet murmurings of the older students.
"Can you get on with it, Granger?" asked Terry Boot. "I’m starved."
"Just a minute," she trilled. Then more quietly, she hissed at Harry, "Will. You. Please. Help. Me?"
Tears leaked from Harry’s eyes and it was everything he could do to restrain himself from looking at Ginny. He knew if he did, it would be his undoing.
Finally, a large figure loomed over them and Harry’s humour evaporated.
"What on earth are you two doing up here?" asked a venomous-looking Professor Snape. He surveyed Hermione’s hand and the desperate look on her face. "Thought you’d have a little fun, did you Potter?" He spat the last word out. "Your new...companion not enough entertainment for you, so you had to prank Miss Granger?"
The mood changed sharply then, and Harry’s eyes narrowed upon his professor. "Pick on me all you like, Professor, but leave Ginny out of this."
Snape sucked in a breath and opened his mouth to speak when Ginny appeared next to Harry. "Oh, I think you’ve got enough going on, Professor Snape, without having to worry about my husband."
Whirling to face Ginny, Snape pointed his finger at her and was again preparing to fire off some acidic invective when Professor Dumbledore arrived. The Headmaster tapped Hermione’s hand, which popped off the doorknob, and he pushed the doors apart. "No time for that now, Severus. We’ve a feast to attend."
The spluttering Potions master was clearly unhappy about not being able to dole out a detention or two, but followed Dumbledore anyway.
As the students passed between the doors, Harry felt a whisp of wind in his hair. He raised his hand to push his hair down when he caught Hermione’s face. She winked at Harry and with a broad smile, walked hand in hand with Ron to the Gryffindor table.
Harry shrugged and took Ginny’s hand. They walked into the Great Hall and found their customary seats in the middle of the table. It wasn’t until he’d received several wolf calls from his dorm mates and Dumbledore was about to begin the sorting that he realised his hair was bright pink.
Hermione’s smile was larger than the Cheshire cat’s.