Harry Potter: Redemption in Time

Dan and Ted were slaving over a massive hot grill and loving every minute of it. They had regiments of sausages, acres of bacon and eggs frying by the dozen. A large cauldron of beans was suspended over a camp fire and Sirius had even transfigured a tubular metal triangle for Dan to hit while shouting 'come and get it!' The fact that most people were already up and in the queue for food didn't lessen his enjoyment of the dingala..dingala..ding one iota. Sirius and Remus were on tea, coffee, fruit juice duty while Robert had bread rolls, butter and jams on every table. Before the party left from Hogwarts, the mercury had barely risen above zero degrees Celsius for a fortnight. Add in the wind chill factor and you got the usual weather report for the Scottish Highlands in December, bloody freezing.

Eating breakfast al fresco in the beautiful Australian sunshine was an instant hit amongst the very happy campers. Lunch would consist of a mountain of sandwiches that the ladies would prepare and of course there was fruit in abundance at every meal. This would allow Dobby time to make their evening meal.

Although the youngest, Ginny found herself showing the older bunch around. Fred and George had asked for a tour with their Quidditch team mates and Penelope tagging along. Luna was doing the same with her father, she'd missed him so much and planned on spending the entire day by his side.

The adults were all going over wedding plans while the aurors, minus Tonks of course, were checking the perimeter inside the wards to get a better understanding of the place .Harry and Hermione were catching up with their friends as they all walked down the path to the private beach, with the Quidditch practice this afternoon Harry wanted to spend the morning just hanging out and having a few laughs. Everyone was just in shorts and t-shirts, more concerned with getting their bearings than a tan at the moment.

Millie was watching the waves and reassessing her decision to give surfing a try, "Is surfing really hard to learn Harry?"

"Well that depends on whether the board you're using is jinxed or not Millie."

This led to multiple cries of 'what' while Hermione's complexion became more like a Scottish tomato than English rose. "How..when...why?"

Harry smiled at his wife. He'd been so happy that she'd actually attempted a prank, Harry had actually fell off his board a few times on purpose. "When the board started moving against the flow I soon figured it out, you seemed so happy to think you got away with a prank I didn't want to spoil it for you."

This earned Harry a loving kiss from his wife as Neville let out a theatrical sigh. "Ok, let me see if I've got this right. Hermione pranks Harry, Harry knows she's doing it but says nothing and plays along, this earns him a grade one snog? How in Merlin's name are we ever supposed to understand girls?"

Hermione had her head on Harry's chest while wrapped in his arms as she answered, "You're not supposed to understand us Neville, we don't understand ourselves half the time!"

Lavender pretended to be angry, "Hermione, you're not supposed to tell the boys our secrets."

Justin just laughed, "Don't worry Lavender, I didn't understand a word of that."

It was Dan who needed to be restrained that afternoon, watching Oliver shout encouragement to the twins firing cannonballs at his son was not the dentist's idea of fun.

It was his daughter's hand that gripped his arm, "Dad, it's part of the game. They train like this so those things don't get near him in a real match. Harry's the most natural flier I've ever seen so don't worry, those things won't touch him."

Dan and Emma had seen the kids on brooms before but this was oh so different. It was like comparing a commercial jet aircraft to a Mig fighter, both might fly in the air but there all similarities ended. The Granger parents watched in terror as Harry appeared to fall from the sky before pulling up with a glint of gold escaping from the fingers of his raised clenched fist.

Emma was the first to speak after the applause had died down, "Hermione, I don't think my heart could take watching Harry play Quidditch."

Hermione replied with real feeling. "Believe me mum, I know exactly how you feel."

Dan was now too engrossed with watching the girls pass a rugby ball to each other with a speed, skill and precision that took his breath away. If this was just the chaser drills, he couldn't wait to see a real match. Dan's first love was football but it would be a number of years before he could go to an English match and not know the score before kickoff, here was a sport Dan could really get into.

Dobby had continued the camping theme for dinner, massive cauldrons filled with delicious soups and stews suspended over camp fires were all around the camp. The little elf could have used the same stasis charms he had placed on the breads, fruit, vegetables and many deserts he had laid out on a long table but thought this fitted the camping theme better. Even Minerva enjoyed waiting in line to fill her plate with this wonderful food, the climate and company making it taste even better.

Ted soon had the big screen assembled outside, he may have a mugle background but was a wizard after all, while Dan set up the projector. Ted had also been a great help in choosing what films to show and they decided to make movie nights part educational as well as entertaining. They were starting the whole movie experience with some real classics, Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. The films would be progressively more up to date until they were ready to proceed to a cinema and experience the latest offerings. Loud laughter rolled over the camp as these masters of comedy enthralled a totally new audience. Minerva McGonagall had something else worth adding to her list of things she wanted to introduce to Hogwarts, just as soon as she stopped shaking and the tears of laughter allowed her to write again. Dan hadn't the heart to tell her that all these films were at least half a century old. He was really looking forward to seeing their faces when they watched one of his favourite movies. In Dan's opinion, there was no better way to let your Christmas dinner digest than by sitting down for a few hours with your family and watching the Wizard of Oz.