Harry Potter and the Fortunate Queen

Happy belated Christmas wishes and a very very very happy New Year to all my lovely readers. I hope you like this chapter and share your thoughts on the chapter.

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The sun shone brightly through the white curtains and fell directly on Chris's eyes but she didn't feel like getting up, so she waved her hand to close the window. But nothing happened. The windows remained open and light continued to play across her face. She turned away from the light. However, muffled sounds of people talking and walking around coming from outside of her room would not let her sleep, so she waved her fingers again to stop the noises but the voices remained the same as well. At the end, she opened her eyes, groaning. 

Chris was ready to huff in frustration over her lack of sleep but the first thing she saw after opening her eyes was the ceiling of the room she was in. The unfamiliar ceiling of an unfamiliar room reminded her why she was there. The anger immediately let her and with a sigh, she sat up on the bed and looked around. The room was small and rather empty, with only white curtains on the one and only window, white pillows and bedsheets on the small bed in the corner and there was a small wooden cupboard on the other corner of the room. There was a small makeshift table beside the bed and the walls were beige in colour. 

Chris got out of bed, walked towards the window, and threw open the curtains. The warm sunlight poured into the room and Chris closed her eyes basking in the warmth. The day was rather warm for the first week of May. Outside the window, the bustling crowd of London people went on their way as if nothing had happened. Chris smiled looking at the busy crowd, and shook her head. She was glad that these people would not remember the horrors that were about to fall upon them or the attacks they had to endure for a whole year.

After Chris had dressed, she went downstairs to a big living room. Many familiar and unfamiliar people lounged in the room, some drinking their morning coffees, some eating breakfast while chatting with one another, some kids playing in the corner, some people reading newspapers and some just staring out of the window. Chris looked around and found her father, Sebastian Norton playing chess with young Dennis Creevy on the table near the kitchen. 

"So did I win?" Dennis asked excitedly as he moved the bishop on the chessboard.

"Not even close, my dear, in fact, I believe you are about to lose," Mr. Norton chuckled.

"Awww," Dennis pouted looking away from the board and spotted Chris. "Chris, come here! Help me win!"

"Good morning to you too Dennis," Chris laughed as she walked over, gave her father a side hug, and sat beside Dennis.

"Good morning, Eagle, and no, no. No cheating Dennis. You have to play alone, remember? Or how else will you learn?" Mr. Norton said smiling.

Sebastian Norton, Chris's father, had gotten a bit older throughout the years. Some of his dark brown hair had turned grey, and his light blue eyes had wrinkles under them. But after selling his company, his style had changed a lot. He was always a shirt or polo shirt with dress pants kind of person, but now he wore t-shirts and loose trousers along with a long, warm cardigan most of the time, like he was doing currently. 

"Why is your Dad so good at all the muggle games? It's not even wizard's chess, it's just plain normal chess," Dennis whispered to Chris.

"Where do you think I got my smartness from?" Chris chuckled.

Mr. Norton made his move on the chessboard and Dennis looked at the board and then at Chris helplessly. Chris smiled and studied the chessboard. 

"No Chris, you shouldn't help her," said Mrs. Creevy walking towards them with a cup of coffee, she handed the coffee to Chris. "Mr. Norton is right. He needs to learn how to play if he wants to win."

"Thank you, Mrs. Creevy," Chris said gratefully, sipping the hot, light bitter-sweet coffee.

"And here is your breakfast," Mr. Creevy came out of the kitchen balancing three plates of eggs, beacons, and toasts. He put the plates in front of Chris, her father, and Dennis.

Dennis Creevy, Colin Creevy's younger brother, had gotten a whole lot taller in the last year. He now looked almost the same height as Colin, with the same light brown hair, brown eyes, and a few freckles around his nose and cheeks. Though Colin's freckles were never that visible, Dennis's were rather prominent like their mother's. 

Mr. and Mrs. Creevy were two very normal-looking muggles. They were almost the same height, with the same thin physique and light brown hair. Only Mrs. Creevy's hair looked more auburn than brown, and she had a lot of freckles on her face. Both of their eyes were the same bright and curious as their two sons.

"You didn't have to make breakfast for us, Mr. Creevy," Mr. Norton said disapprovingly. "I was about to head to the kitchen."

"It's alright, Mr. Norton. You have been doing us favours since we arrived here. I can make breakfast now and then," Mr. Creevy smiled.

"Nonsense! What favours? There are no favours, Mr. Creevy. We are friends now, aren't we?"

"Yes, but –"

"Then there is no favours and –" Mr. Norton began but Mrs. Creevy cut him off.

"But there are some things that are favours, Mr. Norton, even among friends. I mean the way you helped us with our fianan–" Mrs. Creevy caught herself when Mr. Norton shook her head, glancing at Dennis. She immediately redirected the conversation. "I mean the way you have been taking care of our Dennis." 

"Yes, even yesterday you took him to that fancy restaurant we could only dream of going to," Mr. Creevy chimed in.

"Please, Mr. Creevy, I was planning to take Chris out for dinner anyway and after all this time, Dennis and Colin had become like my kids as well. I feel like their uncle at this point, so why wouldn't I spoil them a little bit? In fact, I wanted to treat you two as well," Mr. Norton said before looking at Chris's direction. "I would've loved it more if the other kids could join us. I was hoping they would. I would've been so much fun."

"They are busy, Dad," Chris said picking up a slice of toast. 

"Right," Mr. Norton shook his head.

"Yes, Chris is right, Mr. Norton," suddenly Dennis spoke up as he bit into a piece of bacon. "Colin and others are very busy organizing the Wizarding world back in order, wiping out muggle memories, fixing all the damages, hiring and recruiting more people, getting people back to their homes who went into hiding like us. Colin, Luna, Hermione, and Harry are helping the Weasleys and some ministry people do all that."

Hearing him, Chris, Mr. Norton, Mr. Creevy, and Mrs. Creevy stared at him in surprise, so he explained, "Colin wrote to me."

"Of course, he did. As if all of it would instantly fall apart if he decided to take a break. Wasn't he already injured?" Mrs. Creevy looked angry and worried about his elder son. "He just came by once . . . why couldn't he rest a bit like our Chris? Doesn't he deserve it after everything?" 

"Of course, he does, Mrs. Creevy," Chris said feeling guilty. She couldn't tell them the real reason why she was taking a break. Not yet. "I'm sorry, I should have convinced him mo–"

"Don't, Chris," Mr. Creevy interrupted Chris. "It's not your fault at all." He turned to his wife with a smile. "Darling, you know how he is. As long as he doesn't fix everything by himself, he isn't satisfied."

"But he can visit a bit more, can't he? Even today, he was supposed to come and get us so we could go back but look he couldn't –" Mrs. Creevy muttered looking upset.

"He is just a bit late!" Colin yelled, jogging in with two large packages. He almost dropped one and yelped. "And I came bearing muffins. For everyone."

"Show me!" Dennis jumped up from his seat but Colin pulled the boxes out of his reach. 

"No. Dennis, we gotta give these to others first," Colin nodded at the room full of people staring at them at that moment. 

Colin's arrival had drawn everyone's attention in the room. Dennis looked at the crowd in the living room and back at Colin and the muffin packets. He sighed and backed away.

"But don't worry, Dennis," Ginny said as she and Luna strolled in with more packets. "Because we have more."

"Yes!" Dennis jumped up again and grinned.

"Sorry for worrying you, Ma," Colin said hugging his mother.

Mrs. Creevy smiled and lightly swatted his arm after hugging him as tightly as possible.

"You and your endless apologies," Mrs. Creevy tried to look angry but Colin just grinned at her and Mrs. Creevy's face instantly lit up with a smile.

Chris knew it was hard for the Creevys to deal with everything that happened. Almost for a year, they thought they only had one son who was a wizard and that was the reason they were hiding in this shelter. They didn't remember – not even Dennis that they had Colin, who removed himself from their memories to save them. 

Up until twelve days ago, after the wizarding war had ended, the first thing Colin did was come running back to his family to reverse the memory spell. It wasn't easy and it had many risks, but Chris encouraged him because she knew Colin had become a powerful wizard and he could do this. The reversing spell did leave the Creevys' brain feeling a lot disoriented, especially muggles like Mr. and Mrs. Creevy. They took almost two days to feel normal again and even after that their emotions were all over the place. Eventually, they started to recover and Chris helped them as much as she could, considering she was living with them at the shelter now.

[To be continued]