One Hundred And Forty Nearly Twelve (Completed)

Chapter 24: Shopping

Just a short few weeks into the new term, news that Harry and Hermione were now practically unreachable due to the fact that they did not have to leave Hogwarts grounds to travel home soon reached the news papers.

Quite an intricate story seemed to have been woven around Harry commandeering the bigger half of Hogwarts castle as his home, because it had been discovered that he was the heir to the Gryffindor properties. Harry was not too interested in the stories, but they seemed to annoy Hermione immensely she did not want people thinking, as she put it, her extremely generous husband was greedy like a Malfoy would be.

Once Hermione decided to do something positive about it Harry knew it would be a waste of time trying to change her mind. That was why early on a Saturday morning half way through the school term he found himself waiting at the school gates with Hagrid. They were waiting for a team of Witch Weekly reporters and general hangers on to arrive. They were going to do a piece on 'The Potter's at home', or at least that was what Hermione had told him.

Hermione had gotten the idea from a Muggle magazine her mother had delivered every month. Harry Potter was not at all happy when amongst the reporters from Witch Weekly he spotted his least favourite reporter. Rita Skeeter was trying to gate crash; her little share of bad luck for that day was in Harry knowing that she worked for the Daily Prophet and not Witch Weekly which he was quick to point out to the other reporters.

For a short while Harry thought that Rita might actually get herself lynched for trying to steal the scoop from the Witch Weekly reporters, as it was she managed to escape with her clothes torn and her hair messily disarranged. Harry couldn't help laughing when she finally escaped the other screeching women reporters and ran headlong toward Hogsmeade village spilling the contents of her hand bag as she ran; she was closely followed by her cameraman who was wearing a lot less clothing than he should have been.

Harry managed to last for the first fifteen minutes of having the reporters following him around the house and asking a baffling array of questions which had nothing to do with his home at all, he had had enough when one of the women reporters tried to follow him into the bathroom.

At the first chance he got he slipped his invisibility cloak out of his robe pocket and placed it over his head, wrapped up in the cloak and hidden from view he made his way out of the house, he first took refuge with Hagrid in his hut, gratefully accepting a cup of tea but politely refusing one of Hagrid's aptly named rock cakes. Then he later accompanied his huge friend up to the school to have lunch in the great hall with his class mates and his best friends, Hermione was shouting in his head, telling him exactly what she should like to do to him for vanishing and leaving her to cope with all the reporters, all through lunch while he sat with Neville and Ginny eating lunch Hermione lectured him. Neville thought the entire thing hilarious and did not try to hide the fact; twice he spat his drink out when Harry actually flinched as though Hermione had just yelled into his ear.

"Just one of the drawbacks to having this kind of communication with the wife, most blokes get to enjoy their escapades away from home and only have the lecture when they get back," Harry chuckled as they left the great hall.

Half an hour of Hermione lecturing him was enough to make the Quidditch hero of Gryffindor surrender; he promised Hermione he would be straight home, both Ginny and Neville began to laugh until Harry said they were going to accompany him thus providing him with some protection from his irate wife.

After returning home Harry tried his best to keep the reporters happy, but he drew the line when one of the women wanted to take photographs of his boxers, 'Hermione, they have to go, and I mean now' he told his wife who was showing her wardrobe to one of the story hungry writers.