By the time the Minister finally hung the medal around his neck Harry felt he needed to run back to Hogwarts. Instead, he had to give a short speech where he thanked the Minister and the Wizengamot for the award.
During his speech he made sure to thank both Madam Longbottom and Sirius for 'shepherding' the award through the Minister's office before then thanking his bondmates and Sirius for having the patience to sit there while long speeches were given.
Then he quickly wrapped up and thanked the crowd for taking the time to come and witness the award.
He was ready to head back to Hogwarts when the Minister informed him he had to attend a Ministry reception for the award being held in the Ministry reception hall. He'd hoped to be able to avoid it by citing he was still a competitor in the Tri-Wizard Tournament and needed to focus his efforts on that.
Of course, the Minister was too slick a politician to allow him and his family to escape. Fudge practically latched onto him and dragged him to the reception hall, just to make sure he didn't try to flee.
Then, for the next hour, Harry was introduced to every Department Head and what he felt was every Office Head, plus many of their wives. He had to stand for photographs with the Minister, with the Minister and his wife, with the Minister and his wives, with the Minister and the three wives, with the other recipients, and he couldn't recall how many others.
The only photograph he flatly refused to participate in was one where he was expected to stand with Madam Umbridge. And he made sure Fudge was well aware he'd very publicly deny the photographic opportunity if it was attempted to be forced upon him.
After Fudge took the Pink Toad aside and told her, she stormed from the venue.
"Making friends, Pup?" asked his amused godfather.
"The woman is a menace," replied Harry. "She has single-handedly introduced laws that have gone a long way towards driving this society back to the fifteenth century. She's a flat-out unrepentant blood bigot and Riddle supporter, but too smart to allow herself to be 'Marked'.
"The only way she's managed to rise as far as she has within the Ministry is because she holds blackmail material over a wide range of people. She lacks talent but is as cunning as all Hell."
"Well, don't hold back on your opinion, Pup," smirked Sirius. "You're an awardee of the Order of Merlin, First Class, now. You're expected to be outspoken about matters."
Harry just grinned back at his godfather's attempts at lightening the mood and flipped him the bird.
Eventually, the three returned to the castle. Of course, they couldn't just walk back to their room. Now Harry had to show the medal to every one who wanted to see it. Whether that was because they wanted to see Harry wearing one, or because they'd simply not seen one before, was irrelevant. However, as soon as Harry stepped out of the Floo in Professor Flitwick's office, he pulled it off over his head and dropped it into the case Hermione was carrying. Of course, Hermione then went right ahead and laid it in the case properly.
By the time they did make it back to their apartment, they'd already missed lunch. The first thing the three did was strip out of their finest and throw on their 'weekend' robes. The Order of Merlin in its little case was left on their 'dresser'. At that time, Harry felt as if he could just dump it in a draw and never see the thing again. But, there was no way his wives were going to allow that to happen.
Dobby, bless his little elfish heart, anticipated their needs and had a light lunch laid out for them when they exited their bedroom. It even earned him a kiss on his cheek from Hermione when she spotted it.
The poor little fellow blushed to his toes and popped away, without a word.
As they sat down to eat, Harry sighed in relief.
"Feet or Fudge?" asked Daphne. It took Harry a little while to parse that before he said, "Fudge, really. And all those boring bloody speeches. At least we were able to sit through it. Those Ministry workers and those from the public just coming to watch pretty much had to stand through it all.
"Language, Harry James," said Hermione, almost absentmindedly as she built herself a lunch.
"However, that's me," he said. "You ladies always seem to go for form over function when you wear shoes. How're your feet?"
"Fine," said Daphne as Hermione agreed. "Thankfully, we too sat through most of it."
"However, for your information," said Hermione, "Witches shoes are designed to both look good and be comfortable. Magic, don't you know." She smiled back.
"I just hope I never have to go through something like that again," Harry said with feeling.
"You will," said Daphne.
"What? Why?" he asked, whining a little.
"You'll need to go through it, as one of the ones sitting on the side with those who've already received the award, every time someone else gets presented with an Order of Merlin," explained Daphne. "Secondly, when you finally kill Riddle, I have no doubt you'll be the first person since... whenever... who'll be presented with a second Order of Merlin, First Class."
"I looked it up," said Hermione. "It's called a 'Bar'. You'll then hold the Order of Merlin, First Class, and Bar; designating the Order being awarded a second time."
'Trust Hermione to look something like that up,' thought Harry.
"As long as I don't get another hyphenated bl-ooming name," he grouched. "What is there now? The Boy-Who-Lived and the Slayer-of-The-Basilisk?"
"I think they've settled on 'The Slayer-of-Slytherin's-Monster'," said Daphne. "For the alliteration of it."
"That's even worse," he sighed.
"Suck it up, Harry," said Daphne a little firmly. "It's going to get far worse, yet. Think about what our angels told us. You, with us by your side, are going to drag our society up by the bootstraps into the 21st Century, let alone the 20th."
"You have two wives with knowledge and experience of both the magical and muggle worlds," continued Hermione. "Haven't you worked out, yet, there's a reason for that?"
"I thought it was because of how much Fate's using me as her personal punching bag," he softly complained.
Both of his ladies smiled back.
"No," disagreed Daphne. "It's because of how much work is ahead of us. Killing Riddle is only the first stage on a long road."
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