Chapter Text
Lucius Malfoy was angry. His puppet Fudge was demanding more money, his new assistant was neither corrupt, nor remotely interested in anything he had to offer. When she had been shown the legislation that Dolores had been preparing, to outlaw werewolves, she had torn it to ribbons, quoting endless laws dating back hundreds of years and international treaties that would be breached, she threw it in Fudges bin in front of him, Lucius Malfoy, and told them both that pureblood supremacy belonged in the past with idiots like Grindelwald and Riddle.
He sneered and said “Riddle?”
She looked him stone cold in the eye and said, “The Dark tosspot himself. Moldypants. Whatever. Son of a squib, Merope Gaunt and her love potioned muggle husband. A half blood who had idiots like you kissing his feet because he spouted what you wanted to hear. Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was head boy at Hogwarts when he made up ‘I am Lord Voldemort” you followed a teenage psychopath with narcissistic tendencies. Branded you all like cattle and then died trying to murder a baby. You expect anyone to fear him? She walked out of the office.
“Cornelius, I do not believe that young lady is treating me with the respect the many galleons I put in your pockets warrants. I would prefer not to see her again. Where on earth did she come from.”
“Sarah something, she is an American, she is a temp, I will have her replaced, but since Dolores got herself bitten by Fenrir Greyback of all the werewolves to choose, and then went on a rampage herself before getting captured by the Aurors I have to be a little circumspect. She was here for a month as a werewolf, without being discovered. It makes me shudder to consider what may have happened. Her crimes are coming to light, we may have to be a little patient.”
Malfoy had made a few enquiries, the Dark Lord had indeed been a half blood. He swirled the brandy in his glass, his fine Manor House was empty now, his son had got himself killed in a pointless duel with a Weasley, of all families to fight. Over a girl he professed to despise, saying she looked like a pig in a wig. Then Narcissa left, his marriage dissolved by her cousin, the Black vaults and riches removed from his reach, and to add insult to injury the dowry reclaimed from his vaults.
The Death Eaters in Azkaban had all been executed, he suspected that Bones bitch in the DMLE. She had spurned him and laughed in his face at school. He had his revenge as they killed her brother and his wife some years later. The brandy was making him feel brave, and less cautious, perhaps he and his friends should don their masks and pay Amelia Bones a visit she would not forget, they would arrive soon, something had to be done. People should bow to Lucius, if they didn’t he would end them, and their families.
The first of his cohorts arrived shortly after he finished the glass of brandy, and the rest flooed in over the next fifteen minutes. Crabbe and Goyle, Nott Senior, The Carrows, Flint, Parkinson, Rosier, Rowle & Travers, Yaxley. Aside from those in Azkaban they had been the Dark Lord’s innermost circle.
In Neverwhen, Harry stood at the table, the floorplan of Malfoy manor laid out and the location of the occupants clear. In the informal drawing room a group of twelve Death Eaters were gathered, in the dungeons two muggleborn teenage girls were tied up, playthings to share later.
Dan and Chris, Dog and Cat, were leading the briefing. They discussed entry points, fields of fire, avoiding friendly fire, and egress and exit methods. Sirius was in awe. He had been in the fore front of the first war, and these two were schooling all of them in methods and techniques they could only have dreamed of. Then they lead them to a mock up of the room, and they ran through the assault over and over again, James, Lily and the Prewitt twins joining them, conjured mannequins acting as the bad guys. Only after the fourth or fifth successful assault without loss, did Cat give them the thumbs up.
They transferred down to the ground near the manor, split into three teams, one to rescue the girls, the other two to hit the Death Eaters. Dan was on overwatch, he grinned when his mate Cat walked across, “Can’t let you have all the fun. This lot have really annoyed the powers that be, you have walking dead fighting with you.” He had the same weapons as Dan, they would cover the outsides, anyone on their list of Death Eaters would receive a headshot.
Dan looked across at his son and daughter, they looked like members of his old squad, Hermione looked like a knife seller, or a circus act. She had taken to knives with a vengeance, with good reason. She had knives on her arms, her webbing. Inside of her pistol holsters and two in the small of her back, she carried a pair of Glock automatics in thigh holsters and third in the small of her back, she alone wore a combat helmet and goggles. Harry was more magical weapons, but he was packing pistols and knives, and a Katana across his back. His parents, James and Lily were stood with them, Lily looked particularly sorted to Dan, hair in a tight bun, pistol strapped to her leg, and wands and knives on her arms.
James, Harry’s father, looked too confident. Dan had kept quiet, but he understood why Lily had rebuffed him so often. Harry was humble, his father was not. Dan actually thought he was a bit of a dick, he would not have passed selection, and if it wasn’t for the fact he was already dead, he would have objected to him coming along. Sirius and Remus were close by, the three of them were a tight knit group. “James.” Dan spoke up, “Your task is to make sure Sirius and Remus walk out of that building still breathing. If there are any of those killing curses, you step in front, you cannot die twice, that’s Harry’s trick.” James looked as if he was going to say something smart back, but Lily nudged him and gave him a look. She was just like Emma and Hermione. “Time for jokes is over. Once we get the go, no jokes, do what must be done, and everyone comes home.
Dobby appeared with three elves, but one popped away, “Sorry Master Harry, he be’s a silly loyal elf.”
Dan nodded to Harry, he and Hermione blinked away, Sam and Sirius threw the anti-apparition and portkey wards up. In London, Sarah casually closed the floo to Malfoy Manor, and picked up a magazine to read. Harry and Hermione appeared at the wardstone for the manor and taped the two backpacks onto each side. They popped back to the rest and Harry flipped open the detonator control and pressed the fire button. Two kilos of military grade explosive turned the wardstone into flour. The house wards dropped like skittles, and the assault teams apparated into their insertion points.
In the dungeon, a swift bombardier and a kick destroyed the door, Samantha and Nymphadora went straight in, grabbed the terrified girls and wearing bracelets keyed to the new wards side-along apparated them straight to the hospital wing at Hogwarts. Nymphadora sent her patronus to Dan to tell him they were successful and clear.
Harry, Hermione and the Prewett twins blew a panel of the wall away on their mark.
Simultaneously on the adjacent wall, at ninety degrees to the others, Sirius, Remus, and the elder Potters blew the doors in.
Hermione and Remus threw in three flash bang grenades each, the resulting concussions leaving most of the occupants reeling.
James stepped in first, Harry had his wand out as the green flashes connected with James, he laughed and stepped into the room, Harry was hit and felt the momentary disconnect of yet another death. Bugger, I’ll be in trouble for that. He fired an overpowered piercing hex at the outline of one of the wizards, and it dropped, another AK splashed across him and he sent the caster on to meet with Susan.
Lucius Malfoy was laughing, eight against twelve, he loosed off three Avada Kedavras before the fools even responded, one was a girl. He would have fun with her, she pointed at him, not even a wand. He saw the red light and the flash and everything ended. A woman with white hair with a black stripe looked at him. “Malfoy,” she said, and hit him with a poker.
Crabbe and Goyle Senior saw the doors blast open and fired AK’s into the gap as quickly as they could fire them off, they hit the two figures in the doorway, but they didn’t drop. Goyle switched to bombardier and diffindo and saw one of the figures drop, before he could target the other he felt something thump him twice in the chest and his vision narrowed and his consciousness faded. He looked at the woman, “Goyle,” she said and a poker laid him low.
The Carrow twins were firing every dark curse in their arsenal at the doorway, and the two redheaded men stood and took it all. Around them their compatriots were trying to get shields or get a clear shot, but the red beam that flicked over them knocked lumps off them like a bombardier. Amycus turned to his left and saw a girl flicking this red light from wizard to wizard, two white flashes and it moved on, he raised his wand Avada Kedavra, he saw the spell hit the woman in the chest. She looked at him and with a hand gesture removed his arm at the shoulder, the red light flicked into his eyes blinding him for a second, and his head exploded. As he died, he wondered who she was.
Alecto felt the death of her twin brother, lover and father to their children. She screamed and lashed out at the figures in the opening sending Avada, after Avada with every ounce of power she had, she saw the male tumble to the ground and turned on the girl only to feel the impact of a knife in her chest, as her life drained away her wand taken from her she looked at the bodies piled around and watched the man she had killed, stand up again.
She met the woman, “The other Carrow,” and was laid out with the poker.
Harry picked himself up, he had taken at least two AK’s from Alecto, and it stung. He was still alive, Hermione would give him so much shit for this he thought to himself. He was wrong, she grabbed him and kissed him passionately. “I am so horny right now, we need to ditch the oldies.”
He started to laugh, and laugh and lost it completely finishing up crying like a baby and four lifetimes of stress poured out. “I love you, you crazy, brainbox. But I need a minute before you ravish me.”
Her laughter started then, edging towards hysteria, a hand on their shoulders, and Cat’s calm scouse accent, “Get out of here youze two, go get a room.” The grinned back at him. “Go check in with Dog face, he will be fretting. Go on, git out of here. We can stage the scene now. How many bodies, has anyone done a head count?”
“We’ve got nine.” A voice said from the room, the smoke still hanging in the air, making the room look eerie and strange.
“Bollox.” Cat turned to the rest, “We have three tangos in the building. Stay in pairs, work together, do not shoot each other.”
Harry took a deep breath, he watched Hermione swap the magazines out on her pistols for fresh ones and run her hands over her knives, checking her weapons. “Still some cleaning up to do then.”
She pulled the goggles back over her eyes, and readjusted her helmet, “Let’s go dish out some death.”
They picked a direction for each pair and headed off into the building, being told an AK would have no impact was one thing. Believing it was another. They walked to the first door, using a version of Homono revelum they were checking for signs of life, they reached the turn in the corridor, with a look Hermione unclipped a flash bang and threw it around the corner, the grenade went off almost simultaneously and Harry dropped to a knee and looked around the corner, a wildly aimed AK flew past him and he dropped the sender with a reducto that blew the man’s chest out. Harry stood and moved forward throwing a lumos into the corner, it was a dead end. He turned to see Hermione grabbed from behind by a brute of a man. Harry raised his wand as the man pressed his wand into her temple.
His victory was short lived as Hermione stabbed him in the thigh with one knife and as his grip momentarily lapsed drove a second into his wand arm paralysing it, and then drove another onto his skull under his chin and he dropped at her feet. “That trick is old, Bellatrix got me once, no dead beat is ever slicing me up again.” She kicked the dying man in the groin hard enough that Harry winced.
Harry thumbed his mike, Dan we have two Tangos, both down, East corridor. Clearing back to centre. No injuries, Harry out.”
“Roger. Received. Sirius and Remus in contact with last Tango, return to staging, Dan out.
Sirius and Remus had split from the Potters, a mistake. They had encountered the last of the Death Eaters, Flint. A vicious and callous killer, he was raining curses at the pair of them with ferocity. He was in a good spot to defend, the columns of the hallway meant he could shift position without exposing himself, and he was moderating the power of each spell. He would not exhaust himself quickly.
Remus and Sirius were at the corner of the corridor, it already looked like a bomb site, shattered statues, and blown plaster littering the floor. They had him trapped, but he had them pinned down. They needed him to move so they could finish this.
The two marauders held a quick conversation, Remus darted from cover to an alcove on the other side and made himself as small as possible as Flint fired of a few blasting curses at him, smashing the walls and the sculptures in their wall sconces. Sirius burst forward to a column closer to him. Flint turned his attention to Sirius, and Remus let fly with a spell chain of cutting, blasting and piercing hexes that reduced the column he was sheltering behind to rubble. Flint had to move to take cover and Sirius moved forward, taking over the job of hurling hexes at Fint as Remus moved up the side of the corridor.
Flint responded by firing a blasting hex into the ceiling bringing half of it down on everyone. Sirius was forced to jump clear of falling beams and Flint took advantage stepping out of cover and hitting him with a cutting curse to the chest. Remus was quick to respond and hit Flint with a reducto to the chest that ended him, his lifeless body toppling into the rubble. Remus ran up to him and put a second through his head to be sure, before scooping his friend up and helping him out of the battle ground. Remus thumbed his mike, “Dan. Remus. We have taken out the Tango, Sirius is injured, but walking. Coming in. Out.”
“Roger. Received Sirius, all Tangos accounted for, Return to staging. Out”
Harry and Hermione arrived back at the staging point, Cat and his parents were there, the Prewett twins stood off to one side, Dan pulled each of them into a bear hug, “The waiting does not get easier.” They smiled back at him, the adrenaline was falling away now and they knew they would crash soon. Remus and Sirius came hobbling into view Remus was helping Sirius walk, and Harry saw the sickly colour of his godfather.
“Are you OK Scooby?” he asked.
He smiled, “It’s nothing, it’s just a flesh wound, I have had worse.” He laughed but it hacked and he coughed up blood as he collapsed. “Hospital wing, Andi will be waiting for incoming.” Dan instructed, Remus responded without arguing and side apparated Sirius to the hospital wing at Hogwarts.
Dan turned to James and Lily. Hermione had seen this Dan before, only once. He was furious. “What the fuck was that Potter? I fucking told you to stay with Sirius, you cannot be fucking killed, but you two fuckwits let the two mortals in the party go off together. The kids are Reapers, you are basically solid ghosts. You should have split one each with those two, AS. I. TOLD. YOU. TO. Now Sirius is injured because you are an arrogant prick. I wish you were alive, so I could kill you myself. I cannot believe how fucking selfish and self centred you are, that you let Harry’s last link to you in this world be injured.
James reared his head back and started to reply, and Dan’s punch put him on the floor. Lily stepped forward eyes blazing to receive a massive slap from an equally furious Hermione. “You are supposed to be the smart one, what the fuck were you thinking.” She stared Lily down, who had the sense to stay quiet. “Who the fuck did you idiots train with, you act like it’s a fucking movie. We have fucking died, so many times because we did stupid noble shit. DO NOT give these fuckers an opening, use every advantage, and you two did what? I am ashamed of you. I thought you were better than that.” She stood staring Lily down, eyes blazing and her magic crackling around her.
Harry walked slowly to her and gently pulled her away, he looked briefly at his mother, but said nothing. Lily felt the dismissal like a knife in her chest and watched as her son and his wife popped away from them. Susan appeared in the group. OK time for everyone to come home, with a wave it was just her and Dan, “Do you need some time to unwind, the kids are back at the cottage, Hermione is basically exploding, I think she needs to vent. How are you?”
“A drink with Chris before I go home would be good, can I let Emma know everyone is OK?”
“Done, and done.” She handed Dan a scotch and his friend clapped him around the shoulder.
“Harry’s dad is a bit of a prize, eh? Twonk’s attitude would get people killed. C’mon mucker, time to get shit faced. Right now, I really regret being dead, since I know Charlotte is still single. I really fucked up there man, you made a good choice, and you are a good dad to that lad. Better than that eejit.”
Dan sighed, “They are kids, we forget, Harry and Hermione are older than James and Lily. They have seen so much fighting, they learned the hard way, they died time after time for their errors. They lost their friends, so they were really motivated and they trained like nobody I have ever seen. James was lucky until he died, we underestimated the training they needed. If Sirius dies, help him give James the spanking he deserves, eh?”
“Hahhah, sorted, but I think Hermione is going to hand him a new one. Harry and her are on another level, if he doesn’t eat shit when she sees him she will decorate the walls with his innards. She told me how losing Sirius broke Harry the last time, and he doesn’t really connect with the Potters, you are his father to him. If Sirius dies, I think Harry will find some way to kill James again.”
Dan blew out a long breath. “Thanks for being here man, I am too fucking old for this shit now. Even knowing that the kids are, I don’t know what they are, unstoppable, Hermione, was a little button nosed bookworm six months ago, now she is some sort of Valkyrie, she would go through a special forces unit like they were children. With Harry and her together, who would stop them. Even so I was nearly puking with worry, it is no good having family in the action, it makes it too hard to be clear headed.”
“It’s done now. The rest is pick ups and traps, no risks needed. This was the statement raid. Let the world know what happens to people like this. Didn’t Harry say something about a holiday? Do you think there would be room for an old dead pal?”
Andromeda stood at the bedside, Sirius had received a deep cutting wound to the chest, and it had taken all her skills to repair the wound. They had filled him with blood replenishing potions and a dose of dreamless sleep, he would be fine by the end of the weekend. She cleaned her robes off and accepted the offer of a drink from Poppy Pomfrey who had assisted her. As she sat for a moment she witnessed Harry and Hermione appear in the ward, still kitted for battle and smelling of smoke and gunpowder and death. Harry spun to face Andi, “How is he?”
She stood, “He is resting now, he will be asleep for twenty four hours whilst he heals, but you can visit after then, please dress a little more like a schoolboy, than a soldier, when you call next.” She finished talking with a smile. “What happened to Sirius?”
“My idiot father was supposed to be paired with him, and Lily with Remus, but they let Sirius and Remus go off together and Sirius got tagged. They are the only two of the team that were actually mortal. James was told to shield Sirius, to take any lethal curses, and he goofed off. I discovered today that my father is a bit of a jerk.”
“He always was very sure of himself, but don’t be too hard on him. The magical world can fix so many serious injuries so easily it makes them take stupid risks that mundane people would consider insanity.”
Hermione huffed, “If Sirius had died, I would resurrect James and kill him again. I watched Harry break when Sirius went through the veil, last time, we don’t need that this time because James doesn’t think things through.” She folded her arms scowling.
“May I recommend that you two go off somewhere, get showered, get drunk, get laid and blow off steam, you are both still strung out and you need to come down from where you are.” Andi gave them both a look, and waved her hands, “Away now, if a pupil comes in and sees you two, there will be questions.” The pair disappeared.
------oooOOOooo------
Harry was laid on a hammock strung between a pair of palm trees at the edge of the beach. The sun had set on the island they were alone on, the sky was full of stars and the moon was rising out of the sea on the horizon. Harry watched as Hermione walked up out of the surf in her orange bikini contrasting her coffee coloured skin, he stared at his wife’s shapely figure as she walked up the beach towards him, her hips swinging, and water droplets running down her skin. She climbed into the hammock with him, her wet hair and body chilling his ardour a little. They kissed for a while then she stood and taking his hand led him to the beach shack, “Wash my hair for me love?”
Harry laughed, “I think I can manage that.” He followed her around to the outdoor shower that the shack used, and set the shower running, the cool water coursed over their bodies as he took his time and worked the shampoo into the mass of hair, and then rinsed and applied conditioner, Hermione leaning back against his chest and almost purring with pleasure. He unfastened the top of her bikini and slowly soaped her body, his swim shorts and her briefs ending up in the shower tray as the soaping became less about cleaning and more about pleasure.
Hermione was the first to wake in the morning and brought fresh coffees to the bed they had shared. “I am struggling with the idea of going back to little me, I don’t really care about studying the method of transfiguring a rock into a rabbit, when I can do it with a thought already. We need to finish this soon, and talk with Susan about what we do next. I don’t think I can do six years of school, when we overmatch the professors. What do you think?”
Hermione was standing talking to him naked, and Harry wasn’t really capable of serious thought if he was honest with himself, “Errr. No, going back to schoolboy Harry does not appeal, not when you are standing there starkers and sending me cross-eyed with desire for you.”
Hermione smiled a wry grin, nudity wins arguments, noted! “Do you want me to get dressed, or climb back into bed?” Harry flipped the cover over in invitation.
------oooOOOooo------
The Daily Prophet carried the News of the Death Eaters found killed at Malfoy Manor. The DMLE were investigating but the story being fed to the press was that Lucius Malfoy had been dealing with muggle drug dealers and they had died in a deal gone wrong.
Amelia sat at her desk, Cornelius was sitting across from her blustering “Madame Bones, the Auror Corps should put every available man on the case, we must leave no stone unturned to find the killers of these fine men, these bastions of the Magical Community.”
Amelia leaned onto her elbows and steepled her fingers, “Cornelius. Stop. We both know Lucius Malfoy had kidnapped two muggleborn teenage witches and was going to use them as playthings before killing them and disposing of the bodies. Every single body in that manor had a dark mark. They met their match that night, our investigations show most of them died as a result of mundane firearms. If it was a drug, or slavery deal gone bad, they were taken out by a team of professionals. The hit team most likely left the country straight away and we will never ever bring anyone in over this.” She sat back and sipped her coffee as she watched the man’s face for a moment.
“If you intend to stay as Minister, you need to read the room. Someone is removing blood purity extremists from the board, the magical world is being pushed to move forward. These backward looking laws that were being heralded, they place us at a disadvantage compared to other nations. Mundane technologies should be embraced, so called muggleborns should be celebrated. Trying to insist that over sixty million people should bend the knee to a few thousand magicals is a good way to bring about another era of witch hunts. Dolores was the worst of the worst, a half blood, lying about her origins, and persecuting people like her own father. One of my nieces classmates is a muggleborn, she is easily the standout pupil in her year according to Susan, and is Harry Potter’s girlfriend to boot.”
“Well, be that as it may, but we have survived hundreds of years without needing muggles, and I am confident we shall survive many more. Now you have your instructions, Madame Bones, I await the results of your investigations.” He rose and left the room. She pondered to herself, So, part of the problem then Mr Fudge, I will investigate the Malfoy Manor attack, and since I have a Ministerial Instruction, I can contact Gringotts for the details of the transactions from the Malfoy vaults, and if that leads me to you Cornelius, all the better. She returned to the pile of reports and opened a letter addressed to her.
Madame Bones.
It has come to our attention that Barty Crouch Junior, is not buried at Azkaban as believed, but is being kept under an imperious curse by his father at their home. The body in the Prison graveyard is his mother, who used Polyjuice to replace him.
Best Regards
The Grimm Reapers.
She didn’t really understand the joke at the end, but realising who it was from, she sent a couple of old hands to pop around to see how Barty was doing in semi-retirement. The man was an arse, but a hardline one, he had pushed back at the Death Eaters in his day, and the Azkaban prison had been filled on his watch. Dumbledore’s continued pleas for leniency had prevented them being executed, but that had been taken care of.
------oooOOOooo------
Albus Dumbledore was sitting at his kitchen table with a modest breakfast and was reading the Daily Prophet, he had lived for so long at Hogwarts his own house had taken some time to bring back up to a standard that he felt acceptable. To add further insult to unacceptable levels of personal affront he had received in the last few weeks, he had been removed from the ward scheme at the castle, the Elves no longer answered his summons, and when he had tried to access the castle he had bounced off the wards. He was having to prepare food for himself for the first time in over seventy years. Well, he was having to pay for it for the first time in over seventy years.
He was reading the report of the raid on the Malfoy manor, twelve dead Death Eaters, including most of the inner circle. This was the work of Sirius Black, he was convinced, Young Harry was being deflected form the light and to the path of darkness. This must be stopped, Young Harry would not fulfil his destiny, if he failed to sacrifice himself as the prophecy required, then the next dark wizard would rise. He would have to act to bring Young Harry back onto the path his destiny required.
He must remove him from these influences and guide him to the conclusion that he, Albus Dumbledore had determined to be the correct outcome for the best, it was for the Greater Good. He sat and pondered over how and where he would be able to gain access to Young Harry, perhaps taking the Granger girl, Harmony, Ermine, something like that would make him pliable. She was muggle raised, no one would miss her.
He would confer with his supporters they could be relied upon to see the truth, and not be fooled by dramatic headlines in the papers. We would gather his most trusted friends, they would understand that Young Harry must be brought under Albus’s control, for his own good. He drank his tea and made his plans.
------oooOOOooo------
Hermione had created a map table that tracked Dark Marks, the mark was keyed to Riddle and tied the wearer to him at the most basic level, using his magic, his very essence and the Soul Magic she had learned on the Disc, she had charmed the table top in DEATH’s office to display the location and identity of wearers of the marks. She was sitting in the office, wearing sweatpants and a hoody, her hair in a huge bun over her head, watching a marker with the name ‘Dolohov’ traverse a park in the centre of Wroclaw, Poland.
Harry was standing in his black combat gear opposite. She looked at the way the tee shirt fitted his chest, and the way the combat trousers clung to his rather nicely shaped butt. She took a breath, concentrate Hermione, take out the trash, then have a treat. She zoomed the view onto the park and Harry shrugged into his webbing, they were both of the opinion that muggle military equipment was the best option, and most magicals really did not have a defence for simple attacks with knives or guns.
“Ready?”
Harry was patting himself down, muttering a checklist as he made sure he had everything, he picked up the HK from the bag and snapped it into the clips on the front of his webbing, and pulled its strap over his head. He pulled on the helmet and grinned at Hermione, “Ready as I will ever be.”
She tapped the table at the location and Harry was ported into cover behind some bushes, dropping into a crouch and disillusioning himself, he heard Dolohov talking. He was trying to offer his services to a local trafficker, telling him he could make ‘the young bitches’ do anything they wanted. Harry had a silencing field up around himself, he reported back to Hermione what he was hearing.
“Take them all, make it look like a deal gone bad.”
Harry popped the flash bang into the centre of the group, and it exploded as soon as it appeared, a few feet above the ground, disoriented and blinded they staggered back, Dolohov tried to apparate but a group of 9mm bullets to the chest made that difficult to complete. Harry broke cover and used a pistol to put the sex slave traffickers down, he removed all the bullets with a gesture and apparated away as the last slavers life ebbed away.
“Any more for tonight?”
“Snape is in Paris. He is looking for someone I think?”
“Better to get them all then, unless you want to be rid of the Bat?”
“We can wait, go get a shower, I will be along to wash your back in a moment.”
Harry smiled as he stripped, and with a touch of magic, cleaned the guns, before stashing them in the rack. He caught Hermione around the waist and gave her a kiss, “shower, you stink of gun oil and smoke.” She said.
“Sexy isn’t it?”
“Yes. So go get naked.”
------oooOOOooo------
Neville sat between his parents, his mother sometimes responded to his voice, his father rarely reacted. They were in a private room at St. Mungo’s and had been for the last ten years. He was reading the paper to them, a report from the Polish Authorities that Dolohov had been killed. This made the tally of Death Eaters meeting fatal ends around Europe reach sixteen, The paper noted that all the deaths could be explained as gangland turf wars, but it speculated how many of Voldemort’s old supporters were still breathing and how much longer that would be the case. Neville noted that they used his name, no more ‘He-who-must-not-be-named’ nonsense.
The door opened and Neville watched as Harry and Hermione walked in. Older Harry and Hermione. Neville blushed, he had a massive crush on older Hermione, he liked his friend Hermione, but her adult shape captivated him, she was fierce and beautiful. A warrior, she was a fantasy image made flesh. Harry grinned, he knew Nev had the hots for Hermione, in a few years the girls in his group of friends would all be beauties, and Neville would be hard pressed to choose. He wondered who he would be with in years to come.
“Neville, can I have your permission to try to find your parents consciousness?”
“Err, sorry, Hermione.” Her figure hugging jeans had almost wiped Neville’s cognitive skills. “Yes, anything to try and help.” She smiled at their friend, she knew he was a bit soft on her at the minute, and he was a sweet child, she didn’t want to hurt his feelings.
Hermione walked around the far side of the bed to look at his mother, bending over in front of Neville was probably pushing the young lad too far. She held her head and with her thumbs opened her eyelids and pushing her magic into Alice, slipped into her mind.
It was dark and silent. Hermione cast a mental ‘lumos’ and created a werelight that floated over the mindscape. It was barren, there was nothing to see. She floated her perception point up and mentally flew in ever increasing circles looking for any sign of occupancy. She searched for what felt like an eternity, she found nothing, she had flown around the planet of this mindscape she thought.
Hermione stopped, the darkness surrounded her, a pool of wan light around her imagined light source. She studied the ground upon which her imagined form stood. It was made of hand sized hexagons. Millions of them. Was this the shield? She probed at it with her mind, she stilled herself, and concentrated on her love for Harry, and her friendship with Neville, and pushed the feelings into the floor. It changed colour, like oil on water, a rainbow of colours appeared, rippling out around her she concentrated on Neville, showing the image of him checking out her bum from earlier that evening, showing him sat with Daphne, Tracey, Katie, Luna, Harry, Suzy, Hannah, Dean, Seamus, Padma and Parvati, his friends and trying to capture the fondness everyone held him in.
Chinks of light started to show around the tiles making up the floor, Hermione recalled all Nevilles terrible jokes for the last six months, then she showed the image of older Neville standing up to Voldemort and wielding the sword of Gryffindor against Nagini.
Alice stood in front of her within her mindscape. “Alice, come home, come and meet your son, he is a friend and a hero. Be proud of who he is.”
She felt rather than heard the question. “I am Harry’s wife. Your godson, Lily’s boy. We have lived our lives over a few times now, we want to help our dear friend Neville, even if he is staring at my bum right now.”
Alice laughed as the image accompanied the thought, “He is noticing girls already?”
“They will soon notice him, he grows tall and handsome. He is a true gentleman. Time to wake up, Bellatrix is dead.”
She felt the fear, and the question, and shared the memory. “Alice startled, but then smiled and the pair hugged inside her mind, Hermione eased back out, and as she did she saw comprehension return to Alice’s sight. “Nev, if you can tear your eyes off my arse, your mum would like to say hello.”
Harry snorted in response, “Busted Nev. Honestly, eyes in the back of her head.” He snickered.
Alice rolled her head to one side. “Neville?” he reached out and hugged his mother, tears rolling down his face and sobbing. Hermione looked at Harry and with her eyes and a head nod told him it was time to leave.
“Nev, Alice, I am done today, I will come back and see if I can find Frank next week. Get well.”
Neville looked up, his face tear stained, “Thank you, Hermione, thank you.” She reached out and holding his head in both hands, kissed his forehead.
“My pleasure Neville, you are a true friend. Always.” She stood and they slipped out of the room.
------oooOOOooo------
Alastair ‘Mad-Eye’ Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt walked in through the Bull pen, in front of them in supressing cuffs, where the Crouches, father and Son. The room fell silent as the gathered Aurors recognised Barty Crouch Junior, back from the dead. The murmuring started, and Amelia stepped out of her office. Moody growled at Amelia, “I will put them both in holding, or should I take junior straight to the veil?”
“Holding, Statements first, we need to sort security at Azkaban, then we can deal with a trial for Senior, and carry out any sentences on both as appropriate.” She looked at Junior. “Your lord and master, the Dark Tosser is gone Barty. He is never coming back, but you will meet him soon enough.”
Junior ranted at Amelia, but no sound came out, Shack pushed him forwards and looking at his boss said, “He is completely mad. We had to put a silencing charm on him to be able to think.”
------oooOOOooo------
The Great Hall was buzzing, a myriad of conversations going off at once as the students met up in groups ready to head into Hogsmead later in the morning. Harry glanced at the top table, one or two of the professors were eating, most were absent, on this Saturday morning in late March.
After breakfast Harry and Hermione led Luna out to the carriages and jumped into the front one which set off for the village immediately. The three of them chatted away about which shops they would visit first, and what they wanted to buy, and in no time at all they arrived at the village. They jumped down from the carriage and Luna pulled a bundle of napkins from her coat pocket and fed the thestral with some meat she must have brought from the hall. She stroked the creatures head as it ate, and Harry found himself regarding it as a quite attractive and noble creature, compared to the first time he had seen one, when he had been mildly disgusted by its appearance. As he stood in thought it nuzzled his chest, “Sorry there, I didn’t think to bring anything, I will get you something from the three broomsticks when we come back.” The thestral snorted a reply, that Harry took to be scepticism.
They headed into the village proper, and to the Tomes and Scrolls bookshop, Harry glanced at Hermione, “Order your books and we can pick them up on the way out, rather than carry them all the way around the village.”
“It’s OK, I can either shrink them, or get Dobby to collect them.” She replied.
After almost two hours of Hermione and an equally focused Luna looking at every book in the shop, they finally reached the counter, and it was Dobby that appeared to take the purchases away.
“Shall we go and get some lunch, or is there another shop you want to visit before that?”
They visited Scrivenshaft’s quill store and bought quills and some inks, Harry grumbled about preferring a notebook and a biro, but still bought a few quills. Hermione was fussing over some fancy patterned parchment and envelopes. Luna had found some enchanted paper butterflies that were flying around her head and the shop was filled with the sounds of her laughter.
They left the shop and walked towards the Three Broomsticks and some lunch, as they passed one of the alleys between buildings Luna was hit with a stunning spell, and as Hermione spun to face the direction of the attack she felt the tug of a portkey and the world went black.
Harry fired a stunner at the attacker as it apparated away, and as he turned to check on Hermione he saw a brief image of Hermione and a wizard as a portkey took them away.