Disclaimer: It's JKR's world not mine, I would think that was obvious by now.
A/N: No newts were harmed in the writing of this chapter.
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Hermione slowly opened her eyes, blinking the sleep away as she fought for consciousness. As she gazed around the room she remembered her circumstances. The group had all converged on Harry's new home to celebrate Christmas and reconnect after two and a half years of being separated due to the corruption of the British Ministry of Magic.
The only problem was now that Harry's stint in Azkaban had changed him irrevocably, not only in terms of the way he now wielded magic, but also in terms of how he kept everyone since their arrival at an arms length. They had all talked about the directions their lives were heading, but Harry's plans always seemed so vague and disconnected as if his reactions to everything were well rehearsed without the favor of being genuine.
The old Hermione, the one who had pushed Harry to make up with Ron during the Tri-wizard tournament, was no longer the person she used to be. Of course two years of being somewhat friendless again had made her a littler harder to the realities oft Wizarding Britain. Now she just wanted Harry to move beyond his apparent emotional disconnect, but she wouldn't press him until he bent to her will. As she rolled out of her bed Hermione grabbed a change of clothes and planned on devising a plan to just be around Harry, hoping her proximity would be enough to open up her best friend.
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Harry turned his wand over in his hand as he gazed out into the clearing beyond his house. In one direction Harry could see acres and acres of wetlands and rainforests to the south, and if he were to spin around he would be able to see the beautiful blue water of the Arafura Sea. It was a rare day of sun during the lead up to the traditional wet season, and Harry planned on enjoying it as he prepared for a bit of a hike, and he was waiting to see if anyone would be up to joining him.
He reached down to sip his tea and he felt someone else approach, and he casually said, "Good morning."
Hermione walked softly up to her friend and smiled softly before taking the seat next to him, a position they would often take back in their days at Hogwarts. Harry poured her a cup of tea and she took it gratefully, blowing on the hot liquid before she commented, "It's a beautiful morning."
Harry merely nodded and replied, "If what the locals told me is true, we don't get many days like this once the wet season starts up. I was thinking of taking a bit of a hike into Kakadu while the weather holds up. According to the radio the real nasty weather starts rolling in the end of the week."
Hermione hummed her agreement before she took a sip of her tea, ever since agreeing to move to Australia she had read every book she could find about the country. Softly she commented, "Sirius, Remus, and Tonks already had plans, something about taking a portkey into Sydney. My mum and dad planned on relaxing today and staying around your house. But, if you don't mind I'd like to join you on the hike."
Harry smiled slightly and turned his gaze over to Hermione, she was already dressed by necessity for the humid weather, wearing khaki shorts and a cut-off t-shirt. While he wasn't staring unabashedly he could still clearly see the straps and sides of the bright blue bra she wore underneath. Off handed he mentioned, "You might want to grab some hiking boots then, otherwise you like fine."
Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled, "Glad to see I meet your standards then." Hermione looked over at Harry in return and noticed the tight t-shirt he wore and the pair of shorts he had on were similar in style to her own. Her friend had grown into a very fanciable young man, and she wondered once again at the cruelty of fate, not allowing Harry to deal with these changes like many other young people had.
Feeling impulsively protective of her friend she leaned over and gave him a peck on his cheek, prompting the small smile on his face to blossom and he blushed lightly, which pleased her for reasons she wasn't exactly sure of. Harry canted his head and asked, "What was that for?"
Hermione merely smiled as she reached over to grab a couple of pieces of toast, "You pack some food while I go get my boots, and I'll tell you when I get back."
As she stood and walked away from the table nibbling on a piece of toast Harry shook his head and sighed in bemusement, Dobby popped into place next to him, "Does Master Harry request Dobby make him and his Hermione friend some food for a picnic?"
Harry nodded slowly and replied, "That would be nice Dobby. Make sure you pack us plenty of fresh water also, and keep it under the cooling charm. After you're done feel free to take the rest of the day off, maybe work on some more of your art that you've been doing." Dobby bobbed his head rapidly before vanishing once again with a pop; Harry had grown rather fond of the little elf since he first arrived in Azkaban with food.
The more time he spent with Dobby the more parallels he saw between himself and the little elf. Shaken those thoughts off he finished off the rest of his tea stood from the table and did some light stretching in preparation for the hike.
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Hermione gazed at the ancient pictures of the Aborigines in awe, she had seen pictures of similar examples, but these rocks and the stories told by the drawings on them were distinctly magical in nature.
Harry stood close by and focused on the pictures, trying to derive some meaning from the story depicted before he softly murmured, "We make our own destiny."
Hermione turned to Harry in surprise, "What do you mean?"
Harry merely replied, "The story, it tells of a prophecy and a shaman who wasn't willing to follow the prophecy just for the sake of completing the prophecy. He found something greater to drive his journey; the fulfillment of the prophecy was merely a side effect of his journey."
Hermione nodded and leaned over into Harry, resting her head on his shoulder. She was just barely tall enough to manage the feat, and she was surprised when Harry's arm wrapped around her waist. The pictures were beautiful in both an aesthetic way, and it what they represented. She was happy she could share this with Harry, and all she knew was that it made her feel warm inside, and for now that was enough.
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Ron kicked at the loose thread on the throw rug in the parlor room at Grimmauld Place; in a way he felt the unraveling rug was an apt metaphor for his own life at this point. Hogwarts had been shut down due to the ever increasing threat of Voldemort, and the Professional Quidditch season had been postponed for the first time in over one hundred years. He had tried to contact the minister to arrange a meeting with Harry, but his mother had forbid him or Ginny from leaving the safe confines of Grimmauld Place.
Of course, safety was a relative thing at this point in time, with new deaths of secondary Order members being whispered about in the same breath as the death of new recruits from Voldemort. Instead all Ron and Ginny could manage to get were somewhat irregular reports from their older siblings. Even the twins were full fledged Order members, and they were often working on magical aids that would help the Order win the war. Gone were the completely carefree pranksters his brothers had once been, a certain feeling of serious thought had seeped into their very manner at this point.
Dumbledore had disappeared with Flitwick on some sort of a search for objects capable of defeating Voldemort, and that was all the more anyone knew. His father had also simply taken him aside one day and told him it was likely the ministry would fall very soon, and Scrimgeour's faction would likely be destroyed.
There was no training going on for those considered too young to fight in the war, although Ron imagined that had more to do with his mother than it being a rule the Order followed. He knew for certain that several other older Gryffindors beyond his family were involved in the resistance somehow.
As he kicked at the loose thread some more Ron wondered how Harry and Hermione were doing right now, if nothing else they weren't trapped in a depressing house with nothing else to do other than live vicariously through the Order members allowed outside. Ron grunted and stood, maybe his mum had decided to bake up some cookies for the visiting Order members and he could sneak a couple without her noticing.
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Albus Dumbledore felt the great fatigue a normal wizard his age might feel just waking up and go about their typical day. Of course knowing his own relative abilities and strength it was more a testament to the seemingly endless challenges he and his colleague Filius Flitwick had found themselves in since taking up the quest to discover and destroy the remainder of the tethers that Tom Riddle had keeping him somewhat immortal.
Albus slowly shook the wrinkles from his robes and flicked his wand, the elder wand starting the water on the small range to boil. Another flick of his wand sent an alarm spell to wake Filius up. In their time over the last several months they had managed to destroy Ravenclaw's diadem, Hufflepuff's cup, Slytherin's locket, and Gaunt's Ring had been discovered the past day, but had yet to be destroyed. While he had no verification that Harry's scar horcrux was gone, he lacked the resources to do much about it.
Filius Flitwick limped out of his partition within the tent the only sound needed to detect his arrival the thump of his cane as he limped towards Dumbledore. "Good morning Albus, shall we dispatch with the final unattached piece of that monster's soul today?"
Dumbledore merely nodded as he sipped on his tea, he was well aware of the other powers of the ring and wanted to be rid of the temptation it possessed as quickly as possible. He considered himself a man with a strong constitution but some temptations were too great to be overcome with will alone.
Flitwick poured himself his own cup of tea and the only sounds for a few minutes were the slurps of two men who had no desire for perfect manners, and merely desired time to reflect.
After a few minutes Flitwick propped himself up using his cane and declared, "You put the wards up Albus, and I shall cast Fiendfyre on the ring this time."
Dumbledore acquiesced with a flick of his wand and he placed the ring on the now warded table. Without even sparing a moment Flitwick summoned the mystical flame with great precision and within a few minutes the entire ring, even the enchantments placed on the ring by death itself were gone, leaving a much more hopeful pair looking to the final step of their journey; The final duel with Tom Riddle, and the end of his reign of death and destruction.
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Harry slashed his wand violently and a purple flame erupted from his wand prompting one of his attackers to conjure a shield which gonged loudly when the curse hit it before it finally crumbled under the power of the spell. Another attacker sent a wave of conjured needles at Harry but he merely flicked his wand and rolled away as the needles turned into ping pong balls.
Next all three attackers concentrated spell fire on Harry as he wandlessly conjured a shield and sent a variety of curses back using his wand.
The exchange of spells continued until all three attackers had been effectively incapacitated in multiple ways each. Harry walked up to the three attackers and smirked before he asked, "So, are we done for the day yet?"
With a flick of his wand the attackers were unbound and mostly cured of their various afflictions, Sirius groaned at the large handlebar mustache he was currently sporting, and the variety of other aches he was currently sporting. Remus had to deal with having his feet switched with his hands, a fact which made grasping his own wand impossible as it hadn't gone along with his hand. Tonks, the cheerful bubbly auror Harry had met shortly before his fateful trial had become wrapped up in her clothes literally, and her metamorph abilities were providing no real relief from the torment.
Sirius finally managed to reverse the various spells on his person and groaned, "Merlin, give him his NEWT results, tell him he is the strongest wizard in the world and how does he repay you? With endless torture through handlebar moustache."
Harry grinned unrepentantly, the months in Australia had lightened his demeanor considerably, of course dating Hermione and having to deal with weekly trips from the marauders to duel made life much more enjoyable.
Tonks sighed and used her power to reverse her shoulder joints, providing sufficient relief to cancel the spells on her clothes without going starkers like she had to a few weeks earlier. Taking pity on her boyfriend she cast the switching spell on Remus and he was once again able to take advantage of his opposable thumbs and fingers to make some choice gestures to Harry as he reversed the other spells on his person.
Tonks also added, "Wotcher, take away one piece of a dark lord's soul from the bloke and he suddenly develops a sense of humor."
Harry merely shook his head and walked back towards his house from the crude dueling area he had sketched out a few months earlier.
The three followed Harry into his house where Dobby had placed several glasses and a large pitcher of lemonade out for consumption along with a variety of fresh fruit.
Sirius was the nest one inside and immediately grabbed a banana and began to munch before he commented to Harry, "I still don't understand why you feel the need to go back to Britain and deal with Voldemort."
Harry wagged his finger as Tonks and Remus closed the door behind them and quietly grabbed some food and drink and snapped back in reply, "I want that chapter of my life to be over before I think about moving on from fully from that island. If what you've heard from the Order members is right, Dumbledore and Flitwick have done all of the legwork dealing with the other soul pieces. It doesn't take a genius to guess that if Voldemort isn't killed sooner he'll come back to bite me in the ass later."
Sirius sighed but didn't disagree as Harry continued in a more sedate tone, "I promised myself when I left Britain last time that I would never go back. But, with what I know now I need to deal with this last thing, and then I can wash my hands of the entire chapter in my life. I know Hermione would prefer I didn't bother, but I refuse to live a minute of my life looking over my shoulder and wondering if he could come after me. I'll burn out the real nut jobs in the death eater ranks, and then finish off Riddle once and for all. After that, then I can finally start living the life I want to without any of the taint that seems to follow me around."
No one else had anything to say to that and eventually the conversation moved on to safer areas, such as teasing Harry about his relationship with Hermione and threatening Sirius with a flea bath.
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Harry apparated from the large sailboat he had stowed away on over a day earlier, the boat was nearing the Hammersmith Bridge and his destination was a certain house held under the same Fidelius charm that Harry had experienced years earlier. Thankfully, even with Snape's apparent defection Sirius had informed Harry that Dumbledore had placed several contingencies on the Order's loyalty documents preventing the spy from returning or alluding to the location even if he desired to.
Opting for safety over expedience Harry made two shorter apparition jumps, taking care to use the cloaking spell to prevent detection from the puppet Ministry of Magic following Scrimgeour's apparent "retirement" two months earlier. It was just another reason why Harry had no interest to spend any longer in this country than was absolutely necessary. If an entire government could rise on the ideals of Voldemort, then it wasn't simply a problem that could be solved by killing the dark wizard and his most zealous followers.
With his second jump Harry popped right into the entrance room at Grimmauld Place and immediately had 5 different wands pointed at his person. With a negligent wave of his hand they all flew to his feet and he simply said, "I need to speak to Dumbledore."
The only individual Harry recognized was Bill Weasley, and that had been a relatively brief meeting five years earlier before they had made the trip to the Quidditch World Cup. Gone was the angry young man that had last visited here a few years back, instead this was a tall and lean wizard who simply reeked of power and a subtle hint of menace.
Deciding to move things along he ordered, "Bill Weasley, send word along to whomever needs to hear it, but I expect an audience with Dumbledore within the hour."
A sandy haired wizard tried to protest but the others merely moved aside as Harry walked deeper into the dark building intent on finding a snack as he bided his time. He glanced around, noting that Mrs. Black's portrait was gone, and most of the darker objects he remembered had been replaced by more contemporary magical objects such as a Weird Sisters Poster.
As he prepared to move to the kitchen a red haired missile wrapped around him, noting the feel of two firm breasts squashed against his stomach he realized that at the very least Ginny Weasley was staying at the house, much as she had before.
Harry firmly pried her arms away and nodded, "Nice to see you too Ginny. I'm off to grab a spot to eat in the kitchen if you'd care to join me, you're more than welcome."
Ginny flushed red but smiled uncertainly as she stepped into line behind Harry, none-too-subtly checking him out as they moved along. Harry suppressed a smirk, it seemed some things hadn't really changed at all in the past four years, of course if Hermione was here, she might not take to the situation quite so kindly.
As he stepped into the kitchen another familiar face greeted him as Ron sat in a chair by the main table munching on a bag of crisps. His eyes widened comically taking in this new and improved Harry and he flowed to his feet and reached out with his hand. Harry pumped Ron's hand twice firmly before pulling his hand back, "Ron." He acknowledged before making over towards the conventional muggle refrigerator, an apparent concession to modern technology that someone had managed to rig to work.
Harry swung open the door and grabbed some sandwich materials and a can of muggle soda that had somehow found its way into Grimmauld Place. Quickly putting together a club sandwich with ample materials Harry dug into his first real food in over a day due to his need to travel incognito into Britain.
The youngest Weasleys didn't seem to exactly know what to say so they merely watched as Harry devoured the large sandwich and washed it down with his soda. As he finished he casually noted, "So, I see you didn't take me up on my offer."
Ron looked chagrined as Ginny just looked confused so Harry explained, "That letter I sent after I got out of Azkaban. It had instructions and an offer for your entire family to leave Britain to get free and clear of the war."
Ginny's mouth was open with shock at the revelation before Ron sheepishly replied, "Dumbledore took the letter away before I got a real good look at it, and mum told me not to mention it again."
Harry merely shrugged in response and stood to take care of his dishes before scrounging for something else to eat as he waited. Ron's story had confirmed his suspicions and while he didn't blame his old friend, on the same tangent, it wasn't an offer that would be repeated.
The door to the kitchen swung open and Harry didn't need to turn from where he was looking for food to know who had just arrived.
In a very cool tone he greeted the new arrival, "Hello Dumbledore."
A/N: You had to know that the chapter was going to end there, didn't you?
I answer to some of the reviews I will say this about the story. These characters are meant to be somewhat more likable than their canon counterparts, yes even Dumbledore. I'd like to think the scene with Flitwick shows Dumbledore in a much more positive light then he ended with in canon. Of course, in my opinion DH had numerous plot holes, and by the end of the book there wasn't a single character I really and truly liked.
Next chapter you will begin to see why the title of the story is Dark Recompense, and you'll see that Harry isn't nearly as light hearted as he might have appeared in this chapter.
Thanks to all of the numerous reviewers, and while Harry isn't a newt yet…I make no guarantees what his animagus form might end up being, but newt is still a possibility…