Chapter Seven
That afternoon, Katie had arranged for their first Quidditch training session. They were missing one Chaser and the Keeper, but when Neville and Luna volunteered to stand in, the team was complete.
As they made their way down to the pitch Katie told them what she would like to focus on.
"Harry, you and the twins need to spend your time practicing with the snitch and Bludgers. If you can learn to avoid them whilst searching for the snitch, it will allow you to move faster when you need to.
"Ginny, you will be practicing with Neville, Luna and I on your chaser skills. Neville, would you be keeper, please?" asked Katie.
"No problem," Neville replied. He had never played Keeper before, but decided that it shouldn't be too hard. He soon regretted thinking that as he watched the Chaser's approaching him and high speed.
While the twins were smashing the Bludgers towards Harry as hard as they could, Harry was carefully searching for the snitch. He realized quickly that his Phoenix abilities gave him a massive advantage because he could sense what was happening around him. He knew exactly where each player was and, more importantly, where each of the different balls were. He wasn't sure if that was cheating or not, but before he could answer his own question, Ginny did it for him.
'Harry, I don't think it is cheating to use the abilities you have been given.'
'I guess not, after all they have not failed us yet,' replied Harry happily.
It was then that Ginny realized that she was also able to see the same thing as Harry; she could see everything that was happening around her. As they were practicing, she knew immediately when Katie or Luna released the Quaffle towards her and was able to grab it.
As Ginny continued to play Harry decided to give her some competition and told the twins to start directing the Bludgers at her instead. He then got Remus and Sirius into the air as Chasers with him so that Ginny would not only have to practice the various moves that Katie had for her but would also have to avoid the opposition.
Ginny was in her element as the session progressed; she quickly used her Phoenix abilities to her advantage as she dodged around the Bludgers. The only player who was able to keep up with her was Harry and he wasn't holding back. By the end of the session, she was able to perform all of the simple chaser moves that Katie knew and was already progressing onto the more advanced ones. Several hours later they all landed back on the pitch, Maxim appeared with a large tray of drinks for them which they grabbed immediately.
"Are you sure you never played Chaser before?" asked Katie as they showered.
"Never," replied Ginny.
"Well, you are certainly a natural. I never expected you to be able to perform so well already," Katie told her as they finished their showers and got dressed.
"I wasn't sure if I would enjoy playing Chaser at first but once Harry and the others started playing against us it really made me realize just how exciting it can be," replied Ginny happily.
They continued to talk all the way back to the castle. Just as they were about to enter, Harry appeared upside down in front of her and gently kissed her.
"Well done," he said as he got off the broom after their kiss. "I have no doubt that we are going to wipe the floor this year."
They walked hand in hand back to their room so they could spend some time relaxing before falling asleep.
The next morning, Remus and Tonks spent the session reviewing the charms that were taught to the first year Auror's. Most of them involved changing their appearance, or the more advanced forms of the Disillusionment charm they already knew. They explained the advantages of being able to change their appearance at will, and that it was imperative that they learn to do them silently.
"Remember, just changing your appearance isn't going to help you if you don't also change your voice. This is especially important when around people who know you," explained Tonks as they continued to learn the spells.
"Is there any spells that can help?" asked Hermione as she changed her hair color.
"There are some but you have to be careful with them. If you don't cast them correctly you could cause more problems for yourself. Unfortunately the first time you may know it didn't work correctly is when you talk and if there is a Death Eater present it may be too late to react," Tonks replied.
"What if we were to create some potions that could change our voices?" asked Harry.
"That's brilliant," exclaimed Tonks with excitement. "If you had a potion then as long as it was brewed correctly you could guarantee the voice would be the same each time."
Tonks turned around to talk with Hermione only to find her searching through a Potion book already.
"Well I guess we don't need to ask who is going to research that," joked Tonks causing Hermione to blush slightly.
With Hermione off in full research mode the others continued to practice the new spells and it didn't take long for them to get the hang of them. Towards the end of the session each of them were able to completely transform their body's as needed, it wasn't quite as effective as Polyjuice potion but unless you looked very closely you would not know.
Tonks realized the twins where having too much fun with the transformations as they where now impersonating Fudge and making a speech about The boy who lived'.
"Okay, I think we have had enough for today. Remember the faster you can perform the transformations the better, and unlike Polyjuice potion it will not wear off until cancelled. Of course someone else could also cancel the spells so it is imperative that you are careful," Tonks told them.
As the others were leaving the room, Tonks asked to talk privately with Harry.
"Anything wrong, Tonks?" asked Harry.
"Nothing, Harry, I was just observing you during the lesson and noticed that both you and Ginny were able to perform the appearance changes much faster than any of the others."
"Oh? I didn't really notice," replied Harry.
"Can I ask you some questions?" asked Tonks.
"Of course," Harry said while sitting down.
"When was the last time you had a haircut?"
Harry thought for a moment before realizing that he had never had one, "The only time I recall was when Aunt Petunia cut it all off because it was so messy."
"What happened after that?" asked Tonks.
"When I woke up the next morning, it had all grown back again," Harry told her thinking back to when that had happened.
Ginny had reappeared in the room while they were talking and settled down in Harry's lap.
"Harry, I think you may be a Metamorphmagus," Tonks told them.
They both looked shocked at her pronouncement, but when they thought about it, could see the logic in what she was saying.
"Can you try something for me," Tonks asked when they looked back towards her.
Harry nodded without saying anything.
"I want you to think about growing your hair longer."
Harry concentrated for a few minutes and when he thought that nothing happened was a little frustrated. However he was soon brought out of that when Tonks and Ginny burst out laughing.
"What's so funny," asked Harry a little hurt before he saw himself through Ginny's eyes and realized that his hair was now down to his waist.
"Well, I guess that worked," joked Harry before returning his hair to its normal length.
"Ginny, can you try too. I am not sure if this is something that can be shared via the bond, but it would be worth exploring," Tonks asked once Harry's hair was back to normal.
Ginny focused on making her hair shorter, she too thought that it had not worked until she could see the amazed look on Tonks face and saw her hair through Harry's eyes.
"Amazing," Tonks stated as she watched the two of them kiss.
"I like it long," Harry told her afterwards.
"I think you should make yours a little longer," Ginny told him. He added a couple of inches to his hair and she told him it was perfect. At that length it wasn't as unmanageable as before.
Tonks spent the next few hours talking to them and teaching them how to control their Metamorphmagus abilities, and promised to train them regularly during the summer as it would give them another advantage over others when they needed it.
Harry and Ginny spent the rest of the day altering their appearance as they learned to control the Metamorphic abilities they had. At one point Ginny decided to enlarge her breasts to see Harry's reaction.
With a mischievous smile she walked into the room wearing just a towel and walked up to Harry. He looked at her for a second before noticing the changes she had made to herself. He took her hands in his and pulled her to the bed and gently whispered in her ear, "You were already perfect, Gin."
A single tear ran down her face, she knew Harry loved her completely but to hear him tell her that in his opinion she was perfect filled her with even more love. Especially as she could sense that he was being completely honest with her. Pulling him into a very passionate kiss she transformed her body back to normal and collapsed onto the bed with Harry.
"Thank you," she replied a while later.
Tonks had finally convinced Harry to meet with Kingsley. The meeting had been set for a neutral place as Harry wasn't ready to reveal Potter Castle, and didn't want to meet at the Ministry.
"Thank you for meeting with me, Harry," said Kingsley as they arrived at Tonks parent's house.
"You're welcome, Mr. Shacklebolt," replied Harry.
"Please, call me Kingsley," he replied.
"Okay, Kingsley," replied Harry hesitantly.
"Now, Tonks here tells me that you dueled recently. She didn't tell me much about it other than the fact that you beat her. I would really like to know how a fifteen year old is able to beat one of my best Auror's," Kingsley said.
Harry was tempted to say that he was actually fourteen at the time but felt that would seem too much like boasting.
"Before I answer any questions I need to know that whatever is said will be strictly between the three of us?" asked Harry.
Kingsley looked a little uncomfortable agreeing to that, but instinctively knew that Harry would not answer any of his questions if he didn't agree; so, reluctantly, he nodded his head. "Okay, Harry, I will agree to not discuss this with anyone except you or Tonks," replied Kingsley.
"Sorry, Kingsley, but I am going to need you to swear to that. There is too much at stake to just allow you to agree without swearing on your magic," replied Harry.
Kingsley considered Harry's request for several minutes weighing up the benefits of gaining his trust against his duties to the Ministry and Dumbledore.
"Very well, I will swear on my magic, but only if you agree to tell me everything," replied Kingsley.
Harry thought about it for a while before Ginny suddenly interrupted.
'Harry, Kingsley could be a valuable asset,' Ginny said.
'He is the head Auror, and has access to information that we could use against Tom,' continued Ginny.
'Thanks, Gin.'
"Okay, I agree to your terms," replied Harry.
Kingsley then swore on his magic that he would never discuss with anyone what Harry revealed. Little did Kingsley realize that someone else was also listening in to the conversation, someone that had been tracking him for a long time.
Just before Harry started to explain, Xavier and Fawkes suddenly flashed into the room.
'Harry, stop,' said Xavier.
'What's going on?' asked Harry as he drew his wand.
'There is a trace on Kingsley that is being used to monitor his conversations,' replied Xavier.
'What? How long has it been there?' asked Harry.
'We are not sure, we detected it just now,' replied Xavier.
'Do you know who is monitoring,' asked Harry.
'Yes; it appears the Minister is using it,' replied Xavier.
'We followed the trace to its source and found it linked directly to his office. There is a recording device that activates when he talks and records everything.'
'Does it record anything else?' asked Harry.
'Yes; it also appears to record Kingsley's location,' replied Xavier.
'We need to determine how long the trace has been there,' replied Harry.
'The only way to do that would be to break into the Minister's office and check,' stated Xavier.
'Okay, I am going to write a message to Kingsley to tell him. Can you also check Tonks and all the others we have contact with,' asked Harry.
'Yes, Harry,' replied Xavier before disappearing again.
Kingsley looked confused as Harry continued to stare at him but appeared to be talking to some else. He suddenly turned to Tonks and sent a request for Parchment and a quill directly to her mind.
She was momentarily shocked by the sudden appearance of Harry's voice in her mind but then disappeared into another room and then returned with both. She handed them Harry without speaking, he then wrote a quick note and passed it to Kingsley.
Xavier detected a trace spell on you that is linked back to the Minister's office. It appears to be able to record both your location and any conversation that you have.
Don't do anything yet, we are checking Tonks too and will determine how to remove it.
'Ginny, I need you to research how we can remove this trace. It seems to be different then the one that was placed on us by Dumbledore before,' Harry said.
'Already working on it, Harry,' replied Ginny.
'Thanks, darling, I should have realized,' replied Harry.
'Hermione is in her element; she ran straight to the library when I told her what was happening,' Ginny told him.
'Fawkes, you better warn Dumbledore about the trace. Until we know how long it has been in place, we have no way of know what he may have learnt. And, more importantly, who he has sold it too,' Harry said.
Without responding, Fawkes flashed out of the room directly to Dumbledore.
Kingsley grabbed the quill and quickly wrote a message.
We need to say something soon. If they are recording this they will get suspicious.
Harry realized he was right, so started talking.
"Sorry about that Kingsley, I didn't realize I needed the bathroom quite that urgently," Harry said as he scraped the chair to make it sound like he was sitting down again.
"No problem," replied Kingsley.
"So where were we?" asked Harry.
"You were going to explain how you trained," replied Kingsley.
"Oh, right, well you see it really comes down to a number of factors," started Harry.
He went on to make up a story of how they had been so frustrated with the poor DADA teachers they had at school, that they decided to train themselves. They would meet twice a week in the Great Hall, and learn new spells.
While they were talking, Xavier returned to say they had found the trace on Arthur Weasley also. They still had not determined how long it was present, so Harry suddenly panicked as he had been at Potter Castle recently. Xavier reassured him that the trace would not have worked when it was at the castle, as the Phoenix wards would have stopped it.
Harry quickly wrote a note to Kingsley explaining what they had learnt.
Harry then went on to explain that Tonks and he had an agreement that they would pretend that he had beaten her because they wanted to see what the reaction would be. Once he had finished explaining everything, Kingsley agreed to meet them again in a week to discuss what he should learn if he wanted to become an Auror.
Kingsley left the house and immediately returned to his office so that he could start investigating the trace. He wasn't going to let Fudge get away with this and would do anything in his power to make sure it was removed. He realized that in order to do this he would have to find someone close to Fudge who could be trusted.
Harry and Tonks returned to Potter Castle, after the meeting, to see how the research was going.
"Harry," Hermione said when he arrived in the library.
"We think we have determined what type of trace it is," she stated.
"That is great," Harry told her with pride.
"We believe that something they always carry around with them has been tampered with, and a voice/location tracer placed on it. It is very advanced magic and can only have been done by a powerful wizard," Hermione told him.
"Well in that case it would appear that someone else is behind this, I doubt Fudge is capable of place a trace that powerful on two people. We will have to be careful in future when dealing with him," replied Harry.
Hermione went on to explain the basic principle of the trace and Harry realized that he had seen something similar to this before. As he was considering the information he realized that the Dark Mark worked in a similar fashion.
"Oh Merlin, that explains everything," Harry suddenly blurted out.
"What?" asked Hermione and Ginny together as she hadn't been watching Harry's thought process.
"Voldemort's Dark Mark works exactly the same way as the trace. Based on that and the fact that only a powerful Wizard could create it leads me to believe that Voldemort himself set it up. The fact that the Minister is the one who is recording it must mean that not only does Fudge know he is alive, he is actually working with him."
"We have to tell someone," Hermione exclaimed.
"We can't, Fudge doesn't know that we have discovered the trace. We don't want to give away out advantage yet. We will just have to make sure we keep a closer eye on Fudge," replied Harry.
"What we need to do is work out how we stop it without alerting them that we know," Harry said a few minutes later.
"We have determined that it would be possible to block it, basically we can cast as spell on it which would allow Kingsley or Arthur to control when it records. They would have to ensure they only deactivate when in important meetings otherwise the Minister will become suspicious too," Hermione explained.
"Hmm, well done; that is very useful information," replied Harry. "Now we just have to determine what the trace has been placed on and make sure we can cast the spell wordlessly so that it doesn't activate."
"We were thinking that we would also use it to supply false information," stated Ginny.
"Right, like I just did. I think that is brilliant, we could feed just enough information for the Minister to really dig himself a deep hole," replied Harry.
"Exactly, and then we just work with Bill so that he gets all the information for his case against the Minister," replied Ginny.
"If we are clever about it, we may even be able to determine who is getting the information," Harry said as an after thought.
Harry pulled both girls into a hug and thanked them for their work.
Harry quickly sent a note to Kingsley, Arthur and Professor Dumbledore explaining what they had learnt. He asked Xavier to only deliver the letters to Arthur and Kingsley when they arrived home so no one at the Ministry would see anything.
After dinner that evening, Harry told Ginny that he needed to go out for a couple of hours. She had noticed he had been a little secretive recently but wasn't worried about it; she was doing the same and suspected that it had something to do with her birthday. They had recently learnt that it was possible to block the other from seeing what they were doing so were better able to keep these types of things from each other.
Harry had researched what horses would be good for breading and would be well suited to the environment around the castle. With the help of Molly and Arthur, he had been able to locate a dealer that had the horses they were looking for.
Harry asked Arthur to setup a meeting with the dealer so they could see the horses and make sure everything was in order. Before they arrived at the meeting, Harry changed his appearance and hid his scar; he also made himself look ten years older. He didn't want any chance of a link back to himself as it would surely raise questions. He also changed Arthur and Molly's appearance.
"Good evening, Mr. Ashwin," said Matthew Jones when they entered his office.
"Good evening, Mr. Jones," replied Arthur. "This is my wife and our friend James Evans."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Ashwin and Mr. Evans. I am told by Mr. Ashwin that you are looking for a horse; is that correct?" asked Matthew Jones.
Harry thought that was an odd question as why else would they be there but didn't comment on it.
"Yes, sir, a gift for my wife. From my research I have determined that the Hackney best matches the environment that they will be living in," replied Harry.
"I am impressed, Mr. Evans, it is very rare for someone to come in with specific knowledge of what he is looking for," Matthew said with sincerity.
"As I said, this is a gift so it had to be perfect. I have already arranged for a couple of helpers to take care of the horses. We were lucky enough to have stables on our property when we moved in so we have everything needed to care for them.
"I would also like to plan for the future possibility of breeding them. Therefore, I would like at least one stallion and three mares to start with," stated Harry.
Matthew Jones was rarely shocked but today was one of those occasions. It wasn't often that he met someone who had done their homework. Normally, when they did, they were either not really interested in buying the actual horses or only wanted one.
"Well, Mr. Evans, I will need to contact my seller to make sure they have the four horses that you have requested. I assume that you will want to check the horses before buying them."
"Yes," replied Harry.
"Well, Mr. Evans, I will be in contact once I have spoken to the seller. When do you need them by," replied Matthew.
"I will need them by tenth of August," Harry told him.
After the meeting, Harry left with Arthur and Molly and they all returned to Potter Castle. Harry transformed them all back to normal before anyone saw them. Once he was back in the castle, Harry carefully placed everything that had happened behind his door, then relaxed the block on the bond.
'Welcome back,' said Ginny happily when he returned.
'Hi, I know you hate it but I am certain the surprise will be worth it,' replied Harry.
'I have no doubt about that,' Ginny told him as she shared just how much she loved him through the bond.
It wasn't long before they were both locked in their room kissing and gently exploring. They had become bolder whilst they had been at the castle but had still not consummated their marriage. It was one of the benefits of the bond; they knew they didn't have to have sex to show how much they loved each other so there was no pressure for them to actually proceed to that level.
They fell asleep in each other's arms as they did every night and had a long un-interrupted night.
The next morning at breakfast, Fawkes arrived with a message from Professor Dumbledore.
Harry,
I would appreciate it if you would set aside some time today to discuss the trace that you found. I am very concerned as Kingsley has been involved in several very important meetings recently regarding Voldemort and his return.
Please, could you come to my office immediately after lunch.
Professor Dumbledore
Harry quickly wrote a note back saying that they would be there.
The rest of the morning passed quickly for them. They had a defense session that morning and spent the time dueling and learning the first year Auror's spells for shields. By the end of the lesson, they were all able to produce even stronger shields, than before. Of course Harry and Ginny didn't really need to worry about it but wanted to learn anyway.
After lunch, the others disappeared while Harry and Ginny flashed with Xavier to Hogwarts.
"Thank you for coming," said Professor Dumbledore offering them a seat and lemon drop.
"You're welcome," replied Harry and Ginny together.
"I have been investigating this situation further and have determined that the trace on Kingsley has been in place for at least four months. We cannot be certain of how much information has been gathered but unfortunately, have to assume the worse," Dumbledore told them.
"We have also been able to determine that the trace has only been on Arthur for a week. It appears that someone has been watching the Burrow and noticed that they were often away overnight. Thankfully, Arthur always left his Ministry ID at the Burrow when they were away, so they would not have been able to find out anything, even if the Phoenix Wards were not in place.
"I have asked Fawkes to place the same wards around Grimmauld Place so that future Order meetings will never be spied upon again. To avoid causing issues for Kingsley, we are going to setup a separate Order meeting at a less secure location where we will discuss information we want the Minister to find out. That location will also be placed under the Fidilus so that it cannot be located," Dumbledore explained feeling very frustrated by what had been happening.
"Thank you for telling us," Harry told the Professor. "Now we just need to determine how much information they were able to get and whether any of it was sold. I will ask Bill Weasley to investigate any transactions that took place close to Order meetings if you could provide a list of dates. We can then start investigating each transaction and determine the source," Harry replied.
Harry knew that Dumbledore was feeling his age again, it had been happening more and more.
"Professor, I know we have had our differences in the past, but the only way we are going to beat Voldemort is if we work together. Therefore I am willing to tell you where we are staying and what we have been doing. In return, I request that you provide Ginny and I with all the information you have on Voldemort and the war."
Dumbledore considered Harry's request for a couple of minutes before deciding that he really didn't have any choice now. He had not made any progress on the Horcrux hunt, and knew that Harry was the only one who could face him in the end, so why not share.
"Thank you, Harry. I am willing to accept those terms and agree to fully disclose everything I know about Voldemort and anything I learn in the future," Dumbledore said while holding his wand, as he finished a flash of light burst from the wand indicating a magical contract had been established.
Harry proceeded to tell Dumbledore about Potter Castle and everything that was happening there. He told them about The New Marauder's and the training that they were doing even now during the summer. Because of the wards around the castle, none of them had to worry about performing magic outside of school.
Dumbledore offered to help with their training and asked if he could visit soon and talk with Sirius and Remus to see if there was anything that could be added. Harry agreed and told the Professor that he would be in contact later in the week.
Dumbledore shared everything that he knew about Voldemort, beginning with his childhood at the orphanage, to the time he started at Hogwarts, and thru all the years that he spent at the school. The story got a little sketchy from there, mainly because Voldemort took a lot of care to hide what he was doing from everyone.
They spent most of the afternoon discussing Voldemort. They determined that he most likely had used items of great importance to the Wizarding World for his Horcruxes as he always focused on pure-blood supremacy, so it was a natural extension of that.
At the end of the day Dumbledore felt a great weight lift of his shoulders as he no longer had to bare the burden of ending Voldemort reign, he had known since the attack on the Potter's that it would be up to Harry in the end but that didn't stop him from worrying.
Dumbledore watched the two young people in front of him and was again reminded that love really was the most powerful of magic. He no longer doubted that Harry could win; it was just a case of when he would.
A/N: Just in case anyone is wondering Fudge did overhear the conversation between Harry and Kingsley including the oath that Kingsley took. However he cannot do anything about it because that would give away the fact that he was spying on him. He is too thick to realize that the information Harry passed on was fake and will not do anything with the tape as it doesn't seem relevant so no one else will hear it.
