Chapter Eight – An Ultimatum Is Received

We stayed at our temporary room at the Ministry, despite the bad memories associated with it. There was no choice - Harry had lent our Hogwarts apartment to Ron and Hermione. I was very worried about Hermione and anxious to do anything possible to help her and Ron. Still – I craved my own bed. I didn't want to fight for my marriage on this narrow bed in the auror's quarters.

Harry looked as worried as I felt. Our fight of the other morning was long dead. We were now a team, trying to solve the problem of our too-tight mind link during sex. I dreaded the thought that I would see and feel myself through Harry's eyes and body and then have Nagini and Voldemort flooding my mind.

"Remember to just focus upon your own body and your own thoughts," Harry guided me. "I'll use occlumency to shield my thoughts from you. I know we can make this work. We HAVE to make this work."

The odour of panic, which flowed from Harry's body and mind with that last sentence, was not an aphrodisiac. I found my ardour cooling. Perhaps undressing Harry would perk me up. I quickly scrambled out of my clothes to get onto the important business of undressing Harry. I immediately realised that I should have moved more slowly, putting on more of a show for him. I was too concerned about re-igniting my own passion. I was too concerned with my problem to consider that my problem might give Harry a problem.

What was done was done. I pulled the hem of Harry's tee out of his jeans and pulled the tee up over his head. I rubbed my breasts against his bare chest and hugged him to me. The cold metal of his belt buckle was very uncomfortable against my upper belly and I shrunk back. Not wanting Harry to think I had shrunk away from him, I rubbed my hands across his chest, playing with his chest hair, as I moved behind him to snuggle up against his back and away from that damned metal buckle.

I reached around Harry's body and unfastened the belt. Harry was sort of being cooperative, but the vibes I was getting from him were still worried thoughts, rather than excited ones. I pulled his jeans down over his hips and let them lie at his ankles. Harry wasn't sufficiently cooperative to even step out of them. His tighty whities followed the jeans down to his ankles. I was starting to get excited, but I didn't need our special link to tell that Harry wasn't excited, not even a little bit. I chanced a deliberate link with Harry and found that he had started on the occlumency too soon.

"You don't need to shield your thoughts quite yet," I suggested to Harry. "Focus upon what I'm doing. The time for shielded thoughts will come later."

I certainly hoped we would reach that time, although doubt was creeping into my mind.

"If you can tell I'm shielding my thoughts, I'm not doing a very good job at it, am I?"

"That's not true. I'm able to sense an absence of a link. In truth, I sense you trying fiercely to break the link. You're working too hard at it."

"And it's still not working."

I refused to be defeated. I tried whatever I thought might help get Harry excited. I'd say more, but I've had recent reason to know just how much Harry is opposed to too much sharing, beyond the two of us. After all, I can't know who you'll blab to and how much of what I say will make its way back to Harry. Powerful Wizards can be amazingly sensitive about this sort of thing. I've probably already said too much. I'll just say that I used a lot of my Ardath knowledge – special touches and kisses – things that Ardath had used with success on even the coldest of the ancient brothers.

I finally admitted defeat. Harry just couldn't perform today. We had overthought our problem and our fears and the big thing we were trying so hard to avoid simply over-rode our passion. I was sorry that I had attempted such an important task, under less than ideal circumstances. I was scared for us. This failure was caused by our first failure. This failure made our next sexy time less likely to be a success.

It was strange. Since our marriage and apartment, things had been so simple. Sexy times twice or thrice a day with no difficulty at all, despite Harry's aversion to being very adventurous. Harry and I both got excited by each other so easily and so often. We were way too young to be having this problem. I needed Harry's permission to talk about it with someone, but I would have to handle that conversation carefully.

Harry and I did cuddle on my little bed. That was pleasant, and we both slept reasonably well, but found ourselves to be quite stiff on awakening. We raced back to Hogwarts for breakfast first thing in the morning, because we wanted to see how Hermione was doing and to check in with Professor McGonagall. Well, really, I think we both wanted to leave the site of last night's debacle far behind us. There was an unspoken agreement that we would speak no further about it and simply get on with the other important matters before us.

McGonagall was at the staff table when we entered the Great Hall, but Ron and Hermione were not in evidence. Professor McGonagall, Mum, and Narcissa came down from the staff table to join us, sending some first years scurrying to the far end of the Gryffindor table. We were also saving two seats for Ron and Hermione. As Neville joined us, Professor McGonagall suggested moving to the unused Slytherin table. We were moving in that direction as Ron and Hermione entered the Hall. They joined us at the new table, both still looking very tired.

Hermione was showing slight evidence of recent tears. Hermione virtually never used makeup, believing that it only served to make the natural beauty of youth appear contrived and less pleasing. Today she wore makeup, but it failed to fully conceal the evidence of a weepy night.

Seeing Ron and Hermione, the Grangers also left the staff table to join us. The table was beginning to fill up with food as the Grangers seated themselves. The owls arrived, but the papers and messages were ignored as we all focused on our table mates, especially Hermione.

"How are you dear?" Mrs. Granger asked her daughter, even before the mutual greetings were completed.

"I'm feeling a bit better. The kidnapping really terrified me and left me doubting the ability of Ron and me to protect each other. It helps that Harry lent us Barb as a bodyguard. I don't know why this has affected me so much, we've all certainly been in tough scrapes before. I was hurt worse when we were prisoners at the Malfoy mansion, but I wasn't as scared that time. It all happened so fast. You can't imagine how much the 'Cruciatus' hurts, if you haven't experienced it, and while I certainly thought of Neville's parents at the time, thankfully it didn't last that long.

"This was such a long period of not being able to move, while waiting to die. I started strong, but then my spirit just broke after the first hour. I just couldn't convince myself that I foresaw a plausible way it could end, short of my death. I kept hoping I was still in Nancy Drew world, but I had seen too much to still believe in that. I'm also no longer a child. Every time I heard someone walking down the outside corridor, I imagined that this was the person who was coming to accidentally electrocute me. Silas was just vile, and in addition to insulting me all the way from Pansy's room to the shop, he stayed there nearly half an hour, taunting me. I feel good knowing that, had he not engaged in that hateful rant, he could have escaped the Ministry. So, my torment caused his demise.

"I'm at least halfway better. I think we'll stay here at Hogwarts, today, however. I'll do some research on the Wizards of Eire and Castle Weasley. That will be more pleasant than the thoughts which have been filling my head. Ron and I talked a lot last night and that did help."

"I agree it's best you stay here today," her mother agreed. "You need calm, routine, and sleep."

"I'm very sorry that my daughter-in-law was greatly responsible for what happened to you," Narcissa apologised. "I thought she was fitting in and that she and Draco would have a good life together. Draco and I talked for a long time yesterday. He slept on the sofa in my apartment last night. He said he didn't want to face his own apartment, just yet. My dead husband continues to cause problems for my family and the rest of you. I can't believe he continued his involvement with Pansy. She made fools of so many of us. I detected no sign that she was so thoroughly infected by the Voldemort and Bruce diseases."

Draco entered the Hall and Harry motioned him to join us.

"I wanted to join you for breakfast, because I also want to apologise," Professor McGonagall said. "I keep being confronted by how much risk I was exposing you to by leaning on you to participate in my project to reclaim Draco, Lucius, and Pansy. I dismissed your objections as petty rebelliousness, but you were right, and I was wrong. I can't tell you how awful I felt last night, thinking back on my reaction after foisting Lucius upon Ginny, overreacting to her comments to him, and then just losing my head after Draco attacked Harry and Ginny. Mrs. Granger had already convinced me that I was under more stress than I thought and still not thinking clearly after the Battle of Hogwarts, but it took last night's self-examination to realise just how badly I've behaved toward your group - especially toward Ginny. I still don't fully understand why I react to her the way I do. I even think I decided the first Quidditch appeal to spite her. I stand by the second appeal. Young Master Jones was in the wrong – the whistle had clearly blown, and he foolishly ignored an emergency – but seeing how badly he was injured, I couldn't possibly deny him his victory.

"Kingsley Shacklebolt called me last night and we had a very long talk. He says I allowed myself to be overcome by a craving to duplicate Dumbledore's span of authority and determined after the Battle of Hogwarts to control Harry as Dumbledore had. Kingsley said things were very different today. Dumbledore only had an insurgency to run today we have a government to run, and the whole community of magical creatures to deal with. He said even Dumbledore couldn't have been the key influence on the Ministry of Magic while running Hogwarts. He had tried that and failed, so why should I think I could succeed?

"He said that I had been unreasonably resenting him, because he controlled the aurors, and resenting Ginny, because I thought Ginny prevented me from controlling Harry. He said I had a very important job at a very important time in remaking Hogwarts and that a sensible person would be content with that challenge. If I happily limited myself to that, Kingsley said I would get along with the rest of you better and would be a huge asset to the new administration.

"He told me that he agreed with Harry that I have been discriminating against Ginny. He said I would never get along with your circle, and that you wouldn't stay at Hogwarts, unless that stopped… I know, I know, I've been told this before. It apparently is a difficult lesson for me to fully accept. He said that Ginny has always been a very intelligent and brave Witch who has done more than her share in the fighting, but that I only saw her as a student trying to be a free rider, first as the girlfriend of the famous Harry Potter, then as the daughter of the Minister and girlfriend of the Deputy Minister. He said I had to recognise that you were an adult married Witch, the Mother of the Future, the wife of the Deputy Minister, and a Keeper and that all of that entitled you to a large measure of respect. He said it was not favouritism to show that proper respect. It really hit me how biased I have been when I commented that Ginny wasn't a full Keeper like Harry and Cissy.

"Kingsley challenged me, demanding to know why I considered you a lesser Keeper. I replied that you hadn't been formally named as Keeper and sort of followed on Harry's coat tails. Kingsley said he would first tell me the truth and then wait on the line while I confirmed with Trew that what he said was correct. He said 'Ginny did not slink into the Keeper role. She was the principal subject of two of the major valid prophecies of our generation and was also the only Keeper in at least a millennium who had been personally selected by the Light Guardian. He said Harry and Cissy's appointment by Lord Montaigne was accepted by the Light Guardian, but that the Guardian chose Ginny, itself'. He told me that he and Arthur hadn't realised what a huge deal a Mother of the Future is, until Cotto, King Goblanze, and Bane explained the facts. In the days before Hogwarts and the Ministry, all Witches and Wizards would automatically assume that if a Mother lived amongst them, that she was their leader. All the other magical creatures had always revered the Mother as the Light Guardian's truest representative. Trew said that all of this was true and that as the daughter of a Priestess of the Light Guardian she could confirm that Ginny was now a Light Guardian Priestess and would be accepted as the leader of the Light Guardian religion. I realised that they were correct.

"I want you to know that I agreed with everything that Kingsley said and I'm going to live up to the challenge that he set for me. Saving and rebuilding Hogwarts is the most important thing in the world to me, and maintaining my old friendships is the second most important. Kingsley also told me that I was very wrong about Lucius and that it was plain from the start that I was wrong. I accept that. I wanted too much to be able to reform Lucius. Finally, he reminded me that I seem to have problems with powerful young Witches who won't let me control them and that I must guard against the same difficulties with Cissy and Margaret.

"I want you all to stay at Hogwarts for the remainder of the year, and I am determined to make it easier for you to do that. I don't delude myself that I'm the headmaster you'll look back upon with nostalgia. You've seen Dumbledore at his best and me at my worst. I'll have to make my mark on the next group of students, perhaps even upon your children. I have learned from this experience and I expect to be here a good long while."

What McGonagall had said got me thinking. If I was now considered the leader of the Light Guardian religion, then I had best quickly organise and integrate my Light Guardian knowledge and decide what I was going to do about it. Ardath could teach me about more things than sex. I must turn that page. I must also consult the other priestesses, who were buried in my head. I made a personal vow to sit down with Professor Trelawney very soon. Another meeting with Mafalda and Victoria was also in order.

We all accepted McGonagall's apologies and said we would try to stay but demands on our time were multiplying out of control. Harry said we needed to visit Eire and complete the repairs to the circles, which might even require a trip to Paris. He also reminded Professor McGonagall that much of what we had hoped to learn during our last Hogwarts year had been loaded into our brains by the Light Guardian. Professor McGonagall agreed with both points, but said she still hoped we would stay for the rest of the year. Harry responded that it was certainly our intention to stay, but that he just wanted to warn her that we might have to miss more classes than we had expected to.

She replied, with some reluctance, that she understood that problem. She suggested that we might be able to make up key lectures that we were forced to miss, as Harry did with Professor Firenze. Harry mumbled that this was certainly an option that was worthy of consideration.

I was taken by the notion that the less traditional Hogwarts would be of most benefit to me. There was much that I could learn from Hermione's parents and from Professor Celine. I needed to know the old knowledge that Professors Trelawney and Firenze possessed, more than I needed to hear their version of the standard curriculum. I didn't need to attend their lectures, I needed to sit down with them and pick their brains, preferably with the assistance of Harry and our friends. I knew the history that McGonagall was teaching us. I knew it in at least as much detail as she did. I needed to know what she had learned from living through the early Voldemort years. My parents had shielded me from this, and recent history was apparently regarded as too controversial to be taught at Hogwarts.

I explained all of this to Professor McGonagall and was amazed that she agreed with me and that she promised to find a way to make it happen.

"Of course, having fought Voldemort and his Death Eaters, your group wants to know about Voldemort the student and the birth of the Death Eaters. You want to know why your parents joined the Order and what they did. You feel that you've suffered and fought at the head of the army, but that basic secrets and even everyday facts that my generation takes for granted, have been hidden from you. I agree that you must know these things. I promise you, as I promised Harry after the Battle of Hogwarts, if you stay at Hogwarts, you will learn all of this. I admit that I have been overly slow in delivering on that promise to Harry. I have been stupid and selfish. Albus told me that to understand Voldemort, one had to learn as much as possible about Tom Riddle. If you are to defeat Barty and Thicknesse, you must understand all about them, from the days when they were children. It is only fair. They have studied your childhoods."

Since we seemed to have caught her in an unusually introspective and obliging mood, Harry broached the subject of Erin. Professor McGonagall said she would like to help, and Erin could certainly stay at least until the Christmas break, but that she feared now was not the time to change another rigid Hogwarts tradition. A very pregnant student would cause problems with the parents, not to mention setting an entirely wrong example for the other students. She was willing to cooperate in the plan for Erin to get private tutoring and would certainly arrange for her to take her OWL and NEWT exams. She tried to wheedle the identity of the father from us with questions like "surely the baby's father can help Erin."

Harry just gave an 'I don't know' hand motion in response.

This caused McGonagall to concede "I realise you are sworn to secrecy. I also realise this is a terrible time for Erin and I don't want to see her life destroyed. I understand she is still part of the student group helping with repairs to the Gringotts Circle."

"Yes," Harry replied. "She felt that the work would occupy her mind and that her future might lie in magical engineering. I spoke to Professor Henkel and he agreed to work closely with her. We all learned a lot of skills from the Light Guardian and would be willing to tutor her."

"That is acceptable to me. I must say that while Erin was just about average as a student, her behaviour in this instance strikes me as shockingly immature. She is quite possibly the silliest child I've encountered this term – to be led on like that by Silas. That story about a secret job interview was, I would have thought, impossible to accept as true, by anyone with half a functioning brain."

"I think she was just very lonely and desperate," Harry replied. "I don't think she looked forward to going home to live with her parents and being set up in an arranged marriage after she graduated. Silas was wily and seems to have had a nose for weaknesses that he could exploit."

"You may be correct, and I'll do what I can to help the child. This and Draco's problem with Pansy just reinforces my feeling that the school needs to restrict inappropriately intense relationships between students. Allowing married students was certainly a mistake."

"You married us, yourself," Harry told her, with more than a hint of indignation in his voice.

"Yes, I did, but in truth I did not expect you to live out that day and felt that the marriage was the best approach, given the unique circumstances. As it is, I'm not at all sure that your marriage sets a good example for the other students."

"You also went above and beyond the call of being reasonably supportive of Narcissa and Draco in throwing Pansy and Draco together and ignoring their behaviour," Harry continued.

"I realise that has been your complaint from the start and, seeing how that turned out, I now realise just how right you were. I need to go back to my Victorian ways. Don't tell me I've upset you again?"

"Well, yes actually", Harry replied. "If you think Ginny and I are a bad example for our fellow students, we'll be gone tomorrow."

"You know that's not what I meant. I was just expressing some frustration. I don't want you to leave. I just would have preferred that you hadn't married."

"Unless, of course, I had died."

"Now you're just trying to build up your own anger. I'm not going to stay here and help you do that."

With that, Professor McGonagall headed back to the staff table, gently shaking her head in what I interpreted as disbelief in the direction the discussion had suddenly taken.

"What was that about?" Draco asked the table at large. "Did I just come in on an apology turning into an attack on us for getting married?'

"Sometimes the headmaster just seems incapable of getting out of her own way," his mother told him. "I don't know how she just flipped from apology to insult. I think it's the stress and the realisation that she will soon have a very pregnant Erin to contend with. I really don't think she meant to offend Harry. Sometimes the attitude just slips out. It appears that she certainly regrets her efforts to get you and Pansy together."

"Well, I regret them as well, although in all honesty it was a pretty good summer. It just didn't end well. I'm not sure it would have ended any better had we not gotten married. The problems began when she let father back into the school and gave him free rein."

"I think if you're honest with yourself, you'll realise that the problems started long before that. You matured and Pansy didn't. She is still the daughter that her mother raised her to be, while I tried to guide you to want more than the prototypical Slytherin wife. I was wrong in thinking Pansy was capable of becoming that."

"I hope you'll ignore some of what the headmaster said," Professor Trelawney said. "The news on Erin knocked her off her stride and changed what she had planned to say which, as you know, was completely conciliatory. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go speak to the headmaster."

"Before you go," Harry interrupted her, "please tell the Headmaster that I am not angry with her, but merely caught off guard on what seemed an attack upon my marriage. I realise it was a comment born out of frustration and directed at Silas and Pansy, rather than Ginny, Draco, and me. We're all on edge and too quick to take personal offence at over-generalised comments that might apply to us. Please tell her that I understand that she has a difficult job, is under a lot of stress, and that she is sincerely trying to patch things up. I promise that I'll also keep trying. You may tell her that I think part of the reason I react verbally to her comments is that I'm not able to react to similar comments from the Minister.

The rest of us murmured our agreement with Harry's sentiments.

"You can tell her yourself," Professor Trelawney responded. "It would mean more coming directly from you."

"Hopefully soon," Harry cryptically replied. "For now, I think it best if you simply relay our feelings so that she is aware of what we are thinking in our calmer moments. There's just too great a chance that one or the other of us will inadvertently say something that stirs things up. Going from where we were in the recent turmoil to where we all want to be is not going to be an easy or a quick process."

Professor Trelawney said she thought she understood and would relay our thoughts as best she could.

"Before we open our papers, does anyone want to hear the official version of the latest news," Harry asked.

They did and Harry supplied a very detailed summary, concluding with the puzzle of Silas's magical box.

I didn't read much of the day's papers, but the duelling headlines were as interesting as ever. In the Daily Prophet:

Deaths of Lucius Malfoy and Silas Stowe While In Custody Suspicious

A Son Killed, Grieving Parents Arrested

No Clamour to Buy Stock in Potter's New Loan Agency

Mrs. Parkinson Protests Daughter's Arrest – And Her Own

Ernie was given most of page two to state his reasonable explanation of the plot, the way in which it was foiled, and the influences that drove Silas and Pansy to act.

In The Quibbler:

Auror's Foil Plot to Kidnap Deputy Minister and Exchange Him for Renewed Elf Slavery

How Did Tom Stowe's Brother Avoid Scrutiny?

Dead Grindelwald Terrorist Planted Bomb at Sissinghurst

Daughter of Former Deputy Minister Candidate Arrested In Plot.

Pansy Confessed Her Crime and Affair with My Father, Says Husband Draco Malfoy

"Regarding Erin - I'd be willing to help," Draco commented on the subject for the first time. "It's the least I can do, seeing how responsible my wife was for Erin's problems. I may even be able to counsel her a little. I am fully aware how it feels to be betrayed by those you trusted."

"How are you doing this morning?" Harry asked Draco.

"A little better and a lot more determined. I'm through with Pansy. I am now doubly determined to make something special of my life, both because I always wanted to do that, but also to spite Pansy, who pronounced me too average in my prospects to be her husband. The recent events gave me a push to really look at the wedding gift that you gave me. I'm going to focus my energies on unravelling my father's business and financial affairs and seeing if there is enough left for me and my mother to make a new start in life. What you gave me is both a super place to start and a real eye opener about my father's business practices and associates. Once I pick up the pieces, I'm going to run a clean business. Before I start that project though, what I feel the need to do is go back with you to Gringotts and polish that quartz, until both my arms fall off. I'll be back to attend some more classes at Hogwarts. I'm not sure what my mother is going to do."

"I'll be fine," Narcissa said. "I'll stay here at least until Christmas break and continue teaching my arithmancy class. I also have a great deal of sorting of possessions and unravelling of financial affairs to work through. I'm not grieving the loss of Lucius at all. In fact, it's like a weight has been lifted. I've lost the insanity of continually scheming to keep him from leading Draco into harm. I have a lot of my life still to be lived and I intend to make the most of it. I also intend to stop being such a clingy mother. It's not at all healthy for an adult son."

We were about to leave when Professor McGonagall reappeared. "I apologise again and please ignore my last remarks. I realise anyone is likely to be upset when it seems their marriage is being attacked and they are being told they are setting a bad example by being married. That's not what I meant. I just…. I think I'll just leave it at that." She was gone before Harry could voice a response.

We hadn't left the breakfast table when Harry's phone rang. Harry very quickly developed a very serious, grim expression. Harry's only response was "I'll stay away for the morning, if you think that will help." He put his phone away and turned to the rest of us.

"I'm afraid George's shop has been bombed again. The bomb went off about fifteen minutes ago. Lee hadn't come down from the apartment yet, and nobody was injured. The windows of the shop were blown in again and the merchandise on the front tables was thrown about and some of it likely broken, but overall damage is much less than last time. The bomb seems to have been deliberately small, so that it did not damage the message, which was left for us. I think I memorised what Shacklebolt said:

'You haven't been as victorious as you think. We can still hit you whenever we choose. Don't expect the next attack to be in Diagon Alley. We can strike anywhere and at any time. This is what we want:

Full amnesty for the supporters of Voldemort

Rehiring of Ministry employees who supported Voldemort

The removal of McGonagall from Hogwarts and the reopening of Slytherin

The death of the Malfoy traitors

The return of Thicknesse as Minister, and

The return of our Elves

Know that this is not negotiable. Since you cannot protect them, the Wizard community will drive you from the Ministry. Only we can provide security. You have been warned. We have killed before and will not hesitate to kill again. You have one week to agree to our demands'.

"Not a trivial list of demands, would you say?"

The most visibly affected by this message was Narcissa. She had gone completely white and was trembling. I could see only one of her hands and it was clenched in a tight fist. Draco, on the other hand, seemed roused to an intensity of anger and alertness.

"If they want war, I'll give them war," was all he said, before stomping away from the table.

"What do you make of this?" Neville asked Harry.

"I think it's false bravado. They've taken some blows and want to show that they're still relevant. It's not a list of demands that they could ever expect to be accepted. Shacklebolt is searching for evidence, but says it was a careful, cautious attack and he doesn't expect to find much. I think Arthur and Shacklebolt are afraid of what I might say to the press and want me to stay away from the Ministry. Probably the best thing is to continue guiding the repair work on the Gringotts cavern. We can Apparate there without ever setting foot in Diagon Alley, so the Minister should be pleased with that."

Before going off to Gringotts, as I thought we immediately would, Harry first alerted Professor McGonagall to the bombing and ultimatum, and then drew Neville, Ron, Hermione, and me aside, suggesting that we first stretch our legs by the lake.

When we were alone, with the omnipresent aurors still close at hand, Harry announced, "I was thinking that rather than patting Hermione on the back and serving her rich cocoa, as we did with Erin, that the way to help her recover from the extreme terror that she has just lived through is to give her a sense that she is more in control of her own safety. We can all be safer if we take advantage of the magical engineering skills and additional spells that the Light Guardian taught us. We just need to incorporate them into our instinctual responses. I've thought of a few things that would help Hermione, and the rest of us, as well. I don't want to spread the knowledge around, at least for now.

"I've been thinking about how Hermione could have protected herself when she was paralyzed and hooked up to the generator. Sorry, Hermione …" Harry was quick to add as that last statement caused an involuntary shudder. "Two things we can work on. First, I had a thought how we could all wear port keys, like the belts that Professor McGonagall gave us. But, instead of going off at a specific time, we could trigger them at any time of our choosing, using a silent, wandless spell. We've all gotten good at silent spells. The port keys could only take us to a specific spot, but we could choose a very safe spot, like the Sacred Chamber or the Burrow, or the top of the landing outside Gryffindor. This would not be that difficult to build and it would have saved Hermione.

"The second thing I thought of was that while running through the new spells in my mind, I found a set of healing spells, including some to treat curses. I haven't figured out exactly what is needed yet, but we should be able to work out a silent wandless spell that can reverse a 'Petrificus Totalis' spell applied to us or anyone else. We have an awful lot of knowledge. We just need to take some time to explore and organise it and make it part of our everyday tools. There is also a 'shield' spell that can be used to protect one's own mind from curses. We should make this one an automatic response against personal attack. It appears to block just about any spell. Those three things are a place to start. I thought Ron and Hermione might research some others."

"I'll work on that," Hermione promised. "You're right, Harry, what I need most is a sense that I'm back in control again. If I feel Ron and I can protect ourselves, I think my fear will pass."

"Good," Harry replied. "While Ginny and I are supervising the repairs at Gringotts, we'll work on the port keys."

We made a lot of progress on the repairs that day and chose our destinations for the port keys. Harry came back from lunch at the Ministry with a dozen leather belts, with big silver buckles. Two small quartz crystals had been sewn onto the sides of each belt and Harry had also added a teaspoon of the crushed crystallites that Firenze had used to draw his Yantra. As soon as Harry showed me this, I commented, "So you also recognised that the granules that Seamus found in the Peverell wand was Yantra sand."

Harry revealed a surprised expression, saying "no, I must admit that I hadn't taken it quite that far yet. I chose the sand as an anchor to the top of the pyramid, which is one of the pre-set destinations. I think you're right about the wand - we'll have to tell Seamus. Also, McGonagall … in time."

"I told Seamus the other day and gave him a small quantity of sand to work with. He said he was going to begin experimentation immediately. He said he had already completed most of the parts for a very superior wand, and that with my sand he would soon have a close facsimile of the Peverell wand. He said that I had given him enough sand to make about fifty wands. We're promised free versions of the special new Ollivander wands, whenever we want them. I told him that Ron was likely to be first in line."

"You definitely are a step ahead of me," Harry told me.

"Well, I have to do something useful, while you're busy at the Ministry."