The white-haired man strode into the dining room for the emergency meeting at 10 AM, his presence immediately silencing the whispered conversations of those who were waiting for him. Dumbledore took his seat at the head of the table, and spoke up.

"Let's begin, shall we? Kingsley, would you be so kind as to summarize what the aurors know?"

The dark skinned bald auror accepted the cue and began to speak in his deep baritone. "At approximately 2:00 this morning, Amelia Bones was attacked in her home by a force of nine death eaters. We don't know how they penetrated the wards without being detected, but there is an investigation underway."

Dumbledore nodded gravely. "This is terrible news indeed. Madam Bones' death is a great tragedy. The consequences as well will be-"

"Pardon me, headmaster," interrupted Kingsley, "but Madam Bones survived."

Dumbledore's astonished gaze snapped to Kingsley, lingering on him for a split second before it settled into the familiar smile and eye-twinkle that everyone associated with Albus Dumbledore.

"This is splendid news indeed! How exactly did she and only four guards prevail against 9 death eaters?"

"They didn't Headmaster. The two aurors guarding the front door to the mansion were killed, and the death eaters split up. Five went after Madam Bones, who was roused by the alarm Auror Sanders managed to get out before his death. She and her personal guards were forced to retreat further into the house to the inner office, as the death eaters had somehow managed to put up wards to prevent disapparition or portkey use to escape. Meanwhile the remaining death eaters went into other parts of the house, probably looking for Madam Bones' niece and ward, Susan."

"How is she?" Remus interrupted, knowing Susan from his year teaching at Hogwarts and concerned.

"She's completely unharmed, the death eaters never got anywhere near her."

"How?" growled Mad-Eye Moody.

"The death eaters were ambushed. From what we can extrapolate, it looks like two people attacked them by blowing out a section of wall on them, before moving on to Madame Bones and her guards. They attacked the death eaters and subdued them in seconds with some pretty powerful magic."

Mad-Eye frowned. "That's not a particularly detailed account Auror Shacklebolt."

Kingsley turned to his retired superior with a look that was half contrite and half annoyed.

"Not much we could do about it. Somehow these wizards were able to make the death eaters they subdued in front of Madame Bones vanish. She says she saw them throw something small, probably a portkey. We can only assume they did the same to the others."

"And just who were these wizards?" asked Dumbledore.

Kingsley shook his head ruefully. "Not a clue. They wore hoods and cast some sort of spells which altered their voices to a clearly artificial tone."

Bill Weasley chose this moment to break in as a thought occurred to him. "Hold on, didn't you say the death eaters had put up anti-portkey wards?"

Kingsley turned and smiled at the curse-breaker, although it was more ironic than anything else.

"Good catch, Bill. Yes, I did. And no, we have no idea how they could have made portkeys work despite them."

"You say they altered their voices," came the next question from Dumbledore. "That means they spoke."

"Yes, but they didn't say much. Apparently they only answered Amelia's question of why they helped with something vague about it being the right thing and then that they'd be in touch soon. Then they vanished."

"Hmm. I must say, I find this very troubling."

Remus's eyebrows rose at this pronouncement. "Why? It sounds like these people were a major help. They fought the death eaters specifically and not Madame Bones."

"Yes, but they offered no hints as to their identity."

Tonks broke in at this argument. "So? We don't exactly publicize the membership of the order even to people we trust. It's the only way to keep You-know-Who from going after us individually."

Dumbledore shook his head. "Still, I do not trust these people until we can get a better idea of their intentions. Their interests coincided with ours this time. There is no guarantee the same will be true the next."

Ignoring the slightly incredulous looks he was getting from more than one person at this rather extreme negative pronouncement, Dumbledore turned to regard the man on his immediate left.

"What does Voldemort have to say about this, Severus?"

Ignoring the inhalations and twitches at the mention of the dreaded name, the potions master shook his head. "He was furious. He cast multiple cruciatus curses and ordered us all, most particularly Lucius to look for information on the identities of these people."

Tonks perked up. "See, if he doesn't know who they are, they clearly aren't working for him."

Snape rolled his eyes. "That doesn't mean they're on our side."

"True," Remus cut in, wanting to avoid any disparaging remarks about Tonks before his temper could be tested by hearing them, "but it doesn't mean they're not, and it is a good sign."

Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "Alas, I fear things may not be quite so simple as for these people to be on our side. We must make every effort to ascertain their identity and intentions."

Dobby silently smiled from where he stood hidden behind Dumbledore, hidden by elf magic that neither Dumbledore nor Moody would ever be able to detect without a concentrated effort and knowledge of what they were looking for. He knew Master Harry Potter would be amused when he conveyed the paranoid reactions to him later, and he loved when Master Harry Potter was amused.


Harry strode into the kitchen in the early morning, not bothering to stifle a yawn. It was the last day of August, and tomorrow they'd all be on their way back to Hogwarts. Despite his excitement at the prospect of getting back however, the overall feeling he'd been having lately was annoyance.

He and Ginny had spent the past several weeks intercepting various attacks by Voldemort as they learned about them and taking a great deal of amusement from Dumbledore's frustration and increasing paranoia regarding the identity of the mysterious wizards who'd been interfering. But with their only source of intelligence on upcoming attack being from Harry's occasional and unpredictable visions, their progress had been rather slow. It didn't help his aggravation any that the vast majority of the incidents they'd been able to head off had been dementor attacks.

The Patronus's effect on the dementors was not like casting a stunner on a person. A better analogy would be to that of two magnets repelling each other, except in this case only one, the dementor, is being repelled. A Patronus does try to hit a dementor, but given their effect it was nigh-impossible. The only known way to kill a dementor was to surround it on all sides with Patroni and have them close in, giving it nowhere to go. Not a very practical solution in the midst of battle, particularly with only two people. While Harry was glad to be able to stop the foul creatures from inflicting their horrific pain on innocents, both he and Ginny were getting frustrated at repeatedly fighting holding actions.

Harry had been woken up early that morning following a nightmare induced by their outing the previous night. Having apparated in too close to the dementors, Harry had been hit by their effects before he could get his Patronus out. Not overly eager to try and fall back into another dream about his parents' deaths he had decided to get his day started. There was only one other person in the kitchen that morning, a fortuitous development for Harry as he'd been meaning to fulfill his promise to have a private conversation with this particular person for weeks.

"Morning, Remus."

Lupin favored Harry with a tired but genuine smile. "Morning, Harry. What are you doing up this early?"

Harry shrugged. "Woke up, couldn't get back to sleep. You?"

"Just getting in, I'm afraid. I've been visiting various werewolf settlements, trying to broker support. Some prefer to talk at night."

"How's it going?"

Remus lowered his gaze slightly, clearly not happy with his news. "To be honest it's not going very well. As a werewolf who shows clear signs of trying to fit into human society, I'm often regarded with suspicion."

Harry's heart broke for his parents' old friend. It wasn't enough that his kind were outcasts for something unreasonable and beyond their control, but even the others like him distrusted him.

"I'm sorry, Remus."

Lupin gave another tired smile. "My burden to bear, Harry. How are you? We haven't seen each other as much as I'd like these past few weeks."

"I'm fine." Lupin's skeptical look couldn't have been plainer. "No really. I'll admit it is hard being back here, but I'm working hard, which is distracting and to be honest, it kind of feels a little like a gift to Sirius. You know, wiping this place clear of the things he hated so much about it."

Harry was glad to see Lupin's eyes light up as though Harry's answer had made him genuinely happy.

"I can't tell you how glad I am to hear that. I can tell you with certainty Sirius wouldn't have wanted you moping for him."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that. In fact I'd been meaning to talk to you too."

This had Lupin looking curious. "Oh? About what?"

Harry smirked. "Tonks."

The smile fell from the older man's face. "Not you too. Everyone…"

"-is after you because they're right! She's interested, you're interested, what's the problem?"

Lupin glared. "You know what the problem is."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, of course, you're a werewolf, so you're too dangerous. Same old song and dance. Let me ask you something: do you support the anti-werewolf legislation the ministry has passed?"

Somewhat startled by the question, Remus fiercely shot back, "What? No! Of course not!"

"Why?"

"That stupid law has kept me from getting a job all these years!"

"So? Doesn't mean it's wrong?"

The betrayal in Lupin's eyes was terrible to behold. "How can you say that?! There's no reason to exclude and persecute the werewolves to such an extent! Outside of the transformations, which can be controlled, we're ordinary human beings!"

"Then why are you so determined to punish yourself for it?"

Harry's question froze Remus mid-rant.

"Th-That's different. A relationship with a werewolf-"

"-is no different from any of the other basic human rights that have been denied them by the morons in charge. You say it's too dangerous. Tonks is an auror, Remus. She's not some naïve schoolgirl. She knows the dangers of being a werewolf as well as the dangers of being involved with one. She doesn't care. The only one who's creating problems for this relationship is you, and the only things you're accomplishing by doing so is to make yourself and someone you care for deeply miserable and validating the persecution you and your kind have lived with all these years."

"B-But it's not that simple, Harry." Remus protested weakly.

"Because you won't let it be," Harry shot back fiercely, seeing an advantage and hoping he could batter Remus's walls down if he kept up his attack hard enough. "I think you've lived with being a werewolf under the twisted rules of the ministry for so long that you are set into keeping it a curse you must live with. Guess what, Remus? It is only a curse if you let it remain one. Being a werewolf gives you better senses; you can hear better, smell better. Come the full moon, and the wolfsbane can help you control yourself, so you don't have to worry about being an uncontrolled animal as long as you're careful. Don't let those pompous racist gits win Remus! You're a werewolf! That's not something to be ashamed of or something to be proud of any more than the size of your muscles or your aim with your wand. It's simply a part of who you are. Whether or not you're proud of it is based on what you do with it. And let me tell you something Remus, I can't for the life of me find any reason to not be proud of who you are! On the contrary I'm proud just to know you! My father was proud to know you, my mother was proud to know you, Sirius was proud to know you, and Tonks isproud to know you. Just let yourself be happy, Remus. You may think you don't know how to do that, well guess what? I think Tonks would make a very capable and willing teacher."

By this point tears were pouring down Remus's face as Harry's words slipped through his stiff resolve and broke him. He sat there and wept for over two minutes, just crying out the anguish of a life filled with hate not only from those around him but most especially from himself, for little can hurt a man so deeply as finding something he despises when he looks in the mirror. Finally, Remus's sobs turned to crying, and crying to dry shaking, before at last he settled down. And when he finally looked up, Harry's focus was not on the wan smile meant for him, but rather on the eyes of a man raw but reborn from facing his pain.

"Dang cub, when did you get so wise?"

Harry snorted before responding with carefully crafted not-lies. "I've had a lot of time to think lately, and a lot of talks with people much smarter than me. Eventually you pick up a few things."

Remus nodded. "So you really think I could have a successful relationship with Tonks?"

"If there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that with the right woman behind you, nothing is as impossible as it seems."

One of Lupin's eyebrows went up at this nugget of wisdom. "Something you want to tell me, cub?"

Harry blushed beet red for a moment before getting control of himself and smirking.

"That's for me to know and you to embarrass yourself trying to find out, old man."

Lupin matched him smirk for smirk. "Oh really? Marauder's challenge then. I will find out who your 'right woman' is Harry Potter, let mischief and mayhem be my witnesses."

Harry laughed deeply and nodded. "Deal."

The two turned at the sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs, indicating more occupants of the house were awake and coming down.

Lupin seemed to want to say one last thing before they were joined. "Oh and Harry? Thank you. Thanks for talking to me, thanks for helping me, thanks for being proud of me. Just for the record, I'm pretty proud of you too cub."

The look on Harry's face seemed to convey to Remus what this meant to him, and their discussion was over. But as Mrs. Weasley came into the kitchen bustling to get breakfast ready, the only things Harry could think of were the big secrets he was still keeping from this man who was so important to him.