Update:
I've gotten a lot of reviews about these chapters saying they deviate from the plot. They will be relevant to future plot lines so I don't want to change them completely but I've modified them so they're from Pepper's perspective, looking into her brother's pensieve. The story is the same but I hope you prefer this layout. If you don't, I still have a copy of the old ones so I'd be happy to change it back if people prefer that version.
The memory changed so suddenly and unexpectedly, that Pepper was thrown unwillingly into a state of pure dizziness and befuddlement that undoubtedly was the result of standing inside the memory of a confused and drug addled individual.
Indeed, she found herself in something that vaguely resembled an art gallery. The walls were bright and clean, and blurry figures of people milled around taking in the single ginormous canvas of a multitude of intertwined brown hews. She cocked her head trying to figure out what all this meant; she had a passion for modern art and had spent yers of her life and millions of Tony Stark's dollars building one of the largest and best collections. Harry on the other hand, had never had the time or the patience to appreciate art if it couldn't talk back to you. It was one of the only parallels she could draw between her brother and the Dursley's.
"Welcome to the view of me without my glasses on." The present day version of her brother said.
"Blimey Harry!" Ron exclaimed, "I forgot how bad your eyes were! I can't see a thing."
"Shut up, Ron!" Ginny growled at her older brother. "What happened back there?"
"I was bitten." Harry shrugged. "But of course, you already know that, otherwise, I wouldn't be in a hospital bed right now."
"Don't be a smart ass." Pepper rolled her eyes.
"I'm not. I'm being a smart arse." He winked jovially at her. When he didn't even get a smile from her or his friends, he sighed loudly. "See that blurry shape there? On the table? That's me. I'm just waking up, and the bright green moving blur beside me is Padma."
Pulling his wand from his back pocket, the blurry shape of the memory version Harry wordlessly summoned his glasses. The pair of circular, black rimmed spectacles flew to him instantly and tried to uncomfortably stuff themselves onto his face. Terrified his frames were about to poke his eyes out, Harry groaned in protest and grabbed them, delicately placing them over his eyes. Only then did the little store room the Aurors had sought refuge in become clear.
On one side of them, the wall was made of the same brown leather as Rolf's briefcase, and on the other side, an old fashioned, magically erected brick wall separated them from the large, illegal zoo. The walls were lined with book cases full of various leather bound books, scrolls and bottles filled with colourful liquids. In the centre of the room, a ladder could either lead you up to the outside world, or down into the illegal menagerie below. It was only when the whole world shook, that Pepper remembered they were inside a briefcase.
"Wazzappened?" When the memory version of Harry tried to speak properly, his words came out slurred and barely audible.
"I was in an awful lot of pain." Harry said. "The table Padma stuck me to was devilishly uncomfortable, so much so that I could actually count every one of my vertebra." Pepper winced at the thought, but said nothing. "Along with my back, there was an agonising pain in my leg, a dull ache in my head and a burning sensation in my throat... as if I'd just drunk a scolding hot bowl of vegetable soup extremely quickly. I believe the muggle phrase 'trampled by a raging horde of elephants' would be appropriate to describe how I felt." He paused, as if expecting them to laugh. When they didn't he shrugged, ploughing on with his story.
"After I was bitten, Dennis blasted the spider back and grabbed hold of me. He dragged me out of harms way and starting looking for somewhere safe to place for Padma to treat me while the others were fighting. Rolf's briefcase had been in the back of my mind as the perfect place to regroup. It's impenetrable; not even the ministry of magic could break through the reinforced dragon hide leather (and they'd tried on numerous occasions when Rolf's grandfather owned the case). When Dennis stuffed me through it, he didn't account for the ladder and I fell, explaining the pain in my head.
"Padma followed me down and shoved a bezoar down my throat to counteract the Acromantula venom, she then turned her attention to my leg. When Nagini bit Mr Weasley, you all saw how hard it was for a team of healers to try to quell the bleeding of a magical wound. I only had Padma and, well, she's worth a team of healers to be honest.
"The only problem was... well, one of the many problems was that Letitia and Dennis were spoiling for a fight with the Acromantula, and Letitia's my second. Luckily, Gabrielle could charm the birds from the trees and somehow convinced them both to follow Padma down. She held off the spiders while Ianto and Rolf got themselves to safety. When we were all inside the case our lives were no longer in immediate danger, our biggest problems were the earthquakes."
"Earthquakes?" Ron frowned. "What earthquakes?"
"You'll find out soon enough." Harry shrugged, pointing to the entrance way where his team of Aurors were walking through, all carrying empty buckets with their hands covered in blood from the raw meat they'd fed the magical creatures. When they saw the memory version of Harry was awake, their sombre expressions quickly changed to ones of excitement and enthusiasm. Before she had washed her hands, Gabrielle hurried over and planted a kiss on each cheek, leaving hand shaped blood-prints on his neck.
"'Arry! Zank goodness you are alright!" She beamed.
"Of course I am, got the best team in the world." Harry grinned, hiding his bewildered blush as he wiped his face with a handkerchief. Unfortunately for the present day Harry, Ginny didn't miss his reaction. She turned to him, arms folded across her chest, a stern expression on her face. Luckily, the memory version of Harry distracted her. "Dennis, I hear I have you to thank for my dashing rescue, as well as curse you for the bump on my head." Dennis's inane grin took on a sheepish quality as he stared down at his shoes. "Right gang, we're not out of the woods yet. We're currently trapped in a briefcase surrounded by some of the most deadly creatures on the planet."
Pepper wasn't entirely sure whether the creatures he referred to were inside the case or outside it. However, it became clear that Harry intended to overlook Rolf's illegal smuggling and breeding of magical creatures, as Dumbledore and the other Hogwarts teachers had once done for Hagrid. As if to remind him that the Acromantula was the biggest threat at that point in time, the entire ground beneath their feet began to quake.
Rolf was the first to react; he sprinted over to his shelves and spread his body out in an attempt to stop all his potions from smashing on the floor. In the few seconds that the shaking lasted, the bottles merely topped over. They all sighed in relief when it was over; Pepper had expected something much worse.
"That wasn't so bad." Dennis shrugged.
His words had the same effect as the saying 'at least it's not raining' or 'it can't get any worse', in that, the situation automatically became a hell of a lot worse.
Then they fell sideways in such a sudden, violent way that no amount of magic could stops Rolf's treasures falling over the floor. Too busy keeping himself away from the books flying around the room, Rolf didn't even seem to notice the mess. Since Harry had been glued to the table by Padma, he started to feel like he was on a particularly nasty rollercoaster, only with the added peril of being hit by something or someone.
"It's alright!" Rolf's gentle, soothing voice broke through the clamour and crashes as he desperately attempted to soothe a rogue Occamy that had broken into the little store room. "Just calm, calm..."
"Deed you not zink to put any stabeelising charms on zis?!" Gabrielle snapped, as the case stopped rolling around. They found themselves dangling upside down from the floor, knuckles turning red from the effort of holding themselves when the pull of gravity was too great.
"It should have them... only my grandfather enchanted this back in the nineteen twenties so the spells might be getting to the point where they need updating..." Rolf told him.
"Gee, you think?!" Padma glared at him.
"That's enough!" Harry shouted, in the same tone he used for disciplining his three kids. "We're not going to get anywhere by turning on each other. As long as a Blast-Ended Skrewts doesn't come out of there I'm don't care..." Suddenly the case was flipped once more, so they all had their feet firmly on the floor of the case. Ianto threw up so violently, he could have eaten a dozen puking pastels. "This is dangerous, more dangerous than anyone could have imagined. If you want to go back on Rolf's spare port key, I won't blame you."
Every one of his team mates exchanged long awkward glances, well, all except Ianto who was staring at his watch. It was he who eventually broke the silence.
"Thirteen hours, forty seven minutes and twenty two seconds." He announced as jovially as one could announce something after puking three times. "I believe, Letitia wins the sweepstake." Ianto grinned, handing her a small bag, jangling merrily as it was full of coins.
"How come she always wins?" Dennis rolled his eyes.
"My family are seers. You would be a fool to bet against me." Letitia told him, neutrally, pulling out a sickle and flicking it to Ianto. Harry watched the entire exchange with an amused bewilderment.
"We all bet on how told it would take for you to try and convince us to turn back." Padma told him, in a matter of fact type voice. "It's rather shocking that you chose to say it now, especially since you can't actually walk."
"One day, you will feegure out zat we 'ave your back!" Gabrielle rolled her eyes prettily.
Even in his first year, Harry had been shocked whenever Ron and Hermione had stayed with him, and he never, ever took them for granted. Unlike everyone standing around him, he hadn't been used to having a proper family. The ultimate goal of their upbringing at the Dursley's was to beat the magic out of them both; it had taken all of Pepper's strength to try and ensure Harry didn't drown in a feeling of worthlessness. Despite her efforts, eleven years of being beaten, verbally and mentally abused had scarred him so deeply, he was still shocked whenever someone stood by him.
Smiling, Pepper looked at Harry's six team members... no... six friends, and felt a strange emotion welling up inside her. They stood by him, not because it was their jobs but because they believed in him. She was so happy he'd found people like that to surround himself with. The memory version of Harry seemed to be thinking the same thing; his eyes welled up with tears making Padma squeeze his hand comfortingly as she help him into a sitting position, a small smile on her face.
The emotional journey Pepper was on was completely obscure to the others, in particularly, Hermione, who rounded on Harry, her hands on her hips.
"You shouldn't allow Letitia to bet!" She announced, furiously. "You know she has a G-A-M-B-L-I-N-G P-R-O-B-L-E-M!"
"Hermione we can all spell." Ginny told her, coolly. "There's no need to treat us like we're children... and besides, Shacklebolt is a grown adult. She can make her own choices about what to do with her money."
"Yeah. And it's hardly Harry's fault if they're doing the sweepstake behind his back, is it?" Ron asked; his question was supposed to be rhetorical but Hermione, as always had a perfectly crafted answer from him.
"Your team members are not supposed to be able to do these sorts of things behind the team leaders back Ronald. Harry should have known! Or have you forgotten what it says on page two hundred and eighty seven of the third guidebook on rules and regulations of leading a team of Aurors?"
The blank expression on Ron's face suggested that, not only did have have no idea what was on page two hundred and eighty seven of the third guidebook on rules and regulations of leading a team of Aurors, but also that he had no idea there was a third guidebook. Before he could did himself any further into the hole, he was rescued by a low, deep, starving, growl of someone's stomach.
The memory version of Harry was hungry; Pepper hadn't needed to hear the rumble to know that, it was written plainly on his face. He was tired as well; heaven knows how much blood he had lost. To make the situation even worse, he was trapped in a briefcase. As far as they could see, there was no way forward other than certain death. There was no way backwards without failure. If they failed, there was a risk of another getting their hands on the artefact (although part of Pepper believed the artefact would actually be safer here than anywhere in the ministry or Gringotts bank).
"We need to rest." Harry said, just as the spiders began playing 'piggy in the middle' with the briefcase. "We need time to think of a plan... because right now, the only solution I can think of requires a dirty great snake..."
"What sort of snake?" Rolf asked, eyes shining with excitement. Suddenly, Harry remembered that they were not only in a briefcase, they were in a zoo full of some of the rarest, most dangerous magical beasts.
"A Basilisk."
"Harry, no!" Once again, Hermione's furious exclamations interrupted the memory. Quick as a snake, she snatched the magical quill out of thin air to stop it writing. Ginny and Pepper exchanged baffled looks, half expecting Harry to drop dead due to the glare Hermione was giving him. "A Basilisk is a XXXXX creature!" Hermione snapped, in explanation of her outburst. "The breeding of Basilisks has been prohibited since medieval times... Ronald, what are you sniggering at!" Hermione turned her rabid fury on her husband.
"You just, um, sounded a little like Umbridge." He admitted slowly, watching as Hermione's nostrils flared in anger at the comment. "The whole 'breeding is prohibited' thing and having a go at Harry for a crime he hasn't even admitted to committing (yet). What happened to the woman I fell in love with, eh? The one who once told us how exciting it was to break the rules."
"That was one time!"
"It was a few more times than once." Harry grinned. "To name a few, there was the troll, the polyjuice potion, saving Sirius, kidnapping Rita Skeeter, starting the DA and helping me find Horcruxes." Hermione's gaze softened as Harry ticked off each of the times she'd broken the rules on his fingers.
"That was different. We were kids! And most of those times were life or death situations!"
"They were being juggled by bloody great spiders, Hermione!" Ron said, his mouth gaping at her like a bull frog. "If I'd been in that situation I'd have a chickens egg under a toad before you could say Quidditch!"
"Luckily we didn't need to do that." Harry chuckled to himself. "In their spare time, Rolf, Luna and their sons travel. More often than not, Rolf finds disabled or abused creatures to care for and eventually release into the wild. A few years back, he found a year old blind, deaf serpent and cared for it. He didn't realise it was a basilisk until it grew to be twenty foot long and by that time he'd become quite attached to it... it's completely harmless to people of course and actually has quite a sweet disposition. We just needed to get it out of the briefcase and use it to chase off the spiders, which it did with the help of a little parseltongue."
"I thought you lost your abilities when the Horcrux in your head was destroyed?" Ginny narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"I did." Harry answered, a fraction too quickly. "Rolf's been learning it." Eager to avoid further questioning, Harry looked up at Hermione. "So... are we alright to proceed, minister?"
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Hermione thought deeply, her eyes showing the internal conflict raging within her. On one hand she wanted to excel at her job, follow the rules and lead the great British Wizarding community towards a 'better and brighter future by eliminating corrupt politicians from the Wizengamot'. On the other hand, she didn't want to send her best friend and his team to jail. In the end, she sighed loudly, shaking her head so vigorously that a few of her wild curls clawed their way loose from her bun.
"Go on then." She sighed, "I'll cover for you this time, but you need to have a disciplinary talk with Rolf!"
"You're the best, Hermione." Ron slapped her playfully on the back in the same friendly way he slapped Harry, George and Percy.
"I'm aware of that." She rolled her eyes, before releasing the struggling quill from her hands and flicking her wand it it. "So you and your team mates used daring cunning and ministry taught skills to get past the spiders. Then what happened?" The quill wrote down her every word, with, what looked like, a rather indignant look at Hermione, as if the quill understood she was bending the rules for her best friend.
The last thing Pepper saw before the memory changed, was the triumphant grin that was etched onto Harry's face.
Pepper knew what was waiting for them in the final level of the catacombs; the spiders had all but told them with one detail. 'Nobody knows what is under their hoods, except for their prey', Aragog's descendants had told him.
As the hike continued, the unnatural warmth of the caverns seemed to turn into an even less natural cold. Perfect ice crystals frosted the hair of each of the Aurors, making them frequently scratch their head as if they were covered in head lice. Every exhale was visible from the other end of the tunnel and almost make it look like they were following seven dragons as opposed to seven people.
As the cold increased, so did the number of arguments amongst the Aurors. The change was so gradual that Pepper almost didn't notice, however, her past experience with dementors allowed her to be more acute to their presence.
The main subject of arguments between the Aurors was Harry, or, most specifically, Harry's leg. The physical activity made his magical wound bleed even more, so they had to stop almost every half an hour to replace the bandages. It wasn't long before they were running extremely low. After many long, whispered arguments between Gabrielle, Rolf and Padma about his welfare, Padma began to wrap his wound with silk Gabrielle transfigured from the Acromantula web. This caused Harry's wound to start to emit a strong, putrid odour that made Pepper extremely relieved it wasn't so hot.
There was a point, when a small trail of ice began to glisten under their feet, that Harry stopped, allowing his team to plough on ahead. Pepper watched, curiously, as her brother closed his eyes lightly and breathed deeply. The world around them seemed to slow down, in her ears she heard the rapid beat of Harry's weakening heart. Then, he opened his eyes.
Pepper gasped as the Hogwarts Express appeared directly in front of them. It was not solid, like the rest of the memory, rather it was like a hologram. It was not a hallucination, she realised. It was a memory inside a memory.
In front of the hologram train, was the hologram of an eleven year old boy with messy jet back hair and knobbly knees. At first, Pepper wondered whether it was a memory of Harry's first day at Hogwarts, however, as the boy became clearer she saw that he had Ginny's warm hazel eyes and he didn't wear glasses. He was Harry's oldest son; James. According to Ginny, he also had the classic Weasley sense of humour and adoration of pranks of all shapes and size. When the time came for James to leave to go to Hogwarts, his jokes trailed off; the eleven year old stared nervously at the train then turned to the memory version of Harry.
Love you dad.
The words echoed around the memory as the boy smile awkwardly at his father, his hands buried deeply in his pockets. That one exchange with his son, made Harry realise how truly lucky he was to be a father. The mere memory was powerful enough to allow him to create a corporeal patronus as easily as if it were a hovering charm.
The silvery stag burst from the tip of his wand, startling his team members, but arriving just in time to ward off a stray dementor roaming around the corner. Everyone's wide eyes turned nervously towards Harry; the expression they all shared showed they hadn't been paying enough attention.
"Remember what Mad-eye would say; constant vigilance." Harry reminded his team, painfully limping forward. "Now, Padma and Rolf, I'd like you two to conjure patronuses to go ahead with my stag. Ianto, Dennis and Gabrielle, I want you to think about your happiest memories in case we have to fight. Letitia, transform if we see more than one dementor; they have less of an effect on transformed animagi."
"Do you think there will be many more out there?" Ianto asked, his Welsh accent far stronger now he was nervous.
"Yes, Ianto." Harry murmured. "I expect there will be a few more than one."
If these dementors were indeed those who fled from the battle of Hogwarts, there would be thousands. Sometimes, when Pepper closed her eyes, she could see the dark, hooded figures gliding gracefully towards them, freezing the very ground beneath them. She remembered crying over Fred Weasley's dead body until there was nothing left inside her other than a dull ache. She doubted she could ever produce a corporeal patronus, not any more.
Focusing on the scene before her, Pepper watched as Padma's tiger patronus snapped playfully at the heels of Harry's stag. The great creatures lead the way, protectively, through the tunnels, with Rolf's penguin hippity-hopping behind them, desperate to keep up. Despite her bad memories, Pepper smiled. Just watching the creatures was enough to lift her spirits.
Whenever they stopped to redress the wound on Harry's leg, he also insisted they stop for a chocolate break. Gabrielle was the only one protesting, saying 'a moment on the hips is a lifetime on the lips'. She ate the chocolate anyway, if only to have an excuse to stop listening to Ianto correcting her.
The group fell into silence as they descended further into the caverns, and, instead of jokes, bickering and story telling, the air around them filled with a bone chilling rattling sound. The source of this became clear around the next corner where the tunnels opened up, revealing an enormous clearing, large enough to fit the new Avengers headquarters inside. Instead of the familiar dirt walls that lined the tunnels, this magnificent opening was lined with a thick layer of perfect ice. In the light of their wands, the ice seemed to glisten a thousand different colours beautifully... or at least, it should have been beautiful.
The beauty of the ice palace was tainted with tens of thousands of dementors. The rattling sound was coming from them as they floated in midair, their cloaked bodies staring straight at the Aurors, feeding desperately off their emotions. It was a song. A hunting song.
"Patronuses everyone!" Harry shouted needlessly. Gabrielle's dolphin patronus had already joined the other three, just as an excited Labrador puppy burst out of Dennis's wand and tripped over its own feet in its haste to join the others. The already odd group of animals were joined a few seconds later by Ianto's lumbering sheep patronus.
"What now boss?" Dennis asked excitedly.
Pepper stared around the hallway. All dementors knew they were there, but were giving the patronuses a wide birth. Every so often, one swooped down testing their defenders and almost instantly sprung away from them, as if they were burnt. In the past, he dementors had always fled from the patronuses; fled off into the night. But there was no where for them to go this time. As soon as he and his team stepped forward, the dementors would scatter. Trapped in this room, they'd float around, desperate to break through. In the confusion, one probably would. It would be like being in a tank filled with jelly fish, with only a hose pipe for protection.
"The only way forward is straight through them." Harry murmured. "But we need to work intelligently, as a team, to herd them into a section of the cavern."
"And how exactly are we supposed to do that?" Padma asked, pointedly. "It's not like they are scared sheep (no offence Ianto). They want to feed on our souls!"
"If you have a better idea, Padma, I'd love to hear it." Harry sighed, "in fact, if anyone has a better idea please say. I can't see another way."
"'Arry ees right. Zere ees no alternative. We should just bite ze bullock and do eet."
"Bullet." Ianto corrected her.
"Oui, bite ze bullet."
"It'll be interesting to see what would happen if you bit a bullock though." Dennis grinned.
"Why don't you try it?" Padma muttered darkly.
"Guys, come on! Focus on being a team." Harry ordered, he could feel the dementors getting under their skin. They had to move quickly. "Gabrielle, Padma and I will use our patronuses to herd them away from us, we don't want them to scatter, we want to keep them in one shoal. Ianto, Dennis and Rolf, use yours to guard us against the dementors that stray from the pack."
The girls nodded, flicking their wands and allowing their patronuses to encircle the dementors, gently nudging them away from the Aurors. Harry crossed the fingers on his left hand, and began to walk, his arm draped over Ianto's shoulders for support. Padma, Letitia and Rolf followed with Gabrielle and Dennis bringing up the rear.
On each of their faces, Pepper saw the same desperation; the desperation to sprint as fast as they could to the other side of the hall. However, the effort of keeping up the patronus charm was getting to them. Dennis's face was screwed up in exhausted concentration while Ianto was sweating profusely. The dementors made it harder. They engulfed the team in startling waves of misery and hopelessness, hacking away at the patronuses and feeding on their happy memories. Every single dementor was hungry. Starving. Desperate. And there were thousands.
Dennis was the first to crack. The silver puppy flickered and faded away as he fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face. Pepper was surprised; out of everyone in the team, she hadn't expected Dennis with his unwavering cheerfulness to be overcome with bad memories first. Perhaps that was the problem; perhaps he was unable to process grief or hardship properly, and the inane smile was a mask that, now torn off by the dementors, had left both him and Gabrielle exposed.
The dolphin soured straight through the shoal of dementors straight towards Gabrielle, scattering them away from her and Dennis moments before they administered the kiss. Draining her strength further, Gabrielle hauled Dennis up in her air, half dragging him across the icy floor.
"We've got to move faster!" Harry bellowed, as thousands of the dementors lost their perfect, graceful formation and flew desperately down to the Aurors in random, unpredictable bursts. He could hardly see through the mass of black cloaks. He could smell nothing but death. "Shacklebolt, Scamander, help Delacour and Creevy!"
While the dolphin and penguin guarded the three people and animagus, Gabrielle and Rolf bundled a sobbing Dennis onto the Rhino's back while the young man continued to sob. Pepper heard the word 'Colin' over the screaming air and, when she looked at Harry's face, she saw nothing but guilt written across his features. The team reformed and ran as a random unit towards the other side of the hall. Ianto's patronus was the next to fail. Then Padma's. Then Rolf's. Just as they reached other other side of the cavern's Gabrielle's dolphin faded from view.
The Aurors bundled into the mouth of the tunnel, the shimmering stag was their only protection from the dementors. Harry stared out at the tangled mass of black cloaks, getting ready to shatter the ceiling so the dementors could not chase them. That was when he saw the bright red muggle coat that had belonged to Dennis lying on the back of the Rhino where Dennis should be.
"Dennis." He breathed. "Where's Dennis?"
The question was a waste of air as, when the dementors moved, he saw the sandy haired man sobbing on the floor a mere twenty foot away, a glistening orb being pulled from his mouth. His soul. The dementors, momentarily distracted from the other humans, swooped towards him desperately.
"NO!" Harry shouted, stepping forward.
But Letitia moved quicker. She transformed back into a human and pointed her wand straight at the dementors surrounding Dennis. Harry paused. According to Hermione, Letitia had never conjured a patronus before, but this felt like a moment in a superhero film where the protagonist pulls off what they thought was impossible at the very last moment; saving the day.
Only that didn't happen.
"Avada Kadava." She hissed, causing a bright green light to stream from the tip of her wand and engulf Dennis. Pepper felt her heart skip a beat. Her ears started to ring. Her throat closed up. All she could do was watch as the shimmering orb of light that had once been Dennis's soul, flicker out of existence before the dementors could feed. "Accio Dennis!" Letitia shouted. The man's limp body shot towards them, knocking over a dozen dementors like bowling balls before landing, limply at her feet. Letitia raised her wand to the ceiling. "Bombarda!"
As the ceiling fell in, blocking them off from the dementors, Harry's stag faded from view. Despite being safe from the monsters on the other side of the wall, he had never felt so unsafe in his life. Never before, had he been betrayed like that, nor had he expected any member of his team would do such a heinous act. The mere shock prevented him from ranting and raging at his supposed team mate and crying over Dennis's body.
"She killed him." Pepper breathed, her eyes wide with shock and wet with tears. She had not realised how much she had grown to like the young man, with his lovable, inappropriate jokes and inane cheeriness.
"She did." Harry, the present version sighed. He suddenly looked so much older and tireder, as if the pain of the leg injury and his loss had finally hit him.
"I'm so sorry, darling." Ginny whispered, taking Harry's rough calloused hand in hers. "I know how much you cared for him... and Colin." The tears in her eyes did not only contain grief however, they were filled with relief that the gods of death hadn't claimed Harry. Pepper knew this because she was selfishly thinking the same thing.
"Better to die as yourself, than to live without a soul." The Letitia stated, as calmly as if she was discussing the weather. As far as Pepper could see, her dark eyes were completely void of emotion.
"Zat was not your call!" In her anger, Gabrielle's bright blue eyes flashed a dangerous shade of scarlet. This was the same colour as the eyes of a Veela, Pepper recalled, remembering the Veela at the final of the Quidditch World Cup back when she was thirteen. Gabrielle's wand joined Padmas, both pointing at Letitia.
"We could've saved him!" Padma yelled.
"That's enough." Harry said quietly. Rolf, Ianto, Padma and Gabrielle turned to stare at him, their eyes full of so much hurt and confusion that they didn't need to speak, he already knew what they were thinking. Harry looked straight at Letitia. "We need to send his body back." His voice broke, showing the emotional roller coaster that lay behind his words. "W-we can't leave him here."
The words were the same as the ones he'd wept over Cedric Diggory's body at the tri-wizard tournament. However, it wasn't Cedric's body he was picturing, nor was it Dumbledore's, or Dobby's, or Fred's.
"Do you remember when we met Neville's parents?" Harry asked, his quiet voice sounding strained with emotion. It took a few moments for Pepper to realise it was her version of Harry talking, and not the memory. "At St Mungo's?" Ron and Hermione nodded, while Pepper and Ginny exchanged confused glances. "After being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange during the first war against Voldemort, Frank and Alice Longbottom lost their minds, but were still living in St Mungo's. We were visiting Arthur, Mr Weasley, when we accidentally bumped into them. When I look at that scene, I picture the tortured expression on Neville's face when his mother handed him an empty wrapper of Drooble's Best Glowing Gum as a Christmas present." A noise escaped his mouth that could have been a single laugh, but there was no humour or happiness behind it.
"At the cost of her own soul, Letitia saved Dennis's. Do you thing Dennis and his family would take more comfort knowing he had a swift, merciful death and had passed over, than having to live in agony as empty shell of a person? Everything that had made him who who was, would have been ripped from him... but then I think of my parents. Of Sirius. Death was so very final, whereas life is filled with possibilities and potential; therefore, there would never be any justification to take a life." He shook his head in despair. "For my own sanity, I have to believe what she did was a heinous crime."
As Ginny gently comforted her husband, Pepper watched Rolf rummage in his brief case for his spare port key, which was shaped like a common bull point pen. Not daring to speak, the memory version of Harry nodded his thanks, as Rolf dropped the pen into his outstretched hand. He then knelt down next to Dennis and pressed the pen between his clammy, stiff fingers.
"Shacklebolt should go with him." Padma muttered darkly. "I don't want her around. We can't trust her!"
"What I did, I did for the greater good."
"Now tell me, why is it that, whenever a witch or wizard does something bad, they say it's for the greater good? I really want to know." Harry murmured, talking to himself rather than to the others. However, they all heard. Letitia had no sorrowful words, indeed, she showed no emotion. "Auror Shacklebolt, I'm going to have to formally request that you surrender your wand-"
"-you would punish me?" Letitia interrupted. "When I was the only one who respected him enough to give him a clean death!"
"There can be no excuses for taking a life!" Harry told her, because that was what he'd believed since before he could walk. He could not allow his team to see how conflicted he truly was. The fury that bubbled through his veins was caused more by his internal struggle than her refusal to follow his command. His face turned as red as uncle Vernons used to as he bellowed: "EXPELLIARMUS!" The wand flew away from her and into his outstretched hand. His rising anger made his body feel strangely light and tingly. However, he ignored the sensation, choosing to focus on his fury. "You are not God, Letitia! You do not get to choose who lives and who dies. You realise, we have to walk away now and think of something happy!"
"Sir!" Ianto cut him off, his voice surprisingly sharp, however, once Harry had stopped shouting, his voice softened. "Sorry to interrupt, but we only have two minutes before the port key leaves." Two minutes to say goodbye. Harry took a deep breath, drawing courage for what he wanted, what he needed, to say to Dennis. However, it was Gabrielle that spoke first, her French accent made heavier by her tears.
"Au revoir Dennees." She smiled sadly, leaning down to kiss his forehead briefly. "May you find 'appiness een 'ze next life. I will meess you." She paused for a moment, before turning to Letitia; her blue eyes seemed paler, and were full of conflict. "Weezout you, 'is soul would be een torment now. I am not saying what you deed was right, but I know you deed eet weez kind eententions. You 'ave a good 'eart."
"He is with his brother in the ancestral plane now." Letitia murmured. "We should take comfort in the fact that he is at peace." Gabrielle nodded stiffly at the woman, before stepping back, her eyes closed, head bent and hands clasped together, as if in prayer.
"It won't be the same without you trying to make us smile." Ianto whispered imitating Gabrielle's stance. "Or at least, try to make us smile."
"You're one of the bravest people I know." Rolf murmured. "I'm proud to call you my friend."
"Dennis, the last time we spoke, I snapped at you. I wish I could take that back, and I hope you can forgive me." Padma whispered.
A long pause followed her words as everyone looked to Harry. Pepper knew him well enough to know that he'd regret it for the rest of his life if he said nothing; this could be the last chance he'd ever have to say how he truly felt. Seconds ticked by as he built up the courage to speak his mind in front of his whole team.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save you." Harry eventually said. "And I'm sorry I couldn't save your brother. I hope you can move on..." Dennis's body faded away just as Harry finished speaking. The six Aurors hung their heads in sadness; a sign of respect for their missing team member. However, they didn't have time to linger. "Let's press on." Harry whispered, his voice horse. The blocked off tunnel was so quiet, it almost sounded like he was shouting. "Expecto Patronum." A few pathetic wisps of silver came out of his wand. He closed his eyes, trying to think back to any memory that the dementors hadn't tainted or sucked out of him. He felt as if he had nothing left.
In the corner if the tunnel, Pepper saw another hologram. This figment of the memory version of Harry's imagination was an eleven year old girl who, at first, Pepper assumed was Harry's daughter... that was until she realised the girl was wearing an overly exuberant, frilly, blue frock with a matching ribbon tying hack her long, strawberry blond ringlets. Her arms were folded angrily across her chest and, coupled with her indignant pout, showed her displeasure at the attire.
It was her, back when all she had was her brother. The last time her aunt had dressed her in that ridiculous outfit was three nights before they had been whisked away by a magical flying car and she had been plunged into the magical world that she'd grown to despise.
The little girl looked straight up at the memory version of Harry. When her blue eyes met his green eyes, the scowl on her face melted away, and became a beam of excitement and adoration. The memory version of Harry was smiling back. The present version of Harry had turned bright red with embarrassment that Pepper was seeing the perfectly preserved memory he had of her.
"Expecto Patronum!" He bellowed. A silver stag erupted from his wand, ready to lead the way through the tunnels.
Unbeknownst to the Aurors, the walls at the heart of the caverns burnt a hot, steaming shade of red as they were branded. These travellers had done something no one else had. Not only had they survived, but they had killed a member of their own, who they had loved with all their hearts. The branding spread like wildfire throughout the caverns, burning anyone or anything touching the walls. However, when as the seconds ticked by, the walls cooled, leaving glistening golden cave paintings etched into the tunnels.
The drawings all had one theme; the skeletal, hooded figure of death.
Author's Note:
One thing I'd like to point out in this chapter is the start of Hermione's character development. I think that being minister for magic would make her more up-tight and desperate to follow the rules to avoid a scandal. This has obviously put a strain on her marriage and her family life. In this chapter, we see her bend the rules by not recording Rolf's illegal menagerie for Harry, showing she is still the person she was at school.
I think it was the third chapter when Malfoy told Pepper they found a body. Intitially, I wasn't planning on going into so much detail about Harry's team and, when I decided to, I was going to have a character who was just kinda there to die (if that makes sense). Unfortunately, my mind is quite dark and I decided to kill off one of the characters I was most attached to in a way that's bit controversial. Letitia killed him so the dementors wouldn't get his soul and therefore allowed him to pass over peacefully (hopefully). However, does that justify her actions? I don't really know the right answer but I hope Harry's reaction lives up to how he would react in the books.
Thanks again for reading and thanks for all the lovely reviews! I loved the idea for a wereworm but sadly I've already planned out the next chapter. Let me know what you think of this one and I'd also be interested in hearing any theories or ideas for future chapters! :)