Chapter 11
"What the bloody hell was that?"
Breakfast at Grimmauld Place was not an amusing occasion at all. At the moment Tonks was drawing all the attention, and the rest of them did their best to avoid any attention at all.
"What was that, Harry? What exactly didn't you understand about the order 'don't rush'? Was I speaking ancient Hebrew?"
"I—"
"Don't answer me!"
Harry lowered his eyes in embarrassment.
"Do you really want to die so soon?"
Harry couldn't stop himself then. "But the Dementors were attacking the Robinsons—"
"Sure," Tonks said, riding right over the top of him, "and if my darling aunt was just a bit more interested in watching some Muggle torture, then punishing a new 'employee', you would have been dead," she said, cutting his speech off. "First you would have died, then it would have been Fleur's turn," she said, looking at the French girl who was by now looking quite nauseous. "For following your example in stupidity and running after you," Tonks went on mercilessly. "And you'll get your friends killed for being your friends and running after you into stupid situations, just for being your friends. Last night it would have been Hermione."
Hermione's parents were looking between their daughter, Harry, and Tonks, not looking amused at all.
"I thought you'd have learned this lesson by now..."
Harry looked as if he'd been hit in the gut.
But the lecture was nowhere near finished. "Next in line would have been Bill and me. Bill, since I don't expect him to stand back and do nothing when his girlfriend is being tortured by Death Eaters, and me because I prefer to die myself then tell the wolf there—" she pointed at Remus who sat in the corner looking like a shadow of his usual self— "that I let you kill yourself and did nothing. Probably the only one standing at the end of the night would have been Neville, but I can't even be sure of that."
For the shortest of moments Neville looked almost proud of himself.
"That's because he decided, just last night, to forget his body armour."
And Neville looked proud no more.
"Next time something like this happens, you tell me before the fight and stay home or I'll turn you into a small white mouse myself." Tonks turned her gaze to Neville, who was looking for something to hide under.
"As for you—" She turned back to Harry, and then passed her stare around the room. "When you go into battle, you do as planned, and, especially as ordered, otherwise you turn out dead." She returned her eyes to Harry. "Deceased," she said, "departed, gone, expired, perished, belly-up, kicked the bucket, pushing up daisies; savvy?"
There was a very long and uncomfortable silence in the room.
"Since my new recruits are arriving today, I'll go and take out my foul mood on them, and hopefully you'll have some time to reflect on your stupidity, and foul luck before the next time we meet." With these last words, she turned around, went to the corner of the room to give Remus a soft kiss on his nose, and Disapparated with a loud cracking sound that put Fred and George to shame.
Tonks' departure did nothing to elevate the mood in the room. Harry was battling himself mercilessly. He could easily identify with Dobby now, and for a moment he thought about getting instructions on the most effective way of ironing his ears, or any equivalent punishment. Once again he'd been stupid—Gryffindor and stupid—and dangerous to his friends. Even if he was learning, he was certainly not learning the right lessons, or at least not fast enough.
Emma and Dan weren't happy ether. Their life had just received a huge blow when their home was destroyed by terrorists, and they found themselves hiding in their homeland from people they couldn't defend themselves against. Not only that, but now they had discovered that they couldn't sleep at night, even in this "safe house", since their beloved and only daughter was going out, late at night, into danger. Danger they knew nothing about.
"What happened last night?"
"Neville called for help."
"There were Death Eaters at my place, and Dementors," Neville chipped in. "My wards went off, so I called for help. We, my grandmother and I, were lucky to get our house under the Fidelius in time, so they couldn't find the place. Instead, they went after the Robinsons. They're a family of Muggles who have been working our land for centuries. We went to help them, but we couldn't save the father. Mrs. Robinson is in St. Mungo's and I believe she's going to be fine in a couple of days. The kids were unharmed, but we'll have to Obliviate all of them as soon as the mother can be sent home."
"And Harry caught the Dementor that attacked the Robinsons' home," Hermione added. "I think he's the first one to do so for at least a century."
"What aren't you telling us?" Emma knew her daughter enough to know a partial answer when given one.
"What you told us just now is no reason for the lecture we just witnessed, and especially not the guilty looks on all your faces."
"Sorry, Dad."
"I made a mistake last night," came the soft answer. Harry was standing next to them and listening to their conversation. He wasn't ready to let his friends take any blame for his mistakes. "Happy birthday, by the way, Neville."
Neville nodded his thanks.
"You just tried to help them."
Harry silenced Hermione with a look. "We were given clear instructions, and I didn't listen."
"What happened?"
"We tried to follow the Death Eaters and help the Robinsons." Neville started to describe the night. "We didn't know how many Death Eaters were there, or where they were, so Tonks instructed us to spread out and not rush, so we would have a chance to see the Death Eaters before they noticed us following them, and even if they did, they wouldn't see all of us at once."
"We did as she said." Hermione picked up the explanation. "At least for a while, and then the screaming started."
"And I just forgot about the orders, and my friends, and the danger. I just rushed right into the house with my Patronus and with most of my friends running after me, to try and help me."
"That wasn't very clever of you."
"Iknow!" Harry said desperately, looking at Dan. "I always seem to do these stupid things. It's just like two years ago, when I rushed into the Ministry and got Sirius killed and all the others wounded. It's something in me I just don't know how to control."
"How many times have we told you that it wasn't your fault? You checked as much as you could, and you were certain that a man you cared for was in danger."
"You know, Hermione, I'm still not convinced. It's been two years since then. I'm older; I've got over Sirius's death, probably as much as I'll ever be able to; maybe we can discuss it now and be honest for once. I know I didn't kill Sirius—Bellatrix did, Riddle did; for Merlin's sake, even Dumbledore contributed quite a bit. But at the time, I could have prevented it!"
There was a long, uncomfortable silence, the kind that happens when people are treading on ground they've avoided for a long time.
"You can't stop helping people, it's part of who you are. Would you have preferred to leave Ginny alone in the Chamber?"
"Maybe it would have been better to go there with some kind of a plan, or at least a rooster!"
"You're a brave man. You should stop hiding from that fact. You're a great wizard, and a brave man, and a wonderful friend. That's what makes you our leader."
"I don't know about all that, but I do know that I've been extremely lucky, and other people have paid for my mistakes. Well, Fawkes isn't here any more, and one day I'm bound to run out of luck."
"But you're not going to run out of friends, or courage."
"Wonderful, so I'll just keep using my friends," Harry summed up in desperation.
Dan and Emma watched the argument between their daughter and Harry with very mixed emotions. "So, Harry," Dan finally said. "What are you going to do about it?"
"Daddy!"
"I'm talking with Harry."
"I'm learning," Harry finally answered after a long silence. "I'm training—we are training—and I've accepted the responsibility. It's just that I don't know if I'll be able to avoid these mistakes in the future, and I'm sure am not learning fast enough."
"Harry!"
Dan silenced his daughter with a look. "That's a very good answer," he said softly. "It's what training does—conditions you to do the right thing in times when you don't have the luxury of thinking first."
Harry nodded silently, not really expecting this kind of response from Hermione's parents.
"We really try our best, Daddy."
"It's just that we learn magic, not how to fight."
"Harry, it's only the beginning. You can't do it all. We hardly get any sleep as it is."
"That's not so clever—"
"I know, Daddy, but we just don't have the time."
"She's right, Dan. We work on our physical and magical fitness almost every day, until about two in the afternoon, then we learn more magic till evening comes, then we all have our 'special projects' to work on."
"Then there's the problem that we don't have anyone to learn magical battle from."
"Harry's right. We have Mum and Tonks to torture us in the mornings, and Tonks is doing wonderful work with our magical conditioning too. Then we have books to learn magic from. It's slower, but Harry's mother and Neville's father did a large part of the work for us. But fighting?"
"It took me an hour with a computer game to understand that we can do it a lot better. Hell, it took Dan five minutes of discussion to come to the same conclusion. The problem is that we can't learn fighting skills from a computer game, and we have no one to teach us."
"Would you like us to look into that?"
"What do you mean, Dad?"
"There must be someone trustworthy out there with battle savvy, someone who can teach you."
"We can't tell anyone about magic!"
Harry chuckled softly, hearing this. "What?" he said, tackled by her glare. "We can break every rule in the book, kill Ministry employees inside the Ministry building, but we can't tell one person about magic?"
"Excuse me for interrupting..." Susan had stood there and listened silently almost from the start. But now she felt almost forced to intervene in the conversation. "We've talked about it in the past, Harry. Most of these rules are in place for a reason."
"Sure, but I haven't heard about witch-hunting since the seventeenth century."
"Harry, this isn't like you."
He looked around, a little surprised.
"What do you think would happen if the existence of the wizarding world was ever made public? Half of the world's population would be terrified of us and would try to fight us. The other half would expect us to solve all their problems with magic, and would blame us for all their mishaps."
"Right, like in X-men." Dan was silenced by Emma's elbow, but Harry nodded his head in understanding.
"It might be right, but telling one man about wizards won't reveal wizarding Britain."
"What if he wasn't trustworthy?"
"Didn't you once say that you can erase a person's memory?"
"We can, Mum."
"And besides, if that person tries to talk about it to anyone, he's going to find himself hospitalised," Dan chuckled.
"Dear," remarked Emma with a thoughtful look, "what if we can find someone to help you who knows about wizards already?"
"Yes! What do you call those people from magical families who can't do magic?"
"Squibs? Sure, but how will we find them?"
"We can't ask around for them, that's for sure. Families will never admit to having a Squib."
"So what do we do?" Harry asked, looking at Susan.
"Low-lifes always gather." Petunia's voice came as a surprise to them all. "You ask one Squib that you know about others," she added as she walked out of the kitchen.
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Others in the room were also not thrilled.
"You don't control my life. Do it one more time and there'll be bats coming out of your nose for eternity!"
"You're too young to go out and fight."
"And just who are you? Professor Griselda Marchbanks?"
"I'm of age!"
"I don't know about that, but you're certainly not of magic."
Neville flinched at the last remark. He was sitting to the side with Luna and watched the shouting war in astonishment.
"Do you know what all this is all about?"
Luna shrugged. "Happy birthday, Neville," she added.
"It's about last night."
They looked back in surprise to see Dudley sitting quietly in the corner of the room, watching the same shouting contest.
"Last night, the woman with the—" he stopped in the middle of the sentence— "colourful hair," he settled for after a moment's thought, "didn't allow Ron to go out, wherever they all went," he continued his explanation. "She said he wasn't ready to fight. He tried to argue with them and then said that the girl—"
"Ginny?" Luna supplied.
"Ginny! He said she couldn't go since she was too young. Then he said he was going to...call? Fire?"
"Floo," Neville answered.
"Floo, right—he said he was going to Floo his mother about it. They shouted and argued till Harry told them that they didn't have the time to wait, and they all left without Ron and Ginny. They kept shouting until my mother told them off. Ginny did something to Ron and he had green bats of Ugh coming out of his nose and attacking him. It looked quite painful. I think he wanted to do something nasty to Mum, but the bats got in his way."
"Oh my," Neville sighed.
"Harry!"
"What does she want him to do?" Dudley asked carefully.
"Probably make a stand against Ron for her," Neville explained. "Where do you stand on the matter?" he asked Luna after a short reflection.
"I'm going to look for Efelents in the attic. They like to nest there, in the dark, on warm sunny days like this."
"Oh, no you don't," Neville smiled at her. "This is about you as much as it is about her. Only Ginny has her mother and too many overbearing brothers to fight her way, though."
"But I never make a stand on anything?"
"She's your friend, Luna. For many long years she was your only friend," Neville stressed. "If you go on fighting while she's not allowed, it will be like rubbing salt in the wound."
Luna nodded, sighed, and went to stand by her friend, earning herself a small, thankful smile.
"You stay out of it," Ron warned Harry as he came near. "It's a family matter," he added.
"It has nothing to do with the family. It's my decision to make."
Harry exchanged a look with Bill and sighed; then he said, "Actually, it's my decision to make—or, for the time being, Tonks'. We will only let those who are ready out into battle," he said, looking pointedly at Ron.
"So I'm not good enough? And what about Luna? Is she good enough?"
For a short second, Luna's eyes lost their distant look.
"Actually, at this point you both are definitely 'good enough'" Harry answered, looking worriedly at Bill.
"So it's settled," Ginny said, turning around.
"Nothing is settled yet, sis."
In a blink of an eye Ginny's wand appeared in her hand, pointed at her brother, its point glowing dark green.
"Don't point that thing at me, little sis. I'm on your side here—and don't forget it was me who invented that specific jinx you enjoy so much."
Ginny nodded and pocketed her wand, a little embarrassed.
Bill looked from Ginny to Harry to Ron for a very long moment, then said, "I believe Luna's task and yours will be to train Hogwarts students into an effective fighting unit, as soon as the school reopens."
Ginny started to object but was silenced by a motion of his hand.
"In order to do so, you'll both need some real battle experience," he continued, watching Ginny release her breath and Ron turn a deeper and deeper shade of red. "It's just that I don't want to rush it. Yesterday we were at risk of running into an ambush, and it was the wrong time for your first taste of battle. Before long we'll be planning our own attacks against the Death Eaters, and, if you train hard enough, you'll be there with the rest of us, I promise."
"Is it settled, then?" Harry asked; when he didn't get any response, he turned and walked out of the kitchen, followed by most of the people in the room.
Ron looked bitter as everyone left. "Settled, right. I'll show them," he mumbled to himself, and went to the entry hall only to find Bill standing by the fireplace.
"Are you planning, by any chance, to Floo Mum?" Bill asked, putting his hand on Ron's shoulder. "Let me give you a piece of advice," he said, when Ron didn't respond. "We all love Mother dearly, but we know who she is too. We, the Weasley brothers, never go to Mum to solve our problems. I won't stop you from Flooing her, but if you do it will be the last time that ether Charlie or I or, for that matter, George and Fred, will ever give you a helping hand," he said and walked out and up the stairs to start the day's magical training.
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"Can you please help me?"
Hermione raised her head from the book in which she was engulfed to see Susan standing timidly in front of her. "Sure, Susan, what can I do for you?" She smiled at her classmate.
"Do you remember the meeting at Gringotts we went to about a week ago?"
Hermione nodded in confirmation.
"We met a guy there that I need to get in touch with."
Hermione nodded for her to go on.
"He gave me this card," Susan said and handed her a fancy business card. "I tried to call his name, I tried to say the number on the card, I tried to throw the card into the Floo, but it doesn't work," she said in frustration.
"Bradley Howard?"
Susan nodded in confirmation.
"This is his phone number. You can't reach him through the Floo. You need to use a telephone."
"Tele—"
"Telephone—it's what regular people use to talk with someone who is away. It's like the Floo network. You can't travel through it, but it's much more comfortable and efficient as a means of communication."
Susan looked completely at lost.
"Would you like me to show you?"
Susan nodded with apparent relief.
"Let's go outside then. I'll just tell Harry where we are." Hermione walked Susan to the local phone box, on the other side of Grimmauld Place. She showed her how to insert the coins, dial the number, and use the handset, then stood to the side so as not to eavesdrop on a private conversation.
- "Mr. Howard?"
- "Oh, was I talking too loud?"
- "Is this all right?"
- "Can I speak with Mr. Howard, please?"
- "Mr. Howard? It's Susan Bones."
- "Bradley, then," she said, smiling. "I was thinking about you."
- "No, I mean I was thinking about the work we do."
- "I'm still not sure I understand everything. Can I ask you to meet with me and help me a little more?"
- "I don't know where it is."
- "Tube?"
- "It will be lovely. Give me a moment to ask."
She turned to Hermione. "Do you know a place around here where I can meet with Bradley?" she asked, a bit desperately.
"You can invite him to the coffee place where Harry usually goes. Give me the phone and I'll give him the address."
A short moment later they were both walking toward the coffee shop so Hermione could show Susan around and explain things to her before Bradley arrived.
"Bradley?"
Susan blushed profusely. "He's an investment banker for Gringotts."
"Is he good looking?" Hermione asked teasingly.
Susan's blush deepened. "He's nice," she finally said.
"I'm ashamed to say it, but I never would have guessed that you'd be interested in someone who wasn't a wizard."
"Don't be. I'm still surprised myself. I'm not that kind of girl, you know."
"Oh—famous last words!" Hermione teased, smiling widely.
"Hush, you! I'm really not. This is what I hate most about Hogwarts Houses. You all think that we Hufflepuff girls are stupid, romantic readers of Teen Witch Weekly."
"So?"
"So when I first saw him, I couldn't take my eyes off him!"
"Well, good luck to you."
At that moment they arrived at the coffee shop, and Hermione settled them in two comfortable armchairs in the corner and asked for some tea.
"By the way," she said, "can you tell me more about your meeting at Gringotts?"
"I must say that I didn't understand all of it. From what I did understand, it appears that the Goblins tempted most of the families who finance You-Know-Who to invest most of their money in Muggle companies, controlled by us—the Potters, Longbottoms, and Boneses. They say it's impossible to earn money in the wizarding world; I didn't really understand why. For years, the Goblins spread rumours about the profits we made in Muggle markets, and when asked, told the investors that Gringotts doesn't allow these kinds of investments and that our parents took unreasonable risks. The Death Eaters' families insisted on investing their money the same way our families did. The Goblins even made them lose some money to give them a taste of the risk. As far as I can understand, it took the Goblins about ten years, but right now they're ready to make these families lose most of their liquid money in a few days, while giving us only reasonable losses."
"That was the Goblins' idea?"
"No, they say it was all Lily Potter's."
"You know, I was always thought of her as the pretty and smart wife of Harry's father, but she was truly a remarkable woman."
Susan nodded solemnly. "They all were—Harry's mother, Neville's father, my aunt. I just can't reconcile what we now know about Dumbledore with the Headmaster we knew and loved."
Hermione nodded, and for a while they just set there in silence, enjoying their tea, until Bradley showed up at the door.
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Uma looked worriedly at her friend's hair. She had long since discovered that Tonks' hair colour was a clear indication of Tonks' state of mind. This day it was dull brown. Blond she had seen before, even jet black—but this?
"Are you all right, dear? Is it your wolf-man?"
"Partly," Tonks sighed, falling into the chair near her friend.
"Tea? Beer?"
"I need something much stronger today. Let's see what they can do with vodka here."
"That kind of a day, then? Is it the wolf-man? Do you need me to smack him up a little for you?"
"Well, it is Remus..."
"Remus? How fitting for a wolf-man."
"Much more fitting than you can ever imagine," Tonks said, as a small smile crept onto her lips.
"He's the real legendary Remus?"
"No, silly. That would make him, what—almost three thousand years old? I might be into older men, but I'm not that perverted."
"One day you might learn that age has nothing to do with love."
"You and your sacred love! Love doesn't solve everything, I'll have you know."
"Lovers; Are very special people; They're the luckiest people in the world."
"Hein?"
"I'll forgive you this time, since you're so young. So what happened to Remus that made you choose such a dull hair colour today?"
"It's a combination of things, actually. When I met Remus I knew he was sick and that there was no cure for him. He's using a very expensive medication to make his life tolerable. Lately he's lost his source for that medication. We don't have the money to buy it from any other source, and my dear Remus is too bloody noble to ask for help from those who do."
Uma nodded in understanding and sympathy. It's a shame, she thought, that those who really need it rarely have medical insurance.
"Then, last night, people attacked the home of one of the young men I help to train. We tried to fight them off, but we couldn't get there in time. They brought creatures with them, horrible creatures—I couldn't go back to bed afterward. We drove the creatures off and captured one of them. They attacked the home of a family working the land of one of my young men, but we were too late there, too. The creature ate—I don't know how to explain it, but the father of the family was lost, and the mother severely hurt. Listen to me, please—I know it sounds like I've lost it, but if you ever feel like the world quickly becomes much colder than is natural, run for your life away from the cold."
Uma looked at her friend suspiciously. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
"There is so much I'm not telling you..."
Uma watched as Tonks took out the short stick she always carried around, playing with it and twiddling it between her fingers from time to time. This time she looked at it in silence for a very long moment.
"Bugger! I have the right to a friend of my choice," she said to herself. "Uma, would you mind going somewhere a little more private?"
After a short silence, Uma nodded in agreement, rose, and put her hand out to Tonks. "Come," she said softly. "Let's go and talk."
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"Hi! You're back."
"I went out to show Sus how to use the telephone."
"Sus?"
"Miss Susan Bones," Hermione replied in a formal tone while smiling. "She's a friend, so yes—Sus."
"Telephone?"
"Someone gave her a business card and she tried to use it over the Floo, so I helped her."
"Someone?"
"Bradley Howard."
"Bradley!" Harry said with a knowing smile.
"Exactly. You should have seen her face when he entered the coffeehouse."
"You should have seen her face when he gave her that business card!"
They both giggled happily.
"Where did they go?"
"I gave Bradley the address to your coffeehouse and showed Susan what to do there. I hope you don't mind?"
"Mind? You say it as if it really is my coffeehouse."
"Harry," she said hesitantly, "I asked Susan a bit about your meeting at Gringotts on the way. I hope you don't mind about that, too."
Harry shook his head in dismissal. "I just didn't have the time to tell you myself. What do you think?"
"About the plan? It's excellent. I'm just afraid that now Voldemort and his financing families will go against the Goblins in retribution."
"I asked them about that myself, at the meeting. Ironblaze said that they arranged it so that the Death Eaters had to go around Gringotts, and through an American Goblin family, in order to put their money forward. He said he isn't really afraid that Voldemort will choose to start his war against the Goblins even before he's had any meaningful success in his war against wizards. Ironblaze also said that if Voldemort is stupid enough to do that, than the plan would be beneficial to both Wizards and goblins in more than one way."
"He might be right."
"I have the feeling he usually is."
"So, what are your plans for the morning?"
"Since I'm frustrated and angry with myself, I think I'll go throw some magic around. Coming?"
"Sure, fun at the training room. Mind if we try something I've been thinking about?"
"Sure, be a lab mouse; then, try and take over the world!"
They finished up with quite a large group of people. Ron and Neville joined them. Ginny was already in the training room, having her usual friendly competition with Luna. As soon as they entered the room she gave Ron a nasty look and moved to the farthest part of the room from where he was standing.
Also joining were Su Li, who was just visiting to consult with Hermione about something, and Bill and Fleur, who enjoyed the workout. Remus was still too weak to do serious magic, but he sat in the corner of the room watching and gave advice when needed.
They started their usual sequence of drills. After a short while, Hermione stopped Harry.
"Mind if we try something new?"
"What's on your mind?"
"I want you to do the moving targets drill, but this time we'll have more targets, and we'll charm them to move faster."
"Wonderful," Harry mumbled.
"And there's the good part!"
"Oh, it gets better?"
"I'll give magic capability to the targets so they'll fire Stunners and stronger Stingers at you all the time."
"Smashing!"
It was just torturous. However he turned, he couldn't cover all the targets at the same time. For the first time since they started training, he had to resort to the use of a shield during training in order to actually defend himself against the targets, although not against Tonks and Remus. It took Harry a while to get into some kind of rhythm. In a rotation of sorts, he would block the target on his back with a shield. Usually he just used the sphere shield and didn't bother with localised ones. Then he would block one target, hitting it with magic, and if needed he would dodge the spells from the last one. He soon discovered that the main issue was to keep in mind the location of all three targets all the time. His time behind shelter was considerably increased also. Finally he discovered that by overwhelming a target with magic he could shut it down for long enough to do the same to the next one. Soon he settled into sending long rays of magic, meant to be Reductos, into the targets from behind shelter, and came out of shelter only to locate the targets anew. Finally he crouched behind one of the shelters to send a very long red ray of magic into one of the targets, moving his wand around and from hand to hand without breaking the curse, while getting ready to jump out from behind shelter. There was a loud clash and as he came out, the three targets dropped onto the floor. Looking around him in astonishment, he saw Bill looking at him wide eyed while Luna was supporting a much shaken Hermione and helping her to a seat.
"What happened? Why did it stop?"
Bill looked as if he was going to reply, then just shook his head and went to check the runes in the corners of the room.
"What?" Harry asked, a bit concerned now.
"Oh, nothing, dear," Ginny said, imitating her mother. "You just overwhelmed the room's magic," she said.
"And Hermione's magic too, I daresay," Luna added in a dry, mocking tone.
"Was that supposed to happen?"
"No, not really," replied Bill. "I had upgraded the channelling runes, added magic sinks both here and in almost every room in the house. I've also added two more reservoirs to the original four."
Harry didn't understand a word of it.
"Let me explain. No object can generate its own magic. Magic is a living entity. You'll note that objects can be passively charmed to be light, sticky, invisible, et cetera, but if you want an object to actively do something you must supply it with magic. The most usual source for such magic is magical beings around it. If you take a careful look at a self-inking quill, for example, you'll notice a rune engraved on it. That's a magic sink rune, dedicated to drawing magic from the user to activate the self-inking charm. Give a self-inking quill to a Muggle and it won't have any ink at all."
Harry nodded in understanding.
"This room is very heavily and actively charmed," Bill continued with the lecture. "In order to enable it we, that means I, put runes all around the house to draw magic from every magical being in it, to channel it and to store it."
At this point Hermione looked extremely interested, though still too tired to ask questions.
"You use sinking runes to capture residual magic, channelling runes to lead it wherever you need it, and reservoir stones to store the magic until it's needed. This is the way wards operate. Normally, an adequately warded house will have sinking runes at main rooms, basic channelling runes, and one or two reservoirs. This house's wards were massively upgraded so the house had better channelling runes and four reservoirs. That way it could withstand longer against magical attack, and could be replenished faster. If I understand it right, the Blacks intended to order any house-elf in the residence into the ritual room in case of a prolonged attack, and use their magic to replenish the reservoirs."
"They were always the charming ones," Ginny remarked dryly.
"So what we did has left the house unwarded?" Harry asked in alarm.
Bill looked a bit uncomfortable. "I might have made a mistake here. I'll correct it, but not until tomorrow morning. I'm going to add two more reservoirs and make them dedicated to the wards. We might deplete the room again, but the wards will be up long enough for the room's reservoirs to replenish."
"Where are the reservoirs located?"
"Well, the newest two are the large round stones you can see in the corners of the room. The original two are the decorated architraves above the front and back doors. The other two are located in the front hall but aren't currently connected."
"So at least two are exposed to attackers outside the house?"
"It's still inside the wards. It's a very common design. Attackers wouldn't be able to hit the reservoirs by ether magical or physical methods and the wards show off its strength."
"Wizards," Hermione mumbled.
"So Harry just used all the magic in four reservoir stones? How much power did he use to do that?"
"I don't really know. Give me a week and I'll calculate it," was the sarcastic response.
"Is there a way to measure a wizard's power?"
"I've read something about it, Neville. I think there's a way to measure the magic one puts into his spells, not his power per se. I must admit that I didn't completely understand the difference."
"Let's do it!"
"Ron," said his brother, shaking his head. "What good will it do?"
Remus just shook his head and smiled. "Every generation of wizards just have to measure themselves and compare," he said. "There were years when they regularly did these tests during the students' last year of Hogwarts. It was well before my time. Minerva once told me that they stopped that tradition because it caused too many disputes for no good reason."
"So do you know how to do the test?"
"Sure," he smiled. Do you really think the Marauders could restrain themselves? And how do you think Sirius and James felt about Lily's scores?"
"I don't know if I'm interested," Harry said.
"I don't know ether," Hermione agreed. "We're all capable wizards, and the information won't do us any good."
"Oh, come on!" Ron enthused. "This will be fun!"
Harry looked sceptical.
"Right, if we're going to do this we all need to rest a little and have a little something to eat. Go to the kitchen while I set up the charms on one of the targets."
They were heading out of the training room when Harry was stopped by Hermione. "Harry, did you get a chance to practice the curse from the notebook? The one that shoots metal darts?"
Harry nodded, looking at her questioningly.
"Can you show me? I've tried and failed."
Harry raised an eyebrow but turned toward the closest target, swirled his wand in a small circular motion and with a tiny jab sent an iron dart into the target, missing the centre by inches.
"Did you manage to change the type of metal? That's where I failed."
Harry repeated the motion, this time sending a copper dart, and a second later another dart, this time made of steel. Once again, the darts were a tiny bit off centre.
"Silver?" Hermione asked. "It might be practical against werewolves," she added, noting his quizzical look.
Remus took a hasty step backward, and looked as if he was about to say something, but he was silenced by the touch of Luna's hand and a tiny shake of her head.
Harry shrugged and sent another arrow into the target. A small frown appeared on his face since the arrow was clearly not silver. He concentrated and failed again. Once again Remus was about to speak and again was silenced by Luna, this time much more resolutely.
Remus looked on in wonder as Harry concentrated, repeating the wand movements while mumbling "Argent," under his breath. This time a silver dart hit the target, again—off centre.
Remus took another step back, his mouth gaping in utter surprise.
"Close your mouth please, Remus, we are not a codfish," Luna told him quietly, her distant smile firmly on her face.
"Gold?"
There was a feeling of condensed magic in the room, and seconds later a golden dart was stuck in the target. "Damn! I can make my magic go where I want it, but I just can't aim these darts true."
"Never mind, Harry; let's go have something to eat and you can explain to me how you do it on the way. I could only manage iron," Hermione said conversationally, and she led Harry out of the training room as if nothing extraordinary had happened.
"Did she do it on purpose?"
"Hermione?"
"Sorry for asking..."
"So what's it all about?"
"Hermione and I just wanted to test a little something we'd thought of."
"Little? Wait till Tonks hears what happened here while she was away playing with her tin soldiers."
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"A witch!" Uma was smiling widely.
"Actually, you're taking it a lot better than I would ever have believed." Tonks looked around her small apartment. She sighed and waved her wand around, looking a little miffed as only a small part of the mess that was her belongings found its way into the appropriate places.
"Not quite Mary Poppins," Uma teased.
"Hein?"
"Didn't you see the film?"
"Film? I don't know. We wizards aren't much into regular-people culture."
"So what do you sorceresses do for day-to-day life? Make steamy potions out of tadpole and bat eyes? Curse old families? Ride brooms?"
"I'm truly crap at brewing potions; I was hardly good enough to get into the Auror academy. I'm not so much into cursing people, although today was an exception. Brooms are fun; I should give you a ride one day. Mostly, I'm an Auror—a policewoman; a squad leader, these days. I live my regular life, go to work, help my friends, worry for my lover, the usual."
"And this mysterious sickness your man is suffering from?" Uma asked gently.
"He's got lycanthropy," Tonks said softly. "He's a werewolf," she added, noting Uma's quizzical look.
"So he really is a wolf-man."
"I can't even describe how horrible this disease is, the suffering he goes through every full moon. He used to get this special potion to help him, but now the potion master who used to brew it has been revealed as a traitor and Death Eater. The potion is just too complicated for anyone else to brew, and there's just no way for us to pay for the ingredients anyway. Every forced transformation ruins his body further. I'm just at a loss!"
"What about willing transformation?"
"What do you mean?"
"You showed me earlier how you change your body. Did it hurt? Did it harm you in any way?"
"No, but..."
"Can you turn into an animal?"
"No, you need to learn how to do that, but—"
"Does it hurt? I mean, when you know how to?"
"No, but—"
"Did your friend ever try it?"
Tonks sat staring dumbly at Uma, faint realisation just now beginning to dawn.
Wizards, Uma thought. It's always the same thing. Once someone knows a little more about the world around him than is usual, soon enough he forgets to look farther. And they think being a werewolf is a curse. People used to beg and work half their life to become werewolves—Odin's warriors.
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"Right, this is the target we've charmed for the test. Each one of us in turn should stand about ten feet from the target and shoot as much continuous magic as he can into the target for a minute's time."
"Are we sure we want to do this?"
"Oh hush, you," Ginny said. "Let me be first." She moved in front of the target, pulled her wand out, and pointed at the target, squared her shoulders and started sending continuous red streaks of magic.
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"Evening."
Ginny raised her head from the notes she was reading and smiled when she noticed Harry standing in front of her. "Evening," she replied, "and happy birthday."
"Thanks! Busy?"
"Not really, just reading some notes I got from Hermione about some shield spells she wants me and Luna to learn. They're probably from your mother's notebook."
"Probably. Can we talk?"
"Sure," she said and put the parchment aside. "What do you plan for your birthday?" she asked.
"I was thinking about having a nice dinner out in town, in a posh restaurant, with a very nice girl I know—and that I've owed her a long, honest talk for too long now. What do you think?"
"I think I'm not sure I have the appropriate clothes, or am I presuming too much?"
"Can you ask Hermione or Emma to help you with that? Don't worry about it," he added as she tried to object. "I'll ask Dan to help me choose a restaurant and make reservations."
Two hours later Ginny and Harry met again in the entry hall, both holding several shopping bags from a variety of fashion shops.
"I discovered that I don't have any appropriate clothing either." Harry smiled sheepishly at his friend.
"Did you enjoy yourself?"
"I certainly did. I had Dan fight over me with the salespersons in five different shops. They all said the same: that I am seventeen, not seventy-one. Did you enjoy yourself?"
"Oh, I did! I think Emma here had even more fun than I did. She just wouldn't stop."
Dan and Emma, standing off to the side, were hugged in thanks and looked like cats who had just stolen large bowl of cream. "How do you think I feel, being a mother to a child whose idea of fun is going to five different bookshops in one afternoon?"
"Mum!" came Hermione's voice as she passed through on her way to the library.
At that moment the smile fell from Ginny's face. "Oh Harry," she said. "I bought so much more than I needed. I'll have to find a way to pay you back, I promise."
He hushed her by putting his finger over her lips. "Hey!" he said softly. "None of that, please. I enjoy the look in your eyes, and I enjoy the look on Emma's face too. Just consider this my birthday present, right?"
They were caught in the moment, their eyes interlocked, as—
"Bloody wonderful, mate. Now you're buying your girls, too."
Harry sighed and watched the look in Gunny's eyes turn from happiness to burning anger, or was that hatred hidden in there? She turned around to face her brother, taking out her wand in one fluid motion. She was stopped by Harry's hand and lowered her wand, but she still held it at her side, her knuckles white as she gripped her wand angrily.
"What is it with you, Ron? Why do you insist on alienating all your friends? Hermione, Ginny, me? Who's next?"
"Friends? Friends don't stab their mates in the back!"
"What?" For a moment Harry wanted to try and reason with him. Then he said again, "What do you want, Ron?"
"I want to know just what you think you're doing to my baby sister," Ron responded. "And Gin—give him back all these bags right now!"
"Are you completely out of your bloody mind? Harry didn't do anything to me, and since when did you become my parent, ordering me around?"
Once again, Harry tried to calm Ginny, putting his hand softly on her shoulder. "My birthday is tonight, and Ginny and I are going out for dinner," he answered in a calm tone, which was a complete contradiction to the way he was feeling at the moment.
A strange expression crossed Ron's face. "I don't have a choice, then," he said in a dramatic voice and went to the fireplace. "The Burrow," he said, throwing a pinch of Floo powder in.
"Ron?"
"Mum, you need to come here and take care of Ginny."
A very short moment later the entry hall to the house of Black felt a lot more crowded, as the Weasley matriarch appeared through the Floo. "Happy birthday, Harry, dear," she said before turning all her attention to her kids.
"She just plays around doing dangerous underage magic all the time. She behaves like a scarlet woman and she doesn't obey me at all," Ron explained.
Molly turned to her daughter. "Ginny, go and pack right now. We're going home. You haven't been home in far too long and there's a lot to be done."
Ginny looked at her mother, appalled. "I'm not going anywhere," she said. "Do you think I'm going to waste the rest of the summer degnoming the yard and washing dishes by hand, under your apron? I'm here to prepare myself for the war that's raging out there, and I'm doing well! You can put your head in the sand all you want, but I won't help you with your pretty illusion any more."
"You'll learn how to treat your elders, young lady," Molly censored her, and pointed her wand at her daughter. "Scourgify," she said, and soon soap foam started coming out of Ginny's mouth and tears of humiliation filled her eyes.
Ron just chuckled softly.
"Finite," said Fleur to stop Ginny's humiliation. She came to stand beside her and hugged her for comfort.
Emma looked at the goings-on with astonishment and a little bit of horror. "Is that the way you treat your children? No wonder Ron called on you as a punishment for his sister," she remarked in a dry, even tone, the exact tone that Dan knew was an indication that she was furious.
"I didn't ask your advice about raising children, Muggle," Molly snarled.
This was too much. "Silence!" Harry shouted to quiet the room around him, and then turned to Molly, taking the house's key out of his pocket. "Molly, you are not welcome here any more," he said simply. "You have one minute to go before I change the wards accordingly. Ron." He turned to his friend. "You have one day do decide who you are, what you want here, and just who your friends are before I do the same to you." He went and stood in front of Ginny, who looked up at him with teary eyes. "You're welcome here for as long as you want, and no one will force you out nor take you away. Now will you go up to your room and prepare? We have a dinner reservation for about an hour from now."
Ginny flashed a weak smile and rushed upstairs with her shopping, and Fleur followed her to help.
"Ginny!"
Molly looked at her daughter as she disappeared up the stairs. Then she noticed Harry looking at her with cold eyes, holding up a large decorated key in his hand. She huffed and reluctantly Flooed back to the Burrow.
"Well, the show is over," said Dan. "Nothing to see here any more," he added and went out toward the living room.
Soon the only ones left in the hall were Ron and Bill.
"Just don't say I didn't give you an honest warning," Bill said, and he left Ron standing all alone in the room.
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Dinner was a lovely affair. It wasn't the fanciest of restaurants; Harry told Dan that Ginny and he probably wouldn't feel at ease in a place like that. Instead, Dan recommended a good and popular restaurant, bistro style, which offered traditional French cuisine in a casual atmosphere.
Tables were scattered over two spacious and moderately lit dining rooms and were distanced from each other for the sake of the guests' privacy. Colours were soft and bright to make the atmosphere cheerful, but restrained and quite posh without being pretentious. They were seated in a corner table for three. Since neither of them knew anything about French cuisine, they took Dan's recommendation to heart, one Fleur agreed with wholeheartedly, and asked for the head waiter's recommendations. After a short conversation regarding the type of food that they liked and those that they didn't, and a delicate inquiry regarding their budget, he suggested a menu for the evening, and so far they were not disappointed. The restaurant's crew worked around the place with quiet assurance and efficiency. All their needs were tended without disturbance and without their needing to ever ask for anything at all. Their water and soft drink glasses were always kept more than half full. They didn't order a bottle of wine since neither of them was accustomed to drinking it, nor did they want to chance getting drunk. Instead they asked for a single glass each, recommended for them by the restaurant's wine steward without the issue of their ages ever coming up. Instead, they got the feeling that the crew was supportive and approving of their self restraint. The wine steward seemed to notice their lack of familiarity with the world of wines and was happy to introduce them to it with the appropriate choice for their meals; he surprised them with the offer of small glasses of a drink he called Pastis, as a courtesy of the house, before their meals started. It was a whitish anise-flavoured drink that reminded Ginny of digestive potions but surprisingly heightened the flavour of their food.
Ginny was impressed. "Is this the way Muggles eat?"
Harry smiled softly, remembering dinners at the Dursleys'. "No, Ginny, it's too expensive to eat out in a restaurant every day, certainly in one as good as this. This is something for special occasions. I hope for the sake of Muggles everywhere that dinners at the Dursleys' weren't typical either. The Granger home was probably a better example. Only the richest of families have someone to wait on them at home, for a start. Most people prepare their own food and take it to the table themselves. Then too, the food here is truly wonderful. Most people do with much simpler food at home since they can't cook that well and wouldn't have the time to do so even if they knew how. Think about the time your mother spends in the kitchen every day—and she has magic to do most of her work for her."
"My dear mother is the last person I want to think about right now," Ginny growled in a low voice. "Or maybe second to last," she added after a moment's thought.
"She does love you, you know."
"Let's not ruin the mood—let's speak about something else! I have a present for you."
"You didn't have to do that," Harry remarked softly.
"No, I didn't. I wanted to," she answered. "Actually, I have two presents for you," she said, "but one is a present that Emma and I helped you buy for yourself." She took two small paper bags from her pocket and handed them to him over the table. "I really like the way Muggles wrap their shopping and presents, you know?"
"Yep, much better than the brown paper wizards use," he agreed as he opened the first package to find a lovely silk tie in colours that could just pass as a Gryffindor tie. "This is lovely!"
"You're welcome," she smiled. "We found it in a menswear shop downtown. Don't be surprised if Emma finds a way to drag both you and Dan there sometime soon."
Harry smiled at the thought.
"That one is from me," she said as Harry opened the second package. She looked at him a bit nervously. "It isn't much," she added.
There inside the colourful wrapping, in a simple but styled plastic box, laid a small plastic watch. "Swatch" it read clearly on the cover. It was in white and light blue, and all over the watch face and around the bend were drawings of sheep – all white except for one which was black.
"I thought it was a bit like you," she said in a low voice, biting her lip.
"This is so lovely!" he said, to Ginny's great relief. "Let me put it on right away." He put the watch on and looked at it happily. Then he got to his feet, walked around the table, and hugged Ginny. For a moment he looked her in the eyes and then laid a soft, careful kiss on her lips.
She hugged him back, then sat down. "Which leads us to the next subject of the evening," she said softly.
"I don't know what to say. I do know that I owe you an explanation," he said. "And an apology too," he added as an afterthought.
"Maybe I should start."
Harry shrugged and nodded.
"You know I had this huge crush on you since—well, since forever, to be truthful about it. I think that as a child I fell in love with the hero who killed the mean monster, the way little girls fall in love with Prince Charming. Sadly, I've found out that my prince was a real boy and a good friend of my brother's. It took me four more years to get over my childish crush on you and start treating you like a real person. The fact that I owe you a life debt wasn't helpful at all."
"You don't owe me anything," Harry objected softly.
"That's not true, Harry. Magical life debts change you, they change your soul. I've tried to treat you normally for the last couple of years—not as a hero, not as my saviour, just as a very good friend, which you truly are. I have very few friends, you know. Luna, Hermione, —that's about it. In a way you're my best friend, since you've never treated me as anything but a whole person. Actually, Luna has always done the same, but she does it in her special way."
"She sure has a special way," Harry agreed.
"Then last year, when you wanted us to be more than friends, I felt like I was living in a legend, but that was the problem. You're not Prince Charming, I'm not a princess, and we don't live in Avalon. I couldn't be your girlfriend and still treat you like the good friend you are, and like a real person."
Their conversation was interrupted for a moment while the waiters cleared their table and offered them coffee and dessert. Their teapot arrived at the table moments later; tea was poured, their chosen desserts served, and they were free once more to continue their conversation.
"I think that in some strange way I felt the same," Harry said slowly. "For a year I wanted our relationship to become more than it was, and when it did, I felt like I'd lost something."
"In some way, you've lost me. It took me almost a month to see through the pink haze and understand what was happening. Then it took me another month to find the courage to confront you about it, and just as I thought I had, you broke up with me, for all the wrong reasons."
Harry chuckled softly. "I am a clueless boy, after all."
"So, friends?"
"The very, very best," he answered.
They paid the bill, thanked the staff (with a very nice tip), and went out into the night. They walked into a nearby garden. It was about midnight and they didn't want the night to end yet.
"Would you like to finish the night at the cinema?"
"Anything you like. It's your birthday. Happy birthday, by the way," she added, taking a glance at her watch. "Can I ask one thing first? I want to kiss Prince Charming one last time."
Harry turned to her and lowered his lips to hers for a last tender kiss.
"Do you know that you have the softest lips in the world?"
Ginny chuckled softly. "One day you're going to kiss a girl you truly love and change your mind about that, but thanks."
Just then, Harry stumbled as he experienced a piercing headache. A few seconds later, the restaurant across the street, which they had just left, exploded, shaking both of them off their feet.
It took Harry a long moment to regain control over his senses. Then he took out his wand and tried to run back to the restaurant. He was stopped by Ginny before he could cross the garden.
"Harry, you've got to stop and think! You can't do magic here, and you're no good for them without it."
In the distance they could hear police and fire brigades sirens approaching. "Leave it to the Muggles," she said. "They'll do a good job."
His headache came back with a vengeance. He stumbled to a seat on a garden bench. "It's him," he said in a trembling voice. "His birthday present for me," he added with revulsion. "He apologises for being too late." After another moment Harry seemed to gather his concentration and close his eyes. For a very long moment he did nothing. When he reopened his eyes, his whole posture changed. His angst disappeared, leaving cold, harsh fury behind.
"Can you Apparate back home?"
Ginny nodded.
"Then do so," he said. "I'll be there in a few minutes," he added and disappeared without a sound.
Harry had no idea at all if his idea would work. He'd performed no tests and made no plans. When the world faded in around him, he found himself standing at the side of a dark throne room, looking at a group of people in dark attire laughing meanly. How clichéd, he thought to himself before making his move.
"Excuse me?" he said, his voice reverberating through the room over the men's voices. "Hi, Tommy," he added in a cheerful voice as the room become quiet as a grave. "Next time, when you need me just call me and I'll pop in," he said. Harry sent a curse into the head of the nearest Death Eater and looked at the arc of sickening green magic heading his way before he pressed the button and the throne room faded away. He faded into the Blacks' living room and immediately fell to his knees, screaming in pain and holding his hand over his bleeding scar. He hardly noticed the people around him running to help him to the large sofa. Harry passed the first two hours of his seventeenth birthday fighting his pain, with a hint of a smile on his lips.
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"Damn, I liked this outfit!"
Uma stood up from behind the ruins of the table, looking down at her shredded jacket. She wanted to enjoy her dessert too. The explosion almost caught her by surprise.
On the other side of the ruined room stood a beautiful young lady dressed in dark Goth clothing, which was a bit of a cliché. She stood over the body of a young waiter.
"I didn't plan on seeing you today,"
The young woman nodded and smiled. "I had work here," she replied.
"I tried, but I'm not me any more."
"It was his time. Some people are destined to be innocent bystanders."
"I miss your brother."
"We all miss him. He was too set in his ways and had to go. It was his time."
"Until next time, then. Say hello to the family."
The woman nodded, smiled again cheerfully, and went out the door, leaving Uma standing and looking down at the body of the young waiter. "I'm still sorry," she whispered to herself.
Uma listened to the now clear sounds of sirens and looked at the shaken people around her, who were saying "miracle" over and over. Then a soft smile came to her face. She liked that redheaded girl. She was all wrong for Harry, but she would be formidable when she came into her own. Maybe she could do something nice for her too...
