Hermione woke, her head pillowed on Harry's chest. She knew from the smell of the ocean and the fierce light that they were at the Retreat. Their long long day yesterday came back to her with a groan. She flinched at the memories of combat the day before and jolted upright. Dobby and Winky were sitting up looking at her. "Morning you two." she used the softest of whispers. They nodded, serious eyes studied her. They slid from the bed and started out the door. "Breakfast coming up Mistress, you can stay, we will bring it."

She slid from the bed and lumbered to the bathroom. By the time she had brushed and showered she was a going concern. There were four place settings on the balcony, and breakfast waited. Dobby and Winky were eating a little and looking out at the morning. "Harry, wake up love." She ran a hand through his hair and kissed his cheek, his eyes. "Whattimeisit" "It's early morning at the Retreat, breakfast on the balcony, wake up love." He sat up and bumped his head to hers. "Mkay."

She had her tea and a little fruit. Harry joined them in a few minutes, a speed shower and the fluffy robe. He had his tea and picked at the fruit and pastry. "We have to stop coming here. I hate leaving, such a perfect escape." Hermione and the elves all nodded. They all sighed and looked at one another. "Back to it then?" Nods all around. Shimmer glistened in the morning sun as they dressed and ported away.

They ported back to Potters Field for the next days meeting. It was well underway. This meeting was for the people who had lost their magical child. The anger and grief was overwhelming. The response to the letters sent for this meeting was even higher than the day before. Over and over they were asked why hadn't this been done before? What could they do now? The loss the families had suffered was in many cases leverage and ambition to make sure no other parent lost a child to whoever was doing this. Dumbledore spoke of the response last night to the call they had gotten. How the response teams had destroyed the attackers, saved the family and raided an attacker rally point, killing several and capturing two. Three captured, one escaped, the rest dead. Did they want in on this? There was an overwhelming roar of assent. Pictures of the attackers were shown and several more attacks were documented.

Professor McGonagall spoke about the new primary school they were going to be building and asked if anyone had teaching ability, that there would be paying positions available, in both muggle and magical subjects. There were paid positions in military training, and field medicine. Those who stood watch would be paid a stipend. Many of the audience objected, they just wanted a chance at the people who had killed their children. The pictures of the known killers were shown and several added from the memories of the audience. Oddly enough the MI guys were back and joined by a few more like them. They stood to the side watching carefully. The crowd enjoyed themselves with the facilities and the elves and children played. Dumbledore and the other Professors met the parents of students that had died during their years at Hogwarts. They seemed to be safe while at school but especially in the first few years vulnerable to attack over the summer and the holidays. Some young men and women, having graduated had stories of near misses. It was a somber but determined group that day. They were less interested in the pool and more interested in the Rapid Response building.

At the end of the day there was a meeting with the organizers and the MI group. They wanted Dumbledore to meet with their boss and convince him that he wasn't creating a vigilante organization or a terrorist network. Dumbledore was delighted to do so. He suggested that the Prime Minister might like to be there as the PM was aware of the magical world. Dumbledore suggested the planners of the event also be present. "The kids? No sir, I don't think that will be necessary." "As you like 007" Harry spoke up "Sir will you please find out the relationship between the Ministry of Magic and Her Majesties government? Is the Ministry subject to the Prime Minister, the Queen, both, or neither? It seems as if the Ministry acts as unauthorized government, in effect a terrorist organization, collecting taxes on it's own, passing it's own laws, and being a sanctuary to a large number of people preying on the rest of the nation and responsible to no one other than itself."

Hermione just loved it when Harry threw those conversational grenades. It would be a spirited discussion the next day with some hard questions being asked. She asked Dobby and Winky to pop them to the Retreat and the four were off again.

Kingsley Shacklebolt was a very tired man. He had been questioning the survivors from the attack and the second fight at the apparition point for two days. It seemed that all the combat training the kids were getting had paid off. These weren't Death Eaters, but they were fully qualified wizards. Last night they had either been blown to bits or were in cells. The child killing team had been using their standard five person team, using their standard tactics of two in the assault and three in back up. The back up had been bored, nothing had ever happened in the years they had done this. Their biggest job was to make sure the scene could be made to look like a muggle crime scene and to erase the memories of any witnesses. One had died instantly when Ron had removed his chest. One had an arm blown off and had taken Harry and Hermione to the next fight. The last outside member was able to get away. That one had disappeared, he hadn't gone to the same place as the one armed woman. Out of ten, there were three alive two with permanent injuries.

He sighed and looked at the coffee he had started to drink when he became an Auror. The stuff ate up his stomach but it was a job requirement. The family had been pretty easy to question. The story had been simple.

They had just gotten home from the meeting at Potter's Field when the front door was blown in and two figures in dark cloaks entered. Mr. Simpson stood up and got in front of his family shouting for them to leave. One of them cast a cutting hex that opened him from throat to hip bone. He fell grabbing for the medallion he had just gotten that day and keyed it as he hit the floor. The invaders started to torture his wife and little girl. They looked like they were being electrocuted. Nothing was said by the invaders that he recalled. He was blacking out from blood loss when the combat team arrived and blew the bastards away.

The wife and daughter were still under treatment for the Crucio curse they had suffered. The curse had been less than a minute but muggles were more affected than magicals. The mother, Marge, had been able to answer a few questions. She had never seen the attackers that she was aware of. The door was blasted open, she and her daughter had stood in their living room, her husband moved in front of them yelling. He fell and there was a lot of blood. She started to him when the curse hit her. She woke up in St. Mungos between her daughter and her husband. The daughter had the same story, Vicky was seven. They would all make it.

Hell of a way to learn about Magical Britannia Kingsley thought. At least they had the protection of those portkey beacons.

The one armed woman (Kingsley guessed Bandit for a prison name) and the man they would have called Stumpy if he made it to Azkaban had been interesting if not informative to talk to. He had no pity for them. When they had first been questioned, they had refused to say anything. Kingsley had gotten permission from Madam Bones to use Veritiserum and Legimancy on them. The standard forensic dose was three drops. As soon as they began questioning Stumpy he died. Kingsley was reluctant to try the Bandit since he didn't understand how to avoid killing them with questions. He wanted this crime before the Wizengamout. Watching those hearing the case would give him a chance to guess who of the purebloods was behind this. Just once it would be nice if it was all laid out simple in front of me. Table of Organization, member list, headquarters location, account numbers all notarized please. In triplicate. He sighed and headed to the Atrium, the floo and home.

Word about the attack had spread like mad among the families that had attended the Potter's Field days. The opinions of the parents about that little black haired Harry kid and his friends had risen considerably when the gossip from the medical and combat teams had a chance to begin viral replication. Potter's Field saw a lot of use the next few days, it was a beautiful facility and free with excellent day care. The Rapid Responders sat through watch after watch with a quiet board. Hermione had a newsletter made up and mailed out to the attendee's that covered the facts of the attack and that the watch lists could use more people. She included the schedules for self defense and social gatherings. She asked for a team to take over the publication of the newsletter. Construction began on the primary school with an opening hopefully in the spring term.

Summer was almost over, the last of August. Ron had refused to study anything but defense and dueling at first. He wanted to fight not learn medicine or potions. Harry gave him the books on counter-terrorism tactics and asked him to read them and start asking Moody any questions he had about them. Ron flooded the twins with requests for equipment. Infrared sensors, some method of seeing through Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, something to see wards, silent communications, tracking information on Unforgivables. The twins complained to the Headmaster about the amount of work they were being asked to do by their little brother. Albus thumped on the people he knew in the Department of Mysteries for any answers they might have to meet the same needs and suggested the twins hire some help and go full time into development. Albus also asked Ron and the military folks from Potter's Army to design an in depth defense for Potter's Field. Ron and the Mad Muggles, those committed to Potter Field, began to plan a combined arms defense utilizing muggle and magical methods. The Field looked likely to become a target of importance like St. Mungos or Hogwarts itself.

Her Majesties spies in the "Mad Mugles", the Official Secrets guys, asked for copies of the defense plans to have "a few friends look over". They returned with an enormous pile of material, and some radically altered plans. Moody scowled even more, handed the MI guys maps of Diagon Alley, Hogsmead, Hogwarts and St. Mungos asking that they pass them by their friends for suggestion. When asked why not the Ministry of Magic also Moody chuckled. "Don't want to make it harder than it has to be if we need to take it down."

Harry was planning to ask Hermione and her family to the Retreat with him and the Marauders for the week before returning to Hogwarts. He wanted the Weasleys but there just wasn't room. He happened to mention to Dobby his space problem at the Retreat. "Dobby will see what can be done Master Harry." His Sargent flooed away. In an hour he was back with the problem solved, they would be using a house down the beach for the Weasleys, the owners, a nice couple from San Francisco, had readily agreed to trade a week at Potter House. They had no trouble with Harry's dates, Harry asked for a weeks notice to clear family stuff away at Potter House and the deal was made. The invitations went out and the party was on.

To say that the week before school was a success would have been a total understatement. Shimmer thundered in brisk winds, her crew working her, a load of drunken elves from all the Potter estates, masses of food and gillyweed, Weasleys, Grangers, and especially Marauders roaring and whooping as the boat swooped over the rollers to dive spots. Harry sat with Hermione, cold sober, he wanted this in sharp detail, he knew how precious time like this was. Molly was constantly in the kitchens learning West Indian cooking, she knew she would be getting a lot of requests for it. The beach bonfires at the cove with Shimmer rocking in the moonlight were wonderful. Night diving in the cove was fascinating and the lit wands moving along the reef face made the scene even more beautiful. Hermione and Harry had their cocoa on the balcony last thing before going to bed. Often the bonfire was still burning, tales being exchanged, beverage being consumed. They had asked Winky and Dobby to keep watch in case they needed to scurry to their separate bedrooms. The elves assured them that they would not be disturbed. Part of a house elf magic involved privacy. If there was a bed check all would be well.

Hermione and Harry found themselves ever deeper in love. Hermione would sixteen in the next month causing Harry to raid the Potter vault for a present. He had found some stunning jewelry, most of which she would never wear, much to ostentatious. He did find a promise ring that he liked, a gorgeous green emerald, not huge, but nice, a simple gold band. It had been a gift from his father to his mother before they became engaged. It symbolized an intention to become engaged, a visible sign that they were indeed serious.

They lay in entangled on the last night. In the morning they would floo to Grimmauld Place and head off to school. They murmured the things young lovers do, and kissed with passion and tenderness. Hermione wanted to wait until they were married for the final intimacy. Harry was never going to pressure her to do anything she wasn't ready for. They did enjoy the privacy to explore one another, completely thrilled and enthralled with one another. Harry had never imagined anything as beautiful as Hermione, her hair wild, naked in starlight and the last of the bonfire light, eyes locked with his as they brought each other to completion. She never seemed to believe him, he wished he could show her through his eyes her wild perfection. "Accio pensieve" He drew the memory out of his head and pulled her into it with him. He held her as they watched themselves, whispering to her "look, look how beautiful you are, your hair. There - there see that light on your breast? What could be sexier, more beautiful?" He sputtered to silence. They watched as she arched her back, breasts straining into the night air. He could hardly breathe.

They tumbled out of the pensieve and back into bed. Dobby reinforced the silencing charms and leered at Winky. She punched his arm muttering "boys".

At the dawn they were walking along the cove one last time until the holidays. Hermione's hand was in Harry's and the sky was awash in pinks and reds, fading to blinding whites as the tropical sun vaulted into the sky. They turned to the veranda where elves had just finished putting out a nice light breakfast of juice, fruit and pastries. Harry was picking up a bad coffee habit in the islands, some of the best was grown locally.

Just as they sat Harry's scar burst into flaming pain. Voldemort was back. Harry slammed his shields up and started to curse, rubbing his scar. He had seen a flash of an old disheveled room, the same room he had dreamed about before the World Cup.

"He's back, Riddle Manor. We need to hit him hard and fast." Hermione started to the floo. "Where to Harry?" "Grimmauld. DOBBY, WINKY get to Grimmauld. Potter elves, get the Weasleys moving to Grimmauld, get the Marauders headed to the same place, no one wait for anything, pop them if you have to, the Grangers should stay, it's safer here. Harry dove into the fire after Hermione.