Harri Potter and the Lost Shepard

by Sun-Tsu Toriden

After firing the Crucible, Shepard is flung into a different universe, where she collides with Sirius Black just as he's thrown into the Veil, saving them both. How will a biotic Shepard affect this universe? One where the Chosen One happens to be a Hyacinth Potter, the Girl-Who-Lived? Rated M for swearing, violence and sex

12. Chapter 12: Sweet Sixteen

"LOCKDOWN!" Shepard's voice was heard through the whole penthouse. As the shout finished a small horde of armoured goblins poured out from a hidden room behind the fireplace. The adults, unsure what was happening, pulled their wands and pointed them at the goblins. The shorter warriors took no notice of this as they moved into position, at least two at every doorway and the rest forming a perimeter around the humans.
"What's going on here?" Tonks asked anxiously, no longer pointing her wand at the goblins now that they had their backs to her. If there was one thing she had learned from the older Aurors is that if you saw a goblin's back, you were either an ally or a prisoner, not a threat. The other adults were uneasy, but wavering as they heard the beginnings of a battle from the elevator.

"Are you law enforcement?" One of the goblins in ornate armour asked, looking at the pink-haired woman carefully. Her manner and bearing was calmer than the rest of the adults in the room, who were still looking between the goblins and the cloakroom door.
"Yes," Tonks replied.
"Good, because we are under attack. My orders are to protect the guests, but if there are any here who can help, we would appreciate it."

Tonks instantly gripped her wand tighter, and soon felt Remus standing next to her. What she hadn't counted on was the majority of the party guests, most of them still in school, to pull their own wands. Molly had tried to pushed most of them to the back, and looked stricken when her own children pushed past her, wands ready.
"You can't, you're only children," the matronly woman said in a scared tone.
"No we aren't mum, not anymore," Ron said, a little shakily at standing up to his mother for the first time in his life. "We're a part of this, whether we're of age or not. Besides, I don't think no I could live with myself knowing I could have done something and didn't."
"Alright everyone, shields up, stunners ready," Harri said confidently as the sounds of shouting from the battle increased.

---

In the cloakroom, the Death Eaters lost their element of surprise as soon as Shepard shouted. Bella's eyes had gone wide at seeing the woman who'd shot her mere weeks ago, before her anger took over. Hers was the first curse to fly, but the rest of the dark-robed enforcers with her were not far behind. They were shocked when instead of exploding from the weight and variety of dark magic impacting her, Shepard's body was encased with purple fire. When the closest of them fell to the pair of goblins who seemed to have appeared from the ceiling, Rookwood took control.

"Spread out and kill them!" he shouted. If they stayed bunched up here, the goblins would likely overwhelm them, for warriors were never seen in groups less than a platoon. Besides, the guests were the real target. He wove around one of the continental recruits desperately trying to dodge the sword of a goblin as he headed deeper into the house, several other recruits following him.

The first wave of curses into the dining room had scattered the goblin defenders, either by concussive force or by the smaller warriors dodging. Rookwood pushed his men deeper, seeing the guests bunched up at the rear of the room behind more goblins. The Death Eaters just smiled evilly behind their masks and raised their wands, firing curses and other dark magic with impugnity. Rookwood's smile turned into a snarl as he saw that what few curses that were not stopped by shield charms were intercepted by goblin shields. He snarled and began firing nastier curses, particularly at the young ravenette girl who was the target of his Master's ire.

Harri ducked instinctively as one of the robed men began firing at her in particular, but she just poured more concentration into her shield. She was glad that most of the guests at her party had been in the DA last year, as she was confident in their ability to defend themselves. Remus, Sirius and Tonks had joined the goblins in the attack after seeing the teenager's shield charms, while Molly had managed to corral a few of the more scared teens and Dan Granger at the back. Harri moved as best she could to get a clear shot at a Death Eater and was surprised that one goblin, the one who had spoken to Tonks mere moments before, had joined her side and was protecting her with his shield. Her concentration broke as she heard a scream of pain, turning to see Katie on the floor clutching a bleeding arm. Harri turned at the sound of a chortle, strangely clear in the confusing melee, and saw one who had his wand pointed at where Katie had been. A sudden rage filled her as she raised her wand, unsure what spell she had cast but feeling strangely satisfied as it impacted his side and sent him bodily into the wall, which he didn't get up from.

After several minutes of desperate fighting, the goblins stationed around the rest of the penthouse descended on the Death Eaters. Rookwood knew his Master would be displeased that he had lost so many recruits on this venture, and more so that they had failed to kill anyone, but they had not counted on the goblin security. Harri Potter, or more likely someone with more influence, had contracted the goblins, and Rookwood was unsure which was worse. What was obvious as more goblins poured into the room was that unless he left now, they would all be killed or captured.
"Fall back," he called out reluctantly. The Death Eaters turned to him as if asking confirmation, only to see him stepping back as he continued to fire curses. The remaining Death Eaters followed suit, covering their escape with a dark rainbow of curses.

As the dining room cleared, Harri took a minute to calm herself and take stock. Thankfully this time, only Katie was injured. Molly was already hovering over her, applying healing magic learned and practiced over many years of raising a magical family.
"Are you alright Katie?" Harri asked.
"She'll be fine," Molly said tightly. She'd hoped never to be involved like this again, but Ron had been right, for all that she hated he'd learned it so young.
"Is anyone else hurt?" Tonks asked. There was a weak chorus of negatives, before the sound of Shepard's pistol broke through the false sense of calm.
"Shepard!" Harri shouted, jumping up in concern, her wand at the ready.

---

Shepard, after blocking the initial volley of curses, looked up in time to see roughly half of the attacking force moving towards the dining room. She cursed inwardly, but didn't have time to stop them. The mad-eyed woman seemed to be focusing on her, and the remaining attacker concentrated on the goblins. While they were masters of close combat, the Death Eaters were smart enough to keep back and use spellwork to keep out of range of those deadly blades. Shepard wasn't given a lot of time to think, only react as Lestrange kept up her assault.

After seeing that her first curse had failed, Bellatrix proved that her insanity was not all encompassing and tried something different, this time going for her favorite Unforgivable curse.
"Crucio!" Bellatrix incanted, the red beam blazing towards her target, only to be stopped by the same strange power the woman was manifesting. Her anger increased and she cast a flurry if other spells, hoping to find the one that would pierce whatever defenses Shepard had managed to conjure.

Shepard didn't have an opening to attack, having to modulate her shield and keep awareness of her surroundings as she was attacked by curse after curse. She eventually found an opening that allowed her to fall to one knee, allowing her to steady her hand and aim her pistol. As her eyes fell on the weapon that had injured her, Bellatrix flew into a rage.
"Oh no you don't!" she cried, trying this time not to hit her directly, sending a series of blasting curses to rain around Shepard, peppering her with shrapnel and sending her flying from the concussive forces. Tink barely got her weapon ready before the first curse landed, flinging her heavily into the wall. Her biotic barrier absorbed the shrapnel and lethal concussions, but her impact with the wall was sub-lethal, so she hit the wall full force.

Shaking her head quickly, Shepard got back to her feet, reactivating her barrier with one hand as she aimed the pistol with the other. She drew a bead on one Death Eater coming behind Bloodaxe and fired, taking out his leg. She threw a ball of force at Bellatrix, who dodged it and began raining down blasting curses around her, as they were the only thing that seemed to work. Shepard dodged as best she could, trying to pin down the crazy witch with either her biotics or her pistol. The battle raged for several long minutes, neither side gaining an advantage as the cloakroom was destroyed. Bellatrix was a more dangerous opponent than Tink had initially given her credit for, never allowing her to aim her pistol and cannily dodging her biotic blasts.

Tink gave up with her pistol, putting it back in its holster for the moment. As she stood up she dodged another piece of rubble that Bellatrix sent at her, activating her biotic whips as she did. The next attack from the witch, a piece of animated hatstand, was sliced in half by the biotic lash, and Lestrange's eyes narrowed in frustration, even as her pupils dilated in shock. Shepard stepped forward purposefully to attack, swinging her whip behind her to gain momentum before lashing out towards the black-haired witch. The witch instinctively tried to block the incoming attack with a spell, but her body reacted automatically to dodge the glowing purple whipcoil as the magic failed. The tendril snapped taut and pulled back, causing a deep black cut into Bellatrix's cheek.

Bellatrix reeled back at the physical pain, and was about to attack again when Rookwood burst into the room.
"Bella, we're leaving!" he shouted at her.
"No, not yet," Bella shrieked back, forced silent casting removing potency from her counter. Shepard ducked and whipped again, this time deeply cutting into the witch's leg, forcing her to one knee.
"We are leaving with or without you," Rookwood said threateningly as he apparated away. The rest of the Deah Eaters followed quickly, at least those still able to do so. Bellatrix threw a withering look at Shepard in time to see another whip heading in her direction. She reluctantly apparated away as well, mere milliseconds away from the biotic whip that would have sliced open her midsection.

As the last of the Death Eaters escaped, Shepard fell back on her ass as the adrenaline rush of battle wore off. She looked around to see three human corpses in the ruins of the cloakroom, and Bloodaxe and Poryf attending first aid to Attennix. Getting gingerly back to her feet, Tink nodded significantly at the goblins before heading into the dining room to see the damage.

The scene that greeted her was not half as bad as she had feared. The goblins were attending to the wounded, friend and for alike, though with far less tenderness applied to the Death Eaters. Molly was tending to some minor wounds on Tonks, Sirius and Remus, and Harri was with the rest of the teenagers, the group of them already talking. Tink could see one dead man next to the wall, the obvious victim of spell damage and not the goblins; she would have to sit down with whoever had done that particular deed for another talk. It was funny though, her first thought was disappointment at having to call Eton again so soon.

"Is everyone alright?" she asked Canin.
"No serious injuries in here. One of the teens took a hit in the arm, which one of the adults healed," the goblin replied.
"Indeed. Gather the wounded and dead enemies, we'll make a gift of them to the Ministry. Maybe they'll agree not to look into this, but given Madame Bones' current opinion of me, I somehow doubt it. Take your wounded back to heal, but keep Bloodaxe and whoever else is able here, in case of other attacks." Canin nodded in acknowledgement, before barking out orders in Gobbledegook.

As Tink came towards them, Molly and Tonks seemed to converge on her with serious expressions. Sirius and Remus were discussing things with Harri and her friends.
"We need to get the children out of here," Molly said immediately.
"And I need to report this," Tonks added.
"You can leave Tonks, as I suspect the Ministry is already heading this way," Shepard replied. "Unfortunately Mrs Weasley, I have to insist that everyone else stay here, at least for a while."
"They need to go home!" Molly said hotly as Tonks moved into the ruined cloakroom to apparate to the DMLE offices.
"The Ministry will be investigating this incident, and it will be less traumatic if it's all done today rather than over the next month. I will agree to moving them to one of the sitting rooms away from this area, but they cannot leave yet."

"This is wrong," Molly began, but Shepard found an ally in Dan Granger.
"No, Miss Shepard is right, about a great many things related to this incident," Dan spoke up. "There will be an investigation, and it would be easier to do it all here today. Besides, there was a lot happening today, and I suspect most of these young adults will need to have someone to talk with them." Shepard couldn't miss the hint of pride and sadness in the father's voice, particularly as his gaze lingered over his only daughter.
"What makes you think either of you is that person?" Molly asked.
"I can't speak for Shepard, but I wasn't always a dentist," Dan replied solemnly. "I served my country, I've fought, and even though I've regretted it more days than not, I've killed."
"Molly, I will defer to you on how to raise a small army of a family, but today please realize that there are people here who have more experience than you in battle recovery, namely Dan and myself," Tink said gently. She waited for a moment as Molly's parental urges warred with expert advice, until the shorter woman sagged in reluctant acceptance.

"Alright everyone, I know this has been a trying day, and it'll be a little longer, but if you could all please follow me and I'll work on getting you all home soon," Tink called out to the assembled teens. She walked towards the back of the penthouse, where there were other rooms that could hold the party guests, even in their depressed mood. Harri came up to Tink as they walked, her eyes fearful.
"I think I may have killed someone today Tink," she said quietly. Tink's mind flashed back to the man killed by spell damage in the dining room and nodded.
"Once we get everyone settled, you and I will have another talk," Tink replied in a whisper. "Hopefully, Dan can talk to the rest of them, get Sirius and Remus involved as well.

---

As Tonks appeared in the DMLE office direct apparition point, she was greeted by a disarming spell. Only her recent battle had keep her adrenaline levels raised enough that she quickly cast a shield. While not expertly done, it was enough to keep her wand in hand, even if it did knock her on her feet.
"You had better have a good reason for being so late to an all-hands call Aurors Tonks," a grizzled voice said. The younger woman looked up into the frowning face of Rufus Scrimgeour, his greying hair only adding to the look of a lion ready to go for the kill.
"I need to talk to Director Bones Sir, immediately," Tonks replied.
"I think you had best remind yourself of the proper chain of command, unless you want a permanent transfer to the Atrium security desk," Rufus replied harshly.

Fortuitously for Tonks, Madame Bones came around the corner.
"What's the holdup Rufus, we need to mobilize before the attackers get away, and we've got the address," she said automatically. Her eyes drifted down to Tonks, her clothing torn in places and a cut on her forehead and her eyes narrowed. She knew the roster well enough that Tonks was off-duty today, and was also attending the party Susan had talked about. The one for Hyacinth Potter. As her brain put together these facts, she pulled up Tonks by the shirt with one hand, the other holding her wand threateningly.

"Is she safe!?" Amelia half-asked, half-shouted at the poor Auror.
"She's fine boss," Tonks said quickly. "There was an attack, but the Death Eaters were driven off, no injuries."
"Damn it," Amelia said, though relieved at the report of no injuries. However, the fact that the attackers were already away was troubling, as it pointed to inefficiencies in her department, critical ones if it happened again. Something she swore to change once she won the election in two days time.

"Rufus, stand down the assault squad, we'll need detectives and forensics," Amelia finally addressed the waiting Head Aurors. "Tonks, you and I are going first," she added to the metamorphic Aurors, her tone brooking no argument.
"Right away boss," Tonks said as she got herself back to rights. "Only..."

"What now?" Amelia asked shortly, anxious to see her niece and confirm her safety.
"Two things boss," Tonks said carefully, knowing it was only bad news she was about to deliver. "One, some of the security from the party is still there."
"Anyone we know?" Amelia asked absently. Those that could afford security usually hired hitwizards or the like, most of which were known by the DMLE.
"Not unless you have better relations with Gringotts than the rest of Britain," Tonks replied. Bones looked at Tonks critically for a moment, digesting that statement.
"Are you telling me that whoever hosted this party for Miss Potter hired goblins for security?" Amelia hissed.
"Yes, she did," Tonks replied warily. Amelia picked up on her underling's hesitancy and pounced on it.
"Exactly where was the party, and who was hosting it?" Bones asked menacingly.

And now I know why Shepard seemed so hesitant afterwards, Tonks thought to herself. She swallowed thickly before replying.
"The party was in London, the host was Mimir Shepard." A number of emotions ran across Amelia's face at learning that this spy, whoever she was, had not only ingratiated herself to the goblins, but was hosting parties that her niece was attending without out her knowledge. She vowed to herself that she would not be on the back foot when it came to Shepard a third time.
"I'll deal with you later Auror Tonks," Amelia said curtly. "Right now, there's a crime scene I need to be at."

---

At Shepard's, the woman in question had managed to get everyone settled, before taking Harri quietly aside in an adjoining room. The poor girl was shaking now after Shepard had told them that the Ministry was coming to investigate, she was convinced she'd be convicted for killing that man.
"You won't be," Tink said, breaking Harri's train of thought as she sat down.
"Won't be what?" Harri asked skittishly.
"Arrested," Tink replied.
"How did you know what I was thinking? I thought you couldn't do legilimency."
"I don't need to, its written all over your face," Tink responded. "Now, since it's just you and I for now, tell me what happened."

Harri squirmed in her seat for a moment, before looking Shepard in the eye. The blonde's self-assured manner, and the fact she had been in it with her this time, meant that the barriers that had been there previously were gone. She started shakily, but soon was spilling everything, every thought and feeling about before, during and after the fight. It had been hard after the fight in June, even with her friends and Tink's promoting; but it felt freeing, almost cathartic with Shepard here and now.

"It was different this time. Last time, we had a mission, something to rally around. This time, we were just defending ourselves. It was my birthday party, it should have been safe! We were defending ourselves well enough k especially with the goblins and adults helping, but then one of them hit Katie. I don't know what came over me, I just saw her go down and saw the man who'd done it, and its a blank. I can recall raising my wand, and seeing him go flying into the wall, but he didn't get back up. I think I killed him." By the time she was finished, Harri was about to cry at the unfairness of it all. Her first real birthday, and she outs all her friends in danger.

Tink just let Harri talk until she ran out of words. As the teen went silent and began to look at the floor, Tink got up and sat down next to her, wrapping her Ina one-armed hug.
"I'm going to ask you a few questions Harri, and I want you to answer them as honestly as you can," she said kindly. "First, did you ask for this to happen?"
"Of course not!" Harri responded quickly.
"I know, but it's important. Second, did you do everything you could to protect yourself and your friends?"
"Yes, but that man -" Harri protested, but Tink cut her off.

"Made his own choices. Harri, you have to accept that Riddle is without morals or compassion, and most of his followers are the same for whatever reason. He purposefully chose today to attack you. What you have to realize is there is a difference between killing someone because you want to do it, and killing someone while defending yourself from someone trying to kill you. You may not have meant to, but that's what happens in a real fight. People die, sometimes people close to you. What matters, sometimes the only thing that matters, is the choices people make. The man who died, he came here today intending to kill you and your friends for an evil man. It's not your fault he died, you were simply karma getting in early."

As she listened to Shepard talk, Harri began to feel better about herself. She knew Shepard had seen some hard times, the scars in her body were ample evidence. Yet she still found the blonde to be a great person to talk to, and found herself wanting to be like her when she grew up, like a sister or cousin she wanted to emulate.
"You sound like you're talking from experience," Harri said.
"Experiences I hope you never have to have Harri, because they change you and almost always for the worse, not better."

---

Amelia and Tonks apparated into the coordinates of Shepard's penthouse, arriving in the ruins of the cloakroom. The bodies had been moved, that much was obvious from the blood trails and drag marks. What stood out to Bones were the goblins standing there as if waiting for them.
"Aurors Tonks, and if I'm not mistaken Director Bones," said one of the goblins. "Can we expect more to follow?"
"I'm not telling you until I see Susan," Bones replied tersely, her parenting side overwhelming her professionalism for a moment at the sight of the damaged walls.
"Your niece is safe, we will take you to her immediately," the goblin said. He turned to one of the other goblins and spoke in quick Gobbledygook. "Bloodaxe, take these two to the guests, the rest of you prepare for more Aurors."

"If you will follow me," Bloodaxe said politely, gesturing for Amelia and Tonks to follow. He took them through the dining room, where the dead and wounded Death Eaters had been assembled. Amelia saw them but took no notice, not until she saw Susan for herself. They were led through the penthouse silently, Amelia noting the repair done since she last saw the place when Voldemort had attacked them. They were finally admitted to a communal room, where the party guests had been moved to.

"Aunty!" Susan cried as the door opened and the goblin who'd met them at the beginning of the party brought in Tonks and her aunt. She jumped up and ran to her aunt, hugging her tightly.
"Its alright now Susan, I'm here," Amelia said soothingly. Susan count to her closest living family for a few seconds, before allowing them to part and heading back to Hannah and the rest of her friends. She knew her aunt woiukd have work to do as well, but was glad to see her anyway. At one point, after seeing Katie hit, she had felt the fear that she wouldn't get out of the attack alive, or worse yet, she would.

Amelia looked over the assmbled guests, seeing a few teens and young adults she recognized, and a few she didn't. Conspicuous by their absence were the birthday girl and the hostess of the hour. That was, until a door opened and the two if them came into the room. Shepard looked her directly in the eye, and the two of them knew this was going to end awkwardly at best.
"Director Bones, your response time could do with some refining," Shepard said, trying for levity and failing.
"Shepard, why am I not surprised to see you involved in this?" Bones asked sarcastically.
"Coincidence?" Shepard tried. The look on Amelia's face told her she had once again failed to find the funny.

"A likely story," Amelia said humourlessly. "Now, why don't we make thus easy for everyone. Tonks, please take everyone's statements while I talk to Shepard here personally. After that, I suspect most of the guests would like to go home." The look she gave to the assembled people told them it was less of a statement and more of an order. Tonks nodded seriously, pulling out a transcription kit from her pocket while Bones jerked her head towards the dining room. Shepard shared a reassuring look with Harri before following behind the imposing redhead.

The two of them came into the damaged dining room, whereupon Amelia looked over the dead and wounded Death Eaters. Now that she was in Auror mode, she saw saw that except for one that looked like blunt force trauma, the rest of the dead were the result of sharp injuries, likely the weapons carried by the goblins guarding them, or other like them. The few not dead were being tended to by goblins, unconscious for the time being.
"I don't want to hear whatever you have to say Shepard," Amelia said without looking at the woman she knew was a spy. "Just... Just tell me that you didn't bring Susan into this to get at me."

"Whatever else you think of me Madame Bones, I don't involve children," Tink said bluntly. "What happened here today was the fault of Voldemort, no-one else. If I wanted your attention, I'd ask for you directly, and you'd answer because it was me asking. The only reason I'm involved is that I have a nice place for a party. Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this conversation." Amelia chewed this over in her mind for several silent minutes, looking at the dead and injured, before she responded.
"Fine, I can accept that this was just an attack and you weren't involved in the planning of it. I owe you the benefit of the doubt for that, given our history."

Amelia turned and gave Shepard a hard look, one that reminded her very much of several prominent figures from her own time and place. One that said 'you will give me what I want, the easy way or the hard way'.
"What concerns me is the fact that you knew to hire security beforehand, as if you were expecting an attack," Amelia said accusingly.
"Have you seen the guest list?" Shepard asked. "Harri is right at the top of Riddle's hit list, most of her other friends occupy the top ten. Your niece is a massive bargaining chip should she be kidnapped. If I didn't hire security for this party, I'd have to be insane!"
"And the fact they're goblins rather than the more conventional hitwizards?" Amelia continued.
"I actually care about the safety of my guests. You don't get better than a goblin protecting a child."

"Yes, you seem to be very friendly with the goblins," Amelia said. She regretted her tone instantly, as she heard the rustling of weapons in their sheaths. She cursed herself as she had once again allowed her emotions to override her better instincts and forget the presence of the short-statured yet deadly fighters.
"You'll want to choose your next words extremely carefully, Director Bones." Amelia's eyes were drawn down to the goblin who'd met her in the cloakroom. The way the other goblins seemed to be looking at him for guidance meant he was probably an officer. She would have to be extremely careful now.

"I was merely commenting on the fact that Gringotts seems to be skirting very close to the legal edges of several treaties," Bones covered carefully. She wished she had some backup from the diplomatic offices, but she, like the Death Eater dead nearby, hadn't counted on the goblin presence. "Setting up accounts for foreign spies, lending armed support above ground, I wonder what the ICW would think."
"What they think is irrelevant to this case," Canin replied diplomatically. "Just because you can find no record of her identity does not mean she cannot satisfy our requirements. As for your allegations of espionage, the burden of proof would be on you to ascertain her allegiance and activities. Our presence here is legal, and would stand up to any challenge in whatever fair court you care to try. Or do I have to remind you of the Thorpe-Hansard-Xelandas Treaty, Section 11, subsection 38?"

Amelia stared hard at unexpectedly eloquent goblin as her mind scrambled to recall the treaty. After a minute of thought, her eyes widened in shock as they returned to Shepard. That particular section of treaty, one older than the Ministry itself, left provisions for goblins and humans to be stationed both above and below the surface if the units they served in comprised both species. This particular treaty had been forged in a time when wizards were on good speaking terms with the majority of sentient magical creatures in Britain, so long ago most people forgot it existed. It had never been repealed or rescinded, but interspecies relations had deteriorated so much over the intervening centuries that it had become almost irrelevant.

However, this goblin invoking the THX Treaty implied that Shepard hadn't hired the goblins as much as she was serving with them. The question of who Shepard was a spy for now became a lot more complicated if it crossed species lines as well as international borders.
"Who are you?" Bones asked in a whisper.
"Someone who is on your side, if you'd let me," Shepard replied. In truth, she and Canin had talked about the possibility of invoking the ancient treaty, but had hoped it wouldn't be required until the start of term. Amelia was still an unknown to both of them, and seemed hell-bent on making Shepard an enemy. "In the meantime, I'm sure you have investigative Aurors coming, to whom I will gladly release the custody of these scumbags. Until then, assuming Tonks is finished, perhaps we can begin to send the party guests home."
"Yes, that sounds reasonable," Amelia replied automatically. In truth her mind was almost going into overdrive thinking about the newly-revealed goblin angle to the mystery that was Shepard.

---

As the Aurors arrived on scene and began their documentation, Shepard returned to the sitting room just as Tonks finished taking statements.
"Good timing, I was just about to report back to the boss," Tonks said as she pocketed the full transcription parchments, the enchanted quills and ink.
"Everyone, thank you for your patience, you can make your way home now," Shepard addressed them. "For those of you who can Apparate, the designated point is the cloakroom. Otherwise you will have to impose once again on Mister Black's hospitality for other magical means of transport."

"What about those of us who were staying the night?" Hermione asked.
"Well, I'm not going to say no, but there will be some cleanup work you'll be expected to help with," Tink replied.
"I'm OK with that," Harri said. "We helped make it, we might as well help clean it."
"Alright, that's settled then," Tink said with a nod. "If you'll all follow me, we can start getting this behind us."

Tink led the procession through her home and back into the dining room, where a handful of Aurors were either examining the damage or preparing the dead and injured Death Eaters for transport. It didn't escape Shepard's notice that each of the officers was giving the goblins distrusting looks with various levels of discretion. She frowned a little, as she knew it would raise problems, but had hoped the issues would start later, after term started. Susan and Hannah went over to Amelia, the three of them discussing something in quiet tones. Sirius moved to the cloakroom, offering to side-along apparate those who needed or wanted to go to Grimmauld before heading onwards. Shepard watched silently as each departing guest fare-welled Harri before leaving by their chosen method. Soon it was only Harri, Luna, Remus, the Grangers and the Weasleys, left as Hannah, Susan and Amelia queued up to say goodbye to Harri.

"It was a good party before... well, before," Susan said as she came level with the birthday girl. "Are you going to be continuing the... club this year?" She added, trying for subtlety and not succeeding overly much.
"I don't know," Harri replied honestly. "You'll probably be the first to know, since you and Hannah were in it last year."
"Alright, I'll see you September then," Susan said, giving Harri a quick hug.
"Bye," Hannah said quietly, repeating the hug before following Susan.
"Happy birthday, Miss Potter," Amelia said stiffly. "A shame we had to meet again under such trying circumstances." She shot one last look at Shepard that promised it wasn't over between them, before apparating the two teens under her care away.

A few minutes later the Aurors followed, Tonks having gone ahead to begin the paperwork. As the Aurors left, Sirius returned, looking tired for having done so much apparating in a short time.
"Don't know about anyone else, but I could really go a good drink," he said.
"Well, let's go to the sitting room then," Remus suggested.
"I think we should be getting home," Molly replied. She turned to the birthday girl and wrapped her in one of her soft, motherly hugs. "It was a pleasure seeing you again Harri, anytime you want to come over to the Burrow you're more than welcome, you're family. That goes for all of you," she added to the rest of them. "Times like these, you want to know who your friends are. Come along Ron, let's leave the girls to their gossip," she said with a smirk. Ron just rolled his eyes and huffed, giving everyone a goodbye before he left. The Twins and their partners left as well, leaving Harri, Luna, Hermione, Ginny, Shepard and the last remaining Marauders.

"Well, Harri and Hermione know the place enough to know where the sitting room is, I'm sure there is something for everyone's tastes in there," Shepard told them. "I'll join you all soon, I have a call to make." She left them to make their way led by Hermione and Harri, while she diverted to a room nearby and engaged her omni-tool. Setting her translator implant for French output, she then used the omni-tool's wireless connection to the landline interface to place another call to a familiar number. It only took three rings for her to be once again answered.
"Good afternoon, Ducard's Architecture, how may I help you?" The voice was different, a man this time, but still the same pleasant attitude.
"Hello, can I please speak to Eton in the construction department please?" Shepard asked.
"Of course, please hold," the receptionist replied, transferring her call. A moment later, it was taken up by a familiar voice.
"Construction and repairs, Eton speaking."

"Eton, its Shepard from London."
"Ah, the one with that extraordinary penthouse and an appetite for destruction?"
"The same."
"I hope this is you asking me to put in a new spa bath or the like. Surely you can't have destroyed that lovely place already, and just after I fixed it."
"I swear Eton, all I did was hold a birthday party."
"A likely story," Eton replied with a chuckle. "Ah, who am I kidding, you need my help, and I want to take your money!"
"I'm glad you're taking this so well," Shepard said with her first smile since before the attack, "the damage isn't as bad today, and I've got a few layabouts who could use a good workout. Think you can come over today?"
"You are in luck, we've just had a late cancellation. However, I would have to bring in my newest assistant, I've just hired her and this will be excellent experience for her."
"That will be fine Eton."
"Then let's get to business. We will be there in 30 minutes."

Shepard powered down the interface and rejoined the rest of her guests, which had been led into the room with the dry bar by Hermione. Those under the drinking age had settled for lemonade from the fridge, while Sirius, Remus and Dan had helped themselves to the scotch. As he finished his drink, Dan set down the glass carefully and looked like he was thinking for a moment. Reaching some internal decision, he addressed the adults as Shepard sat with them and poured her own drink.
"How bad is it, and don't sugar-coat it for me," he stated flatly.
"Right now, that was the worst of it, and we were lucky," Remus said soberly. "Without the goblins, it would have been much worse. I was surprised Voldemort himself didn't make a personal appearance, given his vendetta against Harri."
"He's still licking his wounds from the last time he was here," Shepard replied neutrally. She turned her head to address Dan directly.

"You've been a soldier Dan, you know that its never pretty," she said.
"I know," he said sadly. "I just wish that she didn't have to see the world like that for just a little longer. Let her be carefree and reckless like a teenager should be." He looked sidelong at his daughter, who chose that moment to laugh loudly, bringing a smile to her father's face.
"War always affects children the most," Shepard said heavily. "The best thing, maybe the only thing, is to try and hold on to the normal experiences and hope that its enough."

"Alright, this conversation is entirely too serious, and I'm the expert on that," Black said with a smile and a chuckle. Remus just groaned at the old, worn-to-the-bone joke. "I submit we all go and have some fun in London town, should be easy enough to find even with old misery bones here dragging the chain," he added, gently ribbing his oldest friend.
"Just wait a bit, I've got someone coming over soon to help with the repairs," Shepard replied.
"That was fast," Remus said with a raised eyebrow.
"Let's just say this isn't the first time my place has been trashed this month, and they work quickly," Shepard responded cryptically. The next half hour was spent just talking and joking between the eight of them, the adults not treating the young women as anything less than the maturing adults they essentially were.

As Sirius and Remus regaled them with another Marauder tale, Bloodaxe came quietly into the room and discretely informed Shepard that there was a pair of arrivals in the cloakroom. Shepard excused herself and walked through the house to the cloakroom to find Eton already with his pad out, making notes on repairs and costs involved. With him was obviously his new hire. She was approximately Shepard's age, if she was any judge. She was only 160cm tall, her hair a bright strawberry blonde that was attractively wavy. She was fit, but showed off a very curvy body with her choice of attire. Her face looked like one made for smiling, as even in a professional setting there was a hint of upwards curl. Her eyes were a striking ice blue, and looked at the world as if taking it all in and analyzing it, unlike Luna's wide-eyed attempt to see everything for the sake of seeing it.

"Ah Shepard, I don't know how or why you do this to such a lovely place," Eton complained. "But where are my manners. Miss Shepard, allow me to introduce Angelique." Shepard held out her hand and was quietly impressed at the firm, confident shake she received.
"A pleasure to meet," she said in lightly-accented English.
"Do not feel compelled to speak English on my behalf," Shepard replied through her translator. "You'll have to forgive my own accent, but I speak French quite well."
"Then it's doubly a pleasure," Angelique said with a smile that lit up her face.
"Yes, and now to business," Eton said with a chortle. "I can already see the pile of galleons the cloakroom is going to make me, so let's see the rest of it."

"It's not nearly as bad as last time," Shepard half-explained, half-grumbled. "Here I was hosting a private party and a bunch of hooligans decides to crash the party and make a mess!" Shepard added as she led them into the dining room. "Here's the only other place that got hit. We sent them packing before they could get up to serious mischief." Eton looked around the room, noting that the goblin who had met them in the cloakroom seemed to be following Shepard closely.
"Would I be correct in suspecting these... hooligans were the kind that like to wear dark robes and white masks?" He asked carefully.
"Possibly," Shepard said cagily.
"You can't mean Death Eaters!" Angelique exclaimed.
"Keep your voice down," Eton said calmly but firmly.

"May I ask how you came to that conclusion?" Shepard asked in a similar tone.
"I'm an educated man, and I like to read the papers, even ones as sensationalist and biased as the Daily Prophet. Occasionally, they will actually report the news, if only by accident. It wasn't hard to connect the last time I was here to an attack, even if it was largely unreported. There's been a lot of speculation on that in France, by the way. Anyway, a fairly substantial attack on the 31st of July at what you say is a birthday party? If it wasn't in some way related to one Hyacinth Potter, I'll eat my hat, as some like to say." He gestured at her similarly to a lecturer she had known in the academy once he reached a QED moment. "Also, your English investigators are sloppy when it comes to crime scene cleanup. Then, and now, they left behind enough evidence to piece together the story." He pointed to a piece of tattered robe and chips from a mask to prove his point.
"Very impressive deductive reasoning," Shepard admitted. "I'm sure Sir Doyle would approve of your methods. For now though, less private detective and more of how much this is going to cost me."

"Very well," Eton began, looking around the room once again. "Is there a particular timeframe you would like it done by?"
"Is today impossible?" Tink asked.
"Not impossible, but not free either. The damage would be simple enough to repair this time, but if you want it today, I'm either going to need help if possible."
"And an autograph," Angelique added quickly, before blushing as she realized she'd said it aloud.
"I'm not exactly famous, but sure," Tink said with a smile. "Unless you meant someone else?"
"Uh... uh..." Angelique stalled, looking to Eton for help. He merely gave her his own smile of amusement at the situation, but offering no assistance. "I actually wanted one of Hyacinth. Its for my niece!" She insisted to further reddening.

"Well, aside from the autograph, would the same amount as last time suffice Eton?" Shepard asked.
"That should be sufficient for my needs," Eton agreed.
"Alright, let me go get your potential minions, and get the rest of them out from underfoot."

With that Tink wandered back to the sitting room in time to hear the laughter of another happy tale.
"Looks like I missed the punchline," Tink said from the doorway. "So, in line with Sirius' idea from earlier, who wants to go find some fun outside?" There was a chorus of agreement from everyone, the girls getting up and grabbing some money and other outing needs from the guest rooms already set aside for them. A moment later they were all assembled in the dining room.

"Everyone, this is Eton and Angelique, they'll be fixing the place for us while we're out," Shepard said by way of introduction. She could see instantly that Angelique was shy in Harri's presence, but was surprised that she heard Remus stifling a chuckle. Turning an inquisitive glance to him, he subtly pointed to the slack-jawed, wide-eyed visage of Sirius, who looked somewhat like he'd been slapped with a stunned mullet. It wasn't hard to draw a line between his eyes and Angelique's face, and Shepard suppressed a chuckle of her own.
"Enchanted," Eton said smoothly, reaching out like the gentleman he was and placing a delicate kiss on the hands of the girls, and firm shakes for the other men and Shepard. Angelique squeaked out a 'hi' as she too shook everyone's hand, her face reddening as she got to Harri.
"Uh... hi?" Harri said, uncertain why this woman was acting like one of the Creevey brothers.

"Oh, a few things before we go," Shepard said, "Firstly, Eton and Angelique would like some assistance today, if anyone would like to volunteer."
"I will!" Sirius barked, almost before she had finished asking. If she didn't know better, it would look like he wanted to get in first. However, judging by Remus' smile, she had a good idea on why he wanted to stay behind.
"Good boy," she teased gently. "Secondly, there is the issue of payment."
"I'll pay!" Sirius barked again, this time to everyone chuckling.
"If you'll let me finish this time Mister Black, there was a specific, non-monetary request made." She looked pointedly at Angelique, who once again blushed with embarrassment.

"If its not too much trouble, I wanted an autograph," Angelique said quietly. "Yours specifically," she added, looking directly as Harri.
"What, why?" The ravenette asked.
"Its not for me, its for my niece!" Angelique exclaimed. "Its to go with the one I got her of Fleur Delacour," she explained, her voice semi-rambling. "The two of you participated in the Tri-wizard Tournament, and it really inspired her. Well, the first two tasks at least, showing her that girls can do anything boys can, often better. Actually, don't worry, its silly," she said, bringing her rambling to a close. She looked away before she felt an hand on her arm, and turned to see Harri looking at her sympathetically.
"I'll do it," Harri said kindly.
"Oh, thank you so much!" Angelique said with a smile. "Just give me a minute to get something for you," she added, heading back to the cloakroom to Apparate away.

"That's a good thing you're doing Harri," Tink said quietly to Harri.
"Thanks Tink," Harri responded gratefully. "I was tempted to say no at the start. I don't want to become like Lockhart, using my fame just to get what I want. But once she explained why... it was hard to say no."
"Understandable. Just remember that everyone has a story, think about what it might be before you dismiss or belittle them. Even your enemies."
"Why?" Harri asked. She wasn't keen on knowing the story of how Tom Riddle has become a monster.
"Not understanding your enemies is the quickest way to getting yourself killed by them, trust me on that," Tink said quietly. "We'll talk about this later, you have some signing to do."

Harri looked up as Angelique came back into the room, this time with a scroll in her hand. She went over to the table and unfurled it, showing a picture from two years ago. It was from the Wand Weighing ceremony where the Daily Prophet photographer had taken a shot of the champions and the heads of their corresponding school. Signed in shining silver ink were the names of both Fleur and Madame Maxine, hovering above their respective selves.
"Is there anywhere in particular you'd like me to sign?" Harri asked. Angelique handed her a quill already loaded with the same ink and pointed to her photo counterpart, who moved away from the incoming finger.
"Anywhere near you will be fine," she squeaked. Harri hesitantly took the quill and put it under her photo self, since she had been seated. The quill glided over the photo as Harri added her signature, looking rougher than Fleur's delicate cursive but smaller and more precise than Maxine's addition.

"My niece is going to squeal when she sees this," Angelique said, almost squealing herself as the ink dried.
"Excellent," Eton said with a chuckle. "With the esteemed Mr Black assisting us, I'm sure we shall have this finished in time for dinner."
"Did you want to pay for it as well Sirius?" Remus asked, hoping to get through his friend.
"Well, I know I'm responsible for at least that," Black said, pointing to a hole in the wall. "If Shepard hadn't offered to host, that would be my wall with a hole in it. Besides, if I'm not allowed to fritter away the Black fortune on my friends, who will?"
"Can't argue with that," Remus admitted. "Alright then, anyone got any ideas for fun?"

As they left Sirius behind to be put to work, Harri waited until the elevator doors closed before she asked her question.
"So was it just me, or did Sirius act like a puppy in there?" Harri asked. Everyone burst out laughing, as a similar thought had crossed their minds as well.
"I think the only thing that needs to be said is that he's not a dog animagus for nothing," Remus said to further chuckling.
"I wonder if she noticed, given her... distraction with you," Hermione asked with a smirk.
"She's a big girl, I'm sure she'll be fine. And if he's trying to hump her leg when we get back, we'll swat him on the nose when we get back," Shepard said. "After all, I'm the one with her number."

---

The seven of them wandered around London, ending up where most teenage girls with license to wander end up: clothes shopping. As the girls tried on various pieces for fun and for purchase, Shepard and the adult males contented themselves with conversation while Shepard picked out a few things for herself.
"So, what exactly is it you do Shepard, and why haven't we heard of you before?" Dan asked. "I get the feeling that the magical world is fairly close-knit, but you just seemed to come out of nowhere in June. Now you've got a London penthouse, private security and Harri and my daughter talking to you like they've known you forever. It just seems a little convenient if you ask me."

Shepard didn't respond immediately, masking her thoughts by looking at jeans. Once she had an answer straight, she turned back to Dan.
"It might be convenient for Harri and Hermione, but the last person its convenient for is me," Shepard said firmly. "I had a home, a family, then I was forced to come here against my will, with no possibility of contacting them and no idea if, let alone when, I'll even be able to get back to them. I saw I could help out Harri, against what some might call my better judgment, so I did. Some people, mostly Sirius, gave me a bit of generosity when I first got here, but everything else I've either earned, or been extremely lucky in. The penthouse is the latter, but the guards you had today were most certainly the former." Remus said nothing as Shepard delivered her tirade in a cool, calm voice that reminded him eerily of McGonagall when the Marauders had really stepped in it. When she was shouting, that was just her upset. When she was quiet, then you knew she was pissed. Dan just took it all in, and since he hasn't been let in on the secret of Tink's origins, felt a real heel once she was done.

"Why don't we talk about something else," Shepard said with mild exasperation. "Remus, how are you coming along with those items I told you to get?" The werewolf perked up a bit at the change to this particular topic. He had of course been giddy, despite Shepard's warning of caution, about a possible cure to his condition. Shepard had given him a list of things she would need in order to synthesize it, and he'd spent most of his free time tracking them down. Most of the items had been relatively easy to get a hold of, but there were a handful he hasn't been able to find suppliers of.
"I've got most of the components on the list you gave me, but I can't find anywhere that stocks the others," he said, handing over a well-used list.
"I gave you this list for a reason Remus, I don't know where to find this stuff, just how to use it," Shepard replied.
"What kind of materials are you looking for?" Dan asked. "Some things of a sensitive nature aren't available to the average shopper."

"Well, its a little... medical research project I knew someone was working on, it might be able to help out Remus here."
"You mean the fact that he's a bit more of a lunatic that normal?" Dan asked circumspectly.
"That's a new way of putting it," Remus said with a small smile. "James, Harri's father, used to call it my 'furry little problem'."
"Yes, essentially I know of a treatment that might help him and how to make it, but not how to get any of the ingredients," Shepard answered the original question.
"I might be able to help there," Dan replied, gesturing for the list. He looked it over, particularly the few items Remus pointed out his difficulty in locating.

"Well, I can tell you right now those are on the restricted substances list," Dan said after a few moment's perusal and thought. "There was a bio-terror threat a few years back, and the authorities made it much more difficult to get certain items and substances. Hmm, it doesn't look like any kind of drug treatment I've ever heard of," he added, looking at the list as a whole.
"It's not a conventional treatment," Shepard admitted cagily, as direct retroactive gene therapies like this hadn't been developed until well into the 21st century in her timeline.
"Well, I suppose it would have to be a bit unconventional to solve a problem as unusual as his," Dan said cryptically, mindful of the other non-magical people shopping alongside them. "I could probably get you these things, though not much of them. Given the amounts you've put on the list, I could probably get enough for one dose."
"One might be all we need," Shepard replied, Remus nodding enthusiastically as well.

"I want you to make me a promise first," Dan said as he held out his hand.
"What kind are you asking for?" Shepard asked warily. She'd been caught out before agreeing to things before knowing the details, and it always bit her in the ass. As the saying went, once bitten, twice shy.
"Emma already told me about what you'll be doing in the coming school year. I just want you to promise that you'll do the best you can to protect everyone, especially Hermione. She's my only child."
"I can promise you that much Dan."
"Then we have a deal. It'll probably take me a week or two to order them in, but since I've got a medical license it shouldn't pose too many issues."

While the adults talked about curing Remus, the girls were talking about normal, girlish things, because they couldn't do it at school and they needed to get a sense of normality after the attack earlier. For Harri, the shopping trip was an excuse for her three best friends to dress her up in everything from the cute to the sexy to the over-the-top bizarre. As they all mixed and matched and modeled for each other, Ginny in particular felt that familiar feeling of carefree lightheadedness that only a crush can bestow. As Harri and Luna disappeared down an isle that was almost too pink even for the outlandish blonde, Ginny pulled on Hermione's sleeve.

"What's up?" Hermione asked at seeing the look on Ginny's face.
"That talk I wanted to have with you, can we do it now?" Ginny asked with a hint of distress. Hermione looked around and saw a change room was free, dragging the younger girl in along with her current selection of items to try. Ginny protested as she was gently pushed inside before Hermione followed her in and closed the door.
"What's so important that you need to talk about," the brunette asked with a gentle whisper.

Ginny twisted her hands for a few seconds to muster up the courage to voice her question.
"Its... I just... I'm feeling really funny," Ginny finally admitted. Hermione tilted her head and gestured for her friend to elaborate. "Just that... I'm feeling just to happy and lightheaded and flushed all of a sudden, and I'm not sure why." Hermione looked at her friend for a moment, noticing the slight pinkness on her cheeks, the hitch of her breathing and the pupils dilated more than usual for the light levels. She out it all together in her head and put a hand to her mouth to stifle the laugh. Only she could have two girls come to her asking if it was normal to be aroused by other girls. Though this sounded more like a crush than sexual fantasy this time.

"I'm not going to ask who makes you feel like this Ginny, at least not right now," Hermione whispered smiling. "However, I will tell you that its perfectly normal, healthy even. Just, be cool about it, feel her out and test the waters as it were before you make a fool of yourself."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Ginny said with mock indignation, giving Hermione's shoulder a friendly tap. "How do I do that though?" she asked to follow up. "Its not the same as trying to get a boy to notice you." Hermione held her comment, wondering if Ginny was thinking about the person she suspected, and wondering if Harri was thinking about Ginny when she had come to her at the end of term. If it was, then it was either a laughable coincidence, and something she could have fun watching. If they really needed it, she would give them a hand, but not at the beginning. Then again, she could have this all wrong, and neither of them was thinking about each other, but other girls.

"Just be yourself, and try and approach her the way you'd like to be if it was anyone else, boy or girl, trying to get your attention," Hermione counseled. "Be her friend first, then see if she responds to some flirting. If she does, then try going a step further, if she doesn't, then back away while still being her friend."
"Thanks Hermione, I just needed to hear you say it," Ginny said. She was fairly sure she knew why she needed this talk. They had been trying on clothes for nearly an hour, sometimes helping put on dresses and the like. Sometimes, Harri had been in just her underwear, and Ginny got to touch her skin. At first it had just been friendly helping, but somewhere it crossed a line in her mind and she found it exciting, arousing even.

The two of them came out to find Harri and Luna using the next changing room just as Harri came out wearing skin-tight pink leggings with a top that was almost, but not completely, thew wrong shade of pink to accompany it. The knee-length skirt couldn't compete with the leggings and top though, and the mind just refused to see it, like wearing blue against a bluesceen. Ginny and Hermione couldn't help themselves and burst out laughing at the sight. Harri frowned a little, before turning to the smirking Luna.
"I told you Harri, there are simply too many nargles around for any of us to think clearly," Luna said calmly. "Certainly too many for them to comment before they laughed."
"Some friends you turned out to be," Harri said to her recent traitors. "I mean come on, its my birthday! You'd think you'd be able to make one lousy comment, even one about how bad it was, before laughing."
"Harri, there are a number of normality standards that have to be relaxed around you," Hermione managed to gasp out through her giggles. "Fashion choices aren't usually one of them!"
"Though you do look good in that skirt," Ginny said. Both Harri and Ginny turned away and blushed for a second, before the conversation got back on track.

Harri fished around her purse for a sickle and handed the silver coin to the still-smiling Luna, before heading up into the changing room to take off the ridiculous outfit. A moment later she came out with the outfit she had come in with, adding the skirt to the pile of clothes she intended to purchase. After collecting the wandering adults, they went up to the register to pay and package their new acquisitions.

---

Shortly after Shepard left, Eton directed Sirius and Angelique to the cloakroom. He had noticed the looks that Sirius had given his employee, but rather than be offended he was amused. He was French after all, and love in all its formsnwas something to be encouraged. Besides, the cloakroom was smaller, so should be less of a challenge for her, leaving him to work on the dining room in blissful peace. That the small room would force the two of them to be in close proximity was merely a coincidence, or at least that is all he would ever admit to anyone else. He just wondered if Sirius' infatuation would be able to penetrate Angelique's joy at getting Hyacinth's autograph.

In the cloakroom, Angelique took point, since she was ostensibly the expert in these matters. She began by waving her wand in a spell designed to detect which pieces of rubble fit into which holes. Usually, performing such a spell for a normal repair job would create a handful of colors, but in this room it created a veritable rainbow of splintered lights. She sighed at seeing how difficult a job this was going to be and turned to her volunteer, Mr Black, who was staring with an awed expression. She assumed it was at the coliurs, or perhaps the daunting realization of the amount of work about to be embarked on. Sirius had in fact been struck by the fluidity and grace of her movement, not to mention her lovely lyrical voice as she cast the spell, ensuring the whole room was included.

"So, what does all this mean?" he managed to ask.
"It means you better learn to like puzzles very fast Mr... I'm a sorry, I didn't actually catch your name," she said with mild embarrassment.
"Sirius, I don't like being called Mr Black. It sounds like someone is talking to my father, may he rest in peace." Even though I suspect that with Mother joining you now, peace is the last thing you'll find in whatever hell you ended up in.
"Very well then Sirius, it now becomes a puzzle," Angelique replied. "Each piece is coloured now, with one pair denoting where the piece broke off from."
"And in the case of something like this?" He held up a fist-sized piece of stone that had at least five different colours on its irregular surface.
"Then we get to have extra fun finding the rest of the pieces," she said sarcastically.

With that the two of them began to piece together the puzzle that the cloakroom had become. It took them only a few minutes for some of the damage. Some pieces were single chunks blasted from the wall or ceiling, which were easily replaced with a simple repair charm. Some however, took almkst an hour to reconstruct, finding all the pieces that fit into the damage crater before casting the charm. When they had done that for a few hiurs, Sirius asked why they couldn't just do one charm for the whole room.
"When you get damage like this, some pieces are completely destroyed, or at least blasted small enough that they can't be reintegrated with the spell," Angelique explained. "Too many fragments like that missing and the charm fails, and you've wasted time and energy. This way might take longer but is more precise. Besides, the closer the fragment are, the less power the repair charm needs. Though there are a few pieces that concern me."

"Oh?" Sirius asked, knowing he probably knew what she was talking about.
"Look at these pieces here," Angelique said, pointing to a piece of rubble that had been cleaved in half. The two matching faces glowed bright green in places, though was scorched a burnt black that the magic seemed to bead against, like water on an oilskin. "I've never seen this kind of damage before."
"Shepard, the woman who owns this place, she has some... unique abilities," Sirius said.
"Sirius, I'm a witch, muggleborn at that," Angelique retorted. "I regularly bend the laws of science with nothing more than my brain and a stick. Saying she has unique abilities is pretty vague."
"If she wants to tell you, that's her business. I won't say anything else on the matter."
"Fine, it just means we will need to replace the damage instead of repairing it. I'll need to inform Eton." She got up and kef the room, taking the burnt pieces with her.

As she left the room, Sirius sat back. He didn't know what had come over him at the sight of her, but if he was honest with himself, he was smitten. Sure, he'd been a bit of a ladies man during his teens and just before his life fell apart in 1981, but since then, he hasn't really felt that way. Sure, he still found the female form pleasing, but he didn't have the time or energy to do more than look and fantasize about since Harri had come to live with him. He'd sworn to look after her needs first, but seeing that beautiful face had kick-started something in his brain. He wanted, no needed, to get to know this woman, to see if the knee-jerk psychological reaction could pan out into something more, something real between them.

As she entered the dining room, Angelique was secretly glad for a little separation. Being in the room with Sirius at first had been easy, as she was still floating on the high of meeting Hyacinth Potter. After the first hour, that had worn off and she had found herself suddenly aware that she was alone with a roguishly handsome man, not too much older than her if she was any judge. Though she was aware of the way he was looking at her, she had largely ignored it. She had taken the job with Ducard's recently because her last relationship had ended extremely badly and she needed to get away not just from him, but from the whole region that reminded her of everything she'd lost in the breakup. She saw the attraction Sirius had towards her, but she wanted nothing to do with it, the wounds of boyfriends past were still too fresh.

She walked in to find Eton doing much the same as her, though he seemed to have a much more intuitive sense of where the damaged pieces fit together, levitating half a dozen pieces at a time and moving them into neat little piles around the room.
"Excuse me Eton, I need your help," she said. He gently levitated down the pieces he was manipulating, before giver her his attention.
"What seems to be the problem," he asked. Rather than try and explain it with words, she just showed him the burnt slices she had recently shown Sirius. Eton looked at them carefully, prodding them with his wand before nodding in understanding. "Ah, lead from the front, I should have guessed it earlier," he mused quietly, mostly thinking aloud.

"So you know what this is, how to fix it?" Angelique asked.
"I haven't a clue about either," Eton remarked with a smile, like it was a joke only he understood. "Just that the fact the apparition point is the cloakroom, and there is no damage of that kind in here, tells me that Shepard fought in the cloakroom only."
"You got all that from this?" she asked, gesturing at the piece she had brought in.
"No, not only that. I was here a few weeks ago on a job from Shepard, she had been attacked then as well. The place was riddled with this kind of damage, as well as bullet holes and spell damage. Whoever she is, I definitely do not want to be her enemy, especially now she has the goblins on her side."
"But this damage isn't magical, in fact it's almost like its anti-magical, given how the repair charm doesn't work on it."
"It's not the only spell that doesn't, but that's a separate issue. Shepard is a... complicated woman, and I don't envy the person tasked with trying to discover her secrets. The only thing I can suggest for you is to make a note of what's been damaged and get the required replacement materials from the Normandy warehouse."

"Why are you so nonchalant about all of this?" Angelique asked.
"Partly because I'm being paid. But mostly, I've been a good judge of character, and I only sense good things from Miss Shepard from our interactions. However, if this does not convince you I urge you to have a conversation with her yourself, form your own opinion of her. I assure you, it will only earn her respect, not her ire."
"Perhaps another time," she replied, heading back into the cloakroom.

She saw Sirius' hopeful look as she entered, but buried any reaction to it. She just carefully documented what sections had been damaged by whatever Shepard had done while trying not to encourage the poor man into thinking she was available as well as single. Sirius for his part just worked in blissful silence in her proximity, and was content for now. After half an hour of finding all the magically-resistant burn marks, she asked Sirius to continue what he had been doing while she went to fetch replacement parts to cover or replace what couldn't simply be repaired.

Once she was gone, Sirius went to the dining room to see if he could find out anything from Eton about the mysterious and alluring Angelique. He saw why Eton was the person Shepard had called, as even working solo on a larger room, he appeared to have made more progress than the two of them combined in the cloakroom. As Eton finished another complicated repair charm, Sirius cleared his throat to announce his presence.
"Ah, have you finished?" Eton asked as he turned around.
"No, she just left to get some materials," Sirius replied. "While she was out, I was wondering if we could talk."
"About the payment details, but of course," Eton said merrily. He reached into an inner pocket and pulled out a roll of parchment, marking the appropriate section with a quill before handing it to Sirius for his approval. For his part, the former prankster looked over the document quickly, not seeing any fine print or objectionable content. He signed his named and gave the details of his Gringott's account for the payment, before handing the document back.

"Actually, I wanted to talk about your colleague, Angelique," Sirius opened as Eton pocketed the completed invoice.
"Ah, indeed. What do you wish to know?" Eton asked carefully.
"Well, for starters, we've been working together for nearly four hours and I've barely gotten more than her name," Sirius said exasperatedly.
"Ah, that kind of information," Eton said with a knowing smirk. "I'm surprised you didn't get her to talk with your natural charms."
"Yes, well, obviously this has not been the case," he replied lamely.

Eton laughed heartily at Sirius admitting his failures.
"Do not be despaired!" Erin said with a chuckle. "Angelique is a kind and loving woman, to those who know her. I am lucky enough to have known her for quite some time. She has just gone through some personal difficulties recently, hence the cold shoulder. If you are really serious about courting her, be prepared for a long and difficult seduction."
"Why tell me this?" Sirius asked, confusion plain on his face.
"Because I'm French, we live for love. I've known Angelique a long time, and her last relationship... well I saw the end coming long before she did. But in you I see something special, a devotion in your soul as it were. I used to look at my wife like that many years ago, and we've been together now for many happy years. I want this for Angelique as well. Plus, it will be amusing to watch the two of you," he finished with a smirk.
"I'm glad to be of service then," Sirius replied with a smile of his own. There were few things in life he liked more than making people laugh after all.

---

It was nearly dark by the time Harri and her friends finally decided they had done enough shopping. Dan and Remus, as the dedicated males, were of course carrying all the bags. As they exited the elevator, they found Sirius helping Angelique placing the last repair in place, with Eton supervising them.
"Wow," Dan exclaimed quietly. He'd seen some magic when Professor McGonagall had come to explain Hermione's gift and Hogwarts, but seeing the pristine cloakroom after the ruin it had been mere hours ago was something else.
"Once again Eton, you have worked miracles," Shepard said effusively.
"I am but a simple magician doing my humble best," Eton said graciously.
"You are an architectural wizard sir, and let none tell you otherwise," Shepard replied with a smile.

She came forward to shake his hand firmly, using the action to draw him into a hug.
"Before you go, can you give me a mailing address for Angelique?" She whispered in French.
"For your seriously besotted friend, no?" Eton asked in reply.
"Perceptive and humble. A shame you are already taken," Shepard replied with a chuckle.
"Alas, that there is only one of me to go around," Eton agreed.

"Well, why doesn't everyone go out your shopping down and freshen up, then we can go downstairs for dinner?" Shepard asked them all. Harri and the girls nodded enthusiastically, relieving Dan and Remus of their bags and racing to their rooms for the night. Dan and Remus shared a look of men who have suffered and now share a great bond and headed for a light drink in the sitting room, dragging Sirius with them. For his part, Sirius' eyes never left Angelique until he was out of the room.
"The invitation extends to you was well, as a bonus for your hard work," Shepard added to Eton and Angelique.
"Another time perhaps," the shorter woman replied. Shepard noted her tone, and the way she had looked at Sirius as he left, and wondered what had transpired between them.
"I'm afraid my wife makes rather a scene if I'm not home without good reason for her meals," Eton replied. "Angelique, why don't you go ahead and inform the office we're done here, and that I've got the invoice ready for filing."

Angelique nodded and walked away, grateful for an excuse to be away from Sirius and the confusing way he made her feel. As she disapparated, Shepard turned to Eton, her eyebrow raised in a silent question.
"I do not think anything untoward happened," Eton replied to the unvoiced query. "He was merely quite forward about his attraction to her, and she was currently unreceptive. I have a feeling though that if he really wants it, and goes about it the right way, he may be able to break through her shell."
"Alright then, I suppose that makes my request for her mailing address doubly useful, I can use it to get him to do something for me."
"A shrewd thinker, I like it," Eton replied chuckling.
"By necessity, not choice in assure you," Shepard responded with a grimace. Eton simply nodded and wrote out her address on a slip of parchment, handing it to her with a final handshake before he too left England.

---

Elsewhere in London, in her office as the head of the DMLE, Amelia Bones had everyone who had been involved in the day's investigation of the Shepard residence incident.
"Alright, I've got the official reports from all of you. Is there anything unofficial in them?" she asked them.
"Yes, why did you ask us to leave out official notice of goblins outside of Gringott's?" one of the junior detective Aurors asked. Bracewell, she noted, one of the most recent inductees.
"Because its way above your pay grade Bracewell," Amelia replied. "Way above mine too, but that's neither here nor there. In fact, I brought most of you here because I want today's investigation to be paper only. No memories unless you really need to know. I'm asking it be voluntary, not mandatory," she added before they could complain.
"I think that's a slippery slope ma'am," Tonks replied. "Besides, there was a lot we didn't officially report aside from the goblin issue. Like the fact that only one of the attackers survived to get to the DMLE offices, and he only speaks German."
"I think the fact he only speaks German is a disturbing fact in and of itself," Shacklebolt added. "If Voldemort is recruiting from the continent, possibly even further abroad, we're going to be outnumbered very quickly."

"Believe me, I share those concerns," Amelia replied. "Hopefully in a few days, we can begin to make that tactic work for us as well." These was a chorus of hopeful statements at this announcement. They had of course seen the promotional material that had been put out there supporting Amelia for the next Minister for Magic, but the counter-campaign for Pius Thicknesse was surprisingly well-funded. Amelia was tempted to run an investigation into the financing, but that would be both petty and misappropriating DMLE resources. Once she was Minister though, things might change.

"In the meantime, everyone stay vigilant and keep your emergency-contact-charmed items on your person. Our enemy can strike anywhere, anytime, and we need to be able to respond." As all her employees gave affirmative answers and left, none of them volunteering for the obliviations. She grumbled internally at the exponential increase of security leak potential, but these were her people, and hopefully they feared her enough to toe the line.

---

On their return to the Master's demesne, Bellatrix had succumbed to the pain of her wounds and collapsed. On hearing of the nature of her wounds, she had been separated from the rest of those who had returned. Rookwood and the others had been waiting anxioiusly ever since, and had heard hours upon hours of Bella screaming, not doubt under the wand of their Lord. The screaming stopped with such suddenness that Rookwood assumed Voldemort had finally killed her, and hung his head and waited to suffer a similar fate.

For his own part, Tom Riddle was outraged. Once again, his minions had failed at what should have been a simple task. Bloodthirsty and brutal, they should have torn through a bunch of teenagers and a few adults like wolves through sheep. Instead of a group with high spirits and the blood of their foes on their hands, less than half had returned, and the only blood was their own. On hearing of Bella's wounds, he had summoned her to one of the private rooms. His own wounds were less healed than he would like, and the stress of using great magics would likely worsen them, but he had enough strength for one of his particular talents.

Bellatrix lay wounded upon the table, writhing and whimpering in agony, her face and leg burnt and bleeding from wounds he recognized all too well. As her fevered eyes found him staring down at her with no emotion, she was willing at this point to beg for a painless death.
"Please Master, show me mercy," she managed to choke out through the pain.
"You have failed me not once but twice now Bella," Voldemort hissed. "I do not show mercy for the weak. But fear not, your punishment will not be death this day. Though once I am finished, you may wish it had been."
"Master?" she croaked in confusion.
"I sent you with a simple task, and yet you return with nothing but failure. I will not have excuses, I will have the truth, in as pure a form it can be." With that he looked her directly in the eyes and entered her mind, not gently or subtly as he had perfected over many years, but roughly, forcing her mind open and causing untold amounts of pain. He cared not for her screaming, emotions were for other people, he wanted to know what had happened.

As he entered the memory, he found himself disgusted at the state of her mind. Things flickered at the edges of the vision, and all the colors of the world seemed shifted in odd, unsettling ways. He hated that she was his most useful agent to spread fear, and one of his most capable combatants. Once the world was his, he could see to her having a terminal accident. For now though, he rooted through her mind until he found what he was searching for. He watched with no outward emotion as the Death Eater assault came into the cloakroom. He was mildly shocked for a moment at seeing a goblin above ground, before he too saw red at seeing the blonde who had defied him and his power, who had the audacity to wound him! He watched with glee as his minions forced her on the defensive before two more goblins dropped from the ceiling, killing his minions and his brief smile.

As Rookwood and half the forces pushed deeper, he watched the battle between Bellatrix and the other woman closely, trying to detect any weakness in her power. Divorced from the rush of battle and not clouded by his own perception as he would be in his own memory, he carefully analyzed her fighting style and the strange power she manifested. The purple shield seemed to block all direct magic, even the previously unblockable Unforgivables. However, low-velocity object could pierce this defends, something to take into account. While his own fighting style tended towards curses rather than transfiguration, perhaps it was time to branch out. He watched with concern as she aimed a pistol the likes of which he had never seen before. It did not eject spent cartridges like pistols he had known, nor did she have to reload it in any way he could see, though she had fired dozens of times. He respected the power of that weapon, watching as it exploded one of his minion's chest, even if it was beneath a wizard of his power to ever lower himself to use such a device.

It was the balls of power, and later the whips woven of purple and black light that caught the greater part of his attention as the battle-memory progressed. It was like nothing he had seen before in all his magical studies. Even time spent rummaging through long-forgotten Egyptian tomes had shown him nothing like this. The power this woman wielded wasn't magic, it couldn't be. It was something else, a weapon she used with precision and devastating power. Voldemort would not underestimate her again, especially now that she had somehow convinced the goblins to assist her. She was a powerful foe but she would fall; as the whole world would eventually fall, willingly or not at his feet.

He left Bella's mind as roughly as he entered, causing her more pain. She gave one last scream before her mind shut itself down in self-defense, lapsing into blissful unconsciousness. He let her lie there, her wounds still oozing blood, before sending for Severus to attend her. She was too useful to let die just yet, but she would be out of action, and out of his mind, for some time while she recovered. While he had the reason for Bella's failure, he still had other to interrogate. He entered his throne room, where the rest of those that had failed him stood waiting nervously. All except Rookwood, kneeling in a supplicatory manner. At least one of them knew the proper deference to display towards him.

As he sat and faced them, those standing tried to speak all at once, trying to shift blame and earn lenience for themselves. Only Rookwood stayed silent, knowing no words could save him now.
"Silence," Voldemort hissed, barely above a whisper. Such was the fear his Death Eaters held for him that the single word caused them all to cease. "I will have the truth of your actions, and I will have it undiluted." He selected one of those who he had seen in Bella's memory go further into the penthouse with Rookwood. The man swallowed nervously before taking a hesitant step forward.

He barely had time to breathe a word before Voldemort was in his mind, examining his memories of the battle in the dining room. Riddle watched dispassionately as his followers fought the goblins and braver adults while the teenagers mostly held in defense. He looked intently at the Potter girl, noting the changes from their own recent battle. She seemed more confident, less prone to rash actions as she had been in June. Perhaps his was a weakness he could no longer exploit, if so there were other, more conventional methods to demoralize her while he prepared for his next move. He was not impressed with the girl's mediocre talents, and was convinced more than ever it was mere luck that had sustained her in their previous encounters rather than extraordinary skill or power.

As he exited the mind of the minion, Riddle raised his wand with blinding speed. The syllables of the killing curse almost melded into unintelligibility before the green light struck its target, which toppled as a marionette whose string were cut. As the body crumpled to the floor, he savoured the look of horror on the faces of those still kneeling before him.
"Let this be a warning to you all," Riddle said, looking each one in the eye. "Fighting for me will give you opportunities you could not dream of, all the restrictions of society laid aside to slake whatever lust you may desire. But I will not tolerate failure such as this again. Go forth and spread the word, that you may not find yourself earning my wrath."

With that he left the throne room with a flourish, hoping they did jot see him wince with pain. He realised as soon as he had cast the killing curse it was a mistake, felt some of the wounds reopen on his arm under his robes. He cursed the blasted woman once again for foiling his plans again, even unknowingly. As he settled into his chambers for the night, he turned his mind to the problem of Hogwarts in the coming school year. Severus had told him that the old fool had hired a Master at Arms, a sign that Dumbledore feared him more than he ever did during his last rise. Since Snape had not yet weaseled the identity of this new hire from the old fool, it meant he could not make any concrete plans to eliminate whoever it was before the start of term without possibly revealing his own plans.

Hmm, perhaps several problems can be solved with one action, Tom thought to himself. If young Draco can make up for his father's failures this year, he can live as well as remove several problems in my side. Though I hold no confidence in his ability to actually fulfill my tasks, his attempts will keep attention away from the more subtle of my plans. Yes, I think I will add one final task to Draco's list, one he can actually complete if he's not a complete waste of oxygen. Finding out the identity of this Master at Arms, as well as anything else he can learn of them, will make it easier to eliminate them later.

---

Far away back in London, Harri was indulging in something new and wonderful for her: a slumber party. Remus had taken Dan home and Sirius had left as well after a few morose drinks. Shepard had shown them to their guest room for the night, and Luna's room for the summer. She had taken Harri aside before she had left them to their own devices and pressed a package into her hands.
"What's this" Harri asked.
"Just a little something for you. Just set it on the desired area, press the green button and goodbye unwanted hair. It'll even work in Hogwarts," Shepard said with a smile. Harri made a face, but she didn't let go of it either. She would unwrap it later, because she had something more important to do: girl talk.

The rest of her girlfriends were already waiting for her as she came back I to the guest room. She quickly put her latest present on the bed and joined them sitting on the floor.
"What's that?" Luna asked. "The wrapping is a lovely shade of yellow, good for warding away pesky creatures."
"Just something Shepard gave me," Harri said quickly, wishing she wasn't blushing.
"Something a little naughty then, judging by your face," Hermione added with a giggle. "I think we can make an exception for you tonight Harri, since its your birthday, and not tease you mercilessly," Hermione added in her best haughty voice.
"Why thank you Milady Granger," Harri replied in her best royal voice, causing the rest of them to break into giggles.

"So, I've never actually had one of these before, what do we do and talk about?" Harri asked as they came down from their high.
"Well, usually boys are a featured topic, if magazines for teenage girls are anything to go by," Hermione replied. "At least on the nonmagical side of things." On seeing the looks the three others gave her, she realized that admitting to reading such things would seem out of character for her. "Oh don't look at me like its that surprising. I occasionally help my parent in their dental practice, sometimes by choosing some light reading material. I'll deny it if you tell anyone else, but sometimes I'd actually read some of them," Hermione admitted, going red in the face.

"Did you forget about Teen Witch Weekly?" Ginny asked. "It seems most of the stuff they write about in that is about boys too."
"Alright, since its my party, a show of hands who wants to talk about boys?" Harri polled. Hermione was surprised when hers was the only hand that went up. She wasn't surprised about Harri and Ginny after what they had told her, but the fact that Luna's hands remained in her lap was something she hadn't considered before. Perhaps it was just among some of the many things that she didn't know about the odd blonde.

"Alright then should we talk about girls instead, since apparently I'm the only one interested in the opposite sex," Hermione teasingly replied. Three red faces and shaking heads got her giggling again.
"How about something less embarrassing?" Harri asked pleadingly.
"How about what your plans are for the rest of the summer?" asked a voice from the doorway. The four teens looked up to see Tink leaning nonchalantly against the doorframe. She was dressed, at least the first time they had ever seen her so, in satin pyjamas, black of course.

She also had a bottle of low-strength spirits in one hand, and glasses in the other.
"Let's start with some drinks though," she said with a smile.
"Isn't that a bit irresponsible?" Hermione asked.
"Firstly, I never said I was a responsible adult," Tink said with a smile. "Secondly, you get one drink, maybe two if you handle it well or go for hours. Thirdly, I'll be drinking with you, so it'll be supervised." She sat down and handed each girl a glass, before pouring them each a small measure of the alcoholic beverage. "Why don't I start?"

Shepard sipped her drink, sighed in satisfaction and put it back in her lap. She chuckled as the four teenagers tried to do the same, all four of them choking as they either took too big a sip, were unprepared for the taste of alcohol or the burning sensation as it went down.
"Now you know for next time," Tink said with a smug smile. "Small sips girls. Now, as for my summer plans, aside from making sure Luna doesn't fall out a window, is preparing for my new job."
"You mean the one at Hogwarts?" Harri asked.
"Yes that one," Tink replied. "I have to negotiate with the goblins, with the Headmaster, and if all goes well, with Minister Bones as well. Considering she doesn't like me at the moment, that will be a whole bag of fun, like trying to herd cats."
"Wait, you're not a witch, so what are you teaching at Hogwarts this year?" Ginny asked.
"Its obvious, she's the new Master at Arms," Hermione reasoned. Shepard just nodded, taking another small sip.
"As for teaching, I might do a few things, but none of it will be magical. Some practical self-defense most likely."
"That sounds fun," Luna said with a slightly dreamy voice.

"Wait, can I ask about Madame Bones?" Harri asked. "Why do you the think she doesn't like you? Didn't you save her life?" Shepard took another, larger sip before answering.
"Harri, sometimes people just do things that make you scratch your head," Tink replied evenly. "I may have saved her life, but I also represent a lot of unknowns for her, after today, a lot more than before. I understand why, things you don't understand have a tendency to hurt you later. Her problem is that she won't learn more about me, and everything I do just asks more questions than it answers for her. To her point of view, I may very well be another enemy she will have to deal with after Voldemort, we just have the same enemy for now. Unfortunately, there is very little I can do to change her mind on this, and for the moment, I'm not sure I want to. Her current frame of mind has her questioning everything and looking for solutions to problems she either didn't have, or didn't acknowledge she had before."
"That sounds... really complicated," Ginny said.
"Welcome to adult life, things are rarely simple," Tink said, mildly apologetic.

"Anyway, back to summer plans," Tink said with a slightly forced smile.
"I'd like to say something fun and exotic, but given the family finances and the whole Death Eater situation, I'll probably be stuck at home this summer," Ginny began. "Given the fact that Bill's been visiting more since he moved back to England, he's also been bringing his girlfriend too. Harri, please tell me I'll be allowed to stay with you over the summer, at least for a few days," Ginny pleaded.
"What's so bad about Bill and his girlfriend?" Harri asked. "Bill seems pretty cool."
"That's because you don't see the two of them together," Ginny replied. "I swear, the two of them are so sickeningly sweet, I'm going to get those cavities Hermione keeps going on about!"

"I'll have you know, I've been talking to Madam Pomphrey about that," Hermione exclaimed. "Turns out, magical people have a higher standard of health than non-magical people. Minor illnesses and dental problems are rarely seen, but then I've never heard of anything resembling spattergroit or dragon pox affecting anyone non-magical."
"Life finds a way," Shepard replied. "What about you Hermione, any summer plans?"
"Not really, just finishing homework and getting a headstart on some reading for September."
"You should also consider doing some exercise, jogging or swimming," Tink suggested. "That goes for all of you actually. Being fit is good for you, physically and mentally."
"Alright," Hermione said, already thinking about possible jogging routes near her home.

"What about you Luna?" Ginny asked. "Since you're here in London, anything interesting planned?"
"No, not really," Luna replied a little glumly. Being here with Tink, while closer to her friends, just underlined the widening breach between her father and herself. "I'll just see what things I can find once I clear away the wrackspurts." Tink herself was a little uneasy about Luna being here, it might eventually lead to conversations she would rather not have with the younger girl, particularly about her home universe. However, that would not stop her offering the young teen hospitality and friendship at a time she sorely needed it.

"I know that look Harri, what are you planning?" Hermione asked, seeing the scheming look on the ravenette's face.
"I was just thinking that Eton and Angelique did such a nice job fixing up the place today," Harri mused innocently.
"He also fixed it earlier this month as well," Tink reminded them. Seeing their glasses were all empty, she collected them as well.
"Oh, well then that's good too. Does he do remodeling, not just repairs?" Harri asked.

"You know what, I think that he may do just that, or at least his company does. Thinking about getting some work done at Grimmauld Place?" Tink asked with the same innocent tone Harri was using.
"I was thinking that, or perhaps asking Sirius to take me on holiday in France," Harri replied. "Who knows who we might encounter?"
"A short, blonde Frenchwoman, perhaps?" Hermione teased. "Like it wasn't blindingly obvious Sirius has a crush on her," she added at Harri's accusing look.

"I just think that Sirius needs something to keep him occupied when I'm not around," Harri explained. "He spent too many years alone, he deserves some company. Besides, while Dobby and Winky have done a great job maintaining the place, it really needs an overhaul so that actual people can live there, not some weird snake-human hybrid monstrosity."
"I can make a few calls, but don't get your hopes up Harri," Shepard replied. "People are hard to predict, especially when it comes to relationships." She yawned and stood up, stretching a little before collecting the glasses and the bottle. "Anyway, I'm going to bed now. If you have a problem, call out for Bloodaxe. Unless you really want to see me naked, because I sleep that way," she said with a smile. The girls just chorused 'eww' before ushering her out of the room. Shepard dropped the drinks in the sitting room bar for the cleaner and went to bed with a smile. While it hadn't been the most conventional of birthdays for a teenage girl, at least her planning had paid off.

---

Many hours after Voldemort had retired for the evening, Severus Snape found himself seated before his second master recounting thee day's events, at least as he knew them.
"You didn't tell me about this attack Severus," Albus said accusingly.
"I had thought you would be there, to counter whatever Tom had planned. Or have you forgotten that he is singularly focused on the Potter girl?" Snape replied with a sneer. Albums said nothing, just staring silently at Snape. The greasy-haired man was loath to admit that Albus' look of quiet expectation was just as good as Voldemort's threats in getting more information out of him than he wanted to reveal.

"I did not receive an invitation, and as I suspect your relationship with her has not improved, neither did you. How then did you give Riddle the information?" Albus asked.
"The members of your precious Order are less... secure than you might like," Severus said carefully. "Less honest as well. If you must know, for some reason Mundungus Fletcher had an invitation, one no doubt skimmed from the Weasleys or the werewolf. It was a simple matter to relieve him of it."
"I see," Dumbledore said cryptically. "And your own involvement in today's... incident?"

"None," Snape replied, completely honest for once. "Rookwood was placed in charge, since the Dark Lord himself is still unable to participate in raids due to his still-healing injuries. He took Bellatrix and several of the newer recruits, but returned with less than half of those he took. Lestrange was afflicted by the same wounds that the Dark Lord suffered, though not to the same extent. The rest spouted about goblins and ambushes, I really didn't take notice of them. Rookwood was disturbingly quiet, even for him."
"I see," Dumbledore said again, leaning back in his chair to contemplate this new development.

Amelia, as a courtesy no doubt, had sent him a Howler about the incident, asking him why he hadn't done anything about either Shepard or Voldemort. She was less than complimentary towards him, and several of her curses he suspected would have caused quite nasty effects had she had wand in hand. However the point in fact was that he had been completely out of the loop on this whole day. He supposed that part of it was well deserved, given his treatment of Hyacinth the previous summer. The last that concerned him the most was Shepard. She had all but forced him to maintain his silence on her taking the Master at Arms position except for informing parents of current and prospective students about it in the admittance letters for the coming year. He had suspected that she would hire the services of some of the Order members, or at least hitwizards. However, with Snape informing him of possible goblin involvement, he was put at pause.

"Can I assume that Riddle did not take this news well?" Dumbledore finally asked after long, silent minutes of thought.
"That would be an understatement," Snape sneered. "As I understand it, he tortured both Bellatrix and one of the survivors, before killing the recruit and sending Lestrange to my care. I suspect that he was more incensed that this woman has foiled him a second time. Once more and I would look to her to give birth next July." Albums merely raised an eyebrow at Snake's near-casual mention of the prophetic lines he had overheard all those years ago. "Frankly, I think part of it was that he didn't get the goblins himself."
"A small mercy that he does not have that resource to call upon," Albums breathed. "I think that will be all for tonight Severus, I have much to think on," he added, effectively dismissing the potions master.

As Snape left his chambers, Albums let out a small sigh. He knew he would risk subsuming his own ideals, or at least compromising on them, when he made his deal with Shepard. He looked at Fawkes' empty perch for comfort, perhaps in the necessity of death in the cycle of life. He knew this was war, and that despite himself, he would never be able to kill again. He'd tried so hard the last time to be better than Riddle, to try and show him and possibly the rest of the world that there was a better way than senseless death and violence, that might didn't make right. Alas, it seemed the ideals of Merlin and Arthur had died with their dream of Camelot. He just hoped that Shepard would walk a brighter, more righteous path than Riddle did as she and Hyacinth led the fight against him.

As he walked down the road that led to Hogsmede, Snape was also thinking critically about what he knew, and what he could use. He had of course made a copy of the invitation Fletcher had stolen, and fished it out of his pocket now to ponder it. It took a few moments, but he eventually recognized the handwriting as that of Hermione Granger, Gryffindor's resident know-it-all for this generation. He knew that the party location was somewhere in London, and that the woman who had defied the Dark Lord had been there. There were still too many questions though. Despite his bargaining, Albus still had not divulged her name. He could add the fact she had attended Potter's party to what little he knew of her. Perhaps now he could combine the knowledge of London location to his scrying attempts. Once he had a location, he could work on a name. Once he had that, then his path to freedom through whatever power she possessed was one step closer to fruition.

---

A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long. I had it finished over a month ago, but then I had to move at very short notice and then didn't have an internet connection for over a month. Suffice it to say it's been a little stressful and not at all conducive to posting.

But now here's a nice meaty chapter for you all to enjoy as an early holiday gift. So whatever holiday of significance is relevant to you, the proper salutation, and here's hoping 2016 is another good year.

Also, 2016 will definitely be better for me, because I start my new job in Feb. WHOO!

EDIT: this went up un-beta-ed for the most part, which allowed a few typographical errors to slip past. These have now, for the most part, been rectified.

Also, where's all the reviews at?