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"Are you going to obliviate him?" McGonagall asked, looking slightly nauseous.

"It must be done Minerva. For the greater good." Dumbledore replied sagely as he raised his wand and pointed it at Severus's temple. "Forgive me dear boy. Obliviate!"

Chapter Twenty One: Rescue

"They're not in here!" Natalie whispered to the men along the hallway.

Harry pulled his head out from another room, "not here either."

Sirius came out from a room further down the hallway from Harry and replied negatively towards the voices of the disillusioned forms of Harry and Natalie.

"Where could they be?!" Natalie cried out in frustration. "How many rooms do you have in this damn house anyway?"

Sirius looked contemplative, "I'm not sure actually, never counted. Let's check upstairs." Sirius started up the next set of stairs as Natalie and Harry followed behind. They began their search again, going in and out of the various rooms on the third floor but there was no sight of their friends.

Sirius gazed to the set of stairs leading up to the forth and final floor to number 12 Grimmauld Place, if the Hawkins and Wilson's were really here, then the forth floor was their last hope.

Again, Sirius led Harry and Natalie up the staircase, but he came to an abrupt stop as he cursed softly.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"Kingsley!" was the hissed reply, "He's guarding the door to Buckbeak's old room. Wait here-"

"-Sirius, no! Don't do anything…" Harry trailed off as Sirius dropped his disillusionment charm and marched up the stairs to meet Shacklebolt.

"Sirius! When did you get back?" Shacklebolt asked in surprise as he moved forward to shake Sirius' hand in greeting.

Sirius grinned cheerfully as he accepted the handshake. "Just today actually. Albus contacted me when Harry was sighted."

Shacklebolt looked puzzled, "but Albus was always looking for you two…why would he spend time trying to find you if he knew where you were?"

Sirius didn't hesitate and replied, "haven't a clue…I've always thought Albus may be getting a bit senile but he has his reasons. You're best to ask him really…this is the first I've heard about a search for us."

"Hmmm, I think I will."

"Well go on then. Molly's apple pie isn't going to eat itself!" Sirius made a shooing motion towards Shacklebolt who looked confused. "Molly's saved you some and she said its best when it's fresh! You know how that woman is. She told me she's skin me alive if I didn't let you take a break and have some…you'd think she'd want to spend more time in my company seeing as I've been gone for so long…"

Shacklebolt chuckled at Sirius' statement.

"I'll stand guard for you, anyway, Remus wanted to catch up with you, see how things are going in the Ministry." Sirius lied smoothly.

"Thanks Sirius, I shouldn't be too long."

Sirius just smiled and nodded but as soon as Shacklebolt went past him and turned his back to the Marauder, Sirius motioned to Harry to knock the Auror out.

"What the-" Shacklebolt murmured as his sharp eyes caught sight of the shimmer of a disillusionment charm. Before he had the chance to even draw his wand, a jet of white light knocked him out and he fell onto the floor limply.

"Good job!" Sirius congratulated after the disillusionment charms had been dropped.

Harry smirked. "You know Siri, I think Severus is started to rub off on you a bit. That was positively Slytherin."

Sirius merely glared at Harry, mentally promising retribution for the comment.

"It was a lucky guess with the taking over guard thing." Natalie appraised.

"But my dear Natalie, that was no guess-" Harry snorted in disbelief- "I'm just to brilliant for the Order to comprehend!"

"I beg to differ, "Harry cut in, "you're just too moronic for them to understand."

"You wound me!"

Harry went to the door that Sirius was meant to guard and examined it closely before waving his hand over the doorknob while his hand began to emit a glow. "There's just a locking charm on the door…" Harry stated in partial disbelief.

Sirius laughed lightly, "what'd you expect?"

"Well, something more at least…maybe an alarm of some sort?"

"The Order obviously thinks that its enough…but it's good for us." Sirius said.

"Alohomora!" Natalie brandished her wand at the door, obviously getting impatient with the two men. A soft click was the only indication given that the spell had worked. Natalie grasped the handle and swung the door wide open.

Harry's eyes widened when he saw what was happening and he quickly grasped Natalie's arm to pull her down roughly.

CRACK

An old vase had crashed into the door at the height which Natalie's head had been at previously. Chunks of what used to be the beautiful ceramic vase came raining down on Natalie's head.

Sirius had his wand out and was pointing it into the occupied room. "Everyone calm down!" He bellowed.

"Jeez Dad, watch it would you!" Natalie scolded as she straightened up and began to dust herself off.

Michael gaped at his only child, "Natalie! How in the world did you find us?"

Harry peered into the room that held the Order's hostages. There was a large window on the far side of the large bedroom; a king-size four poster bed was in the middle of it all. Grace was the furthest away from the door, standing frightfully by the locked window. Jade stood in front of Grace protectively and Steve was next to Michael, ready to jump the person knocked out by the vase. They all seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when it was Natalie, Harry and Sirius by the door instead of an Order of the Phoenix member.

"Severus is distracting the Order in the kitchen. We've got to hurry!" Natalie hissed.

Harry went to the window which Grace was still standing by and quickly unlocked it. He cast out the signal of green sparks out the window and hoped that Remus and Ashley got the message.

"Where's Ashley?" Jade queried worriedly.

"She's safe; she's with Remus at the moment." Sirius answered.

"Do you know where they're keeping your wands?" Harry asked hopefully, not really expecting them to know. So he was surprised when Michael told him Dumbledore had them.

"Dumbledore's got them; overheard some drunkard saying that to one of those red-heads."

Sirius glanced at Harry, "probably 'Dung. Should we risk it?"

Harry nodded.

Sirius led the way back to the front door of the house after Harry checked the window to see if they could escape from there, but it was too small. The wards around the house still prevented them from appartating, portkeying out of there, and stopped Harry's elemental traveling.

Harry followed behind Sirius with the rescued four behind him. Natalie brought up the read just incase an Order member somehow got the unarmed group from behind.

They passed the unconscious form of Kingsley Shacklebolt and proceeded down the stairs.

"Quickly guys, through here!" Sirius began to usher the rescued people through the front door after he had removed the wedge that Severus had placed there earlier. "Remus and Ashley both have portkeys that'll take you back to my place."

Remus and Ashley were both waiting on the front porch.

Jade and Steve both rushed toward their daughter and grabbed her in a three-way hug. "Mom, Dad! I'm alright!" Ashley exclaimed.

Harry turned to Remus. "Has Severus come out yet?"

Remus shook his head looking worried.

Harry, who was still standing in the doorway of 12 Grimmauld Place, turned to look inside of the house. "I'll be back soon. Go back to your place, I'll meet you there." Harry said to Remus.

Remus frowned and replied in a worried tone; "Harry, I'm sure Severus is fine…maybe some new information has come up or something…"

Harry shook his head. "No, I need to be sure. Hopefully, I'll be able to get their wands back as well."

"Nothing I say will change your mind then?" Remus sighed.

Harry smiled ruefully and didn't reply.

"Be careful!"

Harry nodded and went back inside, replacing the wedge in the door as he went through. He could hear the others hounding Remus about what he was doing but less then a minute later, the voices outside stopped as the portkeys whisked them all back to the Marauder's Den.

Harry crept silently to the stairs leading to the basement floor where the kitchen was and hopefully, where Severus was as well.

He could just make out the sound of a dull clunk which came after a regular pause. Shit! Harry thought. I totally forgot about Moody! Damnit, I hope he hasn't looked upstairs lately…

Harry knew that there was only one spell which he could use to shield himself from Moody's eye, but it was considered 'dark' by the Ministry.

Now's no time to fall back on morals Potter Harry chided himself mentally as he prepared himself to cast the necessary spell he had learnt through his and Voldemort's connection.

Harry paused when he heard a lull in the conversation until McGonagall's horrified voice came floating through the door. "…you…obliviate him?!"

Harry's eyes widened comically. He heard Dumbledore's predictable answer that it was for "the greater good," and saw red.

Harry threw all caution out the window and smashed the door open with a powerful gust of wind which caught Dumbledore and forced him to overbalance and fall to the ground while knocking his head against a nearby chair. The Memory Charm that had been directed at point-blank to Severus' temple was, instead, cast at the far wall where it caused small cracks in the plaster to appear.

There were several cries of alarm and Harry found himself at the end of a dozen or more wands.

"Don't move!" Moody shouted.

"I'm not!" Harry snapped back.

"Oh Merlin! Harry?" Molly Weasely gasped when she finally saw who it was. She lowered her wand quickly; a move which many others copied. Moody kept his raised in suspicion.

"Impeccable timing as usual Potter." Severus jibed.

"Well you know me Professor." Harry shrugged.

Harry, upon noticing the ropes that tied Severus to the chair he was in, discreetly untied them using his wandless magic without the others in the room seeing.

Severus stood up and made his way toward Harry whilst rubbing his sore wrists gently.

"What! How…how did you get free?" Ron yelled in surprise.

"Magic Weasely, ever heard of it?" Severus sneered. Harry looked down to hide his smirk.

Dumbledore started to stir from his position and Harry had no desire to confront the old man again.

"Well as fun as this has been," Harry said to the room before turning to Severus, "we better take our leave-"

"-Wait! You can't just leave like that!" Ron cried out. Hermione stayed silent, obviously remembered her last run in with Harry.

"And why not?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Be…because you're my best mate Har, why don't you stay and we can catch up?" Ron offered hopefully.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Harry whispered in disbelief; only Severus could hear him and snorted softly. "No I don't think I will Weasely, I prefer not to remain in the company of those who betrayed and turned their backs on me."

Ron and the rest of the Order looked pained at Harry's comment, but he held no sympathy for them.

Harry went towards Dumbledore in order to retrieve the stolen wands but found himself blocked by Moody.

"Moody, get out of my way. Dumbledore has something that belongs to friends of mine and I wish to get them back." Harry stated calmly even though he wanted desperately to throttle everyone in the vicinity (bar Severus of course).

"Potter, look. I know you've had a lot of shit thrown at you through your life, but you need to get over it! There's another Dark Lord running about and we need your help to stop her! Lives depend on you!"

"No." Harry replied.

Moody looked confused. "What do you mean no?!"

"No. I'm not going to help you or the people that screwed me over. Damnit! What the hell do I owe them Moody? Tell me! What do I owe those people who scorned me, praised me, threw me in Azkaban, and now praise me again?! What do I owe those hypocritical bastards Moody?!" Harry was yelling by now but he didn't care. "I'll tell you what I owe them…NOTHING! So don't you dare tell me that lives depend on me to dig them out of the shit they got themselves buried in, because I don't give a damn!"

Moody was looking at Harry as if he were a totally different person. Hermione looked close to tears while Ron looked as if he was ready to tear Harry into shreds.

"You're just a selfish jerk Potter! Get over it! We made a mistake but everything turned out in the end! Voldemort's dead, you're out of Azkaban, everyone's happy! Why won't you bloody help us?!" Ron spat.

Harry sighed in resignation. "You just don't get it do you Ron?" He asked softly. "I pity you for that."

Harry side stepped Moody and bent down next to Dumbledore, who looked as if he were going to get up any second. Casting a quick stupefy at Dumbledore to keep him unconscious for a while longer, Harry reached into the old man's robes and quickly found the four wands he was looking for. Harry resisted the temptation to snap Dumbledore's wand as he would probably need it to defend himself and others from the rising Dark Forces.

He got up to leave and nearly made it to the kitchen door where Severus was awaiting him, when Harry felt a spell race towards him. Mentally sighing at the Order's annoying persistence, Harry erected a barrier that separated him and Severus from the Order. The spell collided against it and was rendered useless.

Harry followed Severus up the stairs without any farewell to the Order; he had already said what he needed to. His revenge for their betrayal could come later.

Author's notes: I'm so sorry for the long wait for this chapter. It's just that I found this one incredibly difficult to write, I had a major block trying to write this one. But I got it in the end! Thanks to everyone who responded to my query about showing possession, your feed-back was very much appreciated :-)

Unfortunately, I can't say when the next chapter will be up but I'm hoping that it won't take as long as this one did.

Fire-Pawz