Voldemort stood at his bedroom window, staring unseeingly out over the large back garden and the beautiful countryside beyond the property line. During the day, the views from the master bedroom were pretty stunning, but it was nearing midnight therefore the views weren't as great. Not that Voldemort was bothered by views, his mind was on other things. He was standing at the window contemplating recent events, and worrying about future events.
Voldemort had never been a believer in karma, or any theories that subscribed to the thought you got the luck you deserved. He'd always believed that you made your own luck, and your successes were down to how hard you applied yourself. However, just recently he was beginning to worry just how easy things had been for him. Apart from a few minor blips, everything had ran smoothly since Hermione and Harry had started school. All their plans had come off, and now it was time for their big move and Voldemort was worried that something was going to go wrong. After so much good luck, what if they found themselves suffering a wave of bad luck when everything went wrong?
Shaking his head, Voldemort tried to dismiss his troublesome thoughts, but it was no good. The thoughts had entered his head, and now there was no getting rid of them. He would just have to face up to his worries that things were going to change for them. He would have to consider that everyone wouldn't carry on running as smoothly as they had been. Of course, Voldemort expected bumps in the road, and he didn't expect every single plan they made to come off flawlessly, but the last thing he wanted was for their luck to change with them preparing for the biggest move they'd made in well over a decade.
Voldemort had already thought of dozens of ways their plan could go wrong, and all of them involved someone he loved ending up hurt or dead. He especially thought Harry was extra vulnerable now the truth had emerged about Hermione and Severus being siblings. The big question was, how he was going to let these worries affect him. Was he going to let them control his decision making, and change plans, or was he going to put his trust in Harry and carry on with the original plan?
"Hell if I know," Voldemort muttered to himself, leaning forward and resting his head against the cool glass of the window.
"Hell if you know what?" Beth asked from behind him, emerging from the bathroom just in time to hear her husband muttering to himself.
"Just thinking out loud," Voldemort replied, glancing back over his shoulder and giving his wife a reassuring smile.
Beth gave her husband a knowing nod as she walked over to him and stood behind him, resting her chin on his shoulder. "You're fretting about something," She stated quietly. "What's bothering you?"
"What's not?" Voldemort replied with a snort. "Something is going to go wrong, Beth, I can feel it."
"You mean with the Hogwarts attack?" Beth checked.
Voldemort nodded his head once. "You know I've never believed in luck, but you have to admit we've had a fair bit of it in the last few years. First the ritual to restore me to health went off without a hitch, my forces are growing daily, those I've released from Azkaban are settling back in at home, and now everything is progressing perfectly with our plan. Severus called earlier, and Hermione's fixed the cabinet. Of course we still need to run some final tests, but it's looking promising."
"So what's the problem?" Beth asked gently. "It's not like we haven't had our share of bad luck as well. Just look at what happened to Severus, he lost the woman he loved and almost lost his son. You spent years without any real magic and strength, and even though you were around you missed out on so much when Hermione and Harry were growing up because you weren't fit enough to leave the house. I would say it's about time things went our way. We've certainly worked for it."
"I suppose you're right," Voldemort conceded with a sigh. "I'll try and stop worrying about all this luck nonsense."
"And then what are you going to start worrying about?" Beth asked, knowing her husband all too well. If he'd genuinely stopped worrying, he would have taken her in his arms and taken her to bed, but he was still standing tensely looking out of the window.
"Even without taking luck into account, any number of things could go wrong with the plan," Voldemort responded. "Providing we even stick to the original plan."
"You want to pull Harry out with Severus and Hermione?" Beth questioned, reaching up and running her fingers through her husband's short, dark hair.
"That means altering the plan completely," Voldemort sighed, taking comfort in his wife's embrace. "I'm many things Beth, but I'm not a complete monster. I won't risk fighting with innocent children in the school. If Harry leaves with Severus and Hermione, our way back into the school is lost."
"But if he stays he's alone," Beth whispered, voicing the proviso her husband had failed to mention.
"I don't know if I can risk that," Voldemort admitted. "If things went wrong and something happened to him, I would never forgive myself. I would not only lose Harry, but I would also lose Severus. He wouldn't forgive me if I got his son killed, and I wouldn't blame him one bit."
Slightly annoyed by her husband's negative attitude, Beth roughly gripped him by the shoulders and spun him around to face her. "Do you think I want anything to happen to him? I love that boy as if he were my own."
"I know that, Beth," Voldemort interrupted just as Beth took a breath to carry on. "I didn't mean to discount your feelings."
"You didn't," Beth said with a shake of her head. "But you didn't let me finish. I love Harry, and I would die if anything happened to him, or Hermione or Severus for that matter. But I do think you need to talk to him about this before you make any decisions. If he's adamant about staying behind, I say we trust his judgement."
"Even if it puts him in danger?"
"Even then. I know our instincts are to protect him, but he's proved that he can take care of himself. Just look at what he faced last year. I know he had Hermione and Draco at his side, and Severus was watching over him, but Harry still had to face The Triwizard Tournament on his own. No-one was there to hold his hand when he battling a dragon, or when he down in the Black Lake saving Hermione, or fighting for his life in a maze. He did all of that himself, and he emerged on top. He's not to be underestimated. Our Harry is tougher than he looks."
Voldemort nodded slowly, digesting everything his wife had said. She was right, he really shouldn't make any decisions before first talking to his grandson. However, even if he did agree to let Harry stay on at Hogwarts by himself, he was putting extra precautions in place.
"So, are you going to stop worrying now?" Beth asked. "It's not a good way to pass the time."
"I know," Voldemort admitted. "Maybe I'm just anxious because I've never done things this way before. Before it was all fighting and violence, now it's strategy and planning."
"You miss the action," Beth stated with a chuckle. Even though she knew her husband was right in approaching things differently this time around, she wasn't surprised to find he missed the action of the past when he tried to take power by force.
"I do," Voldemort confessed with a slow smile. "A good battle also helped with my excess energy."
"Maybe I could help with that," Beth said seductively as she tugged at the tie on her dark blue dressing gown, before shrugging it off and revealing her black and red underwear to her husband's hungry gaze.
"That sounds like a great idea," Voldemort replied, reaching for his wife and pulling her into a steamy embrace. Locked together, the couple collapsed on their large bed, all of Voldemort's worries disappearing as his wife kissed away his troubles.
C.O.T.D.
Ensconced on the Hogwarts Express, Hermione sat curled up in the corner of the compartment, Crookshanks on her knee and the morning's edition of the Daily Prophet sitting beside her waiting to be read. Although Hermione couldn't yet settle down to read her paper as Ron and Harry were currently bickering over her. For the last few weeks, Ron had sadly been back in their lives, however his digs against Hermione had continued. Just now he'd made yet another remark about her being Severus's sister, and Harry had finally had enough, telling Ron to either apologise and move on or go away and leave them alone.
"You seriously want me to apologise?" Ron repeated for at least the fifth time.
"Either that, or go," Harry said with a shrug. "I've held my tongue for weeks now, but I've had enough. Hermione is my friend Ron, and I don't care who her brother is. I won't stand back while you imply she's up to something."
"I'm sorry, but I can't trust her anymore," Ron said. "She's lied to us from the day we met her. And I'm sorry, but I also don't believe her brother is on our side. He's a Death Eater, and nothing anyone can say will change my mind on that."
"I'm leaving if he's going to start insulting my brother," Hermione said stiffly. She didn't care what Ron said about her, but it had always bothered her when he started on Severus, and now she didn't have to pretend otherwise.
"Don't bother, I'm going," Ron announced, glaring at Hermione. "Let me know when you come to your senses, Harry. You never know, maybe living with Sirius in the summer will set your straight."
Harry rolled his eyes as Ron stormed out of the compartment. With Ron gone, he exchanged relieved smiles with Hermione and the pair settled down to enjoy the journey home in peace. The last few weeks had been rather hectic, and they were both looking forward to spending a few weeks at home.
With the vanishing cabinet fixed, and fully tested by Severus, Hermione had devoted her free time to homework, specifically catching up in Defence to where the class should be. Unfortunately, Harry hadn't had quite as much time to dedicate to his homework as he still had to endure classes with Dumbledore, during which he'd learnt just what the headmaster knew about his grandfather's Horcruxes. Then there'd been quidditch practices and matches for him to participate in. But even so, he was starting to get caught up to where they were up to. Hopefully with a bit more time on his work he'd be up to date before the exams started a few weeks after their return from Easter.
"Anything interesting in the paper?" Harry asked, spotting the paper sitting next to his aunt.
"I haven't looked yet, but there's supposed to be a full run down of Nott's new policies," Hermione answered as she picked the paper up. "Apparently he's finished restructuring the Ministry now, so his new polices are ready to be put into practice."
"Interesting," Harry said, moving over to sit next to his aunt. "Let's have a look then."
Finding the relevant pages, Hermione and Harry began to read about the changes at the Ministry and the new laws that were being introduced. The first thing they read about was the abolishment of the department Arthur Weasley worked for. The Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Department was no more, and it was replaced with the Anti-Muggle Artefact Department. The new laws made it illegal for anyone in the wizarding world to own artefacts from the muggle world, either enchanted or in their natural non-magical state. The Ministry had announced a four week amnesty for people to turn in their muggle artefacts, after that anyone caught in possession of muggle things would be punished and could face several months in prison or heavy fines.
"Blimey, Ron's father will have to turn over practically everything he owns," Harry laughed. "Apparently he's got a shed full of muggle contraptions."
Hermione chuckled at the thought of Arthur having to give up his precious muggle artefacts, before turning her attention back to the paper. After scanning over a few minor changes to departments, she focused on the muggleborn initiatives. There was actually no laws to stop muggleborns entering their world, all the laws were aimed to separate the wizarding world from the muggle world. Travel between the two worlds was going to be heavily monitored, ensuring that the wizarding world remained the secret it was designed to be.
Then there were the new laws regarding new muggleborns entering the wizarding world. From now on new muggleborns could only inform their direct family, parents and siblings, about their magic. For the duration of their stay at Hogwarts, their families would know about the wizarding world. However, once they graduated, a team of specially trained obliviators would visit their muggle family and remove their memories of magic. It was then up to the muggleborn to ensure their family never discovered the wizarding world existed. Details of punishments if they failed to maintain the secrecy hadn't been disclosed, but Hermione suspected it would meant the muggleborn would be kicked out of the wizarding world.
"I wonder what they're going to do about all the muggles that already know about the wizarding world," Harry mused as they read about the new laws. "Take my aunt and uncle for example, they knew it exists because my Mum was a witch."
"I'm guessing they'll all be obliviated," Hermione replied with a shrug. "Providing the Ministry have kept decent records over the years."
"It could prove to be a long job," Harry said.
"If anyone can do it, Father can," Hermione said confidently. "He'll make sure the wizarding world is safe and secret once again."
Harry nodded in agreement as the pair delved back into the papers. Unfortunately they'd read about all the interesting changes, and the other changes were just general policy that didn't interest them. Throwing the paper to one side, the pair settled down and spent the rest of the train journey talking about their upcoming break, and how much they were looking forward to seeing Voldemort and Beth, not to mention meeting Rosmerta, which Severus had assured them would happen over the holidays.
When the train arrived in King's Cross Station, Harry half expected to be bombarded with Weasleys once he and Hermione stepped onto the platform, because even though he was supposed to be going home, he wouldn't put it past Dumbledore to have asked Molly to try and convince him to go back to the Order with her. However, there was no sign of Molly waiting for her children. Harry had just turned to ask Hermione if she'd spotted the red-headed woman, when Harry spotted something he'd never seen before in his life. His Uncle Vernon was on the platform, looking around uncomfortably as he stood next to Beth and Molly. Of course Harry had never met his uncle in person, but he'd seen pictures of his mother's family so if he ever had to talk about them he had an image in his head of the people he was talking about.
"Is that your Uncle Vernon?" Hermione hissed in Harry's ear, sounding almost as surprised as her nephew felt.
"It is," Harry answered with a nod. "Wow, they're going all out to make sure I don't get whisked away by the Order."
Exchanging bemused looks, the pair set off to where the adults were waiting. By the time they reached the adults, the twins, Ron and Ginny had reached Molly's side. Everyone but Ron greeted Harry and Hermione warmly as they approached, although Hermione could have sworn that Molly frowned at her before politely saying hello.
"Harry, I've just been speaking to your uncle," Molly said, bestowing Harry with a bright smile. "I'm trying to convince him that you'd be happier spending the holidays with us."
"Thank you Mrs Weasel, but Harry is coming home with me," Vernon said stiffly.
"It's Weasley," Molly corrected, frowning slightly at the muggle man. "And as I was saying, it's really not a hardship. We think of Harry as part of the family."
"But he's not, is he?" Vernon retorted sharply. "He's my family, and he's coming home with me. Now the very lovely, Mrs Granger has offered to help escort us out of this place. So if you'll excuse us Mrs Weasel, we'll be saying goodbye."
"Weasley," Molly muttered, but Vernon wasn't listening as he turned to Beth and gave her a warm smile.
"Mrs Granger, thank you for your kindness," He said.
"It's my pleasure," Beth replied, smiling back at the muggle man.
"Is my uncle flirting with your Mum?" Harry whispered to Hermione as they said goodbye to the Weasleys and followed Beth and Vernon towards the muggle exit.
"I don't think that's your uncle, Harry," Hermione whispered back. Judging from the way her mother and Harry's 'uncle', were interacting, Hermione suspected her father had decided to have a bit of fun with some polyjuice potion.
Harry frowned momentarily, before understanding dawned on him and he realised his 'uncle' was really his grandfather. Chuckling in amusement he and Hermione followed the adults out into the muggle part of the station. From there they headed home, along with Vernon, who had indeed been Voldemort using polyjuice potion. When Harry asked about the deception, Voldemort explained that he wanted to be sure Harry returned home. They had a lot to discuss over the holidays, and it was vital Harry spent the break with his family. The final showdown with Dumbledore was fast approaching, and everything needed to be in place before the pair returned back to school for their final term undercover.
A/N – Just want to quickly thank people for their reviews and interest in this story. I'm so pleased so many people are enjoying COTD. I've had a few questions about the number of chapters in this year, making me realise I forgot to mention it earlier when I finished writing the story. This year has 39 chapters – so we've still got a fair way to go in this one. Although, as I said before this is very much the big year action wise. However, year six is turning out to be longer than I expected as I've still got so much more I want to happen. But for now, I hope you enjoy the rest of year five as I try and get on with year six and start thinking about year seven.