Chapter 25: Preparations

After breakfast, Harry and Remus sat, once again, inside of one of the unused rooms at Grimmauld Place. Harry was glad that he had met him beforehand to tell him he'd like to talk, because Remus still hadn't finished his work from the day before and needed to leave soon.

So now, the two of them sat next to each other as Remus read through the letter, frowning slightly.

"You know, your mysterious writer sounds quite nervous if you ask me..." he finally said as he had finished reading, before adding, quieter, as if talking to himself. "I didn't even know Severus could be nervous."

Harry frowned. "Really? I didn't notice."

"Well, it's pretty long, to me it looks as if the writer is rambling a bit before coming to the point," Remus explained.

"Huh... could be. But... I can't really imagine Snape being nervous either... you sure it's him?"

"Well, do you know anyone else who would actually take these precautions to meet you? Sounds as if he's really worried you'll hex him or something, not believing him."

"Hmm..." Harry thought about it. "Not really. I don't really dislike many people. Snape, Draco... Mr. Malfoy..."

"Don't forget Voldemort," Remus added and Harry snorted.

"Yeah, but honestly, why should Voldemort of all people write letter that help me? He wants to kill me after all." Although the idea of Voldemort having such a girly handwriting somehow amused him.

"I know, I'm just thinking of all people who would fit into the 'You hate that person'-schema."

Harry shrugged. "No idea who it is. I guess I'm in for a surprise."

"So, you want to go?"

"Well... yes. I just wanted to know if you think it's a good idea..."

Remus thought about it. "Well, it seems as if he really doesn't want you to get hurt. I mean, it could be an elaborated scheme to hurt you, but that would take a lot of patience and I don't know anyone you dislike who has that kind of patience. Though it's probably a good idea to take a Curse-Breaker with you to check the wards. It would mean there was an adult nearby who could protect you in case of an emergency."

Harry nodded slowly, knowing what Remus was talking about as he had thought about these things too. "The question is, how to get a good Curse Breaker to come with me? I don't even know any?"

Remus frowned. "You don't? Wasn't William Weasley a Curse Breaker? You know, the oldest of the Weasley children?"

Harry stared at him. "You're right! Ron has told me about him a few times and I've even met him last year during the Quidditch World Cup... How could I have forgotten?"

"Well, I'm sure you have quite a few things at mind currently. It's not that surprising. Still, you could ask him at the Burrow. The Weasleys did invite you to celebrate Christmas with them, didn't they?"

"Well... Ron told me about it and that he'd send an 'official' invite over, but I haven't gotten a letter from him yet..." Harry frowned. Now that he thought about it, normally Ron or Hermione always sent him a letter at the start of the holidays, but this time he hadn't gotten anything... Were they that busy?

Remus frowned too. "Well, Sirius and I have gotten one from Mrs. Weasley... Maybe Ron has forgotten yours, I'm sure it will arrive soon."

Harry nodded slowly. "Probably..."

"So for now: Do you have any idea where to find books about the mentioned wards?"

"Well, I have a copy of Wards from all around the World?" Harry answered, smiling sheepishly. While the book was probably quite interesting he wasn't sure it featured old wards like the mentioned Truce Ward.

And judging from Remus' expression, it didn't. "Well, it's a good book, I've read it myself, but I don't really think it's what you need. I would suggest asking Sirius about it, after all, wards are your new topic in Defence Against the Dark Arts and he might know where to find it."

Harry nodded. That was probably the best course of action. Thought he would need to help Sirius and Tonks sorting through the rest of his fanmail first.

So he bade his goodbye to Remus, who went upstairs to prepare himself for his order business, and went back to his room to give Quetzalcoatl a small piece of parchment, on which he only wrote two sentences.

Alright, I guess I will meet you. When and where do you have in mind?

As he was basically writing to Mr. (or Mrs.) Unknown, he didn't think it was necessary to write a formal letter, so he just gave that piece of parchment to the owl before sending it on it's way.

Afterwards, he petted Hedwig for a bit, before going back downstairs. There were still quite a few letters waiting for him and he wanted to finish them as soon as possible.

ooo

They needed another day, but finally, every letter they had for Harry was categorized and the answers were taken by Tonks and send off with the post office in Diagon Alley. Harry would have loved to see the face of the post officer once he'd notice how many letters she wanted to send - even though they had already grouped them so that some owls could deliver multiple letters - but it would have been too risky. Tonks was the only one who could perfectly disguise herself without any effort, so it had to be her.

The rest of the day Harry spend back in the Black library, after he had asked Sirius about books about wards and getting the answer to look there. Not very helpful, but oh well. At least he was able to read something good again, not just the scribbles of six year old kids who just learned how to write or adults who thought he was bonkers.

And after some research he had actually found a few books where the Truce Ward was at least mentioned and even one that explained it in detail. Though the last one was full of complex words and Harry only understood about three quarters of it. Still, as far as he understood it, the writer of the letter hadn't lied. The Truce Ward basically meant just that. A forced truce, no one being able to cast magic without permission if they didn't want to loose their magic. Though it also was a pretty neat shield, since no magic from outside could disturb the inside, preventing attacks from behind once you thought yourself safe. The downside was that it needed quite a bit of magical power to build and the preparations were complicated. It certainly wasn't done in a few seconds.

At least taking it down was just as difficult, since it had to be done from the inside, which was only possible if the one who wanted to do that was alone or if the other person gave their permission. So no sudden taking down the ward to betray the other fraction. It was really well thought-out.

Still, Harry definitely needed to ask Bill if he had time. And for that, he needed to understand why his Christmas invitation still hadn't arrived. Had he angered the Weasleys somehow? He didn't know.

ooo

Another hour passed in which he silently read more about wards, before a quiet knocking pulled him out of his musings. He looked up and saw Sirius standing in the doorway, with a letter in his hands.

"What's wrong?" he asked, noticing the frown on his godfather's face.

Sirius hold up the letter. "It's a letter from the Weasleys. They are horribly worried if you are alright 'cause you've not answered a single letter they sent. Actually, every single letter came back within a few hours, unopened. What's going on?"

Now Harry was frowning too. "What do you mean, every letter they sent? I didn't get any letter, not from them, Hermione or anyone else..." Except for this mysterious writer. Which was pretty weird, now that he thought about it... He looked at Sirius. "Do you think there's another spell like Dumbledore's on me?"

"Well... I wouldn't think so, but I can test you if you like? We hadn't thought of doing that before, but actually, spells like that should be traceable once you know what you're looking for."

Harry thought about it. "Yeah, I guess it would be great if you could try."

"Alright, it will need just a moment."

Sirius drew his wand and cast the spell, but judging from his facial expression it didn't look very promising. "Sorry pup, I can't find anything out of the ordinary. No redirection spell or something like that..."

Harry frowned. That was weird. What was going on...?

ooo

He spent the next hour searching through the library again, looking for spells or anything that could redirect owls without being detected, but he had no luck. Everything he found somehow didn't fit, most of the spells were either obvious or easily traceable, or some kind of Dark Magic that would harm the victim. Also, he had still received letters during his summer holidays, so it would have needed to be cast afterwards...

He groaned, putting his head into his hands after having read another pointless text. What was happening? It couldn't have been a too obscure spell, nobody in his nearer vicinity ought to know it. Well, Dumbledore might, but he already had cast a spell on him, so why would he need another, much more obvious one?

Feeling frustrated and helpless, he stared at the only thing even remotely interesting that wasn't a book: His recently acquired bracelet.

And then he remembered something and stared some more, before jumping up.

"Kreacher?", he asked softly, wondering if Sirius really had made Kreacher obey him too. And really, with a soft plop, the elf appeared next to him.

"What does Harry Potter want?"

"Say... about the bracelet of Slytherin you've showed me this summer... Do you know if there are any kind of anti-owl wards or something like that?"

Kreacher looked thoughtful for a moment, before he shook his head.

"No, Kreacher hasn't heard of that. But Harry Potter might ask Mistress Walburga, she has told Kreacher everything he knows about it."

Oh joy... Harry had honestly hoped he wouldn't need to talk to that portrait ever again, but it was important...

"Thanks, Kreacher. I will do that." With that, Kreacher went back to whatever he had done before Harry had called him and Harry left the library to talk to Mrs. Black.

ooo

Fifteen minutes later had Harry knocking impatiently at the door to Sirius' room.

"What's wrong?", Sirius asked confusedly once he had finally opened the door.

"I've got it. I know why the Weasleys weren't able to send me any letters."

That had Sirius blinking in surprise. "Really? What was it?"

Harry held up the arm with his bracelet. "You remember the anti-tracking thing this bracelet did?"

That had Sirius nod as understanding dawned in his face. "Of course! Normal owls weren't able to track you either, then, right?"

"Exactly!" Conveniently ignoring the fact that he had needed the help of Kreacher and Mrs. Black to get this, Harry just continued talking. "Just tell the Weasleys it was a messed up hex of some sort and that I'm absolutely fine. They'll be able to see that for themselves in two days anyway."

Sirius nodded thoughtfully. "I guess I can do that. Although it might be better if you write to them yourself, I'm not sure if Molly is going to believe me anything if it concerns you."

Well... there was some truth to it if Harry remembered the confrontation between them that had happened this summer... "True... I'll send them a letter right away then."

"Do that. And I'm going back into my room if I may?"

Harry chuckled. "Sure. Sorry for sounding so impatient but I wanted to get that out of my head before the Weasleys built a rescue squad."

With that, he left Sirius and went to his own room to write Ron a letter. And since he had turned his bracelet off, he should even be able to receive an answer! He had decided that always leaving the bracelet turned on was obviously a bad idea, since the special owls sent by the ministry or newspapers might bypass them - although he didn't know if that was because the bracelet was designed to do so or if the owls had been charmed to ignore lighter anti-owl wards - but a normal post owl certainly couldn't. As seen with Errol and Pig. But at least he now knew the reason - at least he certainly hoped that this was it - so everything should work out.

ooo

Ron had answered his letter the next day, sounding relieved as he wrote that his mother had actually been thinking of showing up at Grimmauld Place to ensure Harry's safety. She obviously still didn't believe Sirius could be a proper guardian.

Harry begged to differ, he thought Sirius was great. Sure, he hadn't really set any rules like when Harry should go to bed and stuff, but Harry mostly thought himself mature enough to be able to go to bed at reasonable hours. Although Shiva scolding him when he wasn't might have had something to do with it too.

Apart from that, Sirius had also started teaching him the basics of apparition, promising him to start the practical part after Christmas was over.

ooo

But first, the actual Christmas day had to be survived. In the morning, Harry had noticed that Quetzalcoatl was back, delivering a note telling him about a possible date to meet, but since he needed to ask Bill first if he had time, he told the owl he would answer the letter in the evening, causing it to fly off again for the moment.

He then made himself presentable and had a nice, long breakfast together with Sirius, Remus and Tonks, after which they practised apparating a bit more (which meant that Sirius was telling Harry what to do, Remus intervened once Sirius' instructions got too weird and Tonks just watched because she seemingly thought it very funny).

They spent their day having quite a bit of fun up until the early evening, when Sirius side-apparated Harry to The Burrow, Remus and Tonks following, where they would spend the night.

At once, Harry was greeted by a bone-crushing hug, courtesy of Mrs. Weasley, who instantly began mothering him.

"Harry, my dear boy, there you are! We've been so worried about you after all our letters came back unopened! Are you alright? Have you eaten enough? Gotten enough sleep?"

"Now now Molly, let the poor boy breathe," Remus intervened, and although Mrs. Weasley indeed let Harry go, she now focused on the men next to him.

"And you two! Why didn't you notice earlier that Harry wasn't getting any letters? He could have been in serious danger as far as we knew!"

"Look, he was fine and well with us, how should we have known that it wasn't normal for him to not receive letters? Or that he wasn't receiving letters in the first place? It's not like I'm controlling his post or anything," Sirius intervened, making Molly turn her glare exclusively to him. But she seemed to remember their last argument, so she kept quiet and turned back to Harry with a smile.

"Now, how about you go upstairs? I'm sure Ron and Ginny will love catching up on things with you!"

Although Harry couldn't imagine that they had much more to say than five days ago when they parted he still nodded and waved his temporary goodbye to the adults before heading upstairs.

At the very least he could calm his friends down with his repeated explanation of why he supposedly hadn't received any of their letters.

ooo

After a long talk with the two youngest Weasleys Harry somehow envied Hermione, who had gone skiing with her parents these holidays, as she at least didn't need to worry about panicking redheads. But after the initial rebuke he had a nice time with Ron and Ginny anyway and was laughing with them as Mrs. Weasley called for dinner.

They all went outside, where a small tent had been placed to accommodate all of them as the kitchen of The Burrow simply wasn't big enough for twelve people. Thankfully the tent was one of those magical ones that were larger on the inside then they seemed - it must have been an advanced kind of an extension charm - and as it was magically held warm no one ought to freeze while enjoying the feast Mrs. Weasley had prepared for all of them.

It was a fun evening with a lot of talking and since Bill and Charlie were here too they probably got the most questions, especially from their mother, who seemed to dislike the idea of a long-haired Bill as much as ever, trying to get him to let her cut his hair. Because of that, it was especially difficult to get Bill alone, but after the meal itself was over and everyone formed small groups to sit and talk, Harry was able to get a small "Can I talk to you for a moment?" through to the eldest Weasley child after Mrs. Weasley had gone into the house to get more drinks. Bill easily agreed, although sounding slightly confused - unsurprisingly, had they never interacted much before - and both of them went into an empty corner of the tent.

"So... what's going on that needs you talking to me in private, Harry?", he wondered and Harry thought how to best explain his situation.

"Well... basically, I need someone to check a few wards for me... Especially a Truce Ward... And since you're working as a Curse-Breaker I thought you might be able to help me with that...?"

Bill stared at him, surprised. "Why do you need checking of a Truce Ward? Normally these kinds of wards are used for mortal enemies to negotiate terms, nothing a fifteen year old boy should concern himself with."

Harry hesitated. He knew that he couldn't lie to Bill since he didn't know enough of wards to be able to do so convincingly. Also, if he didn't trust him enough with this the whole point of getting someone trustworthy to check the wards would be moot. The best solution was probably to tell him part of it, since that had been his intention anyway if asked.

"I want to meet someone I don't know," Harry answered in the end. "Well, 'not knowing' might be wrong, I just don't know who I am meeting with, it might be a person I know. It's just... I've been getting letters from that person and they're proposing a meeting under a Truce Ward, so obviously I'm a bit wary. It would be great if you could help me with that... And I wanted to talk in private since I think that most of the adults simply wouldn't let me go, even with enough precautions, but I'm really curious and a Truce Ward seems to be just what I need."

Bill was silent for a long moment as he thought about it. "Huh... I do understand why you wouldn't want to tell the adults, especially mum would probably prefer chaining you to your bed than letting you meet someone potentially dangerous. But of course, I'm wary too. There are many things that could happen even when using a Truce Ward, since there are possibilities to attack you before or after that meeting... We'd need to set a quite tight security for you, especially these days... But I guess I could think of something. When is this meeting taking place?"

Harry shrugged. "Well, the fourth of January would be fine with whoever wants to meet me, but I wanted to know if you have time first."

Bill grimaced. "The fourth is a Wednesday, isn't it? I fear that I'm in a meeting with a few goblins on that day. But I'm free the rest of that week, so I would suggest the fifth or sixth. Maybe send me an owl once you've confirmed the date or if these don't work either?"

"Yeah, I'll do that. Thanks a lot, Bill, that really took a load off my mind. I'd rather have your help than the one of some random Curse-Breaker who might not even know a lot about that special ward. Just promise me that you won't tell anyone about this?"

"I won't," Bill said earnestly. "Although I would propose telling at least one other adult, just in case."

"Remus knows," Harry told him. "In fact, he was the one who recommended you."

"Oh, really? I guess I'm flattered." Bill smiled at him and Harry smiled back, thankful that this conversation had worked out the way it did. "Anyway, I guess we'll just go back to the others. Tell them you asked me something about goblins or anything, lest they get suspicious of us, alright?"

"Yeah... Thanks again! Oh, and I think Tonks wanted to talk to you before I got to you, maybe you could go talking to her?"

Although the last part wasn't really true, Harry was pretty sure that Tonks did want to talk to Bill, so he just smiled a little as the latter made his way to the metamorphmagus while he himself returned to Ron and Ginny, who - of course - questioned him about his talk with Bill.

But he just told them he wanted to know a little about goblin customs - mostly because he'd probably need to converse with them more often if they managed his estates - and left it at that, changing the topic to Quidditch, which soon made the two Weasleys forget about his talk with Bill, especially once the twins joined them as they compared different brooms and teams to determine which was best.

All in all, it was a great Christmas with a lot of fun, making Harry glad that the worst that happened was that Percy didn't come, which he himself didn't mind nearly as much as Mrs. Weasley did, although he was sorry for her. That way he had at least some sort of peace.

Surprise, I'm still alive and well!

I know it has been a while since my last update and for readers who haven't read the short text in my profile or are following my other story, Master of Death, too: I've been very busy with my real life lately, in fact I've written my bachelor thesis for the last three months and even before I had quite a few other problems, so I had neither time nor motivation to write.
I do hope that I will find more time for it in the future, but I cannot promise anything, especially since my motivation for writing currently fluctuates with my moods and real life will get a lot more stressful once I'll start working and so on.
But I still don't want to abandon this story, so don't worry!

So... other than that, this chapter was basically a filler chapter. Sorry about that, but these things have been important, so there was no way around them. next chapter should finally include the long awaited meeting and I sure hope that it will be easier to write than this one!

I'm astonished and happy that there still are so many people who read, favourite, follow and even review this story, even though the last update has been quite a while, so... thank you! I sure hope I won't disappoint you in the future!

Regards, Violet-san

(I think I'll stop giving a disclaimer in every chapter now, everyone should get that I'm not J.K. Rowling and that Harry Potter obviously doesn't belong to me)