No, I do not own the Harry Potter franchise, though I do own copies of all the books and films. The people who do own the Harry Potter franchise are JK Rowling, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros. and a few other publishers. Thank you to JKR for letting us play about in the sandbox of the Wizarding World.
Right, well, I was gonna begin the battle in this chapter, and then all this came out. A bit of back-story all 'round. Enjoy
Harry Potter: The Forgotten Brother
Chapter 26: The End is Nigh.
The Unicorn, the Re'em, and the Salamander lay dead. Blood dripped slowly from the slash marks on their bodies.
Voldemort took the vial and pressed it against an open wound on the Unicorn and watched at it filled with the silvery blood.
After awakening his army of Inferi, Voldemort had gone to the Gaunt Shack to check on the Horcrux there.
It was gone. He was forced to conclude that it had been destroyed. With the ring, the diary, the locket and Nagini destroyed, and the diadem and cup inaccessible, he found himself having to take drastic measures in the hope of getting stronger, especially after that damned Potter had drained so much of his power back in Hogsmeade.
He could not make another Horcrux; he could not afford to risk it. His soul was too small to split safely again. At least one of his Horcruxes was still active, that much he was sure of. The fact that he had survived when his body was destroyed during the Battle of Hogsmeade proved that much.
In his current form, latched onto the back of the head of one of his underlings, Voldemort knew that he was in a precarious position. He wanted to restore himself to his former glory, using the same potion that had done it before, but that would take time and resources he did not currently have.
Without Nagini to milk, Voldemort found himself having to look for other sources of sustenance. He needed to increase his strength and, preferably, his hold over Theodore Nott.
The blood of various magical creatures had varying levels of magical properties to them. The three animals lying dead before him had some of the most useful blood of all.
Unicorn blood contained life-giving properties. Drinking this would help Voldemort gain further control over the body he currently controlled. True, drinking the blood of a Unicorn was said to result in a curse on your life, but Voldemort did not worry about such trivial things; after all, he was Voldemort.
Re'em blood could give the drinker immense strength for a shot period. Voldemort's own research proved that drinking a lot of it could make the effects last a long time. This blood would increase his physical strength and his resistance levels, making it harder for spells to harm him.
Finally the Salamander blood had healing and rejuvenating properties. Drinking a lot of this would enable his body to heal itself quickly; a handy skill in the middle of a battle.
The final battle was coming soon, Voldemort could sense it. With the Ministry and the Order taking such decisive action in the past few days, it was only a matter of time before they made a move to try and finish him.
Voldemort wanted to be as strong as he could to ensure that he not only survived, but also that he obliterated every single opponent that came his way.
His army had already returned to his side. Scabior had returned from the continent with five hundred witches and wizards who took to a life of crime. When pressed, Scabior had explained that, after picking up recruits in France, Belgium and Germany, he and his group had launched a quiet assault on a Wizard prison in Romania, killing the guards and releasing the three hundred and thirty seven inmates from their cells before persuading them to join their cause. That impressed Voldemort enough to reward Scabior and his closest friends with a Dark Mark each right there and then. The men had been honoured.
Barty Crouch and Macnair had taken a trip to the continent to bring back the Vampires and what remained of the Werewolves and Giants. Some of their numbers had fled following the disaster that had occurred in Hogsmeade, but that was no matter. The majority were still loyal, and those who were not would be hunted down and killed once Voldemort had control of Britain and could afford to turn his attentions to the continent.
Dolohov had come back as well, bringing with him another two hundred wizards. The names of Dolohov, Malfoy, Rowle and Lestrange had long been aligned with Voldemort, but though they were all for pure-blood supremacy, they were not considered to be Ancient and Noble families like the Potters, the Bones', the Blacks and the Longbottoms. At least, not in Britain. They were families that were held in prestige in other countries; the Dolohovs in Russia, the Rowles in Norway, and the Malfoys and Lestranges in France.
During the war with Grindelwald, these had been some of the major families to sign up to fight under his banner. During that time, each of these families sent a son of theirs to Hogwarts, in order to keep an ear out on events in Britain. The then Deputy Headmaster Albus Dumbledore had persuaded the then Headmaster Armando Dippet to allow these students to attend in the hopes for increasing levels of international magical cooperation. It was at this school that those boys, Abraxas Malfoy, Alexandre Lestrange, Ivan Dolohov and Edvarg Rowle, amongst others, met the likes of Archibald Avery, Theophilus Mulciber, Owain Rosier and one Tom Marvolo Riddle. These boys quickly formed together in a gang, with Tom as their leader. Each was a member of Horace Slughorn's prestigious Slug Club, each had the brains and the power to achieve great things, and each believed greatly in the supremacy of the pure blood.
Following the defeat of Gellert Grindelwald by Albus Dumbledore in 1945, the group left school and, under the instructions of their families, Dolohov, Malfoy, Lestrange and Rowle stayed in Britain with the request to "keep watch" on things.
Tom flittered on and off the scene over the next few years, often disappearing for up to a month at a time before finally quitting his low-paying job at Borgin and Burke's and heading off to parts unknown. During his absence, Avery, Mulciber and Rosier ensured that Dolohov, Malfoy, Lestrange and Rowle were able to move in the right circles, eventually gaining themselves high standing in British social circles, introducing them to the likes of the Blacks, Carrows, Notts, Yaxleys and Macnairs.
Having vanished for a decade, Tom Riddle returned and soon assumed the new guise of Lord Voldemort. By this time, each of the men had begun to have families of their own, but upon seeing his power and hearing of his goals, Voldemort's seven schoolmates eagerly joined his side, with many of the Blacks, Carrows, Notts, Yaxleys and Macnairs doing the same.
Dolohov, Malfoy, Lestrange and Rowle all sent messages back to their home countries, informing their respective families of their new roles. Their families highly supported this, and happily offered Voldemort funding. They wanted revenge against the British, whose Aurors had helped to hinder Grindelwald's efforts for years, and whose new leader, Albus Dumbledore, had been the one to cast the defeating blow against Grindelwald himself.
Voldemort's reign of terror began. By the time that first effort came to an end on the night that Voldemort decided to attack the Potter family, Dolohov, Lestrange and Rowle had all been killed, as had Avery, Mulciber and Rosier. Their sons had by that time, taken their places. Abraxas Malfoy, on the other hand, had been sent to France on Voldemort's orders. Injured in battle against the Aurors, Voldemort had decided that the man was better off recruiting new wands. Lucius Malfoy had stepped up to hold his father's position in the ranks of the Death Eaters.
By the time Voldemort returned, Abraxas Malfoy was too old and weak to fight. The sons of Dolohov, Lestrange, Rowle and Mulciber, amongst many others, were in Azkaban, and Lucius, along with the surviving Avery, Nott, Yaxley, Macnair, the Carrows, and the likes of Crabbe and Goyle had bribed their way out of trouble. Evan Rosier, the last of the Rosiers was dead.
Following his return to power, the Dolohovs, Malfoys, Lestranges, Rowles and other families continued to send money to fund Voldemort's operations in Britain, hoping that Voldemort would bring it down.
Now, though, Voldemort's ranks were broken. Antonin Dolohov was the only descendent of the foreign families still alive. The message Voldemort had ordered Dolohov to give those families was a simple one: You want Britain to fall? Then grab your wands.
And they had.
Suspecting that the call to arms may come their way, many Malfoys, Dolohovs, Rowles and Lestranges, and many members of their extended families, had readied themselves, training themselves for combat.
When Antonin Dolohov had called upon them, they responded with eagerness. They themselves had arrived that morning, bringing with them the promise that many of their own allies would be coming the following evening.
Voldemort took another drink of Salamander blood as he thought over the strength of his forces; close to eight hundred witches and wizards, with the promise on more on the way; twelve Giants, approximately two hundred and fifty Vampires, sixty Werewolves and around five thousand Inferi.
Voldemort was fairly certain that even the combined forces of the Ministry and the Order would not get past that.
To say that Yannick Malfoy was less than impressed was a bit of an understatement. A messenger from the supposedly notorious Lord Voldemort had met with himself and several other high standing families across the continent, calling them to arms. Antonin Dolohov claimed that Britain was weak and ready to fall. Lord Voldemort desired more wands to finally bring it down once and for all.
Yannick had responded immediately, calling on his sons and their sons, and his brothers, their sons and their sons to join him in battle.
When they got to Britain, however, they and the Lestranges, the first to arrive, were met with a bizarre sight. Lord Voldemort did not have a body of his own. Instead he clung to the body of one of his own underlings, nothing more than a parasite. Of course, he did "talk the talk", as it were, but in his current state he simply failed to "walk the walk", so to speak. He might have been a mighty and terrifying leader at one point, but he was anything but that now.
After meeting with Voldemort, the Malfoys and Lestranges were shown to their quarters; areas of the manor house that they were in that were to use for rest.
Yannick had quickly met with Guillaume Lestrange and the two heads of their respective families quickly reached the same conclusion: Voldemort had to go.
Words with Tormod, head of the Rowle family of Norway and Jaroslav, head of the Dolohov family of Russia proved that the two men were equally as unimpressed with Lord Voldemort.
A plan was quickly implemented. It was obvious that, for whatever reason, Voldemort held some level of fear over the people of Britain. That fear would be useful in overthrowing the British Ministry. After that, Voldemort's usefulness would end, so they would dispose of him. Britain would become their new power base, and they would build up an army so mighty that it would overthrow any opponent with ease.
Already they had sent word to their allies across Europe, calling all the old supporters of Grindlewald to arms. Many of them had already sent word back, promising to give whatever assistance they required.
Each family had its own plans for the upcoming battle. All of the Malfoys and Dolohovs were highly skilled in combat, and the Rowles could use ancient magic to great effect.
And the Lestranges… well, let's just say that their family name meant "The Strange One" for a reason.
Yannick smirked into his glass of finest French wine.
Yes, Britain would pay for what it did during the rise of Grindelwald.
"Is everything ready?" asked Harry.
"Yes." replied Lily.
"When do you want us to make our move?" asked Hermione.
"Tonight." Harry answered.
Nymphadora Tonks stood in the front room of her flat, checking that she had everything. Her wand plus three spares, two daggers and dragon hide armour were all in place.
Tonight was going to be the big one. Harry Potter had everything ready on his end, and now asked that the Ministry and the Order of the Phoenix join his group in the final push to bring down Lord Voldemort one and for all.
Tonks herself would have a large role to play tonight. Amelia had asked that she be a unit leader. She would be in charge of eleven other Aurors on the battlefield, directing and co-ordinating their attacks against Voldemort's forces. That was a huge level of responsibility and, even though Tonks could now be considered a senior Auror, it was not something she had ever been entrusted with before. Tonks vowed to herself to give it everything that she had.
She respected Amelia Bones greatly, and held the woman in his esteem, but there was one way in which she did not want to be like her boss. Amelia had never married; the high rank put most men off. Tonks could relate to that of course, though her problem was made worse by the fact that she was also a metamorphmagus. Tonks had found that most men she dated were also swine. Being unintimidated by her high rank amongst the Aurors also seemed to mean that those men were rather more inclined to ask her to morph her appearance into that of someone else. These men often ended up receiving a stinging hex to hard-to-reach places.
Tonks had concluded long ago that she needed a kind man in her life; someone who was sensitive and would not even think of asking her to change her appearance. Unfortunately it was those men who were intimidated by her high status among the Aurors.
Tonks gave a sigh. Perhaps when the war was over…
Alastor Moody's magical eye swivelled towards the mirror above the fireplace in his front room. Looking back at him was a tired and battle-worn old man who had spent far too long fighting practitioners of the Dark Arts.
That, however, was all that he had left.
There were many people in the world who might not believe it, but this battle-hardened old curmudgeon had a heart inside of him; and of all the injuries that he had ever received, the breaking of that heart was the one that had hurt the worst, and still hurt as strongly today as it did the day it had occurred. He forgot about it at times, but it was always there, just below the surface, waiting to rear its head in moments when he was alone, or left to his thoughts.
Moody reached into his pocket and took out the small, golden, circular locket that he always kept by his heart. His rough-skinned thumb flicked the catch and the locket swung open, and there she was.
Agnes Brody.
The two of them had been in the same house and year at Hogwarts. There they formed a deep friendship. After Hogwarts, they joined the Aurors together. They went through their training together, and graduated from the Auror Academy at the same time. It was around that time that their relationship had become something more. Unfortunately the war got in the way. While it was true that many couples at this time did elope together, there was far too much pressure on the Aurors for them to even think of such things.
But one Christmas, Alastor and Agnes made each other a promise; once the war was done, they would marry. Her agreement to marry him was one of the happiest days of Alastor Moody's life.
Five months later, Agnes died.
She and Alastor had gone after the Death Eater Evan Rosier and his accomplice Warren Wilkes. This was a big target; the Ministry had already nailed Owain Rosier, one of Voldemort's inner circle, several months previously, and Evan, though still relatively young, had stepped up to take his father's place.
Together Alastor and Agnes had tracked down the pair of Death Eaters at the entrance to Knockturn Alley. There were three others with them. Alastor stunned Wilkes and was duelling another when Agnes flung a body-bind curse at one of the lower-rank Death Eaters. The curse hit, but Rosier had taken his chance and cast the killing curse at her.
There was nothing that Alastor could do to save her.
Instead he threw the Death Eater that he had been duelling to the ground, and then turned on Rosier. In the ensuing fight, Alastor lost a large chunk out of his nose. He managed to disarm Rosier and bind him in ropes before turning his attention to the other Death Eaters. They were gone, including Wilkes.
Furious with himself for letting them give him the slip, dizzy from blood loss, and distraught over the death of Agnes, Alastor Moody had rounded on Evan Rosier.
That was the first time that Moody had ever used the killing curse on someone. Three days later he managed to track down Wilkes again, and the man became second on that list.
The first war with Voldemort ended a year and a half later.
Now old, heavily scarred, and with only one real leg, Alastor Moody felt that he was too far gone to be fighting. But then, that was what he had done his entire life. And he felt that he owed it to Agnes to see this thing through to the end.
And anyway, if he died tonight, then he would get to see her again.
And hopefully he would be able to take as many of those Death Eater bastards down with him as he could.
Remus Lupin poured himself a shot of fire whiskey and downed it.
The war would be over soon, one way or the other.
Once again the image of her face flashed across his mind's eye.
Ever since the tale of Harry and Arnold Potter had been revealed in its entirety by Lily, Remus had been thinking of his old girlfriend Georgina Samson a lot. She was the one who had cast herself between Voldemort's wand and the Potter boys on that fateful Halloween night so many years ago.
Remus was forced to wonder if she knew. Lily's other friends from her school days, Sarah, Serena and Hestia knew. Had Lily seen fit to tell Georgina as well?
In a way it didn't matter. To be honest, Georgina's death had been a relief, to an extent, as she had not been a well woman. Not since that run-in with Travers. Georgina had been visiting Marlene McKinnon when Travers and a group of lower-ranking Death Eaters had launched an attack on the McKinnon family home. Marlene and her entire family had perished in the attack, and Georgina had been seriously injured.
Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom, along with a group of others, were the first to arrive on the scene. They found Travers using a silver dagger to cut deep marks into a barely conscious Georgina's skin.
The significance of utilising a silver dagger to torture the girlfriend of a known Werewolf was not lost on anyone.
Those wounds healed easily. The problem was the poison that the dagger had been coated with. Travers was known for experimenting with potions; and poisons in particular. The poison was unidentifiable, something of Travers' own making. Even under veritaserum he refused to tell anyone what was in it. He took great pleasure, however, in telling the court that the poison guaranteed a slow and agonising death.
And in the three months between her receiving the wounds, and her death at the hands of Lord Voldemort, Georgina had suffered greatly; often finding herself almost paralysed with great pain, feeling nauseous most of the time, and losing a lot of weight. The "good days" as she referred to them, were few and far between. Lily had said later that the day Georgina died had been one of those "good days", so Remus could at least take solace in the fact that for her last few hours of life, she had not been suffering.
And she was not in pain anymore.
James and Sirius had often tried to get him to move on from her, to find someone knew. But it was just too hard. And being a Werewolf certainly made the task much more difficult.
Maybe once this blasted war was finally over…
Rubeus Hagrid was marching through the Forbidden Forest, having just checked up on a Thestral foal that was just a couple of days old when he heard it; a voice, talking.
"So you'll do it?"
"Yes." came the reply, though it was barely audible through all the clicking "Your master's offer is most generous. We will strike before the night is through."
Hagrid knew that kind of speech. Peering through the gloom he could see it; an Acromantula. It was Mesoth, the oldest son of Hagrid's former pet Acromantula, Aragog. He had been talking to a man in black robes.
Hagrid remained hidden as Mesoth turned and scuttled away. The man turned too, and marched off in the direction opposite to Mesoth. Right towards Hagrid.
Hagrid stayed more still and silent than he had ever done in his entire life. Then, just as the man was passing, Hagrid reached out and grabbed a hold of him. He swung the man around and slammed him against a tree with such force that the man dropped his wand.
Hagrid glared at the man, recognising his face.
It was Phillip Doyle, one of the Death Eaters who had accompanied Walden Macnair to recruit the Giant Colony of the Ural Mountains. It seemed the Ministry had not caught everyone.
"Talk," growled Hagrid "Fast."
James Potter handed the small stoppered vial containing three of his hairs and a sample of his saliva over to a young woman who he didn't know and watched her hurry away with it. In a matter of minutes, Ginny's Weasley's illegitimate child would officially be recognised as his. He wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that, but then again he wasn't entirely sure who to feel about a lot of things these days.
His marriage was a sham, something forced upon his wife against her will and without his knowledge. The person he had raised as his son was dead, if such a phrase could technically be applied to someone who was never actually alive in the first place.
Not only that, but his real son, his actual son had been raised in secret by his wife without any knowledge or input on his part.
Lily's reasons were bizarre, but ultimately understandable.
That bastard Dumbledore had a lot to answer for, not least of which was somehow persuading James' parents to sign a marriage contract for James and Lily.
James still suspected the Imperius curse.
James wanted to talk to Harry, but he was not sure how to do so. He had managed to speak to Lily about it, and her response had been simple:
"It's entirely up to Harry as to whether or not he wants you in his life. He doesn't need you to be a father to him. Maybe one day you'll be able to have a few beers with him in the Leaky Cauldron, but your relationship will never be father-son. But, please, just wait until everything is over. Harry's got more than enough on his plate right now."
It hurt, but he knew that she was right. Harry was too grown up, too mature, too much of a leader to require a father. That much was evident when the Order and the Ministry met with him.
Perhaps the best James really could hope for was to share a few beers with him once all this was over.
He would look forward to it.
Minerva McGonagall was in two minds about the upcoming battle; she was looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time. She looked forward to it because now, after years of war, it would be the dark side that knew fear for once. She had every confidence that they would win, but the dreaded the outcome.
Who would die?
That was a question that was not worth thinking about.
She looked across the staff room to Filius Flitwick and Pomona Sprout. She could tell that her long-time co-workers were as anxious about the upcoming battle as she was.
Following the disaster that had occurred in Hogsmeade, the Hogwarts' board of Governors had taken the decision to close the school. That decision was quickly reversed when the Ministry's purge revealed that Governor Titus Buckweed was a marked Death Eater. Given how it was he who had insisted that the teaching staff and the Governors have a meeting at the time of the Hogsmeade trip, most people could guess the truth, and the veritaserum confirmed it.
Fudge had insisted that the school reopen, not only to the students, but also the survivors of the Battle of Hogsmeade. Minerva was more than happy to welcome both groups.
Some students had not returned, but the majority of parents still preferred to know that their children were safe inside the nigh-on impenetrable walls of Hogwarts. Trips beyond those walls, however, were banned.
Checking one more time that her wand and her spare were on her person, Minerva turned to the rest of the teachers and said "Right, let's go."
They had barely gotten out of the staff room door when a huffing and puffing Hagrid came running towards them.
"Pr'fesser McGonagall, 'Ogwarts is gonna be attacked."
"How did you find that out?" asked Minerva.
"I was in th' forest an' I 'eard some voices. It were a Death Eater, name of Doyle, an' 'e was talkin' ter one o' th' Acromantulas. I managed to catch 'im, an' 'e told me, af'er it roughed 'im up a bit. 'E said tha' Voldermort wan'ed our attention elsewhere, summat about dividin' our forces. So 'e sent this Doyle ter convince sum of th' creatures aroun' 'ere to attack us. Doyle's succeeded, an' th' Acromantulas an' a horde o' Moun'ain Trolls are on their way."
Minerva frowned. This was not good.
"Where is the Death Eater?" she asked.
Hagrid suddenly looked rather bashful "Er, ter tell yeh th' truth, I sorta lost me temper with 'im and migh've broke 'is neck."
Minerva sighed and said "Well, that's once less sycophant at Voldemort's side at least. Filius, would you be so kind as to send word to Harry Potter? We cannot leave the school unattended at this time."
Flitwick nodded and hurried off.
"Tell him not to worry about us, and not to send any forces our way." Minerva called after the charms master "That's exactly what Voldemort is hoping for."
She turned to the others "We'd better secure the castle."
She raised her wand "Piertotum Locomotor."
Amelia stared around the room that had been her office for the past several decades. She couldn't shake the feeling that this would be the last time that she did so.
For a while now she had been wanting to retire. She wanted to step down and let someone else deal with all the paperwork and petty bureaucracy instead.
She like her friend Alastor Moody had been fighting Voldemort for far too long now. Realistically she was certain that she had no real place on the battlefield anymore, but every wand was needed.
She idly wondered how many would die in the upcoming battle before it was all over. Would she be amongst them?
One thing she knew for certain; either way, this was her last battle.
There was a knock on her door, which stood partially ajar.
"Boss?"
She turned and saw her favourite Auror standing there. Nymphadora Tonks was, like Amelia, proof that women could fight just as well as the men.
"It's time." said Tonks.
Amelia nodded. She took on last glance around the room, and then headed out.
In the larger room beyond her office door she met with Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, John Dawlish, Jacob Proudfoot and Jerald Williamson.
They were her best, and longest serving Aurors and it was they who would be leading their comrades into battle.
"Right," she said, with a somewhat heavy heart "let's go."
"I will not stay behind!" raged Daphne.
"Nor will I." added Hannah.
"Listen to me, all of you." said Harry calmly. Mostly he was talking to Daphne and Hannah, but he made sure that Tracey, Astoria, Lisa, Katie, Leanne, Demelza and Vicky knew that he was addressing them also.
"Once this battle starts, we are going to have a constant stream of injured fighters coming back here to seek treatment, and someone has got to be here to provide that treatment.
His statement was met with furious glares, but no one said anything. They could not argue with it, even if they didn't like it; someone had to be here to administer aid, and they were the ones best suited to do it. All of them had, after all, served as their respective groups' de-facto healers for some years.
"I'm not asking you to be approving of this," continued Harry "just look at it from a logical perspective."
"Fine." snapped Daphne "Just don't leave us worrying for too long."
"I'll end it as quick as I can." replied Harry before turning away.
Hermione, Luna, Padma, Su and Sally-Anne gave Daphne looks of sympathy before turning to hurry off after him.
Hannah reached out and grabbed Susan's arm.
"Please, bring Neville home when all this is done." she asked.
Susan smiled and her oldest and best friend and gave a nod of her head.
The Aurors arrived first, bringing with them a dozen of their own healers. They joined Daphne, Hannah and the others.
Then an owl from Hogwarts arrived, alerting them to the situation faced by the school. Harry wanted to send help to them, but Lily talked him out of it.
"Hogwarts can survive this. We need to concentrate on our own target. The longer we wait, the stronger Voldemort's ranks become."
Over the next quarter of an hour, the last few members of the order trickled in. Once the last of them was accounted for, Harry looked around at them all.
"We will be leaving in the next few minutes. Until then, the House Elves will be handing each of you a brooch. This is a portkey. If you get too injured to fight, get a hold of it, say "Resistance" and you will be brought back here."
Everyone nodded.
As the House Elves, including Dobby and Winky moved about and handed out brooches, a few more people moved to join the healers that would be staying behind; Molly and Ginny Weasley, Narcissa, Harry's sisters, Charlotte and Isabella, and half a dozen others.
Once everyone was ready, Harry disapparated to the pre-arranged co-ordinates.
Everyone else who was to fight followed.
To Be Continued…
A problem that I usually have in writing is that I don't seem to delve into people's thoughts too much unless it is Harry, Hermione or Luna. I think I did a fairly good job of amending that here.
Sorry for the evil cliffy. The good news is that I have written out a plan of what I want to happen in the final battle, the problem now is putting those notes into a coherent chapter. Somehow I don't think you lot would appreciate having the final battle presented to you in the bullet-point form that it is currently in, so you might have to wait a bit.
For those of you wondering, I never intended for James to be evil. It was Hannah's father who was the evil, abusive one. James genuinely knew nothing about the marriage contract that forced Lily to be with him. I think of James to be how Gandalf describes Pippin in The Return of the King "A fool, but an honest fool."
And hey, Harry's sisters, Charlotte and Isabella finally appear in person. Is it a bad thing that I had to go back and search the story for a hint as to what their names were? This story is so different from what I had originally intended, that the chance to bring them in more has never really presented itself. I don't know how much of them we'll see in the future, either.