Here's the next chapter! Please read&review. I made the rating m from now on, this chapter has more mature content and more is to come. Enjoy!
Hermione lay the hair down triumphantly on the table. It sat in the centre as the others received a round of applause from the order members that had gathered for the current meeting, which had become more and more frequent over the last month.
"Thank you, thank you!" said Ron, playing up to the applause making many people laugh. He had a grin smacked across his face. When telling the tale of what had happened, it had gone from Bellatrix trying to kill him, to her and ten other death eaters attacking him as he escaped through the hedge after single handily defeating them all. Tonks and Hermione quickly put an end to this version.
After the laughter and talk died down, Remus stood up.
"Now, we all know what must be done. Someone, along with a few others must infiltrate Gringotts and gain access to the Lestrange's vault!" Remus paused, his eyes swung over the surrounding people "One person will have the appearance of Bellatrix; this- we are hoping- will provide the others with enough protection if they give the impression of travelling and hopeful Death Eaters, wishing to join you-know-who."
The silence that filled the room as people glanced from one to another, deciding who would be doing this deadly, near impossible task, made everyone sit on edge. Even there breathing seemed to slow. Until, finally, Seamus rose from his seat and coughed slightly;
"I'll do it…" a murmur fluttered around the room as his volunteering caused a stir of movement. Dean was the next to rise, wanting to follow his friend in this task.
"Me too," he said, clapping Seamus on the shoulder supportively. They shared a smile of support.
The next person to rise was the most surprising, and perhaps the most worrying. It was Victoire.
"I will go." Said Victoire in her weak French accent, her family lived in France now, but they had returned for this meeting and she had insisted on being involved and as she was now technically an adult they felt they could not deny her the request.
"No," Fleur said automatically rising from his chair "no. You are not going."
"What was the point in me coming then?" she snapped at him, flicking her long hair other her shoulder and glaring at her mother. Both were just as stubborn as each other. "I am an adult now, and it is my choice. And I choose to go!"
"You're too young; I will not let you put yourself at that big a risk!" Fleur said in a strong French accent, she turned to Bill "tell her, Bill!" she told him. Bill rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Neither of you can stop me!" she told them, her voice rising.
"We can stop you, we are your parents!" Fleur declared, facing her daughter with a glare. "Ze only reason we let you come here in ze first place was because you were being so stubborn!"
"Then we have that in common!" Victoire shot back at her mother, whose glare only hardened.
"Bill!" Fleur said, looking to him for support.
"I don't see how we can stop her…but if she is going, then I guess I will come as well." Bill confirmed, Victoire considered this for a moment and then nodded and sat down accepting this condition. Fleur looked at her husband in outrage, and then continued to shake her head in despair as she sat down. It reminded Harry a lot of Mrs Weasley.
"I'll go too!" Teddy said immediately volunteering, he had become a lot closer to Victoire over the months they had spent time getting to know each other, and she flashed him a dazzling smile as he said this. Remus and Tonks seemed a lot more relaxed compared to Fleur, and after a short discussion which consisted of 'if you're careful'…'follow orders'…'don't try and be a hero, don't do anything stupid' and finally 'be safe'. They agreed he could go, trusting Bill, Seamus and Dean to protect their son. With that out of the way they continued with the meeting.
Meanwhile, Lorcan, Lysander, Lily, Stella, James, Albus, Rose, Hugo and Adele all stood quietly on the first floor; an ear was dangling over the banister and hanging in front of the door. It twitched slightly as it tried to hear what was being said inside the room.
"I can't hear!" muttered Hugo in annoyance. The others hushed him.
"Don't be too loud, Hugo!" snapped Rosie, frowning at her little brother. Hugo began a low monotone of grumbling and complaining. The others ignored him and listened intently.
"These are great," whispered Addi to Lily, who had supplied them.
"Uncle George has loads," she said with a cheeky grin "he'll never notice the few I took!"
James was listening intently, his face serious as he heard the conversation that was taking place during the meeting. It may have been selfish of him, but he was relieved that neither his mother nor father had sent on this particular mission. He carried on listening, ignoring the others whose attention span had failed them and they had drifted into conversation, forgetting about the meeting. It was lucky he was still listening, as he knew when to pull up the extendable ears, causing everyone to jump and he whispered,
"Mum's coming!" in a hushed voice, for a second the others stayed perfectly still, and then chaos broke out. They pushed past each other, sprinting up the stairs and diving for their rooms. Stella had just made it into the room when Ginny could be heard heading up the stairs.
"Don't think I don't know what you're all up to!" she shouted up, Lily was giggling madly, having to stifle her laugh with the pillow so as to not give them away. James quickly and cleverly grabbed a pack of cards, he halved the pack, shoved some into Albus's hands and began dealing them out quickly, Albus followed suit.
"What, playing cards?" James shouted back, Ginny opened the door and raised an eyebrow. She looked at them all with a suspicious gaze. They all tried to keep an innocent appearance, trying to wriggle their way out of trouble, like always. Ginny merely made an 'hmm' sound and left the room, leaving the door open behind her. The children burst into fits of laughter; Lily was doubled over with tears in her eyes.
"How….the hell…did we… get away…with that?" she gasped out between her laughter. The others all laughed, and James grinned at Lily, he gathered the cards and began shuffling them.
"Anyone up for a game?"
"They were definitely listening in on us," Ginny said as she entered the kitchen. She sat down with a small smile on her lips "and I'd bet anything that they used the extendable ears, George." She said as she raised an eyebrow at him. George grinned guiltily; he raised his hands in innocence, which did no good at convincing Ginny he was innocent.
"It's not my fault if they could find them or if I mentioned them to Lily…" everyone laughed at him; Harry chuckled lightly and said,
"Well, I guess we should put some enchantments on the door. We don't want them trying to get involved in this." Ginny agreed with Harry, and quickly cast a few spells with Hermione so they could have guaranteed privacy. "Right, back to business," he said, standing up and flicking his wand. Two pieces of parchment appeared on the table and rolled themselves out. "So," he began "this plan," he indicated to a very detailed plan on his right "is for those who are going to Gringotts." Harry tapped it with his wand and it rolled up. He handed it to Seamus, and said "you can all go and look at it. I don't want too many details outside of the few participants." Seamus rose, and was followed by the others as they headed out the room Harry shouted "Use the library, and don't forget the charms!" he then turned to the other plan "and this, is how I am thinking of entering Hogwarts." He said simply. The others leant forward and hands began frantically turning it this way and that, the plan held a simple diagram of Hogwarts and one word 'Ravenclaw'. Ginny pushed away the reaching hands and pulled the parchment up in front of her. She breathed in slightly, and then cast a meaningful look at Harry. They moment passed. Ginny placed the 'plan' back on the table, Harry's hand shot out and snatched the plan away from the eager eyes, and he rolled it up and then tapped it once with his wand. It disappeared.
After another half an hour of meeting discussions - manly involving spying and planning the next moves after retrieving the horcruxes, for example, retrieving the sword of Gryffindor – everyone was leaving in two's or threes. Ginny opened the door for Seamus and Dean, the last two to leave and with a cheery wave sent them on their way. As the door shut, however, her cheery appearance vanished. She stormed down the corridor and into the kitchen, where Harry sat alone.
"What was that?" she hissed at him in anger. Harry looked up, startled; he finished his drink and then looked up at Ginny.
"What was what?" he asked, gently running his thumb along the top of the glass repeatedly.
"That was not a plan. There was nothing there!"
Harry's face fell. He looked at Ginny carefully, then slowly pushed out the chair next to him and indicated to it. Ginny sat down.
"Ginny – don't panic – but I don't think everyone we are working with are completely trustworthy. It's known that the Order of the Phoenix is being rebuilt and you're the main suspect. I would bet my money on it being someone involved in it, and that if they caught a glimpse of my plan they would sell me out faster than a snitch." Harry paused "I can't not say anything, else I'll be accused of being the spy…so I gave them something but not enough to rat me out." He explained to Ginny, whose lips were pressed together tightly.
"I want to know the plan." She said, surprisingly calmly. Her hands were twisted together in her lap and she squeezed her thumbs tightly, trying with all her might to remain calm.
"Well…" Harry uttered, he looked at the glass in his hands "I'll sneak into the grounds with my cloak, and Snape will meet me at the edge of the forbidden forest, once I see him, I'll simply whisper in his ear for him to head back and follow him. He'll open all the doors and give me easy access to the castle. Then I need to go to the Room of Requirement. Once I'm there it's just a case of finding what I need and then sneaking out again." Harry told her in one quick breath.
Ginny sat silent, she watched Harry with her soft brown eyes that made Harry's heart melt.
"Do you have to go by yourself?" she whispered, her concern leaking through. She edged her chair closer to Harry and placed her hand on top of his gently, squeezing it in a reassuring manner.
"I don't need anyone to come with me," Harry replied to her, taking her hand and turning to face her "I'll be fine, Gin."
Ginny chewed her bottom lip in a repeated motion; she took a deep, calming breath and rubbed her eyes gently.
"Harry, I lost you once, I am not losing you again. Let me come with you, please." She asked, looking into Harry's emerald eyes with a pleading look.
"Ginny…"
"Don't' Ginny' me, Harry Potter!" she snapped, her hand pulled back from his and she rose from her seat in annoyance "Harry, I waited for you for 14 years! I am not going to wait for you again, never." She told him, her eyes were stinging with tears that she blinked away. After a moment of silence Ginny fell back into her chair and buried her hands in her face, she burst into tears.
"Ginny," Harry edged closer "Ginny, hun?" he whispered gently. The kitchen door creaked open and Albus looked at his mother and father, Harry looked at Al and gave him a small reassuring nod, he quietly left the room, a look of worry on his face. "What's wrong, Gin? You don't ever get this upset." Harry asked, gently cradling Ginny and wiping away the tears that had streaked down her face. After a few moments of Ginny sobbing herself into silence, she replied;
"What if one of them gets hurt?"
Harry let out a light sigh; he pulled Ginny closer to him, and kissed her forehead.
"We all know it's risky, Gin, being involved in this. The children know it too. But we aren't going to let them get hurt, they're all perfectly capable of looking after themselves; they excel in school. And we are here to look after them, both of us from now on."
Ginny stopped crying; she wiped away her tears and gently kissed Harry. She then rose from her chair, straightened her top and walked out the room. In the doorway she turned back and said to Harry;
"We're going together then." Harry smiled slightly, and nodded in agreement.
It was not a question. It was a demand.
James sat in the library; he was reading a book called 'Taming Dragons'. Scorpious and Albus were playing chess, Adele and Rosie were shut in there room, Lily and Stella were cooking in the kitchen – or something of that sort – and Lorcan, Hugo and Lysander were messing around with a Muggle bicycle that Arthur had found. During his boredom he had been forced to retreat to the library and attempt to find a mildly interesting book – he hadn't succeeded. James was quickly working his way through chapter five, how to calm a dragon, when Addi walked in. She had abandoned Rosie and vacated her room. James ignored her entrance, he was a still annoyed for being denied access to her room.
"Hey," Adele said, biting back a smile as she realised James was ignoring her for such a childish reason.
James said nothing; he became suddenly very interested in his book. Adele chuckled lightly and sat down on the arm of his chair. He still didn't turn to look at her; Adele gently slid her arm around his shoulders and leaned down, kissing James' cheek. She then began kissing his neck lightly, sliding her way onto his lap. James dropped his book, wrapped his arms around Addi and kissed her. She grinned
"Hi," he replied "decided to abandon your room and rejoin me?"
"Don't get your knickers in a twist!" she said, laughing "we were just planning your present."
James had completely forgotten it was now March and quickly approaching his birthday. Without school, he saw no need for knowing the dates and time keeping and since Adele's birthday had been in November, he hadn't needed to worry about her birthday, so he had completely forgotten that his seventeenth birthday was soon approaching, he would become of age!
"I guess I might be able to forgive you then!" he joked, Adele laughed.
"Maybe I can earn your complete forgiveness…" Addie whispered, suggestively.
She straddled his lap, and began kissing him. James slid his hand round her back and under her shirt. Adele deepened there kiss and pushed her tongue into his mouth, pressing herself closer to him. James' hands slid up her top and across her stomach to her breasts. He gently groped them, feeling the soft silk bra beneath his fingers. Adele felt a shiver run down her spine and she moaned gently. James grinned; he felt his jeans tighten around his crotch; he slid his hands out of her shirt, and began undoing the blue buttons on the front of her lace short sleeved shirt. Adele helped him by undoing the last few bottom buttons.
"You're quite good at this," Adele whispered to him, as he slid his hand under her bra and began groping her breasts again.
He ran his thumb across her nipple and felt it harden. Adele moved her hands from James' shoulders and slid them down his jeans. Through his boxers Adele gently massaged his balls rhythmically. James groaned and Adele gently kissed his neck in response. Suddenly, they were drawn out of the moment when the door swung open. Adele drew her hands back faster than a snitch. Turning a bright red she turned to the door, where she saw Rose with Scorpious behind her. Rose had an eyebrow raised and Scorpious was doubled over in laughter. Adele quickly did up her top and her and James both rose from the seat blushing furiously.
"What?" grumbled James, not making eye contact with Rosie or Scorpious.
"Aunt Ginny says dinner's ready…" Rosie had a smug grin on her face.
"Enjoying your book?" Scorpious asked, whilst laughing quietly to himself.
"Shut up," James replied. Rosie and Scorpious both laughed.
"I wouldn't be rude, James, I'm certain you wouldn't want my dear Aunt to know about this!" Rosie threatened, laughing even more. Scorpious caught her hand in his and grinned at James.
"If you did I'd hex you into the next millennium, Rose Weasley." Adele threatened back, "And you know I could." She added.
"And I know you would!" Rosie said, grinning "I won't say anything, but next time you should probably look the door…and some silencing charms wouldn't be a bad idea either."
"Alright," both Adele and James grumbled.
"Dinner!" Ginny shouted upstairs. The four teenagers cast one last look at each other before descending the stairs, Adele and James now both returned to their normal colours.
The day had arrived. Seamus, Dean, Teddy, Victoire and Bill were gathered around the table, on which sat a jug of polyjuice. Hermione lent forward and gently lowered the hair into the liquid. It began to foam as the hair was added. The polyjuice potion began changing colour; it thickened and became a dark blue, verging on black. Hermione poured some into a glass and handed it to Victoire who wrinkled her nose in disgust; she picked up the clear glass.
"The glass had to be clear..." she muttered to herself, looking at the drink carefully. She sighed and downed the drink.
Her face became distorted; she screwed it up in disgust. Her height increased, as she stretched upwards. Her breasts enlarged slightly, making her shirt rather tight. Her hair then proceeded to change colour and from her roots the jet black colour spread. Her nose shot inwards slightly, and her lips became thinner whilst her eyebrows changed shape and became thinner, as well as black. Once the transformation was complete, Ginny handed her the robes they had found in the old Black cupboards. Victoire accepted them and left the room to change.
"Right," Hermione said turning on the men "know it's your turn. Bill first!"
Hermione began transfiguring their appearance; Bill's hair grew inwards and changed from the fiery red to a light brown. A beard sprouted from his chin, and his eyes turned grey. Hermione then made his nose slightly shorter. She then did Seamus, whose hair became longer; it dangled by his cheeks and was bleach blonde – nearly white – his eyes became a dark blue, whilst his nose became fatter and ears larger. Dean's hair became jet black and straight, his eyes turned green and his nose grew, whilst his face fattened. They were all handed dark, black coats to wear on top of their black outfits. When Hermione turned to Teddy, she saw an older man, with greying hair of a stocky build and with dark brown eyes. He had a little fat on his stomach, adding to his stocky appearance and was a lot shorter than teddy. Hermione grinned,
"That's one less job!"
Victoire then came out; she stared hard at each one of the men. Then nodded, if you knew them well you could just about see some similar features – minus Teddy, of course. She wore a long black dress, and was wearing a black cloak.
"Right, let's go then." She said. Teddy and Bill came up on either side of her, with Seamus next to Bill and Dean next to Teddy.
"Okay, heres the rest of the polyjuice potion," Ginny said, handing her a hip flask filled with it "remember what we told you Vicci-"
"Yes, yes…Bellatrix's mad, don't be polite, hold my head high, don't be ashamed or afraid, yell and demand etc." Vicci said, before Ginny could repeat herself again. Ginny smiled.
"You've got it, you'll be fine." Ginny said "Good luck!"
They disapparated, all five disappearing. Ginny turned to Harry.
"What if Bellatrix turns up?"
"Remus is there" Harry explained "if possible, he'll stun her and give them as much time as possible and if not he'll use the coins Hermione made for DA to warn Dean or Seamus, I leant him mine."
Ginny nodded. Hermione smiled at the mention of her coins and DA.
"Right," Hermione said "I guess you two will be leaving in a minute…" she let the sentence hang in the air. Silently, her worry appeared, showing itself to Ginny and Harry.
"We'll be back here soon, Mione." Harry reassured her.
"Yeah," said Ginny "You won't even realise we were gone."
Hermione merely nodded, she wiped her eyes slightly and wrapped both Ginny and Harry into a tight hug.
"You two look after each other!" she told them, wiping her eyes again. She stepped back and watched Harry and Ginny's hands entwine, Harry threw the cloak over them, their feet showed under the cloak, but Harry thought it would be fine. They then disapparated. Disappearing, leaving Hermione alone in the room. She sighed, sat herself down and summoned the red wine bottle.
Thanks for reading, please leave a review. They're really appreciated, tell me how wto improve, what you liked, what you would like to see etc next chapter up soon!