And finally the next chapter is done. Happy reading.
Reunion
Sirius looked around the meeting place. He had prepared everything to trap possible eavesdroppers. He was looking forward to seeing his best friend again, even if he was prepared for some ranting about faking his death and hurting Remus in the progress. But in the end, what counted was that Harry was safe and happy. And he had had that in Japan. Sirius treasured that more than anything. He had managed to give his godson a break from the insanity that two old men had turned his life into and had made sure that he was actually well-prepared for the inevitable confrontation with Riddle.
Shinichi and Harry were close by, ready to attack, should anybody have found out about the place, even if it shouldn't be probable. He would rather err on the safe side. Both young men were undetectable to anybody not knowing the Black detection charms. Blacks didn't let others find them if they wanted to stay hidden. There had been a number of high-ranking assassins among the family, next to the regular dark witches and wizards. And while he didn't follow the beliefs of pureblood supremacy and revelling in the dark arts, he knew that certain things that fell into the grey area had their place in certain situations. Magic wasn't light or dark, good or evil, in itself. It was always what the wizard or witch did with them.
The dark arts were a group of spells that didn't have any other intention but causing harm, which was why he despised them. Learning about them to know how to defend yourself against them, perfectly alright, but using something like a curse that turned your blood into acid to kill you painfully from within? No, never would he accept something like that. He had a look at his wrist watch. Remus should be here in two more minutes.
The place he had chosen was perfect for a secret meeting, as there were so many muggles around that nobody would think anything strange about some meeting there. Lily had, to show the Marauders, except for Peter, how great things made by muggles were, taken them all to an arcade. She knew the boys too well to not predict that they would be taken with the games that could be played there. And while things hadn't been as advanced as games were today, you could have a lot of fun with things.
Today being a Thursday, and the time being three in the afternoon, there were a lot of people going around. Shinichi and Harry had mixed with the muggle teens to appear like normal guests at the establishment. The charms they had used only prevented that they were noticed as who they were, which was much more useful than being invisible in a situation like this one. After all, even an invisibility cloak didn't make you intangible and it would lead to unpleasant questions if somebody bumped into them. Finally it was time and Sirius saw Remus and Kingsley approach him, Remus having a big smile on his face, while Kingsley's showed reserved joy.
Sirius had his wand palmed to not be seen, but ready to be used at a moment's notice. When Remus and Kingsley were close enough, he quickly cast a muffliato spell to not have anybody overhear them.
"Remus, Kingsley," Sirius greeted them.
"Sirius, it's really good to see you again," Remus replied.
"Yes, if it really is you. How did you convince me that you were innocent of the crimes you were accused of?" Kingsley asked and Sirius could see him holding his wand the same way he himself held his.
"I told you that my oath as Harry's godfather prevented me from ever harming him intentionally, beyond disciplining him for doing something wrong of course, and then had Moony confirm that the rat had admitted his guilt in the murders," Sirius answered calmly.
"When did the two of you first see the Order of the Phoenix's former headquarters?" Sirius asked in return.
"I came there first a week after the end of the third task of the Triwizard Tournament and we discussed what needed to be done to not have the situation end as badly as last time around," Remus answered easily.
"And I was there the day before Dumbledore set the first meeting, wanting to interrogate you for the crimes you were accused of," Kingsley answered.
Sirius nodded and then gave his best friend a huge smile.
"I'm really happy to see you again. I have to apologize for the way I left, but Harry and I had found out that Dumbledore already planned to have me killed one way or the other, simply because I had to much influence over Harry for his liking. It was better to fake my death than letting him succeed," Sirius explained.
"I logically understand that, but it still hurt horribly. Add to that the disappearing act Harry pulled off, and I was in a really bad place. You can thank your cousin for dragging me out of my depression," Remus told him.
"Oh, I will. And I had a little birdie tell me that congratulations were in order?" Sirius nodded grinning.
"Yes, I still can't believe it. I mean, I never thought that I could find a woman that would want to marry me, not to mention have my child," Remus shook his head smiling.
"And let me tell you, Alastor had to do his usual rookie auror performance to get through his thick head to realise that it was okay to be happy and that his child wouldn't be like him," Kingsley commented, making Remus and Sirius wince both.
One remembered too well the recent beating he took under the hands of the old master auror and the other had had the pleasure years ago, when Moody beat him into thinking things through and not acting like a spoiled brat without a care in the world, when there was a war raging on the outside.
"So, you're back at former headquarters?" Remus asked.
"Yes. I put up my own fidelius charm. But let's move over to the tables in the restaurant area, as we can talk there more unsuspiciously," Sirius told them and got nods.
He chose a table with six seats, making the other two wonder why he didn't use one with lesser seats, as there were some free ones. But soon enough they found out, as two teenagers stopped their game at a racer game and walked over as well. They took two of the open seats and grinned at the older men.
"And, any suspicious people following us?" Sirius asked.
"None at all and the ward we set up beforehand only tripped when these two entered the building. No other magicals in here or five hundred metres around. It should be safe for now," One of the teenagers answered.
"Good. Remus, Kingsley, let me introduce you to the two that a certain prophecy tied to ending Riddle. You already know Harry and the second one is his best friend, Shinichi," Sirius told them.
"Shinichi, these are Remus Lupin, my best friend, and Kingsley Shacklebolt, one of the best aurors at the Ministry. Well, now that would probably be former auror, as the Ministry was taken over," Sirius amended.
"That's you, Harry?" Remus asked surprised.
"Yes, nice to see you again, Remus," Harry replied, "Shinichi and I currently use a disguise to make people ignore our real looks and a spell to not look at us too much at all. Just notice that we're there if they come too close, but just in the way that they don't run into us."
"A good strategy. That way you can easily blend into masses," Kingsley nodded approvingly.
"And you are ready to face the opposition?" Remus asked.
"Yes, we had enough time to train hard to get us to a level where we can give the Death Eaters and their boss serious headaches. Especially as we don't fight in ways they are used to," Shinichi answered.
"I made sure to teach them everything I know and then left them to expand it, with a bit of help from a number of Unspeakables. They want Riddle gone as much as we do," Sirius continued.
"We can assist you with the means that Liberty and Freedom have built up. The soft targets that the Death Eaters have hit during the last war are out of the country, as far as we could convince them. I guess about ninety per cent of the muggleborns and those with creature heritage are already safely in other countries. A few decided to stay, but once the intentions of the 'new government' will become clear, they will hopefully realise that our warnings were justified and flee as well. Right now it is most important to protect the innocent. Next to taking down the aggressors permanently," Kingsley explained.
"Very true," Sirius nodded, remembering the slaughter of innocents during the last war against Riddle and his bootlickers.
"Any important information we need to know?" Harry asked.
"Hogwarts was taken over by order of the Ministry. And McGonagall didn't manage to protest, as she couldn't refuse the students to go there from the first of September on. Their revolt was short-lived by nature. With the students a number of Death Eaters entered the castle and quickly beat the other teachers into submission. They and the left-over traitors aren't fighters, they all relied on Dumbledore to win them the war," Remus answered.
"As if the MOB was trustworthy," Harry grumbled, "Who could say if he wouldn't sacrifice them for his goals like he planned to do with me and Shinichi?"
"Why do you think we had a mass resignation movement from the Order when we found out?" Remus asked, "Only the diehard Dumbledore fans and the dregs that wanted his protection stayed. Next to those that were involved in his schemes of course."
"Which Death Eaters are stationed at Hogwarts?" Shinichi asked.
"They have exchanged a lot of teachers. Snape is headmaster with Amycus Carrow as his deputy. He is the new Muggle Studies teacher, which is now a mandatory class from first year on," Kingsley answered, "Of course the curriculum consists of how muggles are nothing more than dirty animals that need to be put down for the good of the wizarding world. Amycus sister Alecto Carrow teaches Dark Arts, they have ceased to teach Defence against it as far as we know. Then Potions is taught by Rastaban Lestrange, who also took over being head of Slytherin from Snape. Last in the group is Narcissa Malfoy, who replaced Binns in History of Magic, and the class now also includes 'valued traditions of the wizarding world', meaning the ones that the purebloods like and any normal-thinking person detests."
"That's really bad. But we can easily sneak into the school. I know the secret passages better than most and we can get a small strike team inside to take back the school. We can't allow that the children get brainwashed by them for a long time," Sirius stated.
"Already planned. Neville and his comrades that still go to school are busy countering the Death Eaters at every corner while protecting the students that aren't sympathetic to the Death Eaters opinions. Once we are ready, we can strike quickly. Fred and George are working on some nice, nasty gadgets to take out the Death Eaters quickly. We only need to smuggle those inside once they are ready. As attendance at Hogwarts is mandatory now, we are somewhat limited in how we act. Otherwise there would be a record low number of students there right now," Remus explained.
"Good to know. We also need to find a place where we can draw Riddle to, once we are ready for the final battle. But I would prefer to eliminate as much of his support beforehand as possible. And like Kingsley said, the permanent way," Sirius nodded.
"Don't worry, none of us thinks that a war can be won with stunners. While we try to not kill our opponents if we have a different option, if it comes down to them or us, we don't pull our punches," Remus declared.
"Have you ever thought about something like a gaseous form of the draught of living death to take out large numbers of the enemy?" Shinichi asked.
"What?" Remus asked surprised.
"It would take out large numbers with little risk to our side. We would only need to equip all our fighters with gas masks and they would be safe from the effects. Use something like a modified grenade that explodes and sets the potion gas free and you can cut the fights short without having to kill them. The one thing you would need would be a bunker or something like that to keep them imprisoned. They would be permanently out of the war, but you wouldn't have to have the guilt of killing large numbers of people on your conscience," Shinichi explained.
"That could work," Harry nodded, "While the draught of living death is tricky to brew, I'm sure that I can twist it just enough to let it work as a gas as well. I have to experiment a little."
"Well, if you can manage to get that to work, it would be a huge help in the war. The numbers are against us, no matter how many we managed to take out before they took over the Ministry. And as an auror I certainly prefer being able to bring the criminals to justice than having to kill them. Especially those that were forced to join to protect their families. Which is about seventy per cent of the actual Death Eaters. While many share the belief that purebloods are superior to other wizards and witches, the methods that are being used aren't what they like to see," Kingsley reported.
"And still their cowardice condemns a whole country," Harry stated, "If all those that joined out of fear would just have joined forces, they could have stopped things way earlier. But they are too caught up in the idiocy that they were fed at Hogwarts and later in the outer wizarding world. If they had just decided to not support a monster, there would only be a handful of true fanatics that needed to be taken down. Well, they will realise the consequences of their actions. No false mercy once Riddle is dealt with. Let them face prison for the time they deserve. And with enough veritaserum you can rat out the ones that really only joined out of fear or were put under the imperius curse."
Shinichi nodded along. He was a firm believer that you couldn't let criminals go, but to not kill them if you could avoid it. While he had been hardened by the training Sirius had put him and Harry through, he wouldn't kill if he had any other choice. And thanks to said training, he had a lot of other options than using spells aimed to kill. Battle magics could be used to incapacitate if you were good enough and he had to say, after the kind of training he had gone through, he was very good. And his best friend shared his opinion. There normally was always a way to reach the goal without killing your opponents.
Even if Harry sometimes went with the Batman mentality of 'I won't kill you myself, but I also don't have to save your life if you get yourself into a situation where you will die if I don't save you.' It was sometimes hard for Shinichi to accept that, but honestly, the criminals he had so far dealt with didn't wage war on a whole people. And sadly, in war people died and the one thing you could do was making sure that it wasn't your people.
When Harry, Sirius and Shinichi returned to Grimmauld Place, they found that Shiho had turned one room into a laboratory for herself. Akemi was busy in the kitchen, cooking lunch.
"Hey, how did the meeting go?" Shiho asked them.
"It went well. We have established a time table for some raids against Death Eaters. Though Harry first wants to modify the draught of living death to work in gaseous form to knock opponents out," Shinichi answered.
"Really? Sounds challenging," Shiho commented.
"I have some ideas how to manage that. I would like to cross-reference some things against your chemistry knowledge, Shiho. I think some of the methods would work well with my ideas," Harry addressed her.
"Sure, I don't have any specific project I'm working on currently," She agreed.
"After lunch then?" Harry asked and got a nod.
"It certainly smells wonderful," Sirius commented.
"Akemi is making meat cut into strips with cream sauce on rice. She found the recipe in a cookbook she saw at the supermarket for popular dishes and wanted to try some out while we're here," Shiho informed them.
"That's great. I certainly don't mind trying the dishes," Harry commented and the other two men nodded along.
"Hey, everybody, five minutes until lunch is done!" Akemi shouted from the kitchen.
"Then we should wash our hands and get down to the kitchen," Sirius decided.
They all nodded and went to the bathroom to get it done. Soon they entered the kitchen, where Akemi was putting the food into bowls.
"How was the meeting?" Akemi asked.
"It went well. We weren't followed and could talk with Remus and Kingsley about the things we want to get done first. Harry and Shiho will work on modifying a potion to work in gaseous form and Shinichi and I will work on some tactics to take out as many opponents as possible without having to actually kill them if it can be avoided. Even if in certain situations I won't hesitate to do that if it is the only way to save myself or my comrades. Especially if it is Harry who's in danger," Sirius stated.
Harry rolled his eyes, but also smiled. He knew how protective Sirius was of him. It felt nice to have somebody like a parent looking out for you.
They all filled their plates and praised Akemi's cooking while they ate. It was really tasty. Akemi was happy and asked them if they had anything they would like to eat in the future, as she had fun trying out new recipes. As she couldn't help with the war, she wanted to be of help in at least some way, and this was something she could do to free them for other, more important things. She was their medical backup and caretaker, as she considered her role. And she was more than happy about that.
"One thing I wanted to talk about, do you think we should inform some of the non-magical government what is really going on? I mean, their people are the ones that are always attacked when the Death Eaters get bored, if I understood you right," Akemi asked.
"Freedom and Liberty have already done that and told the Prime Minister what was really going on and that the Ministry was taken over by the enemy. They are on guard for anybody showing suspicious behaviour and the Minister has a two-way mirror to contact Kingsley, who was his guard while he was still on active duty," Sirius answered.
"That's good. I hate thinking that normal people that don't even know about magic being real being dragged into this. I mean, I know first-hand how frustrating it can be to be to know about magic and not being able to use it, but seeing things and not being able to explain what is going on is much scarier," Akemi mentioned.
The other four nodded.
"How much food did you buy so far?" Sirius asked.
"About a month's worth of things that can be stored for a long time, a week's worth of fresh things and some general things that were needed to keep the house clean. I refuse to live in a filthy place. No matter what magic can do, it holds far longer if you give the rooms a thorough cleaning with things like proper cleaning agents," Akemi answered.
"You're right, sister. We can take care of that one room after the other, while the guys are out preparing things for the first major strike," Shiho agreed.
The three males looked at each other and then shrugged. If they wanted to do that, they certainly didn't mind.
Akemi and Shiho planned which rooms to take on first, after Harry and Shiho had discussed what might work in modifying the potion. And perhaps there were more things Shiho could think of that would be helpful. More opinions, especially a very pragmatic one like Shiho's, were certainly welcome.
Neville looked at the message he had just got from Remus via charmed parchment. Things were about to get interesting. Harry and Shinichi were in England and were ready to take the fight to the Death Eaters. It would soon be time to take over Hogwarts again. Neville was to get his team ready to take out the five Death Eaters on staff. Next to blindsiding the foolish Dumbledore supporters. There were still too many left. He suspected that McGonagall was only kept on staff, as other Death Eaters were needed for other operations. And none of the other teachers, except for Hagrid, who had fled when the Death Eaters took over, knowing that they would kill him if he stayed, were part of the Order of the Phoenix to begin with.
He quietly used his fake galleon that was the centrepiece of the communication system of Liberty. He called all the members to a secret meeting point. While the Room of Requirement was compromised, there were ways around it. After all, the Death Eaters didn't think it necessary to place a 24/7 guard around. Which meant, if you were very specific in your request, you could prevent that they got inside. And the room could create exists in other places, even directly towards the common rooms. It was a great resource for them.
And Hogwarts clearly was on their side. Luna had confirmed it as well. Secret passages were locked to Death Eaters when they were in pursuit of students, stairs changed directions at inconvenient times for them, the best one had been when Alecto Carrow had been trapped in a room without windows for two days before the others had managed to find her and get her out. It was to be mentioned that she had been demonstrating the cruciatus curse on a third-year Gryffindor halfblood wizard the day before.
Well, once the fighters for their freedom outside of the school were ready to strike, the ones on the inside would even their way. It was time to show the dark side that they weren't going to let them get their way without a fight. He wouldn't let things become as bad as they had been the last time around. The ones in charge back then had messed up spectacularly, it was time that the ones that didn't want to take things lying down had their say. Liberty and Freedom would do their part in assisting Harry and Shinichi to bring down the head of the snake. And then the whole body would be destroyed to never be able to recover again. It would end this time for good. He didn't want his children to suffer from the results of a war that wasn't of their making.
A bit of a filler, but the next one will have more action in it again. Until then.
