A/N
Has nothing to do with my story, but I just read chapter 9 of the story "Accountable" from Dyce. It contains an interesting conversation between Hermione and Percy about his point of view regarding his actions in OotP, his opinion about Dumbledore and his father Arthur.
Recommended!
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It's Christmas Time
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Diagon Alley – 22nd of December
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This was the other side of Christmas time, not the pious and silent one but rushed and crowdy. Hundreds of wizards and witches were running rampant in Diagon Alley, searching, looking and staring. A number of children and teens tried to convince the passersby to part with some money, singing carols and tormenting one instrument or other. The adults were stomping through the snow, their winter boots leaving behind a mess of snow, ice and mud.
In the middle of this volcano a small but very happy group was walking, their joy and un-tenseness being like an eye in the maelstrom of activities. Some of the reason behind their serenity was the impact of the egg punch Emma Granger had offered before leaving home. With a huge grin Hermione Granger was walking in the middle, arms linked with her mother and her future mother-in-law. Augusta Longbottom was following the trio with a thoughtful and content smile on her lips and the ever watchful Auror Tonks at her side, while Luna Lovegood danced in the snow, never far away from her friend Mione, behaving like a playful terrier with too much energy to stand still for more than a few seconds. Naturally she wore her usual butterbeer cork necklace and radish earrings, only these earrings had been a birthday present from Daphne and Harry, with rune-anchored charms to protect and preserve the radishes for at least a year.
The six 'girls' had decided to spend a day together, looking for some last minute presents but mostly to simply be together, leave the Manor for a few hours and enjoy Diagon Alley at Christmas time. Neville stayed at the Manor with Remus for the day. They wanted to speak about something, the exact nature of which was unclear even to Hermione. She was happy that Neville had started to intensify his friendship with Remus, a man she absolutely adored. He had promised to tell her in detail about the progress of the Lily-Evans-Library and Hermione felt giddy every time she thought about it. Glancing towards Tonks, she thought about the reason for his presence at Longbottom Manor. She assumed that Tonks' allocation to guard the Longbottom family was the most important one. Tonks and Remus were still dancing around each other, but having his own job, earning his own money and getting praise from other people – Amelia Bones being one of the most important – had certainly helped his self-confidence, allowed him to start dating the young woman, even if they didn't call it dating for now.
Only Emma Granger knew it had been the other way round. Remus had asked her a month ago how the Grangers intended to spend these weeks, hoping to have an opportunity to speak with his favourite student. Since he met Hermione two years ago and especially after she kept his furry little secret without telling even him for months, Remus respected her greatly. He loved her nearly as much as Harry and sometimes felt even closer, with Hermione's temper and intellect being more like his own. The meeting with the werewolves, the ideas she presented and the open-hearted care she showed for his kind had only closed the deal for him. Following Emma's advice, Remus had told Tonks about his Christmas plans in advance. Her reaction to his plea to get the 'Manor guarding job' had been… enthusiastic.
"And your parents?" Augusta just asked the young woman at her side.
"They'll spend a few days with some friends in Prague. One of her classmates married a local politician and they haven't seen each other for years. And Dad always wanted to see the City of the Golem. The Jewish Quarter of Prague is also famous."
"Yes, I heard about it and naturally I read the story about the Golem and its creator Rabbi Judah Loew. It's a very… thought-provoking story about the intellect and arrogance. Like many others, this Rabbi apparently was a man who thought too much of his own abilities and decisions," Augusta responded, actually speaking more about another very intelligent, talented and haughty man than Rabbi Loew. Tonks nodded, a smile showing that she understood the hidden meaning.
Dumbledore wouldn't be allowed to create his own Golem, destroying Hogwarts with his good intentions. They would be on guard.
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"Petunia will take her first Arithmancy exam next month," Emma brought up. "She's very nervous about it."
"I'm certain she'll be fine," Hermione remarked. "She shouldn't stress herself too much."
"Pot, kettle, anyone," Alice grinned. "Neville told me about your third year exam… or first… or…"
Hermione stopped her with a playful elbow jab. "I understand, no reason to continue. Perhaps I was a bit overeager."
"Perhaps?"
"A bit?"
Hermione groaned: "is it Hermione-mocking-day again? Back to the topic: Petunia will do fine. Professor Vector is very proud of her new pupil. She's apparently no prodigy but certainly more than ready to take the third year exam. Harry told me she took her first Muggle math exam two weeks ago and did quite well."
Harry and Hermione had spent some afternoons with his aunt Petunia, partly to get to know her better, partly because she belonged to the small number of persons who saw only Harry in him, who neither adored nor despised him for being the boy-who-lived. In the beginning, Hermione had been angry with her for her former behaviour toward Harry. However, after some time, realizing that Petunia had actually changed and tried to be family to Harry, she had relaxed and now was something like friends with her. A few times she had – on Professor Vector's request – helped Petunia with a more complicated Arithmancy lesson. Many of the more magical and less mathematic parts of the subject were still too foreign to the Muggle-raised squib. But slowly she was getting the gist of it and Hermione had no doubt about the future success. It still left the question open what Petunia wanted to do with her live, especially with her son certainly leaving the motherly nest in a few years.
I should ask her sometime after Christmas.
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Interlude 1 – Longbottom Manor
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"So, how is your Animagus training doing, Harry?" Remus asked, putting his teacup down on the small table. The trio was making a little break, before continuing on the work Neville had in mind for today. "I heard Neville is already finished and quite comfortable in his fur. Well done, by the way, Neville. I watched Harry's father and Sirius learning the spell twenty years ago and have an idea how much work and dedication it demands to master it."
"Thank you. Luckily I had an equally dedicated girl at my back," Neville grinned.
"It's important to have someone like her at your side. It helps in your darkest hours." The words were spoken a little sad, but Remus did his best to overplay the moment. "So, Harry, how is it going?"
"Quite well, Remus, quite well." Harry paused for a moment, building tension, before he continued: "I was able to transform for the first time a week ago." Now he was grinning like mad, an expression mirrored by Remus and Neville.
"Really? Excellent Harry."
"I knew you could do it."
"Please stay quiet about it. I want it to be a surprise for the girls. I planned to show it in a few days, when we meet on Christmas Day."
"Don't worry," Remus responded, while Neville grinned and made a gesture like zipping his mouth. They were wonderful friends.
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"You should write those runes in a pentagram," Remus pointed towards the last addition of Harry's work. "This way they'll strengthen each other, weaving a net of energies that dampens magical attacks. And don't forget to repeat them in every corner. Corners are traditionally weak points of rooms."
Unbeknownst to his family, Neville had thought about this endeavour for months. Apart from Remus and Harry, only Brychan knew about it, because he needed a few pointers how to create an effective panic room. He got the idea from a Muggle film he saw last summer and thought it to be a wonderful idea. Neville chose a room in the basement, a former wine cellar with thick granite walls. It was his first try at doing something like this and he knew that he would have to add further details later. But he wanted to start now. Too many attacks had happened this year, one even on Pinegrew Manor, and while he knew from Harry that Roxanne had heavily increased the wards around her home, Longbottom Manor was lacking in that regard. His Grandma had already arranged some additions with the Goblins, but it couldn't hurt to have something special like this.
And truthfully: he simply loved the fact that he could do this now. He had to do it with Harry, but still it was something very special, something of his own.
They had already created a magical way to get water, store nourishment and get rid of the wastes, transformed a number of beds and simple furnishing. Neville even added a small bookshelf and let Remus copy a number of books. Magical lights were illuminating the room and – combining knowledge of Biology and Herbology – a trough of magical plants was resting at the back of the room, creating enough oxygen to survive for some time with the door closed.
Now, Harry was inscribing runes into the walls with Remus help. They were meant to strengthen the walls as well as prohibit apparition, portkeys and even house-elves. For the spring break, Neville intended to add a second room, a hundred feet below this one, with a way to reach it from here; it would be way out of the area of any possible anti-apparition ward of an attacker, a viable escape route.
"This is really awesome, Neville. I have to say: I'm impressed." Neville smiled happily at Remus words.
"He's right, you know," Harry agreed. "I could do something like this at Pinegrew Manor too, but my runes wouldn't be as strong and wouldn't last longer than a few days or weeks at most."
Remus agreed wholeheartedly. Like Harry with the protection runes, so he had to help with the air, water and transformation spells. But none of them would last very long without Neville's help. The greatest asset and wonder of the room was the rock of veined silvery-gray marble in the middle. It was like a mix of a battery and a generator, drawing energy from the ground below and storing it to use it on recharging the spells and runes around. Neville planned to spend a few hours within the next days to charge everything and the rock would ascertain that everything remained at its high level of magical energy.
It was a first try. There was still room for refinement and improvement. But it already was impressive. Sirius had loved to hear about the Daphne-Hermione cooperation and their ideas about potion-bottled charms, but this Harry-Neville teamwork promised equally formidable results.
And I saw the beginning of it.
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Pinegrew Manor – 23rd of December
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Harry
Harry's cheerful mood had turned gloomier very soon after his return to Pinegrew Manor. While he was happy to have Sirius around – while Remus wanted to spend Christmas at Longbottom Manor, Sirius would stay with the Pinegrews for the break – there had been some glare exchanges between him and Petunia. Unlike Hermione, Sirius wasn't willing to forget how Petunia and Dudley had treated Harry all those years and only his godson's pleading look kept him from commenting it even harsher. Luckily Ana had been able to distract him, flirting shamelessly with the handsome ex-convict. More than once Harry had to grin hearing their silly exchanges.
However, it was Astoria who troubled him far more. Not even Daphne had been able to lighten her mood. The double stress of knowing about her father's fate and being away from Draco was too much to bear. Contorting his face, Harry watched them again this afternoon. Roxanne had gathered the whole family for some tea and cake and tried to distract her daughters with some talk about how to spend the week after Christmas. It didn't work.
Enough is enough.
"Excuse me." Without any explanation Harry left the table and the room, ascended the stairs and went straight to Astoria's room. On his return, the rest of the family noticed with raised eyebrows the cloak he had over his arm. It was Astoria's winter cloak.
"Come with me," he determinedly dragged Astoria from her seat and into the adjacent room.
"…what…"
Astoria obeyed, simply because she lacked the energy to resist. She threw begging looks to her sister and mother. Hastily the rest of the family followed the pair, wondering what Harry had in mind.
"Mum… heel!" Harry ordered Roxanne, pointing at his side. Without acknowledging Roxanne's flabbergasted expression, Harry draped Astoria's cloak around her shoulders.
"I've enough of your moping, Tori." Stopping her response with a wave of his hand, Harry turned around and took some floo powder from the small keg on the chimney. Throwing it into the fire, Harry called: "Lady Narcissa Black at Malfoy Manor."
Realizing what he wanted to do, Astoria's pout turned into a silly grin. Jumping forward she hugged her adoptive brother like mad.
"Are you certain?" Roxanne asked.
Harry shrugged. "Narcissa only said that Draco had to stay at her side for Christmas. With her changes to the floo and ward security, you should be secure at the Manor. And Tori really has to spend some time with Draco, even if the idea of them together makes me gag." He grinned, despite the strong punch on the shoulder he got from Astoria. "I thought you could accompany her. Certainly Narcissa would like your company."
"You only want to have some quality time with Daphne without her mother watching," Sirius remarked with a wicked grin.
"Don't reveal every secret," Harry mock groaned. "You're meant to be a Marauder, remember?"
As the connection opened, Harry didn't have to push Astoria. She nearly jumped into the fire.
"Way to go, Tori."
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Narcissa
"Have we done the right thing?" Narcissa asked her friend, her voice unusually serious and sad. Lady Black had a knack of showing everyone a mask of emotionless ice, but deep in her heart she hated to cause pain, especially to someone she loved and cared for like the young couple they were watching.
At Astoria's arrival, Draco completely forgot his well-trained behaviour and snogged her senseless. With goofy grins the young couple had left the house and had been walking around in the snow for an hour now, their path illuminated by a couple of hovering blue flames created by Roxanne.
"Yes, we did," Roxanne answered determinedly. "Look at them: they're happy now. They can be together because they want to, not because their parents forced them together or apart, dependent on their current state of mind and political alliances. They can choose the career they want. Did you know that Astoria thought about becoming a magical elementary teacher?"
Narcissa shook her head, slightly shocked.
"It's not the career I expected her to have, but at least she can have a try at it. Draco – he has many talents, but none of them like his father."
Narcissa agreed whole-heartedly. Political savvy and commercial intellect weren't Draco's fortes. Far more she expected him to choose a career as a pro Quidditch athlete, Auror or perhaps even as an advocate. Merlin, even something artistic was possible with his wide range of talent in drawing and creating. Last summer they had a serious discussion about what it needed to become a mage architect. None of those plans would have stood a chance against Lucius Malfoy and the way he saw the world.
"And I know it sounds egoistic, but what about us? Sooner or later Lucius would have forced you to stop teaching. He only allowed it in the beginning because he hoped to increase his influence at Hogwarts. Now you can continue, if you like. Or you could pick up potions again as you intended a year ago." Roxanne thought shortly about herself. Cyrus hadn't had the same influence on her life Lucius had on Narcissa's, but nonetheless it made it easier for her. She wasn't certain if she wanted to continue as a teacher or – as she had intended a year ago – take her healer training up again. However, she didn't have to decide it now, because she planned to hold her Charms teacher position at least as long as her daughters were at Hogwarts – another four and a half years in Astoria's case.
Narcissa had stayed silent most of the time today and slowly it dawned to Roxanne that something very serious was on her friend's mind. "What is troubling you, Cissa?"
Narcissa left the window and sat down, poured herself a cup of tea, added a slug of whiskey and stalled her response for a few minutes, working up her courage, still completely uncertain what to do.
"Bella was there… at the trial," she whispered at last.
Roxanne, completely shocked, stiffened, but stayed silent and listened with a very pale face.
"She told me Voldemort believes the story. He actually thinks Cyrus to be the culprit of Lucius' murder."
"That's… that's good, isn't it?"
"It is," Narcissa agreed.
"But there is more?"
"There is," Narcissa nodded slowly. "He's angry, angry because he lost the Malfoy money – money, houses and businesses, all those things he relied on."
"You expected that."
"I did. What I didn't expect was his reaction." Narcissa stopped, drinking some tea, hesitating to continue.
Roxanne suddenly had an epiphany. "He ordered Bella to kill you."
Narcissa only nodded, not trusting her voice.
"And she warned you." Another nod.
"She still loves you," Roxanne whispered, feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment.
"She does," Narcissa agreed. "She hates what Andy and I are doing, considers us traitors. But we are still family. She'll never stop to love us."
"And you? What do you think?"
Narcissa sighed deeply. "I love her too. I condemn what she did. I despise how she thinks about Muggles and Muggleborn. I hate that she took the Dark Mark. But I still love her and I'll grieve at her funeral."
Roxanne didn't respond immediately. This was very much a Black family thing, to have love and hate so close together. However, something similar could have happened to her daughters too. One year ago, she had listened to the story of Daphne's boggart. Her inner-most fear had been to see her little sister turned into a Death Eater, to be forced to fight her. No, Astoria had never been like Bella, but back then she had been far too close to Lucius and Cyrus. She had grown up immensely since then, like Draco did. How much of it had been her work? What could have become of Bella with another mother, a caring mother?
"Have you already decided what to do?"
"No," Narcissa whispered. "I really don't know. I can't leave without Draco, it would be too dangerous for him. And before you ask: I can't leave him with you. It would be too dangerous for your family too. But watching him together with Tori – I don't know if I have the heart to take this away from him."
"But if you stay, she'll obey him in the end. She'll kill you. Or should you win against all odds, it will break your heart."
"I know," Narcissa whispered, nothing in her voice reminding Roxanne of her friend's usual persona. "But I don't know what to do."
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Azkaban – mid-morning of December the 24th
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How could his life turn from heaven to hell in such a short time? Cyrus Greengrass wondered.
Three months ago his life had been well. Lucius had been his friend, their children waiting for turning old enough to marry and everybody treated him with respect.
Three weeks ago, there had been clouds on the sky. His relation to Lucius had been strained but still reparable. His dear wife, while holding her distance, had been polite at least. He had been working on plans to get back into her good graces and made list of possible presents to placate her. Back then he had expected to spend Christmas with his family, perhaps even one day as a Malfoy/Greengrass double family day.
Three days ago, while not a free man, he had still hoped to have a future, hoped that somehow everything would turn better again. He had a somewhat comfortable cell at the Ministry, healthy meals, clean clothes and books to read. He was allowed to have visitors – not that there had been many – and was treated with respect by the guards.
Three hours ago, he woke up in this hell. The few guards he had seen since his arrival had despised him – even the ones he suspected to secretly work for his lord. Admittedly: working for his lord meant working for Lucius, as he had been the one to draw the strings and to grease the hands. More than one of them certainly hated him for killing their employer.
No, he hadn't done it, but the evidence had been so strong that slowly he nearly believed it himself. He had been trapped in this, trapped in some Death Eater power struggle, he assumed. Perhaps it had been Dolohov who imperiused him, forced him to buy the poison, rent the room and kill Lucius in the end. Dolohov had always been jealous of Lucius' position, always struggled to increase his own influence on the Dark Lord. Those few friends he still had told him that Dolohov apparently got his wish. He was the new string-puller on the dark side, the new puppet master.
Today is Christmas Eve, Cyrus sobbed. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be alone in this hell.
There was no hope. His few friends hadn't the influence or money to help him. His former Death Eater allies wouldn't repeat a break in, wouldn't free him like they had done with Bellatrix. And even his family had abandoned him. In the beginning, he had wondered why Roxanne didn't help him. She had refused to visit him, had refused to pay his attorney and barely done more than send him a few clothes and books. Daphne had been completely silent, like he didn't exist anymore.
Only Astoria had been a good child, writing him every day, expressing her hopes that he was well. Even she hadn't believed his assertions of innocence anymore, but at least she still had loved him. He could see it in her eyes, there in the visitors' room, the last time they met. At least she had Draco in her corner. He had been surprised but happy that nothing had changed between the teenagers, that Draco wanted to stay at her side and Narcissa allowed it.
Only after Astoria had left the room, Daphne's arm around her to sustain her little sister, did Roxanne tell him why she had been like this.
"I know what you've done, Cyrus. They told me. They found letters, notes, evidence that you and Lucius helped in that attack last summer. How could you? Daphne was nearly killed that day. Astoria was only safe because Draco confined her to her room. Our guests had to fight for their lives. How could you allow this to happen? How could you even help them, stay silent and behave like…
"And I know about the marriage contract, about the higher sum and how you wanted to get the money to pay Malfoy. You planned to kill your own daughter, Cyrus. You planned to sacrifice her to better your own station in this worthless society of racists and sycophants.
"You're a piece of shit, Cyrus. I can't believe that I ever trusted you, ever called you friend. How could all of this happen, Cyrus? How could you change so much? Have I ever known you?
"I hope I'll see you never again. Rot in hell."
So she had known. It had been the last straw, the last punch into his face. At least she didn't tell Astoria. He couldn't live with his darling daughter hating him.
At least he had little Tori.
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"Let's go!"
With teary eyes, his mind struggling to break free from the troubling memories, Cyrus looked up and saw Myers standing in the open door, an irritated expression on his face. Myers was one of the prison guards and had been on Lucius' payroll for years. He had been angry at Cyrus arrival and he had to offer Myers money to calm him down. Cyrus knew that he had to get some money and fast, not large sums but enough to make the guards happy, else this hell would become even worse very fast.
"You have a visitor?"
"A visitor?" Cyrus stared dumbfounded. "For me?"
"No," Myers rolled his eyes "for the dead Italian tourist three doors down."
Cyrus blushed a bit. "W…who?"
"No idea," Myers shrugged. "I only got the order to fetch you. If you aren't interested," he started to close the door.
"No, wait," Cyrus jumped up and rushed to the door, unaware of Myers' rancorous smile. Today he would be happy about every visitor and be it a bailiff.
Cyrus followed his guard eagerly through the depressing corridors of Azkaban. More than once he jumped, hearing someone moaning, screaming or crying. Two days hadn't been enough to temper him against the horrors of this place, not nearly.
Regretfully, Cyrus didn't know how much Voldemort hated him for causing him to lose access to the Malfoy assets.
Regretfully, Cyrus didn't have the insight to realize that his arrangement with Myers was nearing its end very soon.
Regretfully, Cyrus hadn't been long enough at Azkaban to notice that he wasn't led towards the visitor room but a small courtyard at the edge of the prison.
Else he wouldn't have been eager like this to follow Myers.
Else he wouldn't have been lost in thoughts about the identity of his visitor, hoping to see little Tori again.
Else he wouldn't have stepped through the door.
A small push, a click that announced someone closing and locking the door behind him. Confused Cyrus looked around. There was no sun above, only a dark cloudy sky. It was cold. Damp air permeated his thin clothes. He tried to open the door but it was futile. A wave of coldness gripped him, pure ice let him shiver. Cyrus turned around. His face turned deathly pale and he nearly fainted.
Yes, Cyrus Greengrass had a visitor today, but it wasn't someone he had hoped to meet, especially not this near.
A scream of pure terror pierced the air.
Cyrus Greengrass would never again see his little Tori.
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Interlude 2 – Higgs Summer Manor – 24th of December – Lunch time
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"It burns," Terence whined, unable to refrain from touching the pustules with his healthy hand.
"Let it burn," Francine Higgs mumbled. She loved her son dearly, despite the similarities to his deceased father. However, the last days had been exhausting and slowly her patience was at its end. Not only had she to endure her son and his endless litany of complaints. She had to help him with everything, as he had problems to walk around without assistance. To be honest she was happy about every minute she had on her own, preparing his meals or cleaning something after one of his endless mishaps, a minute without the burden called Terence.
She still had no idea how the strawberry sauce came into his dessert. Luckily he had only a moderate allergic reaction to it. Regretfully, the reaction hadn't been serious enough to convince the guarding Auror to allow a healer into the house – or to allow her to use her wand.
The next morning, to make matters worse, Terence stumbled on the stairs, lost his grip to the banister and showed a very convincing imitation of western film stuntman – without the training. Two fingers, three ribs and his left leg had been broken. Onetime a healer had been allowed to treat him, but only to patch him up enough that he could stay at the manor. He still had problems with his injured hand and had to use a cane.
Since then there had been a few more mishaps and accidents, some hurting him – like the case falling down on his toes – others souring his mood like the oversalted meal yesterday. There had even been a dangerous incident with a chicken bone in his gullet. A very annoyed Auror had to use something he called Heimlich manoeuvre, leaving them a minute later mumbling something about stupid, helpless pureblood gits. It had only been another hint at the fact that Kingsley had chosen a Muggleborn wizard to watch them – a very unhappy Muggleborn.
Neither son nor mother, who did her best to calm her son, knew that a pair of eyes was watching them, the smile on the wrinkled face malicious even for him. Shortly Paddoc glanced at the small table. A single present was resting on it. Like usual in many families, Francine Higgs had decided to give her son a single present today, with the rest following the next morning. In hindsight it hadn't been her best idea to choose exactly this present, but she knew how much her son liked potions. Paddoc's smiled broadened as he thought about the present – a luxury potions box with dozens of ingredients waiting to be used in an experiment – or to be spilled in a little accident.
Happy Christmas, Mister Higgs.
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Longbottom Manor – Christmas Eve
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"They're cute, aren't they?" Emma Granger whispered to the women at her sides. Nymphadora, or Tonks as she wanted to be called, and Augusta – there couldn't be two women more different in upbringing and behaviour, but both shared Emma's opinion right now. It was moving to watch Neville and Hermione. He – helping Hermione to her seat. She – accepting it with a sweet blush. Both were oblivious to the adults watching them. It was things like this that motivated them to fight for: a young man from an old pureblood family and a young Muggleborn woman, having a future together, unafraid and happy.
The three women slowly followed the sappy couple to the table with the rest of the guests. Remus was talking with Luna, struggling not to laugh about some of her sillier ideas, Dan Granger listening seriously. In a way it was easier for him. All of this was still so strange; why not believe the ideas of this girl too? Like his daughter once said: six years ago they didn't believe in magic. Perhaps in another six years everybody would believe Luna.
"Where's your father, Luna?" Hermione asked her young friend, pushing her boyfriend's hand from her knee with a whispered "behave".
"Writing a letter to Petunia."
It was obvious how happy Luna was about the fact that her father had found a pen pal in the serious woman. They were certainly an odd pair. Petunia obviously didn't believe more of Xeno's ideas than Hermione, but she took him seriously, spoke about them instead of disregarding them out of hand. Hermione knew that Petunia had stopped some of the most extravagant stories this term and urged Xenophilius Lovegood to concentrate more on the halfway believable ones. The Quibbler was still an eccentric journal, but slowly its reputation turned into something aka 'unlikely but possible'. With the steady flow of first-hand interviews from Harry and his friends, Colin's pictures and a number of reprints in the MET, the Quibbler was now far more likely to find its way into your average magical household. Interestingly it sold far better among Muggleborns, with many of them and their families sharing Dan Granger's opinion about 'believability'.
"Do you want to accompany Neville and me to Church tomorrow?" Hermione couldn't remember a Christmas Day without her and her mother going to Church – apart from a few times since she visited Hogwarts and had been at the castle, like last year. Neville had offered to go with them this year, knowing how important it was to Hermione. Now he gently pressed her hand, showing how much he appreciated her inviting Luna. A year ago Hermione would have feared Luna to behave too 'noticeable' or 'eccentric'. Now, she only saw her friend, a friend she wanted to spend time with and show a bit more of her life that was certainly as foreign to Luna as her ideas to Hermione.
"I would love too," Luna smiled, humming softly, already thinking about what to wear.
"Will you be back in time to hear the Queen's speech?" Augusta asked nonchalantly; her expression didn't show her amusement about her guests' reaction.
"You know about the Queen's speech?" Dan Granger asked dumbfounded.
"What's the Queen's speech?" Tonks asked. Despite her mixed parents, she had lived a more or less typical magical youth without too much contact to the Muggle past of her father.
"The Queen," Remus explained, who had far too often been forced to work among Muggles with many magicals unwilling to employ him "the Muggle Queen, she makes a speech every year on Christmas Day, I think at early evening."
"At 5 PM, just before dinner," Dan assisted. "Traditionally she starts her speech with the words…"
"I speak now from my home and from my heart, to you all..." Hermione's voice was very moving and regal, Neville thought. She would make a wonderful Minister.
"Yes," Emma smiled, "we will be back in time".
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"Minerva told me," Augusta started a bit later, while they were leisurely eating their pudding "that there will be job counselling next term. Have you already thought about what to do after school, Hermione? Your plans would influence your choice of subjects for the next two years."
Yes, Hermione had thought about it. Despite the urgency to help prepare Harry and despite the changes at school, she had to choose her subjects carefully. Which NEWT classes would she need, which supplementary courses should be added? Starting next year there would be the possibility to continue a subject without NEWT, a so-called supplementary course. The idea behind it was to broaden an OWL level knowledge instead of intensifying it into NEWT level, if that was too difficult or time-consuming. As far as she knew, Headmaster Flitwick wanted to start with the classes of potions and charms, both offering a huge number of additional subjects to learn that weren't more difficult than OWL but normally not part of the curriculum. Naturally it would be Penelope to teach those potions, not Professor Snape.
"I have some ideas, but I have to speak with Neville and Daphne about them."
"Daphne?" Augusta wondered. While it was clear why Hermione wanted to speak with Neville about her future dreams, she had no idea what importance Daphne could have.
"Yes," Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "I got two job offers."
"Job offers?" Remus asked amused. "Already?"
"Yes," Hermione shrugged. "One was from Agatha. She knows about the charm potions Daphne and I invented, the ones transferring charms to an object or person. She offered to fund both of us our own little research lab as a subcontractor to the company she and her friends own."
"That sounds wonderful, dear," Emma cheered.
"Yes," Remus agreed "sounds like something you would like and be good at."
"And the other offer?" Dan Granger asked.
"Amos Diggory is reorganizing his department. Apparently he offered Jessica Treskow the job of werewolf liaison and she accepted – but only for a few years. Mister Diggory wants me to work with her after my NEWTs for a year or two and to take over after that."
Augusta was stunned. Contrary to the Grangers she realized that this was a huge offer. Hermione would be something akin to a sub department head, perhaps the youngest in the history of the Ministry. She didn't know about Percy Weasley's plans, but this could well be the first step of becoming head of the department of magical creatures.
"And what do you think so far about it?"
"I'm uncertain," Hermione sighed. "I love to invent things with Daphne, but I don't know if this would be something to spend my life doing."
"I admit that I'm partial in this," Remus started "but I would love to see you accept Amos' offer. Harry and you started something wonderful with the Werewolf clans. With you working there, it could be something lasting."
"I agree," Emma Granger declared: "At least as long as you doesn't become Centaur liaison too. You're a wonderful daughter, but I'm not eager to have you as my boss."
"Don't fret!" Hermione soothed her mother. "The Centaurs belong to you."
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"How's your work with the library going, Remus?"
"Quite well so far. Sirius and I have catalogued the libraries of Potter, Longbottom, Pinegrew and Black Manor. Narcissa promised to send us a part of her library after New Year. Now, we're in negotiations with Headmaster Flitwick and Madam Pince about our duplicates. We want to exchange them and get some of their duplicates in return. Next term we'll work on copies of every book. And we have to search for an appropriate building for the Lily-Evans-Library."
"So in the end there will be one complete set of original books and several sets of copies?"
"Yes, one set of copies in the manors of the five donor families and the original books in the new library. But we had another idea too, an idea that should please you, Hermione."
Remus shortly left the room and returned some minutes later, offering a parcel to Neville and Hermione each.
"A book," Neville grinned: "You got Hermione a book. What a wonderful idea."
"Git," Hermione punched Neville and he groaned in mock hurt. Eagerly the girl opened the parcel and stared at the book: "Index of potion books of the Lily-Evans-Library." Carefully she opened the book and really found the first pages filled with the names of around a hundred books, separated by topic, with short descriptions of the knowledge found in those books. "It's like a library catalogue."
"In a way, yes," Remus nodded. "We're still working on it. It's more or less self-updating. So far we integrated only a hundred books with knowledge of OWL and NEWT level mostly. However, it is more than a catalogue."
He pointed at one entry with his wand "librum compono". Slowly the book changed its appearance and with a little shout of glee Hermione noticed that she now held the wanted potion book in her hand.
"That's wonderful," she jumped Remus and hugged him.
He patted her back gently. "We have still much work to do, but we wanted to give you this as a first step. Neville got another book, his about Herbology. We hope it will help you next year."
"It will," Neville agreed, leaving it unspoken if he meant the OWL or the fight against Voldemort. "It certainly will."
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Interlude 3 – The Burrow – still Christmas Eve
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The mood was festive, but certainly nothing you could call solemnly, in the Weasley home. It had been a difficult decision whom to invite today, but in the end Arthur wanted Ginny to have a calm and happy day. Because of this he only invited most of her brothers, but neither Ron nor Molly. While Ron had started to show a modicum of control of his poisonous tongue this month, Arthur still didn't trust his temper around his little sister – or Percy.
Charlie had commanded the twins and Percy to meet with each other two days ago. Arthur had no idea what exactly happened, but he was very happy about the outcome of the meeting. Percy and the twins returned with quite a number of bruises and totally covered in muck. But they were grinning. Instead of a tense politeness, as Arthur had feared to see after the shaky acceptance of Percy's return, they behaved like brothers – mocking, pranking, but in a good-natured way.
They had invited their girlfriends too and watching Percy and Penelope had done much to reconcile the brothers. Never before had they seen Percy this relaxed or this sappy. He actually blushed as Penelope tricked him with a deep kiss, stealing a staple of papers from him, some 'light work for the Christmas days'. "Whipped", was Ginny's only comment as Percy obeyed his girlfriend's order to stop working for 36 hours. Yes, Arthur mused, he is really serious about changing his ways.
Regretfully, Charlie and Bill weren't here today. Bill had some pressing work to do and Charlie wanted to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the Delacours. Arthur expected him, together with Fleur and Gabrielle, on Boxing Day.
I'll have to speak about them with Molly and Ron, he silently groaned. He had allowed them to be at the Burrow on Boxing Day before Charlie told him about the girls. Molly promised to behave, but Arthur knew how much she despised Fleur and her veela blood. It was a ridiculous opinion in his mind, but an opinion she wouldn't change very soon.
"I don't want to spoil your Christmas week," Ginny just said to Penelope.
"Don't worry, it's no hassle. Percy is certainly happy to have a few hours without me to get some work done. And you can show me what you have got to do for your classes. I noticed that you still have some problems on how to organize your assignments, especially the opening and how to word the conclusion. Last time I had to subtract 15 points because of that."
"Yes, I only got an A instead of the EE I hoped for," Ginny glared.
"See," Penelope grinned unimpressed. "We'll work on that and next time you'll get an EE."
Arthur knew how good Penelope had been at school. She had been Percy's equal certainly. However, he was still impressed how well she was able to transfer this book knowledge to her new teacher job, something her boyfriend hadn't learned. Percy was a terrible private instructor. Penelope on the other hand was able to arouse interest. Ginny really liked her lessons, Arthur knew from her letters.
Penelope will make a wonderful mother, Arthur mused. She wouldn't force her daughter into a relationship. What went wrong with Molly?
There had been a time when Arthur dearly loved his wife. He had forgiven her the use of the love potion twenty years ago and adored her for the children she gave him. Arthur wasn't a wealthy man and he wasn't a career man. He needed someone like Dan Granger to realize how long he had been a terrible member of his office, interested in Muggles but without real urge to broaden his knowledge. But he was a lucky man to have this family. Somewhere along the line, back at the summer Ginny started to go to Hogwarts, something had changed in Molly. She wasn't the woman he loved anymore and she still showed no signs of willingness to change, to turn back from her silly plans.
I'll give her until next summer. If she doesn't see the light by then… I'll have to take steps.
Arthur sighed. Hopefully next year will be better.
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Someone knocked on the door. Ginny and Arthur looked up, while the rest of the family continued some heated debate about the assets and drawbacks of teaching pranking potions at Hogwarts.
They didn't expect any visitor today, but the wards hadn't warned them – the wards that had been reinforced this fall by Bill under the ever watchful eye of Tremor. A work like that would have been far too expensive for the Weasleys normally, however Ironsides herself had arranged them as a 'field training' for Bill. Ginny hopped from her seat and went to the door. As she opened it, the sight was totally unexpected – totally unexpected at least for Arthur, not for Ginny who had dreaded something like this.
"Millie?"
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Pinegrew Manor – same time
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While some of the members of the Pinegrew household thought about the Weasley family now and then this evening, none of them had an idea what an unusual guest had shown up at their door. No, the Pinegrews had something completely different on their mind right now.
Like Tonks at the Longbottoms, so had Ana Hernandez been assigned to Pinegrew Manor to watch over them. Subteniente Ruiz and Auror Carmen Sanchez were with her, while a couple of British Aurors were on standby. No, Ana wouldn't allow a repetition of the summer attack. Sirius was there too, as much because of Harry as thanks to Carmen's presence. She was still unwilling to date him and offered serious resistance to his flirting attempts, something that nettled him more than wanted to admit. Dudley had spent the afternoon outdoors with Harry and Sirius, getting another flying training session with them. Dudley and Harry still weren't close friends, but they were growing closer – slowly, very slowly.
Petunia on the other hand felt more relaxed around Agatha and Astoria than near Roxanne and Daphne. Astoria didn't hate her past behaviour as much as her sister and mother did, while Agatha had been faster in forgiving Petunia's misdeeds. If Harry is able to forgive, she rationalized, how am I to be different?
An hour ago they had finished their dinner and distributed the first presents. Both Daphne and Harry had been awed by the books offered by Sirius. Daphne's books indexed a huge number of Charms books as well as a few very special ones the Marauders had used fifteen years ago in their pranking wars. Harry's book on the other hand was about Transfiguration, with an additional chapter about the Animagus Spell. Harry grinned thoughtfully as he noticed this. Sirius would be surprised by Harry's form.
"This," Daphne offered Harry a small parcel "is something Hermione and I created for Hedwig and Mandragora. It's more a present for your owls than for Neville and you."
He opened it and found a miniature leather quiver with some leather strips fastened to it. A number of tiny letters was carved into the leather, with some pale blue ink highlighting it. There was a light scent of herbs in the air.
"It's a substitute for the leg harness Hedwig is usually wearing. The quiver has a feather light and an endless bag charm on it. It should be possible to store something in it around a tome in weight and size. If Hedwig is wearing something larger – like a broom – it should be easier for her. Hermione created a potion to use on the leather. There is a healing potion stored in it, sufficient to close one or two serious wounds. The intensity of the letters is an indication if you have to refresh the potion. The paler the letters get, the weaker they are. We're still working on a mean to protect Hedwig against messing with her. We knew how much it had troubled you when Umbitch messed with Hedwig. For now, we can't really protect her against that, but at least you'll get a warning call."
"Thank you," Harry hugged her affectionately. Something like this was even more awesome than a present for himself.
"Do you have something similar for Balou and Crooks?" Roxanne wondered.
"We're working on that. It's a bit difficult, with Balou's special nature and Crooks being a half-kneazle. And both aren't very eager to wear a collar."
"You'll find something, I'm certain."
"I would like to see your notes, Daphne," Agatha remarked. "This is something that could interest many owl owners."
"You think?"
"Yes," Agatha nodded. "Something like this is what I hoped for as I offered Hermione and you a research lab."
"A research lab?" Harry asked. This was new to him and soon their discussion turned to Daphne's plans for the future, too.
They're growing up so fast, Roxanne sighed inwardly. Making plans for the time after school already. I hope they'll find their way.
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Somewhere in the Dark – a wee bit later
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"Everything ready?" Bellatrix Lestrange growled.
McNair hastily nodded. If Bella was in this mood, every delay could be disastrous. "She obeyed. The floo is shut down."
"The anti-apparition ward is in place," Fenrir Greyback added with a malicious smile. Bella didn't like or trust him, but this was something he could handle – in his saner moments.
She didn't turn around to have a look at her troops. She knew they were there at her call, knew that they would obey without an inspiring speech. Anything else would result in pain and death for them. Rodolphus was at her side, eager for the kill. Bella had made certain that neither Cissa nor Draco were at the Manor. She had her orders, her list of persons to kill. Her sister wasn't on that list and wonderboy either. The fight would be dangerous, the resistance difficult to overcome. A few of her soldiers wouldn't survive this night. Perhaps there would be an opportunity to get rid of Rodolphus. He was far beyond his potential use, his lack of talent annoying as well as his lack of character. His younger brother Rastaban was far more governable. For a moment she smiled at her husband, a smile that send ice-cold shivers down his spine.
"Everybody get ready," Bella commanded, not raising her voice above a strong whisper.
"Attack!"
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A/N
Next chapter: a bit of Christmas and a bit of fighting. You'll see more of Millie, but far more of Bella.
Do you want Rodolphus to survive the night?"
