A/N: I apologize for the time taken between updates. With my limited free time, I am trying my best to get the two WIP stories to speed as much as I can. I thank you for your support and your patience.
Declaration: I write for my own pleasure and not for profit. I do not own Harry Potter Universe.
With You by My Side
Chapter 36- Counter Moves
In a spacious room adjacent to what was affectionately known as 'The Den' Hermione was reviewing their notes on their on-going project with professor Snape, waiting patiently for Harry to arrive. The room was set up as an office for Harry and Hermione, who used it mainly for learning the duties involved in being the headmaster or an administrator of Hogwarts. It was where the young couple spent most of their time now-a-days; it was their private space used strictly for business purpose and all gatherings that did not involve school affairs or anything to do with Lord Voldemort or his death eaters were conducted in their usual place inside the den.
Their office was mostly taken up by a huge desk with cushioned chairs able to seat up to ten people comfortably. The back of the room was entirely occupied by a wall to wall book shelf, most of which was empty. Hermione had high hopes that by the time Harry would take up the leadership of the school and they settle inside the castle, the book shelf would be full. One wall had the pride of the group's efforts, a detailed map of the castle, capable of identifying a person by their magical signature tied into the wards of the castle. Harry and Hermione insisted on adding it as a security feature; anyone who could enter their room could keep a vigil but only four others, Professors McGonagall and Snape, Sirius, and Amelia were capable of activating the advanced search features of the map. The only flaw in the map was that it was unable to penetrate disguises effectively. It could naturally identify a person but if he was disguised as someone else by any means, whether known or unknown to anyone, then they were at a loss. With the help of Hermione, and working with the castle, Harry was determined to even cover the obvious loophole. What was the point in knowing that there was an intruder if you cannot identify or uncover the intruder?
There was a discussion on hiring a permanent security force but was discarded as the castle was considered to be one of the safest locations in the British Isles if not the world. With the modifications Harry made to the castle's wards, and the sentient nature of the castle itself, the general consensus was to vote against hiring a security force. The idea could be visited at a later date if needed.
Hermione realized that it was pretty much the first time that Harry was doing something important without her. Madam Pomfrey did not take kindly to Hermione's request to being present in the class when the boys of her age were given the dreaded 'Talk', what was commonly called as 'Birds and Bees' for non-magicals or even 'Wand and Holster' as a crude metaphor in the magical world. Even now her ears would ring when she thought about the vehemence in the matron's voice at denying the blasphemous idea.
The 'Brightest Witch of the Generation' never though herself to be a romantic during her pre-pubescent years but all that changed with the entrance of one boy in her life. Hermione would sometimes be amazed at the ease with which Harry slotted into her life and vice versa, almost as if they were a couple married for a life time. It was strange for a fourteen year old girl to have such thoughts but she could not help but imagining her married life with Harry and the great pleasure it was bound to bring them both. Her happy state was interrupted by the very object of her thoughts at the entrance of their private sanctuary.
Harry was clearly discomfited with whatever took place in the class and Hermione could not help but grin at her boyfriend. Seeing the teasing look on her face, Harry groaned, "… Hermione!" he whined.
Hermione could not contain her mirth any longer and burst into laughter, so much so that tears appeared in her eyes. All the while, Harry could see the humour in the situation but he could not bring himself to laugh, especially when he could see the effect the merriment was causing on some of her body parts. The couple was always comfortable with hugging and snuggling, but the new found knowledge and the recently awakening hormones were wreaking a havoc in Harry.
Sensing that Harry was approaching the state of true distress, Hermione ceased making fun of her betrothed. Getting up from the settee she was lounging on, she approached and embraced her long time and best friend. Harry stiffened a bit in the hug but his natural ease around Hermione took over quickly and he relaxed into the hug. If he found a new appreciation to the soft contours of his wife-to-be he remained a gentleman and did not bring any attention to them.
The couple returned to the sofa and Hermione promptly snuggled into him. "Come on Harry!" … she addressed Harry, intent on preventing the awkwardness that might arise in the aftermath of what was bound to be a very detailed and a very awkward discussion with the school healer. Hermione was certain that there were a few visual aids too and could definitely understand the embarrassment that Harry could fell upon being in close contact with her, "… we talked about this in Marseille and I thought that we left all the awkwardness behind us."
Harry could not deny that taking care of Hermione through the uncomfortable and by her own admission a painful time of the month, should have felt much more awkward than what he was feeling now. "I was intent on taking care of you at that time Hermione, and my concern did not allow me to think about anything else. Now…" he sighed, "… now I have a face to go with the graphic images and commentary from Madam Pomfrey."
Feeling that Hermione was about to interrupt him, Harry tightened his hold on her and continued, "I love you and enjoy being with you. The thought of marriage and having kids with you…, that is a dream I am looking forward to fulfill many times over." Harry paused to focus his thoughts away from Madam Pomfrey's lecture and looked at the beautiful young woman in his arms, "… please give me sometime dear. I promise you that I will behave."
Hermione let him off the hook but still could not resist teasing him, "Just remember this feeling you have when it's my turn to get the lecture." The couple shared a quiet chuckle and just relaxed in the contentment offered by their chosen partner.
A few minutes later, Harry gently pushed his girlfriend off him and gestured towards the notes on the table in front of them, "What do you have for me?"
That more than anything else brought their minds out of the proverbial gutter. Hermione let out a frustrated huff, "I've been going round and round in circles that I am beginning to feel dizzy" she groaned while Harry patted her back in commiseration. "Things were going on so smoothly that I thought it was going to be a cakewalk. We even managed to identify most of the components in the pain relieving and the muscle restoration potions with the help of our friends at Oxford and Cambridge…" Hermione trailed off trying to control her vexation. She was not used to failure; and with Harry's involvement, they managed to succeed in most of the things that they set out to do but de-convoluting the components of a potion to identify the one active and most essential ingredient was turning out to be extremely elusive.
"I know sweetheart, I looked at all the notes too, from every angle possible" Harry gathered her into his arms and began rubbing her back in a soothing gesture to calm her clear agitation.
Hermione could not remain cross with such ministrations and calmed down enough to disentangle herself from her comfortable position and pick up her cheat sheet to go through it once again. Harry lost his line of thought while observing the intense concentration on his betrothed face and began losing himself in her angelic face and had to rouse himself forcibly for some serious discussion.
With his own suspicion taking a much firmer root, Harry gently pushed the sheet down back onto the table, "Hermione, I am beginning to think that we are going about it the wrong way." Hermione wrinkled her brow cutely and Harry had to kiss his adorable girlfriend. "We know that the allopathic way of treatment that we were used to is more of a modern medicine. More often than not a single compound is used to target a specific or a set of similar targets. However, there are many traditional ways of treatments … many ancient ways." He then began listing them on his fingers, "… Chinese medicine, Ayurveda from India, Unani, and we do know about … the herbalists of regency era…"
"The ancient texts of Roman-Greek traditional medicine" Hermione agreed.
Harry nodded his head in acquiescence, he did not know much about the traditional medicine but all those ways of treatment were very well known and even accepted in England and America. "These forms of medicine treat the entire body and not just the malady."
Harry and Hermione sat in silence trying to think of the ways that this new realization would fit into the scheme of things. "It does look as if the 'Art of Potion Making' does have some similarity to the traditional medicine" Hermione mused.
"It's more than that dear," he interjected with sudden realization, "they are the same … if not diverged at some point, at least derived from a common source. Magic might have just added…" he shrugged, "I don't know … some magic." Hermione shared an amused grin with her husband-to-be agreed to that.
"Yeah!" Hermione worried her lower lip and tried to rationalize the fact, "… even though potion making is not an exact science, there are always rules to follow."
Harry agreed to the fact that was drilled into every student that crossed the threshold into professor Snape's class, "Maybe we are better of finding a common ground in each pair of potions. I am fairly convinced that even if it was possible, going after the chemical composition of the potions may not be a good idea."
The couple began drawing out fresh plans for their project. Generally speaking potion making did not change much from almost the time it first began. In addition to the actual making, the components also did not undergo much change; there was a flurry of new potions right at the start, most of them made by Merlin himself and then by Helga Hufflepuff. As time passed, those potions were accepted as they were, with only a few potion masters making an attempt to modify them based on locally available materials instead of exotic ingredients that had to be imported. It was mostly an effort in convenience rather than any real need or drive to develop, enhance even, existing potions.
In the modern era, circumstances and greed forced the unchecked hunting of magical creatures like Unicorns, Dragons, Hippogriffs and many others for their parts which are invaluable components in potions. The dearth in the availability of such rare components and also supported by black marketing pushed the supply down and the prices up forcing many Magical Ministries and individual potion masters to search for alternatives.
Spurred on by the need and the availability of talent, Snape, acknowledged as the foremost expert in potions after Hufflepuff took up the task of deconstructing the potions made with ingredients that are irreplaceable but expensive and with low availability. If it was possible to identify the main compound, then the inexhaustible repertoire of purified compounds available in the non-magical world could probably be used with the potion base successfully.
More than three months of hard work from Harry and Hermione, however, led to the undeniable conclusion that potions can never be broken down into individual compounds that make up the final mixture. Maybe it was the magic, or just the nature of the preparation and the ingredients, the best that the couple could do was to fractionate the potion and identify the one part that contained the appropriate environment to provide a cure.
"If we can remove the portion that can interfere with the activity of another potion, then it is possible to mix them…" Hermione mused. Her eyes lit up in playful excitement, "Kind of like 'one potion a day keeps the healer away'" she giggled in excitement and probably a measure of relief too.
Harry rolled his eyes at the antics of his girlfriend; they were not naïve to think that there would be a miracle cure for everything. Newton rightly said that, 'To every reaction, there is an equal and opposite reaction.' Even if they were to manage to mix two contrasting potions to obtain the benefit of the both of them in one, which otherwise would have hindered the action of each other or worse cancel out the other, they could never predict if the newly derived one would bring its own share of complications. At least if nothing beneficial came out of such an exercise, Harry and Hermione were determined to eliminate the scourge of all medicines, horrible taste.
Even though the work they were doing was mostly routine and monotonous, the couple were thankful for one thing; such an undertaking in the non-magical world would have required enormous capital and years, a decade even, of painstaking work. More often than not they involved testing the compounds on animals, after inducing the injury or the disease in the first place. Here at Hogwarts and with the help of a little transfiguration to make a realistic model of a human and a selection of runes to mimic the disease or injury, they were able to cut down the expenses and time by an incredible amount.
They still had a very long way to go, but it was a start and a very good one too.
Scene Break
Adrian Jones, a member of the British delegation to the French Ministry of Magic was fuming. The Jones family was not a noble or a revered family but it was quite ancient. There were only purebloods in their heritage and if they had to even marry their cousins, they did just that to maintain their blood purity. His wife herself was his second cousin and grew up with him in his father's house; now she gave him their only child, a daughter. Adrian could not love his daughter any more than he did now but he was still saddened with the fact that their long history was going to end with him due to the lack of a male heir to take their name forward.
If he was to look closely at the members of the previous generations, he would have seen that there was a disturbing trend to the diminishing numbers of progeny. Almost all the previous generations had only one child, thankfully there was at least one male child and so the lack of any other children was ignored. Ask any of the more liberal thinking families, and they would say that it was due to the lack of any new blood bringing in much needed vitality.
Many other ancient families like Bones, Longbottom, Greengrass, McArthur, and the ever chivalrous Potter, never had a pureblood as the Lady of the house for more than three generations continuously. They would probably not acknowledge it, or perhaps even not know it, but this infusion of new genes was what kept the intelligence, strength, and magical power higher than most other families. They were also the very few of the most successful families and rose to the position of a Noble house. It was this magical prowess that probably prompted the dark lord Voldemort to target such families first and eliminate most of the members even with their very rich history and qualities needed for the magical world to flourish.
It was pretty much an unspoken rule among the ancient families not to poach onto the other's skills or if they shared the same traits, onto the other's territory of financial operations. This arrangement ensured that everyone had their fair share of work and were dependent on the others for everyday things. The economy as a whole prospered due to this arrangement and there were minimal disputes. As the British magical society preferred to be segregated and was mostly exclusive of people from other countries, such an agreement was paramount for continued survival.
This structured if not rigid way of life remained unchallenged for high onto a century and if the more traditionalists of the ancient houses strayed from their preordained areas of expertise, they were largely forgiven by the others. The traditionalists honoured the commitment in words only and not entirely in its spirit. They always coveted money and power more than a good name which was the one aspect that elevated some of the families to the status of an 'Ancient and Noble House', and therefore left the traditionalists to privately fume at the injustice. The men of Houses of Nott, Parkinson, Macnair, older but poorer than Malfoy, did not restrain themselves to help from other's coffers if the chance was offered to them. Now-a-days it could be said that their primary livelihood was earned that way, supported by a thriving black market and blackmail, sometimes the material used was years old even. The successive ministers looked the other way rather than trying to curb such unethical practices since the culprits were part of the Ministry themselves. The noble families never bothered to confront such subtle and often times blatant misdeeds as they were loath to impose their will on the others, not that it stopped the traditionalists. As long as their own families upheld their beliefs, the noble families were content with the peace offered by the times. The lack of any repercussions to their deeds drove the traditionalists further but they took care not to overdo it and incur the wrath of the world in general.
Such were the strings attached to the continued peace of the magical world, but everything changed, with the arrival of one man, Lord Voldemort. With his claims of being a direct descendent of Salazar Slytherin and a forked but sweet tongue, he was able to mobilize traditionalists against the rest of the wizarding world using the age old fall guy for all strife, the next meal on the table.
The increase in the muggleborn population during the 50s, began the slide in fortunes for those who would not adapt themselves to the inevitable change. With their innovative thinking and more often than not, their superior intelligence, the muggleborns began making their mark on the magical world, diminishing the popularity and coffers of the long entrenched families. A sizeable chunk of the British wizarding world, led by the Noble families, embraced the change, welcoming the new additions. It was the hard-lined traditionalists who found themselves on the receiving end of empty till-boxes and they flocked to the banner of Lord Voldemort.
Adrian Jones came from a family of master enchanters. Their skill in making items that were very artistic and of high value as collector items was well known. The unique and tasteful presentation made such items quite pricey however sub-par their actual usefulness was. As with most pieces of art, the items made by the Jones family were not durable enough for daily use and therefore forced their customers to buy more than what was needed. This had the happy side-effect of raking in profits for them.
The increase in the influx of muggleborns into the wizarding world also meant that they brought with them a much needed practicality and innovation into whatever they did. Businesses or skills that were once limited to only a few families were no longer exclusive. The serious competition and more importantly the lower price and durability of most enchanted items threatened the rule of many old pureblood families like the Jones who were stubborn enough to resist change. Unfortunately, that was the time when one man, Lord Voldemort, determined that the wizarding world was meant to be his pawn and spread his brand of genocide.
The current head of house Jones, Adrian, came to his legacy on a night of bloodshed. His grandfather who was the head at that time and his father, the heir were killed in an attack on a muggle establishment meant to be a place for ambush under the dark lord's orders. The attacking party was caught unawares by a strong police presence preparing their barricades for the royal family to pass on that route the next day, and eliminated the death eaters with extreme prejudice.
Being the head of the family and lacking any male heirs allowed Adrian the privilege of missing the death eater raids that came after the failed raid, and if everyone knew that his distinct lack of fighting ability was the main reason, they were polite enough not to take offence. That was also the reason why he was content to remain in the side-lines and equip his master with all the required enchanted objects like illegal untraceable portkeys, and whenever needed, cursed objects.
That resentment against muggles extended to muggleborns too as the new arrivals into the magical world quickly broke down the unacknowledged embargo on mastering more than one skill. With their vivid imagination and inspiration from the non-magical world, the muggleborns dominated the small manufacturing sector, earning the wrath of people like Adrian Jones. This was compounded by the fact that Adrian was not clever enough to improvise and adapt to the changing environment and bring novelty and innovation into his own trade. Even though he still managed a comfortable income from his life-long patrons, the threat of a drastic reduction was beginning to become a reality.
Adrian relied mainly on the age old designs and etching techniques perfected by his ancestors and his own mediocre knowledge about the subject prompted him to stick to them. That was the reason that it was a shock to him when he heard about the popularity of the 'Boy-Who-Lived' and his 'Harmonian Magiks'.
Lucius Malfoy and the others brushed it off as just a publicity stunt by Harry Potter. Whether it was just that or something more substantial, Adrian never wanted to know. The only thing that mattered to him was that the new venture was cutting into his pocket and quite deeply too. He began investing heavily in the black marketing of rare items to offset the loss of business. Added to that, he was somehow caught by Madam Bones and then forced to swear an oath never to break the law or to support the dark lord. He knew that Lord Voldemort was dead and so he was only happy to take an oath on his magic, but the deal not to break the law broke the back of his business instead. He was sure that 'Harmonian Magiks' was responsible for making the artifact that summoned him to the head of DMLE. It literally ripped him away from his home and that too using his dark mark. Adrian could not prevent the ice cold terror he still felt thinking about the advantage the 'light side', especially a formidable woman like Amelia Bones and Dumbledore with his association with the Potter brat, had. If this was allowed to continue, he feared his very existence, he had to do something to get rid of them all; but at the same time he could do nothing about it as his very magic counteracted his will.
Then, a miracle happened and conveniently landed in his lap. His contact in the death eaters and longtime friend Macnair heard about the Ministerial delegation that was to meet the French Aurors and even recommended him to be a part of the delegation, expounding his expertise on whatever they were to review. Adrian did not even know what he was going there for, except that his friend needed his help in renting some muscle and he was glad to do that.
Adrian was excessively mindful of the nature of the oath that was forced on him by Madam Bones and so when Macnair approached him for the help he needed, Adrian took care not to show any interest in why the men were needed nor the type of men that were needed. Helping out a friend by hiring a few men to do his work was not against the law and he intended to keep his own involvement in the scheme to a minimum. Deep down he hoped that the men were being hired to get rid of either both Madam Bones and his fiancé Sirius Black, or Harry Potter and his betrothed Hermione Granger. He took care not to allow those thoughts to really register in his mind with his mediocre occlumeny skills and was thankful that he was successful.
Adrian's understandably lowered spirits were dealt a severe blow when he learnt that the top notch protective equipment that the French aurors were boasting about was in fact designed by Harry Potter and his betrothed Hermione Granger personally. Even the incensed death eater had to admit, however grudgingly it might have been, that they were of top quality and anything less than a fatal curse would protect the aurors and allow them the freedom to retaliate appropriately to the threat. His admiration turned to anger quickly with the knowledge that the only reason for the visit was to evaluate the goods and their utility for the British auror force.
One thing was clear to Adrian Jones, if the death eaters or their friends were to live, then the 'Boy-Who-Lived' and his entourage cannot. He was even more determined to complete the task given to him by Macnair.
Minor Break
Sitting in the non-magical side of a seedy bar in the heart of Paris, Adrian Jones contemplated the man he was to meet in a few minutes. Henry Byron was his classmate at Hogwarts and though he was a half-blood with a muggle father, was one of the very few unmarked death eaters. His ease in the non-magical world and the connections he had to prominent people in the Prime Minister's Office endeared the man to Lord Voldemort.
Initially, Henry was flattered at the unique distinction he was shown by the fearsome dark lord. He was quite enthusiastic to do his bidding too, but as reality quickly set in Henry was dismayed. The attack that claimed the lives of the elder Jones' was primarily to remove the prime minister while he was escorting the Queen to the opening of an exhibit inside the British museum. Though the Queen was not included in the plan, her death would have been no less welcoming to the dark lord.
Horrified by the realization that he played a major part in the attempt to destabilize the British non-magical world, Henry tried his best to distance himself from the death eaters. Thankfully he was unmarked which gave him the freedom to move as he chose and when he was offered to go to France to garner support to the dark lord, Henry grasped it eagerly. It was probably to his benefit that Lord Voldemort was killed within a few days of him setting foot in France. That was all he needed to get on with his life quietly, and he was successful up until now.
Adrian looked at the surprisingly mild-mannered giant of a man sitting across from him. This was the first time he was meeting his near constant companion during the time at Hogwarts, "The years have been good to you Henry."
Henry Byron was worried about meeting his old friend; he was sure that there could be nothing good about this meeting. He wanted to be left in peace to live out the remaining years of his life with his wife, "Yeah!" he agreed, "living away from England has been surprisingly good to me."
They spent some time reacquainting themselves with their lives and Henry could not miss the undercurrent of acute resentment against the incursion of muggleborns into the business side of the magical world. More importantly, Adrian could not keep the simmering anger at his own degrading livelihood, all because of an upstart. The 'Boy-Who-Lived' did defeat their lord but every one of the death eaters believed that it was a miscalculation by Lord Voldemort rather than any greatness of either the boy or his parents. Perhaps it was but the reality was that the same boy was now threatening the purebloods, either with the oath Adrian was sure that most of the offending death eaters were forced into, or with a direct blow on their stomachs. It was time to finish what their master was unable to and the first step was going to be tonight.
Adrian favoured his friend with a grim smile, "Henry, it's time for you to fulfill our master's need."
Henry Byron's eyes widened for just a fraction but quickly schooled himself into a mask of perfect indifference, which was a sure sign among the death eaters that he was eager. In his mind though Henry was terrified and his heart clenched at the idea of being thrown back into the war, he prayed for a way out of the mess. "Is the master returned?"
"Not yet" Adrian sighed, "we are paving the way for him."
Henry took it mean that there was no way that Lord Voldemort will be back to terrorizing the world as long as Harry Potter and his supporters were around. Henry was not sure if this was something to deal with the dark lord or simply some really angry death eater getting a little bit of revenge for his lost resources. It could only mean that there will be an attempt at the life of the 'Boy-Who-Lived' or at someone close to him. "How many will you need?" he asked.
Adrian was pleased, he was inclined to be pleased by his friend after all. "Ten for now. I will let you know where to when the time comes."
Henry dipped his head in acknowledgement. If he did not know where the men to go, then warning the British authorities or even the head of DMLE was out of the option. He could never stop himself from ruing the day that he was lured by the honey sweet but forked tongue of Lord Voldemort but now it was much more poignant.
"It will take me time to be discreet" Henry tried subtly.
Adrian obliged without a thought, "You have time until a week before Christmas."
This time Henry's eyes lit up with pleasure, but it was not for the reason that Adrian expected or hoped. There was only one major event that was happening during that time and his own superior in the French foreign office was scheduled to attend that. He now had something to go on.
Early next day, Henry Bryon discharged the one debt of honour that tied him down. He went to lighten his burden with the man who gave him sanctuary when he needed the most, all those years ago, Pierre DeLacour.