Chapter 54 - Meetings

October 5th, 1997

Minerva McGonagall was eating breakfast in a place last occupied by her for that purpose well over fifty years earlier; the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. She was sitting next to another Gryffindor who could make the same claim; Rufus Scrimgeour. He had business with Harry Potter and crew today and Minerva had put both him and his granddaughter, Greta, up in the visitor's quarters for the night. The fact that they were now discussing their proposed schedule for the day in the open and surrounded by a few hundred students and professors was entirely due to the fact that Harry's wife, Hermione, had cast a spell that Minerva had not heard of before which rendered their conversation muffled and unintelligible to anyone outside of it's boundaries. The fact that the Minister of Magic was a part of the group also had a discouraging effect since any potential eavesdroppers might potentially find themselves not in detention, but in Azkaban. Oddly enough, by holding their meeting like this, in public, they were less likely to be suspected of planning anything. Having Luke, Nesta, Charlie, Remus, Tonks, Oliver, Martha and Greta as part of the group made it look like just a gathering of friends and relatives who decided to stay over from the party. Poppy sat to the left of Minerva, bookending Rufus, who was on her right. Luna and Dougal, along with the required presence of Harry, Hermione, Ron and Honey rounded out the usuals. Ginny and Neville had, at the rather forcefully stated request of Molly, returned with the majority of the Weasleys to the Burrow to have the private part of the reunion there, today. Charlie had promised to arrive by early afternoon and Fred and George had to help Lee Jordan return their unsold wares to their store. For those seated at the Gryffindor table, however, the official reason for their location would be to indulge Greta's wish to eat breakfast with her hero; Harry Potter. That, at least, was true enough.

"Could I have some more toast, please, Harry?" asked Greta. It would be her eighth piece.

"I suppose so," said Harry, picking up some bread with the tongs. "Haaa... Haaa," he said and placed the toast on her plate. "Careful; it's hot." A five year old could be entertained by this all day long.

"I will be," said Rufus as he picked up the toast and spread grape jelly on it for his granddaughter. She smiled and began to eat it, her already purple fingers getting even darker.

"So, what are the assignments for today?" asked Charlie, a little bit later. "It sounds like you have a lot more planned than visiting Muck."

"We do," agreed Hermione. "Before we discuss any of this, we need to see off our youngest member." She turned to Greta and said, "I understand that you already know Martha, Greta."

"Yes," said Greta. "Grampa and I know Martha and Merry. Their daddy worked with Grampa."

"That's right," said Martha. "You and I are going to spend the morning together. I thought we'd start with watching them take down the tents and everything from the party. After that, we'll see."

"That sounds okay, I guess," said Greta, obviously uninspired. "Maybe Harry will take us on another dragon ride later."

"I might," said Harry. "We'll have to see how the day goes."

"I hope we do," said Greta. "I love dragon rides."

"Most people do," said Rufus. "In fact, I only know one person who wouldn't jump at the chance, right now." He smiled at Hermione.

"I'm getting better," said Hermione. "It's my idiot husband's fault. He keeps turning any way except the one you'd expect."

"Maybe you'd like some reins and a saddle," suggested Tonks.

"Maybe an ejector seat and a parachute," countered Hermione. Harry laughed.

"I'll tell you what," he said. "If there's time when we get back, and you can talk Greta into a smooth ride, I'll take you on a long, gentle flight through the mountains."

"Now I could agree to that," said Hermione. "No loops; no barrel rolls; just a nice, scenic flight through the hills and mountains of Scotland."

"Sounds boring," said Greta. "Maybe you wouldn't be too scared if I held your hand, Huminerme."

"I'm sure she'll be just fine, Greta," said Scrimgeour. "Don't give Martha any trouble, now." He received a hug from Greta who then went off happily with Martha.

"I'm surprised you aren't joining them, Oliver," said Hermione. "It seemed to me that the two of you hit it off quite well, yesterday."

"We had fun," agreed Wood, "but I have business to conduct here, as well. Besides, you should never get too close to a single woman of child-bearing age while she is enjoying the company of a small child, especially a girl."

Ron started to write something at the same time as Hermione said, "That has got to be the most, backwards, sexist comment not to have come out of Ron or Harry that I have heard in quite a long time."

As she finished, Ron held up his note. It read, 'That doesn't make it less true.'

Hermione read the note and asked, "How did you know I'd say what I said?"

Ron wrote, 'Just blind luck. I couldn't have possibly known that you'd take offense at someone saying something so obviously true, could I?'

"That would have been almost impossible to foresee," agreed Harry. "Although," he started, but stopped.

"Although what?" asked Hermione. She sensed, too late, that it was something Harry didn't really want to discuss in public.

Harry paused a moment before deciding he was among friends. "I was just thinking that when I had to come up with tears to heal Ron's head wounds, it was the thought of our children, sons actually, growing up together that finally brought some results." There was a pause here as everyone contemplated this. Ron leaned back and smiled warmly at Honey, who kissed him.

"Perhaps we should move on," said Minerva. "I believe that it will be Madame Pomfrey who will be the busiest today. What will be the most efficient use of her time?"

"I think that I'll only need to spend a short time with Hermione and Tonks," said Poppy. "The potion is ingested in a fairly straightforward manner so they should be able to handle dispensing it to the prisoners. After that, I'd like to spend as much time as necessary with Ron, Honey and Mr. and Mrs. Sweetwater discussing and explaining some possible therapies and exercises. We'll then be practicing the ones that show the most promise."

Ron wrote, 'I was planning on going with Harry and Oliver. Can't we do the therapy stuff later?'

"We are doing speed trials and going on a fairly long trip, Ron, "said Harry. "I know that you can make pretty good time on that rug of yours, but I don't think you can keep pace with a firebolt. We'll report back on the results of the animagus experiments."

"What sort of experiments are you planning, Harry," asked McGonagall. "I certainly hope that they will be safe."

"They should be, Minerva," said Hermione. "We just had a question on whether or not an item Harry could be wearing would maintain it's properties after the transformation into a dragon."

"I would tend to think that it would," said Minerva. "Whenever I have tried to transform without my glasses, I have found that I remain near-sighted as a cat."

"I forgot that you were an animagus," exclaimed Hermione. "In this case, however, I believe we will still need to perform the experiment to verify the expected result."

"What is the experiment and what result are you expecting?" asked McGonagall.

"Ron wanted to see, or not see, depending on how it works out," started Honey, already heading into confusion, "if Harry's invisibility cloak, when worn during his transformation, would continue to keep him invisible while a dragon." Honey had jumped in with the explanation to ensure that everyone knew it was Ron's idea; not Hermione's. Since he became partially disabled, she felt that his continued importance to the group needed to be stressed and took every opportunity to do just that. The teens, however, had become so used to bouncing ideas off of each other that, quite often, they neither knew, nor cared, who had the original thought.

"That would be an interesting advantage in battle," mused Rufus. "I believe you are also working on determining his top speed?" He glanced around until he saw Harry and Ron nod, simultaneously. He smiled and said, "I do believe that an invisible dragon flying in at a hundred miles per hour would have a major impact with large group interactions. I'm not sure it would be all that useful for small groups, though."

Ron held up his hand to indicate he had a short message. After a few seconds, he wrote, 'You're right. I was thinking more of escape situations. It would have been a useful method to use at Umbridge's house.'

"Don't remind me," said Harry. "Naturally, as I mentioned to Rufus, the thought never occurred to me. It still would have been difficult since both you and Hermione were wounded fairly quickly."

"Still," said Hermione, "if you were an invisible dragon, you could have killed all the Death Eaters with less risk to yourself." She thought a moment more before adding, "I think you should enchant that harness that you used yesterday for summoning. The conjured ones only last a short time and if we ran into another situation where no one would be available to conjure it, you'd be able to have access to a real one; a sixteen-seater, at that."

"I suppose it's already paid for," agreed Harry. "I'll have Winky put it somewhere in the Fortress."

"That reminds me," said Hermione. "Please come here, Sassy." She had figured out how to politely call an elf without running out of time.

"Yes, Mistress Hermione," said Sassy a moment later. "What can Sassy be doing for Mistress Hermione?"

"Good morning, Sassy," said Hermione. "Did you have a chance to count the money from the dunk tank?"

"Yes, Mistress Hermione," replied Sassy. "There is being three-hundred and eighty-five galleons and seventy-seven sickles in the basin when we is being done."

"That turned out well," said Harry. "How did you manage to have more galleons than sickles when it was a sickle a throw?"

"I can answer that," said McGonagall, who had spent the most time of anyone, except Sassy and Umbridge, at the dunk tank. "Some of the younger children needed to make change for a galleon and Sassy used the money already collected to do just that. Also, some of the adults and older students realized that it was all for charity and just paid a galleon for ten throws."

"That's great," said Harry. "Could you please see that the money gets to St. Mungo's, Rufus?"

"I'd be happy to do that," said Rufus.

"Great," said Harry. "Now, after Oliver, Charlie and I return from Muck, we'll probably be able to explain everything to the conscripted Death Eaters." He turned towards the far end of their group and asked, "Luna. You don't seem to need much time to tell who's really a Death Eater. We have about a hundred wizards and witches to get through. Will two hours be enough time?"

"I believe so, Harry," said Luna, softly, "although I might want to spend a bit more time on those that I think might be evil; just to make sure."

"Fair enough," said Harry. "I want you to be comfortable with your decisions. I'd like for you to be sure about those you think aren't evil, too. Dougal will be with you, correct?" He looked at Dougal.

"All the way," said Dougal. He, above all others, knew how out of character if was for the happy-go-lucky witch to become judge and jury.

"Great," said Harry, again. "Assuming we'll have a few that will want to help out, we'll need a place for them to be trained in either the paperwork or the basics of guard duty. I understand how you feel, Oliver," he said as Wood started to speak, "but Rufus is correct. It's hard enough for fully trained and experienced aurors to stand up to competent Death Eaters. Amateurs would be unnecessarily placing themselves in jeopardy. The best solution is to learn how to do the fairly safe jobs and allow the real aurors to do what they are trained for."

Wood groused a bit but nodded his head in agreement. As a quidditch player, and former team captain, he knew that to win you had to use your best people.

"This brings up another issue," said Harry. "Oliver has seen the entire Fortress of Solitude and he also knows everyone involved, including Martha. If he were caught, it would be like sending Voldemort a letter telling him exactly where to find us.This won't be much of a problem during training but when the time comes to actually help out the aurors, we'll be placing ourselves in danger of losing one of our most important secrets."

"I agree, in theory," said Rufus. "However, we have never seen our support staff being specifically targeted. Unless Voldemort knew, somehow, that the witch writing the arrest reports in Brighton was one of his former forced Death Eaters, I don't see much of a chance of him being able to gain useful information from that source."

"Nevertheless," said Hermione, "we still need to do what we must to ensure that any volunteers are as safe as possible."

"We still have some time before we have to commit to any particular method," said Harry. "Rufus. Did Professor Coldiron seem interested in helping with the training?"

Rufus laughed out loud. At the stunned looks of virtually everyone around him, with the exception of Luna, he explained, "I'm sorry. It's the 'Professor' Coldiron that cracks me up whenever I hear it. I've known Hammer since he started out and he was not named in vain. Whenever we had some full power justice to dispense, as he used to say, it was Hammer leading the way. I remember one time, we were making a charged entry; that's running into a room with the lead man blasting the door at the last second to the uninitiated. Anyway, Hammer was in front and he was so pumped up that he forgot the spell. Hit that door wide open and both it and Hammer go sliding across the room. The Death Eaters were all watching him instead of us, of course, and it turned out to be one of our easiest raids. Not for Hammer, you see, but it was a walk for the rest of us."

Everyone laughed but none quite so heartily as Minerva. She grabbed Scrimgeour's arm as if to steady herself and said, "Rufus, I feel vindicated. I didn't know Professor Coldiron before I hired him but he just seemed like the kind of wizard you have illustrated for us." She then added, in a teasing tone, "I have to wonder, of course, just what sort of stories he might have about your exploits."

"He's sworn to secrecy," said Rufus, "unless you trick him, somehow."

"Like saying something like 'Please tell us the twenty-seven most embarrassing things that the Minister of Magic has ever done.'?" asked Tonks.

"That's cheating," said Rufus. "You know he can't resist a direct request." He smiled a second before adding, "As to the original question, Hammer said that he'd be happy to help."

"That's good," said Tonks. "I've never really been that good at the paperwork part of the job." She looked around the table in general and asked, "So when and where will we be doing this training?"

"Assuming we have enough interested parties to make it worthwhile," said Hermione, "we only know where we won't be holding classes. That would be in the Fortress of Solitude."

"Why not?" asked Wood. "There's plenty of room."

"That's true," agreed Hermione, "but with the exception of you and one other, no former Death Eater has had a good look around the place. Depending on how extensively Voldemort might interrogate any of them that he recaptured, the risk is relatively low on his recognizing the place. Now if what we have located on the far end of the office came into view, it would be a dead giveaway."

"You mean the...," began Wood.

"Don't say it!" shouted about half of the people at the table.

Scrimgeour laughed. "It must be bloody obvious."

"It is," said Hermione with a warning look at Wood. "It is for this reason that once we have sorted out the truly dark volunteers, I believe that the rest should see as little as possible of the Fortress from that point onward. That would include providing an alternative location for training as well as possibly for lodging."

"When did you decide all of this?" asked Harry. "I don't seem to remember any discussions along those lines."

"The actual specifics came to me this morning while we were talking with Martha," replied Hermione, "although the genesis of the idea was probably when I saw Martha and Oliver walking around in the open. It crossed my mind what a security risk that had been, if only theoretically. I agree that one or two ex-Death Eaters could just blend in but if there were loads of them walking around, it would only be a matter of time before one of them were recognized. By moving them out of the Fortress before they can learn much about it or it's layout, we would reduce the risk to our operations."

"We're talking about up to fifty or sixty men and women, Hermione," said Harry. "The Fortress is the only place I know of that has that kind of room."

"Well," said McGonagall, "I'm not sure what could be done about the housing issue but Hogwarts has plenty of free classrooms available for training purposes. I believe we could isolate a section of the castle with a few rooms that could be used."

"That's very generous of you, Headmistress," said Hermione. "That leaves us with just needing a place for them to live."

"That flat you put me up in last night was quite nice," said Charlie. "It was also quite roomy. I'd bet four or five people could make do there for the time being. How many more flats like that do you have available?"

"We have seventeen, all together," said Hermione. "Martha is in one and Oliver is in another so we currently have fifteen free."

"Fourteen free," said Harry. "My aunt and uncle are in one, as well."

"Oh, I forgot," said Hermione. "That's right. We have fourteen left."

"You have a block of flats somewhere?" asked Rufus. "Even the Ministry would have trouble coming up with that much real estate."

"It's in our Fortress," said Harry. "It might serve our purposes, though. Except for Martha, none of the other flats have doors. The only way in or out would be by elf." He looked at Ron and asked, "What do you think, Ron?"

Ron had been sitting quietly, of course. If he had been able to talk, he would have been doing so but he agreed with what had been said, so far, and had remained an observer. Harry's request for his opinion forced him to consider the various outcomes of the plan.

'We might need to alter a few of them to be more of a dormitory,' he wrote, 'but they would be totally impossible to trace. If Voldemort tried to judge their location by what could be seen looking out their windows, he'd go nuts.' Harry and Hermione both laughed.

"What's so funny," asked Honey. She had not been inside one of their flats and didn't know about the magical windows facing various scenic locations about the countryside.

"Unless I miss my guess," said Wood, "the windows are enchanted, somehow, to show views from somewhere else. I can see a distant view of London down the Thames from my bedroom window and there is a view of mountains from my sitting room."

"Those are similar to the ones we have at the Ministry," said Rufus. "Those aren't cheap, Harry."

"Well, without giving anything away," said Harry, "our block of flats is underground. We originally planned on using them for families that needed protection so we assumed that they should be as normal as possible."

"That's nice of you to think of those things," said Rufus. He thought just a moment before asking, "Do you suppose I could see one of these flats?"

"I suppose so," said Harry. "You wouldn't be able to tell where they were, anyway, so I'm sure we could arrange something." He looked a little confused by the request.

"Thanks," said Rufus. "We currently have six or seven families, mostly the widows and orphans of aurors, in what we call protective custody. Unlike the attack at Azkaban, where those killed were just unlucky, these aurors and their families were specifically targeted. If your facilities are of a higher quality than the Ministry's, and I think they might be, I would like to request that they be allowed to stay here. Our facilities are fairly secure, but they are far from homey. The addition of windows, alone, would be greatly appreciated, I'm sure."

"I think we can arrange something," said Hermione. "We'll have to see how it goes with the ex-Death Eaters."

Harry immediately said, "We'll build more flats, if necessary."

"I wouldn't expect you to incur additional major expenses," said Rufus, quickly. "I could probably come up with some galleons, if I had to."

"Shortly after we left Hogwarts last year," said Harry, "I was entrusted with the key to a vault. That vault contains a vast amount of gold. One of the stated purposes of that gold was to help those in need, especially due to acts of Voldemort. I spent ten years in a secure location that was anything but homey. I wouldn't want anyone to have to go through that while I was able to help. Perhaps you and Minerva could make arrangements with Slider on their transfer while Hermione and her crew are sorting out the prisoners and Oliver, Charlie and I are on our errands."

"I think we could handle that much," said Minerva. The Minister nodded his head in agreement.

"I think we should all be set until at least noon, then," said Harry.

"Not quite," said Honey. "If you'll recall, you promised to take at least two commandos with you when you left the grounds."

"Thank you, Honey," said Hermione. "I expect you to do just that, dear." She looked at him with an expression that brooked no argument.

Harry sighed and said, "Yes, dear." Ron, however, was not quite satisfied.

'I have been thinking about that, as well,' he wrote, 'and believe you should have the elves under two of the invisibility cloaks.'

Harry thought about it and said, "I suppose if we're concerned about security, having them hidden makes sense."

"I agree," said Rufus. "I assume one of the cloaks was the one Dolores used?"

"That's right," said Harry, "and the other one was from our assassin."

"Well, I don't think we need to worry about it just now," said the Minister, "but I did some checking of my own after Dolores was discovered. I wondered where she was able to obtain such a fairly rare item as an invisibility cloak. It turned out that it was one that the Ministry had confiscated when someone had tried to break in. Again, I don't need to know this as long as it's being useful to you but at some point, we might need to return it."

"I appreciate that, Rufus," said Harry. "I think that I might know the rightful owner, however. Remus. Didn't Mad-eye loose his cloak under similar circumstances? Perhaps this is his."

"You are probably correct," said Remus. "It was his spare, if I remember correctly. I don't remember who he had lent it to but they were caught and he lost it." He turned back to Scrimgeour and explained, "That was back when Fudge was in power and we had to fight the Ministry as well as Voldemort."

"I see," said Rufus. "If Mad-eye recognizes it as his, then you may make your arrangements with him. The bureaucrats don't need to know anything."

"Thanks, Rufus," said Harry. "We should have wondered how she obtained a cloak, as well. You might work out as a member of the team, after all." Everyone chucked.

"I suppose we had all be off, then," said Minerva and stood up. As they formed into their groups and headed for the doors, Harry noticed that Dougal had discretely pulled Minerva to one side and they had a quick, whispered conversation. Dougal then rejoined Luna and everyone went to their assigned duties.

Fifteen minutes later, Harry, Oliver and Charlie stood on the field just past the quidditch pitch. Slider was busy working with Minerva and Rufus so they were joined by Jumper and Sleepy, two other members of the Hogwarts Free Elves who had shown their ability to work in the field. Each of the elves had an invisibility cloak, although they were not currently wearing them.

"Muck is roughly one hundred miles south south west of here," said Charlie, pointing in the indicated direction. "Oliver and I will be at three thousand feet, so we're unlikely to be seen by the odd fisherman we might meet on the way. As a dragon, however, you'd be impossible to miss."

"Let's start, then, by finding out if Ron's right about the invisibility cloak," said Oliver.

"Okay," said Harry. "You lot stay here. I don't want to trample you." He walked about thirty yards to the north. He put on the cloak and vanished. "Here goes," he called and initiated the transformation.

He watched Oliver and Charlie to see their reaction. They were talking to each other and pointing towards him. This discouraged Harry but he finished the agreed series of actions by walking several yards from side to side and forwards and backwards. His friends had no trouble following the movements. Harry then returned to normal and removed his cloak.

"I'm guessing that it didn't work," said Harry, dejectedly, as he walked back over to the others.

"It worked pretty well, if you ask me," said Charlie. Wood nodded his agreement.

"You two were watching every step I took," protested Harry. "How is that a successful test of invisibility?"

"You weren't exactly invisible," conceded Oliver, "But it wasn't like you were all that noticeable, either. You looked more like, well, what would you say, Charlie?"

"Have you ever looked down a road on a very hot day?" asked Charlie. "It's sort of like the shimmering of the air just off the pavement. We could see your outline, especially when you were moving, but that was at close range. I'd say it was more effective than a disillusionment spell but not total invisibility."

"Was I hard to see when I stood perfectly still?" asked Harry. He was trying to determine the limitations of this mode of disguise.

"Fairly," said Oliver. "If you moved at all, you were easy to make out, but when you were still, you would be hard to find unless you knew where to look."

"We'll try it again at night," said Charlie, "but even in daylight, it should allow you to fly over populated areas without detection, or at least without recognition."

"Fair enough," said Harry. "That's more that could be said yesterday." He draped the cloak over his shoulders, leaving only his head exposed, for the moment. "Shall we be off to Muck?"

Charlie looked at his watch. "It's almost nine. I know the way so I'll head out at top speed. At nine, you two take off and Harry can push himself as fast as he can manage. Head south south west at around three thousand feet. If I don't see you in five minutes or so, I'll circle back and lead the way. In no event, do not pass me by. We could do another trial on the way back, if necessary, but I should lead us in. There are quite a few dragons there, as well as their handlers. A rogue dragon dropping out of the sky might get attacked."

"That sounds good," said Harry. "Off you go, then."

Charlie mounted his loaner firebolt, waited a moment for Jumper, now cloaked, to join him on the broom and headed off. He assumed the aerodynamic position familiar to any quidditch player and quickly achieved top speed. Harry and Oliver watched as he disappeared into the distance.

"Blimey," said Oliver. "He'll be miles away when we head out. We'll never catch him."

"Probably not," said Harry, "but we'll see how fast I can manage." He thought about what Hermione and Charlie had said about dragon flight being determined by belief and magic; not aerodynamics. It was hard to get his mind around that concept, however. He had never concentrated on exactly how he flew; he usually just flapped his wings a bit and shifted his body to point in the right direction.

"One minute," said Oliver, looking at his watch. It was time to prepare themselves. Harry walked about twenty yards away from Wood and and Sleepy before covering himself completely with his cloak. He turned around and transformed into a dragon. With Sleepy in front of him, Oliver mounted his broom and soon was holding out his hand with five fingers spread out; then four; three; two; one.

Harry sprang into the air just as Wood zoomed ahead. Harry was rising quickly when it occurred to him that Hermione was right; he should be flapping much harder to be gaining altitude this fast. He immediately started to loose his battle with gravity. He tried saying to himself, 'I believe! I believe!' but it didn't help. As he neared the ground with ever increasing speed, he instinctively pulled up and found himself once again on the rise. Hermione could have her logical thought process; he'd take instincts any day.

No longer concerned with lift to drag ratios, Harry caught up to Oliver and proceeded to head SSW. Flapping lazily every few seconds, he continued to gain speed. He didn't seem to be putting Oliver to any sort of test, though, and he tried to flap a bit harder, imagining himself being pushed to a greater and greater velocity. Remembering a television program which featured jet fighters, he started to push back instead of down with his wings and held them by his side while gliding. This reduced his wind resistance to the point where Oliver had to push his broom a bit to keep up. The wind was starting to become a nuisance for his eyes so Harry just held it at that level, considering it to be his maximum sustainable speed. Eventually, Charlie rejoined them and in a bit they were flying in formation down the Sound of Sleat.

"So tell me, Severus," asked the Dark Lord, sipping his morning coffee, "what was it that bothered you about Sanders?" He was calmly perusing the special section of the Sunday Daily Prophet which featured full color photos of Peter and Dolores smiling broadly and periodically embracing or kissing.

"Nothing in particular," answered Snape, "but Preston had given me his cookie once." He had moved on from the unappetizing couple and was exploring the rest of the paper.

Voldemort attempted a smile. "Yes," he hissed, "you do have a fondness for those treats, don't you? Thanks for sharing the ones the mudblood gave you, by the way." Snape had not mentioned the fact that he had acquired two dozen chocolate chip cookies during the meeting where he discovered that Umbridge had been replaced. After yesterday's paper came out, however, his memories of that meeting, as well as many others, were replayed in his mind while his master was determining, for the second time, in fact, whether or not Snape was a traitor. When Sanders had delivered the paper, Voldemort was curious about the absence of his current second. When he had glanced at the front page, and after he had released his fury on poor Sanders, his curiosity blossomed into full scale suspicion. Snape had passed that test, of course, or he would not be sitting here. Having been warned that more photos were to follow, he had merely glanced at them. The real purpose behind the photos and articles needed to be confronted.

"I have been analyzing the interactions we have been having with Potter, lately" said Voldemort. "They all have a few characteristics in common. Beginning with Malfoy's clumsy attempt to lure Potter to his death using his mudblood as bait, through his most recent success in killing or capturing scores of my followers during the attacks earlier this week, he has shown an ability that always eluded Dumbledore. He will kill any or all of his enemies until they either surrender or die. Perhaps he learned from his mentor's mistakes. He has also, on at least one occasion, used my own temper against me. Lucius paid the price with his life. I will not repeat that exercise, although I am sorely tempted. He has publicly mocked me as well as those who chose to follow me. I believe that the intention of this was to draw us into an ill-conceived battle. I will not oblige him a second time."

"I am sure that you are correct, Master," said Snape. "Do you intend to pursue other methods to punish the traitor at this time or let him worry about his fate for a bit?"

"Traitor?" asked Voldemort. "Surely, you didn't believe that was Peter. The amount of contempt and courage shown was beyond his ability to muster. No, I believe that Wormtail was captured with the rest of his men and an impostor substituted." He took another bite out of his toast and looked back at the pictures of the overly exuberant Pettigrew.

"The same might be true about Umbridge", concluded Snape. "With respect, the one true item in that paper was the fact that his Fortress is currently beyond our reach. The shear arrogance of Potter is proof of that as well as his parentage. His father was also particularly gifted in his ability to showcase his cleverness."

"It must not remain so," said Voldemort, letting a bit of his frustration show despite his earlier acknowledgment of it's counterproductiveness. "I have the ability to subdue my foes here and there but it will not have any major effect as long as Potter stands as a beacon of hope. For the time being, however, I will allow him to be just that. It will serve my ultimate purpose. In fact, I see now that the goal I pursued while trying to destroy Dumbledore remains unchanged with the exception of the target. I had hoped that the death of the old muggle-lover would cause others to lose their will to resist me. Instead, they gained a new champion. It might even be worth the trouble to feed him some of my less useful Death Eaters to build him up a bit more before the end."

Snape considered this. "I am sure that you are correct in your analysis, Master. If you allow the weak minded to pin all of their hopes on a false messiah, his fall might be enough to finish this war. It would be a brilliant irony."

"In the meantime," said Voldemort, "I wish to pursue several goals. These articles," he held up the newspaper, "while embarrassing, had a more strategic intent. Potter understands that my loyal followers, while dangerous and competent, have spent many years in Azkaban and will require time to adjust to current realities. He was hoping my temper would cause me to do his bidding and I would, once again, send out my Death Eaters to be rounded up, or slaughtered, like sheep. I admire his tactics because it is exactly the opposite from what I would have expected in the past. I shall not oblige him. Your mission, Severus, is to succeed where Wormtail failed. You may use whatever resources are necessary but by the end of the month I will expect to know the exact location of Potter's stronghold, it's significant strengths and weaknesses and at least an outline of a competent plan to take it from him. It still holds almost a quarter of my old strength within it's walls. Greyback and Dolohov, especially, must be recovered. Do not use the portkey target since it is almost certainly known, by now, to Potter."

"Yes, my Lord," said Snape. "It shall be as you command." He rose in preparation of departing.

"Send in Rookwood," commanded Voldemort. "I have an assignment for him, as well. I wish to buy time for my loyal followers to recover. Perhaps we will be able to annoy Potter as much as he has annoyed me."

Hermione stood at the front of the fourth floor classroom that McGonagall had assigned her. It was an unused astrology room that had stood empty for many decades since Dumbledore had decided that the stars had better things to do than predict if you should ask for a raise. Divination and Astronomy divided up the few items deemed useful and the zodiac themed room had fallen out of memory.

Hermione took a breath and said, in a loud and clear voice, "Good morning. My name is Hermione and I have a few things to discuss with you." She had decided to use just her first name for the time being. Once all of their prisoners were properly treated to remove Voldemort's loyalty spell, she would let them know of her relationship with Harry. Until then, she didn't want any of them going off on her. Remus and Tonks stood nearby next to two carts loaded with potion bottles. Jordy Krillian sat on a bench to the side of the room, having been already treated but needing to be briefed with the others. Luna and Dougal sat together behind the ancient teacher's desk with Hammer Coldiron standing like a rock behind them. The seven available members of the Hogwarts Free Elves were scattered about the room, just in case of trouble.

"First," she began, "we, that is Tonks and I," she indicated the witch next to Remus, "will be performing a spell on each of you which will actually disenchant you. The side effects of this counterspell are rather severe nausea and dizziness so we have prepared some potions to prevent the bulk of the symptoms. I would recommend that you take it." Two of the elves pushed the carts through the classroom while the others, along with Hermione, Remus and Tonks, watched to make sure they were all consumed. A harmless side effect of the potion was a mild amount of smoke from the ears so it was easy to spot, and correct, the holdouts. When everyone had finally taken the potion, Hermione spoke again.

"I'll give you a minute or so for the potion to achieve full potency and give you some other useful information." She paced back and forth for a moment to gather her thoughts. "After you are disenchanted," she began, "some of you will feel exactly the same and notice no difference. Some others might be a bit confused on the reasons behind your more recent actions and may begin to have a few regrets. A few of you might be totally at a loss to explain yourselves. It is to this third group that I wish to make the following point. No matter what you might have done or to whom you did it, you are not evil. We have already found one former Death Eater who had no intentions of joining but the spell we are intending to remove confused him, or more accurately compelled him, to join. This could be the same for several of you. Anything you did from that point on is not your fault and we will not hold it against you." She paused, preparing to say what Harry had requested, despite her own reservations on the subject. "I would also like to let you know that if you freely and willingly joined the Death Eaters, this will also not be directly punished. All we ask for is honesty. We will be able to tell. If you are a true Death Eater, say so. You will not be in any worse a situation than you are now. If you were just walking down the street and suddenly decided to become a Death Eater and did horrible things that you regret, tell us that, as well. If you are somewhere in between, work with us and we will determine your level of complicity. Just don't lie to us. It will be found out and you will be punished. It is a waste of our time and will do nothing to help you."

She looked around. The ears had all stopped smoking so she began on one side with Tonks on the other. "Destorum Obligatus Semprous," intoned Hermione, waving her wand at the first Death Eater. He gulped and sat back in his chair but didn't vomit or collapse. A moment later, clearly shaken but not seriously harmed, he nodded his head as a token of the passing of the nausea. Hermione smiled and moved on. Some showed a greater amount of distress and some less. After about ten minutes, all of the Death Eaters were treated.

Hermione observed that some of the Death Eaters, after initially recovering from the effects of her counterspell, began to become agitated again. She decided to have her witness testify.

"Jordy," she said, "I believe it would be a good time for you to speak." Jordy had requested to help. He had had over a week to contemplate the aspects of his past that was free choice and the parts that were due to the spell and thought he could offer some insights. He stood in front of the group.

"I am Jordy Krillian. Some of you know me and others might have just seen me among the Dark Lord's Death Eaters. I have been relieved of the spell the Dark Lord placed on me for a bit over a week and have had some time to think. I believe that I fall into the second group that Hermione Potter has described. I joined of my own free will but I do remember that I became very excited when I received my dark mark. From that point onward, I feel that I was enchanted. Looking back, I am ashamed, as some of you might now be, of the things that I did. After Mrs. Potter disenchanted me, I spent a day or so trying to figure it all out. I joined the Death Eaters for my own ends and knew I might be in a fight or two but I never intended to be party to cold blooded murder. A few days before my capture, though, and I was involved in just that. I did not, thank God, perform the act myself but I was there when we killed two harmless old muggles just so we could use their house. At the time, I thought nothing of it. They were in the way of the Dark Lord's plans. Now I can only regret my part. I do believe, and I implore you to do the same, that it was not totally my fault. I still find it hard to separate what I chose to do and what I was compelled to do. Everything seemed to make sense, at the time. As a rule of thumb, if you find yourself shocked at your actions, they weren't your fault."

"Thank you, Jordy," said Hermione. Jordy returned to his seat. "Now, if you'll start here," she indicated the Death Eater that she had treated first, "please go up to the teacher's desk where you'll be asked a couple simple questions. Again, we can tell if you're lying, so don't."

"I think I know this one," said Rufus. He and Minerva had been enjoying themselves by looking out the magical windows in all of the unoccupied flat in the Fortress. The view through the current window was particularly beautiful since the leaves had started to change. They had been having an impromptu game of 'Where the heck is that?'. Minerva was doing much better than Rufus although they had found a few that neither of them could recognize. Fortunately, Slider had pointed out that a small nameplate in the corner of each window identified it's view. "This is Loch Garve, I believe. I had one of my more enjoyable stake-outs down by that grove of oak trees." He pointed towards an outcropping a mile or so away. Minerva leaned into him to look down his arm.

"That is a nice spot," she agreed. "I think I like this window the best, so far." She didn't move away and he wasn't complaining. After a few moments, she straightened up and asked, "So, Rufus; do you think these flats will be satisfactory for your families?"

"They'd be pretty hard to please if they weren't," replied Rufus. "Slider, would you be able to have, let's see, I believe seven of these flats provisioned with food and linens by tomorrow morning?"

"Yes, Master Rufus," said Slider. "We is being able to be caring for families whenever they is being here."

"Fine," said Rufus. "I'll send an owl to Mary Geneva. She runs the protective custody program and should get the ball rolling on relocating those families." He turned to Minerva and said, "It really is a disgrace, the little amount that the Wizengamot will budget to protect and care for the families of aurors who gave their lives. They're living in little better than slums, right now. I'm glad that Harry was able to help us out."

"So am I, Rufus," agreed Minerva. "Slider, when we finish here, please arrange an area both inside and outside of the castle for any young children that might be joining us to play. Also, assign a specific elf to respond to each family, if necessary. That would be less stressful for everyone involved."

"Yes, Mistress," said Slider. He waited patiently for the two of them to decide on their next destination. Personally, he thought if you saw one of these flats, you've seen them all but the elderly witch and wizard seemed intent on actually seeing them all. The last assignments, however, seemed to indicate they were approaching the closing chords.

"Perhaps it would be better to floo Miss Geneva," said Minerva. "It's rather far to London from here and flooing would give her more time to prepare. We could call from my office, if you'd like." She then got a mischievous grin on her face and added, "I also have a bit more of the dog that bit us in my quarters. A sip or two might be enjoyable, while we wait for the others to finish their business."

"That sounds wonderful," said Rufus. "I can't go anywhere until Greta gets her dragon ride, anyway."

With a last look out the window, they had Slider take them to the Headmistress' office.

Landing on the small islet to the north of Muck, just to the east of it's twin, the two wizards, two elves and a mostly invisible dragon currently in the process of changing into an invisible wizard compared notes.

"I make it at nine forty-six," said Oliver. "So we know it's a bit over a hundred miles per hour but we'll have to check on the exact distance for any sort of accuracy."

Harry pulled off his cloak and joined them. "That's about how fast I was thinking," he agreed. "A bit over a hundred. You didn't look like you were pushing your firebolt very much but the wind was pretty hard on my eyes. I think that limited me more than anything else."

"We'll have to think about that," said Charlie. "The weak point on a dragon is it's eyes. Maybe some goggles would help." They all laughed at the thought.

"Maybe," agreed Harry, chuckling. "Let's go see if the other dragons have some suggestions."

"Just a moment," said Charlie. He had noticed a few wizards on brooms approaching from the other side of the islet. Within a couple of minutes, they had landed.

"This is a restricted area," stated the first wizard as he landed. "You will need to leave immediately."

"Good morning," said Charlie. The other two wizards landed near the first but seemed no less impatient. "We're not lost or tourists. I'm Charlie Weasley and I'm a dragon handler from Albania. This is Oliver Wood and Harry Potter."

The three newcomers seemed momentarily shocked but quickly recovered and shook everyone's hands; especially Harry's.

"Pleased to meet you," said the second wizard to have landed. "I'm Tom McFusty. This is Hunter Miller and the tall chap is Lowell McGurney.

"Charmed," said Charlie. "Are there any others nearby? I only ask because we'd like this trip to be a bit off the record."

"Julie is visiting her mother for the next day or so but Henry is checking on Herd Two and should be gone until noon," replied Tom. Apparently, he was the ranking team member. "What exactly are you looking for?"

"Well," said Harry, "I don't know if you read about it anywhere, but I am an animagus. My form is a dragon and we were doing some tests to determine what is, and isn't, possible. One thing we'd like to find out here is if it is possible for me to communicate with other dragons."

"We know you are an animagus, of course," said Lowell. "I don't suppose there are many dragoneers in the world who don't know that. As to talking with our lot; well, they aren't quite as vicious as they could be, for Hebridean Blacks, but it could be a bit touchy if they misunderstood you, for instance."

"I'll try to be nice to them," said Harry. "Are there any nearby?"

"They're all on the main island," answered Hunter. We live on the islets and they get the mainland. A bit of separation helps us to sleep at night. The alarms go off when a dragon is approaching us. That's how we knew you were coming in, although we couldn't spot the dragon. Are you small, or something?"

"Something," said Harry. "I'd like to keep that part quiet, if you don't mind. To answer your question, though, I'm about eighty or so feet tall."

"That should help," said Tom, impressed. "Our lot are in the thirty to forty foot range. They might think twice about getting too frisky."

"Let's go find out," said Charlie.

"Should I go in as a dragon or a wizard?" asked Harry. He didn't have a broom but could summon his, if necessary.

"I think a dragon would be best," said Tom. "Come in slow and easy and let them get used to you. As we said, you'll be a lot bigger than them but this is their territory so they might want to check you out. Just don't do anything offensive and it should be fine. The rest of us will hold back a few hundred yards to give them time to say hello."

"Sounds good," said Harry. "I assume that the three of you can handle 'your lot', as you put it, but I just have one last piece of advice for 'my lot'. If it looks like the other dragons don't want to play nice, have your guardian angels get your butts back to Hogwarts. I'll meet you there."

"No problem," said Oliver. "If there's one thing I don't want to be too near, it's a dragon that doesn't play nice."

"You'll feel a bit of a tingle, when you pass the containment shield," offered Hunter. "Don't worry; it will only hurt a bit and there won't be any real damage done."

Wondering if there might be any imaginary damage, Harry back away from the others and transformed into his dragon form.

"Ach, I'd not ever a believed it if I dinna see it meself," said Tom, reverting a bit to his native dialect. "You're bloody huge!"

Smiling; well, showing his enormous teeth in a very threatening manner; Harry leaped into the air and circled the wizards, waiting for them to join him. After everyone was airborne, they headed south, towards the mainland.

Author's Note:

I wanted to give everyone an update on the story and why it is taking longer per chapter. I have NOT abandoned the story. For a month or so, now, I have been working seven days a week on my regular job. Eleven and a half hours per day during the week and six per day on the weekends. I have one other part time job and a small business of my own so, at times, my days are pretty full. During the summer, I also play about a dozen parades with my band. Now that fall is approaching, things should slow down in that department, at least. I will still try to get at least a chapter a month out while I am on ultra-overtime. I appreciate your patience and hope you stick with both me and the story.

Thank you.

Dad