Chapter 40: Several Serious Talks

"Morning, you two," Sirius greeted them happily as he strode into the main room of their hideout, looking quite done up in a double-breasted, navy-blue suit. With purpose to his steps, the marauder made for the tea Harry and Hermione had prepared when they had first risen from the sleep of the just, and which now simmered away in a self-heating pot. Having filled a mug with hearty, warming and invigorating English breakfast blend, the man leaned back into the wall and smiled at the young couple, as if nothing was the matter.

Finally, Hermione, never one too patient with getting information, snapped. "Fine Sirius; as you won't tell us without any prompting: why are you wearing that?" she asked, a little miffed, going by the sound of her voice.

Sirius, ever the performer and not to be cowed by Hermione's archness for which, as Harry knew quite well, he was not the (sole) reason, took a sweeping bow followed by a grin. "This, my friends, is an indication of what a great base of operations I have found for us!" he declared pompously, sticking one of his hands through the gap between two buttons the same way Harry had seen a picture of Napoleon do. After some time without any further clarification on what exactly Sirius had planned for them, Harry and Hermione went back to nursing their teas and looking at the playful child-in-an-adult's-body with a mix of trepidation and eagerness.

That tense atmosphere was shattered by the surprising entrance of a fourth person; with a subdued quality to her, Daphne slowly made her way to the pot and started pouring herself a generous amount. Seeing her feeling down like this was painful for Harry, so without further ado, he rose from the spot in which he had been sitting, strode toward the black-haired girl and wrapped her up in a (hopefully) comforting hug, all the while being cautious to not rattle the hand with the scalding hot tea.

As Harry let go of his friend, he managed to catch a short glimpse at her pale face; there were streaks of salt visible where tears had run down her face. However, he did not have much time to take in her appearance, because directly after being released from Harry's grasp, Daphne was being wrapped up in one of Hermione's crushing hugs; obviously keeping an eagle's eye on the proceedings, Sirius just managed to hit the mug with a freezing charm, keeping both women from being burned by the hot liquid.

Now, safely ensconced in the warm cocoon of Hermione's arms, Daphne let herself go, her body wracked by sob after sob, her back being gently stroked by the incredibly awkward looking woman holding her. Harry could not understand what each of them were saying, but the tone of both their voices was acutely discernible, Hermione's soothing tones in sharp contrast to Daphne's frantic sobs.

After five minutes of standing around awkwardly, watching the heart-rending scene in front of them, Harry and his godfather were beckoned closer by his girlfriend. "Why don't you leave her with me?" Hermione proposed. "I know you're dying to show off whatever it is you have for us, and I think some time to process this would be good for Daphne…"

The look in her eyes made one more think apparent to Harry, and he shortly marvelled at how good he had become at reading such cues; that was assuming he had actually read Hermione's gaze correctly when he had interpreted it as, "Some girl time would be good."

"Come on, Sirius," he beckoned the older man quietly, careful not to disturb Daphne who seemed to have dozed off, held up only by Hermione's surprisingly strong arms. "You can present your fabulous idea to me."

Throwing a wary glance at the distraught girl, almost as if abandoning her now would come at some colossal karmic price to him personally, Sirius nodded reluctantly and waved for Harry to follow him out of the room. They met back only minutes later, with both of them decked out in warm winter gear, as per Sirius' request, and the marauder apparated them away.

OOOOOOOO

The two of them reappeared on a windy shore, overlooking an equally windswept sea. In the east, a weak winter's sun was slowly rising above the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and seagulls were soaring above their heads.

However, none of these things managed to keep a hold of Harry's attention for more than a few seconds, because hidden in a little bay, right in front of where he and Sirius had apparated was a ship.

Not any kind of ship, mind you; no, it was a genuine warship, well over 100 meters long and coated in a light-grey paintjob that made its military roots all the more obvious.

"Tada!" his godfather cheered next to him, probably satisfied by the completely gobsmacked expression Harry must have been wearing on his face. "Meet the HMS Phoebe," Sirius introduced cheekily. The marauder's declaration was followed by another wide grin, that sent all kinds of alarm bells ringing inside Harry's head.

"You stole a warship?" he inquired, trying but not completely managing to keep the accusatory tone out of his voice.

"Oy," the man in question returned, "I didn't steel her. Bought her fair and square, I'll have you know."

The glance he was getting this time around was more questioning than downright accusatory, and Harry continued in his interrogation. "So, let me get this straight…" he went on, still sounding rather dubious, if he did say so himself. "They just let you buy a warship?! The Royal Navy just let you buy one of their ships?"

Sirius now looking to the ground a little bashfully did not soothe Harry in the slightest. "Well, they might have been thinking I was gonna scrap it; would have been a real shame, because she's a great ship, let me tell you," he answered. "They took out all weapons and everything they saw as 'classified', I let the appropriate players know I was the owner of a major scrapping business, and that's that."

Satisfied that they would not get in trouble with the non-magical authorities, probably, Harry turned to taking in the prize his godfather had secured for them; it was a stroke of genius, really. With a moving base, even a breach in secrecy would not immediately result in them losing that base.

"You know, they had an HMS Sirius of the same class," the man wearing that very name commented with an almost dejected undertone. "A shame that they wanted to keep that one…"

Suppressing a roll of his eyes (oh the vanity of that man), Harry turned to his godfather and smiled. "Were you going to show me around?" he asked, eliciting an almost manic smile on Sirius' already ecstatic face.

"Follow me," the supposedly adult man ordered, and proceeded to lead Harry to a small dinghy, which had been tied to a rocky outcropping in the jagged coast, that made Harry wonder how in Merlin's name the rubber boat had managed to not be destroyed by the sharp stone. As if sensing his godson's confusion, Sirius explained, "I've put impervious charms all over that boat. Once we do the same with good, old Phoebe here, she'll be unsink…"

However, Sirius did not manage to actually finish his sentence, before he was being violently shushed. "Don't say that," Harry warned, only halfway serious. "Don't you know what happens to ships people call unsinkable?"

Understanding dawning on his face, Sirius nodded his consent and jumped into the dinghy, closely followed by Harry. With an almost inaudible whir, the small boat set out into the relatively shallow waters of the bay in which the future base of operations for whatever kind of resistance they were building was anchored.

"I took those schematics for powering drives and stuff from your workshop," the marauder explained over the din of the water splashing against the surface of the enchanted boat. "Good thing they were so detailed, otherwise I would never have gotten that ship here; enchanting was always something your dad was good at, not me…"

The melancholy tone with which the last part was said forcefully reminded Harry of that time Molly Weasley had scolded Sirius for treating Harry like a James-substitute; as much as he mistrusted the woman, he could not help but feel she was right about at least this one thing, from time to time.

"So, I've got the engines running and you can steer the thing," Sirius continued, pulling his godson from his ruminations, "but the navigation equipment does not work with all that magic around, so unless you want to painstakingly ward every single wire in that ship, we'll have to come up with something else. Had to stay in sight of the coast while bringing her here, lest I be lost at sea." One grand gesture towards the open sea later, Sirius almost gently eased them up to a ladder fixed to the side of the vessel.

A somewhat arduous climb delivered the pair to the sight of a giant (for a ship, that is) flat area, bordered by an almost monumental door. "Uh, Sirius," Harry began, not at all sure how exactly he was going to end his sentence. "…did this ship have a helicopter?"

Some grumbling from the general direction in which he had left the man seemed to confirm Harry's assumption. "They wouldn't let me buy one of those, though," he complained, while looking longingly at the free space on the deck. It took a few gentle reminders that they, in fact, would not even know what to do with a helicopter in the first place; considering their complete lack in skill concerning the usage of such a vehicle, it would really just take space away that might be otherwise employed.

From the helipad, their tour of the ship continued; there was sufficient space for the over 200 sailors that had once served on the frigate, large engine rooms that were now unoccupied, a gym for the crew to stay healthy, a med-bay, a central cafeteria.

However, with all of the rooms, and even most of the superstructure stripped down to the bare necessities, it all looked a bit sad. Even in the narrow tunnels of a functionally designed warship like this, their voices and steps produced impressive echoes against the empty walls and hollowed-out chambers.

"I will be the first to admit that it looks a little bleak, right now," Sirius conceded after a particularly dubious look over the barebones command centre he and Harry were currently standing inside, "but believe me, once me and the elves are done with the place, it will be a home away from home."

Hearing these words, a surprising sense of melancholy filled Harry almost to the brim. "No," he declared simply. "Not home away from home; this is a military ship, and always will be. Make it more comfortable, sure, but it has to remain exactly what it was built for." A feeling of oppression now over them, they followed the last few ladders up to the bridge of the once-mighty ship. The sun had now risen completely, bathing the emptied-out room in a warm light that belied both the cold weather outside and the bleak mood inside.

"I've been treating this like a game, but it's more than that, right?" Sirius observed, surprising Harry with an amount of self-reflection that did not come easily to the usually so silly man. "No matter how we play our cards, there will be fighting and death…"

Harry just groaned in agreement, gazing out onto the windswept sea illuminated by the morning sun. There was not much he could say to his godfather's assertion, because it was simply right; nothing more, nothing less. No matter how cowardly most of the blood-bigots were, they would not take kindly to all the privileges Harry and Hermione wanted to take from them, and a cornered animal was likely to act irrationally, lashing out against the world it felt it had been wronged by; Draco Malfoy, whenever any action against his bullying had been taken, was a great example of how the old elite would react to their advantages being questioned.

And all that was discounting the very real possibility of Voldemort regaining his body and, once again, waging war on the wizarding world. Probably aided by even more people who had the feeling that their power was being threatened; people like Umbridge, Fudge, or even the Greengrasses.

"Sadly, I think this will have to remain a warship," Harry observed with finality.

OOOOOOOO

Daphne was still gently snoring on Hermione's shoulder while she was sitting on the comfortable sofa, carefully reading a book so as not to disturb her obviously exhausted friend. Now having the opportunity to take a closer look at the woman, Hermione staggered at the picture of devastation; not that it was in any way surprising, really, considering what she had recently gone through. Still, after several weeks of surprising resilience, the blotchy eyes and sickly-pale skin were like a hit to the gut…

With a sudden jolt, Daphne left the relatively peaceful sleep she had been having, prompting Hermione to encircle her friend with a set of (hopefully) tender and caring arms.

"It's okay, Daphne," she soothed. "We're in Sirius, Harry and my safehouse, no one can find you here." The young woman these words were meant to comfort, though, only started crying louder at hearing them, sending Hermione in the emotional equivalent of a broom whose twigs had been severely burned. Despite her seeming security in coaching the two boys she had been hanging out with during her first Hogwarts years in matters of feelings, she was really out of her depths here; it was not something that either reading or being part of an incredibly one-sided war could really prepare you for. Also, being more accomplished in handling emotions was a rather low bar to climb when she was comparing herself to people who were as clueless as Harry and Weasley.

So, bereft of any sense of what exactly she could do for her friend, Hermione simply went for holding her close. Fortunately, that seemed to be a viable course of action, and soon the sobbing coming from the lump of clothes with black hair Hermione was holding close was getting quieter and less.

"Thanks," Daphne said with a sniffle, while freeing herself from the arms holding her and wiping some tearstains away from her pale face. "I really needed that…"

Hermione smiled indulgently, not at all feeling inconvenienced. However, there was something she was aching to ask, although she was not completely sure doing so would be in any way appropriate.

"Oh, come on, Hermione," her thoughts were interrupted. "I know that look on your face, you want to ask me something; just ask."

Feeling a tad guilty for being so easily readable, even for someone in such bad a state, Hermione asked the question that had been on her mind. "How come you're so shaken now? You seemed to be doing fine, before," she asked, more bluntly than she would have cared for.

The dejected woman started withdrawing herself a tad, making Hermione fear for the worst, but it was only so she could pull her feet up on the sofa and hug them to herself. "I don't really know," Daphne admitted. "I think… before, I could pretend this was all some game, or something was going to happen that would make all of this unnecessary. Now, it's just brutal reality."

That was something Hermione could hardly relate to; for her, having something ominous around had always only furthered the creative ways in which her imaginative mind could torture her: Harry gone and not to be found? Captured and murdered by Voldemort. A teacher asking her to stay behind after class? Falsely accused of cheating and thrown out of Hogwarts, to the unending disappointment of her parents. It spoke of a different mindset, how you approached something like this, Hermione was sure.

With a jolt she returned to the here and now, pulling her mind away from the multitude of terrible outcomes she had thought up over the years. "Well, at least you know the outcome now," she observed, in the hopes that an infusion of reality-based optimism would cheer her friend up.

Daphne just huffed sardonically and replied, "Yeah, I guess I do…"

"And, you're not alone," Hermione added, considering one more important thing for someone like Daphne, or Harry, in fact. Actually, now that she was thinking about it, even her; a sense of belonging was something they had all wished for and missed out on, for some reason. "Harry's there for you, Sirius is great fun, and I will be here as well. Don't forget our other friends, who we'll tell as soon as it's safe." Seeing the smile on Daphne's face was something that was immensely satisfying for Hermione, and she patted herself on the back a bit; in her mind, that was. It would not do to seem all too weird, even with only her friend there.

"Thanks, Hermione," Daphne actually smiled now. "That really helped. Now, Sirius let slip that it was you who cast that Fidelius we're now under; I expect to be tutored by both you and Harry, so I can embarrass those friends you have mentioned when they see me the next time by being better than them, despite not going to school anymore."

At first, the only answer Hermione could give to this was an annoyed groan. This was soon followed by a both despondent and enraged, "This man… you'd think being a nationally-renowned trickster would make you good at lying, but that man has all the subtlety of a mountain troll…

OOOOOOOO

"Sirius," Harry addressed his godfather currently sitting next to him on the metal roof covering the bridge. "We need to have a serious conversation."

"Hey, that's my bad pun," the man mock-grumbled immediately, only to be cut off almost immediately.

"I mean it, Sirius," came the quick reply, and Harry tried to convey how serious he was about this in those few words. "You've seen how Daphne was this morning, and if I had to guess then Hermione had to deal with even worse after we were gone. And that's all well and good, but we have to get back to Hogwarts at some point; after that, Daphne will need someone to be there for her that is not just inside a two-way mirror; that someone can't always be the whimsical marauder."

They both let the absence of words linger for a while as their perch was pelted by the strong, salty winds coming in from the open sea. The sigh his godfather uttered already confirmed his intentions before Sirius had any chance to actually answer. "I will try my best," was the spoken reply that soon followed. "But pup, you have to see I'm completely out of my depth here; I've just never expected having to take care of a girl hitting puberty, let alone one in Daphne's situation."

Harry chuckled back at the notion of Sirius taking the fatherly role for Daphne that to both their chagrin he had never been able to for his actual godson. "Just be there for her," he tried to encourage, seeing the scared core behind Sirius' usual bravado; it was sweet in a way, that Sirius would be so worried about this. "If she needs a hug, hug her; if she needs someone to teach her magic, teach her magic; if she needs someone to tell her off, tell her off." Noting the slight wincing his godfather had done on the last point in Harry's list, he moved to elaborate. "I know you sympathise with someone being 'locked up' in a sense, but as long as we don't know whether her parents have a way of tracking her, we can't risk Daphne just going out willy-nilly. It's going to be risky enough sneaking her to Diagon Alley to get her a new wand."

Confronted with all the new responsibilities he was now faced with, Sirius blanched a little; it was really amusing, Harry decided. "I don't think you'll be doing a lot of that, she's quite grown-up already, but I've also seen how someone is that is being locked up for their own good," he explained. "So, I want you to do everything to keep her occupied for as long as possible, and if you have to work through the entire Hogwarts curriculum to do it. And just when you think she can't take it anymore, you apparate someplace far away from our hideout and the castle, ward that place to hell and back and take her for some fresh air. Understood?"

This time, the only response was a glum nod. Still, it was accompanied by a much more self-assured look, which Harry counted as a definite win.

OOOOOOOO

The Daily Prophet lying on the table seemed to make a mockery of everything that had happened recently, as far as Xavier Greengrass was concerned. That most widely published newspaper was, for the first time in living memory, spewing lies that actually involved his family; that was a thought he was not feeling at all well with. Despite his misgivings, the Greengrass patriarch grabbed the paper again, with the intention of rereading the article he had only skimmed earlier.

Greengrass heiress vanished: dark forces at play?

By: Bartholomew Babble

London, Hogsmeade Yesterday morning, in the rush of students returning to their homes for a well-deserved holiday break, Daphne Selena Greengrass, eldest child of and heir-presumptive to the Earl of Greengrass-upon-the-hill has gone missing. According to sources inside the investigation, the girl has last been seen shortly before the departure of the Hogwarts Express.

"She was indeed behaving oddly," a source that wishes to remain unnamed has confirmed for us. "I thought it was these people she kept hanging around with, they were bound to have a bad influence on her."

Unfortunately, we were unable to ascertain who exactly our anonymous source was talking about. Further information on the happenings are in regrettably short supply, with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement only giving a small comment through their spokesperson, who indicated he was unable to comment on a running investigation. Our contact in the department was unable to indicate, whether a crime was being suspected.

However, we were able to track down the distraught parents of the missing girl and confer with them. "I only wish for my little girl to come home," said Xavier Greengrass, the worried father. "It was supposed to be such a happy occasion; we have just managed to arrange a betrothal with a good family."

"I can only assume that this is the work of subversive elements wishing to undermine my and Earl Greengrass' alliance," the designated father-in-law, Mr. Lucius Malfoy commented.

With the possibility of a crime not ruled out, the two families have offered a joint reward of 100000 Galleons for any hint leading to the safe return of Daphne Greengrass to her family. She is about 5 foot 4 inches tall, has a pale complexion and long dark hair, and was last seen wearing a Hogwarts uniform with Slytherin embroidery.

Please direct all hints to Senior auror Johnson of DMLE.

Another scoff escaped Xavier's mouth reading the mixture of half-truths and utter bullshit printed in the paper; still, Lucius had a lot of sway over matters both in the Ministry, as well as in the Prophet. The shame of a young woman running away, a thought-out plan ready nonetheless, would be a stain on the Malfoy family not to be taken lightly. Still, he would much rather have his daughter back than making sure there was no damage to Lucius Malfoy's reputation, not to mention that son of his. They were both bad news, as much was clear to the worried father; yet, to him, no price was too high to keep his family safe. And in the face of a surviving Lord Voldemort, a possibly immortal Voldemort, the Malfoys were the best chance of that happening.

"Daphne, where are you?" he thought desperately for what had to be the hundredth time.

OOOOOOOO

The quartet of people currently staying at the Potter-cave was looking at the same issue of the Prophet Xavier Greengrass was; all of their very mixed emotions were clearly showing on their faces, most of them saddened for the disheartening turn the life of their friend had taken. Still, something struck Harry as rather weird.

"What do they mean 'they don't know, whether there was a crime'?" he questioned, perplexed by the misinformation. "I can't believe that Senior auror would be quite so stupid…"

Sirius snorted in reply, threw another glance at the paper and replied, "They're not, but imagine the shame of the bride designated for Draco Malfoy rather running away than marrying him. As far as involvement from the wizarding public goes, it's the same for both; when people see Daphne, they floo-call, or send an owl. Doesn't make a difference, whether she's been abducted or ran away."

Considering his godfather's assessment, Harry grunted in acceptance of the man's conclusion. All that superficial tranquillity was disrupted, though, when Daphne had gotten a good deal into the article and suddenly blew her top. "'I only wish for my little girl to come home'," she mocked, her voice dripping with acid. "And the only subversive elements I can see are you people. And the only crime I can think of was the two of you trying to marry me off to that colossal creep." The black-haired young woman starting pacing around the table in visibly intense anger. Another improvement, as far as Harry was concerned.

"On to different matters," Hermione made the attempt to redirect their conversation, while giving her boyfriend glance that told him to join that very effort. "We should map out what we wish to do during the break."

Harry affirmed her assessment, nodding along with as much enthusiasm as he could currently muster. "Hermione and I will have to work on the enchantments for the ship, placing the crystals in the old engine room and the bridge, come up with some enchantments to replace the navigational instruments and think about what we want to do with all of the available space."

Now it was Hermione's turn to nod along. "We also have to place the enchantments for our duplicate of the Room of Requirement on at least one of the rooms in the cave; Sirius, if we show you how to apply them, could you do the same for more of the rooms in here and in the ship?" she inquired, looking at the marauder with a raised eyebrow.

"Sure can," he replied, raising his own eyebrow in a gesture that clearly showed how very much he disliked being questioned like this. Their non-verbal sparring match was interrupted by someone clearing their throat loudly. The source turned out to be Daphne, who had reacquired her chair and was looking at the people gathered around the table with a dubious look.

"Someday you'll have to tell me how you can do all this stuff, what with only being 12 and 13," she declared, before her features slid into a half-hearted grin. "For now, I will be happy with learning as much as possible. Can we please go and get my new wand soon? I don't want to just sit around, while all of you have something to do. You could teach me that enchantment, for example."

Harry was just beginning to mull over the merits and disadvantages of that course of action when another person clearing their throat interrupted his thoughts.

"I believe you have forgotten something very important," Sirius observed with all the gravitas he could muster, just before his features morphed into the almost child-like smile that looked much more at home there. "There's also gonna be Christmas. Just think how pissed the Greengrasses would be if we bought Daphne a present with the money we made from our deal with them…"

OOOOOOOOO

AN: Hi all.

As previously announced, I have a lot to do for university, which means I don't have as much time for writing as I would like. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy the newest chapter of my story, as always, leave a review with what you thought.

Happy new year,

alexandertheII