Chapter 42: To Calm and Upset

With everyone diligently working on something or other, Thursday the 24th was onto them before anyone could even blink an eye. In many ways, it was a hotly anticipated date, because Harry and Hermione had invited all their friends to Potter Castle, and all of them were scheduled to appear, including Luna as the newest addition to their group. However, there was something the young couple feared: lying to these people who meant so much to them about Daphne. It had been a long and arduous process, but in the end only one outcome had been possible; they would have to conceal Daphne's fate just a little while longer. Sure, all of their friends were supremely trustworthy, yet, it could not be ruled out that they would come into a situation where they might find themselves accidentally spilling a lot.

So, with a heavy heart Harry got up that morning and mentally repeated the cover story they had come up with to both hide their involvement in the matter and reassure their friends that Daphne was not in the hands of a dangerous criminal.

Breakfast was a subdued affair, the general mood undulating between excitement and apprehension. Daphne, who was doing as much magic as possible with her new wands, had just finished levitating the last piece of bacon onto her plate, when a crack announced the arrival of one of the elves living at the castle.

"Master Harry, Missy Her-mini, Miss Daphne, Mister Padfoot," who turned out to be Steward greeted the assembled group, "Master Harry, youse friends be here. Jarpey be putting them in the old ladies' room, so they not be getting wet, outside."

Harry threw a glance to first his girlfriend, who seemed ecstatic at seeing their friends again, even with the added complications, and then Daphne; the woman had a pale quality to her face that was even more pronounced than usual, but was putting on a brave face, just the same.

"You two should just go," she declared, sounding as if there was a big frog sitting in her throat. "I'll be here, doing as much magic as I can."

Reluctantly, Harry and Hermione took the hands offered by Steward and were quickly whisked away to the common room of Potter Castle. Without having much time to really situate himself at his destination, Harry was suddenly ambushed by a hug that, had he not known better, he would have said had been one of Hermione's. In actuality, it turned out that the person who had surprise-hugged first him and then his girlfriend was none other than Tracey Davis. It seemed her best friend's disappearance had really taken a toll on the normally tough girl, as much was apparent from her haggard appearance. Their greeting by Tracey was soon followed by much less flamboyant, yet equally heartfelt ones by Susan, Hannah, Luna and Neville.

A quick glance outside told everyone that the relentlessly wet, southern-English weather would apparently adhere to its longstanding policy of 'rain whenever possible', so instead of enjoying the beautiful surroundings of Potter Castle, the group gathered around the warm fireplace. Everyone began sharing what they had been up to since the day the Express had brought all them back from Hogwarts, but Harry could tell that their hearts were not in it.

"We really have to address the elephant in the room," he observed, turning all attention onto himself. "I know it, you know it; we all want to talk about Daphne."

Following Harry's statement, a great deal of relief went through the assembled group of friends. Obviously, everyone had just been rather reluctant to bring up that particular subject.

"I, for one," began Hermione, immediately ending her boyfriend's moment in the spotlight, "think she is completely fine. Honestly, I would be willing to bet she ran away to not have to marry that creep, Malfoy. I mean, who would abduct someone from the Hogwarts Express?"

Approving nods could be seen all through the assembly, and even the most scared looked somewhat better; if Hermione said something, it was usually right, after all. However, that did not mean one should not question, obviously. Or rather, pre-empt any kind of question by asking it before anyone else could.

"If Daphne had just run away, wouldn't she have been found by now?" Harry pointed out, to the clear consternation of his group of friends. "Wouldn't the Ministry have some kind of tracking her, or at least her wand when she uses magic? Or maybe her parents have some sort of tracking spell on her?"

Obviously intrigued by his points, the group started visibly thinking on what he had brought up, thereby fulfilling exactly what Harry had hoped for. Sure, Sirius was a member of one of the old pure-blooded families, Hermione was incredibly savvy in finding stuff out and he himself was not a slouch either, if he did say so himself; however, there was always the chance one of their friends had picked up something over the years they had not found, some way in which the Ministry or Daphne's parents could indeed be able to track the runaway. Especially Susan who, despite her disinterest in following in her aunt's footsteps, had picked up quite a lot over the years, promised to be a treasure-trove of information.

However, it was Neville who started talking, first. "If the first thing she cast was some kind of ward, the Trace would be absolutely useless," he commented, deeply in thought. Looking up and seeing all of their faces with shocked expressions on them, he moved to explain, "What? My gran talks to me, too. She happens to know a lot. And you just know that if Daphne wanted to run away, she would meticulously plan the whole thing, including how to fool the Trace."

"Wait a minute," Tracey suddenly piped up. "You're forgetting that she got a custom wand that was not from Ollivander; her wand never had the Trace on it, in the first place. So, every tracking charm placed on her would have to be one her parents installed; if only we knew more about that kind of enchantment."

Almost as if collectively holding their breath, the group turned toward Susan, who promptly started to redden immensely. "I'll ask my aunt tonight, she's coming over for Christmas," she mumbled, clearly keen to get everyone's attention away from her.

"Well, if Daphne really ran away," Hannah went on morosely, "how come the Prophet said a crime could not be ruled out?"

In comment, Harry scoffed derisively, prompting a questioning look to appear on the girl's face. "Sorry, Hannah," he said softly, before proceeding more harshly. "Either someone in the Aurors' office is trying to cover their bases by not ruling anything out, which is a good thing, or Malfoy put pressure on the paper to print it like this. Think about it: the idea of marrying the noble young Malfoy was so horrendous a girl from a respected family would rather vanish without a trace. That would leave a stain as hard to erase as the Dark Mark."

With everyone joyously agreeing to that, even though their agreement had something forced to it, talk soon returned to lighter topics.

OOOOOOOO

That evening, Harry was lying in his bed, contentedly enjoying the comforting warmth of the covers when, with a small creak, his door was pushed open. Within moments, the person standing in the doorway was illuminated by Harry's wandlight; however, his worries were completely unfounded, as the intruder turned out to be none other than Hermione. She was looking at the wand in her boyfriend's hand almost pensively, almost as if the mere presence of this weapon violated some sort of unwritten law or code.

"Can I sleep here," she asked with a small voice, with her tone carrying the same emotions her eyes did. Not one to kick this amazing girl to the curb, and also secretly happy that she had come after the day he had had, Harry lifted the covers for her to slip under. As her smaller body pressed up to him, he could feel how cold she was, even with having worn her warm dressing gown; it seemed she had been standing in front of his door for a good bit of time.

"Why didn't you just come in?" Harry asked the shivering woman that was currently playing the small spoon to his large one. "You're trembling from the cold, and your feet are freezing."

Foregoing an answer for the moment, she simply cuddled in closer; he could only guess it was to siphon off as much body warmth as possible. When she finally did answer, it was with the same small, very un-Hermione voice as before. "I hate lying to our friends," she stated simply, an incredibly sad quality to her tone one could seldomly hear from her. "I hate having to be on edge all the time and sleeping with my wands under the pillow."

Without any meaningful answer to that, especially since he felt the same way, Harry just tightened his arms around his girlfriend and proceeded to lightly stroke her tummy through the pyjama.

"Know what else I hate?" Hermione went on, obviously not expecting an actual answer. "We only sleep in one bed when something bad or monumental has happened."

Harry hummed in agreement, up until a thought struck him. "You know, that's not something we have to keep that way, really," he observed. "We'll have to tell Daphne about who we are sooner rather than later; after that, us sleeping together when we're here or at the castle won't raise any eyebrows from anyone permanently living there."

Somehow, the sunny smile suddenly spreading on Hermione's face was visible even on the back of her head. "Should we tell her tomorrow?" she asked hopefully, yet with a good portion of doubt mixed in. "She really has enough on her plate without us adding to it."

After some deliberation, Harry had reached a conclusion that would allow him to share his bed with his beloved girlfriend for another good week. Of course, the main reason for his decision was for Daphne to be happy, obviously. Definitely.

"I think it could be a good thing to distract her from her first Christmas away from her family," Harry observed. "Also, what would the alternative be? Tell her later? Because we will have to tell her; she's a smart one, and she will notice that things are out of the ordinary with us, just like Sirius did."

Seemingly content with his reasoning, Hermione soon fell into a deep sleep that gently let her body rise and fall with her breathing. Harry, on the other hand, was grappling with another thing on his mind, now that he and Hermione had decided on telling their friend everything. How would she react to having been lied to for more than a year? Somehow, Harry found it hard to imagine anything but a bad reaction.

OOOOOOOO

For Harry Potter, Christmas morning began with a tickling sensation. For his sleeping mind, the sensation was a rather large conundrum; in a way, it was familiar, yet something not often experienced. As he proceeded to approach real consciousness, more of his immediate surroundings became clear. He was feeling pleasantly toasty, very rested and there was a warm, comforting weight pressing down on his left shoulder and side.

Along with all these senses, the memory of the previous evening reappeared, and the weight to his left was immediately explained as Hermione; the idea that mornings like this one would be more common, at least until they returned to the school, put a large smile on his face that not even the thought of their later conversation with Daphne had any chance of erasing. Realising that his girlfriend was still fast asleep, Harry resigned himself to the monumental sacrifice of being her pillow for a good deal longer. However, he had obviously made that consideration without thinking of his sometimes rather overeager godfather.

Indeed, Sirius chose that exact moment to barge into the door. Seeing their sleeping arrangements, he gave Harry a wide grin and a thumbs-up, even as Hermione was starting to rouse due to the man's not exactly noiseless entry.

After owlishly blinking the last vestiges of sleep away, Hermione gave a warm, loving look to Harry, which was quickly replaced by one of horror as she realised who else was in the room. "Sirius," she scolded, "what are you doing here?"

The scolded one simply grinned as he began his retreat, and the door had only just fallen shut, when the cushion Hermione had thrown after him hit. They could just faintly hear a, "I could ask you the same…" before they were left in complete silence. Harry, who had remained comfortably ensconced under the blankets, opened his arms in a clear invitation for his girlfriend to cuddle up. Having done exactly that, she gently nuzzled his neck, right below the ear.

"Harry," she began gently, her voice filled with incredible warmth. "I know you well enough to know that you're worried about Daphne…"

As a response, or maybe more to get some time to think of a real response, he just huffed sardonically, while at the same time marvelling at this woman's insight into how his mind worked.

"It will be alright," Hermione soothed, while her left hand was slowly stroking his chest. "Daphne is a practical one; she'll understand. At least, if she believes us that is."

Even though his fears were far from abated, Harry chose to hold them down for the moment, and instead held his girlfriend close for a few more minutes. Dwelling on being able to do this more often in the near future was so much better than thinking about how their friend was going to react to the revelations about to be dumped onto her. When the old, mechanical alarm clock on the nightstand told him it was already nine in the morning, he gently shook Hermione to full wakefulness again, while mentally preparing himself for the day to come. However, there was one thing he had discounted, and that was the pile of presents placed on his room's floor.

So, with Hermione by his side and once again in her fluffy dressing gown, Harry turned to the not inconsiderable number of gifts arrayed before him. The first one that drew his attention was actually the one looking the least ostentatious; it was a simple envelope made of red paper, addressed to both him and his girlfriend. Counting on having to open more presents shortly, while Hermione was without any for the moment (she had resisted going back to her own room), he handed this one over for her to open. Instead, Harry grabbed a large, flat packet in gorgeous blue paper with a large, silver bow.

Freeing the present from its cover revealed its identity; it was a giant box of the best chocolate the wizarding world had to offer, along with a note from Tracey.

Merry Christmas Harry,

I really enjoyed seeing everyone for Christmas Eve, and hope you have a great day with Sirius and Hermione.

Greetings,

Tracey

PS: I managed to sneak in some of the ones with firewhisky and mead.

Reading the short yet sweet message, Harry was first touched and then amused. Although, considering what alcohol had the tendency of doing to a growing teenage body, he would probably just taste one or two, leaving the rest to his incorrigible godfather and whatever conquest the man brought home next.

Hermione seemed very amused by the card she was reading as well; prompted by Harry, she got a grip on herself and proceeded to read aloud.

"I've already gotten you a damn ship, and you want even more? My, you're greedy," she relayed what now turned out to be Sirius' words. "Well, in that case, let me offer you the following: Come speak to me later and I might just tell you what I have thought of…"

Harry groaned in annoyance. "I just know he's going to let us suffer somehow," he analysed wearily. "And we just gave him more ammunition by staying in the same room overnight."

Still, any kind of weariness was doomed the moment he felt Hermione snuggle into his side.

"So worth it, though," she declared contentedly.

OOOOOOOO

"You wanted to speak to me?" Daphne greeted Harry and Hermione as she sat down opposite them at the table following their splendid Christmas Breakfast, prompting the young man to question what exactly 'wanted' meant in this; he did not really want to talk to Daphne, yet he felt it was a necessity.

"If you want to call it 'want'…" his girlfriend muttered next to him, giving voice to his thoughts. "But basically, yes."

Their friend looked at them both curiously, obviously a little worried by their cagey behaviour. So, to not scare her anymore than necessary, Harry began the tale. "Remember how you said we would have to tell you how we can do the things we do?" Getting an insecure nod from the black-haired girl, he continued. "Well, you were right. The reason we can do all these things even though we are still so young is simply that we are older than we seem."

And with that introduction, along with copious assistance by his girlfriend, Harry told the tale of the original timeline. From first year, where he had barely survived his second encounter with the self-styled Lord Voldemort, to second year where (just for a change) not only he, but Hermione had almost died as well.

"The basilisk horn!" Daphne exclaimed loudly, the shock etched clearly on her face, as Harry talked about the identity of 'Slytherin's monster'. "That's where the core for my wands came from… so you've killed it already?" Harry nodded, while the young woman opposite of him pondered the implications of what she had been told. "Wait; that means my wands has a piece of Slytherin's monster for a core."

She pulled out one of the magical foci, now looking at it distinctly appalled. As clueless as Harry was feeling at that moment, Hermione seemed to have an idea what was going on. "Don't worry, Daphne," she soothed gently, "this doesn't say anything about you. From what the basilisk told Harry, she was never intended to simply kill students; she was a guardian, put there by Salazar himself and simply misused by Voldemort."

Though Harry knew this was stretching the truth a little, considering Slytherin had completely expected the basilisk to have to kill muggles and muggleborns, he kept silent; giving Daphne even more to contemplate right now seemed like a bad idea. So instead, he continued with the story of his, Weasley and Hermione's exploits, picking it up with the third year's escaped convict, fourth year's tournament, fifth year's secret defence club, sixth year's numerous assassination attempts and finally the horcrux hunt of year seven. To his surprising regret, the young couple had decided to not tell Daphne what exactly they had been hunting and how exactly Harry had been able to return. However, everything else was revealed, from their suspicions and insights regarding potions, all the way through what had already been achieved since their return.

"So, with us basically already beyond OWL curriculum, we had to find other stuff we could study, otherwise we would be bored to death," Harry finished his explanation, hoping that by framing the whole thing as an explanation it would seem more like it was answering a whole host of questions, rather than throwing up a whole lot more. Hermione on her part, simply smiled reassuringly at her friend, while still managing to glare at her boyfriend for suggesting school could ever be boring.

Daphne, on the other hand, just sat there for a while, the thousand-yard-stare adorning her features not exactly an encouraging sign. Harry was just about to freak out when the young woman suddenly seemed to return to the here and now; the befuddled gaze she gave the two of them spoke bounds, though the lack of any animosity was both surprising and reassuring.

Finally, she shook her head a little, and observed sarcastically, "Well, that certainly answers a few questions; to be honest, I had simply expected something like 'we got advanced tutoring at an early age'." Then, levelling a fearful gaze at them both, she went on, "So you're really sure there will be war? That's why you've been preparing like crazy, with this cave, the ship and recruiting the professor."

Hermione nodded sadly. "We hope to be able to prevent another war with Voldemort, but even if we manage that, the purebloods will not take kindly to their power being taken away. They've lived privileged lives for so long, many of them have come to accept it as their birth right, or something. Not all of them, for sure, maybe not even the majority. Problem is, a vocal minority with enough gold to spread around is quite capable of instigating a civil war all on their own. Especially if the majority of decent people just stand by without doing a thing."

With a sad look on her face, and presumably thinking about everything she knew of the wizarding high society, Daphne nodded. "You're probably right," she agreed despondently, "and with how the Ministry's run, I don't think there would be much in their way, certainly not the press." An air of desperation around her, the young runaway shrugged.

"If you don't mind me saying," Hermione noted, after taking a good long look at their friend, "you seem surprisingly composed after hearing all this. I know Sirius surely did not take it as well…"

The addressee just huffed sardonically and gave the young couple opposite her a hard stare. "I suppose I've reached the maximum of reaction to huge news; there's a lot about magic we don't know yet, and your story answers a lot of questions. Now tell me: How can I help?"

OOOOOOOO

Carried by cold winds of the Scottish Highlands, a white snowy owl was winging her way through the snow-covered landscape. On one talon, right where her human had put it, a letter with a small packet had been fastened. Unfortunately, due to both the size and importance of this delivery, Hedwig had been unable to go hunting during her long trip, but she would soon remedy that, for her senses were telling her she was nearing the one it was meant for. Having seen the contents of the packet, the perceptive owl knew she would not be carrying anything on the return trip, freeing her talons for all the mice she could find. Given the season, it would have to be a lot of them; always so skinny in winter, these rodents.

OOOOOOOO

On the table in front of Harry, Hermione, Daphne and Sirius, a mirror was furiously vibrating away. As he picked up the communication mirror, Harry activated the enchantments, and in front of them appeared Professor MacGregor. She looked intensely grim, which was not surprising, given the general theme of the holidays and MacGregor's completely lost family.

"Merry Christmas," Harry greeted cheerily, managing to bring out something on the stern woman's face that almost looked like a smile. "You don't have to hold back; Daphne knows as much as you about us. "

While that was not exactly true, because Daphne knew a good deal more, telling the sometimes-grumpy DADA teacher that might be considered a sticking point. So instead, the newly informed young woman had been briefed beforehand to not reveal too much about what she knew. Along with that, she had been informed that ramping up her occlumency training would be a necessity.

"Merry Christmas," MacGregor grumbled, following similar greetings by the other three people in the cave. "This mirror will certainly be handy."

After giving a fittingly dignified nod, Harry continued with the reason he had called their teacher in the first place. "First, we wanted to inform you of Daphne, here," he led with the most obvious reveal of them all. "You've met Draco Malfoy, so I can only imagine why a wonderful young woman like her would have no interest in being forcefully married to something like that."

Surprisingly un-shocked, MacGregor simply nodded for him to continue. Instead, Sirius was the one to go on; it had seemed only fair, considering it had been he that found the ship in the first place. "I have been able to procure a rather unique base of operations for us; a frigate that was once operated by the Royal Navy under the name of HMS Phoebe."

In the mirror, the Professor's eyes narrowed critically. Sirius, looking surprisingly out of concept, moved on. "Over a hundred meters long, once housed well over 200 enlisted personnel and officers. It's been completely gutted, though; there's only barebones left. No furniture, hardly any machinery. We're going to put it under the Fidelius later…" Next to him, Hermione cleared her throat. "Fine; Hermione and Harry will put it under the Fidelius later. The engine already runs on magic, but we need someone who can navigate, and were hoping you might know someone."

What followed Sirius' explanation were a few moments of deliberation on MacGregor's part. "I might have someone for you…" she deliberated. "An old friend of my late husband volunteered for service in the Royal Navy, and he finally became the Commander of one of their ships during the Cold War. I think he's retired now, does fishing trips for tourists. He should be able to at least teach someone what they need to know."

OOOOOOOO

AN:

Hi all,

I've recently reread a few of the earlier chapters and corrected some mistakes. I have uploaded the corrected Chapters 1 through 5 here, as well as on my new AO3 account. I would give you the link, but honestly, doing that whole spacing thing so FFN doesn't delete the link is really annoying. I trust you to be able to look for the author alexandertheII on AO3, should you wish to read the story over there.

As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, please leave a review and enjoy your weekend,

alexandertheII