Chapter 41: Out in the Open

June 2nd, 1996

Albus Dumbledore floated into the kitchen at 12 Grimmauld Place. Sirius and Remus were already there.

"I assume you have heard?" asked Sirius. Dumbledore had been a regular guest ever since he had been let go from the school. Sirius didn't know where he was staying otherwise.

"I have," said the former Headmaster, "Though only the vaguest rumours. Ten dead Death Eaters in the middle of the Ministry isn't something that is easy to keep quiet."

Snape stepped through the fireplace into Grimmauld Place. "Sorry I'm late," said Snape, "Potter moved against Umbridge last night and the whole place is in an uproar. Umbridge is missing, and every member of the Inquisitorial Squad has been kicked off for having a drunken party, apparently on Umbridge's dime."

"I don't believe that Dolores would do such a thing," said Dumbledore lightly.

"Neither does Minerva, so she isn't punishing anyone, but she did suspend Umbridge and disband the Inquisitorial Squad," said Snape.

"So Harry was definitely at Hogwarts last night?" asked Dumbledore.

"You don't think Harry did this?" asked Sirius aghast.

"No, not really, but it was possible that he was mixed up in it somehow," assured Dumbledore, "Voldemort would be very eager to lure Harry into the Department of Mysteries."

"It is possible that he had some involvement, on the edges," said Snape, "He definitely provided the information whoever did this needed to lure the Death Eaters into such an effective trap. Though even I doubt he would have done so if he had known they would be so brutal. I would guess that he either didn't know he was giving information, or he didn't know what it would be used for."

"Did Harry know about the prophecy?" asked Dumbledore.

"Probably," admitted Sirius, "And from what I can gather, he may have dealt with it some time ago. Harry hasn't said so, but I believe he is capable of Apparating."

"That may have been why they moved now," said Snape, "If the prophecy was gone, it would only be a matter of time before someone noticed once Harry is out of school. The Dark Lord would definitely check up on it at that point."

"Who could this be?" wondered Remus.

"Possibly one of Mr. Zabini's Irish friends?" asked Snape, "They are very anti-Death Eater."

"I haven't seen any sign of them fighting outside of Wales and Ireland," observed Dumbledore, "Though I am by no means an expert on the magical underworld."

"Greengrass might try something like this," said Sirius, "He has been putting up a pureblood faction to oppose You-Know-Who."

"That could be inconvenient," said Dumbledore, "Though if they are willing to help fight Voldemort, I will gladly accept their aid. Though, I am concerned by the fact that they killed everyone."

"It makes sense though," said Remus, "Now that Azkaban is no longer safe, turning them in means they're back on the street in a few months."

"You think this group would have spared their prisoners if they could have?" asked Snape, derisively.

"I don't know," admitted Remus, "But it is a possibility."

"We cannot claim to know anything about this yet," said Dumbledore, "So we must keep our eyes open. Sirius, see if you can find out what Harry knows about this."

"I will, though I'm not going to betray his trust if he asks me to keep it a secret from you," said Sirius.

"Sirius…" started Dumbledore.

"Albus, he really doesn't trust you right now," said Sirius, "I'm trying to mend fences between the two of you, I really am, but it seems to me that you need to come clean with him about what is going on. He needs my guidance right now, but he won't accept it if I go telling you all his secrets."

"You just said he can Apparate," pointed out Snape.

"Do you think Harry cares that you know that?," asked Sirius, "If anything, it should put you at ease."

"Severus, I need a word with you in private before I head off," said Dumbledore.

Sirius couldn't hear what the two of them discussed, but he could see Snape's reaction. He was not happy. He was very, very not happy.

XXXXX

June 14th, 1996

Harry's O.W.L.s were a breeze.

"The only one that I have any concerns about is the Care of Magical Creatures O.W.L. to be honest," said Harry to Hermione on their last day at Hogwarts for the year, "Tom Riddle really only paid attention in that class when it involved snakes. He wasn't good at Herbology either, but thanks to you and Justin, I've got that one nailed down."

They were sitting in the common room, but no one else was there except for Daphne and Tracey.

"Oh, I don't know, I wish I'd had more time to prepare," said Hermione.

"Hermione," said Harry firmly, "I did fine. If I did fine, I'm sure you did."

"But…" started Hermione.

"No buts," said Harry, "You did fine."

Hermione let out a nervous laugh, "I know, I know, I've always been like this about tests."

"I do feel sorry for all the students who needed help in Defense, not having a professor to help them," said Daphne.

Umbridge had been found a couple of days after Fred, George and Luna had left her in the Forbidden Forest. Apparently the first words she'd said to the centaurs who picked her up were "Get away from me, you filthy half-breed!" As a result, the centaurs had driven her away with rocks and she had wandered lost until Hagrid had found her tending to some secret business he had in the forest. She'd called Hagrid a half-breed as well, but Hagrid had been a lot more even tempered about the whole thing.

She returned to Hogwarts to find that all her positions at the school had been stripped from her. This included her Inquisitor position, which the Wizengamot had stripped from her just hours before. According to Percy, she still had her position as Senior Undersecretary, but Fudge had ordered her to take at least six months vacation, probably more, like a year. Percy also said that she was well aware that her memory had been tampered with, but whoever had done it had really done a number on her.

McGonagall had not been amused by the use of memory charms. However, when she had confronted Harry about it, he had simply denied that he had anything to do with putting memory charms on Umbridge.

"Listen, Headmistress, I'm flattered that you think I'm behind this," Harry had said, 'It indicates that you think only I could have pulled something like this off. But I wasn't there. I didn't do it. I don't know how Umbridge got to the forest from the castle. The truth is, almost every student in the castle had a motive to hurt her. And some group of them did."

That had satisfied her. It had been a lie, but only by omission. Harry certainly had been behind it, even if he didn't execute the mission. Harry didn't feel guilty about it though. Umbridge was completely vile. Luna had been absolutely devastated when she'd come out of Umbridge's mind. She wasn't a particularly skilled Legilimens, but what she had seen from the small amount of contact she had, in addition to her auras, had been horrifying.

"Dolores Umbridge is exactly the sort of person who would march people off to death camps," Luna had said.

And so now, here they were, at the end of term. It seemed weird. They would all be going their separate ways again soon. And Harry wasn't sure how to feel about anything.

"Hey, Harry," said Blaise, who walked in, fresh from a visit with Seamus no doubt, "Have a minute?"

"Yeah," said Harry. He got up and followed Blaise to Blaise's room.

"Listen Harry, you're a good friend, and I want to help you in any way I can," said Blaise, "but I think it's clear that we're headed in different directions here. So if you need my help against the Death Eaters, I'll do what I can. But I'll do it as part of the underworld. Seamus and I will be joining this summer. And we're going to do what we need to do to take down the Dark Tosser, but I don't think you're going to approve of how I do it."

"Probably not," said Harry, "Still, I wish you luck."

"Thanks," said Blaise, "But remember, if you do need the magical underworld for anything, I'm your guy. We're still on the same side, just playing by different rules."

"You will be back for school next year?" asked Harry.

"Probably," said Blaise, "Seventh Year is iffy though."

"C'mon man, who's gonna be the Seventh Year prefect once I get Head Boy?" asked Harry.

"You that confident?" asked Blaise.

"The way I see it, it's fifty/fifty," said Harry, "My only competition is Anthony. Ernie's a nice guy but he's just a bit too narrow minded to get it. And Ron, well, Ron's gonna be Quidditch Captain. He wouldn't accept Head Boy over that. C'mon man, we don't want Nott being a prefect."

"Maybe they could choose a second girl," said Blaise, "Millie would be okay."

"If only," said Harry.

"I'll see, it will depend on how much I'm needed," said Blaise, "Soon enough we'll be taking the war to my mother. That will take everything we've got."

Harry nodded sadly. Blaise had been one of his best friends for five years now. The idea that Blaise was now set for a life of crime was a bit unsettling, but he couldn't blame him. He had to do what was right for him right now. And right now, fighting Voldemort however he could was definitely right.

XXXXX

June 15th, 1996

"We need to hire help," said Harry as he met with Hermione and Ginny as the Triumvirate for the last time in a while.

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.

"Mercenaries," said Harry, "We need someone who can do what we need them to while we are in school."

"That's… probably true," said Ginny.

"Do you have the money for that Harry?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, but I need to bring Sirius in fully," said Harry, "I also heard that Bill and Fleur are moving back to Britain."

"I think that they arrived yesterday," said Ginny, "They are trying to surprise me I think, which is why I don't have more information."

"I'll recruit them as well," said Harry, "I also wanted to recruit Remus, and maybe Tonks, though I'd have to ask Sirius about her."

"If we do have some mercenaries, I have some ideas about how we could use them," said Hermione.

"I thought you might," said Harry with a grin.

XXXXX

Ginny was boarding the Hogwarts Express when she heard a rather unwelcome voice calling her name.

"Ginny!" said Nott, "Wait a second!"

"What is it Nott?" she asked, turning to talk to him.

"I.. just wanted to tell you, there's no hard feelings about how everything went down this year," said Nott, "I badly underestimated you and your resolve, it's true…"

"Yes you did," said Ginny angrily, "What is this about?"

"I just feel bad," said Nott, "That's all. I wanted to apologize. I'm sorry."

"Okay," said Ginny, "Do you think this means anything?" Ginny still didn't trust him, and she had no idea what this was about.

Nott smiled. "I know I screwed up, I just… needed to make that right," he said as he leapt up onto the train, "See you next year."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Boys will never make sense," she muttered to herself. Whatever this was, Ginny wasn't at all sure it wasn't a disaster waiting to happen.

XXXXX

The return trip was rather uneventful. Ginny and Justin said goodbye on the train, they weren't quite ready for his parents to discover that he was dating Ginny yet, and Ginny wasn't quite ready for her mother to find out she was dating Justin yet. Harry wasn't sure why she was bothering, but apparently Ginny still wanted to keep the fact that they knew about the marriage contract a secret.

Sirius was there to greet Harry. "Ready to head over to your favourite place in the whole world?" he asked.

"One last time, yeah," said Harry, "Good thing I won't be staying very long."

"Dumbledore is going to be beside himself," said Hermione.

"Well he has that coming," said Sirius.

Hermione's parents were there as well. Harry waved at them. Helen waved at him, though she seemed a bit distracted. Something was clearly wrong there, but Harry didn't have time to get the whole story.

"I'm not spending the summer with the Dursleys," Harry explained to Hermione's parents, "I'll just be seeing them one last time, to get a bit of closure and to try and get them to go into hiding."

"Probably a good idea," said Robert, his voice subdued.

"Things are crazy right now," said Sirius, "Someone killed ten Death Eaters, and no one seems to know who did it. You-Know-Who's forces are in disarray, but that just makes them more dangerous and unpredictable."

"Hermione, please stay safe," said Harry. He gave her a quick hug and a kiss.

"I will, as long as you do as well," she said warmly.

"I'll see you soon," said Harry.

Sirius and Harry walked over to an out of the way area. "Dobby," said Harry.

The house elf appeared.

"Please take my things to Grimmauld Place," he said, "I have a few places I need to be today, and don't feel like lugging it about."

"Right, Ma… I'se mean Harry," said Dobby.

Dobby had been delighted when Harry had offered to hire him at the end of term. However he was having difficulty not calling him Master, but Harry had insisted. No one would call Harry Master. Dobby was getting paid as well, although Harry was having a hard time to get him to accept an actual working wage.

As Dobby apparated, Sirius grinned, "I think that's our cue to leave," he said.

Harry grinned, and hooked arms with his godfather. Moments later, they were both apparating away. Suddenly they were in Harry's bedroom at Privet Drive.

"Harry," said Sirius with mock disapproval, "Did you just side-along apparate us?"

"Maybe," said Harry, mischievously.

"Well done Harry," congratulated Sirius with a wide grin, "that's very good for fifteen!"

"You realize that I have the memories of a man who apparated hundreds if not thousands of times, right?" asked Harry.

"Details," dismissed Sirius.

Harry opened the door and walked downstairs. And nearly ran right into Vernon.

"What are you doing upstairs boy, coming in here without so much as a by your leave," said Vernon.

"We teleported in there, since it wouldn't attract attention," said Harry, "I need to talk to you and Aunt Petunia. It won't take long. If Dudley is about…"

Vernon nodded. "So you aren't staying?"

Harry nodded. "But there are some things you need to know before I leave. For your own safety."

Vernon looked like he was going to say no for a second, then he seemed to think better of it.

"I'll get them," he said.

Moments later, Harry was in front of his Aunt, Uncle and cousin in the living room. The very room where he had met McGonagall. The day his life had changed.

"I'm not staying," said Harry, "But this means that the protections around this house will fall, and sooner rather than later. Which means you need to go into hiding, or at least move."

"What?" demanded Vernon.

"You cannot be serious!" said Petunia angrily.

"Please, if you stay, at some point my enemies will come looking for you," said Harry, "And they will kill you, just to get at me. Now I don't like any of you. But I don't wish you dead. Please, move out of this house. Once the protections wear off, it will practically be a target painted on your backs. They will attack here, on my seventeenth birthday at the latest. They know the protections won't last past then in any case."

"No, this is our home," said Vernon.

"Mum, Dad, I think we should leave," said Dudley, "Harry saved my life last year, I think we should trust him."

"Listen to your son," said Sirius, "This place is not safe anymore."

"Maybe we should leave," said Petunia.

"No," said Vernon stubbornly.

Harry had half expected this. He pulled a ring out of his pocket and handed it to his cousin. "Take this then, it is a portkey," he said, "If Aunt Petunia touches it, she will teleport to safety. If you are touching it or her at the same time, Dudley, it will take you to safety as well."

"Will it take me?" asked Vernon.

Harry shook his head, "Sorry, but I had to make it capable of working even under the influence of spells designed to stop portkeys from working. That means it can only take people who are keyed to it. I keyed it using my own blood, which means Dudley and Petunia can use it, because they share my mother's blood, but no one else can."

Vernon opened his mouth, but Dudley shook his head, "I understand, Harry," he said, his voice sadder than Harry had thought it would be, "Hopefully we won't have to use it."

"I agree," said Harry, "Please, leave. And goodbye."

Harry hooked arms with Sirius again. He had plenty more things to take care of today.

XXXXX

Hermione was surprised when her parents did not take her home, but instead went to a hotel in London.

"We've decided to take some preemptive steps to protect ourselves this year," said Robert, "We'll talk more after you get settled in."

Hermione was given her own room, which was welcome, but probably not necessary. Something was up. Her parents had been acting strange ever since they'd left Kings' Cross. They'd barely reacted when she told them how they'd framed Umbridge.

Putting her things on the floor near the bed, she looked around her room. It was rather nice, as far as hotel rooms went. She pulled several things out of her pockets, including her wand, which she put on the nightstand.

She walked into the bathroom. She quickly washed her face in the water there, and used the toilet. When she left the room, she saw both her parents had entered, and were sitting on her bed.

"Hermione," said Helen, "We need to talk."

That sounded bad. Very bad.

"About?" asked Hermione.

"We know that you and Harry were sharing a bedroom," said Helen.

Hermione's heart sank. Why couldn't this have happened just a few months later? She was still sixteen!

"Who told you that?" asked Hermione.

"You aren't going to deny it?" asked Robert.

"Before I admit or deny anything, I want to know what you were told and by whom," said Hermione, "I want to know to what degree they are lying to you."

"It was Dumbledore, and Snape," answered Helen, "they came together…"

"Of course they did," interrupted Hermione, "If one of them had come on their own I might have finally figured out who is messing with Harry and Ginny. Was it Snape who said we roomed together?"

"Dumbledore brought it up," said Robert, "but Snape was the one who said he witnessed it. He said you had been rooming together all year, and that he only didn't report it because he didn't want to make things worse between Harry and Dumbledore."

"Ha!" said Hermione disdainfully, "There's the lie. Damn, but of course he has no choice, does he? He can't admit the truth."

"He says he walked in on the two of you in bed together," said Robert.

"That is true," said Hermione, "But we weren't doing anything. Yes, we did room together. But it wasn't since the beginning of this year."

Hermione paused and then sighed, "It was since the beginning of First Year."

"What?!" shouted both of her parents.

"Remember when I said that Draco was breaking into my room and we found a way to get Harry's status as a half-blood to protect me in my room?" asked Hermione. Hermione could almost swear that her father looked away guiltily when she said that.

"But why didn't you tell…" started Helen, but then she shook her head, "No wait, that's a stupid question. Of course we'd have a fit if you told us."

"We haven't taken advantage of the situation," said Hermione, "Okay, we may have used the room to have a few snogging sessions in, but we certainly haven't, you know, been intimate there."

"What about at No. 12?" asked Helen, "Were you never intimate there?"

Hermione hesitated, and immediately knew that lying wasn't going to do her any good. If she had said no immediately, she might have gotten away with it. But a moment's hesitation had cost her that.

"Once," she said sadly, "Just once."

Robert looked troubled. He'd been angry when the conversation started, but now he looked troubled. Helen just shook her head.

"You should have told us," said Helen.

"Maybe," said Hermione, "But that ship has sailed."

"Indeed it has," said Helen.

Hermione suddenly realized why everything felt off. Usually it was her mother who was the voice of reason and her father was causing a scene. This time it seemed like they had both been pressing her, but her mother was the one pushing the hardest. Something was very, very wrong. Her mother was acting as if…

As if someone was messing with her mind. Snape or Dumbledore had put some kind of spell on her. On her father too as well, but her father seemed to be resisting it… because he'd had practice resisting mental control from being around Fleur!

"Okay, I see where this is headed," said Hermione, "What incredibly bad idea are you about to try?"

"We're going into hiding," said Helen, "We're moving to Australia."

"Good luck, have fun," said Hermione.

"You're coming with us," said Helen. Robert looked troubled.

"Are you going to enroll me in the magic school in Australia?" asked Hermione.

"No," said Helen, "We're done with that."

Hermione shook her head, "McGonagall will never let you take me and…"

"She already said yes," said Robert, his voice distant, his eyes guilty.

"She thinks we are enrolling in you in school over there, but once we are out of the country she won't be able to do anything," said Helen.

"Sorry, but I don't intend to…" started Hermione as she reached into her pocket for her wand. And that is when she realized that she left her wand on the end table.

"Looking for this?" asked Helen, holding up her wand.

Hermione could have just summoned her wand out of her mother's hand. She could have. But somehow she knew that if she did that her parents would be leaving her life forever. And she didn't want that. She loved them, and knew that they were being mind controlled. Not the Imperius Curse, but something else. Some form of suggestion perhaps, maybe even something that only worked on muggles. If they went off without her, she knew the Death Eaters would track them down and kill them.

"You are going to regret this," said Hermione sadly, "That isn't a threat, just a statement of what will happen."

"Maybe, but our things are already being moved," said Helen. The look on Robert's face showed that he already regretted this.

"I guess I don't have a choice," said Hermione. She really didn't. She just had to hope that Harry would find her before the Death Eaters did. Because Harry would find her. That she was certain of.

XXXXX

"You want to hire mercenaries?" asked Sirius as the two of them left Gringotts.

"Yes," said Harry, "And now I know we have the money we need to do it."

"I mean it technically is my money," said Sirius.

"I can give it back to you," said Harry.

Sirius shook his head. "No, I don't want to risk Narcissa or Bellatrix getting their hands on it if something were to happen to me," said Sirius.

"I need someone who can do things for me while I'm in school next year," said Harry, "I have some plans that are developing."

"We are running a little behind," said Sirius, "Remus and Tonks, are waiting for us at Grimmauld place. Apparently Ginny is coming with Bill and Fleur as well."

"Good," said Harry, "I'm looking forward to this."

XXXXX

Percy was organizing his desk when Fudge asked to see him. He walked into Fudge's office quickly, this was a bit peculiar.

"Percy!" shouted Fudge exuberantly, "I have been following you for some time. You've done some excellent work for me recently."

"Thank you Minister," said Percy respectfully.

"I also noticed some of the, shall we say, extracurricular activity you've been doing," said Fudge. Percy's gut wrenched, but he kept a straight face.

"You and your sister have been playing all sides, trying to see who is going to come out ahead, am I right?" asked Fudge.

"Well, we… " started Percy, but Fudge held up his hand.

"Now, now, there's nothing wrong with wanting to keep your options open," said Fudge with a wink, "I was starting to get concerned about Umbridge. She was allying herself with the children of the Death Eaters right as we were about to announce that You-Know-Who had returned. That could have been very embarrassing. But you kept your cool, and when you realized what was going on, you gave your sister information that would allow her and her friends to take down Umbridge, and do it in a way that only implicated her and her moral character, not me and my policies."

Suddenly, Percy realized that Fudge didn't know he'd been spying on him for Harry. He just knew that he had been involved in taking down Umbridge.

"Well, I figured someone needed to shut her up before she made you look bad," said Percy.

"And you did that well," said Fudge, "But I must admit, it is an action that is above your pay grade."

"I didn't mean to…" started Percy but Fudge just smiled and laughed.

"I'm not angry," said Fudge, "Quite the opposite. I'm promoting you to Junior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic. You'll be doing mostly the same things you do now, but now you'll have some actual teeth to get things done. Plus, I may ask you to do some slightly more sensitive work for me in the future."

"I don't know what to say," said Percy, "This is an incredible honour."

"Well, with Dolores gone, I'm going to be saddling a lot of the paperwork she used to do onto your shoulders," said Fudge, "so it won't be a picnic. But ever since you gave me that advice about Potter I've had my eye on you. I think you're ready for this, despite your inexperience."

There was a knock on the door. Percy opened it to see Amelia Bones standing there.

"Amelia Bones for you sir," said Percy.

"Ah, Amelia," said Fudge, "Excellent timing. I just promoted Percy here to Junior Undersecretary."

"Congratulations," said Amelia perfunctorily, "I just received a letter from the leader of the people who killed the Death Eaters."

She handed Fudge the letter. Fudge motioned for Percy to come over as he laid it down on his desk. Percy walked over and read it upside down, a skill he'd acquired from all those long days of study back at Hogwarts..

To Amelia Bones,

We are the Triumvirs, leaders of the Army of the Triumvirate. We killed the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries. Those men needed to die. But we want to be clear, we will not kill any more Death Eaters, except in self-defense. We are not your enemies.

Indeed, we do not wish any conflict with the Ministry of Magic. Our only goal is the destruction of the Death Eater menace. We will continue to act in support of this goal, but do not wish to conflict with the actions of the Ministry. We will provide you with intelligence that we believe that you can use. If you do not trust this letter, know that we circled their Dark Marks. Only you and your Aurors know this, aside from the Minister and us. We are on the same side. When you show this to Fudge, tell him that if he wants to take credit for this, he can. We don't care in the least.

The Triumvirs

"Well," said Fudge, "that is interesting. What do you think Amelia?"

"Death Eaters are by law traitors in rebellion against the Ministry," considered Amelia, "While that doesn't justify murder exactly, I'd be willing to call it self-defense if it doesn't happen again. I'm not going to shed any tears over the only victory we've had in this war."

"I agree," said Fudge, "I'll have to think about taking credit though."

"It could be used against you, if this Triumvirate had proof you didn't have any part in it," agreed Percy.

"Good lad," said Fudge, "I knew I made a good choice in promoting you. Amelia, keep this under wraps for now."

"Understood," replied Amelia.

XXXXX

It was late by the time Harry and Sirius finally made it back to Grimmauld Place. Everyone was already there. Remus, Tonks, Fleur and Bill were all waiting with various degrees of patience, while Ginny was pacing angrily.

"Sorry, herding this reprobate is more effort than you might think," said Harry, indicating Sirius.

"Don't I know it," said Remus with a faint smile.

"Hey, I didn't stop and hoot at any pretty girls once today," said Sirius.

"You actually used to do that?" asked Ginny, her eyes narrowing.

"Not in a long time, I swear!" protested Sirius, noticing her mood, "It's been at least four days!"

"I want to thank all of you for coming," said Harry, "So I've been putting together a group to help deal with the Death Eaters at school, but I've come to the end of what we can do at the moment. We need help outside school, which is why I'm reaching out to all of you."

"Why us?" asked Tonks.

"You are all skilled, and we will need those skills. Times are getting rough out there," admitted Ginny.

"I'm not so sure that this is a good idea," said Remus, "It's getting kind of crowded in the Anti-You-Know-Who department. This Army of the Triumvirate made a big show of force recently, and the rest of us are members of the Order of the Phoenix."

"It's not that crowded," said Harry, "We ARE the Army of the Triumvirate."

You could have heard a pin drop in the room at that point.

"WHAT?" shouted Sirius.

"You killed all those people?" asked Tonks, her face shocked.

"Yes," said Harry shortly.

"How could you do that?!" demanded Sirius.

"Do NOT yell at Harry," said Ginny angrily, "He voted against doing it. But he is only one member of the Triumvirate, so he was outvoted."

Sirius managed to calm himself down. "Okay, so you weren't in favour of it. But you still did it."

"Yes," said Harry, "And while I think it was a mistake, it did put the Death Eaters on the back foot. Listen, have any of you ever led a group like this?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"In order for an organization like this to work, you have to have rules, and then follow them. This was literally the first decision we had to make. If I had pulled out then, we'd have been done. I hated doing it, we all did. And we aren't going to do anything like it again. It was not… I was the only person there who really understood the gravity of what we were doing, given what happened with Peter."

"You 'ad no choice with Peter," said Fleur, " 'E would 'ave killed me or worse."

"I know," said Harry, "But that doesn't mean I felt comfortable calculating the fact that I had to kill him."

"Ron was against it from the start," said Ginny, "He only went ahead and did it because I was in favour."

"And incidents like this are why we need your advice," said Harry, "because I could definitely have used some backup on this, but no one else had the experience to help me."

None of the adults seemed to like it, but they all seemed to accept Harry's explanation.

"So what do you have planned now?" asked Tonks after a moment.

"We have a general plan that we're working on," said Harry, "We want to target the wealth and resources of the wealthy purebloods that support Voldemort."

"That sounds like a good idea," said Tonks.

"I agree," said Bill, "It seems you have more of a plan than Dumbledore does at the minute."

"I'm not sure about that," said Harry, "But I don't think Dumbledore is ready to share his plan. I think he's worried that details might slip out."

"I promised your parents I'd do whatever I could to help you," said Remus, "I'd be repaying them poorly if I didn't help you now."

"I am, of course, in," said Fleur, "I owe 'Arry so much, it will be good to pay a bit more of it back."

"You've already paid back a lot," said Harry, suddenly blushing as he remembered exactly how she had helped him and Hermione.

Fleur grinned, "It would have been better if 'Ermione's parents had not arrived immediately after the two of you finished."

"What's this?" asked Tonks.

"Not your business," said Harry, blushing even more furiously.

"Are you planning to run the Triumvirate yourselves?" asked Remus.

"Well, and you can't tell anyone this, not even Dumbledore…" started Harry, as he began to explain the horcruxes, as well as the memories they'd taken from them.

"Wow," said Remus, "Well, I guess maybe you do need to be in charge. Who else has these memories?"

"I do, and so does Hermione," said Ginny, "That's why we make up the Triumvirate."

Tonks frowned. "But Hermione is leaving the country," she said.

"Where did you hear that?" asked Harry dismissively.

"Dumbledore and Snape said they convinced her parents to leave. I don't know where to," said Tonks.

"She didn't say anything," noted Ginny.

Harry inhaled sharply, "They didn't tell her!"

And Harry pulled out his wand.

"Harry, NO! Wait!" shouted Sirius.

Harry ignored him as he apparated to Hermione's house.

The house was dark. There was no way they hadn't made it home yet. Harry quickly ran up to the door, and unlocked the door with a quick Alohomora. Entering the house, Harry saw that everything was gone. All their things. It had all been moved out.

"Dammit," said Harry, "They really did it!"

"Surprised, Potter?" asked a voice Harry had never heard before, but was somehow familiar. Harry spun around. There was a woman there. She looked like Andromeda Tonks. But the way she held herself was utterly unlike Andromeda Tonks. And then that face came to him through one of Voldemort's memories.

"Bellatrix Lestrange," said Harry, "Why are you here? Do you know what happened to Hermione?"

Bellatrix grinned, "Seems you're a bit behind, Potter. For once, I'm ahead of you. Still I'd be remiss if I didn't bring you to the Dark Lord. As a gift, you understand."

"I'd like to see you try!" said Harry angrily, as he let out a series of stunning and disarming spells. Bellatrix dodged, and the fight was on.

Harry was trying to incapacitate Bellatrix. He had to find out what she knew. As a result, she was just barely able to keep from being utterly defeated. But just barely. If Harry had gone all out on her, he probably could have killed her. That wasn't the goal though.

Initially Bellatrix had seemed to enjoy the fight, and had tried to toy with Harry. But after several rounds of spells her face grew more and more serious.

Finally, she leapt away from Harry. "You're better than I expected Potter. I underestimated you. Very well, I need to report this to the Dark Lord anyway."

And with that, she apparated away.

Harry immediately apparated to Grimmauld Place. Bill, Fleur and Ginny had already left.

"Hermione's gone," said Harry, "Though that might be for the best at the moment. I ran into Bellatrix Lestrange."

"What!?" shouted Sirius, "I told you not to go there."

"Unfortunately, she got away," said Harry, "I nearly captured her."

Remus and Tonks stared at Harry unbelievingly.

"You nearly defeated Bellatrix Lestrange?" asked Tonks.

"I escaped from Voldemort how many times?" asked Harry, "Bellatrix I probably could have killed if I had wanted to, but I was trying to capture her."

"Harry, I know you feel that you need to do something..." said Sirius.

"I do need to do something," said Harry, "But it's too late now. In the morning I will talk to McGonagall. She is Hermione's magical guardian. If anyone knows what is going on, she will."

"That's a good plan," said Sirius.

"Do you have a sleeping potion around," said Harry, "I won't get to sleep without one."

"I think I might have something," said Sirius, "Don't worry kiddo, Hermione will be fine."

Harry shook his head. "I think Bellatrix already knew what was going on. I think she just checked Hermione's house to see if she had left yet. That means the Death Eaters are ahead of me."

Harry took a deep breath to calm himself. "I know you mean well, but don't tell me Hermione will be fine, not until she is next to me again."

Author's Note: So, yeah. Hermione's parents finally found out. And are doing the stupidest possible thing! And Bellatrix is still hunting them! From the earliest outlines I used to plan out this story, I knew that this moment would come. The next chapter is gonna be nuts.

On the matter of killing the Death Eaters, this has been something I have considered a lot. The level of premeditation in their plan puts this awfully close to murder. I do think that the fact that the Death Eaters intended to kill them mitigates this a bit, but they still very much did something that is not really morally supportable. This is a completely separate matter from the ethics of self-defense, a topic on which the character's feelings will be made clear in the next chapter.

The other issue isn't whether it was right or wrong to kill the Death Eaters (they certainly deserved it, even if Harry and Company were wrong to actually kill them) but what that violence did to Harry and his friends. Killing changes them as well, especially since it was: 1. Premeditated 2. Against unarmed people and 3. Performed by children.

The real failure here is the magical world in general, both in not preventing the Death Eaters from being able to get so strong, and also in not taking a harder line against them earlier. And there is also the fact that this group of children is left in a situation where they feel killing is their only way through this and no adults are available to rebut this. But it is going to take Harry a long time to see this. Right now he sees this primarily as a personal failure, rather than as a systemic one.

I want to note, Harry as a character is still morally very much the same as he is in canon. He prefers to save people over killing them. He's just a little more cognizant of the fact that it isn't always possible.

Next Time: Harry goes to Australia!