Chapter seventeen

Even though they were in hiding and trying to stop Voldemort and his death eaters, the ones at the hotel watching Harry marry Connie, had all put on their best clothes or used transfiguration to make some of their clothes into fancy clothes. Harry had new clothes and Connie had a new dress she hadn't worn until then.

Andromeda had her camera in one of her bags, so she and Ted were taking turns snapping pictures of the happy couple and the guests. Right after Harry and Connie kissed for the first time as husband and wife, Andromeda, Fleur, Hermione, Tonks and Remus began to bring the food out. Just before the wedding, Remus, Tonks, Hermione and Ron had gone into London to get some food that just needed to be kept warm. A warming charm was done before they all watched Harry and Connie get married.

Just before Harry and Connie left, they said they would return tomorrow. They didn't want to take time when Voldemort was still killing. Now they were married, they were happy to just take the rest of the day and that night.

After Harry and Connie left, Bill and Remus looked around the hotel to find the perfect room to use. They found the attic which they were able to close off, so Bill only had a small room to place his runes. As soon as he had everything set up, the two men joined the others to go over some plans.

'We were talking before and feel we should get a group together and go to the ministry with the pellets. It might be the perfect time. The moment he dies, the others could panic,' Kingsley said.

'It's a good idea. I'll be in the room with Harry and Connie is going to be waiting outside the door.'

'We were just talking about that. We would all like to stay to make sure Harry will be fine, but we also know we will need as many wands as possible. Even though Tonks is an auror, she is going to stay here and only because she is pregnant. The rest is going.' Remus said.

Bill turned to his wife, 'So you're going?'

'I can help Bill.'

Bill sighed, 'I know you can. I would be with you if I wasn't the only person who could do this ritual. I just can't help worrying, you are my wife.'

'I know love. I can't do anything here, so it makes sense to help there.'

For the rest of the night the group worked on plans for the ministry, but they were also talking about who they could get to help. The students had left for the holidays so they know the staff at Hogwarts would be free to help, it's getting in contact with them and finding a way to get them out of the castle without the death eaters seeing them.

Bill was going to contact Charlie and his father in the morning, it would mean his mother would probably come to the hotel and stay there. If anyone was injured his mother could help as she knew a lot of healing charms. Kingsley was going to contact as many of the order as he could, his partner, Marcus was also going to contact some friends. They needed as many people as they could. Ron and Hermione knew Neville would want to help, so would others, they were just working on a way to contact them. Ron thought of asking one of the house elves, but one look from Hermione made him change his mind. Remus had heard Ron and realised they had the perfect way to get the staff of Hogwarts to the hotel, but also people like Neville and the older students who might want to help.

Remus and Tonks went into the kitchen and spoke with the three house elves. They decided to send them straight away that way the ones like at Hogwarts might be able to escape before the death eaters trapped them in the castle.

By the time Harry and Connie arrived back at the hotel the following morning, they both ended up shocked at the amount of people. They hurried over to the two Slytherin girls who were sitting alone and nearest the door.

'What happened while we were gone?' Harry asked.

'They decided that when Bill did the ritual on you that everyone that wanted to fight should go to the ministry. Remus and Tonks spoke with your house elves,' Tracy said.

'For a couple of hours last night, Dobby, Winky and Kreacher brought them all here. Because they had to pop in and out a lot, Remus told them to rest. That's been difficult as the house elves kept saying they had to work and look after…Master Harry Potter sir's guests,' Daphne grinned making Tracy and Connie laugh.

Harry pretended to glare at the three girls, 'Enough you lot. Anyway, it was a good idea. But is there a reason why you're over here and everyone else is over there?'

'We got some looks from Bill's mother,' Tracy said with a shrug.

'We're used to it Harry, it's fine.'

'Do you want to help fight or would you prefer to stay here?'

'We would like to go and help, I'm just not sure they would trust us,' Daphne said.

'Remus will work it for you to be with ones that know not all Slytherin's are evil death eaters. Let's go organise with them.'

Harry and Connie both took one of the girls hands and practically dragged them over to the group.

'Remus, these two need to be with the right people,' Harry said giving him a look.

'Daphne and Tracy can be with me and Ted,' Andy said.

'But their Slytherin's. They could be working against us,' Molly said.

'I am a Slytherin Molly,' Andy glared.

'And it was a Gryffindor that betrayed my parent's. Houses mean nothing. I mean the sorting hat wanted to put me in Slytherin. The only reason I asked it not to was because I met Malfoy.'

'So like Lily,' Remus grinned ignoring the shocked looks from Molly, Ron and Hermione, 'She told James the hat considered Slytherin but the only reason it didn't put her in that house was because of her safety. The hat didn't think a muggleborn would be safe amongst the snakes. Even though her best friend at the time went into Slytherin, she was sorted before him. It would not have worried James since they were meant to be.'

'Just like us babe,' Harry grinned as he pulled his wife close.

'I wish to speak to you about this Harry and Ginny.'

'There's nothing to speak about Mrs Weasley. I broke up with Ginny right after Dumbledore's funeral. To be honest, I didn't want us together since I didn't like Ginny that way. But Connie and I are meant to be and she is now my wife so anything about my personal life is none of your concern. I appreciate how much you've done for me, but I'm an adult now and a married man. Now can you fill me in on the plans Kingsley?'

'Over here Harry.'

Harry and Connie sat near Kingsley going over the plans. The twins said they had a lot of pellets but it might not be enough so the ones that aren't affected need to be stunned straight away.

Connie had mainly been listening. She had thought of going to the ministry, she was an auror, but a few looks from Molly Weasley had her worried. She was going to be standing outside the room where her husband would be going through a dangerous ritual. She did not want anyone to disrupt it, in any way. Connie knew there would be some charms she would need to use. She didn't want any sound from outside the room to penetrate into the room. She also wanted to make sure no one could open the door, not until Bill and Harry were ready to leave the room. From what she had heard of the Weasley's, she didn't think any of them would do anything to hurt Harry, but she wasn't taking the chance. She already knew Hermione didn't like her and now she was getting angry looks from Molly. Connie was an auror, she would use what she learned on anyone to protect the man she loved, if it was needed. She knew Tonks was staying, Connie planned to speak with her in private as soon as she could.

They planned to begin sneaking into the ministry five minutes after Bill began the ritual. Voldemort would feel a lot of pain and if he were with his death eaters they would notice. They were not sure if the death eaters would feel anything through the dark mark, they would only find out once the ritual was finished. Remus had made another set of communication mirrors like the ones that James and Sirius had. He was going to keep one while Tonks had the other. The moment Bill knocked on the door, she would know to tell Remus to begin the count down.

Connie had told her husband she wanted to talk to Tonks. He stayed with Remus and Kingsley while they went over plans.

'I saw the looks Connie. Don't worry, you and I will be guarding the door. I don't think Molly would do anything that could harm Harry, but she always believed her daughter should be with Harry. She's not happy right now and she does have a temper. When Harry spoke to her before, she was shocked. None of us are used to seeing Harry like that. He's normally quiet and just goes along with what the adults said. He's changed a lot and I can't blame him, damn Dumbledore.'

'Oh, if you knew all of it Tonks you would be cursing the old man and I mean not just verbally, but magically. I can't say as Harry told me in confidence, but that man should have died long ago. Harry kept a lot to himself because he knew he couldn't trust anyone, not until they earned his trust. It was how he was raised and treated. Once he got into the first lot of danger at Hogwarts, he began to watch and listen. I don't get why they would send eleven-year old's into the forbidden forest, at night, when something was killing the unicorns. They were irresponsible and placed them in danger.'

'I've heard snippet's of things that happened to Harry at Hogwarts. When this is over, I want to hear it all. Like Kingsley said, things need to change at Hogwarts and they do, a lot of things. One is I don't think McGonagall should be headmistress. She followed everything Dumbledore said, and she never really helped her students, especially the Gryffindor's. Sprout was great, she would come to the common room a few times a week so we could speak to her about anything.'

'Flitwick did the same, I even know Snape did that with the Slytherin's. From what I've heard so far, McGonagall never spent any time with her students.'

'No, she didn't. Let's go join our men, before all this starts.'

As Connie went to sit beside Harry, he pulled her onto his lap making them both laugh. Remus did the same with Tonks. Kingsley wrapped his arms around Marcus, he could not sit on kingsley's lap as he was a big man. It made the group laugh to realise why the two men held each other instead of one sitting on the other. They didn't even care about the furious look they were getting from Molly. Hermione seemed upset, she refuse to look at the group. Minerva was angry, she knew that Albus told Harry what to do and who he could tell. The boy had done the opposite, he had brought in a lot of people and many she would not trust. Minerva and Molly did not know about the Ritual. Remus, Harry, Connie, Tonks, Bill, Fleur, Andromeda, Ted, Kingsley and Marcus were the only ones that knew the details. The others just knew Bill and Harry would be involved in something that would destroy Voldemort. Everyone in the original group had given an oath. They were not going to mention horcruxes, nor would they ever tell that Harry was one. It was for his safety, but they also didn't want this information getting out to the wrong people. Everyone at the hotel was light, but they could talk about things in front of the wrong person so they just decided to keep certain things to themselves.

It was decided early on that only the original group who had taken the oaths would know about the horcruxes, that included Ron and Hermione. They didn't know about the ritual, but they also didn't know about the horcrux behind Harry's scar. The group that did know believed no one else should be informed, it was safer for Harry, but also for their world. At first they were going to tell Hermione and Ron since they were with Harry from the beginning. But they had seen how upset Hermione was that Harry was with Connie. Ron might not talk but he would support his family over anyone and his sister loved Harry. They could not trust him not to turn on Harry because of his loyalty to his family. They knew Ron wasn't upset that Harry was with Connie, it would just make sense that he would support his family so it was best to leave him out of it as well.