Chapter eight

Remus and Tonks headed to Grimmauld place the following morning so Remus could redo the charms to make him the secret keeper of the place. He also had to open the other part of the house. Since it was more secluded, Remus thought he would eventually take those rooms. For now, they will be used by everyone that needed it while he stayed with Harry. Tonks was making floo calls to the Weasley's and the rest of the order so they would know to pick up the permission note from Minerva. It will allow them to get past the charm and into the house. They all knew not to trust Snape so none of them would give him permission to get into Grimmauld place.

Harry called Kreacher and explained how he would be able to stay in his old families home only if he behaved, especially when people were staying. Harry also made sure the elf knew he could not go to anyone like Bellatrix and Narcissa. Harry spent ages making sure his orders to the elf would mean Kreacher could never betray them again.

Harry was waiting just inside the property wards for Neville. Harry had written in his letter to Neville that if he wanted to stay with Harry, whether it was for a few days or longer, not to reply, just turn up at eleven that morning.

When he heard the sound of apparition, he saw Neville and his grandmother, so he stepped into view.

'Hello Mrs Longbottom.'

'Mr. Potter. Neville explained about your offer and since I know he has already improved under you training with the da, I knew my grandson would be in good hands.'

'He'll be as safe as possible. Remus and Tonks will be returning shortly, they are just working on another safe house. They are going to help train us, so we've got a fighting chance. Would you like to come in?'

'No, I have plans myself, so I will leave Neville with you,' Augusta glanced down at her grandson, 'As I've already said Neville, you've made your parent's proud, but you have made me proud. Work hard so you can survive this fight, then come home.'

'I will Gran,' Neville was surprised when his grandmother hugged him. Before he could say anything, she disapparated.

Harry sighed, he knew with this fight heating up that people like Neville and his grandmother may not see each other again. He hoped that wasn't the case, but he knew there were always casualties in these types of conflicts.

Harry warded Neville in then had Mipsy show Neville to a room, but they spoke as they headed upstairs.

'So, you never knew about this place?'

'No, Remus told me then I got the information from the goblins.'

'It is mentioned in one of those books, but it doesn't give out any information, like where it is.'

'Yeah, that's the main reason I decided to…come home, no one knows where it is. So, your gran and uncle have plans?'

'Yes, they didn't tell me what they are though. Do you have plans?'

'A few, we're going to talk about what's been going on over the last few days then we can talk to Remus and Tonks about some training.'

'Professor Lupin was a great teacher. So, this Tonks is an auror?'

'Yeah, but she can't work right now because her aunts would try to kill her or take her to get to her mother. You know who Tonks' aunts are, don't you Neville?'

'Yes, I researched, I wanted to know all I could about the ones who cursed my parent's.'

'Tonks is a good person, she's worried about her parent's since her dad is a muggleborn. They might come here to stay, Tonks is going to ask them. But I wanted to warn you in case they do come. Andromeda Tonks looks like Bellatrix. Will you be okay if she stays here?'

'Since I will know who she is, yes, I will be fine. We all know we can't choose our families Harry, if we did then you would never have lived with the muggles.'

'That's true and I believe you don't have to be blood to be considered family. Anyway, come on, let's get downstairs.'

'So, they would go after her dad because he's a muggleborn, but they would want to punish her mother for marrying a muggleborn.'

'Exactly, my mother ran away the moment she was old enough. Hi, I'm Tonks,' she smiled at Neville who smiled nervously back.

'Hello,' he whispered.

'Hello Neville, how are you?'

'I'm good Professor Lupin, how are you?'

'Well and busy, but none of this Professor Lupin, it's Remus. Let's go into the sitting room so we can explain what's been going on.'

The group just sat down when Dobby popped in with a tray. There was a jug of juice and a load of sandwiches. While they ate, they talked.

'So, you're going to play bait to lure a huge snake to you?'

'Yep, it's waiting for me to turn up, so it works out perfectly.'

'Can I be there?'

Remus and Tonks looked at each other, 'Since he's not old enough to apparate he would need to be right beside someone who can,' Tonks said.

'Unless I make him a portkey. Being behind these wards means the ministry will not be able to find out.'

'A portkey would be best. I don't want anyone hurt, or worse, but if the person near Neville ended up unconscious then Neville would be stranded,' Harry said.

'The same thing could happen to you,' Remus said, 'So portkey's, and I'll add a security feature to it. If the person ends up unconscious, they are instantly transported here or Grimmauld place.'

'Um, Sirius gave me the basic instructions on apparition last time we were together. When I got to Hogwarts I was able to practice using the room of requirement. For some reason that room allowed me to apparate from one side to the other. With the wards I couldn't go any further or practice outside.'

'That's good, we'll get you to practice here but have a portkey on you, just in case. When you're in the heat of a fight it would not be good to try apparating if you're not entirely positive you can do it.'

'Maybe we should all have a portkey. If Mr Weasley, Bill and Charlie help, then they can have one to your place, Professor McGonagall could have hers set for Hogwarts, or Grimmauld place, and ours for here.'

'Kingsley could be set for headquarters as well,' Tonks said.

'I'll get to work on them soon,' Remus said.

'And I'll work with Harry and Neville, show them some good but spells that will do some damage.'

Harry and Neville grinned. This is what they wanted. They knew there was no use stunning death eaters when one of their friends would just wake them up. They needed to take them out of the fight, without killing.

The following day Remus left to go speak with some contacts and Tonks went to see her parent's.

'Now Tonks isn't here I wanted to tell you what Remus and I plan to use. Tonks is trustworthy, but she gave an oath when she became an auror, we don't want to put her in a situation where she might not have any choice but to tell them something we don't want them to know.'

'With who is at the ministry, they would use anyone to get information on you. So, what are you going to use, dark curses?'

'No, neither of us would ever use those. We're going to use muggle firearms, guns. Think about it Neville, most of those purebloods would never think that we would use them or know how to shield against them. They wouldn't even know what they look like, well, most wouldn't know what they looked like. Remus is going to help me learn and we thought maybe you might want to even if you don't want to use one in a fight. It's just another option in case something happens to your wand.'

'I'm in, we all know our wands could end up damaged or broken. You know I have no idea about muggle guns though.'

'Neither do I, only what I was able to glimpse from watching television. Anyway, there is something else I want to tell you. After the department of mysteries, Dumbledore sent me straight to his office, I couldn't get out, so I just had to wait. I was so angry with him after he told me something. If he told me earlier then I would have known Voldemort wanted that prophecy.'

'You didn't know until we got there,' Neville sighed, 'I thought you looked surprised. So, it was about you and him?'

'Yes, but, it doesn't name me, there is just a few pieces of information that lead him to believe it meant me and Dumbledore believed it meant me. Okay,' Harry sighed then recited the prophecy.

'So your scar is the mark, makes sense, I suppose.'

'Maybe not, this is what I need to tell you. I do believe it means me, so does Remus, Dumbledore and Voldemort, but we're worried that it might not mean me. Think about it, Neville, if I die yet the prophecy doesn't get fulfilled, then it means someone else.'

'Are you suggesting it could mean me?'

'Maybe, we don't know. Dumbledore did tell me that it could have meant either of us, but when I got my scar that's when he knew it meant me. Your parent's also fit that part of the prophecy. The trouble is a lot of magicals who were raised in this world don't use a lot of logic and they take things too literal sometimes. For all I know Dumbledore made a mistake. Anyway, all I do know is that our parent's both defied Voldemort three times. We were both born at the end of July. Now most wizards take things literally but marked as his equal could mean the mark isn't a physical one, but an emotional one. I'm training since I do believe it means me, but I'm going to use a gun as I don't think I have any type of power that will be able to beat Voldemort. Remus said that for all I know the power he knows not is as simple as a muggle weapon. Even if the prophecy doesn't mean me, he still wants to kill me because of what happened when I was a baby, so I still need to train to kill him if he comes after me. If this prophecy isn't about me, then we wanted you to know so you could train but also be cautious. Snape was the death eater that told Voldemort the first part of the prophecy. It wouldn't be too hard for them to find out when your birthday is. So far, we all believe it means me, but we don't want to risk it if it doesn't.'

'So, I was marked by emotional scars because I lost my parent's just in a different way to you, which is hard on me and the family. My birthday is the day before and our parent's were all members of the order of the phoenix. Okay, I know about it now, so I can at least do what I can, so yes, using a gun might help me if it turns out to mean me. I'm like you, I don't have any power he wouldn't.'

'Whether it means you or me we both have a lot of training to do. Tonks and Remus will still train us using more advanced spells, but we also use the guns.'

'In case this power he knows not is not a muggle gun, did Dumbledore tell you what he thought this power is?'

Neville was surprised when Harry scoffed. It meant that Harry didn't believe what Dumbledore did. Now he wondered just what Albus Dumbledore told Harry would be the power he would need to defeat Voldemort.