AN: A couple of Harry's bad decisions are coming back to bite him in this chapter, Harry is still a teenager and will make bad decisions like we all did at that age.
AN: This chapter was a nightmare to write, I had three different ways I could take this chapter which would steer the story down completely different paths, It took a while to make up my mind but I decided to take the middle path.
DISCLAIMER : See Chapter One.
The skies Over France, 8/13/1997, 00:38
The had made it across the English channel fairly easily, Now they had to orient themselves south Narcissa was taking the lead as she was the one who knew where they were going, the were at the very beginning of five-hundred mile flight. Harry was dreading it already, if he had only packed his 'Firebolt' before he left camp.
Once Narcissa had her course set she led them south, pushing her broom as fast as it would go and maxing out the elevation on these horrible brooms.
01:00
Harry always thought he preferred brooms to other forms of magical travel, now he knew how stupid that idea was. They had been flying for maybe an hour and a half and he was miserable. His hands had cramped up, his whole body was shivering his face was frozen and his eyes were watering badly. They were flying right through low level clouds which were like a thin wispy blanket, the vapors would condense on his broom making his hands and the broomstick wet and colder.
None of them complained out loud, they just kept on course flying towards the warmer parts of France, Narcissa seemed unstoppable as she continued pushing them towards her son, and Harry for one didn't think it would be a good idea to tell her to slow down a bit.
03:00
The air seemed to be getting warmer now, they were about halfway there according to Narcissa. This pace was brutal and it didn't help that the old school brooms vibrated terribly and veered one way or the other so you had to constantly adjust your course, The clouds were disappearing a little and it was definitely warmer here than their starting point. Narcissa was still pushing her broom to the limits and Harry feared one of these relics would end up failing before they reached France.
05:00
Narcissa started descending towards a large white manor house off in the distance the sun was just starting to rise way off in the Horizon and Harry could see deep sapphire blue water of the Mediterranean Sea right bellow the house, this area was absolutely beautiful, which was at odds with what they were about to face when they landed.
/A/D/W/F/
Malfoy Summer Home, Nice, France, 8/13/1997, 05:15
Setting foot on solid ground was amazing after Five and a half hours in the air, his legs were a little wobbly and he was feeling the effects of riding a broom all night but was ecstatic to be off the sorry excuse for a broom.
The house was a large stone structure right above the sea, It looked to be painted an eggshell white. there was a large overgrown lawn that looked more like a field at the moment, at the front side of the house.
They had landed a few hundred yards away from the house at the far edge of the lawn and could easily make out two figures standing watch in front of the home wearing black robes and white masks, which must be miserable in the heat of the day in this part of France.
"We should just take them out, let Narcissa do her thing and then she can bring the ferret out." Tonks said.
Harry looked at Cissa questioningly and she nodded. "Yes that makes sense we don't know when Bella is supposed to arrive here."
"I've been here for a couple hours Cissy." said a voice to their immediate right.
They all turned and gasped Bellatrix and Lucius were standing fifty feet away, and were accompanied my more than a dozen or so men wearing death eater garb who had just dropped their disillusionment charms and seemed to materialize out of thin air, they were spread out in a semi circle so Harry's group were surrounded to their front an both sides.
"Well, well, well. It seems that Severus still has that crush on you, he was always rather pathetic. First he chased that mudblood Evans around, and when that fell through he has been your beck and call ever since.
Just so were clear Cissy, this morning was never about retrieving Draco. It was about sniffing out a spy in the dark lords ranks, and of course luring my traitorous sister out of her hidey hole." Bellatrix explained in an almost businesslike manner.
"You look quite a bit different than the last time I saw you." Harry said curiously, pushing the remark about his mother back, this was not a situation where anger would help him.
"Yes, I admit I let myself go for quite a while, I was a knockout before Azkaban. Thank you for breaking the insanity Potter" Bellatrix answered with a smile.
"That was not my intention, I just never got to finish what I started." Harry said coldly.
"Yes, I fear you're about to realize how big a mistake it was not to kill me when you had the chance." Bellatrix said with a grin that sent a shiver down Harry's spine.
"So what now, we have to fight our way out?" Tonks muttered to Harry.
"You can certainly try, but our numbers are far superior to your own." Bellatrix answered Tonks question with a smirk.
"Quality trumps quantity evertime Sister, most of these morons you've brought with you are barely off the teat. I'll bet they're fresh out of school and have never seen combat before." Andromeda answered unconcerned.
"Andromeda, your looking well. I have been waiting to kill you for decades now. You have shamed the house of Black by laying with filth, I suppose that girl beside you is the fruit born from your disgusting union? Bellatrix asked curiously.
"Yes, and my husband gave me a life of happiness. Unlike that troll you were force to wed." Andromeda said easily.
Now, Cissy if you wish to go inside and see your son before he is dragged away by Lucius to be educated in the meaning of loyalty, I will allow it we are blood after all. You never were much of a fighter anyway." Bellatrix said graciously.
"Go Cissa, stick to the plan." Harry told her quietly.
"Yes Cissa, go. I do not want to kill my little sister if I don't have too." Bellatrix said warningly.
Narcissa nodded at Harry and walked towards the house, Lucius made to follow her but Bellatrix stopped him.
"No you will remain at your post, Lucius. I still need you to lead us inside once we're finished with these four" Bellatrix instructed the blonde, who stopped in his tracks.
"Mulciber, return to England and capture Severus, he has betrayed us, and must be brought before the dark lord." Bellatrix ordered and one of the men in the middle nodded and activated a portkey disappearing in a flash of light.
Harry waved his wand that had been in his hand since Bellatrix had announced her presence, he gave Tonks a quick wink and in two quick motions he started the battle.
The first spell he cast knocked everyone in his party to the ground and the second sent a 'patronus' message with three words "Run they're coming" to Snape at Hogwarts.
The death eaters responded how Harry expected and a flurry of spells came at their group and had they been standing they would have been struck multiple times. The other three members of his group returned fire from the ground, Harry sent his own spell from his now standing position and three robed men collapsed in three different manners of a painful death, the fourth one who Andromeda struck exploded in a shower of blood, bone and chunks of flesh.
They were in an open area, the large grass field at the edge of the property so cover was unavailable.
Tonks and Andromeda had risen to their feet now and started engaging multiple targets at once easily dropping two more robed men in seconds.
Still four on nine were not good odds at all, a red spell missed Harry's face by millimeters and he was met with the amused face of Bellatrix LeStrange.
"Do you really think Snape will be able to hide from us any better than my nephew?" She asked avoiding a spell Harry had fired at her with ease.
"Doesn't matter, he controls Hogwarts wards, and now he's prepared for an attack." Harry answered simply sidestepping a nasty yellow spell.
"I am going to enjoy breaking you Potter." Bellatrix said with a smile as she sent a chain of spells flying at him so fast he had to dive to the ground to avoid them.
"You will be my servant until the dark lord returns, you will service me in anyway I wish you to." She said suggestively as she continued to overwhelm him with the sheer volume of spells she could cast.
Harry scrambled his feet dodging and swatting her spells and avoiding getting hit by the skin of his teeth on many occasions, he was to busy avoiding her curses to even respond to her taunts.
"I see you've been practicing, you have good form, and admirable stamina, but your not firing back at me, allowing me to press my advantage. like this." Bellatrix said as she increased her rate of fire significantly and demonstrated her prowess with a wand.
Harry knew he was way out of his depth here, it was all he could do to avoid her spells, but she only seemed to be warming up as she soon started firing even faster with the same precision as before, she was just toying with him he realized. As angry as that made him he had to keep moving, retaliating wasn't an option.
"You've improved since the ministry, but you are nowhere near my level, Potter." She said as if getting bored with him, and her next spell slipped past his wand tip as he tried to swat it away, and nailed him right in the chest.
The force of the impact sent him flying through the air only for him to slam into the ground in a crumpled heap.
Harry heard the bones is his arm snap loudly when he hit the ground, his breath was knocked out of his chest both from the spell striking him and the violent impact with the ground. His vision went black around the edges before he started seeing clearly again It took a minute to draw breath and it hurt a lot breath, he released a scream of agony when he tried to raise his wand arm, it was very badly broken.
Looking out onto the field he saw the odds had easily been turned in their favor, even with him taken out of battle, there were only two death eaters still standing.
The rest of the robed men were all on the ground, some mutilated to resemble slabs of bloody meat wearing death eater robes, others just staring blankly at the sky very clearly dead.
Tonks was engaged in fighting Lucius Malfoy, she was overwhelming him with impact spells and he was behind a shield charm completely pinned down looking around desperately for help from his comrades and only finding corpses, even the two who where watching the house were laying dead on the lawn, most likely Narcissa's handiwork.
The real surprise for Harry was seeing who Andromeda was fighting, and judging by the look of surprise on Bellatrix's face she had not been expecting it either.
Andromeda was locked in a fierce battle with Bellatrix matching her older sister spell for spell, neither seemed to have an advantage both were perspiring heavily but had looks of determination etched into their features, this was sibling rivalry at it's worst.
Bellatrix and Andromeda's battle reminded him of the time he saw Dumbledore and Voldemort fight at the ministry, two combatants completely on another level from everyone else on the battlefield, a duel no one would dare interfere with or face the wrath of the combatants.
He felt someone come up beside him, and saw Susan's worried face as she started running her wand over him.
"You have thee broken ribs, your right arms shattered, your right lung is deflated and you have a class II concussion. But you'll live." She said relieved as she leant down and kissed him happy he was still alive after seeing the spell he was struck by.
When Susan pulled back and started trying to stabilize him, Harry watched the two ongoing fights Lucius was about to fall any moment now, but Bellatrix and Andromeda were only fighting harder and sending even nastier curses at one another, this battle could go either way. The animosity between the two was evident and this fight had probably been coming for a very long time.
Harry watched as Lucius' shield collapsed and he dove to the ground taking a nasty cutting curse to the back from Tonks follow up. Harry heard him scream out "purity" in a hysterical highpitched voice, and then he witnessed Lucius disappear in a flash of blue light, a spell impacting where he had just been laying.
Bellatrix was distracted for a fraction of a second by Lucius' Feminine shriek directly behind her and paid the price for her distraction, as Andromeda's spell struck true.
The cutting curse hit her sisters torso cutting her from shoulder to hip opening a three inch deep gash across her body, Blood started poring down her dress and she collapsed to one knee as many of her abdominal muscles were severed making it impossible for her to stand up.
"Well done Andy, I'll be seeing you again. "Bellatrix raped out shakily through unbelievable pain.
"No, you won't." Andromeda said raising her Wand and incanted "Avada Keda-
Before she could finish her spell Bellatrix coughed out "purity" and disappeared in a flash of blue light, leaving only a pool of blood behind.
/A/D/W/F/
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, 8/13/1997, Twenty minutes earlier
Potter's hasty patrons made Snape jerk awake it's message made fear build in his chest, "Run They're Coming!"
He jumped out of bed and hastily dressed waving his wand his recently unpacked trunk packed itself and he quickly shrank and pocketed it on the way out of the headmaster suite, and entered the main office.
Touching his wand to a large gem that was embedded in the stone wall behind the headmaters desk, he forced his magic into it initiating the lock down wards once again.
He took a look around the office once more before walking to the window, he pried the clasp open and then calmly jumped through the open window and concentrated on the flight spell and his body seemed to reform, he flew through the air like smoke on the wind, his body resembling that of a muggle depiction of a ghost, with a head and arms but the rest of his body tapering to a ghostly tail, his lower half was completely translucent and his upper half seemed smoke like.
He easily crossed the grounds and passed the ward line before they slammed shut imprisoning him inside the castle. Once he landed he apparated to the one place he knew they couldn't get to him... hopefully.
/A/D/W/F
Back in France
The field was a wreck, there were craters and burnt sections of grass, the sections where the death eaters had fought from was covered blood, bone pieces of flesh and fallen bodies some intact others in pieces.
Susan had stabilized Harry, she had been able to re-inflate his lung and had immobilized his arm, all the same he wouldn't be able to travel very far for at least days time.
Andromeda came over and asked. "How is he Bones?"
"Stable but I don't have any healing potions and he has a lot of broken bones and a concussion." Susan answered.
"How did you learn to fight like that?" Harry asked Andromeda awe clear in his voice.
"I was taught from a very young age." Andromeda answered
'That's was amazing, you moved so fast." Harry said.
"Yes well we had better get inside before more of them arrive, can you walk?" Andromeda asked getting back on track.
'I think so, but I'll need help getting up." Harry answered.
"You did good Potter, you warned Snape and you held Bellatrix back long enough for us do deal with the others." Andromeda said comfortingly, as she waved her wand and lifted Harry gently to his feet.
"I got My arse kicked, I couldn't keep up with her." Harry said as he followed the others toward the house Narcissa had entered earlier.
"Your still learning, but for someone your age lasting that long against her is unheard of." Tonks piped up from beside him.
When they got close, Narcissa came out to let them through the wards, they followed her through the house to a massive sitting room with huge bay windows looking out over the Mediterranean Sea, Draco was unconscious on the couch.
"It's done, the mark is gone. He passed out during the process." Narcissa told them grimly.
Harry turned to Susan and said. "Send a message to Bill, we need them to head to us here, if we meet the death eaters again, they will come in greater numbers." Harry told Susan.
She nodded and cast the spell, her doberman 'patronus' soared through the wall heading toward Scotland.'
Susan guided Harry to a leather sofa and gently helped him sit down, before taking a seat beside him.
Susan then turned to Narcissa and asked. "Do you have any potions handy, specifically Skelogrow, or concussion reducer?"
"No, we usually brought supplies in when we stayed here." Narcissa answered sadly.
"I've got the concussion potion in my auror emergency kit, but I don't have any 'skelogrow' unfortunately. just blood replinishers and a few 'pepper-up potions" Tonks said digging in her inner pocket and handing Susan a vial with lime green liquid inside.
Susan open the vial and said "Harry open your mouth." When Harry comply she carefully poured it into his mouth.
"Yuck it taste like dirt." Harry complained.
"Well when the potion kicks in you can sleep it will speed up the potions effects." Susan said rolling her eyes at his whining.
"What about ingredient for brewing? I can easily brew 'skelogrow'" Andromeda asked curiously.
"We have a basic lab here, but I would bet the ingredients here have already expired." Narcissa answered.
"Well I will have to go to the apothecary, if I remember correctly there is a small magical section in the center of Nice, I won't be gone very long." Andromeda said as she rose to her feet and went to the fireplace disappearing in a flash of green flames.
"Well if I can start the treatment by this evening we should be able to leave tomorrow morning." Susan said optimistically.
"What is the treatment?" Harry asked concerned.
"Your arm is shattered in four places, so I've got to vanish the bones in your arm and regrow the bones as well as three of your ribs." Susan said soothingly.
Harry paled noticeably and exclaimed. "Not again!"
"You've had this done before?" She asked.
"Yeah Cockfart, I mean Lockhart vanished all the bones in my arm in second year when I Broke my arm during the Slytherin/Gryffindor game." Harry told her.
"Why would he vanish your bones to treat a broken arm." Susan asked perplexed.
"Because he was a sodding moron, he tried to mend it and ended up vanishing all of the bones in my right arm." Harry answered.
"And that incompetent fool was teaching my 'Little Dragon' for a year?" Narcissa asked appalled.
Harry snorted but upon seeing Narcissa's narrowed eyes he wisely remained silent on the subject of Draco's nickname.
"The only thing he really taught was that is was a bad idea to unleash a cage full of Cornish pixies loose inside a classroom." Susan answered in amusement.
"Will me having already regrown my bones once make a difference?" Harry asked Susan nervously.
"No the potion doesn't actually grow bones anyway, it manipulates your body into growing them for you, the bones are one-hundred percent real." Susan explained.
The fireplace flared up and Andromeda returned with a paper sack full of supplies, and a scowl on her face.
"Bee in your bonnet sister?" Narcissa asked in amusement.
"That cheeky bastard at the apothecary tried to get me to have dinner with him tonight, and when I told him I was married he said he wouldn't tell if I didn't." andromeda ranted.
"Way to go mom, wait until dad finds out." Tonks said with a grin.
"Shut it Nymphadora, you will not upset your father with this." Andromeda warned.
Tonks had fallen asleep on the couch when they entered the sitting room earlier, she had just woken up halfway through her mothers rant, but she was wide awake now, she gulped at the look her mother gave her and nodded quickly in compliance.
Changing the subject Tonks stood up and asked. "Who wants breakfast?"
"I don't any if your cooking it, I swear you could burn cereal." Harry exclaimed.
Tonks looked his way and grinned. "I heard you and Bones finally hooked up, Moody was delighted he won the pot." Tonks said catching the attention of the sisters.
"We did not hook up we just kissed." Susan defended.
"So your not planning on courting her properly?" Narcissa asked disapprovingly.
"Your one to talk Cissa, I remember catching you snogging Daniel Vaisley in your fifth year, I do believe his hands were groping your-
"Alright Andromeda." Narcissa said sharply cutting off her sister before she could finish.
Andromeda smirked at her blushing Sister, and asked. "So are you two planning on dating?"
"It just happened yesterday, we haven't really talked it out yet. But Tonks stop making bets on our love lives." Harry said, the last part warningly a slight blush coloring his cheeks.
"Harry, I'm going to go start the potion, try and get some rest it will help heal that concussion." Susan said gently as she stood up.
"The lab is in the basement, when you leave this room take a left it will be the third door on your right." Narcissa explained.
"Thank you." Susan said and walked with Andromeda down to the potions lab.
Harry kicked off his boots and laid down on the couch Susan had been sharing with him and closed his eyes, sleep overtook him almost immediately.
Harry woke up a few hours later to see the scowling face of Draco Malloy glaring at him.
"Well Potter thank you so much for coming to save me." Malfoy said sarcastically.
"Yeah, that's what I do save damsels in distress." Harry said groggily.
"Where is Cissa? I like talking to her." Harry asked as he eased himself into a sitting position.
"Why thank you Harry, I was just preparing us some lunch." Narcissa said as she entered the room levitating a tray with bowls of soup and sandwiches on it.
"I didn't know you could cook." Harry said as the smell of the soup hit his nostrils.
"I learned this summer." She answered quietly.
Harry had a difficult time eating soup with his left hand but he got the hang of it eventually, the soup was really good and he made sure to say so.
"The soup is very good Cissa." Harry complimented'
"Thank you Harry, I found the recipe in the kitchen, while looking for something to eat," she said proudly.
"Well you did an excellent job on it." Harry returned.
Narcissa beamed at him and he even thought he heard Draco mutter "Suck up" before he got swatted on the back of the head by his mother who was sitting beside him.
Susan and Andromeda came back from the potions lab at a little after one and fixed themselves some food.
After she finished eating, a very tired Susan said. "The skelogrow will be ready by five, it has just started simmering now. Once it cooks down I can start fixing you up."
"Lay down Susan, you need some sleep." Harry said concerned at how tired she looked.
He scooted to the end of the couch so she could stretch out and she complied laying her head on his thigh and falling asleep as soon as she got comfortable.
The afternoon went by pretty fast, and a little after five Susan wand vibrated waking her up.
She disappeared for about ten minutes before coming back into the room with a steaming beaker of the disgusting yellow liquid.
"It's time Harry." Susan said gently.
"Okay." Harry nodded reluctantly.
"I'll need to remove your shirt to start." Susan said.
"Alright." Harry answered again, he had already laid down on the couch in preparation for the procedure.
She waved her wand over him and his shirt disappeared only to reappear on the floor.
"This is going to feel uncomfortable, but I will start vanishing your bones starting with your arm." Susan told him in a practiced healers tone.
Susan waved her wand over his arm in delicate motions and his arm felt really cold, but the dull throbbing ache he had been trying to ignore all day seemed to disappear. She did the same thing to his right side presumably vanishing his broken ribs but he couldn't really tell they were gone like he could with the bones in his arm.
Now came the part Harry had been dreading the most, Draco who had been silent most of the day watched on gleefully when Susan handed him a full dose of Skelogrow. He had to fight his bodies natural reaction to cough and spit the burning disgusting liquid out. Once he swallowed it down he asked for water he tried to wash the foul taste from his mouth.
"There all done, since you've taken this before you know what to expect, I am going to cast a spell on you to put you to sleep it should get you through the worst of it." Susan explained and cast a sleeping spell on Harry.
/A/D/W/F/
Malfoy Summer Home, Nice, France, 8/13/1997/22:08
Harry woke up to feeling like his arm was full of large splinters and he could hear a large group conversing in the other room.
"It was a trap, Bellatrix suspected Snape and used this as a way to find out if he was loyal or not." He heard Susan saying.
"And 'arry, is he okay? Fleur asked worriedly.
"I've been better, Fleur." Harry called out.
Harry heard a large number of feet heading his way, and the rest of his team that he had chosen entered the sitting room plus a face he had not seen in months.
"Hey Hermione it's really good to see you again." Harry said warmly.
"It's really good to see you to Harry." She said with a smile.
"We figured we would pick her up on the way here, as we had planned." Bill cut in pointedly.
"Yeah that was a real dick move, taking off without us." Neville complained.
"We had to hurry, we didn't have time to waste." Harry defended.
"It looks like you could have definitely" Fred started.
"Used our help." George finished.
"Yeah mate, it looks like you got your arse kicked." Neville said with a grin.
"Yep, but Andromeda kicked Bellatix's ass, she fled barely alive." Harry said happily.
Andromeda who had been sitting and gossiping with Narcissa looked up curiously when all the teens looked at her in awe.
"Yes?" She asked simply.
"Did you really send Bellatrix running?" Asked Neville in awe.
"Don't look at my mother like that Longbottom, she's to old for you." Tonks said as she walked into the room and saw Neville gaping at her mom.
"I beg your pardon I am not old." Andromeda said indignantly.
"Never mind Longbottom carry on." Tonks said as she plopped down beside Harry.
"So what's the plan now Potter?" Tonks asked.
"We have to make our way back home, but it wouldn't be wise to travel through Calais Harry said.
"What about the Chunnel?" Hermione asked.
"Well that's still in Calais." Harry pointed out.
"Yeah, but wizards probably don't even know it exist, if we could get on a train without being detected we could be in London in an hours time." Hermione said.
"Well it's worth a shot, I guess." Harry said.
"Or we could just catch the train here." Fleur suggested as if it were obvious.
"That would be easier, but we don't have any currency, or passports or any ID at all for that matter." Harry pointed out.
"You have a wand." Narcissa pointed out.
"Alright we have a plan of action, now we just need to get some rest. We'll head for the train station at first light," Bill said.
After that the rest of the newcomers were shown to guest rooms, Harry opted to stay on the couch, and once Susan recast the spell on him he quickly fell back to sleep.
/A/D/W/F/
France, 8/14/1997,08:00
Everyone was ready to go fairly early and they were able to take the floo to magical Nice and then walk through the muggle section to catch the train.
Harry's arm and side felt fine today, his ego had taken a hit because he found out Bellatrix was way out of his league when it came to fighting. still he had been thinking of asking Andromeda to teach him when they returned to camp, if anyone knew how to beat Bellatrix it was her sister.
Once they boarded the train and found their compartment it was a fairly quiet ride and there was a lot of sleeping going on to pass time time, around the halfway point of the trip a attendant came by their compartment and served them lunch. some small talk started up but everyone was on edge the nearer they came to Calais. The sooner they were back in Britain the better.
The train came to a stop at the station in Calais and many more people boarded before they finally entered the Chunnel and crossed under the English Channel.
/A/D/W/F/
Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, London, England, 8/14/1997, 19:00
Snape was having a bad couple of days, he should have known the minute he interacted with a Potter his life would go to shit.
That fact that Potter's own vindictive stupidity had caused this whole mess certainly made him rather angry.
It was Potter who caused Draco to flee to France necessitating them have to figure out a way to save his godson.
It was Potter who had performed a medical miracle on Bellatrix restoring her sanity and making her even more dangerous than she already was.
Yes Harry Potter was on Severus Snape's shit list right now, causing him to have to hide at Blacks mothers house, and stew in his anger.
Snape's brooding was interrupted by the door opening and his godson skulking in, followed by Narcissa and...
"POTTER! What the hell happened?" Snape demanded.
"Bellatrix tricked you, she suspected you were helping me rescue Draco, so she used you to bring me to her." Narcissa explained as a large group of people entered the kitchen where Snape had been seething by himself for most of the day.
"Well you were successful I see." Snape commented.
"Just barely, if Andromeda hadn't come we would have been killed." Harry said.
"Yes that's all I've been hearing since it happened, my mom's a badass now drop it." Said an annoyed Tonks.
"Jealousy doesn't look good on you Tonks, you should be more like your mother." Harry said with a smirk.
"That's enough both of you, now Severus it's past time we remove that blight from your arm." Narcissa said getting them back on track.
Ten minutes later and Snape was laid on a couch in the sitting room, Narcissa had a gold fountain pin filled with Snape's blood and a clear potion of some sort. She had already drawn a four inch diameter circle of runes on the bottom of a silver vase with the blood/potion mixture and had Severus push as much magic as he could into the array. She effectively had him enchant the vase with his blood and magic, which was step one.
Now she was drawing a mirrored version of the runes drawn on the vase in a four inch circle around the dark mark on Snape's arm.
When the last rune was drawn in the center of the circle Narcissa spoke. "I am now going to have to immobilize you, this is going to hurt a lot. The Mark has fused itself to your core and when I remove it will feel like I ripped everything inside this circle off your arm." Narcissa explained.
"Just do it Narcissa." Snape said gritting his teeth.
Narcissa nodded and cast a body bind curse on Snape, before taking a breath and touching her wand to the center rune that was drawn on top of the dark mark.
She pushed her magic into the array, and then started lifting her wand up, the circle which she had drawn lapping over either side off Snape's forearm seemed to lift of his skin and flatten out with the mark lifting with it in its center, but the mark seemed to still be attached and Narcissa had to apply more force, it seem to almost stretch like rubber. Snape was screaming in agony through his closed mouth and his eyes were rolling back in his head. He seemed to loses consciousness soon after Narcissa had started.
With on last yank the mark completely severed from Severus' arm and as soon as it did the mark and runic array was pulled from the tip of Narcissa'wand and floated over to the upside down vase. The one dimensional array flipped over and hovered over the other array, it rotated until the runes lined up with the runes on the vase and they seemed to merge together before their eyes, there was a bright flash of light and when everyones eyes adjusted they saw the vase now bore the dark mark and the runes had seemingly vanished.
Looking over at an unconscious Severstal Snape they saw his arm completely unmarked and seeing only pale skin.
A/D/W/F/
Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire, England, 8/14/1997, 23:16
Voldemort was very displeased, he hadn't even begun his search and he had been called back to attend to urgent business.
Entering his throne room the dark lord was shocked to see Bellatrix there along with a very bruised Lucius Malfoy.
Bellatrix you have recovered and you look healthier than ever." Voldemort commented aurprised.
She looked like she did when he first recruited her, maybe a little older but her hair was sleek and shiny, her teeth clean and white, her skin had a bit of color and her face was full once again. 'How could this have happened in under a week?' he asked himself.
"Yes my lord I am back and better than ever." She said with a bow of the head.
"Well as happy as I am to see you healthy and on your feet once more, I must ask why you have requested my presence here?" Voldemort asked silkily.
"I have discovered a traitor my lord." Bellatrix answered.
"And who is this traitor?" Voldemort asked.
"Severus Snape, he has been protecting my sister and nephew and is working with Potter." Bella stated.
"Explain" Voldemort ordered.
"The day before yesterday I awoke, the cruciatus curse I was under had some unusual side effects, the madness is gone now.
Anyway once I had composed myself I sent for Snape so he could fill me in on what I had missed out on while I was unconscious. He said that he was sending Lucius to France to capture his son on the fourteenth and that he discovered the identity of who had cursed me."
"Who was it that cursed you?" Voldemort asked his curiousity getting the better of him.
"He said it was Harry Potter under a polyjuice disguise and claimed he was responsible for many of our fallen that night, that's what got my suspicions up, my lord." Bellatrix said.
"How could he know of anything Potter is doing, the boys been a ghost since mid June." Voldemort nodded drawing the same conclusion.
"I told him I would personally accompany Lucius to capture my nephew on the thirteenth, and then I took Lucius and a team and left for France as soon as Snape returned to Hogwarts. Early yesterday morning both my sisters and my niece arrived in the company of Potter and the Bones girl confirming my suspicions. I sent Mulciber tp apprehend Snape, but unfortunately Potter sent a 'patronus' message warning Snape before Mulciber could capture him, My lord." Bellatrix explained.
"And what of Potter and his companions?" Voldemort asked already reading on Lucius quivering face the answer was not one that would please him.
"They wiped out the whole team I brought with me, my sister Andromeda was much more powerful than I ever expected, she nearly killed me my lord." Bellatrix answered.
Voldemort extended his hand and gently raised Bellatrix's eyes to meet his and he effortlessly entered her mind, Andromeda Tonks was fast, powerful and easily Bellatrix's equal. He did enjoy Potter getting blasted through the air in the same way Potter dispatched young Mr. Nott months ago. Potter was improving, he would give the boy credit but he was definitely no threat, his followers would have trouble fighting the boy, but the dark lord had nothing to fear from the chosen-one.
Voldemort pulled from her mind when Lucius fled and Bellatrix was struck with a nasty cutting curse, and her sister was casting the killing curse.
Looking at Bellatrix he asked. "You fought well Bellatrix, do you have any idea where Severus might be hiding?"
"My Aunt Walburga's house, I can't remember the address anymore so it must be protected, Potter owns it now and the place is nigh unpenetrable, my lord." Bellatrix answered.
"How is that possible, even Hogwarts has its weaknesses." Voldemort questioned.
"The land the house is built on is ancient, my ancestors invoked a very dark blood protection ritual over it centuries ago,
'On the Seventh day after the Seventh full moon. In the year Seven-hundred and Seventy-Seven at Seven hours past noon. My ancestors sacrificed Seven virgins and used there blood to soak the ground. As long as someone with Black blood is staying on that land nothing can touch them, not even fiend fyre." Bellatrix answered having quoted the Black grimoire' explanation of the wards.
"And Potter carries Black blood?" Voldemort asked.
"Yes around nine generations ago, Hardwin Potter the third married Lyra Black, Potter is a direct descendant of that line not to mention all the other who are loosely related to our line who have married into the Potter family since then." Bellatrix answered.
"Well how do we catch them then?"Voldemort asked impatiently.
"Have are people back off and have the ministry tighten down on the general area. They can't stay in there forever." Bellatrix suggested.
"Very well, you will be the new headmistress of Hogwarts now, do not fail me. Let Rookwood run headquarters, I must leave there is only one other thing I wish to say ." Voldemort stated calmly.
"What is that my lord." Bellatrix asked.
"CRUCIO" Voldemort roared as he struck Bellatrix with the curse, failure could not be tolerated even from his favorite servant.
When the dark lord left to return to his search, Bellatrix slowly rose to her feet, her legs shaky an her throat hoarse from screaming.
"I told you that would happen Lucius, and I also told you what would happen if that happened." Bellatrix said softly.
"No! Please don't AARGHAAH!" Lucius screamed as Bellatrix cast a pain curse on his groin and held it the spell.
"Shit rolls downhill Lucius, if I suffer, I will make you suffer." Bellatrix stated calmly over Lucius' high pitch shrieks of agony.
/A/D/W/F/
Moody's House, Scotland, 8/14/1997, 23:48
They all arrived back at camp after having to take the Underground to Totenham and then apparating to Leeds then walking several blocks before finally apparating here.
There was supposed to be a way to track apparation so doing so anywhere around Grimmauld place was a bad idea.
Narcissa had decided to come back to the camp, Harry thought she was just tired of Grimmauld after being confined to the place for three months. Harry knew that the death eaters were going to really tighten the noose in the area after what happened in France, so was glad he would have to find a way to get in and out of there to consult with her.
The group split up ten minutes after the entered the outer wards and all but Harry, Susan and Hermione headed towards the camp. Harry sent off a message to Moody saying he needed to give Hermione entrance.
Harry wasn't the secret keeper of the teen camp so he could only take her into the outer most wards.
The had to stand there for about ten minutes before Kingsley Shackle bolt came down and handed Hermione a slip of paper with the secret written on it, once she had read it Kingsley burned the paper and spoke. "Welcome back Ms. Granger."
"Thank you auror Shacklebolt." Hermione said with a small smile.
"It's just Kingsley now, the auror office is currently an extention of the death eaters, so the title is an insult." Kingsley said Kindly.
"Susan would you take her and get her settled? I have to go debrief." Harry asked.
"Sure" Susan said, before Pulling Harry in for a good night kiss.
Hermione's looked curiously between the two but didn't say anything until her and Susan headed back towards the tents.
Harry meanwhile walked with Kingsley. "So Moody really did win the pot?" Kingsley asked.
"Yeah, And I still want to throttle Tonks for that." Harry said with a scowl.
"She was always a nuisance in the aurora department, always pulling pranks or betting on who was hooking up with who." Shack said with a grin.
"Her and her mother saved out asses yesterday, Tonks sent Lucius Malfoy fleeing with his tail tucked." Harry said with a grin as the arrived at the kitchen door.
"Well Potter, I see you came back alive." Moody said as soon as him and Kingsley entered the kitchen.
"Yeah but the whole mission went to shit, I lost my informant so we're blind to what's happening inside the manor now." Harry said as he plopped down.
"Alright let's hear it, what happened?" Moody said.
So Harry explained the events of the last two days and how bad things really went.
"If I had just killed the bitch at the wedding none of this would have happened." Harry said tiredly.
"Aye, but it's done now, you completed the mission and you brought everyone home, that's what matters." Moody said.
"I also have seen proof the mark can be removed so if we capture one of them we can remove their mark and question them without being tracked." Harry said.
"True, but right now we have plans to make for Halloween, also there is a new situation you should be made aware of." Moody said sliding today's copy of the Daily Proper over to Harry.
Harry picked it up and seethed, it was a picture of Delores Umbridge standing in the ministry atrium smiling very toad like for the picture , underneath it read.
Dolores Umbridge to Head the Muggle-born Registration Comission.
The article went on to explain that all muggle-borns were required to make an appearance at the ministry, failure to appear was an automatic sentence in Azkaban. They were to be interviewed in courtroom ten by the new M.B.R.C to determine if they obtained their magic by theft or other illegal means.
"I think I have just found my next target." Harry said. certainly
"You want to kill her?" Moody asked.
"Sure I want to, but no I want to wring her mind for information like a sponge and then erase every memory she has, she can keep Lockhart company in the 'Janus Thickey' ward." Harry said.
"That's very risky, she is high up in the ministry, she's bound to have a security detail with her twenty-four seven." Kingsley said.
"True, but we can use some of the death eaters tactics. Attack her home late at night in overwhelming numbers, cut off her floo and put up anti -port key and anti-apparition wards. The ministry is already making us out to be outlaws, might as well use that to our advantage." Harry said thoughtfully.
"Fine, I got her home address and ward schematics in my file cabinet." Moody said helpfully.
"Why do you have that? You and her weren't you know inti-
"Potter, I will curse you through the wall. I collected information on anyone I deemed as a possible threat when Rufus called me back to the Corp last year." Moody said irritated.
"Okay, that's a relief, I'll probably have to plan this out for a bit, but for now I am really tired" Harry said as he stood up.
"Talk to you later Potter, come by in the next few days and we can go over her wards" Moody said.
"Yeah, I'll bring Bill. He can actually understand what the schematics mean." Harry told Moody then turned to Kingsley. "Goodnight shack."
Harry then walked back to his camp, the next few days would be very busy, but at least they were accomplishing something.
AN: Now I have a set course this story will go, up until this point I hadn't decided.