Dear Marvolo

I understand that you left Hogwarts to engage in some soul-searching, and the last thing I would want to do is to interrupt your search, however your successor has gone missing and as a result I would like to ask you if you had any suggestions for a replacement.

If you cannot think of anyone who could replace you then I shall search for a replacement myself.

If you are able to respond then I shall await your letter.

Stay safe

Minerva McGonagall

"You're telling me that Carrow has gone missing?" Harry questioned after Marvolo finished reading the letter aloud. "Such an action seems vastly out of character for someone that was enjoying torturing students… saying that I've just realised something, give me a minute." Harry walked over to the corner of the room, contacting Elias via their rings.

"Hey Harry, what's up?"

"Surprisingly not much, that isn't why I've called you. What happened to Amycus Carrow?"

"How do you know about that?"

"What did you do?" Harry asked, his voice betraying his annoyance.

"We may have killed him" Elias responded quietly, though after a minute of silence from his older brother he added, "Harry, are you still there?"

"You killed a Death Eater? Did you do it or were you involved in it?"

"Nigel Wolpert is the one who collapsed the tunnel around him, I didn't expect him to do so on both sides of the man. I will remind you that the Death Eater in question was torturing the students and we couldn't take it any longer."

"You misunderstand, I'm not chastising you for it, I just want to make sure you aren't going to feel guilty and let this tear you apart."

"Oh, I try not to think about it. I thought we would simply scare him away, the wards wouldn't let him through the gates and so he would have been forced to leave."

"At which point he informs Voldemort of the names of those students who are most likely to cause him problems in the future. Resulting in him and his Death Eaters storming the castle to slaughter any who dare oppose him."

"Are you telling me that I should have done nothing? If that's what you're saying to me then I'm going to disconnect the call."

"I'm not saying do nothing, I'd be a hypocrite if I said that, all I'm saying is that you need to be smarter with how you go about things."

"Okay Harry, I'm sorry. Daphne keeps tapping me on the shoulder to tell me to tell you to contact her and I'm not brave enough to ignore her."

Harry laughed at Elias' comment and wished him good luck before saying goodbye to him.

A few minutes later he tapped his ring and connected with his girlfriend's ring.

"Hello Daphne."

"Don't you hello Daphne me, I know what you're planning today. I will be joining you as you need the backup."

"Of course, though you won't be involved in the siege itself as we will only have three people on the inside, as well as Tonks."

"Then replace one of the three with me, if you think I'm trusting anyone else to watch your back then you are mistaken."

"I suppose your skills with binding and persuasion will be very helpful when this goes down. I'm bringing Fawkes to get us in and out, I don't wish to get into any fights, thigh if that becomes unavoidable then Fawkes will be bringing the rest of our forces into the battle. If you're sure that you wish to come then simply place your hand on his back, he should have appeared behind you already." Harry waited for a response, anything to indicate what Daphne was thinking. "Daphne? Hello?"

In the next second he nearly jumped out of his skin as she slammed her hands on his shoulder and shouted.

"Oh, is there another Daphne that you love?"

"Of course there is, Daphne Bluegrass. She is seventeen foot tall and has four heads."

"Such unrealistic body standards these days." Daphne joked as Harry pulled her into a hug.

"You are a sight for sore eyes." Harry said after taking a moment to look into Daphne's eyes.

"As are you."

"As romantic as this all is, what is the status of Hogwarts?" Nigel Hawthorn asked dryly.

"Apparently Carrow is dying in a tunnel with only a Dummy-Decoy for company."

"Oh."

"Yeah, not at all what I expected, Elias didn't expect it either. One of the kids became rather fed up with being tortured and collapsed a secret passageway around Amycus."

"I suppose that solves one problem, though Headmistress McGonagall wishes to hire a new Defence Professor in his absence and has asked me to select someone if I can."

"Who do you intend to send?" Harry asked.

"After tonight, I was thinking about sending your cousin Tonks in as the Defence Professor, though I can't imagine she will enjoy being told that she isn't fighting this war."

"Oh Marvolo, surely you have noticed it by now. She is in love with Professor Lupin, being the Defence Professor will put her in close proximity to him."

"That simplifies things a bit."

/_^_^_/

The full moon was here and for the first time in nearly two decades there was no face flashing in his mind, no vision of how things will go.

He knew now that this would be the last full moon that he would view from within a cell.

The howling of wolves and werewolves could be heard from miles away, a most comforting sound to a man who had seen no other faces in as long as he could remember.

He howled a sad farewell to them and heard their sorrowful response howled from Merlin-knows-where.

Perhaps once he was free he could tame one of his loyal friends, it would definitely be nice to have company.

"Long have I waited in this cell, two decades of my life have vanished before my eyes, and now I see that it is for the greater good."