Case of the Muggle Witch II

by Arwen of Imladris

i couldn't update, i couldn't understand a thing. i'm a nervous person on a paying net cafe thing. Arwen says hello> here's your CHAPTER 20 EVERYONE

2. Pieces of the Mosaic Final Chapter

Note from Arwen of Imladris: ARGGGHHH!!! They deleted the rest of my fic!!! Wtf!!! I'm not good at pc language so I didn't understand a soddy thing of what was happening when it didn't let me upload on my old story. Well then, it turns out my poor fic has been totally removed. And I dnt have a saved version of it. THIS SUCKS!!

I appeal to you readers for help! If any of you have any of the chapters, or possibly all of them, saved on hard disk or diskette I would be obliged if you could send it to me on cairel@global.net.mt!!!!!!!!

Pieces of a Mosaic

Connieo Concinnitudo (II)

To bring together brings harmony, excitement and pleasure

_____________________________________________________________

The alarm clock began to bleep in its piercing monotone. The Digital Muggle numbers on the square device began to change colours as the noise it made got sharper and sharper.

A heavy and laggard hand slumped out from beneath sheets, dragging the arm it was attached to behind it. After two haphazard, vein, attempts, the hand slammed onto right button and silenced the offending device.

With a resigned huff into the pillow, the figure pushed off the mattress. The drapes on the window were closed, and the only light came from the lighted numbers of the alarm clock, that had now settled to a dull red hue.

The sleeper sat up, pushing sheets off his hair and pulling them off his boxers before he stood up. But immediately he stumbled into something and then fished something else from behind the box of the alarm.

Things finally came into focus for Harry. He kicked the shoes he had tripped in out of the way and stretched, popping his back. Then yawning and scratching his head in dejection manner, he walked around the bed and with his hand (no way was he going to stop scratching ) pulled open the curtain. It did not make much difference, as it was six in the morning and the hot May sun hadn't risen yet, although the sky was pink.

Still wearing a grinched up face as he sniffed at his nose that had blocked up during the night, he went into the bathroom and flicked on the light. The bulb like candles flickered away as he washed his teeth, hair tumbling in front of his eyes if he had cut it had cut it the week before.

He rinsed his mouth again and opened the taps for the bath tub, glaring at a bottle of "Slow Grow" hair potion on the shampoo and soap shelf as hair stuck to his wet cheeks. Then he closed the taps, passed his wand in the water (he hadn't bothered to calculate how much cold and hot and cold water was flowing out), put it on the shelf, peeled off his clothes and got in.

Usually a bath would have made him feel better. But he was far from any better when he got out, wet and dripping. He walked out of the bathroom, switching the light off and the light off and trying to pass a hand through his wet hair.

Yes, another black day, he thought, opening a drawer. Usually he would have taken out any odd top and then worn his favourite over-robe on top of it, but now that it was gone, he had to bother himself this early in the morning to decide what he had to wear.

Clare . . ., a thought he would rather concentrated on than anything else. She was the one who had the over-robe. Harry pressed the material between thumb and fingers. A woman's dress hung from a peg amongst the men's robes. Hers. Pearly grey, like her eyes. He knew her eyes were grey, although few others did. He remembered them, when in July they had smiled at him, and how it baffled him in December when he was the same smile set in an azure frame.

Her smile . . . He sighed and took another one of his robes out. This one was white, with a blue v collar and a blue top sawn to it underneath. It had white flowing trousers, tied with a string at the ankle, and the top of the robe went down at the back ending in a v. The front came down to the hip. Harry tied it with a belt at the waist, because otherwise it would look like a baggy night-dress. Figures Madam Milkins would think he looked good in "Oriental Style". Then he tied another belt, which was purposely made for an Auror, to the first. He latched the waist belt to the hook the Auror's belt had on one side, and let the other swing down to below the hip. There he had a pocket for the special Floo Powder he used to get into the Ministry grates, a wand-keeper- made in dragon ladder to contain any friction-released sparks, and also the Auror licence card.

With a sigh he listlessly passed a comb through his un-rescuable mop of hair and then left his room.

At the Ministry, his desk greeted him with pile upon pile of papers, because the Ministry had called on a general file cleaning (did they do it on purpose, when the Death Eaters were quiet?), meaning that all the Ministry staff would not leave their offices before 11pm at the earliest for the next two months. Harry and Ron spent their day watching the feathers of their quill wave lightly from one side to another while they filled in forms and re-checked files, while downstairs Irene looked for files that dated back to when they weren't even born.

At lunch time, the break was short and sweet- the sandwich man came in with his trolley; they bought the sandwiches; at them; dusted the crumbs; kept on writing. They did this while the light coming from the window shifted; from white to yellow, from yellow to red and then to blue. Then to white again when Harry flicked on the artificial lights.

They left the Headquarters at one in the morning. The following day they were back at seven to face off with the humungous pile of paper work. Harry hadn't been bothered to force his brain awake and he had gone with the same outfit.

Half way through the morning, when Ron and Harry had begun to communicate in grunts like trolls out of fatigue, a messenger boy came in to tell them that the Minister had called them to a meeting.

Grunting all the more, they made their way to the top floor. They were guided by a secretary into the conference room, where seated at a long table were the Minister at the head, Percy to his right, Mr Moon- head of Mysteries Department- to his left, and several other Unspeakables of a lower rank. Their Boss, Old man Mundungus (Ron's words) was there too.

"Sit down Gentlemen" said the Minister. Two stewards pulled two chairs for the to sit on, across the table from each other. No doubt, so they could not communicate in whispers. Pathetic.

As Harry sat down, he gripped a hand around a box he had in his pocket. The presence of the Unspeakables reminded his forcefully of her. He just hoped she was ok.

"Mr Potter" Fudge began formally "Mr Weasley, we have summoned you here because we have discovered a lair of Death Eaters, one of the largest, in the heart of Dover. We want you, and these gentlemen here present to join forces now and co-ordinate a surprise attack on this den of outlaws. You, as heads of the two departments of magical law control and restriction, are responsible for the well-doing of this operation. I shall leave you and Mr Moon to discuss a plan of attack, while Mr Weasley and I shall attend some foreign guests who are awaiting us. We shall soon be back"

Mundungus did not wait for Fudge to leave the room to take the file containing the dossier on the Death Eater's base they had to attack. The papers were passed around all the people present, and Harry scanned them carefully, looking at the various entrances, the photos taken of Death Eaters strolling casually in and out, of the estimated amount of enemies that were supposed to locate themselves in the hide-away, of the photos taken of the Death Eaters of a higher rank that were captaining the base.

Mundungus and Moon had began to formulate a hypothesis of attack, helped by Harry, Ron and the Unspeakables present by the time Fudge and Percy returned to the conference room. Fudge sat down with a smug expression, while Percy seemed to be sitting on a porcupine. He looked extremely on edge and agitated, and kept glancing side-longingly at Harry.

The Minister had a bright and triumphant air about him and kept complimenting them all and assuring them that he believed in their validity. Percy looked even more worried.

"You must all go quickly now that the plan is made" said Fudge suddenly in an official tone "We all know we have another mole in the Ministry, and till now, only we who are in this room know about our discovery of this base, but the ears of the enemy are infinite. You must leave at once, so as to increase the possibilities of finding our prey there. Mr Potter" he gave Harry and especially proud look "The Ministry is counting especially on you. In past missions you have proven your valour, and we are in need of your talent today the most"

Ron and Harry raised an eyebrow at each other as they stood up. Mundungus began to talk to Mr Moon as they walked out the door, discussing in whispers and pointing at the ominous black and white maps and photos with people in black and grey mask walking in and out of them. The three Unspeakables kept together in a tight knit group, just like the girls had done before the Yule ball when Harry and Ron had been at school.

Fudge left smiling, wishing them all the luck, something that made Harry look twice, because Fudge was usually the incarnation of worry before a mission, in case anything happened and his public image was further degraded. Could he be so sure of their success? But that didn't make sense if he was sending them off so urgently- by how he had described it, it sounded like they were going to be faced with a 10 to 1 situation, not in their favour. What the heck was he so happy about?

"Harry"

Harry jumped and turned to see Percy a few inches behind him.

"What is it?"

"Come into my office quickly, before Fudge comes out again. Now immediately- and alone"

Percy pulled Harry into his office and closed the door in Ron's face.

"Harry . . . I don't know where to start this . . ."

"Well, find a place or the others will leave without me"

"There you have it" said Percy "Harry, you would never abandon a mission right? Even if you had a personal business that was very urgent"

"You know I wouldn't leave my mission and colleagues. Perce, what do you mean?" answered Harry, frowning at the fishiness of the question.

"That's what that bastard's counting on" spat Percy in anger "And you can't skive this one especially because he blew it up and gave it to you in front of every one. You know Mundungus is just a figurehead don't you?"

"Oh, he's old and-"

"That leaves the Hits section all on you, and you have to go on this mission by force"

"Percy, wha-"

"What I'm trying to tell you is that this thing is all a fluke, a bluff! Fudge wants to have you out of the Ministry and out of the way so that he can do as he pleases without you interfering until its too late!"

"Too late?"

"He's taking her away Harry!" Percy grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him while talking forcefully into his face "He got to know of her little trip to see you in the Leaky Cauldron and he's carting her off to Norway!"

The ticking of their watches was very loud compared to silence that followed.

"Nor-way" choked Harry, totally stunned and shocked by the news. His hand gripped instinctively on the box in his pocket.

"Yes" replied Percy, still gripping his shoulders "The Foreign 'guests' who were waiting for us were the Norwegian ambassadors, and they agreed to take Clare to one of their hidden castles and continue her training under Von Strauder, the Minister and headmaster of the Vanderbourge school"

"She doesn't know how to speak Norwegian . . ." he said blankly. He did not know what to say, he was totally horrified and his mind wasn't thinking. His hand pressed on the wooden box covered in velvet felt, and the box nearly broke. He stopped, because what was inside the box was the most important thing in his life.

"Come back quickly, Harry" said Percy- he was begging him "Fudge is going crazy! Hurry up and come back. They're taking her tomorrow. She'll be leaving Hogwarts tomorrow at three in the morning and God knows when she'll be back! She may not come back at all for all I know except for the final contest!"

"I'm going to kill Fudge, Percy" said Harry, suddenly stiffening "and I won't go back on my word this time"

"No Harry! It's folly! Calm down!! You definitely won't be able to see her if you're in Azkaban!"

"Then what the hell can I do?" Harry grit his teeth so hard they could have cracked "He can't keep doing this to us! We never did anything to him- never did anything wrong! We only love each other! Is that a crime?"

"We both know all this is useless" said Percy urgently "I shouldn't be here, you shouldn't know. Yelling and fighting about it between us help- nothing can help at the moment. You have to go because Fudge will soon be out of his office- and he must not know that I told you, otherwise he might even make the transfer earlier. Tell Ron- he'll help- and come back as soon as you manage. If you can't, invent something- Ron will cover. Don't worry about after- we'll hide you- we'll do something for you- we'll think of it ourselves. You just come back, grab her and go straight to the Burrow"

"Percy, I-"

"Don't say anything now, just go. I've known you since Hogwarts, and what with the year you lived with us, Mum and Ginny, I've come to think of you more as a brother than anything else. Ron would say the same thing. Now go- GO!- before Fudge leaves the office!"

Percy opened a thin door that led into a tiny hall in front of Fudge's office, peered in and saw the door ajar with shadows moving inside. He then opened the door of his study that led into the conference room. Ron's frowning face greeted him.

"What-"

"Shhhh!" silenced Percy, looking at the other door in the conference room, which also led to the hall in front of Fudge's office "He out yet?"

"No, the old prune's still moulding in his study" said Ron in an annoyed monotone.

"Good" he pulled Harry by the underarm and then nearly threw him out of his office "I never told you anything, we never spoke today and remember what it told you about timing. Now go!"

With that, he closed the door.

"Let's move" said Harry, in a voice that would have fitted one that had just been strangled. Harry ducked his head like a horse and pushed forward, not stopping his accelerated pace only when they had left the conference room and they had half the stairs of the building behind.

"Wait up!" said Ron, grabbing Harry by the shoulder from behind and shoving him against the wall of the staircase "What in heaven has gotten into you? You spend ten minutes with Percy and you look as if he raped you! If it's true, speak up, `coz we should tell Penny"

Harry gave a snigger and lowered his head further, letting his hair and spectacles' rim cover his eyes.

"If it was true, it would feel less terrible"

"Ron rested against the wall, standing on the step before Harry's. He looked up and put his hands in his pocket.

"Clare?"

"Yes. He's taking her to Norway- tomorrow. This mission is only a cover to keep me away from him, and her while he drags her abroad"

"Fucking Bastard" said Ron quietly "Don't come to the mission"

"You know I can't. Mundungus and Moon would have to make report and-"

"The report would come in AFTER! You'd be already God knows where"

"You have no idea what you're saying. We'll be with Moon and the Unspeakables. Fudge will know I didn't go on the mission before I get to Hogwarts and take her to the gates"

Outside, a cloud passed in front of the sun. The light that came down to illuminate the staircase dulled, and the surroundings became blue. Both men slid down the wall and sat down on a stair, the red head looking up, the scruffy hair covering his face as he looked down. The breeze that crept down the stairs and up their backs was fresh, common. Both men had a blank mind, unable, or unwilling, to think about the emnesm hurdle that they had to overcome.

"Percy said they'll be moving her from Hogwarts tomorrow morning. From what I got, it will be a rushed thing. Take her early in the morning before any students wake, train her to the next port-key and she's in Norway"

"So before tomorrow morning, nothing should move"

"No- but how long will this mission last? And now long will I resist? I don't know"

"We'll invent something, don't worry"

A gap in the cloud let the sun shine through, and the surroundings dazzled in bright yellow light. Darts of sun rays danced around the banister. Then immediately the cloud covered the sun again, and all their environment became dark.

"You know how much I have to concentrate during a duel"

"Yeah"

"I'll get something bad this time. My mind will drift. I don't even know where it is now. My head feels completely light"

Ron passed a hand through his hair and then squashed a bunch of it in his fist, then closed his eyes.

"You stay next to me. When the battle gets hot, you disapparate to Hogwarts"

"Percy told me to go the Burrow"

"Good thinking. Mum and dad will know someone, and if they don't, Mad Eye will"

Harry nodded

"Moody'll help. He knows of her, no doubt. Dumbledore surely told him, or I'm not a Weasley"

"Potter! Weasley! Where have you gone to?" Mundungus came puffing up the stairs "Get on with you will ya`! have yer beauty sleep another day when-"

Harry looked up at him

""Whoa boy, who died?"

"My cat" said Harry, pushing off the floor. Ron did the same, and they both walked wordlessly pest their boss, who stared at them with propelling eyebrows.

They found Moon and the Unspeakables waiting with an amount of Hits who had helped them on the case of the Knock turn alley was there too.

"Come on sirs" said Moon, and Harry, Ron and Mundungus grabbed a portion on the muddy boot that made the port-key. They left the Ministry for good.

Arriving directly on the site, between a 100 miles of the underground Death Eater cave. They all performed an invisibility charm and moved as silently as they could among the thick shrubbery.

The hours passed. Ron began to give Harry worried side long glances. Harry, on the contrary, used the time to roost a plan.

The group of men remained there all day, invisable as they were, watching the den with owls' eyes. Ron seethed within, watching the hours inexorably slip by as they awaited a movement, thinking of his friend's situation and wishing murder of fools was permitted. Harry, in contrast, was impassively cool, face cold, betraying no emotion. Soon, although time seemed both fast and slow, the sun's course began to lead it down words.

Then punctually, with advent of the night, seemingly out of nowhere, a man in a grey and black mask and shrouded in a black cloak stood in the middle of a shrubbery. They knew it was the entrance to the den.

Suddenly a gleaming green rope vaulted over his head and then fastened around his torso and arms. A glowing parchment with magical runes on it slapped onto the mouth-part of the mask. The figure squirmed and mumbled, and then disappeared altogether to the swish of a cloak. The Unspeakables had followed a scheme that Mundungus and Moon had concocted during the meeting. The First sentinel was down, with God knew how many to go.

Harry and Ron removed the spells for an instant, and their men followed them. Then they performed a collective- silent- incantation that made them invisible again, but now they could see each other. Harry pointed three of his men to Ron and the rest to Mundungus, who nodded them over. Ron's eyes went wide and he began mouthing frantically, asking something on the lines of 'what in heaven are you doing?'

"The scheme says I'm bait" he replied while he walked past him. Ron ground his teeth, remembering that particular detail of the plan that at that point hadn't seemed unusual, but that now took upon it the weight of the light of Percy's news. Harry had been used as bait on several missions, because he was an animagus and because he was the one who could manage a situation best. He had never been one to panic- he always kept his head, even when the situation got critical. But now they knew about Fudge's final attempt to separate Harry and Clare, it all looked like a plot to them; a further stone to the separation- it would definitely mean separation if Harry got killed on a mission. Ron seethed

Harry moved forward, Percy's words ringing in his ears "Come back quickly" His teeth together so hard that his jaw bone nearly cracked. He couldn't wait to get his hands on something- anything- to vent his fury on. He gave a sudden leap, and with a billow of cloak he was a black hawk soaring upwards. Then the hawk, with eased and innate grace swooped down and landed deftly on a branch, flashing green eyes, now spotted in amber and slitted to fit the body shape. Slitted eyes that could see what other could not. A mouse, sitting motionless under a leaf. Invisible as the grey of the shadows merged with the grey if its coat. A black beetle scuttled out of a hole in the bark and diving into another. It would have seemed to be nothing but a shadows in passing to the normal eye.

Then there was the black and grey mask, under the leaves, appearing and disappearing like a shadow in passing. So there were Death Eaters in the den.

He disapparated and apparated directly in front of the hole leading down into the gaping emptiness; the underground hide-away

With and angry ruffle of its feathers, the black hawk leapt up, just as Harry had done, and became Potter.

He stood there, like a statue. Waiting. This was not according to plan. The plan had said the bait had to be the thursh, but now he, Harry, was leading the game. Not Mundungus, not Moon, NOT Fudge, but Harry.

He folded his arms and waited. The leaves around him rustled, something like an underlying whisper. Maybe it was a whisper, the worried whisper of his men, who had never seen him disobey the scheme, and who to a certain extent cared as friends; the worried and angry whisper of Ron, who loved his acquired brother, and was angry at the circumstances that were pushing him to this extent; the angry whisper of Moon and Fletcher, who were just angry.

Harry stood there, notwithstanding the whispering.

All of it swirled around him. One of them whispered "Think of her" and then died with the others. All the leaves were instantly still. All the flowers stopped swaying. All the shadows stopped moving. All the shadows except one. One shadow flitted across the opening and then twirled. The sun light reflected on a black cloak- like a living shadow came to haunt and take.

"Potter" the shadow hissed- then pounced. Harry moved aside and the shadow fell over, rolled and got up. The shadow turned to face Harry, hissing like a snake uncoiling; hissing into the wind. Spitting, swearing.

The alarm was raised. The sleeping shadows roused. The plan, though shocked out of track, rattled back onto the railings. The rusty mechanisms and joints of the Ministry functions began to moved. Harry disapparated. Apparated. Disapparated. Apparated- every time a Death Eater pounced at him he did it. Now they weren't one, they were many. More and more, sprouting like a fungus, black and grey, billowing, pouncing, launching sparks, spells.

From the trees the attacks came. The Ministry forces were still more invisible than ever- a battle between shadows and nothingness, like a battle between light and darkness; day and night.

Out of nowhere, someone pulled him backwards, hand on mouth, on nose, dragging him backwards notwithstanding his attempts to restrain his captor. The arm around his torso tightened, winding him. But he didn't panic. He wasn't even afraid.

He was dragged, seeing the world moving backwards around him, into an inlet sheltered by two large protrusions in the rock face. All around them, the trees waved their hefty arms in a hypnotic dance

"Potter" -it was Mundungus- "By God, can I know what got into you, boy?"

Harry dislodged the old man's arm from around him and pivoted to face him and retort. He didn't manage a word.

"Don't you have `ny mind? `Ny love for yourself? Love for another?"

Love for another. Harry had plenty. He was drowning in it. it was choking him.

"Do you know what your leaving would do" - he knew- the laceration, like digging a hand into the chest and pulling out one's heart. The Departure of a loved one- "Don't you think of what it would do to the ones who love you? Weasley's your friend, ain't he? His familty love you too, don't they? Not to talk `bout the whole of England, boy! God, they love you so much they swear by you!"

Harry looked away

"Ya don't care, don't ya" said Mundungus again "They know the reasons behind it all, don't they? Let me tell you this boy, you're an orphan, but you're not alone. Isn't there one- one girl, only one, who matters to you?"

"Yes, there is one who matters the world, and you know what happened?"" - Mundungus suddenly burst in a cold sweat as Harry's face snarled into his own "They took her away from me- I can't talk to her- because I'm Harry Potter, and staying by me means danger"

Harry shoved forward and began to walk towards the field. Mundungus stepped back, but realisation dawned on his face

"No Potter, you aimed too high. Forget her"

Harry froze, then rushed forward, grabbing Mundungus by the collar and slamming him against the jagged wall behind him.

"How do you know? What's your business with her?"

A red blast streamed past behind Harry, hitting a tree to their left and setting it on fire. Harry's eyes gleamed in the hellish hue.

"Let me go" choked Mundungus. Harry loosened the grip, but kept a firm hold on his robes "I was informed to pass your post to Weasley- the vice- to check it out. Only we know, you, me, Fudge and Weasley- and she's safe, but you should forget her"

"For your information" spat Harry "she loves me as much as I love her"

Mundungus sealed his mouth

Harry let go of him and made once again for the field

"Don't die then, for her" Mundungus said. Harry stopped; turned around to glare at the shrivelled old man. Then he continued his routine of apparating and disapparating.

He had a plan in mind.

Ron began to follow his apparition scheme.

"What on earth-" they disapparated and apparated together in another place "- got into you"

"Don't start" replied Harry, dodging a punch at his face from a disarmed enemy.

"You made me pee in my pants!"

"Change pants"

"Don't pull my leg, tell me what-" they disapparated and apparated exactly 7 meters away "- bee's in your bonnet"

"You know". Both of them jumped up half a meter automatically as a jinx dashed by at leg height. Together they let fly a "Stupefy!" then kept talking

"You'll give Fudge a good help by taking yourself-" dodge "- out of his way"

"What?". They dived behind a rock.

"You definitely can't bother him when-" They covered their heads as a blast hit the rock and then they twisted on either side, responding to the fire "-you're dead, right?" Ron finished when they had their backs once more to the rocks.

"I'll get Moaning Myrtle to show me how you remain a ghost" replied Harry

"Oh, and I expect Clare would really enjoy knowing that you were two-timing her with a spotty transparent wailer"

"Oh shut up"

"I will when you see reason"

"Potter, Weasley, scheme three" Moon yelled

They went invisible and retreated into the woods.

"Just what needed" said Harry's voice

"What is it you have in mind?" repeated Ron's

"Look" Harry's voice lowered into a whisper, another whisper among the leaves "Haven't you noticed my moves?"

"Yeah, they're the evasive scheme me and you invented no?"

"Exactly"

"And that means . . ?"

"There is no better place than a battle field to . . ."

"To what?"

"Don't you remember, what Moody always told us during training? There is no better place than a battle field to . . ."

"By Merlin! I remember! To-"

"Shush! There, you got it, great, now keep it in."

"Right, and what after?"

"Don't know."

"Didn't Percy say Burrow?"

"No, `t be guarded"

"Herm's parents?"

"Good one, I thought of Remus"

"Potter, Weasley, where are you!"

"Let's move"

There was a rustling of leaves as they invisibly moved

"So- your plan remains?"

"Don't know. You're with me now?"

"No kidding. When wasn't I?"

"No kidding- in fourth year with goblet of fire"

"By the dienty! You're going to throw it at my face for the rest of my days?"

"Why don't you shout a little louder? Maybe there are still a couple of Death Eaters who didn't hear you"

There was a wheezing noise, like an angry breath pushed through barred teeth.

"You're being so stubborn, closed and damn secretive about all this, like you with all the things regarding your family.

Harry's voice sighed. Twigs moved and leaves rustled as the two invisible figures climbed up a tree.

"We're family too" grunted Ron, tumphing his backside on a sturdy branch

"You are, but -"

"No but! We are family, don't you dare say no after all the thick and then we've been through. You know the only reason why I quarrelled with you back then because I was afraid Hermione would decide to look at you inside of me"

"I was just going to say 'but she's family too' Ron"

"Oh" said Ron's voice. Followed by "OH! You don't mean-"

"Shush up there! This isn't a tea party"

"What are you doing here, Dan?" said Harry's stiff voice.

"Mr Potter! I-I'm sorry sir" answered the bodiless voice.

"You shouldn't be anywhere close to us. You should be with the ambush, Michel- scheme three we two are baits. Now go."

"Yes sir- but I can't see you, so-"

"Go, I said!"

Ron followed Daniel Michel's movements with his ears, while Harry's eyes followed a black shadows moving towards them. Now they were three shadows, four.

"They're coming"

They jumped down and removed the invisible spell

"So, tell me again, you're going to . . .?"

"Evasion"

"Got it. See you at the Grangers'"

The night was falling. The red light became grey. The woods lit with the lights of lashing spells like torches in old forsaken temples.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Did you get the strongest feeling just now?"

"Like what"

"Like you forgot something that never even existed"

"Er . . . don't I always?"

Remus Lupin threw a quill at his friend Sirius across of him

"Never a time when one can speak seriously with you" sighed Remus

"I keep my serious moments for Harry. He needs them more than you do"

"That's an improvement"

"What do you mean by that?"

Remus just smiled. Apart from the fact that what Sirius had said was the plainest sacred truth, he hadn't answered that comment with the old smart alek remark. Although his sarcastic humour, meant to pinch in a friendly manner, had returned after his name had been cleared and he could put his nightmare of Azkaban behind, the lack of the classical "I am Sirius" was a note of deep change. Of embetterment. Through suffering, but embetterment.

"But Harry is not here now, and I need some of your 'pearls of wisdom'" answered Remus at long last, feeding Sirius some of his own medicine.

"Ah! So you do finally acknowledge me wise! I am content! I shall die now happy" replied Sirius instantly. So much for embetterment.

"I think my cousin has been fooling around."

That instantly quitted Siruis' spirits.

"What makes you think that?" he asked Remus slowly

"I told you- I feel like my mind has been tempered with. After being a werewolf for most of my life, I have learned to trust my instincts"

"Why her though?"

"Who else could temper with my memory with indirect magic like her when I'm in London in my office and she is miles away?"

"True, but what exactly are you feeling?"

"I told you. Displaced- like there was a sudden a gap- like I felt someone push me, I looked around but I found an empty room. A gap, a missing sequence"

Sirius scratched the underside of his chin.

"Now that you mention it . . . an unease . . . I feel too. A quite promanent unease, at the back of my mind"

"Precisely"

The buzzer on their table rang noisily

"Hello, it's the office of Black and Lupin" answered Remus

"It's the secondary reception here on the third floor. Knaven asked if you know where Mundungus is"

"You heard that?" Remus whispered to Sirius, letting go of the button so that the reception couldn't hear

"Tell them- we know, the research floor should know too, although it sounds fishy . ."

Remus nodded, then said into the device "He's no not in the building. He, Moon and the Unspeakables, and the top Hit Wizards are out. We don't know where they are however"

"I see. Thanks anyway". The gadget bleeped loudly until Remus let go of the button.

"Care for any lunch, old man?" asked Sirius, standing up from where he had been sitting

"I'm your age Sirius" retorted Remus absently

"But you look much older, with your venerable white hair" chuckled his companion

"If you say so" muttered Remus, his mind still on the previous conversation

"Come on, come on!" said Sirius, throwing an arm around Remus's neck and ruffling his neatly parted hair "We'll investigate. You know we have the right ponds to fish in"

"Alright, you're hungry"

"Amin'th I always?"

Keeping their soft laughter behind shut mouths, the two middle aged men left their office, one with the other patting him on the back

"They took the port key to the bottom of the stairs (magical elevators where still in process of completion) and left to have a light meal.

On their way out, as they were passing through the sumptuous entrance hall, a very disgruntled receptionist cut across their path with a pile of box files on her outstretched arms, grumbling haphazardly to herself.

"That Dumbledore . . . geezer . . ."

"Excuse me" asked Remus, stopping short and pivoting to look at her "Did you mention Albus Dumbledore"

"Yes, do you want me to start on some more extra research?"

"No, not at all" blinked Remus " just wondering why old Headmaster should be bothering your tongue"

"Oh that's so simple. This morning he dived in here following an intruding girl. He said MR Fudge was expecting them, and when I asked him about her after, when he came down to meet the foreign guests, he snapped at me to shut the trap and gave me all the extra work you can get `to keep me occupied`"

I see" said Remus, his eyes and Sirius's lit at once as they added Dumbledore to weird girl to Fudge to unsettling feeling Remus had had all morning. The only answer could be-

"Did she have red hair?" Remus asked

"Oh yes she did- no one could miss a hot head like hair, in all senses" she replied, shifting the weight of the box files from- one arm to another "How do you know?"

"We saw her passing" interjected Sirius "We're leaving you now Madeline, we're off to have lunch"

The receptionist went away in a huff, resuming her parody of mumbling. Remus and Sirius , wide eyed, rushed out of the Ministry building into the busy London street.

"I can't believe it!" squealed Sirius "She was here, she actually-came-here! Lord! And I would think Fudge would be nervous in the least to find her in front of him!"

"Keep it down"

"Yes, you're right, sorry." said Sirius, resorting to a whisper "But you too! Putting your foot in your mouth like that! You can't miss the `Evans` red hair, what possessed you to ask?'

"I wanted to make sure it was her. She is my cousin, after all"

"More than a cousin, you treat her like a daughter" nagged Sirius

"So do you Harry" answered Remus

"Yes, but Harry doesn't have a father, while Clare does"

"Not a magical father" Remus said again "And don't come and tell me again that she's your filial. This time, I'm taking my cousin under your wing. Sally and George are good parents, but they can't help her now"

"Alright, alright old man! Don't bite my head off" Sirius once again threw his arm around Remus's neck "I know how much you care for your little acquired cousin. Let's do this- I take care of my `son` and you take care of your `daughter`"

"Actually, at the moment I'm more concerned about her plunging through the Ministry like a storm in summer, or so Madeline said" muttered Remus

Sirius opened his mouth to answer, but someone called him from behind. They turned around to see a breathless and confused looking Arthur Weasley

"Mr Black-"

"Arthur, you can call me Sirius. For Heaven's sake, you helped me hide!"

"Well, ok, Sirius, but I only wanted to give you this"

"Huh?" asked Sirius raising an eyebrow as Arthur handed him a sealed envelope.

"Percy told me to give it to you just now, and ah! Mr Lupin-"

"Remus"

"Remus then- I have a letter for you too. I've had it for a while, this one, but I haven't seen you for a long time. It's from Ron. Don't ask why my sons are writing to you, I have no vague idea in the seven heavens"

"It's alright Arthur- they're probably confidential Ministry letters. In these cases, it's always better to deliver the letter by hand. It happens to us quite often actually" said Sirius, putting the letter in his inside pocket

"More often than not, in these times" sighed Remus, turning his letter over and over.

"If you say so" shrugged Arthur with a sigh "Nothing shall ever surprise me anymore as long as I live. I hoped to see no more bad times, but I've lived to see them twice already"

"So have we Arthur" nodded Sirius ruefully "So have we"

Arthur Weasley left with a sigh and a wave. Remus, who had looked the letter over and over and seen no sign of writing on it, looked suspiciously at Sirius

"The usual procedure?" asked the other

Remus nodded, delicately put the letter down on a low fence of a café next to him, and with great care ( thankful for the colourful flower bushes that decorated the café's outer tables' border and covered him) he tapped three different places of the letter lightly.

It glowed briefly, but it didn't burn and shrivel as it would have done had it contained a curse.

Remus picked it up and nodded Sirius to a quieter place round the corner. As soon as they were in the alley, Remus popped the seal- which was just the ordinary wax seal with the Ministry crest, without any family mark on it- and took out the folded parchment.

"Professor Lupin" he read out loud. A smile crept on his wrinkled face

"This is Ron Weasley- the real one don't worry. I know about the little detail of my bachelor's party, the one on the boxers ("Oh I remember that one alright" guffawed Sirius), and NO ONE knows about that except you, Sirius, Harry and me (I hope). I wrote this to inform about the recent happenings concerning Harry and Clare."

"Blimey Remus" hushed Sirius "Whisper it out from here on will you? This is important"

"No doubt you have been receiving some strange letters from Harry recently. Believe me, I see him every day and every day he looks different. That girl's changed him drastically and he's doing crazy things to try and get back to her. In fact, his behaviour is what I'm writing about, and I'm telling dad to deliver this to you, it's safe to talk about it. Professor Lupin, I'm extremely worried for Harry. Since Fudge put that stop to his letters to Clare, he's going crazy. At work he's distracted and irritated, and he's not hiding it well enough any more. He's had months of it, and its beginning to get at him."

"This sounds more than serious, it sounds like something vital" remarked Remus, stopping a second to reconsider for a second what he had read.

"Continue" urged Sirius

"Well, actually, what I think is happening is that Harry and Clare are fat-heads"

"It's Ron alright" snorted Sirius

"because they've decided to run off"

"What!" exclaimed Remus

"Read on! Quickly!" replied Sirius, looking as worried

"Actually, I'm not sure about anything. Heck, I don't know a thing of what's going on these days. Mundungus keeps coming to our office and asking Harry what to do and putting the lot on his shoulders. He's strong, but everybody's got a limit. He's worried about his stuff, Mundungus comes in and gives him the work of a whole department. However, I haven't known Harry for all these years without learning how to read him. He'd do anything to stay with her, and I doubt there's any difference on Clare's part. This may sound crazy, but if you think of it, it's the only thing he can do. He's disparate to be with her, and he's only waiting for the last straw."

"Good God. This out of this world. Those two can't have a peaceful life! It's outrageous" growled Sirius.

"And most outrageous is that its not Voldemort this time, but the Ministry itself" muttered Remus, changing to the second leaf of the letter "Then all this wasn't just in my mind"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that a few days ago- last Saturday I think?- I received a letter from Harry asking if in an extreme situation I'd offer shelter. He didn't tell me what extreme situation, but it asks for shelter, that's ink on parchment. It made me think exactly what our Ron is suspecting here."

"Oh damn. This is very worrying indeed! Why for Merlin's beard didn't you tell me?"

"I wasn't supposed to tell any one, not even you. He wrote that you'd be the one they'd check upon if he disappeared"

"He's bloody hat right"

"What I'm afraid of is that they'll do something stupid to get that simple little privacy they deserve. I don't say I don't agree with them, but I'm worried sick of what could happen to them if their too rash. Remus, to say the truth, I'm scared stiff. Hermione Harry and me were a team. Hermione was the methodical one, I was the hot head and Harry had both courage and mind. I was the one who was rash, and seeing Harry lose that integrity and control has pushed me off my rocker. I hope you'll be able to help me out on this one, because I can't convince that idiot that he mustn't do something do something stupid when I shouldn't even know he's going to do something stupid. I'd be obliged if you can come up to our office and have a chat with him one of these days. It really would help a great deal

Thanks anyway

Ron Weasley

P.S. don't tell him I told you to speak with him, `cos he'll chop my head off"

"Now I'm worried" said Sirius sarcastically.

"That's an understatement" replied Remus, more sarcastically still. The lines on his forehead deepened and a vein throbbed on Sirius's neck.

"When was this written?" asked Sirius urgently

"The date here reads Friday 7th" exclaimed Remus "Today's already the 11th! We may be too late to dissuade Harry!"

"If I know Harry, he does have something on his mind" scowled Sirius "However, Harry has always been more cautious than James, and I don't think he'd risk leading Clare into danger"

"I think his blood is catching up to him if this letter speaks right. You may be right, but Harry is . . . a Potter. Don't you remember when he thought you had killed his parents? He stopped in front of nothing, and he would have killed you hadn't his conscience and intuition stopped him. Moreover, he was only thirteen back then, a boy. Now he's a man with steady set mind"

An evident spasm of pain momentarily clouded Sirius's features as he recalled his fearful time as an escapee of the terrible creatures.

"But then, he let me explain and let me go after. He saw the truth and acted accordingly" he then replied thoughtfully

"We showed him the truth. No matter how old Harry grows, we're going to be older. We have to guide him, and Clare too"

"But we can't leave the bloody Ministry" seethed Sirius "They'd notice we're gone, and I don't want to end in Azkaban again"

"What has Azka-"

"Imagine an emergence crops up while we're not there, and no one knows where we are. We'd be listed suspects as easily as you drink water. Fudge can't stand our guts- especially MY guts- for being Dumbledore's men, and I've never been a lucky man in my life"

"I understand" nodded Remus, biting his lip "but what if delay costs us Harry? What if it costs us both our protected?"

"No, I trust Harry" said Sirius strongly, as though he were convincing himself

"I trust Clare too, but they are young and in love. There isn't more dangerous a combination"

"Let's go back immediately; in this way we can finish the work we have to do earlier and sneak up to Harry's floor. If they get back today, that is"

"The most we can do is pathetic" said Remus, his forehead still folded in his anger at the impossibility of moving

They dashed out of the alley, Remus hiding the compromising letter in the innermost pocket of his robe and headed back into their office.

___________~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Look Amanda, that is not enough to cheer her up" frowned Edward

"More than cheering , we'll need something like a balm potion" commented Jim

"Now you and your potions study! What does a calming broth have to do with the situation?" retorted Lin

"Have you possibly not noticed? Her magic was rippling off her like a volcano in eruption. She might have looked calm, but she was everything but that. For heaven's sake, I'm muggle-born and I saw it!"

"What-"

"Her anger is blistering. She's hurting herself" said Eliott shortly

"Anger?"

"Holy Merlin's gnawed up hat! This morning at breakfast, didn't you look at her! She seemed calm, but she could have set a hippocampus in the lake on fire if she had looked at it with those blazing eyes of hers. She's keeping it in and it's not doing her any good! Wake out of your little tainted minds"

"Well, not all of us are as illuminated as you are" said Amanda "I have no ancestors who were magical mediums, so I'll just say you're right"

"So our idea of a party in Hogsmead blasts?" asked Lin

"I think she's blast us if we'd even propose it" sighed Jim "None of us can give her what she really wants"

"Well, `blast us`, really. I do think she's exagerating a wee bit with her tempers" said Edward

"Oh yeah?" said Ann "I'd like to see you, kept away from the one you love by a stupid piece of paper"

"Ann's right" said Lin "and you of all people should know about rage and frustration. We've had to bear you often enough"

Edward opened his mouth to answer

"London" Eliott cut him off

"What?"

"I just thought" replied Eliott "She went to London last Saturday no?"

"Oh God, you think-" whispered Lin

"I think you mean it had consequences?" said Jim, his brows creasing worriedly

"But what could they do more than they have already?" asked Edward, throwing his hands up

"Transfer Harry for example" said Amanda feverishly

They all turned around to look at her

"I've heard of Ministry officers who have been sent abroad. They're usually the best ones" she continued

"But no, we're being too pessimistic. Fudge would never transfer Harry with You-know-who still around. That would leave him without his best ally"

"Unless Harry's resigned" said Eliott

"But then would Clare be angry? I mean this angry?" Jim corrected himself when they all opened their mouths together "She WOULD be angry at what Fudge made him do, but she would be at least a speck happy because she could see him"

"No, it doesn't stand" said Lin "If Harry had resigned, he'd be here, and we wouldn't see Clare around at all"

"Here? With all these eyes?"

"Aurors now how to hide"

"In that case, he could be here and we don't know"

"And Clare would look like an over-loaded furnace?" said Ann "I don't think so"

"They couldn't have fought again!"

"Oh dear, you don't think he's been arrested do you?"

"Really! Whatever for!"

"Lord, he can't be dead can he!" exclaimed Amanda, standing and clapping both hands on her cheeks

"REALLY Amanda, you're TOO drastic!"

"Hold your horses everyone!"

They all looked at Eliott as he stood up

"What's the date today?"

"Tuesday 11th. Why?"

"Because we have our finals next month, and we will not help Clare by failing. We have to cheer her, but we also have to think of graduation"

Edward and Amanda each threw a cushion at him, but Jim put his hands up

"Eliott's right. We have no chance to think of the various possibilities and explanations for Clare's anger today. We have to think of ourselves too. I'm sure Clare would only get angrier if we all failed because of her"

They all sighed, and mumbling returned to their work. The common room was not very populated, because with the examinations ticking closer, the most frequented quarters of the castle were the library's.

The sand crept down the hour glass as Eliott watched it. As the last grain fell and the magical mechanism turned the hour glass, the big clock of the common room marked 8:31pm. Then Eliott too turned to open book on his lap Ulric the Oddball . . .

_______________*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Look out!"

Daniel Mitchell dived at Ron just in time as a red beam whizzed by. Ron immediately stood up again and looked around for Harry. He couldn't see him anywhere

"Oh damn" he swore "Curse it! where did he go now?"

"Are you ok?". Ron turned around to look at Dan

"I'm fine. Thanks Dan, this is the second time you save my backside"

"It's alright Ron; if we don't look out for each other out here, who will?"

"Yeah. Back in Knockturn Alley I'd have left my head behind at the entrance if not for you" said Ron distractedly, keeping his eyes on the surroundings, scanning the battle for any signs of Harry "Do you think they'll last long?"

"Long enough" growled Dan, stunning a Death Eater squarely in the forehead as he passed by

"Damn bone headed mongrel's left me behind" mumbled Ron angrily

"What?"

"Nothing, what's the time?"

"It's one in the Morning. Blimey, we've been here for nearly 24 hours already"

Ron kept looking around. He then finally spotted Harry. Harry was looking at him, rested calmly against a tree. His robes where white, but he had transfigures a cloak out of something. A black cloak, with a long cowl covering his face. He slipped an arm out from underneath the cloak and gave a short dry wave. A blast past by him and illuminated the area. His spectacles gave a short glint as he smiled, and then he was gone.

"Good luck friend" muttered Ron. Then he turned to join Dan in the battle-field

__________~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Clare looked at herself in the mirror of the bathroom adjacent to her bedroom.

Her flowing red hair fell behind her back in a wavy stream. Her own grey eyes looked back at her. She rested her hands on the vanity and leaned forward. The satin night-dress changed shape as she moved.

She had no idea what possessed her to buy it (apart from Amanda nagging), or to wear it tonight. Sleeveless, thin straps holding it up, a low v line in the middle. Clare stepped back. The night-dress went down to her ankles, but a rather audacious cut went all the way up to her thigh.

She sighed, shook her head at herself and left the bathroom ("Turning some heads, you are, tonight" said the mirror)

"You is looking very pretty" commented Winky as Clare closed the bedroom door behind her.

"I'm glad that you at least are here to say that, although I don't feel too pretty myself" said Clare with a little laugh

She sat on the trunk at the foot of her bed, the window was open, and although it was May, a chilly breeze was coming through the flimsy curtains. Winky had stoked up a very small fire at the back of the grate, and was attending to its size to keep the room temperature balanced. Not that Clare couldn't fix the room temperature with a flick of her small finger

Clare could do anything. Anything. Except perhaps bring people back from the dead. Perhaps.

Lily was already alive again in her own strange way. She did not know what colour Lily's eye's had been, but the hair that now fell around Clare's face and shoulders was not Clare's for sure.

But she wasn't happy. How could she be, when the prettiness everyone praised her was not her own? The powers everyone revered her for where so terrible?

Using her hands, she pushed herself backwards onto the bed. One of the four posts got between the fire and herself, casting a shadow over her. Her eyes immediately began drooping. She was tired, very tired, and the reason for her fatigue was evident. It had not been easy on her to undergo the morning's ordeal. On Tuesday 11th at 12:30, the `Lady Muggle Witch` had given a debut of her powers- terrorising the Minister in his own office.

She turned away from the though, and slid off the right side of the bed to go the windows. A smile came to her face no matter how much she tried to suppress it. an owl had arrived shortly after she had returned to Hogwarts from London, carrying an official order of transfer. However, it was immediately joined on her lap by a second Ministry owl sent by Fudge himself, apologising profusely for not having stopped the owl's departure on time. Neither of the owls wanted to leave, and they made quite a show of nuzzling against her belly as grindilaws squelched against the glass. The third years, whose lesson had been interrupted, were having an extra lesson from two to three (surprisingly they had suggested it themselves), and they all googled at the roosting owls.

"Are they Ministry owls?" asked a small Barley boy "I think they are- dad gets them at home"

"Oh yes, all teachers get them from the Ministry and the school governors. We are paid by the Ministry after all"

Fudge had been so scared he could have peed in his trousers. The windowsill felt cold against her arm as she rested against it. Some of her hair got into her face and she closed her eyes. So that was the way it had to be for her? Immense powers she could control with a single thought, able to give her all she wanted, all desired and more?

That was why all the protection and precautions. That was why Voldemort wanted her as his partner. She shuddered- not with his name, nor with the cold breezing, but with the horrible prospective.

. . . "You've turned against us!" . . .

Could Fudge be right? Albus hadn't said anything, hadn't said what she was doing was wrong. On the contrary, he had seemed proud of her and had taken to calling her `Lady`. A title she'd denounced not only because it sounds stupid to her in the anger of the moment, but also because what she was doing, deep down, felt everything but noble and right.

What would Harry think if he knew? And he would know, because he would receive the removal of the restriction ordinance, wonder how the miracle happened, and the dig around the mine to come to the conclusion. He would find out, she knew him well enough. What then? Would he scorn her? Would he think of her as merciless and careless? As . . . cruel? Maybe even an enemy to pull out before the roots went too deep?

Would the spell break then? Clare was afraid, very much afraid, that she had involuntarily, during her time of pre-training with Harry, cast some sort of love spell onto him. Now that she knew the extent of her powers, she could not be sure that when she had known nothing about them, when she had no control over them, they hadn't worked by feeding on her thoughts and emotions, without her knowing. Of course there was the prophesy, saying they were meant for each other, but they had already made the mistake once, proclaiming Lily and James fox and raven.

Clare looked out of the room at the moon and the stars. She had been attracted to Harry immediately. As soon as she had seen him spread on the bed, white as the sheets he was on, hair black, light and velvety, she had felt like sitting beside him and spend her life looking at him. She had passed her fingers through his hair, over his scar, across his chest as she checked him for injuries.

Had she put a spell on him in those moments? She could never be sure, but she was sure that she loved him, she loved him unbelievably.

Clare rested her cheek on the freezing sill. The breeze carried the smell of dew-wet leaves, of the lake water, of flower pollen in flower air. Hogwarts and the wizarding world were so beautiful to live in, but at once so complicated. Magic could make everyday life better, but in the long run, the problems only increased. Sometimes she wished Harry and she were only normal, standard, magicless humans. Then again, remembering Harry's providential escape from his very, very normal, standard and strictly magicless life, she thought she was being selfish.

Selfishness led to greed, Greed led to ambition, Ambition and greed led to ruthlessness.

This morning she had been ruthless. But the path that had taken her to ruthlessness had been anger. Yet if the end was the same, did she classify as selfish and greedy anyway?

Maybe Harry didn't want . . . the risk? What if Fudge, now humiliated, turned on Harry to take his satisfaction? Would Harry regret her actions if his career got compromised?

So she'd been selfish alright. She couldn't go around terrorising people with her powers every time she they did something she didn't like. She would be no better than Voldemort, who did exactly that.

Winky put a small hand on her knee and shook her slightly. The difference in temperature between Winky's hand and her skin made her shiver. The icy sill and the cold wind had been chilling her, and lost in thought, she hadn't noticed.

"Miss, it is late, and you is needing to rest. Winky is remembering you has lesson in the second hour tomorrow"

"Right you are, Winky" sighed Clare. What was the point of worrying if the deed was done? It was in the past, and now she had to look at what she had before her. Possibly even use her present to fix her past.

The muggle clock she had hung above the door opposite the her bed said that it was a few minutes past 11. It reminded her of home, even because her mother had sent it

She turned to look at Winky's shape against the fire she was caring for, and smiled a bit while musing that at least her parents' owls hadn't been stopped. Her eyes began closing . . .

_____________~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ron slumped down onto his chair, put his wand on the desk and closed his eyes. He was tired, but that was the excuse. He closed his eyes not to see Harry's empty desk.

When Harry had waved his hand, Ron had understood that he didn't mean to follow their discussed plan at all. He had something else on his mind that probably involved none of the people he knew, and he was going to disappear without leaving trace. As only he knew how to. Ron would never meet Harry and Clare at the Grangers'. He would go of course, but he knew now already that the trip would be fruitless. There even was the possibility that he might never see his best friend again.

"Fudge, you dig-head, if it comes to that, I'll sell you to the Death Eaters" he sighed tiredly. At the moment, he was only hoping that they got safely to wherever Harry had in mind without getting caught. In that case, Ron would torture Fudge before ridding the world of him.

The little desk clock Hermione had given him tinkled. He thought of his wife and son waiting at home. He would go crazy if he couldn't see them.

The battle field was the best place to . . . disappear. Moody was right of course. The confusion, the hatred and the intent of saving one's one life were three great ingredients to keep one distracted. Soon, however, Mundungus would come along and try to compliment Harry, miss him and create a pandemonium.

Would Fudge repent? Seeing how fond he was of the public, and seeing how fond the public was of Harry, maybe the situation would lead Fudge to forcefully do what Harry wanted.

Ron was also worried about Daniel Mitchell. Right after Harry had disapparated, there had been a curse rebound explosion exactly in the direction in which Dan had run to. Damned hell, he hoped Daniel was ok. That boy had saved his life twice, but apart from that, he was one of the most obedient of the newly recruited Hits. For heaven's sake, he was only twenty! He couldn't be dead!

Ron shook his head at himself. Of course he could be dead. There was no knowing when you were going to kick it out there. Bar him and Harry, all the men were new to the real combat outside the training the first time on the field, and most of them were green even after the second and third blood pool, but not for nothing, they were subordinates. Harry and him were the exceptions. They'd had enough time to be green while they had been at Hogwarts. Ron suspected that was why they had been so successful in the Ministry career (apart from Harry's name, which came in handy). When in school, they had been trained by life to look each other's back, to check every corner, to forget fear while acting because you only had one life and hesitation could steal it. Their minds had been sharpened during various attempt to save their lives during attacks.

They had planned, and thought of things and searched for clues that would have them advantaged when the next bastard showed up to kill Harry. And they had always been too young, always been only three and alone, too few and too many at once. And they had always been alone, working in secret and keeping their finds to themselves, trusting no one with so much as a clue. Never seeking help in others than themselves.

In the Ministry, they'd found it relatively easy. Of course, the things had gotten bigger, and the missions where of a larger responsibility, but at least now they could plan an attack, they had men to back them up, they even had a Ministry Hits card that allowed them to do practically everything except a massacre.

Harry felt at home. Ron could see it while he directed the men, while listening attentively to the information and instructions for the next mission, while taking out Death Eaters on the field. Even while tearing his hair out over piles of stupid paper, Harry felt at home. He had made it his life crusade to put a stop to Voldemort. His life was putting a stop to Voldemort. Sometimes Ron thought he was born for it.

Yet it was dangerous for them all. Ron hadn't seen Daniel anywhere after that explosion, but even so, he might have made it. Ron only hoped he didn't have much family. The family got it the hardest.

Now Clare was young, trustful and inexperienced, not to mention irreversibly powerful. She was new to wizarding treachery, to magical ways of torture, how easy it was to kill with a wand. And Harry knew this. He felt her loss and displacement. He loved her beyond doubt, and the need to protect her was a natural feeling, without including any of these features she unfortunately had.

Now it was all over. Ron would leave work, go to the Grangers' and wait there. Where had Harry really planned to go? Probably out of the country. Would he take refuge in Europe, or even farther away? Ron wondered if the next time he saw Harry would be him running after two or three little Potters. Ron knew well enough that Harry dearly wanted to be a father, a good, present father to as many children as his wife could give him.

He himself was a father already. Did he want Timothy to grow up in this hell? Somehow Ron suddenly thought the best thin he could have done was to have gone home, grabbed Hermione and baby, and rush to Hogwarts in the hope of catching up with Harry and Clare. They would become brothers, take a different surname together. Their children would grow up together in a clean, new world, perhaps . . . forsaking even their magic? . . .

"RON!"

Catapulted out of his thoughts worst than medieval torture, Ron nearly lost his head. As it was, he lost his balance and fell off his chair with a blasting crash. With his leg still up on the desk, he saw his brother, Percy, peeping over the desk.

"Ron, tell me Harry didn't believe a word of what I said and came back here"

"Harry didn't believe a word of what you said and came back here" muttered Ron in a monotone, trying to get up and toppling again when the swivel chair his other leg was on squeaked away.

"BE serious for once!" cried Percy "Where's Harry?"

"Right, good question"

Both brothers turned around to see Sirius and Remus at the office door

"I told you it would be worth waiting in the building" said Sirius as they let themselves in.

"Ron, where's Harry?" repeated Remus as a grumbling Ron found his way off the floor.

"Where in the blooming history do you want him to be? At blackened, damned, spotty-!"

"Shhhhhhhhh!"

"Hogwarts" Ron finished in a whisper

"We're late!" said Remus and Sirius together

"I just hope they don't get hurt, caught or stopped. We'll be picking the bodies of the ones they leave behind if someone does try to throw stones at their wheels"

"As long as it's not someone I know" shrugged Ron

"Ron!" cried Percy. Then he added "You know Fudge"

" Do you think we should try to go catch up with them, and help them out?" asked Sirius, as Ron grinned at Percy before he spoke

"No, thought of it. Harry left the battle field more than an hour ago. If he and Clare had to leave, they'd have gone to wherever Harry had in mind"

"But didn't you-"

"Right" said Remus "It's useless to think he'd stay in a place where other people would think of looking for him. There probably is somewhere around the country he told nobody about for a situation just like this"

"No, it can't-" Percy tried again

"I still think we should go to Hogwarts. Clare has a house-elf no? I'm sure Clare would leave word for us of where they were going. She'd think about it"

"I wouldn't count on that. Giving the house-elf information, she would put the house-elf in danger" objected Remus "Clare would never do that. Apart from that, she would never leave clues behind her. She knows very well who is after her and for what"

"Yes, and there's Harry too, don't forget" put in Ron "No matter how much worry and haste he's got, he'd never make stupid mistakes, especially not when there's so much at stake. I think Harry even has in mind to ask-"

"Look, you're all blabbing!" said Percy at last. They turned around to look at him. "This is nothing possible. I came here to give Harry a fat piece of good news"

"Good news?"

"Yes, Fudge's revoked the restriction orders. I sent a letter to you Mr Black, this morning, through my father. Didn't you receive it yet?"

"Good God," said Sirius, digging a hand into his inside pocket and pulling the letter out "I'd forgotten about it completely". He ripped the top and took out the official Ministry stamp order of revocation.

"I didn't tell anyone" said Sirius "we all had other chicks in the yard to care about, and I'm sure Clare hardly missed my absent owls"

"How in the Wizarding world did it happen?" asked Ron in bewilderment

"No idea brother" shrugged Percy "Fudge stepped out of his office in mid-morning and told me I had to deliver about 10 letters as discreetly as possible. So instead of sending owls, I sent, I sent Mum and Dad and Bill with them. When Fudge told me they revoked the postal filtering, I decided to deliver Harry's personally"

Ron burst out laughing no sooner had Percy finished saying the "-ally". All the other three men stared at him as he threw his hand over his stomach and roared with an insane laughter. Sirius soon joined in, sitting on Harry's desk. Ron's red face was split from side to side with a wide smile. Percy smiled, although he could not understand their extreme merriment. Remus, however was still frowning. Ron wiped his eyes and sat back on the swivel chair and started swinging left and right.

"I haven't felt this good since Hermione and Timmy" he sighed at least.

"I see no point in worrying any longer if Clare knows, but other-wise-"

"Oh Clare knows alright" said Remus "This revoke is probably her doing. Our little providence has taken up her place as powerful witch"

"You think she hypnotised Fudge?" asked Sirius

"No" said Percy "He looked himself alright. Maybe a little more scared than usual, but otherwise himself to the core"

"There we have it!" laughed Sirius

"That's right" continued Ron "she scared the pee into his pants with a couple of finger waves and then he came running to do what she wanted"

"Clever" Sirius laughed on

"And mighty" said Remus "all the way from Scotland. But what do Sirius and I have to do with it? I felt something strange too"

"Maybe your instincts just told you something was on in the building?"

"No, something was happening to me, and Sirius felt it too"

"Come to think of it" said Percy "I too felt weird this morning. One second I was sitting at my desk and the next I was standing in middle of my office with the box-file of the Hertsey case in my hands"

"I felt weird too" said Ron frowning

They all looked at him

"But you were in a totally opposite direction! North of Scarborough in the unmappable forest! We were all here at the Ministry, but you . . ."

"So she bewitched all England . . .?" asked Ron, wide-eyed

"Of course, she is very capable of doing it, very easily too" said Sirius "None of you were there during the ritual, but I was, and I can tell you that the concentration of power there was there, not even Merlin himself had"

"Holy wand" gasped Percy

"That is why Voldemort must never wed her. The groom inherits the powers"

"Wohow!" laughed Ron "I'll have to go down and kiss Harry's feet the next time I see him"

"Why?" asked Percy. Ron gave a snigger and proceeded laughing. Percy still looked on in bewilderment

"I only hope" Remus whispered to Sirius "That they don't escape anyhow"

"Don't worry" replied Sirius "She'll tell him if it's as you say"

"Yes, but what worries me, is that she knows who they are now, although he doesn't"

"Never mind, Harry isn't one to escape responsibility"

"Oh yes, but would you trade death to a life together?"

________________~^*~^*~^*~^*~^*~^*~^*~^~*~^*~^*~^*~^*~^*~^*~^*

It was always easier to gab the knot of the Whomping Willow from inside the passage, rather than from the outside. Harry clambered out of the narrow passage-way between the roots and onto Hogwarts grounds. The scene was familiar, born back on wings of memory from his school days, but he had no time to ponder and ravish in it. He was now attempting to create new pleasant memories, and time was against their realisation.

Something he always loved about the fabric was that it could be folded into a square so small it could fit in the palm of a hand, apart from the material's obvious use. He took it out of his side trousers pocket and then spread it to an impressive size. Having covered once him, Hermione and a dragon, one would have doubted it was the same thing that had been in his pocket without even bulging it.

Harry covered himself with the invisibility cloak and started towards the castle as silently as he could manage in his haste. He went around the main entrance and stopped at the corner in the castle's haphazard architecture. Apparently just a wall, Harry knew very well the by sticking his fingers into the corner between the two walls, it would open like a tent flap to let him through.

When he was inside, he pulled his invisibility cloak more tightly around him and being as quiet as he could to avoid attracting the attention of the various house-elfs, coats-of-armour and portraits.

At one point he passed Dobby, busy lighting the candles, and was tempted to ask if Clare still slept in her old room. She had never really referred to a transfer in any of her letters, but she might have reputed the event as unimportant. However, he moved on away from the house-elf knowing something of Dobby's noisy welcomes.

He paced the old corridors, consciously refraining himself from stopping to look at the surroundings. He was not sure if he would see them again anytime soon, but he preferred his newest dream to his other ones. He had always dreamt of his children going to Hogwarts, of living somewhere quietly somewhere in England with a house to go back to. But now he would have to forget Hogwarts, he would have to forget England. He didn't want his children to go to Hogwarts if Clare didn't kiss them goodbye in the morning. He wouldn't have children and a house to go back to. No matter what other people would say about the availability of so many women that fell to his feet, he felt he had been born only for her, with an utmost certainty. Others told him he had been born for other things; he had been born to destroy Voldemort; he had been born to be an Auror; he had been born to be like his father; he had been born to do great things; he had been born to pass on the name of the old family of the Potters; he had been born to fail and die under Voldemort's hand. Many different people thought he had been born to do many different things and fulfil many different dreams. But he had his own dreams. Harry Potter felt differently from them all; he had been born to live his life beside Clare. It didn't matter where, it didn't matter how, and it would never matter why. That was it and they could all go hang themselves.

He opened the oak door to the corridor, biting his tongue when it created. As he tiptoed towards the door at the centre of the corridor, he could see all the portraits that weren't snoozing looking at the open door.

Every step he took brought him closer to her. His heart began beating wildly, and only the fear of being caught held him from throwing the cloak away and rushing to the door. He was not sure she still slept there, and the other two rooms might have been occupied in his absence. The high gothic window let in moon and starlight, and the panes made the corridors look like a mosaic as they left their dark imprints between the squares of the light the glass let through. His wrist watch said it was twenty to midnight, but when he looked at it he wasn't looking for time but for reassurance.

A thin line of red light told him a fire was on inside. It would have shone on his shoes hadn't he worn the invisibility cloak.

He put a hand on the handle and gripped it. his hands were sweating and the cloak was sticking to his skin. Underneath it the air was oven-like. Harry took in a deep breath, held it in, closed his eyes, turned the slippery knob and swung the door into the room.

The fire flickered wildly at the sudden gust of air. Winky froze in position with the shadows of the flames rushing from one side of her face to the other. She looked at the nothing at the door and raised her finger.

"No Winky! No! It's me!" yelled Harry

"You who? Winky is not seeing you, so you is enemy."

"Winky, what's going on?" asked a sleepy head peeking from between the curtains

"Clare . . ." gasped Harry

Clare froze, her eyes a red grey, her hair more alight in crimson and yellow than the grate itself.

"Miss, I-"

"Hush Winky" she cut the house-elf off. The little creature obediently subsided, but defiantly kept her finger up towards the door.

The little creature that was sniffing at his feet made his eyes lead Clare's face for an instant. It was a snowy ferret, the same one that had caused their little feud by the lake, and that Clare had written to have adopted as a pet.

"Bais, stay away" she called, and the animal too obediently subsided

He looked at Clare again to laugh and say he'd forgotten its name, but he found he couldn't speak. She had pulled open the curtains and was standing on the bed, looking at him suspiciously. Holding onto one of the bedposts and the curtain, she stepped off the bouncy bed, onto the wooden trunk at its foot. The while night-gown she wore changed shade as she moved, her hair flared like an autumn lightning storm. She was beautiful. The wand was suddenly in her hand and pointing directly at him.

"I can see you" she said softly "If you move, you're dead"

Harry froze. She could see him, of course- Dumbledore had told him that she could see through every spell. But if she could see him, how could she . . . how cold she point her wand at him . . . He looked down at himself and realised he was still standing within the shadows of the door. His hand was still on the knob. He pulled the hand off the knob, keeping his grip on the cloak, and pulled it off. Winky blinked and straitened. The ferret leaped back as he threw the cloak on the floor in front of him. When Clare saw the cloak fell on the floor in the firelight, her eyes widened. She realised she had seen through it without noticing.

"Oh damn" he heard her say through her teeth. Harry mused at her attitude; she seemed so much surer of herself, so much more steady with the wand and unafraid of who she had in front of her. He smiled to herself and decided to test Dumbledore's teaching methods.

"So you can see through cloaks, Dark Lady. It is true that our master has fine tastes" he hissed, trying not to laugh. He gave Winky, who had night-time vision and could see him perfectly where he was, a furtive smile which she returned.

"If you move, I'll blast you towards the grounds without removing the walls. I'm sure you know the way from there"

"Come on" continued Harry, in his made up voice "Put that stick away, I know it's empty. You don't need that to blast me, you just have to wink your grey eyes at me"

He saw her stiffen visibly, narrow her eyes and point her want more determinately at him. Again, she looked extremely beautiful, exciting and dangerous.

"My eyes are not grey" she said

"Of course they are" he said in his own voice "They're the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen Clare"

He saw her eyes widen until he saw white all around the dancing grey. She inched him forward with her fingers

"Step into the light"

One step was enough. The ferret growling and Winky giggling lightly where the background as their eyes met. A reddish hue that didn't reflect neither the fire nor her hair rose up her cheeks

"Don't move" she stammered as she paced closer, wand pointed but trembling. She pace all around him, poking him with her wand. When she came around and faced him again, he smiled at her.

"Clare, love, if it was a disguise spell, you'd have seen through it like water"

"Oh God!" she finally gasped. She stepped back, took some breaths with her mouth open, seeming unable to breath, and then finally she exclaimed, threw her coreless wand to the floor and jumped into his arms

"Oh God, Harry, Harry, oh Lord" she kept mumbling, as she pressed herself against him. Her eyes were shut tight as though she didn't want to see him if he was a mirage. Little, glistening beads of tears escaped her eyelashes and tracked down her cheeks.

"Harry . . . I'm so happy . . . I can't believe it . . ."

"Breath" he laughed as he hugged her tighter to him, nearly trying to push her inside him as she pulled him to herself, both trying to swallow each other so as to never part again.

She pushed away from him and started passing her fingers frantically through his hair, along his cheeks, across his lips, her wide eyes still leaking tears. He grabbed her hand and kissed her fingertips, then she burst out crying and buried her face into his shoulder. He rocked her this side and the other, pivoting on his ankles as she sobbed quietly and savoured in her touch. He dipped his nose into her hair and took a deep breath of her scent, he rubbed her shaking shoulders to give and take comfort. He had never felt so happy in all his life, and he felt he would never again; finding her like this after all the months of wait, after the time of fight, the reconciliation and forced parting. Finding her like this, alert, but waiting for him so eagerly that she cried upon seeing him. Would he ever be so happy again in his life?

Clare planted a soft kiss onto his neck. He rested his cheek on her head and passed his hands through her hair. Her chest rose and fell rhythmically against his and he felt at peace. At home. For the first time in his life he felt at home. It hadn't been the burrow, it hadn't been his home or his office. Everyone associated his home to a place; he had found it in Clare. She was his home. Where ever he was, in a shack, in a villa, in a box, if she was with him he was at home.

And that's why, reluctantly, he pushed her away, and instead of kissing her as he wanted to, he started speaking very quickly

"Are there any people in the rooms around?" he asked first. She shook her head, looking confused. "Clare, love, I don't have time to explain this, but we have to go. Winky, please help her pack! We have to leave Hogwarts immediately. Even now, if they realised I'm gone, we might be too late to make away on time before they separated us for good!"

Clare looked at him blank faced. In her mind there was a complete confusion. He had plunged into her room, a dream come true, a night of rain after a three year drought. Now he asked her to pack and be gone with him in haste. She blinked and blinked again. Then frowned. She had seen Fudge write the letter, but had he actually dared not to send it? Even after what she had been forced to do?

And yet she had received an owl full of apology when he hadn't reached the transfer owl in time. Had it all been a fluke? A big joke so that he could try to take her unawares in the night?

But no. He couldn't be SO stupid. She would still blow away whoever he had sent and then go to murder him in the wrath of a furious god. She was sure she now had the little man seeing he was wrong. And yet here was Harry telling her to make haste and prepare for departure before it was late- God! Had he done something drastic to get to her? Disobeyed orders? Beat up someone? Surely not murdered someone!

No, no, she was precipitating. It couldn't be.

"Clare, I'm not joking! They're coming for you tomorrow morning and taking you to Norway! I won't see you again, and sure as hell I'll die without you"

Die without you . . . could he possibly . . . yes, he loved her as much as she loved him. A love that was like the worst of drugs, one that induced dependence, one that made the person incapable of living without the other and their mutual feeling. A love that like the drugs destroyed once missing, making life worthless, meaningless, decaying the live body worst than a dead one, starting by decaying the mind. Taking away the life a drop by drop.

Why did he want to go? Could he possibly not know that it was all over? Was it all over or not?? Fudge would pay if he'd thought he could cheat her, oh yes he would pay. But she was sure this wasn't his notion. Not this time. Then what??

"Come, let me help you pack," he said helpfully, looking at her labouring face. He kept her hand in his and guided her along the room, opening the trunk and then putting a couple of odd items into it from one of the bedside tables. He kept going back and forth slowly, taking her with him as she looked on at him in a hubble of thought.

If he didn't know . . . if the order had been revoked and he hadn't been informed yet . . . shouldn't she tell him? Tell him that he was worrying for nothing and that he should put the things down and have a rest, hug her, lie down and just sleep the night away?

Then why wasn't she telling him? Why was she tagging along at the end of his arm letting him pack her things into her trunk without speaking? Winky was doing it too, but Winky had always made it clear that she wanted Clare to escape and save her life. Harry was dragging her along; he was even handing her clothes which she was holding without protest. Harry didn't know that Hogwarts was safe, but he also didn't know that they being together mean their death. I'm escaping again . . . the thought filtered in her mind like an alien voice. So what, she answered, I want to live.

But was it right? What would be of this world, of this England that had bred and fed her for 18 years? What of her mother, her father, Sirius, her cousin Remus? Most of all, what of Hermione, Ron, and Little Timmy, who yet had his whole life in front of him. Then there were her students, all young, all hopeful of finding something in their future that would be worth the while working for . . . none of them would live happy, if any of them lived at all, if she left.

But then, what of herself. She too was young, she too had dreams and hopes and wishes.

Can't I have them?

Her mind debated the answer, and what to do, while life and destiny decided it for her.

"Clare, this is . . ."

Clare looked up as Harry picked up the order of transfer. She had left it on the bedside table to the right of her bed. God knew where the other letter was, and now Harry was looking wide eyed at the piece of parchment and at her. He had no doubt thought she had known nothing about the transfer and that that was the reason why she was behaving in that bewildered manner. Now that he had discovered she knew all, his thoughts probably guided him to deduce she had wanted to stay and leave for Norway.

"You know about the transfer? But then . . . why are you . . . you don't want to come with me?"

Bingo. She had guessed. And now for the answer.

"Of course I want to come with you, only that- you see- there is no need for that anymore. I'm not going anywhere, and you can even send me letters again"

"What? Clare, are you . . . do you know what you're saying?

Clare sighed. She had been forced to tell him that the danger was not imminent. Better so than another misunderstanding. She couldn't tell him that she was the fox and he was the raven, and that she wanted to escape anyway with him to get away from certain death, but he didn't even know anything about the prophesy.

"I managed to convince Fudge to remove the order"

"You convinced . . . you mean you're really not going to Norway?" Harry was flabbergasted

"Winky, do you know where the other letter is?" asked Clare wearily. She had dearly wanted to let Harry do and guide her out of Hogwarts to wherever he wanted to take her, away from Voldemort, but she knew it was wrong. Had she escaped during the holidays, she wouldn't be having this second chance with Harry, so she had to trust life. However untrustworthy it could be.

"I went to the ministry as soon as Albus told me about the transfer. I . . . persuaded Fudge to change his plans . . ."

She had said it. He knew. Harry was intelligent, he would make two plus two easily enough and guess how she had `persuaded` him to do what she wanted. They wanted, she corrected herself (at least, she hoped it was `they`). She felt trapped in a corner. All the doubts that had been assailing her a few hours before returned. What if he hated her? What if, when he asked- for he would ask- she told him and he was disgusted? Would he severe the bond between them that hadn't yet solidified?

She looked down and squeezed her eyes shut. He had just said he couldn't live without her, but would it still be true after he knew in what way she used her powers? Would he really- COULD he severe their bond, even if they really where the fox and raven? Could he turn away from her and . . .

The thoughts that where suddenly flung at her were ones of utter torture and violence to her that she would have gladly had a caster to hate. She saw Harry, with another at his side. She would die if he turned away from her, but she didn't really know what that would do to her. Something beyond pain, beyond death, something that would cut in so deeply that the blood wouldn't ooze out as through the normal wounds, it would vanish, leaving an empty cast, alive, but dead.

And it would come. She was sure that it would come.

"How on earth did you manage that? He was so obstinate on the matter that not even Snape and Dumbledore managed to convince him otherwise!"

There it was. She had to answer him, she had to tell him the truth- how could she ever lie to him?

"I . . . well I . . . it wasn't too difficult because I . . ."

"Wow Clare, you're incredible! The deuce with him! He's always been so confoundedly stubborn when he thinks he's right that he always ended up making the country some damage, which in the end it's always us who have to fix! Heaven in hell if you aren't a walking miracle!"

"You don't know what I did" I said slowly. He fell silent, because he understood, by our special little connection that he could sever at any time, that I needed to tell him something.

"I went to the Ministry this morning, and I . . . Fudge was stubborn, as you said, and I had to resort to . . . extreme manners"

"Holy God! Clare, tell me you didn't kill him!"

She winced

"What if I did?" she asked tentatively, creasing her eyebrows in unpleasant expectation

"Then I have to get you out of here, I won't let anyone arrest you or any such sort"

She looked up at him in surprise

"No Harry, there's no need for that-"

"Only one thing" –ouch, that tone promised nothing good- "why did you say it was safe if-"

"It is Harry, because I didn't kill Fudge, I- I did something worst"

"What could be worst than that!"

"I used my powers on him"

Clare found the following silence so ominous that she would have rather had him yelling. She looked up at him expecting a stern expression- which was exactly what she got.

"I would never have thought you would do something like that" he said. The disappointment in his voice was a weight to her.

She was pulling the situation apart, and herself too to that, for no valid reason. She had done it, too bad, and now she's have to live with it and face the music she had written.

"He left me no choice. I asked for his removal of the ordinance, but he kept refusing. He even said that he was going to arrest Dumbledore, and then I really had no other choice. What would you have done?"

"I never had your power. You seemed to have forgotten that power is nothing without control"

"Well I . . . I never meant any harm, I was never going to kill him! You thought I had and you were all for taking me away not to get arrested, but now that I told you I used my powers-"

"Do you realise that you could have been captured? God knows how many moles there are in that building that would give their life and their soul to follow Voldemort to the grave, figures to get YOU to him!"

"That's why you were angry?"

"Well, you also wasted good magic on Fudge" he said, face breaking from one of grudgeful consideration to a lighting grin.

"You cruel man!" Clare exclaimed beating him lightly but repeatedly on the arm, at which he laughed out heartily "You scared the life out of me! I don't even know what I imagined you had been thinking!"

"You where the one who had been thinking wrongly not me!" he teased, still laughing. Then he gave her a mighty naughty grin, looked at her over his spectacles and said "So how did you do it? Hypnosis? A good dose of curses?"

"Not really" she said giving a slight smile "Neither of them, actually". She stepped backwards and flopped onto the trunk. The long silken straps of silken material that made the bottom part of the night dress flipped on either side and left her legs bare.

"I actually had quite a to do because I chose not to do anything too drastic to Fudge himself"

"Bribe then? What did you use? His name?"

Clare laughed "You went close enough this time. I did use his name, but I don't think you can guess what I did. I didn't do anything much to him"

"It's not a mystery that it takes little to make him shake like and autumn leaf" said Harry with a sound snigger.

"You'd be surprised how much hostility I found in that tin of pusillanimity" she sighed. "He would not give in even when I showed that I would not give any mercy easily. Thinking about it now, I think he is not such a coward after all. I was so angry I would not have seen reason even if Dumbledore and you had begged me to together. I don't know what I would have done if had been more stubborn than he was. But even though I must have looked quite frightful, he stood his ground quite soundly."

"He is a stubborn coward who is good at heart, but tends to make messes out of his simplicity" chuckled Harry as he sat down in a relaxed manner at her feet

"No better description of that man has yet been made" she replied laughing. Harry rested his face on his fist, and nearly fell over when his elbow slipped off his knee. Clare only laughed louder, clutching her middle as she doubled over. Her red hair shook with every gasp, and Harry watched her laughing for some time, smiling to himself, until it hit him that he had no reason not to laugh with her. After all, they were now finally rid of any external interference (apart from Winky and the ferret), and apart from Voldemort, nothing was in their road to their life together. At that very moment in time, not even Voldemort seemed all that big an obstacle. All that seemed important to Harry at that moment was the laughing figure shrouded in the white, wavy material that looked like clouds on a mellow day, paired with waves of red hair that shivered merrily, playfully skipping her ears behind which she had secured them, descending around her delightful face. The tear tracks she had made before glistened contentedly, as anything would do in contact with her smooth skin.

He caught himself thinking, realised WHAT he had been thinking and burst out laughing while he blushed. He had no reason to be ashamed of what he thought, no reason not to laugh while she was happy herself. Clare was the only one who counted now, and not anybody would get in the way of their felicity now. Not now, not never.

He wanted to make sure of that. Yet, first he had to make sure that she wanted it too.

The next thought that entered his mind arrested his laughter as she kept on giggling out of sheer contentment. The hard object that was weighing his pocket down was about to decide his life. As she noticed his silence and looked at him questioningly with twinkling eyes, reflecting the warmth of the grate, his heart skipped into a faster tempo.

"Clare . . ." he started. She stopped, looking at him newly with a more attentive expression. No doubt she had guessed something was coming by the trembling seriousness in his tone. "I want to ask you something . . . and please, I would like to ask you to answer me immediately if it is possible." Harry gulped down on an unwilling throat. He stuffed his hand in his pocket, took out the box, clasped it firmly in his hand. It groaned because he was holding it too tightly.

"Clare, I . . . don't know where to start, but I guess I should start by saying that you're the . . . most beautiful person I've ever met, and that if you want, I would like to . . . share my life with you"

Harry shifted his position, resting on one knee, and presented her timidly but firmly with the velvet box.

"Always if you want to . . ."

Clare was looking at the box with an expression of total loss. She didn't know whether to believe that what box held inside it was what she wanted it to be, or whether she standed corrected. Could it be that all she dreamed of in her life was closed in such small a box? Could it be that Harry was here and now asking her to be . . . his? She already was, or course- in her mind, she couldn't belong to anyone else. But now he was asking her if she wanted to be his in front of all the rest of humanity. To declare openly that from this day, Clare Dawson belonged to Harry Potter, and Harry Potter belonged to Clare Dawson, for everyone to know and respect for good.

Clare kept staring blankly.

"Clare, I know you might need time to answer me on such important a thing" began Harry hesitantly "But so many things have happened lately that have kept us apart, and sometimes I even thought I might never see you again and it broke me. Please Clare, please, understand, I . . . I have to know now"

He opened the box to show a dainty white gold ring with three white sparkling gems set in an antique-style framework. They caught the fire light and began to give off the blaze's brilliance multiplied by a hundred. The noise of the fire popping and roaring, and of an owl hooting outside, magnified in her head with its shock. Magnified like the light on the three magnificent jewels on the all-meaning ring. Clare's mouth opened, but no sound came out

"If you want me . . ." he stammered, unable to finish the sentence and letting the phrase pend in the surrounding air that was already very thick.

"What are you asking me that for you stupid man!" cried Clare suddenly, breaking into a hearty sob

"Clare! Oh dear, listen if you don't want-"

"Who has ever said THAT!" she wailed, throwing herself at him and burying her head in his shoulder "Who ever said I don't want! The stupid thing is having asked me at all! OF COURSE I want you! There's no one else in the world I'd rather have better!"

She pushed back, looking him in the eye, to see that they were holding unshed tears, and also to try to tell him all the emotion she felt at that moment, emotion so big that it would have taken the most eloquent of poets, writers and minstrels to describe. Fresh tracks of tears made their way down her face as quickly as Harry rubbed the old ones off with his fingers. Before either of them knew it Clare was buried deeply into Harry's shoulder, her arms circling his waist, while he had his face in her hair, his arms tightly wrapping every part of her he could manage to contain. Clare couldn't stop shaking with sobs and squeals of laughter of the most devastating and utterly inconfinable happiness she had ever felt in her entire life. It was all Harry could do to stop himself from yelling and laughing as strongly as his lungs and vocal chords could allow him to. The Hogwarts congregation was not an ideal audience for their first moment as a private (except Winky, who sat forgotten, sniffing happily herself) engaged couple, although a couple of Hogwarts' inhabitants would be gladly let in on the news soon enough. First of all Snape, thought Harry with a little snigger. Ah, darn male pride- everyone else could wait, SHE was the most important person at the moment. And SHE was sobbing and hiccuping and laughing heartily at once.

He pushed away gently

"Clare . ." he said softly, cupping her chin and making her look up at him. She gave a radiant smile that caught his breath somewhere unreachable in regions of his stomach. Some of her hair was stuck to her face, her mouth was a perfect shape of happiness, her eyes where the most beautiful precious stones that had ever seen the light of day. Wordlessly, he picking the box off the trunk on which she sat (which he had put there at a point in time that was missing from his memory), took the ring out and slipped it onto the third finger of her left hand.

"Until the day when you wear the other" he whispered, closing his eyes as he planted a kiss on her hand. Rising off his knee, he carried his lips up her arm, slowly up he neck, pleasing himself in her little gasps and responses to his slight tempting, and then finally, searching her eyes to find her approval, his lips met hers for the first belated time.

She leaned backwards, pushing herself off the trunk and completely onto the bed. He went with her. Her hair fell around her and underneath her like a red velvet sheet. She removed his spectacles so she could see his eyes shining in the firelight, and discarded them on the bedside table. Winky very quietly took the ferret in her arms and unseen left the room. He traced her lips with his forefinger, then caressed under her eye with his thumb. His left hand was still underneath her, their combined weight pressing it against her back, were it felt as if it was being marked by fire.

Then he kissed her, finally, deeply, passionately, as only a man in love could do. This is heaven, they both thought, this is what I always wanted. Something in the recesses of their minds connected them permanently on their reciprocal feelings and let their emotions flow from one to the other in an endless river of red warmth. Their chests heaved air in and out intensely, their hearts beating faster than a mouse's. As Harry moved his lips up and down her throat, bearly touching her skin but taking in her scent, Clare was transported into world of her own, a world where only them two existed. A world where there were no dangers, no enemies, no time, where only they and their time were. He lifted his face and she got lost in his beautiful eyes as he got lost in hers. She lifted her head off the mattress and kissed him.

"I love you" she whispered in his ears. She heard him take a sharp breath and when she rested on the bed again, she saw his eyes were wide.

"It's the first time you told me that" he said in a mixture of awe and delight.

"It's the truth" she said, tracing the line of his face with her hand "I Love you"

"I love you too" he said. It was her turn to feel violent emotion. A warmth that rivalled lava rose up from her chest, spreading all over her body. She realised she was holding her breath and let it out in a shivering sigh.

They stopped moving completely, looking at each other with mesmerised glances, each one trying to imprint the other firmly in mind, to remember and treasure it forever. At that moment, they both knew they were made for each other, they knew their destinies had begun and would end together. They knew they had to savour every moment because they knew they might not see each other again. As Harry lowered himself over her completely- sinking his face into her neck- sliding his other arm underneath her- hugging her with all the strength he could muster- they knew all too well that each one was half the other. Clare didn't know how the robe didn't tear. She was clutching it vehemently as she pressed him to her, holding onto him like a life line.

He raised his head and kissed her again, making them both feel like heaven and hell put together. Both of them knew- knew very well- that they loved each other beyond death, and they had to make the most of this night, and while they did, all the rest of the world could wait.

__________~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"NO!" he screeched. All the cave fell silent as the furious voice froze the air in their lungs.

"It has happened! They have joined!" Voldemort screamed on "Cursed Male who has taken her favours! But I shall take her back!"

All the Death Eaters looked on stricken as the two rings of fire slowly moved closer to each other until they finally became one.

__________~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Not Harry, not Harry . . . please, take me instead!"

. . .

"It's the truth . . . I love you"

"I love you too"

. . .

"Professor, My eyes! His eyes, our hair! We are the fox and the raven, me and Harry ARE the fox and the raven!"

. . .

"They shall breath their last breath and vanquish the angel of death"

. . .

"What was, what is, and what will be are fragments of a mosaic, that will, in the end, rejoin to a whole"

……………………………………………………………………………

End of the Chapter 'The pieces of the mosaic fall into place'

…………………………………………………………………………….

This is it! Yes, they did do what you are thinking they did. I leave it to you to decide how and to you imagination to decide whether you like it or not!

Please, no one comes to tell me this has ruined the status quo, or something like that. This had to happen, and I know what I'm doing. AND they're both over age. Ha.

Lolol. Oh well, I thank those who reviewed till now, boohooo because I lost all the other lovely reviews, and hope to see you all asap.

Although I have NOTHING in mind for the next chapter except the plot skelaton…… (sweat drop)