"Sure, Ginny. What's on your mind?" Ginny bit her lip and looked down at her feet.
"I don't know how to explain this. I've never really told anybody this before."
"Well, just explain it the best you can."
"Okay, I have these dreams sometimes. They started when I was about sixteen. I never really thought anything about the first one....But then it came true."
"You're a Seer?"
"I suppose I am. The dreams don't come that often, but when they do, they are never good. I'm starting to feel like Cassandra."
"Who's Cassandra?"
"Cassandra of Troy. She was a Seer as well and all she prophesied was death and doom for the city of Troy. Nobody ever believed her and thought her to be mad."
"But nobody thinks you're mad, Ginny."
"I know, but I do." Remus raised an eyebrow.
"Being a Seer doesn't make you mad...Unless of course, you let it. I think it to be a curse, definitely, especially when nothing you see is good. But Ginny, why do you think you're mad?"
"Well, I guess I don't really think so. I'm just really worried. I had another one about Harry last night and I'm about to go out of my mind with worry right now."
"What was it about?"
"I can't really remember the details anymore. I never wrote it down because Harry woke me up from it. I was crying and I suspect I was yelling in my sleep. It was my weirdest dream yet. I don't really know how to explain it. Um...well, my dream self, already knew about something that was going to happen to Harry. In my dream, I had a dream that Harry was at work, alone with....I think it was Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy when the alarm went off. Then Death Eaters came in...This is the part where I'm kind of fuzzy on, but I remember being able to see Harry on the ground and Draco pointing a wand at one of the Death Eaters. Then after my dream self dreamt this, I begged for Harry not to go because he would get hurt. But he didn't listen to me." Remus was silent for a while, considering the dream.
"I know you say that you've had dreams come true before, but this doesn't really sound like a normal one. Usually Seers say that they see the event unfolding before them, not their dream selves dreaming it. It could have just been a normal dream."
"I really don't think it was, Remus. I want to believe it, I've been thinking about it ever since Harry fell back to sleep. And then when he ran out the door, I really wanted to yell to him not to go and that he'd be hurt, but I couldn't get the words out. He was already in such a hurry and I didn't want him worrying about me."
"There's no way to tell until something happens. I wish I could say something more to comfort you. I don't know much about this topic; have you been able to tell when your dreams have come true?"
"Yes. I Saw Harry leaving the Wizarding world. I didn't know how, when, or where to it was going to happen. But I knew that it was. About a half an hour after the battle was over, I got really icy cold, like somebody had just dumped ice water on me, and I collapsed and Saw Harry running away from Hogwarts. It happens every time they come true." Ginny's bottom lip quivered a little and fat tears rolled down her face.
"I don't want this one to come true, Remus. I don't know if he was dead or injured." Remus moved forward and embraced her in a tight hug.
"Ginny, Harry is a powerful wizard. He could get injured, I won't deny that, it's happened before...But no Death Eater will ever be able to kill him."
"Knock, knock! How come nobody was answering the doo....Ginny, what's the matter?" Molly Weasley came bustling into the sitting room where Remus and Ginny were standing in the middle of, hugging. Ginny backed away from Remus and gave him a little smile.
"Nothing, mum. Raging hormones and all that."
"Oh, well those are terrible. I was a wreck when I was pregnant with you. Worse than when I was carrying the boys. Have you forgotten that your doctors appointment is in twenty minutes?"
"No, mum. I'll just go wash my face and then we can leave." She turned back around to face Remus so that she could give him another hug, but before she could do anything, an icy wave swept over her body and she collapsed into Remus' arms.
***
The door to the large room burst open, revealing five cloaked and hooded figures. Harry tossed his wand to Draco and advanced on the Dark wizards with a sadistic smile on his face.
"If you're sure you want to go through with this boys. Be my guest. It's your funeral."
"Just step aside, Potter. The only person here that we want is Malfoy."
"You think you can just come walking into the auror's office and collect whomever you like? I'm sorry to say that it doesn't work that way. Draco Malfoy is in our custody."
"You know who is in our custody, Malfoy? Your precious Rebecca. You know that charm you put on Potter so that we can listen in to his every day life? The one you told him about yesterday? The one that is still on him? Potter was correct...after you were captured, we didn't give a damn what happened to you; you didn't stop to think that we are still monitoring Potter. We heard you tell him everything. We thought it our personal duty to come and get you so that you can watch Rebecca die. Oh, but don't worry...we'll kill you afterwards. I'm not promising directly afterwards; perhaps I'll let you live long enough to waste away." Draco leapt towards them.
"You bloody bastards!" Harry put his arm out and stopped Draco by hitting him in the chest.
"Don't do anything stupid, Draco."
"They're going to kill her. Even after all the things I've gone through for them. Look at me! I'm in your bloody custody, Potter! All because of them and they're just going to kill her anyway."
"Just come with us now, Malfoy. If you do so calmly, we won't torture her too much before we kill her."
"He is not going anywhere. Do I need to repeat myself? He is in the custody of the Ministry of Magic. He is not to leave until released!"
"Well, pardon me for thinking otherwise. After a little....persuasion, the guards downstairs let us have our friends back." Harry clenched his jaw, the blood pressure steadily rising.
"If you want....I can just refill their empty cells with you five. Or if you put up a fight, the cemetery has some room for you, I'm sure."
"How about we just save you all the paperwork that would come with both of those rather appealing choices." The man raised his wand just as Harry raised his hand to stun them all, but his curse hit Harry first, sending him flying back into a chair, making his own curse hit the ceiling to make bits of it crumble to the ground. Harry tried moving again but found that his entire body was paralysed. He couldn't move from his lying position on the floor. Draco came into his range of vision.
"Can you move, Harry?" All Harry could manage was a low sound in the back of his throat.
"That wasn't the full body bind they used on you." He stood up again and pointed Harry's wand at the approaching Death Eaters.
"Stupefy!" he roared, but the curse never hit them as a well place Cruciatus curse hit Draco square in the stomach and he toppled to the ground next to Harry screaming in pain. One of the hooded figured men bent to pick Draco up and bound him with a binding spell and sat him on a chair. A gag was then placed in his mouth and the five men surrounded Harry. The one that had been speaking the entire time, knelt down next to him.
"Crucio," he whispered quietly. Burning pain ripped through Harry's body. His screams were muffled in his throat and the pain seemed to be intensified ten fold since he couldn't move his body at all. The only muscle he seemed to still have control over were his eyelids. He closed his eyes, hoping to just pass out. Once the curse was lifted, he was still panting, trying to catch his breath, when another curse was thrown at him.
Cuts were being placed all over his body, some as small as paper cuts, some seemed as though an invisible butcher knife were cutting into him. Blood started seeping through his clothes and making them stick to his body. When the cutting finally stopped, the laughter of the Death Eaters filled his ears.
"We'll stop there, Potter. By the time your auror friends figure out that Diagon Alley was just a ruse, you'll have bled to death. We've been considering heading over to your house and make a friendly visit with your precious fiancee Ginny. And that werewolf Remus Lupin. I hear she's pregnant with your baby. It would be fun to make her look at her baby before she died, don't you think? We'll cut open her stomach nice and slow; she'll be wide awake, mind you. Your baby will only be the size of your fingertip, did you know that? They can feel pain as well. Do you think she'd like seeing her own baby ripped from her stomach?" Harry kept his eyes closed and tried to keep calm. Nevertheless, he could feel his body temperature and blood pressure rising. His breathing was becoming even more erratic. They couldn't do that to Ginny. They couldn't kill her; they couldn't kill Remus.
"Then for the werewolf. Maybe we'll kill him the same way we killed your godfather, Sirius Black. Yes, I think that would be good." And Sirius. They killed Sirius. Those stupid bastards. They weren't going to do it again. His entire family would be wiped out. Not that he'd be there to see it. The Death Eaters began laughing once more and started to walk away.
"Get Malfoy," one of them growled. Harry's breathing was coming out in fast puffs now and he could feel his heartbeat pumping vigorously. The hate and anger was burning fiercely through his nerves and veins. It was as if he had fire in him. It felt like it was all escalating to his head. It was all about to explode.
As if from somewhere far away, he felt his arms spring away from his sides and he felt himself loosening. He glided up off the floor and walked towards the men as if on wheels. His eyes were still closed; it was as if a force was pulling him to them.
"Didn't I say that it was your funeral if you went through with this?" he heard himself say. Although Harry couldn't see them, he sensed the men turn around in surprise.
"Who took that curse off of him? He's not supposed to be able to move," one of them muttered.
"Who cares? He can't do anything to us now. Malfoy had his wand and now it's way over there. Potter is as good as dead." A last surge of anger trembled through Harry's body and his eyes flew open. Emerald light flooded the room. The Death Eaters looked at him with squinted eyes in surprise for a few moments before falling into shrieks of pain. Draco dropped to the ground as the Death Eater holding him fell to the ground in pain. The Death Eaters tore their clothing away from their bodies as if it were burning them. Every inch of their skin was pouring out blood, though no cuts were visible. The bodies started to distort themselves in every possible and impossible position. Again from somewhere far away, as if an echo was calling, Harry heard Ron's voice.
"Harry! Stop!" Draco's voice came as a distant echo.
"No, Ron! Don't move any closer to him. It's dangerous. He might not know who you are and turn on you." Harry stared murderously at the five writhing forms on the floor, not even thinking about what he was doing. His eyes had to stay open. There was no time for blinking.
The skin upon their bodies stopped bleeding and started to bubble and melt off of them. The screams of pain became more intense and finally stopped after the sound of hundreds of bones breaking rent the air.
Harry's breathing slowly became regular and he was vaguely aware of his eyes emitting light, the same colour of his eyes. He stood motionless, staring at the act that he had just performed. Slowly, the light began to fade and Ron's voice sounded near him.
"Harry?" He blinked and looked at Ron.
"I get my eyes from my mother, Ron." Everything went black.
***
"That's the most gruesome thing I've ever seen. Do you know what the hell happened?"
"No. I have no idea how he got to that stage. Those guys put a paralysing curse on him. He should never had been able to move by himself." Harry groaned at the throbbing in his mind. Everything was blurry when he opened his eyes, but his glasses were still on his face. Ron's form was visible right next to Harry. He reached out and grabbed his arm.
"Ron...they got Draco. They took him. There was nothing I could do. And they released the Death Eaters that we caught yesterday. Diagon Alley....it was a ruse. They said I was going to bleed to death." Harry's eyes widened in horror as he remembered what they had said that they were going to do to Remus and Ginny. He stood up abruptly and started to walk for the door but Ron stopped him.
"Where are you going?"
"Ginny, Ron! I have to go save Ginny! They said....they said they were going to make her watch them cut out our baby! I can't let them!" he yelled hysterically. He didn't care that the entire office had gone silent from their work and was watching him.
"Harry, don't you remember what happened? Those men aren't going to be able to hurt Ginny anymore."
"But they got away!"
"No, they didn't."
"You got them?"
"No...you did. You don't remember?" Harry shook his head.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Ron gently turned him around and led him over to where a group of aurors were kneeled, discussing something.
"Move out of the way!" Ron ordered. The group scrambled to get out of the way and the scene that met Harry's eyes made him stop and his eyes widened and he backed up into Ron. Bile started to rise up in the back of his throat.
"I...I di....didn't do that."
"Yeah you did. We saw you doing it."
"But...I have no memory of this!" he exclaimed. "I didn't!"
"Harry!" called Draco's voice. Harry turned wildly around and found him sitting in a corner.
"Draco! You're all right." Draco scowled.
"Yes, but these idiots think I helped them out and not you. They won't undo the binding charm on me."
"You did help me though."
"I know. Harry, you did the same thing you did in that house in Wales. Except this time, I saw it happen."
"I did the same thing?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"It's weird. I'm not even sure. Harry...you're bleeding all over. You need to get looked at." Harry looked down at himself and found cuts all over himself. The only place untouched was his face. Draco looked around Harry's body and then smiled up at Harry.
"Ginny just ran in here, looking extremely healthy. Although a little red rimmed around the eyes." Harry turned around to see Ginny staring with wide, horrified eyes at the five bodies on the ground. She pointed at them and tried working her mouth for a few moments before she could get anything out.
"Harry's not one of those, is he?" she asked with tears apparent in her voice.
"Ginny," he said weakly and walked to her. She let out a sob and threw herself on him. He let out a cry of pain as she opened up a couple of his cuts even more.
"I'm sorry. What...Harry, you're cut all over."
"Death Eaters. He dropped to his knees and placed his cheek against her stomach. "You're still pregnant?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Never mind." Ginny knelt down on her knees in front of Harry and took his face in her hands.
"You're all right." Harry wanted to ask her how she knew to come and see if he was, but he was started to feel out of it from all the blood he was losing. Ginny showered his face with kisses as his head started to roll about on his shoulders. Any sense he had when he woke up was now flowing away with his blood.
"Harry, what's the matter?"
"Lots of blood came out of me. So...dizzy....and....weak." Ginny shrieked as Harry fell the rest of the way to the floor. Ron walked over and picked up his friend.
"I'll Apparate with him over to St. Mungo's." Ginny stood up angrily and rounded on her brother.
"You saw all those cuts all over him! Why didn't you bring him right when he got them!"
"I wasn't here when he got them. We've only been here for ten minutes."
"Still! He needed care immediately!"
"What do you think I'm trying to do now? Do you think you could stop yelling for one minute so that we can Apparate to the hospital? I promise you can yell at me there. Harry isn't exactly a little boy. He's pretty heavy. And as we're speaking, he's losing even more blood." Ginny backed down sheepishly.
"Fine. Take him now." The two Apparated to the hospital and he was immediately taken in by the doctors. Ginny called Remus while Ron called Hermione. They had decided not to inform the entire Weasley family. The last thing they needed at the moment was a jungle of people. They would be called after Harry was awake and feeling better. The four didn't have long to wait until a doctor walked in to see them on Harry's condition. When the doctor walked in, Ginny was curled up on Remus' chest with tears still running down her face. Ron and Hermione were looking down at their son, Harry Jr., who was giving it his all to crawl but just couldn't seem to get anywhere. He'd just end up rocking back and forth on his hands and knees. He had grown to be a chubby little boy with thick, light red hair atop his head and his blue eyes had turned to a brown, like Hermione's. "You are Mr. Potter's family?" asked the doctor.
"Yes," chorused all four at once. The doctor gave a smile.
"As you may have seen, he suffered from cuts all over his body; some deep, some shallow. You're very lucky that you brought him in when you did; I'd hate to say what may have happened to him if he had lost any more blood. We healed all his cuts and they're should be no scars present. He will be a little weak for a day or so, but other than that, he'll be fine."
"Did he wake up yet?" asked Ginny anxiously.
"He did as we were healing his cuts but he fell asleep. Whatever happened drained his energy completely. You may go in and see him if you like but I advise you not to wake him." The doctor turned to walk out but turned back around as if he had made a decision.
"If you don't mind my asking....the nurse and I....well, we noticed that Mr. Potter didn't have a scar like a lightening bolt on his forehead; isn't he supposed to?" The four exchanged worried looks. Harry hadn't told them what to say if this ever came up. Everybody was silent for a few moments before Ron tentatively spoke up.
"Well...he did have a scar before," he started slowly. "But it disappeared. I'm not exactly sure if he wants everybody to know why."
"I don't think he does right now either," said Remus. "I believe he plans on telling everybody after he does er - a few things."
"Oh, okay. We were just wondering if it really was him. You may go see him." The doctor walked away and the four exchanged glances again.
"What does he want us to say if that comes up again?" asked Hermione.
"Dunno," said Ron. "Let's go." Hermione picked up her son and then followed her three companions out of the waiting room. They found Harry already awake when they walked in. He smiled happily at them all.
"Not too worried about me, I hope!" he exclaimed. Ginny burst into tears and ran to him.
"I knew it was going to happen, Harry. I just knew it." Harry furrowed his brow and was about to ask how she knew when Remus started shaking his head no, and mouthing, 'don't ask.' So he just settled with hugging her and smoothing her long hair.
"Ginny, I'm all right. They just told me that I could be released in a few hours, as soon as they know that I'm out of the woods completely." When Ginny had let go, Hermione came and gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek Harry then turned to Ron.
"Who's in charge of everybody now? Did Rembers go in?"
"Yeah, he's in, but he expects me to go back in about an hour."
"Do you know if he was...mad about what I did?"
"Mad?" said Ron incredulously. "Why in the world would he be mad? He was disappointed that he hadn't been there to see you do that. Who knows if you'll ever do that again. As disturbing as it was...it was completely amazing. I've never seen anything like it."
"What exactly did I do? I don't remember anything after they told me what they were going to do to Ginny and Remus."
"What were they going to do to us?" asked Remus.
"Er - nothing that I really want to repeat right now. So....what happened?"
"I don't know if I can really explain all that well. When I got there with the rest of the aurors, you were staring at the Death Eaters with the light shining on them. I've never seen you look so murderous, Harry. It was a little chilling to tell you the truth. It was worse than the night when Sir...well, when Sirius died. The really weird thing though was that Draco was sitting right in the middle of the them and should have been getting the full blow of what you were giving the others; but the light was making a wide berth around him, like you meant to miss him. Obviously you did."
"So then it is something to do with my eyes. I didn't really want to believe Draco when he told me that."
"Harry, there's something else. I remember from when I listened to your conversation with Draco yesterday, he said that when you came to in the house in Wales, you looked at him and said, 'I get my eyes from my mother, Draco. Did you know that?' You said the same thing to me. Only it was just, 'I get my eyes from my mother, Ron.' and then you passed out." Harry felt somebody staring at him intently and turned to see Remus looking at him with his mouth hanging open slightly. His eyes were slightly glazed over as if he were remembering something.
"Something the matter, Remus?" He shook out of his reverie and really looked at Harry.
"No, it's nothing," he said nervously.
"Remus." He sighed and bit his lip.
"You really do get your eyes from your mother, Harry."
"I know. That's what everybody says. They're just as green as hers were."
"Yes, they are. But she did the same thing with her eyes as you do. From what I just heard, it's exactly the same. I'm guessing the bodies of the Death Eaters were burnt and they bled, and the bones broken but no actual evidence of them being broken besides them being disfigured?"
"Yeah!" exclaimed Ron. "They were bleeding from their pores and then after they stopped bleeding, the skin started to bubble and melt off. Then the bones cracked but from what the aurors could tell, they weren't actually broken, just bent in unreal positions, deforming the body." Remus nodded his head gravely.
"That happened with Lily as well. She was an auror with James and it only happened a couple times with James as witness. He could never tell what made her do it and she could never tell either because she could never remember. Just like what's happening with Harry. He inherited whatever trait it is from her."
"But...but what if I end up hurting somebody I don't want to hurt?"
"Don't worry about that. Lily never showed any of these signs around us. Only when she was working against Death Eaters." The small group was silent for a while with only Harry Jr. making noise once in a while. Harry spoke so suddenly that everybody jumped.
"I don't remember killing Voldemort." Everybody looked at him through narrowed eyes.
"Then how do you know you killed him?" asked Hermione.
"Because I was the only one there when he was still alive and then when I came to and he was lying on the ground, dead, I was still the only one. My eyes were glowing. I think I may have killed him with my eyes." A knock came at the door and a doctor came in smiling.
"I'll just check you over one more time, Mr. Potter and then you'll be ready to go."
Everybody waited outside as the doctor checked Harry once more. After about ten minutes, the doctor came out and told them that Harry was free to go just as soon as he got dressed. Harry walked out of his room and looked at Ron.
"Are you going back in to work now?"
"Yes, as soon as we get out of here, I will be."
"Good. I'm coming with you."
"No! Harry, you need to rest!" exclaimed Ginny.
"She's right, Harry. You can come into work again with me tomorrow; for right now, just go home with Ginny and Remus. The doctor said that you'd be weak for a couple days."
"Fine," Harry replied grudgingly. "But no one is stopping me from going in tomorrow. We have things to do. And Ron...I had to send our operative away when the alarms went off and told her to go and find you in Diagon Alley. Did she find you?"
"Yes, she did. She was the one who told me that there were Death Eaters at the Ministry."
"Where did she go?"
"To find some contacts. She said she'd be back when she had something."
"Good. Shit, Ron...I have a listening charm on me. Take it off."
"Malfoy told me already. It's off."
"Thank Merlin. It would have been kind of suspicious, me talking about an operative. Well, let's go. I am kind of tired and could do with some food."
Remus, Ginny, and Hermione took Harry home moments later while Ron Apparated back to the Ministry. Hermione gave Harry Jr. to Harry and helped Ginny make dinner for Harry and Remus. The two men went into the sitting room and sat across from each other. Harry Jr. cooed and laughed in Harry's lap, reaching for his godfather's hair and tugging on it playfully. Remus smiled and chuckled softly.
"You know, you used to do that to Sirius. You'd tug on his hair all the time. Lily would love it when he came over because it always put you to sleep. She had an awful time of it when he wasn't at Godric's Hollow. I think it may have been the long hair." Harry smiled and set his godson on his shoulders so that he could go at it with his hair.
"I didn't know that. Didn't mum have long hair as well?"
"Yes. We could never figure out why you liked Sirius's hair so much. I think it was just what you liked most about him. All that long hair on a man." Harry smiled weakly and pried Harry's tiny hands from his hair and sat him on his lap again. Hermione walked in with a bottle of milk in her hands.
"Could you feed this to him, Harry? It's time for him to eat and go to bed."
"Yes." He wrapped the baby in a blanket and cradled him in his arms and fed the bottle to him. He started to hum softly and rocked him. Hermione looked at them beaming.
"You're going to make a wonderful father, Harry."
"You think so?"
"How could you not be? You're a natural. It took Ron two weeks to learn how to do what you just did now. And that's the easy stuff. Dinner will be ready in a little bit."
"I think I'll go see if I can help them with anything," said Remus as he got up to follow Hermione into the kitchen. Harry continued rocking his godson, humming a tune that he couldn't quite remember hearing consciously. He wondered if perhaps his mother had ever sung it to him. It always came to him when he was feeling lonely or just needed to be comforted. When the bottle was emptied, Harry set it aside and brought the bundle closer to his body, watching the brown eyes flutter close; both Harrys, grown man and baby, completely oblivious to the two women standing in the doorway watching them.
***
Harry went into the office the next day after lunch, feeling completely refreshed from his long night of sleep. Although he did still feel a bit dizzy from all the blood he had lost. When he walked into the office, every auror was waiting for his arrival and started applauding him. He stopped in his tracks and looked around confused. Rembers came up to him and slapped him on the back.
"That was a damn fine job you did yesterday."
"But...I didn't stop them from doing anything. They got our prisoners."
"You stopped them from taking Malfoy and killing you. You two are the most important people in this case. Malfoy because he has so much information...you because you're just so damn good at what you do."
"Oh, well, thank you. Well...what's going on here now?"
Rembers began filling him on everything that had been going on. Four aurors had been sent down to the holding chambers to act as guards until they found replacements. Fifteen more had been sent out on normal Magical Law Enforcement business. All that had to be planned out was Malfoy Manor, which Harry decided would still take place that night. He decided to put on ten more people so that the sentries would get more rest in-between shifts.
"All right everybody. I need ten more volunteers to be sentries at the Malfoy Manor. This second group with be the day shift. Step forward and say your name if you want to help."
"Ross Daniels."
"Leah Williams."
"Sarah Maki."
"Nick Perry."
"Joe Mulvey."
"Tig Matthews."
"Aeneas Cleary."
"Luke di Bricassart."
"Meghan O'Malley."
"Alice Dean."
"Great! That's all we'll need. The rest of you will be here in the office with Ron and me. All of you that are going, come with me, you too Ron." The large group of twenty-two people walked over to the table with the map of England. Harry walked around to the part of England where Kingston upon Hull was and pointed at it.
"Kingston upon Hull. This is what we'll be doing...."
At nine-thirty that night, Harry made his way down to the holding cells. He was dawned in plain black robes for the occasion. The auror symbol on the auror's robes was too bright since it was yellow. They needed to have absolutely no colour on their clothing. Everybody who wore glasses needed to get contacts so that no light reflected off of them. They would also need hooded cloaks to cover their heads. And since it was so cold, it would be no problem for them to have them.
"Lieutenant Potter," said one of the aurors who was acting as guard. "Have you come to pick up Malfoy?"
"Yes, I need him right away."
"I'll be right back."
"Thank you." Harry then waited for a few minutes before he saw Malfoy's distinctive hair coming down the darkened hallway. He looked up at Harry and his face immediately brightened on recognition.
"Harry! Thank Merlin you're okay. Nobody would tell me if you were okay after you had been brought to the hospital or not. What's going on?"
"We're going out to Malfoy Manor tonight. Remember? I said that we would need you to get there. I need to take you upstairs and get you a change of robes and cloak...and I think I may have to darken your hair for tonight. I could see you coming down that hallway." Harry then took Draco by the elbow and led him up to where all the aurors were waiting to leave. He gave him a black pair of robes and cloak and left him in the bathroom to change. When he came out, Harry looked at his dishevelled hair. His hair was still light but it seemed to have darkened since his arrest. Prisoners weren't usually allowed the luxury of a real bathroom so Harry credited it to that. He waved his hand over Draco's hair and it immediately turned black.
"Nobody would even be able to recognise you, Draco."
"This is terrible, Harry. You better hope you can get my hair back to its normal colour."
"Don't worry so much. Come on. I need to Apparate you with me." Harry looped his arm through Draco's and turned to everybody else.
"All right. You know where to go. Let's get this over with." Harry then disappeared with Draco at his side and reappeared in a small office that held only two desks and another private office. Torches were flickering on the walls along with a large fireplace. It gave the room a nice warm glow.
"Lieutenant Potter, is that you?" asked a woman's voice. Harry spun around with his arm still looped in Draco's and saw a very beautiful woman with curly brown hair down to her shoulders. She was just a little shorter than Harry and had sparkling amber eyes. He held out his hand and shook her hand.
"Yes, I am. You can call me Harry. You would be...Trisha Niemo, Head of the Department here?"
"Yes. Please call me Trish." Popping sounds surrounded them and soon the room was overflowing with aurors.
"Wow, you've brought a lot of people."
"Can't be too careful."
"I'm assuming that this is Draco Malfoy? He looks a lot different from his pictures."
"Oh, well we had to change his hair colour. You could see him in a dark room with no windows. His hair is that blonde." Trish smiled warmly at him and held out her hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Malfoy. My entire family follows the Cannons. They were so happy to know that you're innocent. My father was really disappointed when you switched to chaser. He can't stand James Newark." Harry and Draco exchanged smiles. Harry laughed.
"Who can? That guy is a bastard," he said still laughing.
"He is. I haven't been able to stand him since he came on to the Cannons," replied Draco smiling broadly.
"Oh, he can't be that bad," said Trish. "He is quite attractive."
"And that's about it. He has no brains to account for," said Draco.
"I beg to differ! He is quite intelligent!" exclaimed Harry.
"Keep telling yourself that," muttered Draco. Harry rolled his eyes and turned back to Trish who was eyeing Draco appreciatively.
"Could we go out to the cars now?"
"Yes, follow me." They pushed their way through the large crowd out into a Muggle street where four cars were waiting. Harry put Draco into the front seat of one and got into the drivers seat. The interior of all the cars had been enlarged to fit at least eight people but only three people got into the back seat with Harry and Draco. The rest separated themselves into the other three cars. Trish leaned on the window of the driver side window and looked in at Harry and Draco.
"I have no idea what you guys are up to, but good luck with whatever it is. I don't know if I'll be here when you get back but just park the cars where they are right now. They will always be here for your use until you're done with this mission."
"Thanks, Trish. We'll see you."
"Bye, Harry. Bye, Draco."
Harry put the car into gear and pulled away from the curb. The lights of the other cars were following just behind him. He turned to Draco and smirked.
"What? I don't like that look," he said.
"She liked you, Draco."
"No, she didn't."
"Yes, she did. Didn't you see that look she was giving you?"
"The kind of look that says, 'too bad you're a Death Eater. You would have been good in the sack?'"
"You're so pessimistic. She obviously knows you're innocent, she told her family that you were."
"Shut up and drive, Potter. Even if she were interested, I'm not. I've got another woman on my mind."
"I know, Malfoy. I'm just trying to lighten the mood here a little bit." Harry turned his eyes to his rear-view mirror to see the three faces that sat in the back.
"And who are my three riders back there?"
"Joe Mulvey."
"Meghan O'Malley."
"Gina Christensen."
The rest of the short ride was spent chatting amiably with the three aurors in the back seat. All three of them seemed to have no problem with Draco at all. In fact, they were keen on knowing what it was like to play for the Cannons and directed all their questions about it towards Draco, even though they knew that Harry played for them as well. Draco seemed genuinely happy to have something to get his mind off of what they were about to do.
As their destination neared, the occupants of the car fell silent, waiting for Draco to tell them to pull over. All too soon for all of them, he told Harry to stop. He drove a little further than was necessary to find a good place to hide the cars. A driveway came into view and he pulled into it. An abandoned house was at the end of it and he figured that it was the best place that they were going to find. The rest of the cars pulled up beside Harry's and stopped. Harry laughed at the confused expressions on the peoples faces as they looked up at the run down house.
He got out of the car and went to the nearest car and knocked on the window. It was rolled down and he leaned on the door.
"Are you going to get out of the car or are you just going to sit looking at that house?"
"I thought it was Malfoy Manor. Not a run down shack."
"It is Malfoy Manor. It's across the road. This is just where we are parking. Come on. We need to go." Harry stood up and found that everybody else had been smart enough to figure it out and were climbing out of the cars.
"Okay, everybody!" Harry said in a loud whisper. "We need to split up into groups. We'll have three groups of five and one with seven. The three that were in my car, you'll be with Draco and I. You, you, and you will be coming with me," he said as he pointed to Tig Matthews, and Aeneas Cleary who were both extremely large men. "The rest of you, go with the people who were in your cars. Draco, lead the way. I'll give further instructions when we get to the land." Harry and the rest of the aurors followed Draco down the driveway and to the right. They ran down the road a little way before turning left into the woods. Draco pointed to a large tree that was some ten feet away from them.
"That's where the traps always started, it's where our land begins. These trees go on for about a half a kilometre before the land was cleared away for all the buildings and the actual manor."
"How wide is your land?"
"I think it was about a kilometre. Again, it starts from the tree and goes down that way and that way." He pointed to the left and straight forward as he spoke. "Woods surround the entire property." Harry turned to the rest of the group and surveyed them for a little bit. All of them were separated into their groups.
"Okay, you three groups will go to the left. You'll have to decide amongst your groups which of you will be going the furthest around the perimeter. You'll set up a watch point where no one will be able to see you and make sure to put up plenty of disillusionment and shielding charms. Anything you can think of that will help you out if any Death Eaters should walk upon your hiding places. The group that goes the furthest, make sure you go around to the opposite side of the manor and set up camp there. We want to be out of here before daybreak. And not all of you will be leaving. A group of two or three will be staying. The rest of you will leave, go to the cars and drive back to Kingston Upon Hull. I may have it arranged so that you can just stay at that house. You should go now. And be careful....we don't know what kind of traps have been set up. Good luck." The three groups of five that Harry had pointed to started off to the left and could be heard and seen doing spells to check if there were any traps. The only thing that was giving them away was the light from their wands.
"Now our groups will be going straight. My group will be going further around the perimeter. I hope my members don't mind..." All five shook their heads. "All right then. Let's go." Harry's group took the lead, with Harry and Draco in the front. Harry had once again given Draco his wand and was using wandless magic himself. As they walked, they left a trail that only they would be able to distinguish so that they could get back safely. After about twenty minutes of walking and breaking traps, Harry started to become restless. It seemed like there should be something happening. It felt almost like when he had been in the third task in the Tri-wizard tournament in the fourth year. Nothing was happening and it was making him feel uneasy.
Still they continued walking with Draco in the lead. After a while, Harry told the second group to stop and set up camp in a dense spot of trees. There was an overhang that would do well as a protection from the weather. Barely one minute after the groups separated, two popping noises sounded in the clearing just beyond the trees. Harry stopped and pulled on Draco's arm to make him stop. The rest of the aurors stopped just in time to avoid a collision with their Lieutenant.
Harry strained his eyes in the dark and saw two forms moving toward the trees. They apparently had Apparated to the line of trees.
"Death Eaters," he said quietly. "Get behind those trees, quick!" The group of seven hurried quickly but quietly behind a dense patch of trees and bushes and ducked down. Harry parted the bushes a bit to look through at the Dark wizards.
"I have no idea what he was talking about. There isn't anybody out here," said one of them with a deep voice.
"I think his detectors need to be fixed," came a woman's voice.
"Pansy," Draco breathed.
"Why don't you go back, Goyle. I'll have a look around. I'm sure I won't find anything."
"But what if you do?"
"I'll be able to handle it. Don't worry."
"Send a signal if you need help, Pansy. I'll come back straight away." Goyle moved in and tried to kiss her but she brushed him away.
"Really, Greg. I thought I told you while we were at Hogwarts that I'm not interested in you." He backed up angrily.
"Still hung up on Malfoy, are you? Get a grip on yourself! He's locked up and going to Azkaban. You'll never see him again. It's time to move on Pans."
"Even if it is, I'm not about to with you." Goyle growled low in his throat and Disapparated. Pansy moved closer to their hiding spot.
"Who's there?" she whispered. Harry and Draco got up at the same time and moved around to her. Harry lowered his hood to reveal his face.
"How's it going, Pansy? They let you in with no problems?"
"Yeah, I got in right away. Don't you have Draco here?" Draco lowered his hood and hugged her tightly.
"I hate seeing you acting like a Death Eater. They didn't give you that awful mark, did they?"
"No. I think they want me to get on Lieutenant Potter's good side. Gawd, Draco. What the hell happened to your hair?" He scowled and looked at Harry.
"He did it. My hair is too much of a give away I guess."
"Pansy, are they detecting our people out here?"
"Yeah, I'll convince them that their detectors are faulty. I'll break them when nobody is around. Every other group is set up already. You're the only ones still on the move. If you go about one hundred metres that way, you'll find the closest group to you." Harry looked right, the way she had pointed and stared into the darkness.
"Okay, we'll go halfway to them then. It's about an hour until sunrise. We'll have to hurry. You should go back to the Manor now. Be careful, Pansy."
"I will." Harry began walking with the other five aurors behind him. Then he realised that Draco hadn't followed him. He stopped abruptly and turned around. Draco was staring out at the Manor whose windows were all flickering with faint light. Every once in a while a dark form would move in front of a window. Pansy was still there, looking at her old friend.
"Pansy," he said suddenly.
"Yeah?"
"Have you seen her?"
"Yes. I snuck down there when I first got here. I told her that you were in the middle of a plan to get her out."
"Did she understand?"
"Yes, I think so. She was a little out of it at the time but she smiled when I mentioned you.....She really is beautiful, Draco. And she loves you a lot. I can tell." Harry noticed a small crack in her voice when she said how Rebecca felt about Draco. It made him wonder how long Pansy had loved Draco without it being returned. Draco turned to her with a small smile on his face and kissed her on the cheek.
"For what it's worth...I'm sorry," he said softly. Pansy shook her head and looked down with unshed tears in her eyes.
"Don't apologise, Draco. It's not your fault you never loved me." She reached up and ran a hand through his black hair. "Hurry up and get out of here so that you can change that awful black hair to your natural colour." She kissed him lightly on the cheek and Disapparated. He stood staring at the spot where she had just stood.
"Draco," Harry called softly. "We need to go." He jerked out of his trance and turned to Harry and pulled his hood up.
"Right. Let's get this over with. You said sunrise is in an hour." Draco fell into step beside Harry, every once in a while casting a spell trying to determine if there were any traps. The sky was starting to lighten on the eastern horizon that stood to their left. They were still twenty metres from their destination. Harry stopped at a place where the aurors would be easily hidden.
"This is as far as we're going to be able to go. We're still further from the other camp than I would have liked but the sun is already rising and four or five of us still need to make the trip back." The group set about making a suitable place to stay with disillusionment charms, shields and heating charms. They were done a mere ten minutes later and were grouped around Harry.
"Two or three of you need to stay. Who's going to take the first shift today? You'll need to stay until nightfall when the others will come. Luckily the sun falls earlier at this time of year. So...who are my lucky volunteers?"
"I will," said Aeneas Cleary.
"I will as well," offered Joe Mulvey.
"Okay, it'll just be you two today. The other three will relieve you later." Harry then conjured up a bag full of food and some blankets. "I noticed that nobody brought blankets. Just in case you get cold. You'll find two thermos's of coffee in there. You'll have to bring your own food when you come back tomorrow morning. All right. We need to get going." The morning sky was now tinged with pink and they could now see each others faces more clearly. Though it was still difficult. The three aurors that were leaving followed Harry and Draco at a quick walk back the way they had just come. Their way back was easier since they had taken down all traps along the way so they were able to run. They were joined by two other aurors when they passed their camp and within fifteen minutes of joining up, they were at the road again. Faintly in the back of Harry's mind, he wondered why he could smell the acrid scent of burning flesh. Without being cautious, they ran up the driveway to the abandoned house.
There they were met by a sight that made their hearts jump into their throats.
A/N: Oh, I am evil. :grins: Sorry if this chapter was a bit boring...I'm getting to the climax here. And just if you're wondering, I did write in Wormtail's trial in this chapter, but I took it out. I pasted it onto a blank page just in case I want to use it in a later chapter, but I don't know if I am anymore. If you want to see it, just tell me in a review. If I go the way I'm planning, it may have to be more towards the end. I think it's looking like there may be a couple chapters over fifteen. That had been my original plan...but it looks differently now that I'm to this point. Anywho, please review! I would be ever so grateful to you! Thank you to all the people who have given me the sweetest reviews ever. It makes me so happy!! :)