Chapter 14

Thursday morning Harry sent an owl to Neville wishing him a happy birthday. Hermione had gotten him a wand holster for his new wand and Harry sent him a pair of Dragonhide boots. Ginny's owl looked up to the task. Just in case, Flitwick had placed a temporary lightening charm on the package. Harry had written Neville a note telling him that he was looking forward to seeing him again.

A few minutes after releasing the owl, there was a tap on the window. Three ministry owls were waiting outside. Remus opened the window and let the owls in. At lunch, he gave Susan, Hermione, and Harry their envelopes. Susan received eleven OWLs, Hermione a perfect sixteen, while Harry received twelve. Remarkably he had passed divination and astronomy. He had not finished the exam in history of magic due to the vision received by Voldemort and they had witnessed Professor McGonagall being attacked during the Astronomy exam and had been glad to have scraped by a passing mark in that class. They each congratulated each other. Hermione's parents were quite pleased with her scores and offered to take everyone out the next evening to celebrate.

Remus finished the work on the cellar that afternoon. They had created a four station fifty foot shooting range. It was well ventilated, with lighting that offered day and evening simulations.

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Harry woke early on Saturday. He got up to use the exercise machine before the women and worked on the overhead arm exercises designed to increase flexibility and range of motion. Twenty minutes later, the four women came in, and Harry knew that they liked to exercise together. Emma brought her portable CD player, and they had fun exercising to Rod Stewart songs. They all greeted and teased Harry as he was leaving. Harry went back to his room and did pushups and sit-ups for twenty minutes, before showering and getting dressed for the morning.

Harry read the Daily Prophet with some interest.

Ministry Auror Captures Death Eaters

(London – Rita Skeeter)

Director of Magical Law Enforcement Amelia Bones announced the arrests of two Death Eaters. Draco Malfoy 16 son of convicted Death Eater Lucius Malfoy was charged in the connection of 12 deaths including Harry Potter's last living relatives and nine Ministry Aurors this month. He was also charged with destruction of property. Also charged was Peter Pettigrew 36. Pettigrew previously believed to have been killed by Sirius Black fifteen years ago was found alive and well in West Sussex at the home that was attacked in which twelve ministry Aurors and Hit Wizards were murdered. Pettigrew was also charged yesterday with the murder of Minister of Magic Diggory's son Cedric 14 months ago. This reporter applauds the Aurors responsible for the capture of these two (alleged) vicious killers. Trials are expected for both next week. See related story page 4 – Black cleared.

Harry looked at the article and smiled. He had almost avoided any mention in the article and amused himself thinking of the dread of any of Voldemort's Death Eaters to show their Dark Lord the article. He half wondered if Riddle had a subscription, or had an elf pick up his morning edition. He pitied any elf that would have to deliver this edition.

At eight Flitwick came and showed them how to meter the strength of spells, and showed them several additional ideas for strengthening their spells. McGonagall came at ten and asked what had happen to the plate steel that they had been transfiguring for the last week. Harry took them down to the cellar and showed them the shooting range. They were amazed. The backstop pieces fit together perfectly as did the lighter weight ceiling pieces that they had made. Remus had purchased target carriers and fitted retrieval wires that could be used to move the targets forward and backwards.

Completing her lesson on solid blocks, she took Hermione, Susan, and Ginny to the apparation testing station. Meanwhile Kingsley had come over and was giving Tonks, Harry, and Remus a lesson on safe pistol handling, and some practice at the range. Harry owned six pistols, and Kingsley had brought him a good supply of ammunition for each of them. After a few minutes Dan came down and asked if he could watch. Kingsley showed them how to properly grip each of the weapons, sight them, and fire them. Each of them had been given a pair of hearing protection earmuffs looking something like over the ear headphones. Surprisingly Dan did the best in the target practice with all of his shots grouped well within the CD sized black area of the paper targets from fifty feet. He confessed to having had some previous practice. When they were done, Kingsley showed them how to clean the weapons and how to lock them up in the storage container that Remus had bought for them.

Two hours later, Minerva came back with the women. Each had earned a provisional apparation permit that allow them to apparate either to a place that they had already been, within the British Isles that Amelia had personally signed. They could get an unrestricted license on their seventeenth birthday. Hermione had inquired regarding the difference between their permit and the one that Harry had received, and been told that since Harry had no parent or legal guardian, he was considered an emancipated minor and was eligible for an unrestricted license.

The girls had errands to run after lunch, so Harry had a private lesson with Dumbledore. Harry demonstrated his progress with morphing, then Dumbledore gave Harry some details about Marietta Edgecombe. Dumbledore believed her to be a newly recruited Death Eater, likely one of the new recruits that was involved at the raid at the Grangers. Dumbledore warned Harry to take the capture very seriously as Marietta's mother was a skilled witch that worked at the floo office of the Ministry.

At four Dan requested that they be ready to leave for dinner at 4:30. They would come back after dinner for cake for Harry's birthday. They drove to a nearby pub, Sherlock's Home. The reservation was for 5:00. Tonks and Remus said that they would meet them there as there was only room for six in Dan's BMW. Harry sat in front and the four women crowded the back. Harry commented that he could have ridden in the boot – in fact he'd had plenty of practice at it. Dan laughed, thinking that Harry was making a joke. A tear welled in Ginny's eye, knowing that Harry was telling them a horrible truth.

Dan found a place to park. Based on the lack of cars parked near the pub, it did not look crowded. Emma told the teens that she'd made a reservation. They got out of the car and walked to the pub. Dan opened the door

"Surprise!!!" They were greeted by most of the members of the DA, the Weasleys, a few of the Hufflepuffs, most of the Order, a half dozen of the Aurors, several of the school professors, quite a few of the Gryffindors, several alumni from the Quidditch team, and a few others. Standing off to the side, feeling very pleased with themselves were Remus and Tonks. Only an observant few noticed Harry putting away his wand.

The beer was good. Everybody toasted Harry. He had fun visiting with the different people that his houseguests had invited. None of the students except the Weasleys knew that it had been Hermione's home that had been attacked.

Ron and Luna came up to Harry. Ron clearly had been doing some serious shopping. He told Harry that he'd gotten himself a new Firebolt, and looked like he'd taken after Gred & Forge with respect to fashion sense. Luna looked very pretty in jeans and a skinny top. She had blond hair that fell about to her shoulders, and was a bit more muscular than Ginny had been at the end of the school year. Spending so much time outside with Ron in July, she had a very nice tan. Ron asked Harry if he'd seen the article regarding the arrest of Malfoy. Harry said that he had, but never mentioned any more than that. Ron in his usual one-dimensional manor smirked that the Slytherin team wouldn't stand a chance in the next term. It occurred to Harry that the Gryffindor team would likely be facing some personnel changes itself.

Dumbledore introduced Remus to Anna Daily, the new potions professor. She seemed like a very nice lady, and had a keen eye for detail. Remus was quite interested in meeting her, given that she had been largely responsible for the development of the Wolfsbane potion.

Anna watched the different people who had come to the gathering. She noticed that Harry seemed to have a disproportionate amount of adult friends. Not being British, she was less familiar with the boy-who-lived legend than most of the others who were there.

Hagrid had come. He told them that he'd been spending a lot of time with his half-brother Grawp, who was learning English and was apparently much gentler. Unlike the last time that Harry had seen Hagrid, there were no cuts or bruises on his face this time.

The Aurors had chipped in and gotten Harry a pro model sneak-o-scope. They were profoundly grateful over the gifts that the Sirius Black foundation had made to the families of their fallen co-workers. Tonks made the introductions. They were not in awe of the boy-who-lived, rather the on friendly terms with the generous, competent young man in front of them.

Minister Diggory had stopped by to wish Harry well. Several of the Hufflepuffs there had been friends with Cedric and said hello to him. Hanna and Justin greeted him warmly.

Molly and Arthur seemed as glad to see Harry as their daughter. News of their growing relationship apparently had reached Molly who couldn't have been more delighted. Beyond that, they were truly happy that Harry wasn't living on Privet Drive anymore. Ginny had relayed the details of the story of his growing up to an outraged Molly.

Moody came by and shook Harry's hand like an equal. He had trained a number of the Aurors who had been murdered, and took their deaths very personally.

Harry visited with Neville a bit. After the truth of the fight in the DoM had reached his Grandmother, life for Neville had vastly improved. She no longer thought of him as a failure, rather she saw him as a young man with good friends, and talent. Though he didn't have Harry's opportunity to practice spellwork, he had spent a good part of the summer practicing potions and herbology. Neville was also studying for hours each day. The news that they would be having a new potions professor was like a rainbow after a storm to the young man that had been constantly berated by Snape.

Cho asked Harry if he would be allowed back on the house team next term. Harry told her that he didn't think he'd be playing again at Hogwarts. Harry asked her if she'd talked with Marietta over the holiday. She hadn't seen her since June.

Dan and Emma enjoyed meeting so many witches and wizards. It seemed comforting to them that there were various wizarding careers. Most of them seemed to have known their daughter and commented that they respected her talents.

After the party, Harry invited Arthur and Molly back to his home. He'd thanked everyone for coming, and wished them a good rest of their holiday.

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The next week was spent getting ready to grab Marietta Edgecombe. The actual preparation turned out to be much harder than the grab. Positioning themselves in place at 6:00 AM, they simply waited until Mrs. Edgecombe left for work. Hermione was holding Ginny's owl under the invisibility cloak. Harry, and Remus were in the front yard keeping watch.

At 8:00, Tonks called Remus using Harry's cell phone, letting her know that Michelle Edgecombe had arrived at work. He signaled the other group. Carefully folding up the cloak, the disillusioned teens spread out slightly, each finding some cover.

Hermione let the owl go who was carrying a blank piece of parchment. The owl tapped on the window by the back garden door. Marietta opened the door and having taken careful aim, the three witches each fired stunners, each hitting the young witch. Susan ran up with the anti-apparation manacles while Hermione and Ginny kept a sharp eye for anyone else who may have seen her get hit. Ten seconds later, Susan activated the portkey, vanishing along with Marietta. Hermione and Ginny apparated away next followed by Harry and Remus. Seventeen seconds after Marietta had opened the door, they were all in Harry's car park. Tonks arrived back a moment later. Upon inspection, Marietta did indeed have the Mark on her left inner forearm.

Careful to put everything away, the teens stuffed their knapsacks while Tonks portkeyed away to the holding cells. Harry and the others walked back into the home. They were met by Dumbledore and Poppy. "How was your breakfast Harry?"

"Great. Everybody got what we were looking for."

"Splendid. When the four of you are ready, we might begin our morning lesson. Poppy has volunteered to show everyone some first aid – always an excellent topic. I need to meet with Amelia. I will see you all this afternoon."

Poppy had brought one of her mannequins and showed them how to magically heal basic cuts. Sensing that their minds were not on her lesson, she asked them how their outing went. After they told her what they had really been up to, she adopted a grim look on her face, and talked for a moment about the sad conclusions of inappropriate choices. She said that she would be back the next week, and they could continue with their lessons. They could practice with the mannequin during the week. They each thanked her profusely for standing by for them while they were gone.

That afternoon, Remus came back from taking the Grangers out for their business. He came back and gave them a second lesson on stealth and concealment. They learned to move nearly silently and to be virtually unseen if standing still while disillusioned.

He also showed them how to cast spells without using schoolboy loud voices. The advantages were that the opponent didn't hear what had been cast, and they were much less likely to give away their position.

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Draco Malfoy's trial on Friday 9 August was amazingly straightforward. The visitors were seated first. In this case, the courtroom was packed with Hogwarts students and their parents. Malfoy's arrogance had earned him more than his share of enemies. Twenty minutes later the witnesses and others were shown in. In this case, it was Harry Potter, and the Grangers. Finally the judges came in followed by the defendant. The charges were read, and Malfoy's deposition was read into evidence. Hit Wizard Wood's chilling pensive memory was played ending with Bones asking the dying man for his last memory. The Grangers had provided documentation regarding their property loss.

Malfoy was given the opportunity to say something on his behalf or to call in a defense witness. He did neither. The full Wizengamot judge panel called a recess to confer. When they came back, the verdict was read.

"Draco Malfoy you have been charged with participating in the murders of Vernon Dursley, Petunia Dursley, Dudley Dursley, Auror Nick Straight hand." The list of charges seemed endless. Finally Dumbledore finished with, "…and the willful destruction of a fine residence in Crawley. The Wizengamot finds you to be guilty of all charges. Since you are at least the age of sixteen and not yet seventeen, the damages will need to be paid from your parents assets. The damages were estimated at 75,000 Galleons. Since this was willful destruction of property, you are fined ten times the amount of damages or 750,000 Galleons. You are also sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban."

Narcissa looked shocked. Never in her memory had such a fine been levied. There was no appeal. A Gringotts representative was there and confirmed that there were sufficient assets in the Malfoy vault to cover the fine. Narcissa was handed a Gringotts draft and signed it.

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At the same time that the verdict was being read, two redheaded men stopped over at Malfoy manor. Four containers of diesel fuel and a flare gun later, they had finished their work.

As Narcissa was writing the Gringotts draft for the 750,000 Galleons fine, explosions from the various dark devices stored under the study were consuming the remainder of her home. She would return at the end of the day, nearly broke, and homeless. No one would ever trace the flare gun which had been consumed in the fire.

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