Disclaimer: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
CHAPTER NINE – Organization
"Potter! What the hell do you think you are doing!"
"I'm not sure what you're referring to right now. Could you be a bit more specific?"
"I'm talking about stealing my giants! I've heard about your little sanctuary! But I won't sit back and allow you to steal and corrupt my allies. You will pay for this!"
"I'm not stealing anything. I'm offering them the alternative of staying out of your war. And how are you going to make me pay? By attacking more wizards?"
Voldemort seemed to be settling down, though he still got a bit incensed. "You have made yourself an enemy today Potter. I will not allow you to disgrace me like this."
"I have no interest in your war Voldemort. Take all the dark wizards you want who freely choose to submit themselves to your torture and go out and attack and kill all the light wizards who made you into the hatred filled person you are today. But know this, if you abuse, force, or attack magical creatures unable to fend for themselves, know that you will be making an enemy of me. I know you know the goblins have been assisting me. And I know you know what would happen were you to take the fight to them. You've spent the last ten years utilizing terror attacks and failing to upend the government. Right now I have no interest in stopping you, but you and I both know it's probably just a matter of time before that changes."
"Join me Potter. Together we can destroy the people who locked you up. I will not harm your precious creatures. We can rule together."
"Sorry Voldemort, you know that's not going to happen. I have no interest in ruling or being ruled. I'm not actively trying to weaken your standing. I'm just merely looking to help those unable to help themselves. This war is between wizards. Let it stay between them and you won't hear from me."
"I fear you are forcing my hand Potter."
"I can see what you're thinking Voldemort, and do not be so sure. I did spend 10 years in the company of dementors. You think I didn't do any negotiating then?" Harry knew this was blatant misdirection but hoped it would work.
"Remember everything that happens to you, you brought onto yourself Potter." And with a violent push Voldemort snapped closed their connection. Harry chuckled thinking 'I cannot believe he doesn't even yet realize the vampires are leaving tonight.'
Harry came back outside when he heard Tonks arrive with over an hundred house elves behind them. Dobby took the lead, and began explaining to them about Sanctuary. Tonks came over and gave Harry another hug. She smiled and said "Got 'em all. Cost over 50,000 galleons but from what I hear that's pocket change to you."
Harry smiled. "Excellent. Any problems?"
Tonks shook her head. "Nope, although they weren't exactly pleased you were clearing them out of house elves. I think they might make some new laws preventing people from buying them all in the future. And I think this will cost you most of your secrecy now. The Daily Prophet might catch wind of the house elves and come up with some evil theories. Maybe the Quibbler will put you on baking house elf pies. Dumbledore will be sure to bring it up at the next Order meeting."
"Does he know you've seen me?"
"Don't think so. He knows I was going to write to you, and he knows I'm your biggest supporter, but he hasn't asked and I wasn't about to tell him."
"Alright, well anything they ask you now, feel free to answer truthfully. I imagine Severus will have some intriguing reports."
Tonks furrowed her brow. "What did you do?"
Harry smiled devilishly. "Those vampires and giants I met with may have been openly allying with a certain Dark Lord."
Tonks smiled. "That's great Harry! Both of them agreed with you and left Tommy?"
"Yeah, I just got done talking to an extremely pissed Voldemort wondering why his giants disappeared. He still doesn't know the vampires are planning to leave tonight."
"That is good news. And I mean that for the right reasons Harry, not just for the sake of the war."
"I never said a word Tonks." Harry admonished then shrugged, "Though I may have thought it for a second."
The two of them kept conversation light, and caught up on how things were going. Harry had some worry that Voldemort might try and take out his anger on the goblins, but Tonks tried to assure him that the goblins supported what Harry was doing, and inciting a goblin rebellion would only insure things would be pretty much insurmountable for the Dark side to win. Nighttime rolled around, and Tonks felt the call on her Order medallion. Apparently news had reached Dumbledore and it was time to check in.
Albus Dumbledore was worried how people were going to react to this. He had heard rumors from many places, and even managed to get a few straight answers out of Bane. The collective whole of the wizarding world was prejudiced and prone to panic. He didn't want Harry Potter to be seen as a tyrant gaining power. He happened to agree with a lot of what Harry was doing. But when he heard one of his order members had purchased all of the house elves available in the name of Harry Potter he knew he needed to again discuss him.
Albus saw Tonks arrive and Fawkes immediately flew to her. They appeared to be conversing happily about something. Once it appeared everyone had arrived and were getting seated Albus spoke up. "I can see we are all eager to once again discuss our favorite scapegoat, so let's begin."
Many members looked a bit upset at this. Apparently Albus's opinion of Harry was growing. "I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about this afternoon, so, Miss Tonks, if you don't mind please share with us what you did. And anything you do not feel comfortable sharing, feel free to keep to yourself." Albus said with a smile.
"Umm okie. Thank you Headmaster. This morning I saw Harry and he asked me to go to the Ministry and buy any house elves I thought might be interested in joining him at his new home. When asked how many, it said it was up to me, but if they seemed willing, to buy all of them. So with a key to a special account at Gringotts, I did just that. Purchased 143 house elves for Harry in his name. Delivered them to him. Abner down at the Regulation office seemed a bit upset about it, but allowed me to make the purchase. I wouldn't be surprised if they enact some new laws limiting house elf purchases now. And that was the meat of my afternoon." Tonks sat down with a smile.
The order exploded into noise, many of them directing questions at Tonks, wondering if she was under Imperius or knew what nefarious ends Harry was going to use them towards.
Albus began chuckling some and said "Please, please. I feel it is safe to say Harry is not baking any house elf pies. If anything I would guess this was on his friend Dobby's request more likely than any nefarious plan. I actually have a decent idea about what is going on, and perhaps Tonks can help me out with it, but first I would like to hear Severus's report."
"Well, from what I understand, Potter just felt like dropping by one of the Dark Lord's base camps and apparently stole all of the giants out from under his nose. As I was leaving I heard mentions that the vampires had just disappeared as well. I left immediately as the Dark Lord was no doubt about to take out some more anger on his minions." Severus said without the usual sneer and a more curious look on his face.
"This is excellent news." Albus said. "I will now tell you what I have surmised. Harry Potter it seems is opening his home, at some indeterminate place, to all magical creatures and species. Particularly those who would be most harmed by the current war. This will make it much more difficult for Voldemort to make new allies, or apparently keep the ones he did have. From what I understand the goblins have been acting with him and for all intents and purposes would follow him, if he were to make a stand in the war. If we were to gain his support it would help us immensely, but I cannot imagine we will manage to do that. Overt ministrations towards him would most likely push him away from us. For now I think we should be glad Voldemort has fewer resources and maintain a status of peaceful coexistence with Mr. Potter. Anything to refute or add Miss Tonks?"
"Nope. Sounds like you hit the nail on the head so far. I will say, that the response and sheer volume of species and creatures responding to his offer of a new safe home, is well, startling. It just goes to show that wizards have been incredibly intolerant for too long, that so many are willing to leave their current homes or situations to settle somewhere new."
Ron didn't like the sound of this. "Just how close are you with Potter anyway?"
Tonks frowned at him. "I trust him implicitly. If that becomes a problem, I will resign from the Order with no regrets."
Albus jumped in, "I sincerely hope that is not necessary Miss Tonks. I would very much like to have someone here who can somewhat represent Mr. Potter's point of view. If you're not opposed to it, you already seem a sort of unofficial ambassador to him for us."
Tonks shrugged at that. A number of order members were looking at her with anger and distrust in their eyes now. She got sick of their looks. "For Merlin's sake people, he's not building some army of evil. He hasn't even done anything but help us so far. And he pissed off Voldemort today. He doesn't give a crud what you all think of him, and I'm certainly beginning to understand why."
Albus hushed them all quickly and just said "Thank you Miss Tonks. Now let's move onto the next business." The meeting continued and it appeared there were a few people beginning to change their opinions of Harry but there were quite a few holding firm in their dislike. Fawkes disappeared in a fwoosh, and Albus assured them he was just going to see his brother. There wasn't an immediate attack they needed to address. Tonks was beginning to wonder if maybe she would be better off leaving the order but she continued to hold a lot of respect for the Headmaster and tonight's meeting only helped reaffirm that.
Shortly after Tonks left Sanctuary, dozens and dozens of vampires began pouring in through the portal. Harry was glad to see they all appeared unscathed and seemed to have escaped the Dark Lord without incident. Harry felt fury on his link and knew Voldemort recognized they were gone. He was getting a bit worried but knew this was inevitable. As the apparent last of them came through and there was no sign of Marcellus, Harry approached a relatively friendly looking one and asked where Marcellus was. The vampire informed him Marcellus had left much earlier in the day and apparently had somewhere to go. Archimedes fell immediately into his role of apartment manager and ambassador and informed the vampires where many of the other vampires tended to stay, as well as in what directions many of the creatures called their homes. They all accepted that there would be many willing to volunteer themselves for feeding, in exchange for the same courtesy. Unnecessary killing was to be avoided at all costs for the sake of the island.
It was about an hour later that Marcellus appeared, and with him was an absolutely massive brilliant blue dragon. It must have been over 50 feet long. Harry felt the magic in him responding and even Archimedes seemed to feel it too. Harry knew immediately this dragon was going to be joining Harry's family. Fawkes appeared in a burst of flames and perched himself on Harry's shoulder. The dragon and Marcellus walked up to them. No one was shocked to hear the dragon speak, "Hello Harry Potter. I've been waiting for you."
