Disclaimer: you know the drill. I don't own stuff written by other people.
Beta: psychotoo
Side note: hope you all appreciate this chapter as its almost twice the length of a normal chapter I write. 14k words is almost the entire length of a few old fanfics I have written. Interesting stepping stone for me. Well just wanted to mention that. enjoy!
Chapter 12 Family kind
Harry apparated to Kings Cross after quickly cleaning up. Several parents awaiting their own children gawked at him. Others walked up and gave him a polite hello and asked to shake his hand. He complied aware of the number of people at the station. The train arrived after ten minutes for which Harry was grateful. A silver wolf walked off the train followed by Alice, Pam, Owen and Bruce. Alice's friends did their best to look at him as if it was their first time. It was not so hard for Pam, Harry thought in amusement. She simply looked at him with glazed eyes that Bruce finally broke with a poke to her ribs. She grinned guiltily at him and they moved to the side while Alice greeted her adopted father.
"Hello Alice, It is good to see you again."
Alice grinned at him. "I am surprised that you are not being mobbed by the press."
"I cast a repel charm to people who wanted to ask questions." Argent walked around the two and settled to sit behind Alice as her silent guard.
Alice smiled at the wolf and turned back to Harry. "Thank you for the letting Argent come along, he was funny."
"I am still horrible at that game." Argent told Harry not turning to look at either of them. The professor just smiled.
"Are you still planning to go with Miss Pamela Johnson?" Alice nodded. "Is it fine with you if I let Argent follow you?" He said uncertainly.
Alice grinned, "I actually wanted to ask if he could stay a little longer. He is the only one who tells me stuff about your early life." She said in a quite whisper. Harry suppressed a weary grin.
"Well that's good. Floo or owl if you need me. The Johnson's have both at their residence." Harry looked over to Argent who in turned looked at him. Their eyes locked and widened. Argent grew a few inches. The black markings on his fur became more distinct as weird squiggles. They both looked to Alice before Argent's fur grew a slightly longer to blur out the details of his markings. "There, that's better. I just gave Argent a little more freedom. If you feel that you are in danger and Argent is not around," Harry reopened the cut on his thumb and made a small circle on the back of Alice's left hand. The blood suddenly turned into a tattoo. "Press the circle. Argent will appear next to you almost instantly." Alice looked at the old tattoo like image on her right. The lily was a pale blue. The new one was a dull red.
Alice looked the tattoo in surprise. She recognized the summoning spell, it was in one of the few books she read from Nan's private library. It was boarder-line dark magic. She looked up at Harry who simply shook his head. She nodded and started to get her trunk and Argent followed her to Pam's parents who welcomed her as much as the Weasley's had welcomed Harry. He greeted the family and thanked them for looking after his 'daughter'.
"Excuse me, Mr. Johnson?" Pam's father turned his attention to Harry.
"Please call me Anthony, and my wife Melissa is greeting the children." He gestured to the woman who was talking rapidly with Pam and Alice.
Harry smiled, "Thank you. Mr. Johnson seems so formal. Anyway, I would like to know if I may accompany you to your home to place a few wards around the house." Harry looked over to Alice and Pam. The older girl was happily introducing Alice to her mother and sister. The group started exiting the Hogwarts Express Station and headed for the parking lot. "Alice has had some problems with the wizarding press. I would like to avoid having anyone harass you or your family during the holidays."
"I have no problem, but I have no more room in my car." The car was actually a small van.
Harry just smiled at him. When the Johnson's opened the van's side door, the van had expanded to fit an additional row of people. Mr. Johnson grinned back at him. "I stand corrected." Harry laughed and helped load the luggage into the vehicle.
The drive to Sutton was quick and uneventful for Harry. Aside from the occasional squealing Alice and Pam, the trip was quiet as well. They arrived at the Johnson's and Harry was pleasantly surprised to see the nice spacious house was made of brick and had a private yard that was lined with hedges and trees along length of the property. Harry waved for Alice to come over. Alice smiled at him and walked over.
"I'll see you in a few weeks, you behave for the Johnson's." Alice smiled. Harry leaned over and said quietly. "I am placing several wards. When they are up Argent will be able to do more things to help you in case of trouble. Please take him with you if you leave the property. He can easily blend in as a dog. Alright?"
Alice nodded. "We'll be fine. Owen will be coming over in a week, and I promise to behave for you." She grinned at him.
Harry couldn't help but sigh. He smiled quickly and pulled out a small rectangular box. He enlarged it and handed it over to Alice. "This is an early gift from Susan and I. Well… mostly Susan. Read the card inside tonight. I am sure Miss Johnson will get a kick out of it too."
Harry spoke a few more minutes to the Johnson's and walked down the length of the driveway until he reached the road almost forty meters away. He saw no one was watching and raised his hands. He wove his hands back and forth and felt the wards to repel the press as well as attackers secure themselves around the property. He smiled and apparated to his next destination.
-o-
Alice brought the box inside and Pam and her younger, muggle sister Laura followed. Alice opened the box and the three girls giggled. Alice quickly opened the envelope and laughed loudly before handing it over to Pam. Pam joined Alice and placed her hand over her stomach. Laura quickly took the letter. She read aloud. "Give Owen hell."
Alice raised the outfit from the box and grinned wickedly at the two sisters. "Susan must have reamed dad until he gave up. It's the outfit the wouldn't let me buy on my birthday!"
-o-
Harry arrived in the back room of Weasley's Wizarding Wheeze's. Several hexes hit against his barrier. He looked in the direction of the incoming hexes and noticed several stuffed animals growling at him. They cast a few more hexes and finally stopped. Harry grinned at them then opened the door from the apparation room to the office of WWW. Fred and George Weasley both stood in front of a table, wands in hand and three cauldrons releasing various colored puffs of smoke.
Harry cleared his throat. "Forge, I need help." The twins spun around wands pointed at him. Harry grinned at Fred and George. He had coined the name when they started making items more on the lines of weapons rather than aides in spying for the Order of the Phoenix.
"Is it possible?" said the longer haired red head.
"Only if there is trouble." the twin eyed Harry suspiciously.
"Trouble would be nice, it has been too quiet." There was a sudden screech followed by an explosion outside in the main store. Both brothers ignored it.
"But if he is truly here then…"
"He must need to buy our products."
"I am sorry Harry,"
"But you know the drill."
The twins grinned at each other. Harry raised his hands and they both cast a spell on him. He allowed it to hit him and felt his eyes revert back from natural looking green to solid emerald along with the blurriness of not wearing glasses or metamorphmagus shifting his eyes. Harry smiled at them. The spell was used to counter act the effects of Polyjuice potion, as well as force animagus transformations and Metamorphmagus effects. The twins wrote the spell themselves and only a hand full of people knew it.
"There's our boy." Said one of the twins.
"Its good to see you guys too. Sorry for not visiting earlier, but you know, I haven't been in much trouble." The three laughed loudly.
A small girl opened the door to the front desk. "Is everything ok here daddy?" One of the twins turned around and said, "Excellent timing Emily!" Harry smiled. Emily was George's daughter. She was close to six and looked like every other Weasley he had ever met. The only difference was the color of her eyes, which were dark brown for her mother Angelina. George picked his daughter up and spun her to stand in front of Harry. "Harry I believe you may have remembered Emily but I don't think she would quite remember you."
The girl looked up at him in awe. "You are Harry Potter!" The three men looked at each other then all laughed.
"It's Harry to you Emily. I would hate to think that my mate's daughter called me by my full name." Harry raised his hand to shake hers. She smiled and raised a careful hand to touch his. When she made contact she quickly withdrew it with a yip. Harry just smiled.
George shooed her off after the quick reunion then quickly grabbed Harry's arm, "Well, dear boy, we have some fine products for you. Just come over here and take a seat." Harry was thrown into a chair chuckling lightly.
The other twin whom Harry called Fred started, "As you have known, since WWW's inception, we have provided laughs, gags and gimmicks for everyone around the world. But as you have so innocuously disappeared we have found that we had way too much free time."
"And hence we decided to recreate some oldies but goodies." George pulled out a sample tray of candies and placed it in front of Harry. "We have the normal variety of animals for both spying and offensive maneuvers." Harry saw several different animals and insects added beyond the normal Canary Creams, Raven Recons Crunch and Leopard Lemon Loli's. "We have also remade several shielding gums so they would take more than one hit per gum. The gum now takes roughly five Reducto's around Snape's strength."
"Not as if you need it mind you." added Fred who breathlessly brought another tray to show Harry. "These are several instant cast candies. Bite and spit. We made Orange Rocanta, Raspberry Reducto, plus five other spells that you will have to find out for yourself. They all come in a quick little candy dispenser I found in the muggle world." Fred handed him a small plastic box with the head of a griffin at one end. "Just press the head back and a candy will pop out. Quick and fast." Fred demonstrated it. Harry couldn't help but grin.
"Now dear brother don't just stand there. Move aside." George moved aside. "We also got our normal demolitions…" Harry raised his hand.
"Guys, relax. I haven't got time, first I need concealment and infiltration. Medical aid then energy reserves. Then I'll see what I else I can test out for you on the field."
"Is it seriously that bad?" asked Fred.
"Oh I hope so, our poor Order candy has sitting here in disuse without you here to use them." Harry shook his head.
"Why didn't you show any of this to the Auror branch of the Ministry. I am sure they would be interested." Harry said curiously.
The both shook their heads in return. "We have several items under contract but these would never make the codes they set, so they are made specifically for you if you ever need to rise to the occasion."
Harry just sighed. "Alright, just give me a normal field set for Team 1. Now, what else do you have?"
-o-
Harry arrived at Hogwarts late that evening. He had sent off an owl to both Tonks and Snape from the twins' office and expected the order he made to be sent to them by tomorrow afternoon. Harry yawned when he entered the infirmary. He was glad that the Holiday season had started. After substituting for Remus, every single professor had talked him into assisting their classes whenever he had free time. Soon Harry found himself helping to teach classes he never took. Although, he did like Arithmacy the most. It was so busy towards the end of the semester he missed the quiet mornings where he could visit Susan and help her make several potions in the infirmary.
Harry entered his girlfriend's office after she said, "Come in." Harry smiled when he saw she was already sitting on the couch facing the fire. He walked up behind her and leaned over her kissing her forehead. She craned her neck backwards to kiss him back.
"Well today was interesting." Harry kissed her one more time before coming around the couch to join her.
"How so?"
"I spoke to the Johnson's. They were very nice. They have a daughter a few years younger than Alice. The three girls hit it off very well..." Susan smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned against him to get comfortable. "And I gave her the gift." Susan snickered. "Honestly Susan, if you - no. If anyone had done to me what Alice is going to do to Owen, I would have died from the sudden blood rush." Susan just leaned against him and hid her smile against his chest.
"That shouldn't have taken you so long. What else?" Susan was still waiting for the other things that must of come up.
Harry set her down and sat up. He took some tea from the small table and said, "We were able to find that Dung really did sell trade secrets. But he paid for it with his life. I was able to trace the killer to an unplotable castle and found that the killer is the same person who had ordered the attack on Alice. It also looks like she had a hand in how Madame Niete raised Alice."
Susan tugged his arm firmly. "What do you plan to do then?"
Harry sighed. "We plan on moving in to capture her in a few days. Severus and Tonks are recovering. I had to borrow some energy to cast the spells needed to find the woman." Susan nodded. "But it's not looking good Susan. She literally had over a hundred followers in red robes." Susan froze and then looked up at him. Harry nodded. "I know, and she also has the scrolls that describe how my team operates. It is going to be hard to launch an all out attack with just team one. And I don't want to drag anyone else into this." He looked at the fire and said darkly. "I wonder if it would be easier to just kill her."
Susan sat on the couch and numbly looked at the fire. She couldn't seem to form the words to argue for or against his reasoning. Finally Harry leaned back and sighed again. "Sorry. I just ruined our evening didn't I?"
Susan snapped out of her trance but still didn't say anything. She looked at the clock and saw that it was late. "You hungry?"
Harry smiled weakly and they both decided to walk to the kitchens for old times' sake.
-o-
Almost a week went by with Alice staying at her friends house. She was introduced to muggle movies, television, food, music and boys. Alice didn't really care for the last one but chatted along with Pam none the less. She had stayed up the previous night with Laura talking about what their family usually did during the holidays and went to bed late. That is what led her reluctance to be pulled out of bed the next morning.
"Alice wake up already! We are going shopping and you have that appointment!" Alice just rolled in her bed. She didn't have the energy to reply. "Don't make me get Argent in here!" Alice didn't move an inch but she was aware that Pam would do just that. "Alice!" A very heavy something suddenly jumped on top of Alice's bed. Alice heard panting and sniffing.
"Go away Argent, it's early." Argent ignored the comment and scraped the bed sheets until Alice's face was no longer covered then proceeded to lick her face. Alice finally got out of the bed sheets to push him off her. "Alright! I am up." She glared at both Pam and Argent who just stood there smiling up at her. Alice then looked at the muggle clock and gawked. She flipped back into bed. "It's eight o'clock in the morning! Are you guys nuts?"
"But we need to get you to the make-over in an hour!" Alice flinched under the blankets.
"Tell my why that I have to go through with this again?"
"Owen is coming tomorrow and I am making sure that we follow your parents' orders to the letter."
"Damn." Alice sighed but wasn't sleepy enough to not miss the wording her friend used. She grinned to herself and finally rolled out of bed. Both Argent and Pam laughed at her resignation.
"I will be out side." Argent jumped off the bed and wagged his tail to close the door behind him.
When he left, Pam grinned. "Hurry up we still need to eat before we go."
Alice smiled widely. She jumped out of bed and quickly got ready for the day. Pam dragged her downstairs to eat breakfast then proceeded to drag her to the van to take them back to London. In the car the girls screamed when Argent suddenly lost three feet of height and the silvery quality of his coat. He looked at the other passengers who were staring at him. "What? I don't stand out as much now. Plus its only while we are in town. I'll be back to normal when we go back to the house." Mrs. Johnson smiled through the review mirror. When the girls started around town, Argent followed like a shadow. Several people in the city were put off from seeing such a large white wolf as a pet but many of the hair dressers endeared themselves to him when they stopped to pet his soft fur. Alice turned down several offers for them to try and pretty him up. Argent did his best not to show that he understood what was going on and sat obediently in the waiting room where a few small children decided to play with him much to the protest of their parents. Pam couldn't help but grin when Argent suddenly sloped his back and the child who tried to stay on came rolling off only to laugh.
Alice had never been to a hair stylist, muggle or wizard and was surprised that she enjoyed the pampered attention. She had seen other rich witches and a few wizards who had indulged themselves in these kinds of rituals as she called them, but she could never see herself going several times a month like other families. Alice was tempted to ask them to lower the heat on her head but resisted, looking back at the styling she chose. Her hair would drop several inches so it was just below shoulder length. She really liked the leaf like tresses they showed her in the muggle image and wondered what Owen would think. She colored slightly and her hair dresser, Jackie, told her that her time was up. Alice put down her magazine and followed Jackie to her next stop. The hair dresser was busy when Pam cleared her throat. Alice looked without turning her head and saw Pam with brown hair turning slightly towards her face instead of out in spikes that had reminded Alice of Harry's hair. Alice grinned but didn't make a comment. Pam was then escorted by her hair dresser to another stop on the far side of the salon. Alice just hoped she didn't come out looking like something the cat dragged in.
Alice was finally able to see herself in the mirror and smiled. Her usual strait black hair curled slightly outwards and left her long bangs to one side only slightly shorter. She touched a dark brown accent and played with it before she moved the tress behind her ear. She walked up to Argent who perked up his ears and barked at her. She giggled, pleased with his approval. Mrs. Johnson gathered the two girls and the dog and quickly set out for some shopping in the near by commercial district. The group walked from building to building stopping every time to load their purchases in the van before continuing. Alice did her best not to stare at the height some of the buildings raised. Several were taller than Hogwarts and not even as wide as the school court yard. Pam grinned at her every time Alice's eyes widened at a new sight. Pam thought it was cute when Alice had to build up some courage to get on the elevator for the first time. Alice began to just trust Pam when she said it would be alright.
Argent was silent the whole time they were in the city but Alice could have sworn she heard him let out a quiet chuckle when something really amused him. Argent had to stay outside for several buildings but he didn't mind. He just stood watch at the front door patiently. Several people walked by wondering why a collarless white dog was sitting at the front entrance to several clothing's stores. Argent repressed a sigh when he stood outside in the cold for more than two hours. He finally slumped his shoulders and shook himself before settling down. He was cold but would never admit it to someone who asked. Well, maybe Harry. The door opened and the manager raised his hand towards the dog and waved him to come in. Argent stood up gratefully. He shook himself before walking in and gave a light woof before settling down just inside the entrance away from the door but blissfully warm. The manager smiled, he was surprised to see such a well-behaved dog. If the manager had known the dog was this obedient, he wouldn't have raised a protest for allowing the dog inside.
Another hour passed where Argent lightly dozed but was never more aware of where Alice was and the state of her well being. His head was facing his stomach in a curled ball position and he smiled. Alice was very happy.
-o-
Alice and Pam sat in the lounge all dressed up and waiting for Owen to arrive. They talked excitedly about what they would do when Owen arrived. Argent just sat silently at the corner listening amusedly. "This is going to be so great. He is horrible at hiding his emotions regardless of all the Occlumency." Pam winked at Alice who was beginning to lose her nerve. Pam had done everything short of pinning Alice down and keeping her from fleeing to their room and changing back into some robes.
"If you think so, I just don't want to come on too fast. And you know how I like him. And even if he did like the clothes, what if he doesn't like the hair?"
Argent finally stood up from his corner and walked over to them. Argent's nose nudged Alice's shoulder. "You will be fine pup, just don't worry. He won't know what hit him." After another nervous complaint made by Alice, Argent finally broke down and laughed loudly. Both girls just glared at him. Finally when he could breathe, he said squarely. "You two have nothing to worry about. And Pam don't you dare say you're not nervous, you have been twisting you fingers around like that since this morning." Pam looked at her hands and saw her left hand was twisting her right hands' pinky. She blushed. "And Alice, I am sorry I laughed, but Owen, like most guys his age, will just gape like a fish and will not be able to do anything all night but think about you." The mirth was still shining in the wolf's eyes when he finished.
Pam smiled at Argent. He calmed both of them and Alice even stopped rambling and pacing. The door bell rang and Argent told them to stay there. He would tell them when it was safe to spring the surprise. The girls sat in the lounge. Now that Owen was outside they both began to get nervous. Argent just shook his head. When he approached the door he felt the familiar colors of Owen's aura and two others. "Who is it?" asked Argent from behind the closed door.
"It is the Yellows, sir." replied an male adult voice through the door.
Argent narrowed his eyes but bit the door handle to allow the small family to enter. Owen looked surprised to see Argent answer the door for the Johnson's. "Argent?" He thought better of whatever question he was going to ask and entered the house with his parents. The wolf looked appraisingly at the adults who accompanied the student. The parents shared a gasp at the size of the dog that answered the door. It was as tall as the father's shoulder
"I am Alice Potter's body guard Argent." Came the curt reply. The two adults exchanged looks but nodded, still confused.
"Hello, my name is Darin Yellow and this is my wife Nicole." The two adults didn't know if they should extend a hand to the wolf and he simply chuckled.
"The Johnson's had to take their younger daughter to the local clinic. She caught a cold." The two adults nodded. "Would you like to stay and wait for them?" he asked politely.
Mrs. Yellow shook her head. "No that is fine, would you be so kind to thank them for inviting Owen over for a few days?" Argent nodded and Owen said good bye to his parents. Argent wove his neck in between the shoulder strap of Owen's bag and took it to a room upstairs. When he came back Owen was looking around the area nervously.
Owen looked up to Argent and asked smiling, "Where are the girls hiding?"
Argent grinned at the Slytherin. "Follow me." They rounded a corner and headed down towards the back of the house. "Girls, I have a young man who would like to have some company." Owen smiled. He stopped in his tracks and gawked at the two beautiful ladies that stood in front of him. Alice's hair accented her light make-up. She tried not to think about her sudden realization of how risqué her daddy-didn't-like-it clothes were for her. Pam was dressed in a simple jeans and a mid drift shirt with string straps not unlike Alice's. Her own hair framed her face from eyebrows to lips. Owen did his best to concentrate when they both smiled at him.
"Mr. Yellow, how dare you keep us two ladies waiting!" Alice looked at him in his simple jeans and jacket. She tried her best not to grin. The pair walked up to him each taking an arm. Alice laid her head on his shoulder and looked up through long lashes. "Did you miss me?" Owen stuttered. "Well, if you didn't I am sure Bruce did. He should be here soon." Alice looked over Owen's shoulder and grinned at Pam who looked as nervous as she did waiting for Owen. Owen was led to a sofa across from the couch the girls shared. Alice sat down and grinned at Owen who finally managed to recover.
"Alice, wow."
Alice and Pam both giggled. Owen reddened. Another knock came from the door and Owen thought he was saved for a moment before Argent spoke up. "I'll get it. You three stay here." He quickly made his way from the room trying not to laugh. He sensed that it was only Bruce on the other side of the door and allowed him inside. "Get in already it's cold."
Bruce smiled and Argent led him to the room he was going to share with Owen. When they made it back downstairs he escorted the seventh year to the room with the other children. Bruce did his best not to let his eyes bulge and recovered almost immediately. He walked up to Alice and Pam. They stood and met him in the middle of the room. "My, don't you ladies look lovely this evening." Both girls blushed. "And, Pamela, you look stunning. If I had known that you would have dressed up for the occasion, I would have dressed to match." Pam just nodded numbly. Alice thought she did a great impersonation of Owen. Argent cleared his throat. "If you are all quite done, I would like to announce that dinner is ready, and the dance hall is prepared for your winter party." Argent bowed his head low then turned to escort them to the dinning room. Bruce extended his arm to Pam who took it nervously. Owen stood up and offered the same to Alice. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the dancing part.
"Dancing?" he asked shyly. Alice leaned her head against him and gave an affirmative nod. Argent saw the look on his face when he held the door open. In good humor Argent thought. God help him. Because Alice isn't.
-o-
Harry sighed. It had taken an absurd amount of time to plan out the attack on the castle. Forge decided to go the extra mile and remade several of their standard candies from scratch. They could have taken their time if Harry had known that it would take so long to prepare. Severus and Tonks just barely recovered from the drain of powers and the potions master had only now finished his own vials, and Harry himself needed to store up and put aside some reserve energy for the constant support of Argent and his absence from Harry.
Harry looked over and smiled while Susan slept soundly in his bed. Despite the length of time they had known each other as both companions and as boyfriend and girlfriend, they never really had the opportunity to just share the same bed. Neither in school as students nor as adults with their own duties. It was a luxury that Harry found that he could get used to if it were not for the fact that his vacation was almost half way over. Alice would return to school to join them in four days.
Through all this, Harry was getting more disturbed. He had made several trips to lay out the floor plan of the castle and noticed that there was something big happening tonight. Unfortunately for Harry, Cyan was as paranoid in her own castle as anywhere else. Harry had no access into the private meetings that she held. Harry judged by the activity of the castle that it was something big. Today was the deadline for the attack. They would go in prepared or not.
Harry saw a glowing galleon on his mantle and pulled away from his thoughts. He stood up quickly and put on a bathrobe before touching it. It said Snape.
How is it going with you Severus? Harry legilimens to the dungeons below him.
Severus smiled and looked away from the cauldron he was cleaning. Give me four hours of rest and I am ready to go. Have you heard word from either Tonks or the Weasleys?
Harry canceled the glow on his galleon and looked over to Susan who was still sleeping. The twins finished long ago. Tonks said she would report to Albus whatever she foun., I haven't checked on her this weekend. Lets all gather in Albus' office tonight at 7. I'll contact everyone. You get some sleep, I doubt that you let those potions sit over night without you there to attend them.
Snape finished putting away his potion vials in his coat pockets now confident that they were secure. He checked his robe armor and nodded in approval of its readiness. Thank you for reminding me. I'll sleep and meet everyone in the evening.
Harry felt the link of their minds break and smiled when Susan stirred. Harry raised his hand and touched her cheek. She stirred again but went back to sleep. Harry walked over to his desk and sat down so he could concentrate. He was pleased to see that Argent was still watching over Alice and reported that Owen had behaved himself so far. Harry added more energy to Argent's form then switched his concentration back to Legilimency.
Tonks.
It was still early morning and Harry suddenly wondered if he should have waited a few hours. He kept the contact with Tonks mind since she had no talent for Legilimency herself. Harry said her name again before a groggy voice said, What! I am awake, what do you want Harry?
Harry flinched at the tone. Sorry for interrupting you beauty rest, but I think we are ready for tonight. How is the research coming with the Cattons?
Tonks voice was calmer when she said, It looks like there is a woman matching that witch's description. She was a bastard daughter to Alice's grandfather on her mother's side. If she wasn't illegitimate, she would have been next in line for the fortune after Alice. She would even have more claim than Nan would. Tonks yawned and dragged herself out of bed. She stumbled to her desk that stood on the other side of the room. She shuffled through some papers before she read. Here is something you would like. Her real name is Cyan and because of her bastard status she had no claims to any aid from the Ministry and Minister Fudge passed several laws banning her from ministry work just because the bastard, I mean Fudge, didn't like her harassing him about her predicament. Tonks looked a little more awake and made her way to her kitchen. "Suli, can I get some breakfast please?" A small house elf appeared and several plates of food appeared in front of Tonks. "Thank you Suli, that will be all." The house elf nodded and disappeared with a pop. I guess she was pushing to be Minister, and was an actual contender. When Fudge saw she was a threat he brought up her bastard status and it forced the purebloods to drop their support of her. Tonks finished her eggs and moved on to her pancakes.
Harry took the information and felt sick. So this is all because Alice's grandfather was too loose and Fudge was an idiot. Right?
Tonks stopped eating her meal and looked to the ceiling thinking. Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. She went back to eating her pancakes.
Harry repressed a groan and sighed. Thanks Tonks. Have you recovered completely?
Tonks nodded, then grimaced before thinking, Yeah I am ready to go. I am amazed that you were this patient.
Meet us at seven tonight. We will be moving out from Albus' office. Albus has Forges' equipment there for us to use. Severus is catching up on some sleep, and I think you should get some rest before tonight as well. We will decide on our course of action when we arrive at Cyan castle.
Tonks nodded and felt the link break off from her. She sighed. "He wakes me up early just to tell me to go back to sleep!" She threw her hands up in frustration and settled down to eat again. "Well at least it will be on a full stomach, that is always the best." She grinned and started on the last of her breakfast with gusto.
Harry wrote a quick note to Susan.
Susan, we are ready to move out tonight. I am placing myself in spelled sleep for tonight. I will need the extra rest.
Love Harry
Harry placed the note next to Susan's side of the bed and walked around the bed to curl up with her. She snuggled closer to him and Harry murmured a few soft words and he was asleep in moments.
-o-
Harry woke eight hours later and saw that he had another hour before he needed to be at Albus' office. His stomach growled loudly. Not the least bit surprised that Susan wasn't there, he quickly showered and dressed. He found her note on the desk where he had left his.
Please drop by before you leave.
Love Susan
Harry smiled weakly. She must have been thinking about him going out and getting hurt the whole day. Harry sighed and left for the hospital wing. He passed the holiday decorations and finally arrived in the infirmary. Taking a quick glance he moved to find her in her office. She was looking through a medical index for maladies. Harry entered silently and stood behind her. Her hair was not prettied up like it was normally and Harry wondered if he was to blame for that. He reached out and touched a lock of hair and placed it behind her ear. She looked up and smiled at him then quickly book marked her spot and closed the Index. "Morning, well… evening." Harry looked at her before saying. "Will you be alright here Susan?"
Susan nodded. "I wish I could go out with you tonight, but I am too out of shape and out of practice. Besides I would be too worried about you to be effective."
Harry smiled, "It never stopped you before, but I can understand." He kissed her forehead and pulled her into a tight embrace. Harry joined her for dinner in her office and then Harry made his trek up towards the Headmasters office.
Tonks and Severus were already standing and dressed. Harry smiled at them. He nodded to Albus then reached for a chest that held Forge's arsenal. All of the recon snacks were gone since Harry had used them to study the castle and the wizards inside. He handed out the medical supplies and divided the candied spells. When he reached for the demolition cakes he smiled at Severus' sneer and split the contents between Tonks and himself. Harry's cloak had as many pockets as the potion masters' and the aurors. He turned to the two of them and finally spoke. "Have we decided how we are going to proceed?"
Severus and Tonks looked at each other. Severus spoke first. "I think it would be best for capture. If she is the head and we kill her that leaves the unsaid wizards to escape without much information on who they are."
Harry looked over to Tonks. "I saw her past and while I think it is tragic, I think we should kill her. From what you have told us from your observations, she never leaves the castle and we counted over two hundred disorganized wizards and witches as her army. She has demonstrated that she is strong enough to kill two of her subordinates in short order, which would make capturing her hard. Tonks looked at Harry. "Harry, you said there is a small group of forty witches and wizards who have been practicing in a routine that looks like they had been going for weeks, if not months. If we are not careful they could easily surround us. That would get us into trouble. I think, just in and out."
Harry nodded. He looked to Albus who just had a closed face. Harry thought about the situation. If he was willing to bring another team in he might have considered taking her alive, but such high odds in Cyan's favor… Harry opened his eyes. "We will go for distraction and assassination. Tonks I will need you to pose as me. When we arrive there we will split. You and Severus will attack from the west. I will sneak in from the east. I will have Arvalis accompany you to make it look like it's really me. I will get in and kill her." Severus stirred but said nothing. Harry looked to him in sympathy. "If she is alone or is in a likely position for capture I will force portkey her to a cell that I have secured. I planned for both decisions Severus." Snape nodded. "Alright we are ready." Harry pulled out two necklaces. He gave one to Tonks and one to Severus. "I'll legilimens you when I get either job done. Use these port keys to get out of there. No apparation. That is too easily traceable. If you're overwhelmed use the necklace to get away. Send Arvalis to tell me. I'll use my 'ender' spell immediately. That should be more than enough time to get you two out of there." Harry turned to Albus. "Is the ministry still on alert for that spells' use?"
Albus looked thoughtful. "I believe so. If not, Hermione will still be notified of the upsurge of magic. I believe if they are unprepared, it would still only take three minutes for the Aurors to arrive."
Tonks and Severus nodded and the three walked to the headmasters' desk. "We should be back shortly." They took the portkey simultaneously. "Sudden Rush." The three were whisked away as Harry finished saying the activation phrase.
Albus sat back down and wondered when he began to feel so old. He raised a cup of tea that was sitting on his desk and heated it before drinking. While he was glad Harry was willing to ask for input, Albus knew he had no place in this mission, or a place in any mission since he gave up his position in directing the war against Voldemort. It wasn't so bad, but there were times like now that he missed not being able to assist when help was needed. He was saddened to know that if he had gone along with them, he would have just slowed them down.
-o-
Several men apparated to the entrance of the building, their wands were checked at the door and they entered quickly to find their seats. "How much time do we have until he strikes?" The man who asked used all his will power to not look around. They had paid a lot of money to be able to watch the kill happen. Even if they had to be in the presence of lesser blood to enjoy it.
The slimmer man turned to his friend, "Half an hour." He said with a smile. "I think you will enjoy the events as they transpire." There was a sudden applause as the Minister of Magic made her entrance and took her seat at the high table. The sponsor began to make his speech. The slim man looked at his agenda sheet that was handed out when they entered. The Minister would be the fourth person to speak.
-o-
The group appeared in the deep forest near the castle. They crouched low and noticed the shift of the guards. They appeared right as the rotation was taking place. Tonks smiled at her partners and took out energy rushing pills. She passed them out to the group. "They are smaller, but the twins said they are just as strong as the old ones. If you are beginning to feel that you are running low on magic, take it. It should force a higher magic flow for about half an hour, but we need to finish it before it wears out or we are screwed." They all put away the pill in a special pocket each team member had for the pill.
Harry checked and confirmed that Cyan was still in the castle using sensation. She was in her private chamber. Harry signaled for them to move. Tonks immediately changed into another Harry and transfigured her robes to be identical to her twin. Harry himself was already running around the other side of the castle when Arvalis appeared next to Tonks and hissed a 'hello'. Tonks just nodded. "Do you know the plan Arvalis?" asked Tonks quietly as they made their way to the west gate.
"Yes." Arvalis slithered ahead and clicked a few phrases notifying them that there were five guards. Tonks saw two and thought the other three were most likely invisible.
Severus squatted next to them. "Arvalis can you tell us where the three invisible wizards are?" Arvalis pointed his head in three separate directions.
"By the willow. See that knot? He is right in front of it." He turned to the second one. "There is one standing near the middle of the gate. Where the two C's are, she is standing a little to the left of it." The snake turned to the third. "The third one is standing next to the visible soldier over there."
Tonks quickly said, "Tree."
Snape said, "C's"
Arvalis chuckled, "I get the two."
The three launched the curses in their respective directions. Four guards dropped before the fifth realized he was under attack. He was quickly put down as well. Severus bound them with a vampire body bind and the three moved forward. The gate was locked and none of the soldiers had a key. The three looked at each other before they all shared a grin. The snake said, "Well, let's make some noise."
Tonks liked Arvalis already. He thought a lot like her.
Severus stepped forward and pulled out two vials. "Give me some room." The two partners pulled back and Severus tossed one vial of potion lazily towards the gate in a high arch. He uncorked the second one and drank it. "Incendio." A flame rose from his wand and the potions master blew into it causing a large fireball to form towards the falling vial. The following explosion rocked the castle and destroyed the gate and half of the perimeter wall.
"That was a little over kill there, Sev." Said Tonks in Harry's voice.
"Quiet you two, here they come." Arvalis said over his non-existent shoulder.
"I get the twenty on the right." Tonks said happily. She pulled her knife and a vial that contained blood from her robes. Tonks murmured. "Blood of my enemies, burn." She smashed the vial onto her knife and it glowed a deep violet. She charged the group using the knife to knock away incoming spells. "Iig-knit!" the knife split into two black knives and were both thrown at separate enemies who promptly fell, bodies paralyzed. The knives sticking out of the red robes disappeared and reappeared in Tonks' hands.
Arvalis burrowed into the earth. Several men were suddenly pulled underground. Five red robed wizards ran to the disappearing group only to be pulled underground. The last man standing began to run but felt something tug at his foot. He gave a horrified shriek as he saw a silver snake clamping its mouth on his ankle before he too was pulled underground.
Severus moved to a large group and threw several vials into the air. He charged two of the red robed figures and left the group behind him. The vials hit the ground as he cleared the group. Severus's potions flashed a bright light before the group was thrown into the air. He pointed his wand at the flying group and said, "Petrifigum." The spell froze the first person it hit and passed through him to others behind him. Severus saw several who were not hit with the petrifying curse try to stand up only to be knocked out with a stupefy curse.
Severus surveyed the area. More red robed figures began forming up at the entrance before heading towards them. "Form up! Here come the organized ones." Tonks joined Severus and Arvalis burrowed up behind them. Five groups of four approached the three carefully. Snape recognized the formation.
Tonks said firmly in Harry's voice. "The medics first." The three split and each attacked the witch or wizard that was in the back of each group. Tonks pulled out her candy dispenser but used her wand to fire curses wordlessly at the group. She would randomly throw a candy into her mouth and spit the curse at a person who had just dodged out of the way of her rapid firing wand.
Arvalis slithered easily through the group dodging curses and wrapped his body around the rear person. The man Arvalis had in his coils screamed and struggled against him. Arvalis snapped his head facing the medic he just caught. The snake's eyes glowed before looking back to the rest of the captured man's team. "Reducto!" screamed the captured medic. The spell hit his leader in the back. The leader fell from the curse. The team stared back at the horrified man. "Help! I can't control my bo- Gustun!" The fire curse knocked out his teammate on the right. The medic was still begging for help when he cursed his last teammate. The snake uncoiled from the medic and said, "Quit your whining, they are alive." With that, Arvalis smacked the man with his tail, knocking him out.
Severus charged the group on the right. He pulled three vials from his robes and threw them at the team he charged. The vials shattered on impact. Two made their mark. The two middle red robes dropped petrified. The leader dodged the third vial. Severus threw a slowing curse at him and it landed on its target. It gave him the time he needed to pull a Forge-made-gum and slam it down the surprised medics' throat. The medic promptly began to change into a blue jay that Severus captured in a conjured cage. Snape smiled slightly, they may have learned some patterns and attack formations but it still wasn't the same as their own. He suspected it was also helping that the group knew the weaknesses of the formations Cyan's men are using. He turned to the next group when three more teams formed up at the destroyed gate and advanced. He glanced at Tonks and Arvalis and moved ahead to the next team.
-o-
Harry grimaced when he felt the castle shake. Leave it to Severus to find a ten thousand galleon answer to a single knut problem. Harry was relieved when he noticed that the security was light on his side of the castle. He turned to cast the disillusionment charm and silencing charm on his feet. Harry began to run towards the impression he was feeling was Cyan.
He arrived in a private room and looked around. He made his way to the window and saw the fight going to a stand still. Harry decided to rush it and ran to the next corridor. He heard several voices from inside the room he was never able to sneak into. The walls were covered with lay out plans of buildings and lists of target men and women that Cyan was interested in. Harry was dismayed that he and several of his friends were on the list.
"I want Potter alive!" Shouted a woman.
"We will try, but we are loosing men as fast as you are summoning them." replied a surly man.
Cyan scowled at him. "Remember your training. You are on equal ground as his partners at least. When they are out of the way capture him. Now, get me that wizard now!" Three red robes rushed out of the room and Harry entered. Five men stood in front of the woman who paced back and forth. She took a calming breath before she asked. "How the hell did he find this place?" She looked over to one of wizards. He remained silent. "Well, how about this one, do you know why he is here? Does he know about our involvement with Niete or the Assassination of Minister Weasley tonight?" Harry suddenly wished that he could abandon this and apparate strait to Hermione. But he couldn't now. Not when Snape and Tonks were below him on the perimeter of the castle.
"My Mistress, I believe it is for the planned assassination, it can not be a coincidence that he attacked now of all times. It is half an hour before Minister Weasley's speech. Should we still proceed with the plan? It may be compromised."
Cyan looked like she was thinking whether to punish this particular wizard or give an instruction. "We will cancel the attack. I am leaving. Inform me when Potter is captured. If you fail me you better pray that you are killed in the fight and not captured." The men started to file out. Cyan quickly started summoning books without a wand.
When Harry knew she was by herself he relaxed slightly and said, "I am impressed, not many can do that you know."
-o-
Jacob Kirkstein knelt from his position over looking the podium. The great hall was as tall as it was long. He was carefully positioned on the third tier and had an open view of his target. Not many wizards were able to fire accurately from any considerable distance and he prided himself on studying muggle methods to accurately make his kill. He did not care who he killed as long as he was well paid, in advanced. He shrugged off the message on the parchment in his pocket that told him to not take his shot. He did not care if they changed their minds or not. He was paid to kill this woman, and he planned to do it. He closed his eyes and concentrated, building up the necessary energy to fire his curse from the other side of the hall silently, accurately and instantaneously.
-o-
Cyan pulled out her wand and fired several curses to where the voice had originated. Harry noted she fired off the curses without the wand movements or the incantation. He fired three curses while still invisible. She blocked them all and reached into a drawer for a quill. Harry destroyed the desk. "I am sorry, but I can not allow you to portkey out now." Harry cancelled the disillusionment charm on himself and fired several body binds that hit Cyan squarely in the chest. Ropes, chains and magic bound her where she stood. Harry looked at her seriously. "I don't know if I should be impressed or disappointed in you."
Cyan screamed and the binding spells broke. She raised her hand and fired a banishing curse at him. He dodged it and smiled when she drew her wand on him. "Alright, I guess I am slightly impressed." Cyan cast several lethal curses. Harry glided around the room while slowly taking in how she fought. He returned several curses only to see them deflected or dodged. Several men charged into the room only to be banished into the wall by Harry. He never took his eyes of Cyan. She snarled more curses at him. It was interesting for Harry, in a detached sort of way. She fought in a way he had never seen before. She seemingly concentrated for each individual spell and relaxed the instant it was cast. The style promoted magical control on a level that Harry himself might have found hard.
Harry banished chairs, desks, painting and the room torches towards Cyan who dodged blocked or simply destroyed them. Harry shouted. "Legilimens!" He remembered the pain of the cruticus and Cyan promptly dropped to the floor. She quickly threw up a mental barrier that forced Harry back a few feet. He stayed crouched on the ground until he recovered.
Harry dropped the metamorphmagus change his eyes held. The change from green and black to solid green was instantaneous. "I think I should end this now." Harry said loosing all playfulness from his voice. A silver bird appeared behind Cyan and it cast several stunning spells while it passed her. She dodged them all and raised her wand to shoot the strange bird down. Her attention was diverted enough for Harry to land a solid disarming hex. She lost her wand only to have it fly back to her left hand. Her right fell limp to her side. She continued to fight undeterred. Harry sighed thinking that he would really have to hurt her. Since he had a chance to capture her, he really didn't want to do anything unnecessary. Harry whistled to Phor who flew directly towards his friend.
Harry was engulfed in silver light that faded as quickly as it came. Harry smiled at the older woman. She finally started hexing Harry again. The curses were either dodged or stopped by his shielding charms. Harry bent his knees slightly and stood up gently. His feet rose off the ground a few inches. Hey turned silver for a second before appearing in front of the woman and landed a punch across her jaw. She was launched through the window by the blow that could easily crumple walls. Harry swore and appeared next to the falling woman. On the fall he slammed his elbow to the base of her neck to make sure she was knocked out then grabbed her. The fight below continued oblivious to Harry who descended on them in a suicide fall. Severus, Tonks, and Arvalis smiled when they saw him. Each one had taken several major hits but were still fighting the red robed wizards to a stand-still just inside the gates of the castle. Harry raised his hand towards the large group of wizards that were taking turns fighting his team to wear them down. "Expellarmius!" The spell started out the size of a normal disarming spell then grew to encompass the area of the wizards that had regrouped. Over eighty wizards were knocked unconscious. Some twenty odd wizards began to apparate before Harry erected an antiapparation ward. Harry flashed silver again before standing safely on the ground with the woman tucked under his arm. Several wizards tried to apparate but finally dropped their wands when Harry raised his to them.
They were all grouped into a large circle. Harry nodded to Tonks. His clone smiled and cut the palm of her hand with her knife and slapped the ground. The blood encircled the startled unarmed wizards and black bars rose sixty feet into the air. The bars began to hum and a few wizards who were touching them were knocked into the air towards the center. Harry placed additional wards around the cage. He sighed and dropped the woman. He pulled out a set of manacles that the twins made. Harry had run across several wizards that could use enough wandless magic to get out of any prison they were sent into and made these manacles to suppress the prisoners' magic. Harry placed the manacles securely around Cyan's hands and wrapped a piece of cloth around her wrist. "homeward bound." The portkey activated and Cyan was taken to a cell at Hogwarts that had no entrance or exits except for a slit that allowed light and air to filter, but charmed to not let anything else to pass through. The only way to enter or exit was by portkey.
Harry closed his eyes and felt that everyone that was in the area was already captured or escaped. Harry wove his hands back and forth. Several captured wizards were watching with confusion. Everyone felt a sudden change in the air. It felt warm and safe rather than cold and foreboding. Harry opened his eyes and smiled. "Tonks, get over here. I disenchanted the area. Get as many Aurors as you can bring over here." Tonks smiled. But before she could turn to go, Harry healed her arm and leg enough for her to feel slightly more up to the task. Tonks apparated away still looking like Harry.
It was ten minutes later when half of the Ministry's Aurors appeared and started asking questions and taking wizards into custody.
"You will want to investigate the castle. I am sure there are many plans there that are still shelved. I heard the leader speak of an assassination planned for tonight on Minister Weasley." Several Aurors paled. A squad apparated instantly to make sure their Minister was safe. "From what I saw they cancelled it. But it's just as well they go to make sure she is ok." Harry took a deep breath when while he sat down. "Cyan was also responsible for the attack on Alice Niete-Potter." Harry began to recount the events and how they occurred to a head Auror who just wanted Harry to not have gotten involved. Harry looked over to Severus who was getting treated by a medi-witch and was finally able to join Harry.
"I think this went better than I thought it would."
Harry turned to Snape. "Well, I got her alive. Ah, here is Tonks." She waved to them.
"Arvalis is gone already?" she asked.
"Yeah, he was tired from the fighting. He had fun though."
Severus snorted. "That's an understatement, he had the most annoying smirk on his face. Much like your father." Harry just rolled his eyes. If you only knew, Snape.
"I wanted to thank him for saving my bacon a few times. Thanks to you too Severus." The potion master nodded. Harry wondered what time it was then froze.
"Crap! We've got to get back to the castle!" Tonks and Severus looked alarmed.
"Why?" They asked in unison.
"It's been over two hours, Susan is probably worried sick."
Tonks rapped his head. "Don't scare us like that."
Severus finally let out a laugh.
-o-
Jacob opened his eyes, ready for his attack and quick escape. Minister Granger-Weasley stood up while a round of clapping too place. Jacob noticed several aurors appear at the entrance and beginning to move. Too late there. He took a deep breath and aimed his wand towards the Minister. The browned haired woman raised her hand to calm the crowd and started her speech. The audience was enthralled and began to cheer. Jacob exhaled and a brown beam of a hex unleashed from his wand as fast as a bullet. He stood up to reach for his portkey and was suddenly bound. His body fell to the floor forcing him to look in disbelief at the scene below him.
-o-
The sudden crash and the unexpected fact that the minister was still alive made the three men look at each other before they decided to stand up and leave. They were pushed back down into their chairs. Several Aurors looked down at them coldly.
-o-
A blue and grey robed man had blocked the killing spell by throwing hundreds of objects in the spells path until it died. The debris floated in mid air. Some pieces were still spinning from the impact while the man looked right at him. Several slabs of marble summoned from the floor floated in front of the minister not touched by the powerful hex. Jacob looked over to the young Asian woman who hexed him. She smiled at him and whispered into her ring with the sigil of a knife and fist crossing each other. "Way to go Ron! We got him!"
Jacob saw the man lower the floating objects then raise his hand to his mouth. "That was way to close for comfort. This is my wife, Cho!"
"Shush, she's ok and we caught the bad guy. Not bad for being so long out of practice for you Ron." Ron huffed through the ring and Cho laughed. She looked over to Hermione and said, "Uh-oh, you better go see your wife now, she looks like she might hex you soon." Ron turned to his wife who was surrounded by three people that knew her well. They had taken their invisibility cloaks off and had their wands drawn looking for an additional threat. Hermione's face was red and she immediately started screaming at her husband for doing something that could have gotten him hurt. Ron simply gave her an incredulous look before pulling her into his arms and kissing her.
Cho turned back to the assassin. "Well, you must be Jacob. We have been hunting you for a while now. I guess I should turn you into the Aurors but that would be such a waste." She looked like she debated something while she pulled her wand out and pointed to him. Jacob suddenly felt weak and could barely move his body.
"Wh-who are you?" Was all he managed before he passed out.
"Well, now that you won't remember me, I am a Raider of the Order." She cast several vampire strength binding hexes and floated his body to the bottom level where several of her fellow Aurors took the man and snapped his wand. The hall was already empty save for Hermione, Ron, the Aurors and herself. Cho looked over to Hermione and Ron who were just holding each other. Cho grinned. It was good to see the couple so happily off.
-o-
Harry arrived in a disheveled lump in Albus's office. Susan tackled him as soon as he appeared. "Harry!" Harry managed not to fall over and wrapped his arms around her.
"I am fine and in one piece." He reassured her. He kissed her to stress his point. Tonks and Severus smiled and turned to Albus to give their report. Harry sat on the couch and sighed.
When they were done with the report they turned to Harry. After a moment, Harry noticed the pause and he looked up to them. "Sorry what was that?"
"The assassin went ahead with his plan to assassinate Hermoine." Harry suddenly stood up. "RELAX HARRY!" Shouted Severus. "He tried and failed. He is apprehended and in custody." Harry sighed in relief. Severus smiled at him. "I think Albus wanted to know what your opinion of how Cyan and her group fought. Would the people that escaped be much of a threat later?" The group turned to Harry expecting him to know.
Harry smiled tiredly. "I don't think so. We were lucky, from what I saw of you guys fighting, they knew how to use the formations, but without the delegation of skills, the ability to concentrate on goals and the sheer trust needed for us to do well, they will not be much better than Auror formations." Severus and Tonks agreed with his assessment. Albus sighed in relief. He really was getting too old for this kind of excitement.
The group started to talk more about the details of the attack when Harry felt his head drop several times during the discussion. He didn't realize he expended so much energy that evening, but should have known better. He didn't prepare himself for integrating with Phor, supporting Arvalis from long distance, still supporting Argent from an even longer distance and disenchanting an entire castle. Only now he thought of the guilt he felt for making Susan worry and taking for granted that the assassin would not proceed to try and kill Hermione even when ordered not to, that is, assuming that he got the message. He dozed for the duration of the debriefing much to Severus' playful chiding.
-o-
Harry woke up in his own room and smiled seeing Susan was sleeping next to him. He felt too weak to get out of bed but knew he would have to soon enough. Today would be a good lay-in day before Susan and he would pick up Alice tomorrow. The three of them were all eager to spend Christmas together. And Harry couldn't think of anything else he would rather do. He wrapped his arms around his girlfriend and sighed contently.
-o-
Harry and Susan arrived at the Johnson's at nine a.m. by portkey. Harry knocked on the door to be greeted by both Alice and Pam. They both smiled and hugged him. Harry looked at Susan who just smiled back amused. "Thanks Professor Potter! The outfit did the trick! We both got ourselves a man!" Cried Pam happily. Susan snorted from the phrasing but quickly covered her mouth with her hand not daring to look at the two girls.
Harry grinned, "Well I am glad I was able to sell off my daughter so quickly." That earned a playful slap from all three girls before Alice dragged both Susan and Harry inside. It was too cold to allow the door to stay open for too long. Argent walked up to Harry. Harry smiled at his friend. "Its good to see you. You missed all the fun though."
"I can imagine the fun that I missed out and am glad I did, thank you very much, I had as much fun here." Argent gave a side glance to Alice and Pam who blushed. Argent chuckled. The Johnsons walked into the hallway to greet the newcomers. Argent turned to them, "Thank you for your hospitality. It was great of you to have me as well as Alice." Argent turned to Alice and Pam who were suddenly teary eyed. "I'll see you both at class in a few weeks." Both girls hugged the silver dog before he began to fade away into a wisp of smoke.
Harry smiled at the departure. "Alice are you ready to leave?" Alice nodded. Pam ran up with Alice to get her trunk. Harry turned to Pamela's parents and echoed Argents' sentiment. "I also want to thank you for watching over Alice for the duration of her stay." Harry smiled to Susan, "Sorry! I should have introduced you to Susan earlier. Susan this is the Johnsons, Anthony and Melissa Johnson. Susan is my girlfriend and nurse at Hogwarts." The adults exchange pleasantries. Alice and Pam moved the heavy trunk across wooden floor threatening to drag it and make marks as they struggled under its weight. Harry simply told them to set it down. They complied relieved. Harry waved his hand over the trunk and cast a weightless charm on it.
Alice scowled at him before saying, "You think you could have done that before we had to drag in down stairs?"
Harry just smiled. "Well, we should get going, I still need to speak to you when we get back Alice." Alice caught the subtle seriousness. She nodded and ran to hug both Pam and her sister Laura.
"I'll owl you!" Pam said to the two girls that stood next to Harry. Harry raised his eyebrow to Susan who grinned at him.
The girls finally said their last goodbyes. Harry bent over to pick up the trunk and pulled out a business card. Alice and Susan grabbed onto it. "I will see you in class Miss Johnson, happy Christmas." Pam blushed. Harry felt a jab to his ribs, courtesy of Susan. "Lucky." The portkey activated and the three landed just inside the doors to Hogwarts. Harry sighed and let go of the trunk. A house elf took Alice's trunk and sent it to Griffindor Tower. "I saw you had a great time there, Alice." Alice smiled. Harry moved behind the shadow of the door and felt his body shift from Potter to Dursley. "Well let's go to Susan's office. We have a lot of things to discuss." Alice's face became serious. She nodded still nervous about why they needed to talk. Susan grabbed her left hand for support. She smiled in appreciation. Harry looked on with interest before he grabbed Alice's right hand. They stayed like that until they reached Susan's Office.
Alice sat on the couch while Susan went to prepare tea. Harry sat in his spot next to Alice. Alice saw how tired he looked and wondered what happened. When Susan returned she handed both of them their tea how they liked it, Alice with milk and one sugar, and Harry with two sugars.
They both thanked her when Susan sat down. Harry took a long sip before he said, "I found out who tried to assassinate you." Alice nodded. She wanted to hear what he would say before she started her tea. She didn't like the idea of spitting it back out or choking on it while in Susan's office. "Her name is Cyan Catton. She is an illegitimate daughter of your grandfather." Alice looked up at him. He started to sound more tired as he continued. She never was on the other end of support and didn't know how to give any to her adopted father but to lean against him while he told his story. It seemed to be enough and Harry's voice grew stronger. "She started a group of dark wizards and had slowly been building up her army. We were lucky when we found her. That night she started a plan to assassinate Minister Weasley." Alice sucked in her breath. Harry felt the nod against his arm and continued. He had yet to look at either Susan or Alice. After another long sip he continued. "Me and a few friends didn't want to involve the ministry, although now that I think about it I should have. But as Susan can attest, I am impulsive." Susan let a slight smile break through her strait face. "We attacked the castle and captured most of her men and Cyan herself." Alice looked up with wide eyes. "The Ministry had custody for their trail and Cyan herself was sentenced with three life sentences to Bankan prison. Since her men matched the description for various muggle and wizard attacks, they had been placed on trial as well. And were sentenced to ten years." Alice nodded.
"Is it over?" she asked in a small voice.
This is when Harry looked the most tired. "I am sorry Alice, I tried, but several men escaped from the battle the night of the attack. And several others have escaped from custody. While I don't think your life is in danger anytime soon, I don't think it's quite over yet. But I will make sure it is." Alice nodded and set down her tea and hugged Harry. Alice shook slightly and Susan joined their embrace.
When they let go Alice felt a little stronger over the whole mess. "Thanks." She sighed and cleared her mind and felt her face relax. "So what are we doing for today and Christmas tomorrow?" Harry messed upped her hair fondly. "Hey, it took me three hours to get my hair to look like this," retorted Alice to his offending hand. Harry and Susan just chuckled.
-o-
Alice did not to return to the tower that night. Susan and Harry conjured a bed in front of the fire in her office and smiled when she was already asleep. Harry decided to stay and sleep at Susan's since they all wanted to open presents together in the morning.
Harry laid down shirtless with his pajama bottoms. Susan curled to him. "You didn't tell her everything."
Harry soundlessly nodded. "I want to wait until we know what the ministry has found."
Susan just looked at him. She leaned against him in the dark room and whispered out. "Liar."
"Well, I didn't want to spoil her Christmas too." Susan tickled his ribs. Harry squirmed and chuckled until he had a firm grip on her hands. "And maybe… I just wanted to see her smile a little more." Susan nodded in acceptance and kissed him. Harry snickered.
"What?"
"I really wanted to ask her about Owen's reaction." Susan laughed saying into his shoulder that he was as bad as her.
-o-
Alice woke up early and paced, looking longingly at her pile of Christmas presents. She never had so many in her life. The second year sat on her bed staring at them. Finally she stood up and paced around again. It wasn't even eight o'clock. She smiled at herself thinking of when Pam and Argent tried to pry her out of her bed at the Johnson's. Finally unable to wait any longer, she went the door where Harry and Susan were sleeping. It was locked but Alice easily unlocked it and snuck in. When she saw them sleeping there she just realized that she could have walked in on them in a compromising situation and sighed in relief that they were both clothed and simply asleep.
She looked at both her father and not quite yet mother and snorted. Harry was snoring lightly with his mouth hanging open. Susan wasn't much better off. Alice used every form of mental discipline to not laugh. Susan's face was buried in Harry's armpit. With her arm hanging around Harry's neck. Her arm was the reason why Harry had his mouth gapping open as it was pulling his chin.
Alice wished she a camera, muggle or wizard. She giggled as she gently shook her dad. "Psst…" Harry hissed something then went back to sleep. Alice just stood there for a moment before she forced herself to not laugh aloud. Harry groaned something in parsel tongue. "Dad, Susan, wake up it's Christmas." She saw Harry roll away from Alice and almost on top of Susan. Susan hit him and muttered a swear word. Alice giggled slightly louder and both adults reluctantly opened their eyes. Alice stood there looking at the two expectantly.
Susan moaned a curse. "Is this how I was like to my aunt? No wonder she hated Christmas." Susan pulled the covers over her head and tried to go back to sleep. Alice huffed before she began to pull on Harry's hair. "Come on and wake up already. There is a mound of presents with your name on them." Susan snorted but Harry raised an eyebrow. "Come on Mr. Popular, you didn't think you would get away without half the girls in the school sending you something."
Now it was Harry's turn to moan. "Thanks for telling me, now I know I don't want to leave this bed." He rolled into the blanket close to Susan and tried to fall back asleep. Alice sighed. Normally when she was this stubborn, Argent would come in and start hopping on the bed… Alice crawled on the bed and started hopping on the bed, careful not to actually step on them. "Wake up!" Alice found herself stop in mid air and floated down to the floor next to Harry. Harry pulled his arm back inside his blankets and began to doze again. Alice was now frustrated. She crossed her arms, knowing she didn't want to give up. She looked down at her arms trying to think and saw the summoning tattoo still on her hand. She grinned and pressed it with the palm of her opposing hand. A silver cloud formed next to her.
Argent looked around surprised he was there. Alice giggled and pointed at the two. She leaned close to Argents ear before whispering, "It's Christmas and they won't wake up." Argent shared an evil grin with her.
Argent took a few steps back before leaping on the two sleeping forms. "Guys wake up! The girl wants to open presents!" Argent landed on the bed making both Harry and Susan scream while bouncing in the air.
Harry let out a painful moan and closed his legs, still in pain, he looked to Susan.
"Oops, sorry about that. The pain will go away by tonight." Argent winked at Harry who curled up into a ball not saying a word. He turned to Susan who was still feigning sleep. Argent growled before licking her face. "Wake up woman! The offspring needs some attention, isn't that right pup?" Susan shrieked when Argent began licking her hair that was still not able to hide in the blanket before she pulled the bed sheets off herself to push away the wolf.
Alice was laughing out loud now. It was clear to her that this was one Christmas present she would remember. Both adults finally rose from their sides of the bed and glared at the young teenager. "Go outside." Harry turned to Argent, "Both of you!" Argent let out a chuckle before he faded away.
When the door latched shut Harry turned to Susan who looked like she wanted to laugh too. Harry just scowled. "Ok for that I am getting back at you too." Now Susan was laughing loudly. Harry returned a weak chuckle. They quickly got dressed and headed out to the office where Harry gave another groan. There was a stack of gift cards sent to Professor Dursley and Harry Potter.
"The price of being good looking and famous Harry." Susan commented cheerfully. Harry smiled wider now. He gave Alice a hug and a kiss on the forehead. "Morning Alice, I believe you want to open presents before we eat right?" Alice nodded. Susan waved away the bed Alice slept in and cleared off the area around the couch and separated the presents into piles. Alice sat next to her pile on the couch. Harry and Susan joined her with their piles flanking the couch.
"Go for it." Harry nudged the young girl. Alice picked up the gift and read the card. It was from Bruce. Alice opened the box and found a package of chocolate frogs. The card said, maybe you will get a card of your dad. Alice smiled at it and set it aside. She didn't want to spoil her breakfast with something so sweet in the morning.
Harry began opening letters. He sighed after reading the third. "It's like reading fan mail."
Susan looked up and asked, "Is that one perfumed?" Harry mumbled something in reply. Susan reached around Alice and touched his cheek, "Like I will be upset over what someone else sends you love." Harry nodded smiling back at her.
Susan opened a box from her friends, the Weasleys. It was a necklace. Susan began laughing when she read the card. She handed the necklace over to Harry and said, "You are going to wear this all the time." Alice snatched the letter from her father's friends and read aloud.
Susan, this is a tracking necklace. Iit was designed for the minister's personal use. It can track a person wearing it over unplotable land, hiding charms and even the fideilus charm. Make sure Harry never leaves your sight without him wearing it!
Ron and Hermione Weasley
Harry mumbled something under his breath again and Alice just laughed along with Susan. Alice opened the next few presents in quick succession. Owen gave her a charm bracelet with a tree, a cake, a bed and a heart dangling off of it. It was a good way to remember the last Christmas she had at Hogwarts. Alice wished Owen was there now, but would have to wait until he came back to kiss him. She put it on her wrist to admire it.
Pam gave her a makeup kit and small chest with a muggle mirror. It was gorgeous. Her friends in her class sent her various trinkets including a rememberall. The note attached said, "From the group to you. We need to make sure you don't forget your head when you're around Owen, we still need your help with our studies!" Alice laughed at it good naturedly. She didn't mind helping them as she did the previous year. And Pam told her several times that she did seem to forget things when Owen is distracting her.
Harry finally finished all the letters from various well wishers. It turned out that many of them were old friends and not fans from the school. Susan opened Harry's gift and just gasped at it. "Oh Harry…" she pulled out a silver dress. It shimmered against the fire light. The dress was a single piece with a low cut to the back and wide neck to the front. When she pulled it out, a small note with two tickets fell out. She looked between the tickets and the note.
My dear Susan, would you please do me the favor of joining me to attend the Starry Night Wizarding Ball on the twenty-fifth of January.
Harry
Susan leaped from the couch and kissed Harry. Alice pointedly ignored the two while reading the note and staring at the tickets. She whistled. It was very hard to find those kinds of tickets. The ball was usually reserved for ambassadors and dignitaries. She picked up the gift she wrapped for both of them and poked them with it. "Hey enough of that, open mine already." Susan and Harry pulled away still breathing hard. They grinned at each other and took the gift Alice was poking them with.
They sat back down on the couch and opened the small package that contained two necklaces. They necklaces formed together to make an almost complete circle. Several letters in the message were missing from the combined pendants. The two adults looked up at the girl who was smiling. She pulled out an identical piece from around her neck that completed the circle. Harry and Susan sucked in their breaths when they read,
Our
Family
Susan and Harry both wrapped their arms around the precious girl and kissed her head. "Thank you so much Alice." Whispered Susan. Her eyes were almost blurred when she looked at the girl who was close to tears as well. Harry kissed both of his girls. He was overwhelmed by Alice's gesture. Since before Voldemorts fall, he had never thought of things he wanted to have. But now that it was staring him in the face, Harry could not deny himself the desire for a family. That family now pulled him into their embrace.
Harry Potter had planned several months before, to return for less than a year, then fade back into memory. He realized that it was impossible now. He loved these two people too much to leave them. He raised his head, glad to see his own vision blur. The two girls giggled through their tears. They each kissed his cheeks. Harry knew whatever will he had to leave the wizarding world, just fell apart.
End Part 2 Involvement
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Whew, another Part done. One more to go for the end of this story! I think I am going to only post one short Intermission piece next Sunday. So no preview for today! Sorry. Well not really. hee hee
Schnuff: Thanks for the review.
Borg: The Beta's and I try our best to catch up with the previous chapters and new ones at the same time. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll make sure we catch that particular mistake when ever we get through all the chapters with the grammar fixes.
atlantis-rob: Thanks, I hope this chapter will satisfy what a lot of people were waiting for. Action!
zero-skillz: the delusional never stop for reason. And I think her goals are a little different than Voldemorts. He wanted to cleanse the world of anything but pureblooded families. He got side tracked when he encountered Dumbledore and the gang. But I think his main focus had always been power for himself and the will carry out "Salazar Slytherin's noble work." I am thinking that Cyan wanted power for the sake of control and to get revenge for what was done to her. Its true that many of her followers follow the beliefs of Voldemort and Slytherin, Cyan seemed to have more of a chip on her shoulder against the pure bloods who had shunned her.
DarkHuntress: Thank you for the review, I hope you enjoyed the end of this little story arch. I can understand the wanting to head for the next chapter. But the intermissions are something I need to write out as well. Its good for me while I am writing to found some grounds when I am writing characters where six years of history was never told. Besides, I have been lagging behind my writing schedule and still want to write a head a few chapters to never miss a Sunday post.
