Chapter 29

(A/N: Wow, I wasn't expecting any reviews that quickly, seeing as how I posted it at one-twenty five am this morning; heh heh heh. Thank you for quick responses though, now I can get on with the story! A. S. Leif)

After all the planning, Alex was finally able to join the Order. They went through the ritual, and then she stayed for a little while to talk to Harry. Eventually, she had to leave and that was when Harry went back home with Remus, Sirius, and the founders.

He spent roughly another hour with the four; it was good to be able to have a Parsloz duel with someone else other than Splikvin. To his surprise, he managed to beat Salazar after the third round.

"Don't get used to it," the founder grumbled as Harry handed him his wand with a grin.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Tallon replied, his grin widening.

"You've spent too much time with Gryffindor," Salazar told him; Harry laughed.

Harry woke up surprisingly early for staying up so late. He smelt something cooking and figured it was probably Helga, since Remus probably would sleep until past noon, Sirius too. So Harry went downstairs to the kitchen, where he did find Helga and Rowena talking. Not wanting to intrude, Harry silently exited and headed down to the dungeons and his workout room. With all the trouble, meetings, and fighting going on lately, he hadn't really been able to do his usual routine much; that's what he decided to do then.

It was slightly harder to complete than he remembered, but it gave him more resolve to work harder at it before 'Operation Mutate-Polyjuice' was put into action. When he'd finished and showered, he went back upstairs, where breakfast was being served. Though he wasn't bad at it himself, Harry like Helga's cooking a lot better than his.

"Harry," Salazar said, "Would you mind taking me to Headquarters? I need to speak with Severus and Selena about the potion."

Harry nodded and swallowed. "After breakfast? Or later?"

"After breakfast," he answered.

"Alright."

So, once they finished, Harry teleported himself and Salazar to the dungeons at Headquarters, and they began their search for the two Snapes. They ran into Algor, who was able to point them in the right direction. Salazar nodded his thanks stiffly, and Harry got the idea that the founder didn't like Snape Sr.

"Can I ask you a question?" Harry asked as they walked down the halls.

"Besides that one? Yes."

"You know that Tonks is a metamorphagus, right?" Salazar nodded. "Well, couldn't she just change herself to look like me, instead of needing to use a potion?"

"Not quite. You see, her transformations are restricted to those of her gender, she must remain in the guise of a woman. Not to mention that this potion should help the drinker catch a bit of your personality."

Harry stared at him. "That's kind of, well—creepy."

Salazar chuckled. "I suppose it is, which is most likely why a potion of this type has not been invented yet. I believe the last potion similar to this was outlawed many years ago." The founder thought for a moment. "I suggest that you go to the Room of Requirement to try out your theory. It might be able to provide you with a subject to experiment with."

Harry nodded, "Good idea, thanks. I'll let you go and talk about stuff none of us Gryffindors have a chance of understanding now."

Salazar smirked and they parted ways. Harry to teleport to Hogwarts and Slytherin to the dungeons.

The Room of Requirement did in fact give him a suitable array of things to experiment with. It was rather tiring, but the room also seemed to give him a bit of extra energy. When he asked it to though, it left him at his usual energy level. Once he reached the point of nearly collapsing, Harry took a break, falling asleep on the bed that the room provided him with.

He woke up and checked his watch, to find that it had frozen. Weird, he thought, and muttered "See." He was practically blinded by the massive amounts of spell-lights that exploded in his vision. He wrenched his eyes shut and yelped the command to end the feature, then cautiously opened his eyes, one at a time. He sighed in relief, the lights were gone. Harry rubbed his eyes; note to self: never try that again.

He did a bit of dueling exercises with the dummies that the room provided him with; they were tougher than the ones he had at home, and even harder than the Order members who taught him and his friends on occasion. He brushed up on Parsloz, fighting in animagus form, and fighting with his dagger and the four spells of the founders. He even fought against himself, something the room had come up with on its own. That was hard, in his opinion, and it ended up in a draw. However, it gave him a good insight as to what his weaknesses and strengths were, though it was more than slightly unnerving.

After that, he left Hogwarts, and noticed that his watch was working again. He felt like he'd been in there for a good four or five hours, but his watch said he'd only been gone a few minutes. Must've been the room, he thought, and went home. After going for a swim in the lake, Harry went out past the wards and practiced apperating. He did it in quick succession, moving from place to place as fast as possible. It was tiring, and without the room to reenergize him, Harry found himself tired after only an hour of it, so he headed back to The Hideaway.

The time passed slowly for the next two days. The Order had tweaked their plans until they were as best as they could make them, and several members were working on putting up the wards. Dumbledore was able to hide the large use of magic, and, thanks to Draco, it was known that Voldemort hadn't detected them in the least. Members of the Feltelone clan were smuggled in and housed at Headquarters. It was an interesting experience. Harry found that, other than their pale skin, sharp teeth, and dislike of the sun, the vampires were hard to distinguish from normal humans. Along with the fifty-odd clansmen, the relief forces offered by the other countries arrived in secret. The castle was enlargened by Dumbledore in order to accommodate the other foreign wizards and witches who arrived. The Russian soldiers took up the entire second and third floors, the Bulgarian aurors and French Animagus squads took up the fourth, and the M.D. members stationed themselves in the spare rooms on the fifth. The V-Group housed themselves with the other vampires, and the W-Group legion was housed at Hogwarts, seeing as there were roughly a little over one hundred of them and there wasn't enough room left at Headquarters.

Quite a few of the house elves were brought from Hogwarts to help out at Headquarters, but each of them were magically bound not to say a word of its location; Harry doubted that any of them would betray Dumbledore though. Tallon himself was kept busy, answering any questions the new arrivals had about the place and location of things. Krum dealt with the Bulgarian recruits, and Fleur with the French. Remus stayed at Hogwarts to help out with the other werewolves, and Sirius and Tonks assisted the M.D. members. Splikvin was rarely available to help with the vampires, so that fell onto whoever was around.

The captain of each group was present at the Order meetings, where tactics and strategy were discussed. Harry himself was interested in meeting the Captains of the M.D. groups. The Russian representatives were a formal but joking group; however, their accents made it hard for Harry to understand what they were saying, the same went for the Bulgarians. He had several interesting conversations with the Lycan-general Dom, who happened to be an old friend of Remus', and the leader of the V-Group: Kate. He quickly found himself liking the Americans, they were a rather amusing lot. They took things in a laid-back manner, but knew their stuff and took the upcoming fight seriously.

Finally, on the third day of the new arrivals' stay, Snape and Splikvin finished the potion, with Salazar helping from his frame. They brought a sample of it to the Order meeting that afternoon. It was a mud color similar to that of a regular Polyjuice potion, but with a metallic tint to it. Harry, thinking back to his second year, was glad he wasn't going to be the one drinking it.

Once Snape explained what it did, and why they were using it, a new debate began: who would pose as Harry? Sirius wanted to do it, but Mad-Eye argued that, as Harry's godfather, he would be expected to be in the guard. Dung was another contestant, but McGonagall didn't trust him enough after the summer with the dementor-incident; more than several people were in agreement. However, the main thing was that the imposter had to be, was to be able to deal with Voldemort, should he appear sooner than expected; that knocked off about two-thirds of the Order.

Therefore, the main candidates were Sirius, Draco, Kingsley, Moody, Dumbledore, Remus, and Snape. Kingsley didn't know Harry particularly well, so he was erased from the list. Mad-Eye was a bit too jumpy, and his magical eye might throw the potion off slightly. Draco would most likely be summoned, therefore he couldn't do it. Voldemort would expect Dumbledore and Sirius to be guarding Harry, so that left Remus and Snape.

Remus wanted to do it, but he wasn't sure how well he would be able to cope with Voldemort. He knew he could take care of Death Eaters and the Dark creatures Voldemort had gathered, but he admitted that he couldn't stare the Dark Lord right in the face without paling. Snape, on the other hand, had no trouble meeting Voldemort's gaze, and could defend himself, but did not want to pose as the Gryffindor Golden Boy. Snape also argued, with Draco's help, that Voldemort would be more likely to come if both Snape and Harry were present.

"How much of that potion do you got?" asked Vale, one of the American M.D. members.

"A cauldron full," Splikvin answered, "Why?"

The American shrugged. "If you really want Voldemort to come, you could have Mr. Snape pose as Harry, and Mr. Lupin pose as Mr. Snape. Then both of them would be there, and you'd have your surprise, plus extra."

"The Dark Lord will most likely try Legilimency," Snape informed him stiffly.

"Probably," Vale agreed.

"But Remus is a werewolf," said Dom, "And his mind is resistant to Legilimency, just like mine. No problem there."

"I don't want Snape posing as my godson," Sirius grumbled, arms crossed stubbornly.

"I don't want to either Black." The potions master snapped in return.

Dumbledore sighed. "Severus, Sirius, please. I do not believe it will work any other way. Remus, are you willing?"

Remus shrugged, "I'll do what I have to."

"And you, Severus?"

Snape crossed his arms, "If you insist." Harry's stomach dropped, he couldn't believe Snape would be posing as him.

The Headmaster smiled, "Thank you, both of you. Now, I believe the grounds are ready?"

Talk then turned back to the area Operation Mutated-Polyjuice would occur at, and to the plan that they hoped would work when executed in two days.

Harry sat nervously on the roof of The Hideaway, gazing up at the blazing stars. In just twelve hours, the plan would be put into action. The bait would be let out, the trap would be set, and chaos would clash with the uneasy peace that had settled over the past few days.

Draco had already informed Voldemort at the previous Death Eater meeting that he'd heard Harry and Snape would be going from Order Headquarters to an area where they would be meeting an envoy from the United States, in hopes of gaining more allies.

It was partly true, Snape would be going as Harry with Remus as Snape to a designated point. The wards, disguised to look less powerful than they truly were, would be expected, seeing as how it was a 'secret' meeting and the 'Boy-Who-Lived' would need all the protection he could get. However, the U.S. envoy they would be 'meeting', was actually one of the M.D. teams, ready to defend the lure-party.

The guard would include Dumbledore, Sirius, Dung, Algor, and three members of the W-Group. There would be seven other teams, each captained by a member of the Order, with a second head officer should something happen to them. Each team would have a Muggle Tech. Interpreter, who would pass on any information gained via the U.S. muggle technology.

The first team was the Rangers. Mad-Eye was head officer, with Krum beneath him. It contained three Bulgarian Auror squads, one Animagus squad, 22 Russian soldiers, thirteen members of the W-Group, and one muggle tech. interpreter (MTI). Team Venom was led by Splikvin, with Alex as second head officer. There were 13 W-Group members, the V-Group, and forty-five members of the Feltelone Clan. Kingsley and Neville led team Frost. It contained forty-four Russian troops, a W-Group team (thirteen members total), ten Feltelone vampires, and an MTI.

The fourth team was the Slyders, led by Bill and Fleur as second head. Again, they had one MTI, twenty-two Russians, a W-Group team, and four of the Animagus squads, which had nine animagi per team. Team Bolt was led by Tonks and Ron. There would be one MTI, a W-Group team, the standard Russian team, and one of the M.D. teams. Team Stickers was the sixth team. McGonagall was head officer, with Hermione below her. Theirs was the largest group, with one W-Group, twenty-two Russians, three Bulgarian Auror squads, two Animagus squads, and the usual MTI. The last team was team Rush, with Charlie and Hagrid in charge. Hagrid and Olympe had recruited fifteen giants, including Grawp. There were also the standard groups of W-G members, Russians, and the MTI.

The operation was rather complicated, in Harry's opinion. The Envoy group would draw out Voldemort and some of his followers, depending on how many he brought, certain Order Teams would go to different battle spots. If he brought a large amount of followers, the larger teams would stay and fight and the smaller ones would go to the base and destroy it; if it was still in use, of course. However, there were also several Auror teams that would be waiting to be called upon at the Ministry with Fred and George, who had an extra-large amount of pranks to pull on the Death Eaters in order to distract them.

At Hogwarts, a group of sprites, courteously gathered by Smuck, would make sure that the sun was covered with clouds over the battle field, thereby allowing the vampires safety from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. The Muggle Technology Squad was also stationed at Hogwarts. They would be watching the fight via satellite, and pass information about the position of Voldemort's armies through the MTIs with each Order team. The Head and Second head Officers would also pass information via their pendants if they had the time.

Harry and his team would seek out Voldemort, who would most likely be in the background, commanding his army. With Harry would be the founders, an M.D. team, two vampires, and one Animagus squad. His team was large enough to ensure his safety, but also small enough that it wouldn't attract too much attention. Harry had been introduced to each person who would be with him, but he had to be careful not to get too close; they didn't want themselves or him to be distracted from the fight at hand and the overall goal.

They make it safe, thought Harry, but I'm still the one who has to do it. They make it ready, take all the precautions, but they expect me to finish it all. What if I can't? What if it all goes wrong? What if Voldemort wins? And all these people who came to help are killed? Such thoughts had plagued him from the day the plan took shape. They were relentless, leaving him restless at night, unable to sleep, and with a churning feeling of foreboding in his gut. He'd tried to talk to Ron and Hermione, but neither of them understood, they just always told him it would be alright, that they'd be there for him; not that he didn't think they would, it just wasn't what he was looking for.

Harry pulled his legs up to his chest as he continued to gaze at the stars, attempting to gather his thoughts and save himself a headache. The final fight would come, and whether it sided with good or evil depended on is fight with Voldemort. He knew what he needed to do, and he knew how to do it, he just wasn't sure when. There were many risks in his plan, but it was the only one he had. He could get tired too quickly, he could get distracted, he could be hit by an unseen Death Eater, he could be killed; he could fail, causing hundreds of people to die.

He'd had another vision of Voldemort's, which was why he was up on the roof at this time of night. He'd seen the large number of Dark creatures awaiting orders, the mass of Death Eaters lined up, waiting to be initiated. Would he really kill them for the 'greater good'?"

Harry had killed before, though it made him disgusted to think about it. He'd killed Quirell when he was only eleven years old, merely to keep him from getting the Stone. He'd killed the basilisk, merely because Tom Riddle was commanding it. He'd killed dementors, merely for being what they were. He'd killed Cedric, merely because he had to be a Gryffindor and say they share the Cup. He'd killed Sirius, merely because he'd been frustrated with Dumbledore and angry at Snape.

Would he kill Voldemort merely because he was who he was?

Harry looked at the North Star, and it seemed to twinkle brighter in response. Harry nodded back, and stood up; he had his answer.

Ten AM—Headquarters

Harry fingered his family ring while waiting for the others to arrive. He was currently dressed in black battle robes, which had a tighter fit, a cooling charm, were more flexible, and resistant to several curses. Under the robe, he had on a dragon hide vest, boots, and—a newer addition—pants, all of it was black. He had both of his wands holstered, as well as his dagger, and a belt with vials of different potions. Some of them exploded when dropped, others created clouds of gas or mist, but some were pepper-ups, minor and major healing potions, and some were just plain water. The belt was charmed so that the vials would be protected from breaking unless Harry willed it, and to look like an ordinary belt with silver studs in replace of the vials.

The Head officers and their second in commands were there, along with the commanders of the different foreign groups, but most people were silent, waiting for the envoy group to arrive. The founders were seated near Harry, in their regular robes, since they weren't really able to change; many people had found this odd, but Harry had grown used to it.

Finally, Dumbledore, Sirius, Dung, Algor, Snape, and Remus arrived, with Splikvin holding two, potion-filled glasses behind them. Harry smiled weakly at his guardians, who smiled back. He then offered Snape a strand of his hair, who then put it into one of the glasses that Splikvin held; the potion turned a red-gold color. "Figures," Snape muttered, and took the glass.

Remus chuckled as he put in a second hair into the other glass: it turned blackish-green, "Cheers." He said, and took his glass from Splikvin, then drank until it was empty. Moony smiled "No worse than Wolfsbane." He said, and exited the room as he began to change. The potions master sighed quietly before drinking his share and also leaving.

After a few tense minutes, the two came back out as Snape and Harry. Tallon looked at himself and grinned slightly.

"Don't say a word," Snape-Harry growled.

"Don't worry Sir," Harry replied, keeping a straight face. Tallon had leant the potions master his normal dragon hide vest boots and clothing, but Snape-Harry clearly was not pleased about the arrangement.

Remus, on the other hand, seemed rather amused by it all. He was wearing Snape's battle-wear, and was smiling amiably; a rather odd thing for Snape. "Don't smile so much," Sirius told him, "Scowl."

Snape-Harry glared at Padfoot, but he only laughed in reply.

Remus-Snape chuckled, "Don't worry Severus, I won't ruin your reputation; promise." Harry fought the urge not to laugh; Snape's voice using such relaxed vocabulary and in such a pleasant manner was rather odd. Though, several other members of the Order seemed slightly amused by this trade-off as well.

"Are we ready yet?" Snape-Harry asked.

Harry blinked, "That wasn't bad." He said to his imposter.

Snape-Harry smirked, "Duh." This statement brought quite a few chuckles from the others, and a grin from Harry; he'd never thought Snape would be able to pull it off.

Dumbledore was also smiling. The Headmaster looked like he normally would, but Harry new he had battle-gear on underneath his usual, decorative robe. "Yes Harry, we are ready. Shall we go?" Harry blinked, confused, then he realized Dumbledore wasn't talking to him.

As the Envoy team began to leave, Harry pulled Remus-Snape and Sirius aside, "Be careful," Harry ordered them.

Remus-Snape smiled, "Don't worry Tallon, you do the same though."

Sirius nodded. "Keep an eye out for Wormtail, he managed to escape from the Ministry holding cells since he was never transferred to When this is all over, we'll celebrate for the whole day, playing Quidditch, pulling pranks, and all that stuff; how's that sound?"

Harry smiled, "Sounds great." He gave Sirius a hug first, then Remus-Snape.

"I am never going to live that one down." Snape-Harry grumbled. Harry laughed, realizing how odd that must look: Snape hugging Harry; other people began to laugh too.

For a brief moment, Harry was able to forget about what he was going to do, about how dangerous it was all going to be. "See you soon then," Harry told his guardians quietly, and stepped away so that they could leave.

A few minutes later, Harry's friends began to leave as well, to get into position for the battle. "What's the point in good-bye when we'll see each other again soon?" he asked, fighting back the moisture that threatened to spill over his eyes. They smiled weakly back, and he gave them all a hug, praying that this wouldn't be his last memory of them.

"See ya, mate." Ron said, eyes slightly brighter than usual. "Good luck." Harry nodded.

"Same."

Hermione bit her lip, "Remember when we were first friends?" she asked quietly, "Because of the troll?" They chuckled, remembering how annoying they'd thought Hermione to be before that incident.

"Yeah," Harry replied.

"Seems a long time ago," Ron said.

She nodded. "Well, it might have been a while ago, but we still are, and I know we'll always be, right?" They nodded, and she hugged them each again, then Harry stepped away to give them a few moments alone, and to find Alex.

"Be careful," she whispered, hugging him before kissing him on the cheek.

He kissed her back. "Only if you do the same," he replied; he shuddered slightly, wondering if this would be the last time he saw her.

"What is it?" she asked immediately, searching his face.

"I—I don't know what's going to happen," he whispered, "If you get hurt I—I could never live with myself. If any of you get hurt, or—or killed…"

She hugged him again, burying her face in his shoulder. "We'll make it Harry," she whispered, "I know it. No matter what, we'll see each other again. Whether it's here, or there, we'll see each other."

"Alex," Splikvin called from the other room. Harry kissed her one last time and let her go, praying that it would all end up alright.

He watched all of them go through one of the windows, and he silently asked anyone who was there to keep them safe. He stood at the window for a long time, remembering each person's face, the things he'd laughed about with them, the things he'd argued about with them, and the things he did or didn't like about them. He thought about all his friends, all the members of the Order, all the participants of the DA, the professors, heck, he even thought about Peeves, Filch, and Mrs. Norris.

"Harry?" Salazar called. "Time to go." Harry took a breath and turned around.

It was time for the fight to begin.

Coming Up:

The Second War

Review Response:

Thank you to all reviewers for your suggestions. Seeing as how most people asked for multiple pov, it shall be so. And congratulations to PrettyPrincessRenfor guessing that Sirius would argue about it, and to Shoia, for guessing Snape!