Chapter 5
Saturday June 15 – Granger residenceAs Ginny was greeting Harry with great enthusiasm, Bellatrix Lestrange apparated a quarter mile away from Dan and Emma's home. Walking with purpose, the evil witch walked up to their front door, drew her wand and knocked on the front door, intent on murdering whoever was unlucky enough to answer.
… --- … ---
Meanwhile at the Burrow, Ginny held onto Harry as if for dear life. In all objectivity, Harry was doing the same. Running her hand on the outside of his shirt, she sent shivers down his spine in spite of the warm weather.
After several minutes of nonverbal communication, Ginny smiled and innocently asked, "Harry, are you all right? The paper said that you got into a fight with a Death Eater at Gringotts." She was smothering him with kisses and other messages to the extent that Harry could barely comprehend her words.
"It wasn't anything, Ginny. It was over in a few seconds. I just recognized Mr. Borgin in the lobby at Gringotts, took out my wand and stunned him before he could get away. Everyone's making a big deal out of it."
As Ginny was leading Harry into the home, he was nearly smothered by Mrs. Weasley, who, several inches shorter than him now, clung onto Harry like he was a lost child saved from death (which was exactly how she felt about him). She took his bag and his case, set them down at the table, and said, "Harry, you looked starved, let me get you something to eat. How could you find yourself in such danger after only a few minutes in Diagon Alley?"
Smiling indulgently, Harry replied, "Mrs. Weasley, it's great to see you too. Hi Ron."
Molly said, "Ron, go put Harry's things away in Percy's old room. Harry, sit down, sit down."
Harry dutifully sat down at the table while Ron picked up the duffle bag that Harry brought and the brushed aluminum case that Scrimgeour had given him.
Harry had taken the feather-light charm off of the case and was about to mention to Ron to be careful when the teen yelped, "Bloody hell Harry, what've you got in here?"
Molly was on the lanky teen in an instant, "Watch your language Ron. You've no right to ask Harry what he's carrying."
Harry recharmed the case, and said, "Sorry mate. I forgot that it was a bit heavy. I'll get it."
"You sit there and finish eating dear," said Molly, looking daggers at her son. "Ron will bring your things up and think about his language before he comes back down."
"Yes, mum," replied Ron, knowing that arguing was fruitless.
As Molly was trying to talk Harry into a third piece of fruit pie, Ron came back down. Seizing the opportunity, Harry said, "I can't take another bite, Mrs. Weasley, but Ron looks like he could use a piece. Everything was delicious. Thank you so much."
"You're welcome dear," replied, Molly, begrudgingly giving the last piece to Ron.
"Have you heard from Hermione," asked Harry?
… --- … ---
As Harry was being greeted by Molly, Dan and Emma were returning home. Dan had just turned onto their street in their grey BMW with Hermione riding in the back. They had been out shopping and were coming home after a late lunch. As luck was with them, Hermione happened to be looking out of the window of the car and saw the thin witch knocking at their front door. Recognizing Lestrange Hermione said in a surprisingly steady voice, "Keep going Dad. Don't stop, whatever you do."
Fractions of a second from braking and turning into their driveway, Dan made a lifesaving decision and took his daughter at her word. Bellatrix never noticed the car as it drove by. A minute later, she gave up and apparated away.
Turning around to see her daughter taking calming breaths as they sped away, Emma asked, "What's wrong dear? Who was that woman?"
Hands shaking, Hermione replied, "That was the witch who murdered Harry's godfather, Bellatrix Lestrange." She knew that it was unlikely that she would ever live in her parent's home again. "We need to go find Harry."
… --- …
During the first war, Riddle had divided his war chest into three pieces; each at one time had about a million Galleons. The largest, wisely invested over the years by Lucius, had grown considerably over the years but was currently unavailable to him due to Malfoy's imprisonment. Malfoy initially had used much of the gold to buy influence and eventually skimmed back hundreds of thousands of Galleons of Ministry funds in his crooked dealings with Fudge. At the time of his imprisonment, it was nearly two million galleons.
Borgin had used his to expand his shop. He had done well over the years trading in grey artifacts, but had maintained an inconspicuous personal profile over the years unlike Malfoy. Borgin had never taken the Mark. In spite of that, Riddle had placed a degree of trust in his former employer, and up until recently, Borgin had lived a comfortable life on the edge of wizarding society. Prior to his arrest, Borgin had never been asked to tap into the fund.
Stephen Bulstrode hadn't done as well as either Malfoy or Borgin. He'd been arrested as a Death Eater after the first war, but released after five years, largely due to Malfoy's efforts. At the time of Voldemort's rebirth, Bulstrode's careful stewardship of the account had brought its balance to slightly over two million Galleons. Since then Bulstrode had been asked to tap into the account a dozen times since to finance Riddle's efforts. The unsuccessful defense of the Death Eaters caught at the Ministry had taken two hundred thousand Galleons. Riddle repaid the unsuccessful solicitors back by having their families tortured and murdered before their eyes.
Bulstrode wasn't surprised to receive another summons to appear before Riddle. The sandy haired man and his pug-faced wife ran a polyjuice prostitution business. Muggle clients paid them large amounts of money, believing they were acquiring the services of super models. In fact most of the toothless witches that they employed had seen the Great War, and had rather enjoyed the ruse.
As Bulstrode was handed the portkey from Pettigrew, there was no doubt in his mind what he would be asked to do. Bulstrode only questions were the requested amount, currency and the timing.
… --- …
Lestrange was in a foul mood. Unsuccessful in her attempts to find Potter or his friends, she refused to settle for the knowledge that they would have another opportunity at the wedding. She decided to recruit some additional followers and launch another attack on the mudblood witch in a day or two.
… --- …
Harry was finishing lunch when the cellular telephone that Dr. Granger had given him rang. He picked it up and answered, "Hello?"
Hermione was on the other end. "Harry, do you have someplace that my parents and I could stay?"
Harry replied, "Of course. What's wrong?"
"Bellatrix was at our front door as we were coming back from lunch." Her voice was calmer than Harry would have imagined.
Harry asked, "Where are you?"
"We're in the parking lot at the Tesco store by our house."
Harry asked, "Is there anything that you absolutely need from your house? I'll call Director Hammer and ask her to have some Aurors meet you at your parents' house to pick up what you need. My home is at number twelve Grimmauld place. Do you remember where it is?"
Having been told, Hermione remembered that Harry had inherited the mansion from Sirius and knew how to get there. She replied, "I remember."
Harry said, "Can you wait a half hour before going back? The Aurors will probably want to check the house for jinxes or curses first. I'll call you after I talk with Hammer."
"OK. Thanks."
"No worries. I'll take care of you."
"I know. Thanks Harry. Bye."
Harry called Director Hammer. She would have a team of Aurors there in ten minutes. Harry called Hermione back. The entire time he was on the phone, Ron, Molly, and Ginny were sitting at the table gawking at him. Ron had only used a telephone once, and had never even seen a cellular telephone before. Molly and Ginny were equally amazed. They held Arthur's fascination with muggle technology with a bit higher esteem after Harry's demonstration of instant communication.
Molly asked, "What can we do to help?"
Harry replied, "They're going back to their house to pick up some stuff, then they're going to stay at my house. They'll be there in a few hours. I need to go to the Ministry and Diagon Alley for a few minutes."
Molly replied, "We'll go with you, dear. It's not safe to go alone."
Harry knew it was a losing battle to argue. They took the floo to the Ministry visitor entrance. Ten minutes and two hundred galleons later, Harry had a passworded floo access to his home. As they were walking back up to the visitor lobby, Harry had an idea and asked, "Mrs. Weasley is there a shop in Diagon alley that sells Wizarding cameras?"
Molly replied, "Of course, dear. Sally's Ocular is right next to the twins' shop. What do you need?"
Harry said, "I'd like to get a wizarding camera, and some film for it."
Five minutes later Harry had a high quality camera that easily fit in his pocket and film for several hundred photos. He also bought four more cases like the one that Scrimgeour had given him.
They went back to the Burrow and then to Grimmauld Place to wait for the Grangers. As Harry was unlocking the back door, he wished that Dobby was available to help him. Much to his surprise the little elf appeared five minutes later accompanied by Winky. Each was carrying a small bag. Dobby ran to Harry and said, "Harry Potter sir, Dobby and Winky are honored to enter into your service sir. Dobby has been hoping for years that Harry Potter would ask Dobby to serve him. Thank you sir."
Embarrassed at the little elf's display of affection, Harry replied, "OK Dobby. You and Winky can work for me and stay with me as long as you like. We'll talk about the arrangements later. Can you help get this place ready for people to live in again?"
"Oh yes Harry Potter sir. We's will do a good job. What did you wants?"
Harry explained what he had in mind. As he did, the two elves listened carefully. Harry gave Winky the sack of galleons that he'd gotten that day at Gringotts and told them to let him know when they needed more.
As Winky went to the market to buy groceries and paint, Dobby went to work like an elf possessed. When Winky returned twenty minutes later, Dobby already had the peeling wall coverings removed from the second floor where most of the bedrooms were.
Molly, Ginny and Ron went back to the Burrow to get some things to help Harry with his house. Seizing the opportunity, Harry divided up the gold that Scrimgeour gave him into five piles and refilled each of the five cases. After he closed and labeled the cases, he met with Dobby and Winky. She wanted to be bonded to Harry whereas Dobby wanted to remain a free elf and work for him.
Harry replied, "I'll agree to both of your terms, but I have a few of my own. Dobby you must accept double the pay that you were getting at the castle, you both must take a day off each week, and you must take one of the rooms in the house as your own. If you'd rather each have your own room, that's fine too. The only other thing that I request is that you keep my secrets and wear good clothing. Is that agreeable?"
Looking up at him with her big eyes, the tiny elf squeaked, "Yes, Harry Potter, sir."
Dobby nodded solemnly and replied, "Oh, yes, Harry Potter, sir."
The elves went back to painting the rooms. Fortunately the weather was warm and sunny allowing them to pry the windows open. The paint dried quickly. A few minutes later, Harry heard a knock at the back door. Dobby beat Harry to the door and answered it.
The Grangers had arrived, having filled up two cars with their possessions. Hermione was nearly as shocked as Dan and Emma to see the two little elves scurrying around the home.
Seeing the look on Hermione's face, Harry said, "I'll explain later. Pick out any rooms that you like."
"Where is your room, dear?" asked Emma.
"I don't know," replied Harry. He had never really picked one out.
Dobby replied, "Harry Potter sir's room is on the third floor. The other bedrooms are on the second floor. May I show you sir, madam and miss?"
Dan and Emma followed the little elf as he bounced up the stairs in excitement. Hermione looked at Harry and he said, "They just showed up. "I'm paying Dobby as much as Dumbledore paid them together. I gave them their own room and a day a week off. Winky insisted on being bonded rather than being employed. Are you OK with that?"
Hermione frowned for a moment, and replied, "They seem very happy. What about Kreacher?"
"Dobby told me that he'd died during the school year."
"Oh," replied Hermione. She had a hard time feeling too sorry for him.
… --- …
As the Grangers were settling in, Winky began getting dinner together. They were eating earlier than usual, as Harry wanted to go to the castle early.
Hermione asked, "How come?"
Harry replied, "The professor had left me some things and I wanted to look through them for a bit."
Dan said, "Harry I noticed that the house doesn't have electrical service. I did some dental work for an electrician and his family, and he owes me a pretty big favor. If you'd like, I would be happy to have him wire electrical service to your house."
Harry replied, "That would be great. Thank you. I'll leave some money out to cover the costs. How much do you think it would cost?"
Dan replied, "He'll do the work for free. The wiring and outlets themselves won't be too expensive. If you want, Emma could pick out some ceiling lights for you."
Harry said, "Please. Thank you. I never did like the gas lights here." Actually he never liked anything about the house, but had to admit that even in the few hours that Dobby and Winky had been working on it, there had been substantial improvements.
Dan said, "I'll make the arrangements. I'm fairly certain that he'll be here on Monday."
After Dan had called the electrician, Harry talked with him briefly and gave him the address.
… --- …
After dinner, Hermione asked her mum if she could leave early with Harry to go to the castle.
Emma replied, "Of course, dear. How will you be getting there?"
Harry said, "I had the fireplace hooked up to the floo network. We could use it or we could apparate. Hermione, do you have a preference?"
She said, "We might as well get some more practice apparating."
Harry replied, "OK. I'll be ready in ten minutes. We might as well wear our robes."
Hermione was surprised that she was ready before Harry. He came down carrying what looked like a shrunken brass trunk. She asked, "What's that for?"
Harry, replied, "I'll be bringing some books and stuff back. It's a three-compartment trunk. We should go now. Will your mum and dad be OK?"
Emma replied, "We'll be fine here. Will you be late?"
Harry said, "We'll most likely be back by midnight."
Dan said, "Be careful." Moments later he watched in amazement as Harry and his daughter vanished before his eyes.
… --- …
Filch had a scowl on his face as he let them in. "Mind ya, Don't make a mess of things as you troop around the place." He had lost his one friend in the castle, and with Snape gone had decided to retire at the end of the month.
On the way to the Headmistress' office, they met Professor Flitwick. Pleased to see them, he said, "Good evening, Miss Granger and Mr. Potter. I'm glad to see that you've taken my advice. The password is Fawkes."
The gargoyle stood aside and they stood on the moving spiral staircase. It spun around once as it lifted then to the oaken doorway. McGonagall had left the Griffin door knocker on the door. Harry knocked and McGonagall replied, "Come in."
The office had barely changed since Harry had last been in it, as if McGonagall was hesitant to put her own scratch on the job. She stood up, shook both of their hands in a friendly manner and offered them tea.
"Thank you, Professor," replied Hermione.
They had about an hour until the Order meeting was to begin. Harry had been invited to come an hour later than the rest. McGonagall pointed to the wall and the open room behind the door, and said, "All of Albus' things that were in the castle were left to you, Harry. He also had a box that had your name on it. If there are things that you do not wish to have, place them in the trunk over there. I see that you brought a trunk for the things that you want to keep. You doubtless recognize that many of the books that he left you are irreplaceable. Please be careful with them."
"Yes Professor."
"He also left you his pensive and quite a few memories. I hope they serve you well. I have to meet with the house elves now. I'll leave you be. Hermione, you are invited to the meeting at eight, in my classroom. Harry, please come at nine."
After she left, Hermione said, "I'll start in his apartment."
Harry nodded, "Thanks." He carefully placed the different stacks of books into the trunk, but left the pensive out. He looked at the sword that had found him in the chamber of secrets, and carefully placed it in the trunk.
Hermione called out, "Harry, what size shoes do you wear?"
Harry replied, "Ten, why?"
She answered, "There are several pair of really wonderful dragonhide boots in here that you might like."
As they sorted through the collection of ordinary and unusual personal items, Harry found an American .45 pistol and Dumbledore's Order of Merlin – First Class medal. They looked at it together for a moment before putting it in the trunk with the other things. Hermione looked at Harry and said, "You'll be able to hang yours next to it someday."
Harry didn't say anything. Dumbledore had received it in 1945 for defeating the Dark Lord of the day, Grindelwald. Harry hoped that his wouldn't be given out posthumously.
After a while, Harry said to Hermione, "I don't really need all of this stuff. Are there things that you'd like?"
Hermione said, "Thanks Harry. I'd really like this Arithmancy book and one of these photos. Maybe the members of the Order would each like something as a memento. Why don't you finish packing up what you'd like and you can call them up after the meeting?"
Harry nodded, hoping that he'd find what he was looking for.
A moment later Hermione said, "I should go now. Why are you coming an hour later?"
"Dunno," replied Harry.
As she opened the door to leave, she noticed Dumbledore's painting, regretted that he was sleeping again and said, "I'll see you soon."
As soon as Hermione left, Harry headed for the pensive. Tapping it with his wand, he soon found the memory that he was looking for and stuck his head into the bowl. It was the memory that Auror Bob Ogden had from the day that he visited the Gaunts. Harry pulled out his camera and hoped that his idea would work. When he saw the locket that Riddle's future mother Merope wore, he took a photograph of it. He also took a photo of the ring before leaving the memory. Tapping the wand again, he found the memory of young Riddle being shown Hufflepuff's goblet and took several photos of it.
Harry extracted two of his own memories and placed them in the bowl. He took several photos from each of them before leaving the pensive and replacing the memories. Following the instructions that he'd received from the camera store he took the film out, said the appropriate incantation and made two copies of each of the photos. He put one set in his trunk and put the other set in an envelope.
… --- …
As Harry was reviewing the various memories, Moody had finished inducting Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna and Hermione into the Order. He stood again, and said, "The next bit of business concerns Harry Potter. I'm placing two items up for a vote and discussion. The first is that he be nominated to join the group." He looked and saw the nods of the members both old and new and knew that that part of his plan would easily pass.
Continuing, he said, "The second item that I want to put to a vote is that Harry be elected leader of the Order."
There was a bit of murmuring, the Moody asked, "Is there a second to Harry's nomination to become a member?"
Minerva seconded, and everyone said "Aye."
Moody began, "We've all heard at least part of the Prophecy regarding Potter's role in facing off with Voldemort. Some of you might know it all. The short of it is that at one level or another it's Potters fight. We can do what we can to help, but it's his fight. Are there other comments before we put this to a vote?"
Molly stood and said, "I love Harry like a son, but he's just too young to lead a fight against He-who-must-Not-Be-Named."
Lupin stood and quietly asked, "If not Harry, who would you suggest Molly? I agree with Alastor. It's Harry's fight. He and Albus were working together all of last year. Who here has more experience directly fighting Voldemort? He sat down again. Quite a few people nodded in agreement.
Molly nudged Arthur, who shook his head and said, "No Molly. I agree with Remus. It is unfortunate that any of us have to be here tonight regardless of our age. I will follow Harry."
Minerva stood and said, "We received our instruction a week ago from Albus. If we help him as we were asked to, perhaps we can help end the war earlier, and save some lives. I will follow Harry."
Molly pleaded, "There has to be another alternative. He's too young to be thrown into this."
Tonks stood up and said, "Then face Voldemort yourself. He's done it a handful of times. None of us have even once. The only other person to face Voldemort off and live to talk about it was Dumbledore. Some of us here can't even say his name. I will follow Harry." Molly glared at the young Auror.
Hermione stood and said, "Before we vote, I want to say three things. First Harry is the bravest man that I've ever met. He was the one who faced down a forty-foot basilisk and Riddle to rescue Ginny when he was twelve. Second, he is a great leader. All five of us are here tonight because of the skills that he helped us learn a year ago. Last, if we do vote him as head of the Order, we should expect to take a loyalty test. Harry doesn't trust many people." She took a breath and said, "I will follow Harry."
Moody stood and asked, "Are there any other comments?"
No one had anything new to say. Moody called for a vote. Of the twenty-three members there, twenty-one voted yes. Molly and Elphias abstained from voting. When the votes were counted and announced, Elphias Doge resigned his membership and left the group.
… --- …
A few minutes after the Order had finished voting, Harry walked into the room. As he did, everyone stood and applauded him. Moody performed the initiation rite, and congratulated Harry. After doing so, he said, "Harry, before you came in we all voted, and would like you to be the leader of the Order. Will you accept our offer?"
Harry looked at Remus, Tonks, McGonagall, Hagrid, Bill, Ginny and some of the others. They all nodded at him. Harry stood and said, "I accept your invitation. I will do my best to keep everyone safe and end this war."
While Moody was talking, Hermione had created another of her charmed loyalty oath documents, signed it and gave it to Moody. The old Auror looked at it carefully, signed it and called Flitwick over. Flitwick looked at it, smiled and signed the document before passing it to Hagrid. Within a few minutes, everyone had signed it and Hermione gave the document to Harry. He looked at it, signed it and nodded.
Taking one of the butterbeers that were on a tray, Harry cast a silencing charm over the door and sealed it. He said, "The reason that Riddle didn't die the first time that he tried to kill me was because he had split his soul up into several pieces and encased them into objects called Horcruxes. He held up several photographs and placed them on the table. Picking up the first one he said, "This is a photograph of Tom Riddle, the man who calls himself Lord Voldemort." Everyone looked in rapt amazement. Few had ever seen Voldemort, and no one had seen a photo of him. Harry drew the letters from the name Tom Marvolo Riddle with his wand and rearranged them to read, I am Lord Voldemort. "Riddle was an orphan like me. He began killing people when he was sixteen. After he began murdering people he began creating the Horcruxes."
Harry held up a photograph of Riddle's diary. "This was the first one that he made. It was an enchanted diary that he'd given to Lucius Malfoy for safekeeping. Riddle must have never told Malfoy exactly what it was, because Malfoy slipped it into one of Ginny Weasley's school books when she was eleven to cause her trouble."
Harry held up another photo and said, "This is a picture of the diary being destroyed. It gave off a blinding light when I pierced it with the basilisk fang. I never thought much about it at the time. I was too concerned about Ginny." There was absolute silence in the room as Harry was telling about the color photos. Molly had tears welled in her eyes.
"Here is a photo of Slytherin's ring that Riddle made into a Horcrux when he was about eighteen. That's Tom Riddle wearing it. Professor Dumbledore found it last year and destroyed it." No one made a sound. Dumbledore had never told any of them anything like what Harry was telling them.
Harry held up the next photo and said, "Here is a photo of Riddle's mum. She was abandoned by her husband and died giving birth to Riddle. Notice the locket that she was wearing." Harry held up the next photo. "Here is a better photo of the locket. It had originally belonged to Slytherin. Notice the letter S on the back of it."
Harry held up the next photo. "This is a photo of a cup that Helga Hufflepuff owned. Like the locket, Riddle put bits of his soul into it and made them into Horcruxes. We have no idea where this one is hidden away."
No one said a word. Harry half wondered if he'd placed a silencing charm on the entire group by mistake. He held up the last photo. "This is a picture of Riddle's snake Nagini. Riddle put a bit of his soul into her as well. Professor Dumbledore thought that Riddle had also created one more Horcrux while he was still a student, but we don't know what it might be." He placed the photos on the table so people could look at them later.
Minerva stood and asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "Harry, how on earth did you obtain these photos?"
Harry replied, "I used the pensive and went back into the memories. While I was in them I used my new camera. I made them while I was waiting to come here."
Moody asked, "Great idea, Potter. Whose memories were these?"
Harry replied, "One was from an old Auror before Riddle was born, one was from a professor when Riddle was sixteen and one was from a woman who had purchased the locket and the cup when Riddle was eighteen. The others are mine."
Minerva asked, "Harry is there anything else that you can tell us about the horcruxes?"
Harry said, "A bit. Some is based on guesswork. Some is based on what the Professor and I were able to learn this last year. Some is based on what the Professor was able to tell me about Riddle, or I've heard myself. Did you have specific questions?"
Moody asked, "Is there some kind of connection between the items?"
Harry replied, "In one of the professor's memories, he showed me that Riddle liked collecting souvenirs. We believed that both the locations and the objects themselves held significance to him."
Tonks asked, "Where did Professor Dumbledore find the ring?"
Harry said, "Riddle had hidden it at the remains of Gaunts' shack in Little Hangleton. Gaunt was Riddle's grandfather on his mother's side."
Arthur asked, "How was the ring destroyed?"
Harry replied, "I don't know. Does anyone?" No one answered.
Remus asked, "Harry, do you have any idea where the other objects are hidden?"
Harry answered, "The day Snape murdered the Professor, he and I had gone searching for the locket. We found where it had been hidden, by a place where the orphanage had taken Riddle and the other orphans on outings. It had been guarded by enchantments and infiri. Someone had found it before we did and replaced it with a fake locket."
"Do you have the fake locket?" asked Kingsley.
Harry pulled the locket out of his pocket, surprising himself that he was still keeping it. Kingsley looked at it and asked, "Does anyone remember someone with the initials R.A.B?"
No one could think of anyone with that name.
Hermione voiced a question that had been bothering her. "If this person stole the locket, and apparently knew what it was, why would they go to the trouble of replacing it with a fake?"
Again, no one could think of an answer.
Finally Bill asked the question that had been on their minds for the last hour. "Harry, what can we do to best help you?"
Harry replied, "I think we should group ourselves into three teams for a while. The first team should be made up of those who might be best at research and healing. There are things that we'll need to look up, spells to research, and information that we'll need."
He continued. "The second team will be primarily searching for the Horcrux pieces. They will work to try and figure out where they might be and how to get to them. This might be a dangerous task. We don't know how the professor hurt his hand."
Harry finished, saying, "The last team will primarily be a fighting unit. I want to go after the Death Eaters and train to go after Riddle and live to tell the tale. Take a few minutes to decide where you'd fit the best." Harry let people talk together for a bit then said, "Horcrux team, please meet in that corner. Research team, please meet in the corner over there. Fighting team, please meet in the far corner."
Hermione, Luna, Flitwick, Poppy, Arabella, Diggle, and Tom the bartender made their way to the research table. Professor Flitwick immediately said, "Hermione, you far and away have the best research mind in the group. I nominate you as team leader." Everyone else agreed and that was that.
Harry walked over for a moment and said, "Initially I'll need you to focus on researching what the missing Horcrux might be, and battlefield healing. I've previously asked Professor Flitwick to research the Horcrux curse itself so we can understand how to safely destroy the objects when we're ready. Poppy will need to teach you as much battlefield healing as possible. I know that we'll need those skills sooner or later." They nodded and he went to the Horcrux team.
At the Horcrux team table Remus, Arthur, Hagrid, Minerva, Sturgis, Ron, Bill, and Ginny all sat down. Minerva nominated Remus. When Harry got there, he told them that they would follow up on the leads provided by the research team and physically recover the Horcruxes themselves. He said, "Bill, I'm glad that you volunteered for this group. I wish that we'd had your curse breaking skills the day the professor and I went after the locket. This is dangerous work. Riddle guarded the locket with a lake full of infiri." He went to meet with the fighting team.
Moody was pleased to see Kingsley, Neville, Tonks, Fred, George, Hestia and Aberforth follow him to the table. When Harry arrived Moody asked him what he had in mind for the group. Harry replied, "I'll be a member of this team until the Horcruxes are found. I'd like you and Kingsley to help train us to learn and practice advanced tactical fighting techniques so that we can effectively go and attack a small group of Death Eaters."
Moody and Kingsley nodded. They knew that Harry's words were objectively spoken and not a slam on the Auror group.
A few minutes later, Harry gathered everyone back together. When everyone was seated he said, "We don't need another police group that is trained primarily to react. I want to be able to set an ambush and go after the Death Eaters offensively. Initially, I want the fighting team to become a major thorn in Riddle's side to distract his attention away from the Horcruxes. I want the research team to try and find where the Horcruxes might be located and what the last piece might be. After they have been found and recovered, I want to resort the Order into a battlefield healing team and a fighting team. I would anticipate that most of the Horcrux team would join the fighting team."
Everyone nodded, pleased with their new assignments. Harry wanted to end the meeting soon, but had one more story to tell. He said, "I want to tell everyone what happened with the locket and up in the tower. I don't want to be accused of keeping a lot of secrets from the group. Early in the morning, Professor Dumbledore and I had set out to go to Dover. The Professor had found a cave where he thought one of the Horcruxes had been located because it was a place where young Riddle may have tormented some of the other kids at the orphanage when he was growing up."
Harry went on to tell about the blood spell at the secret door, the pond full of the undead, the island, the potion bowl and recovering the fake locket. Then he told them of returning to Hogsmede, seeing the Dark Mark and a chilling first hand account of Dumbledore's murder. As Harry was finishing his story, they could hear the beautiful phoenix song, and saw a flash of flame as a young phoenix appeared before their eyes. Slightly smaller than Fawkes had been, the young female had red and white plumage. It flew to Harry's shoulder and sang for a minute. Harry stroked the beautiful bird as everyone gathered around to see her. Other than Fawkes, only Hagrid had ever seen another phoenix before.
Harry thanked everyone for coming, asked that the individual groups arrange to meet at least once during the week and that the full group meet again next weekend. Remembering one last thing, he took the shrunken trunk out of his robe pocket with the professor's extra things. "Hermione helped me sort through the professor's personal things. I kept the books, his pensive and some other things that might help me. There are a lot of photographs here, some robes, scarves, shoes and the like. Please take a look through the trunk and take whatever you'd like either for a keepsake or to be able to use. The rest will be given to Gladrags."
The wizards and witches sorted through the box with everyone selecting a dozen items that they could use as well as a photograph or two. Harry and Hermione took the Floo back to Grimmauld Place, exhausted after a very long day. Ron and Ginny said that they'd be over in the morning.
… --- … ---
A/N
Thanks to Steve, Alyx and Bob.
Unnamed Story by Kinsfire looks interesting (NC17)
Of the good guys, who should never be killed? (If they die, you will hate the story)
Should Harry support Scrimgeour? What is the cost of not supporting him
In my other stories, I've had Harry finish off Voldie in a variety of ways. Does anyone have a clever favorite?
If you're reading a great post HBP story, please let me know.