… --- …
Chapter 15
Riddle was frustrated. With the death of Bella and the capture of Wormtail, he had lost the closest followers that could be considered confidants. It was for that reason that Snape was summoned on Sunday evening.
"Sit down Severus," commanded Riddle. Snape knelt and did as he was told, not having any idea what the Dark Lord would want. Riddle continued, "What is your assessment of the raid on Hogsmeade?"
Snape carefully replied, "If your primary objective was to acquire gold for operating funding than I would say that it was largely met. If your goal was the annihilation of the village than it was unfortunate that Potter and his little friends were there."
"It wasn't his little friends that killed or captured eight of my Death Eaters. It appears that Potter has joined or is leading Dumbledore's old Order. Dolohov recognized Moody, several of the Aurors and Potter's old professor, Lupin. At least a third of the dementors were destroyed. He has found a way to easily kill them. The lunatic's paper ran a story which sounded like their side achieved a victory."
"No one pays attention to the writings of a fool. They also ran a story about apparating to the moon."
"Perhaps, but I shall raise another army and go after the castle. Potter's story certainly steeled dozens of wavering parents to send their children to Hogwarts, strengthening the Ministry's position." Snape said nothing, waiting for the Dark Lord to finish or ask a question.
"By late October we shall be ready. Who within the school is loyal to us?"
Between the arrests and expulsions Snape doubted that anyone was, but wanted to survive the meeting without being tortured. He wisely replied, "I shall find you an answer. When shall we meet again?"
"Late in August. See who you can recruit. I need at least another dozen followers recruited and trained by the end of September. Go to Durmstrang if you need to. They can easily be purchased. When I am ready, I shall summon the Inferi to join us."
"Yes, my Lord."
"Leave now." Snape got up to leave, amazed that he hadn't been tortured. He was astounded that the Dark Lord would consider that Potter might be leading the Order. He might be looked up to by a few of the fame hungry students, but he had no real skills, just luck. Arrogant, just like his father. Yet it was troubling that it had been reported that he'd destroyed dozens of the dementors, though Snape himself hadn't personally witnessed it. The Chosen One. Nothing more than a load of made up rubbish. More troubling to him was the identity of the wizard who had murdered Bellatrix. None of the Death Eaters had been close enough to witness it and neither paper indicated that someone had come forth and taken credit.
He set off for Durmstrang to recruit twenty followers.
… --- …
Harry had not left his room in two days. He was racked with guilt and felt crushed by the pressure. He had done everything that he could think of to help his friend. 'Dumbledore would have done better… He'd have…But Dumbledore had watched helpless as Barty Crouch had thrown Sirius into Azkaban… Helpless or allowed it to happen?' he would never know for sure. Both men were dead.
He heard a soft knock on his door. Dan opened it and said, "Get cleaned up and dressed. We have a match in an hour." Without waiting to hear an argument, he closed the door and walked out.
Harry had desperately wanted a father figure for years. Now he had one but it had its frustrating moments too. He dragged himself out of bed and stumbled into the shower. After five minutes of being sprayed by the hot water, he opened his eyes, realized that he'd already shampooed his hair three times, finished and got out.
There was a new Cutter and Buck golf shirt on his bed along with a pair of soft spiked golf shoes. Harry smiled for a moment as he got dressed. Dan was a really nice bloke. He didn't even notice anymore that he was wearing his dragon hide vest and trousers. They had come to fit like a second skin now.
He went downstairs. Alyx was back at Auror class. Susan, Hermione and Emma had gone shopping for something. Dan was at the table having a fourth cup of coffee and was reading the paper.
Winky had coffee, juice and toast ready for Harry as soon as he sat down. "What's in the news?" asked Harry.
"In the London Times, there are reports of disappearances and deaths. The page 3 girls in the Sun are looking younger every day. According to the Daily Prophet all is right in the world and Britain should be focusing all of her attention on the Chudley Cannons resurgence. The Quibbler seems bi-polar. Half of the articles appear to have been written by a lunatic, while the other half are spot on."
Harry grinned, and said, "The lunatic in question is my friend Luna Lovegood's father. Interestingly enough, his first name is Odd. Your assessment is correct. Luna usually sees the world from a different angle too, but she's brilliant."
Dan nodded and replied, "Yesterday it listed the deaths associated with the attack on Hogsmeade. There was a large article about Sirius Black being named innocent of all previous charges. A large fund in his name was set up to help the war victims. A man named Peter Pettigrew was charged, confessed and convicted of murder. He also confessed to an entire bevy of other crimes going back to your parents' murders. Did you know that your friend Ron and his brother gave him shelter for many years?"
Harry nodded, hoping that bit of news would have never seen the light of day, and not really wanting to tell Dan how much he knew about Pettigrew. "Percy found him in their back garden and they kept him as a pet rat for many years. I wish Hermione's cat had eaten him in third year when it tried to. Where are they anyway?"
"They had some shopping to do for something and just wanted to get out of the house. It's good news that Black's name was cleared. It's something at least. We should go."
Neither man played particularly well, but being out and visiting together seemed therapeutic for both of them. Dan's feeling of confinement abated a bit as did Harry's sense of guilt over not doing more for his friend.
As they were walking after their tee shots on the eighteenth, Dan said, "Harry, every man who has ever survived a war and witnessed his buddy get killed has had the same thoughts – what could I have done differently? It's called survivor's guilt. You didn't write the law to take away the Minister's authority to abate his sentence, Ron's father did. How do you suppose he feels?"
They kept walking and Harry didn't respond, so Dan kept going. "Your wizarding world is a wonderful and dangerous place, even if a lot of it seems old fashioned to me. Your owl post delivery was high tech 200 years ago, but the e-mail and cellular telephones available today make a joke out of them. The new Internet that the American Vice-President invented will connect the entire world. You can look yourself in the mirror and honestly say that you did everything that you could for your friend. There are other issues that need to be dealt with. I'm sorry to say, but it's time to move on. It's your shot."
… --- …
Hermione, her mum and Susan had finished their shopping the day before and had placed Ron's clothing, laptop, personal items, his new watch as well as an envelope containing 5,000 Australian dollars in the trunk. Per the instructions, there were no photographs, notes or wizarding items of any sort. On Tuesday morning they delivered it to Winthrop's temporary office in the Ministry building. They didn't run into anyone else that they knew.
… --- …
Hermione wanted to give Harry the best birthday party ever, but was so frustrated at the prospect. On one hand everyone needed something to cheer about, on the other no one felt like celebrating. Harry had a great home to hold a party – but only a dozen or so people could see it. He needed to be with some people – but there was a risk of publicized gatherings.
Susan suggested, "One of Auntie's old friends owns a large beach house by Brighton. I'm certain that he'd let me and a few friends use it. When's Harry's birthday?"
"This Thursday the 31st. Please don't mention Harry's name."
"I'll borrow it for Wednesday through Friday. That will give us time to set it up. You decide who you want to invite. It's not as big as Harry's but it would sleep ten. You can make a bonfire on the beach, and the water is warm. It's a muggle area, but it is secluded enough to apparate. Or I can get some portkeys made for only a galleon each. How many would you need?"
"Maybe a dozen. Make it twenty. Then we wouldn't have to explain where it was. Here is some gold."
"Thanks. I'll meet you back at the house for dinner."
They plotted and planned like soldiers on a mission.
… --- …
Wednesday morning, Moody dropped off a shopping bag full of shrunken books for Harry on different topics – dueling, fighting spells, shielding spells, physical fitness, small arms. He set them on one of the library tables, resized them and growled, "We start our training on Monday the 4th at 8AM at the castle. McGonagall said that she had a space reserved. I can do most of the work to get it ready, but I'll need your help later with the conditioning equipment. You get a start on these."
Harry tried not to count them, but there must have been about a hundred books on the table. He replied, "Thanks Moody. I'll be ready."
Moody glanced at the papers and shook his head in disgust. "The effen Prophet has gone over the edge. There's better content in the Sun."
"I've always found that to be the case," quipped Dan, smiling until Emma whacked him on the back of the head.
"There were a bunch of attacks on several groups of people in Leeds last night according to the Times," said Dan. "There were quite a few wounded and a half dozen killed. The Times made it sound like a terrorist attack."
… --- …
The nurse walked into the room and looked at the patient. He had one arms in a cast and his shoulder and head were bandaged. She put the tray down and said "Good morning, Mr. Wilson. Your surgeries went fine."
"What about…"
"They died last night. I'm sorry."
He looked around the room. There were flowers in inexpensive vases and a few get well cards.
The nurse continued, "There were quite a few patients brought in last night. Some sort of bomb blast I heard. I'll come by and visit after a bit."
… --- …
It was a few hours in the car, but it was nice to get out. They had the sunroof open and the radio on as they drove. Hermione was an unsteady but determined driver. She had passed her written test to obtain her learner permit. After an hour they stopped and Dan drove the rest of the way. Susan had good directions and the roads were well marked.
Emma relaxed somewhat with Dan back driving. Upon finding out that their talented daughter could pop around the country at will, she'd never expected that Hermione would ever want to get driving lessons. She was pleased and marveled that Hermione was so well integrated into both worlds. They could bake cookies together and she could conjure the plate to put them on out of thin air.
They arrived and went into the beautiful beach house. On the upper level were the kitchen and a very large open area with sofas, chairs and a large eating table. There was a set of floor to ceiling windows and French doors opening to a spacious wooden deck. The deck had stairs that led down directly to the beach. The lower level had five bedrooms, bathrooms and a storage area.
They went out to Harry's English Restaurant in Brighton, initially because of the novelty of the name, but were very pleasantly surprised by the food. After dinner, they went to the grocery store and purchased everything that they would need for the next day. After they put everything away, Hermione asked Harry to go for a walk with her along the beach. Susan went to meet a friend in Kempton a mile or so away.
Hermione told her mum that they'd be gone a while. Harry took his cellular telephone in case they needed to call. They walked along the pebble beach at the surf line. Occasionally they would have to run in a few paces as a larger than normal wave came in. They took off their shoes and let the water and flakes of sand flow over their feet.
They talked a little, but in truth Harry was as awash in guilt as his feet were in the surf. Hermione easily fell into her big sis role and encouraged Harry to talk by starting the conversations for him. "I miss Ginny, don't you?"
She noticed Harry smile at the remembrance. He nodded. "She was easy for me to talk with, like you, and in the last year wasn't afraid to tell me off. We kind of ended on an equal footing after the Department of Mysteries…It was ironic, one or the other of us always seemed to be pushing the other one away…The month that we did go out was…"
"Nice?"
"Yeah. Thanks for asking. It's good to remember people."
She gave his arm a little squeeze and replied, "It's good to live too. I'm not sure that I ever thanked you properly for saving me…"
"Which time?" He smiled at her even though it was getting dark.
"I was just thinking that. There have been a few times, haven't there?"
"I 'spose. I don't keep score that way."
She leaned up and gave his nose a quick kiss, then gently brushed the bridge of it with her finger. She looked at him expectantly, then lowered her eyes and continued walking. After a moment, she asked, "What did Moody want?"
"He dropped off about a hundred books for me to read and talked a bit about training starting next week."
"That's a lot of books to really study."
"No kidding. I know it won't get me anywhere, but I wish the professor had done something like this a year ago. He spent a year showing me about two hours of memories. I feel so far behind."
She had thought the same and wished that they'd kept the D.A. going. "He must have thought that they were important to have gone out and collected them. Will you show them to me sometime?"
"Sure."
She conjured a blanket and they watched the stars in the night sky, or at least as many as they could see so close to a city. Up in the air they could see a 747 on its way to some unknown destination far away.
Seeing Harry transfixed on the jumbo jet and worried where that train of thought would lead, she asked, "Did you know about Hanna and Susan?"
"Huh?" Harry wasn't sure that he'd heard her.
"They liked each other."
"Huh?" He'd definitely heard her that time.
"Like a couple."
"But she and Ernie…Oh…"
"Does it change how you feel about her?"
"Not really. I never really thought about her like…"
Making a quick decision, Hermione said, "Scoot closer… there… Happy birthday, Harry… Close your eyes." She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. Before he could react, she had moved a respectful distance away, blushing slightly and glancing shyly over at him.
Harry wasn't sure what to think, but it was nice. He said, "Thanks. Thank you."
Not knowing what else to say about the kiss, he returned to the previous topic. "What about Alyx?"
Encouraged that he didn't seem too uncomfortable about the kiss, and deciding to tease him a little, she replied, "What about her?"
"Is she…"
"Harry, do you want to live to be eighteen?" She regretted her words the moment they left her lips. "I meant to say… I'm sorry, Harry. I really have no idea who she likes. I suppose it's her own business. You don't like…"
"No. No, I've hardly even talked to her. She's very polite, except in a fight. Maybe we should go back. It's pretty late."
"I'm sorry Harry." Her chance had been ruined. She squeezed his arm again, cursing herself for saying such a horrible thing. Things had been going so well. She managed to keep the tears from her eyes as they started walking back.
"No Worries. Thanks for remembering my birthday."
… --- …
Harry woke up early and watched the sun slowly make its way above the sea, the colors slowly but surely changing from deep violet to pink to orange to yellow. He liked the sound of the waves rolling steadily against the little pebbles, and the gulls in the air. He found it very relaxing.
A few minutes later, Dan came out, two cups in hand. "Good morning, Harry. The sound of the ocean is nice, isn't it?"
Harry took the offered cup and said, "Thanks. Yes it is. I've never had the time to just listen to it."
"Have you spent much time by the ocean?" Somehow he knew the answer wouldn't be very good.
"Never, well the professor took me once for a few minutes, but that was to look for something, to look for one of the horcruxes. That was the day…"
"The day he got killed?" Dan had the feeling that Harry had more to say about this than he was currently willing to let out.
"Yeah."
"I thought he was injured or ill. How did you both get back?"
"I apparated us."
"I didn't know that you could take someone along with you. Can Hermione?" That sort of ability amazed him.
"I don't know if she's ever tried."
Dan saw the opportunity to get Harry to open up a bit more and asked, "Why do you think he shielded you that day?"
Harry seemed ready to answer and said, "I've thought a lot about that. Either to protect me one last time or to give Malfoy or Snape one last try to redeem themselves. I think he was surprised to see Snape come after him."
"Harry, I'm eternally grateful that you did, but why did you protect us at the wedding?" He had never seen a man risk his life to save another on a first hand basis before, let alone to save his family.
Harry simply replied, "Because it was the right thing to do and I could. I couldn't have anything happen to any of you." There was no hint of bragging, no hint of a debt owed, just a reply.
"Why didn't everyone just apparate away?"
"Riddle's Death Eaters must have warded the grounds to prevent apparation, or maybe Mr. Weasley did, I never asked." The idea of magics and counter magics was taking a while to fully integrate into Dan's thought process.
Thinking about it a bit more, Dan asked, "Is that why you have those emergency portkey ropes placed in the pocket of the body armor?"
Harry nodded and replied, "Yes. From what I've heard you can't tell that an area is warded like that until you try to apparate. It's very difficult to quickly ward an area against portkeys."
"Harry, these Death Eaters, where do they live? It doesn't seem to be too big of a secret who they are. Why don't the Aurors just go after them?"
Harry swept his hand through his messy hair and replied, "That's the million pound question. It wouldn't be hard to impound their house like they did with Malfoy Manor."
Remembering what he'd been sent out to do, Dan replied, "We can save a few of Britain's problems for later. Let's find the girls and have breakfast."
"Happy birthday Harry," said Emma when they walked in the door. She had coffee, juice, scones, and other pastries set on the table as well as bacon and pancakes. Susan and Hermione came up the stairs a few minutes later. They each gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and greeted him.
"What are the plans for the day?" asked Dan.
"I invited people to come at ten for a day at the beach. You'll grill brats for lunch at one and steaks for dinner at seven. We're playing volleyball, wading in the surf, having beers, visiting and going out in the speedboat."
The day was fun. The girls all looked smashing in their bikinis. Lavender and Alyx, who filled out their bikini tops particularly well, were getting hungry looks from quite a few of the guys to Susan's discontent. Alyx's looked like it had been painted on. Harry couldn't keep his eyes off Hermione. Seeing her in a bikini effectively shattered any 'one-of-the-guys' image he might have still had of her, and her kiss of the night before lingered on his mind, causing him to begin to re-evaluate their relationship.
Padma and Lavender, who had become closer upon the loss of Parvati, seemed to be spending a lot of time trying to get Harry's attention and managed to bump into him several times on the volleyball court. There were plenty of young wizards, though, who were quite willing to make up for Harry's inattentiveness to the pretty pair. Justin and Dean eventually managed to get them out in the speedboat, which somehow ran out of gas while the four of them were out in it.
Alicia, who was easily the most athletic of the DA members, took pity on her quidditch teammate and helped show him how to play volleyball and also managed to keep falling witches off of his back. The long legged blonde cut a striking figure in a bikini herself, but was oblivious to the looks she received, being single-mindedly focused on winning the game. Hermione, claiming not to be inclined to sports, didn't join in the game but cheered enthusiastically on the sideline for Harry's team, distracting him quite a bit when she jumped up and down after a few exciting points.
As the afternoon wound down and Harry had visited with a surprisingly large number of people, Dan got the charcoal grill ready. With a little help from a few of the hungrier quests, the coals were ready almost instantly. Soon there were fifty steaks on the grill. Dobby and Winky were inside getting everything else ready. Fred and George were out chatting up all of the women, young or otherwise.
Effectively Hermione had invited all of the Order and most of the DA. Alyx had invited the three other Auror candidates Keith Bradley, Gunner Fawcett, and Richard Chambers. Harry remembered them from Ravenclaw. Remus suggested that it was a good opportunity to do a bit of recruiting for the Order. After consulting with Harry, he spoke with all of the sixth and seventh year DA members who weren't already part of the Order. As they were eating, Tonks and Remus asked Alyx and Harry to stand up for them at their wedding to be held on Boxing Day. Hermione and Kingsley agreed to be the attendants.
Dan took quite a few photos. They'd heard of a number of these people but had never met many of Hermione's friends from the magical world. Inside, the CD player seemed to be getting a bit louder, with a pleasant mix of U2, the Wailers, the Beatles, Dave Matthews, The Weird sisters, and the Cranberries playing in the CD player.
Too soon it got dark and people migrated to the bonfire that had been set up on the beach. Harry amazed everyone who asked when he talked about his newfound love of golf. He grew introspective and thought, 'I've lost nearly all of my Quidditch teammates, I'll be damned if I'll lose my golf partner.'
The conversation soon turned to school. To no one's surprise Minerva named Harry and Hermione head boy and girl. Seeing the look of concern on Harry's face, she said, "Don't worry, you can delegate 90 percent of the tasks to the fifth year prefects. It happens every year."
About nine Harry noticed that Molly and Arthur had arrived. "Hello Harry dear," said Molly reaching up to give him a hug.
"Thanks for coming. I was hoping you would."
"Did you have a nice day? The weather was lovely."
"Yes," admitted Harry. He suddenly felt guilty for having had a great day.
Arthur said nothing, as he'd found that anything that he'd said over the last few days had been the wrong thing. Molly seemed quite close to a breakdown with three of her children taken from her in the course of about a week. He didn't want to fan the fire.
"Sit with me," asked Harry to Arthur as Molly went to visit with Minerva. "How are…" Harry wasn't sure of the words to use, but want to give Mr. Weasley the opportunity to say what he wanted to say.
"I'm worried about Molly," admitted Arthur. "She's growing very bitter with the Ministry about things. She blames you, she blames me, she blames Dumbledore, she blames Hammer, she blames Minister Abraxan. She blames…"
"Everybody but Voldemort and his Death Eaters" said Flitwick who was sitting nearby. "You didn't invite them that night. You didn't suggest that they murder your children. You and Molly were simply trying to give Bill and Fleur a very nice wedding. I taught him charms, Albus taught him transfiguration, Minerva at one time or another had most of the Death Eaters as students. Those two young women who were raped at Folgard's were bound using a charm that I teach in class for wrapping packages."
The little professor put down his mug and stood. "We're spending our time blaming the wrong people. Wands don't kill people. People kill people. Bigotry, hatred and misguided ideals kill people. Arthur, I will always smile when I remember your daughter. Would you want me to feel any other way than to remember her vibrancy and love of people? In my eyes, she was a gift that we were given to come and know, if only for a short while. Your son should be landing about now to start a whole new life. He'll always be your son and I'll always remember him as one of the bravest young men that I've had the pleasure to call friend. You want to remember them at their best."
It turned out that Flitwick had been talking a bit louder than he'd intended to and everyone had heard him. When he finished, fifty people stood and applauded. Hagrid made a toast, "To Ron. A hellofa good man"
Everyone raised their glass.
Someone raised their glass and said, "To Harry and Ron. Two damn fine men."
"Hear, hear."
An hour later people were toasting Aberforth's extraordinary goats.
… --- …
Abraxan reviewed the paperwork that Straighthand had started and Thomas had completed. Potter, Moody and Alyx would each receive the Order of Merlin awards, first second and third class respectively. She would schedule the award ceremony to be the first Saturday in September, the seventh, and present them at the school.
She was certain that the young man would be very pleased to receive the award. She would invite all of the off-duty Aurors to attend as well.
… --- …
As instructed, Harry arrived at Hogwarts at eight on Monday morning. Moody met him at the door and together they walked up to the third floor corridor that they would be using. Harry had forgotten how large it was.
"Sit down, Potter," growled Moody. "Tell me what you know about Voldemort?"
"He was born in an orphanage. I've seen images of his mother…"
"Not Riddle. You probably know as much about him as any man alive. Tell me about Voldemort. How does he fight? Show me if you want to."
"He's very good. Actually he's amazingly quick. He starts early in a duel. He's got some fantastic shields. He either leads off with the Cruciatus or the killing curse, and most of the time he has other people do his dirty work for him."
"How many times have you faced him and what were the outcomes?"
"I saw him the first time in the forbidden forest when I was in my first year. He had taken over Quirrell's body. I fought him at the end of the year, which would have been June of 92. I beat him because he couldn't bear touching me and he had to abandon Quirrell's body."
"About a year later, I met the sixteen-year-old version of him in the chamber of Secrets. He's forgetful of old light magic. It took him a long time to remember about phoenix's healing powers. That was when he came out of his diary that he'd made into a horcrux."
"I dueled with him properly in the graveyard at Little Hangleton the night he got his body back. Because he'd used my blood as the blood of an enemy, he could touch me this time. Actually we dueled twice. The first time he started early. He hit me with the Cruciatus curse and tried to use the Imperius curse on me after I wouldn't bow to him. I broke it and we dueled again. When our wands fought, they joined beams and it was a test of wills. I forced my spell back into his wand and the Priori Incantatum effect took place. His wand started spitting out the victims of his murders back as far as my parents. When I broke the spell, they protected me for a moment, and I ran back to Cedric's body and the cup and got away. That was in June of 95."
"In June of 96 I faced him in the lobby at the Ministry for a few minutes until the Professor found me. He tried to use the killing curse on me again, but the Professor blocked it with a bit of the fountain statue that used to be there. I watched him duel the Professor for about ten minutes before he grabbed Bellatrix and left."
"How do you suppose that he beat your parents? They were very good."
"Actually, I've seen it with all the times I've spent with the dementors. They split up. My Dad tried to hold him off while my Mum went to get me. She didn't fight him. He told her to run away and leave me. She wouldn't and he killed her. He tried to kill me a few seconds later."
Moody was silent while Harry was speaking. The young man knew and had told him more about Voldemort's fighting style than any man alive. Finally he asked, "Potter, what's the usual Death Eater attack style?"
"They try to get some sort of advantage, fear, surprise, intimidation, or outnumbering the victims. They go after a family and the parents are distracted because of their desire to protect their kids. I suspect that they set up anti-apparation fields more often than not."
Moody nodded in agreement. "Based on the murder investigations that I've been on, I'd say you're right. You were a good leader splitting the Order into different workgroups. You want to give the research group something else to think about. Write down what we talked about today and give it to them to mull over. After they get the horcruxes identified and they get destroyed, we're going to want to have a strategy already in place to flame that bastard's ass."
Harry smiled as Moody continued. "What we're going to work on in the meanwhile are general fighting skills, physical conditioning, situational awareness, that sort of thing. I'll try to give you the little things that might make you a fraction of a second quicker or an inch more accurate."
Harry nodded and said, "Good. I didn't get much help there last year."
The old Master Auror nodded and said, "There are a few things about your training that we should talk about." Harry nodded prompting him to continue, "The first thing I want you to realize is that no matter how hard you work and how quickly you pick up what I'm going to show you, you won't become invincible in the next week, or month or even three months. Anybody can be beaten. Your friend's dad popped a witch who had been in over a hundred fights. She probably was focused elsewhere at the time."
Moody stood up, "OK Potter. That's enough for the day. Our schedule will be Monday through Thursday for the month of August. Bring some exercise clothing. I'll see you tomorrow at eight."
"Thanks Moody."
… --- …
Harry arrived home a few minutes after Alyx. She had brought pizza for everyone for dinner. They all sat at the table discussing their day
"How was your day Alyx?" asked Emma.
"Good. Auror Jones was in today. She demonstrated arrest and apprehension techniques. What about you?"
"Dan and I were out in Notting Hill for lunch. Look what we found." It was the wanted poster for the Coin Collector bandits, with photos that Harry Susan and Hermione all immediately recognized as Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy. Hermione began laughing uncontrollably. Emma had recognized Snape from photos that had been published in the school newsletters to the parents.
"What's so funny?" asked Susan.
"They were robbing all of these places and only taking the coins. They left the banknotes in the cash drawer. It would be like robbing Gringotts and stealing all of the knuts."
When the laughter subsided, Alyx asked, "How was your day, Harry?"
"OK. I reviewed the different encounters that I've had with Voldemort looking for tendencies and potential weaknesses."
"How many times have you faced him?" she asked, a bit awestruck.
"Seven I guess."
"Cor Blimey! I feel like an idiot talking about learning how to apprehend shoplifters."
"Why?" He didn't want her to be embarrassed.
"I don't know. It's difficult to explain." She wanted to be a part of something more than keeping Honeydukes inventory safe from little fingers.
Dan said, "They're different roles, like military commandos and policework. There's certainly some overlap, but there are major fundamental differences. No one is looking to arrest this Voldemort, am I correct?"
Alyx nodded and said, "That's a good comparison. Fundamentally the Death Eaters aren't criminals, they're terrorists. We would never consider using lethal force to apprehend most criminals."
Harry smiled sadly and replied, "Hermione and I tried stunning a dozen Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries. They kept reviving each other. It was the last time I used a stunner against a Death Eater."
Alyx nodded and said, "I don't have that option."
Harry replied, "You can't arrest the dementors or the inferi."
Alyx thought for a moment and replied, "Harry, I see your point about dementors but I think the inferi are a myth."
"No. I've see them – hundreds of them just waiting to be called."
Hermione looked nervous and asked, "In a vision?"
"No. In a lake when the professor and I were looking for one of the Horcrux pieces."
Hermione looked frustrated and demanded, "Where? Who knows about this? Why didn't you tell any… me?"
"Dunno. Other things came up." Attempting to appease her he continued, "I'm sorry, Hermione. You're right, that's information you should have had. It was somewhere on the north coast. Professor Dumbledore double apparated me to get there." Hermione calmed down at this and gave him a grateful smile.
Alyx said thoughtfully, "Maybe we can use your pensive and find it. I have a pretty good eye for detail."
Emma asked, "Excuse me for asking, what are the inferi?"
Hermione replied, "Some sort of reanimated dead corpse like a zombie."
Emma screwed up her face and said, "Gross. Like those Night of the Living Dead movies?"
Harry replied, "Dunno. I've no idea what it takes to wake them up or what they can do. I suppose that's another task for the research committee."
Alyx asked, "On a more pleasant note, what did you think of Gunner Fawcett, Keith Bradley, and Richard Chambers? They're in my Auror cadet class. Maybe they'd make good Order members?"
Harry replied, "Keith and Gunner were in a defense club that we started two years ago. Keith was OK, but Gunner was very decent." Hermione and Susan nodded in agreement.
Alyx suggested, "Maybe the four of us could spar some evening this week? I could use some extra practice for my own lessons from Auror school. Susan probably would like it."
… --- …
The next day Harry found out to his dismay what Moody had meant by "I'll need your help". He and Moody had to completely remake the third corridor, conjuring mats for the floor, spell absorbing covers for the walls, and objects scattered about the room that could be levitated or animated for use during a fight. He began to wish that he had paid more attention in Transfiguration class, as his conjuring skills were less than Moody expected, and Moody was not shy in letting know about it. By the end of the day he was exhausted, and staggered out to meet Hermione for the walk back to Hogsmeade. To his relief, she was sympathetic to his transfiguration shortcomings. Rather than telling him he should have studied more, she agreed to help him improve his conjuring in the evenings. Of more immediate importance, she allowed him to lean on her for part of the walk back, at which point she suddenly remembered that she had some Pepper up potion with her that he could take.
The next few weeks fell into a comfortable routine for Harry and Hermione. They would leave the house at 7:30 and apparate to the train station. They would walk to the castle and go to their respective areas, the locked corridor and the library. Harry really came to enjoy these walks with Hermione, listening to her enthusiastically describing the latest spells she had found or some information they had tracked down. For her part, Hermione was glad he was still so comfortable with her and was trying to figure out another opportunity for them to be alone together. They had lunch with whoever happened to be there that day and finish at 4:00.
During that time they had two Order meetings. The first was a rather somber situation. It seemed that the Obliviation of Ron had caused a higher degree of raw feelings than the deaths of Ginny, Ernie, Parvati or Sturgis at Hogsmede. Hermione reviewed the final statistics and body counts from the Hogsmeade battle. She also pointed out with pride that all but one of the patients had been treated and released within 48 hours. Aberforth muttered something about effen pesky house elves in his pub and received a scathing look from Pomfrey. Several dozen people had lost their homes during the raid – Alyx had been one of them.
Harry discussed the need to bring more people into the Order.
"What skill-sets are you looking for, Harry?" asked Kingsley.
"Maybe you can help me with that," replied Harry. "I see three likely actions ahead of us. We need people who are willing and capable of tracking down the Death Eaters one or two at a time. We need to eliminate them faster than he can recruit and train them."
Kingsley nodded in agreement and Harry continued. "We will most likely face an attack on either the school, Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley by the Inferi. He would have a difficult time transporting them so that reduces the likelihood of them attacking in London. There might be as many as 500 or 1,000 of them. We need more research on how to defeat them. The Professor told me to attack them with fire."
"Finally we need some people who will help in the final battle against what are left of his followers. If Riddle is systematically stripped of his Death Eaters in the next weeks we will have an easier time later on."
Harry took a sip of his butterbeer paused for a moment to thing and finished saying, "So to answer your question, if Hermione and Master Healer Pomfrey feel that they have sufficient staffing for healing responsibilities, I would say that we need people who would be suited to help fight the most."
Harry looked around the room and saw people nodding in consensus. He glanced at Hermione and could see that she was torn. She wanted to be there in the final battle with him but feared that her fighting skills would make her a liability. Poppy replied saying, "We have enough to handle what we need to. We can always recruit students as needed."
… --- …
The two on two dueling training after dinner turned out to be an enlightening exercise. Neither Susan nor Hermione were especially nimble, and by unspoken agreement Harry and Alyx began developing ways to simultaneously fight and protect a partner. Instinctively, Harry partnered with Hermione and Alyx partnered with Susan. As it turned out, Harry was quite a ways ahead of Alyx on shields and seemingly had more power in his spells. On the other hand, Alyx could cast wordlessly with nearly the equal power of her spoken spells.
Hermione had been going through the books that Moody had lent Harry at nearly twice the rate that he had. She began suggesting different shields and spells that could take down multiple opponents at once. Susan had improved her spell casting accuracy tremendously and could quickly hit a plate-sized target from 25 yards.
… --- …
The Order meeting the last week of August had a much lighter mood. Sirius had had his name cleared. Officially Pettigrew was in Azkaban. Unofficially Molly Weasley had been given the opportunity to toss her son's pet rat Scabbers into the veil while in the unbreakable container the week before. She did so with surprisingly little remorse after hearing Pettigrew's confession that he had performed all of the reconnaissance work for the attack that had cost her three of her children.
She knew that the action would never bring her children back but it did bring her a certain measure of closure. Arthur said nothing as the small group of witnesses had silently filed out of the Death Chamber. He took no pleasure from killing.
Gunner Fawcett, Keith Bradley, Jeffrey Stebbins and Megan Jones were introduced as new members and were placed in the fighting group. Hermione's group had been unable to identify any logical items as the last Horcrux.
Kingsley reported that after conversations with MLE Director Thomas, there was no evidence of wizarding intrusion in the Royal military services.
Harry announced that the next meeting would be held Monday the eighth at Grimmauld place. Hopefully the Horcrux committee would have some new leads.
… --- …
As the Order was meeting, Riddle had gathered his remaining Death Eaters. He had given them each a double portion of the proceeds from the raid totaling 4,000 galleons each.
McNair was startling to look at when he had his hood down. 40 percent of his skull had been replaced with the silvery substance. The Dark Lord hadn't yet grafted any skin over it, but McNair felt no pain.
Voldemort had not been as generous with Draco. Every time he stood up there was a wet spot on his robes.
When Draco asked if he could get a silver replacement, the Dark Lord shook his head and replied, "No Draco, some injuries are permanent. Such are the fortunes of war."
As they were standing in the circle, Riddle said, "It's time to summon the dementors. He cast the incantation that signaled that he wanted them to come and waited.
… --- …