Ch. 4

Upon returning to England, Tori and the boys got settled in their new flat in London. It was rather nice with a spacious kitchen and living room and two bedrooms on either side of the flat. Both bedrooms had large windows that, with the help of a little peering, let them see what was going on on the balcony just off the living room.It wasn't as large as the house they were used to, but it would do.

Tori had Ron, Draco and Hermione picked up in Diagon Alley since the new flat didn't have a fireplace for the Floo network. As usual, the Weasleys arrived last and were nearly thirty minutes late. It broke Tori's heart to see Draco go from the smiling boy she had gotten used to during their time together to the sullen boy that was expected of him when his father picked him up. Tori told Lucius that Draco was welcomed in her home any time he wanted to visit. Hermione was offered the same welcome, but Tori knew her nerves would be shot if she had to put up with Ron for long periods of time again.

Tori and her sons unpacked and made the flat their own. Harry continued his lessons in Occlumency with Tori, though she was not as well adapt as some of her relatives. She had mentioned that Sloane's father was supposed to be quite the expert, but Harry politely declined. A few days later, an owl pecking at the glass doors to the balcony interrupted breakfast.

"It can't be our school letters," Sloane said, looking at the owl. "We won't get those for another week or so."

Tori sighed and opened the door. She took the letter and watched as the owl left. Obviously, she wasn't expected to answer the letter right away. Sloane and Harry watched as Tori's expression darkened as she read the letter.

"What is it, mom?" Harry asked.

"It's from Dumbledore," Tori said. "He says that he'd feel much better if Harry were placed in his care for the remainder of the summer. Now that Voldemort is back, Harry should be protected."

"What about you and Sloane?" Harry asked.

Tori didn't answer, but the look on her face got darker. It was all the answer that Harry needed.

"Well, if that old man thinks that I'm just going to hand my son over when he can't tell me anything of where he's going, then he's out of his mind!" Tori's hand clenched, crumpling the note. "Imagine his nerve! I cannot say where we will be taking Harry! What a bunch of fooey!"

"What did the note say?" Sloane asked.

Tori reopened the note and read, "Due to the reappearance of Voldemort, I feel that it would be in Harry's safest interest to spend the remainder of the summer under my care. It is not that I don't think that you could protect him, Tori, but I can hide him better seeing as how Voldemort already knows he is with you. To ensure that Voldemort can't use you against us, I cannot say where we will be taking Harry. A guard will be sent later tonight to pick him up. Dumbledore."

"Owl him back and tell him that I'm not going," Harry said. "Honestly, I think I'm safer with you right now."

Tori shook her head. "It won't work. You don't know Dumbledore the way I do. I saw it all when I went to school. He dotted on your father and his little gang. He was suspicious of the Slytherians. He never gave us a break unless it benefited him, much like his manipulation of your father, Sloane.It was as if he knew the future, but he never did anything to prevent it. I'm sure that if he had put his mind to it, he could have defeated Voldemort long before your parents were killed."

"What are we going to do, mom?" Sloane asked.

"The only thing we can do," Tori sighed. "Stun the guards and run like mad!"

She was on edge for the rest of the day. Every little noise had her jumping and reaching for her wand. Harry and Sloane quickly learned to walk quietly and slowly after the first stun spell nearly missed them. As night fell, Sloane and Harry noticed that she checked to make sure she had her wand a little more often then necessary. Harry hoped that Dumbledore had the sense to send Remus Lupin to pick him up. Tori would (probably)hesitatebefore jinxing Lupin into his next life.

Thinking on Lupin, Harry wondered how his ex-Professor and his godfather, Sirius, were doing. He should probably write them once this was over and let them know what was going on. The last time he had seen either one, Lupin was practically dating Tori before he and Sirius had been called on by Dumbledore to "assemble the old gang". He felt bad about not writing to them before and wondered if Lupin still wanted to see his mom after Snape's good luck kiss.

It wasn't until late that night when the guards appeared. When Harry thought back on it, it was almost as if they didn't want to run in to Tori at all. If they could, they would have spirited Harry away under the cover of darkness.

"Harry, wake up," a familiar voice urged. Harry opened his eyes and saw Lupin standing over his bed. Behind Lupin was an assortment of witches and wizards; eight in all. Harry noticed that Mad-Eye Moody and Elphias Doge, the caretaker of Hogwarts, was among them.

"What's going on?" Sloane muttered, turning over in his bed. He froze when he saw the group and a few of the witches and wizards raised their wands to point at him. The warning was clear. Don't speak and we won't have to hex you.

Harry, however, reached over to his alarm clock as if he were about to take the glass of water off the nightstand. He turned the volume knob up and then hit the radio button. The loud noise of some burger jingle filled the room, alerting Tori that the guard had arrived.

Mad-Eye quickly blasted the alarm clock. "Why did you do that, boy?"

"To warn me of when treachery is going on in my own house," Tori's voice proclaimed.

The group jumped and turned to see her walking in the room. Tori had on a short white nightgown and a matching silk robe. It was obvious that she had been trying to keep comfortable while she waited. Her red hair was a tangled mess, making her look wild and dangerous.Her wand was out and pointed at them, ready to defend her sons to her last breath.

"Tori, put that down. We can be civil here, right?" Lupin put his hands up to show that he didn't have his wand out.

"Remus Lupin, I expected better of you!" Tori seethed. "You know how I feel about my children. I'm not about to just hand one of them over without knowing where he's going or when I'll be able to talk to him again."

"He's not your child," growled Moody.

"Then who's child is he? I raised him! I took care of him! Those idiots that Dumbledore would have left him with had abandoned him, left him for dead! Where was the Wizarding World then?" Tori spat.

Lupin took a step back, motioning for the rest of the group to move back as well. A few of them looked like they wanted nothing more then to fight Tori and take Harry far away from this place.

"Dumbledore feels that it's best if Harry was placed under his care. I'm sure you understand our concern for his safety."

"His safety?" Tori started to advance on Lupin. It was rather funny to see the group of wizards and witches move back as Tori moved forward. "I'm well aware of the need for Harry's safety. It's Dumbledore's lack of concern for the safety of Sloane and myself which has me so mad! If staying with me is going to bring Voldemort -" here a great number of Harry's would-be rescuers hissed and Moody growled at her to shut up, "- down on us, then what's going to stop him from coming after just me and Sloane?"

Lupin froze. "He believes that Harry is going to be his primary target, that he'll leave you alone until after Harry's dead."

Tori gave a sour laugh. "Please, spare me, Remus. If it's one thing I know about Voldemort -" again came the hissing, "- it's that he grabs any opportunity possible. If he can't have Harry, he'll go on to objective two until he can. He's had years to plot his next move, far more time the Dumbledore."

"So, what do you suggest we do? Leave Harry staked outside with a huge sign for Voldemort -oh stop hissing, everyone- to just come and take him?" Lupin cried. "Sacrifice him so that you and Sloane can remain safe?"

"Of course not! I don't disagree that Dumbledore thinks he can protect Harry, but I do not agree with his methods. To just snatch my son away from me with no way of knowing where he is or if he's all right, and knowing that in the process of one son's safety, my other son is thrown into danger! If Dumbledore was serious, he would have offered to protect Sloane as well!"

"What about you, mom? Who'd protect you?" Harry asked.

Tori drew herself up to her full height, even though she was still shaking with anger. "I can protect myself. Harry, you've said that he wants me to be his Dark Lady. I can buy myself some time, if need be. However, you he'll kill on sight and who knows what he'd do to Sloane."

"Tori, I can't take Sloane with me," Lupin said, placing his hands on her shoulders. "However, I will talk to Dumbledore. And, I'll owl you as soon as we reach our destination and I'll let you know how Harry is doing."

"That's not good enough!"

"That's the best I can do. I promise you, Tori, that I will do everything in my power to convince Albus in protecting Sloane as well."

Tori sighed and let her head drop to Lupin's chest. He immediately wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer. The fightsank out of her body and she sagged slightly against him as he held her up.When she lifted her head to look at him, she looked tired.

"I'm entrusting you with one of the most important people in my life, Remus. I'd die for my sons, you know that." Tori whispered.

"I know," Lupin said.

Tori buried her head in his chest again. "Harry, pack your things." Harry started at the watery sound in his mother's voice. It was clear that she didn't want him to go, but it was either go along with Dumbledore's plan or fight every person he sent to fetch Harry. Harry wanted to grab his mom and let her know that everything would be all right, but he went and packed instead.

One of the witches - a girl a few years older then he was with bright violet hair - helped Harry pack. The rest of the guard went to wait on the balcony for the signal that they could leave. Lupin was left with Tori, whispering in French over her head. Sloane soon walked over and hugged his mom, allowing Lupin to leave.

"We'll have to travel by broomstick since you don't have Floo here and you're too young to Apparate and it's more then our lives worth to create an unauthorized Port Key." Lupin explained.

On the balcony, Lupin introduced Harry to his 'rescuers'. Kingsley Shacklebolt was a tall black wizard with a deep voice, Elphias Doge was next to him. Dudalus Diggle, whom Harry remembered meeting his first time in the Leaky Cauldron and the violet-haired witch was Nymphadora Tonks, who only wanted to be known as Tonks. Moody stood next to a stately witch in emerald called Emmeline Vance, and next to her was a wizard with straw-colored hair named Sturgis Podmore. The final member, a pink-cheeked witch who kept one eye on Tori, was named Hestia Jones.

When the signal was made, everyone mounted their brooms and flew off. Harry waved to his mom and prayed that she would be all right. He knew that she would worry about him, but he hoped that she didn't worry too much. He trusted Lupin to do as he said and watch out for Harry. After all, if anything happened to Harry, Lupin would be the first person Tori would hunt down - Dumbledore second.

Harry was brought to a mansion hidden by magic. Inside, Mrs. Weasley greeted him and told him to wait upstairs. Ron and Hermione were waiting for Harry, both believing that Dumbledore was in the right to worry about Harry's safety. Nothing he said would convince them that snatching him in the middle of the night was just the wrong way to do things.Ron steadfastly stayed by his idea that Dumbledore could do no wrong and Hermione told him that the night sky sheilded him and his guards from prying Muggle eyes.It wasn't long before there was a knock at the door and Uncle Hayden walked in.

"Buona sera, Zio Hayden," Harry said. Hayden gave Harry a nod, picking up on the fact that Harry needed to talk to his uncle privately.

"Buona sera, Daniel," Hayden returned before asking in Italian, "How is Tori taking this?"

"Horribly! Mom isn't too thrilled with Dumbledore at the moment," Harry exclaimed. He could see his friends' confused looks as they tried to follow the rapid Italian.

"I can understand. I tried to get him to reconsider, but I'm pretty much under suspicion here." Hayden said. "They know that I helped Tori during the last battle, so Dumbledore is only letting me hear a little bit and keeping my interaction to almost zero. That's why I'm here. Instead of being part of the meeting, I'm here to make sure you don't try to run off. Ironic, really. I'm all for helping you get out of here."

"How did you help mom? Before, I mean, in the last war?"

Hayden smiled. "I told her where the attacks took place after the fact and supplied her with some pictures. Other then the pictures, she could have gotten her information from the newspapers.. She had a back room in her homeset up with a huge map of England and she was trying to find a pattern to the attacks. It's suspected that Voldemort might have found out about what she was doing, but he never tried to hurt her. Maybe he didn't think that she was dangerous enough or could find him with Muggle means."

Harry sighed. "That's stupid! Why hasn't Dumbledore asked mom to help him? She's in a much better position to find him and knows the inside mind of a killer better then he does! Mom is very respected in finding seriel killers."

Hayden switched to English, "We'll talk about that later, OK Harry?"

"OK," Harry grumped. "Are you staying the night?"

"Can't. I have to go earn my keep." Hayden reached out and tousled Harry's hair and left.

"What were you two talking about?" Hermione asked once Hayden had left.

Harry shrugged. "Just mom's reaction over this."

Ron waved away Tori's anger and started to tell Harry everything he knew - and it wasn't much - about what was going on. Apparently, they were in the stronghold of Dumbledore's private army against Voldemort, a society called the Order of the Phoenix. They didn't know what was being said, but apparently, even Snape was a member and had been in and out of the stronghold frequently in the few days that Ron and Hermione had been there.

Harry felt his stomach drop at the mention of his least favorite teacher's name. Snape taught Potions at Hogwarts, the prestigious Wizarding School that he and Sloane went to. Since the first time they met, Snape had made it obvious that he didn't like Harry. However, Harry hoped that his feelings had changed since it was discovered that Snape was Sloane's father. Maybe the possibility of having Harry as a stepson might warm the cold Potions Master up a bit. Although, that never seemed to factor in before now, and Harry secretly doubted that Snape would come to that realization at any time soon.

And maybe Voldemort would renounce his evil ways and take up flower arrangement.

Beginning the next day, Mrs. Weasley kept the youngsters as far from the Order as she could. They helped her clean the house, which was far dirtier then anything Harry had ever imagined. Sometimes, members of the Order helped in the war they waged against the house. Mostly, though, Harry would only catch a glimpse at who had entered before Mrs. Weasley would pull him into the room and shut the door.

Lupin and Tonks were the only ones who really helped out. Snape stopped by one afternoon before he was to give the Order a report, sneering at Harry's dust covered clothes. However, it turned out that Snape was in contact with Sloane and (much to his dislike) had a letter for Harry. He left before Harry could get all of "Thanks" out of his mouth and he never saw Snape leave the house after the meeting.

It turned out that the house belonged to Harry's godfather, Sirius, and Lupin lived there as well. Lupin stayed true to his word and kept an eye on Harry, even having Harry give him letters to his mom. Sirius merely huffed at the thought of Tori being worried about Harry, but didn't deny Lupin the right to contact her. As long as they didn't reveal where they were, it was all right.

The only time Sirius let his guard down on the topic of Tori was one night when he had too much to drink. Lupin fretted over Sirius, trying to get the saused man to bed before he hurt himself. Harry knew he wasn't supposed to overhear what was being said, but since Sirius was yelling at the top of his lungs, it wasn't like Harry had much of a choice.

"How could she have picked Snape! What's he got that I don't? I'm charming, good-looking, and down right sexy!" Sirius bellowed. "Do you know how humiliating it was to know that I was dumped for Snape! Greasy, ugly, long-nosed Snivillis!"

Dumbledore, no matter how much Lupin tried, did not relent on letting Sloane stay. He said only if a member of the Mars family was attacked would he reconsider it.

When their letters came for Hogwarts, Ron and Hermione were made Prefects. Mrs. Weasley threw a huge party with most of the Order members attending. Ron got a "new" broom - second hand, but it was new to him. Ron and Hermione questioned why Dumbledore hadn't made Harry a Prefect, but Harry waved them off.

"I have enough problems without having to worry about without added responsibility," he said. "You two deserve this, and I want you two to be happy."

He wasn't lying. He had to worry about how the school would take it if Snape was revealed to be Sloane's father, not that he'd tell anyone. It was his brother's secret to tell, but you never know when the wrong eyes or ears might discover something. Sloane was still friends with Malfoy, and, though Harry didn't think Draco would betray Sloane's friendship, if he was mad enough, he might let it slip. Not to mention the other Slytherians or even if a member of another House somehow found out.

He was also worried about Voldemort. The Dark Lord had already killed his Aunt May and Uncle Henry. The only other family in England at the moment was his mom, brother and Uncle Hay. What if Voldemort went after one of them next? Not to mention wanting Tori as his Dark Lady, and he was sure Voldemort didn't mean putting Tori in a position of power. He was sure that Voldemort thought of his Dark Lady as being another minion, with a few perks.

He had found out that the Ministry of Magic in England wasn't admitting that Voldemort was back. Instead, the Ministry was having the Daily Prophet, the wizarding paper of England, make it out as if Harry were a crazy, attention-seeking child who wanted the world to worship him and Dumbledore was a senile old man. Without the truth out there, Voldemort could strike a terrible blow before anyone would react. Though these reports angered his family, nothing short of war would stop it. It made Harry feel a little better to know that in Italy, the Stregna, was reporting the truth.

Lastly, Harry was worried about his mom. She had three men after her. Snape, it seemed, still cared for his former lover and was trying harder to keep in contact with her. However, according to Sloane, his letters were cold and distant, almost formal. Remus Lupin still carried a torch for Tori from their days in Hogwarts. The only thing keeping them apart was Tori's undying love for Snape. Unless Snape came out and told her that he didn't want anything to do with her or Sloane - which, he had in letter form when the boys were just babies - Tori would continue to believe that there might be a chance. He was her only weakness.

Finally, Voldemort had already announced to Harry that he planned on claiming Tori as his Dark Lady. There was no love in his declaration. Instead, it was built on pure malice. Voldemort knew that it would hurt Harry to think of his mother under the Dark Lord's servitude, and he would make sure that Harry at least lived long enough to see Tori sitting at Voldemort's left hand.

Yes, Harry had enough to worry about without having to add the responsibilities of being a Prefect. He'd rather take it easy for a while and let someone else worry for once. With luck, this would be a rather uneventful year, but Harry wasn't holding his breath.

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A/N: yes, the conversations in Italian are now italisised. I think it makes it easier.