My apologies that this hasn't been beta'd in a while – I've been changing each chapter right up to the last moment before posting…

Chapter 31

Stomp Stomp

Luna was sitting in Hagrid's hut, enjoying a bowl of tea with him. Actually, it was a mug, but it was so large it might as well been a bowl. Hagrid, delighted with the company, was regaling her with stories of his childhood and creatures of the Forbidden Forest. In turn, she was telling him about fairy creatures and yesterday's meeting with Magorian. They were having a delightful time.

Actually, it was altogether a delightful day for Luna. She had dreamed up some marvelous pranks during the night, another baby was born to Elrind's tribe early that morning, and the gnomes had given them a new pet. Granted, the homely looking rat was really a Death Eater that had been the bane of Harry's life, but she had all kinds of creative ideas for making its life more 'interesting' when they had more time.

"Luna, next Care of Magical Creatures class, could you bring some o' yer fairy friends?" Hagrid stared intently at the fairies flying around her head.

"Sure thing, Hagrid" she agreed, drinking two-handed from the huge mug. "By the way, Harry is about ready to confront Riddle. Did you have any luck with the giants?"

Hagrid snorted. "No secret there. You-Know-Who, uh, I mean, Riddle got to 'em first. I've only got Garwp here, who's coming along jest great."

"Garwp?" Luna asked with curiosity. "Who's Garwp?"

"Harry never told yer about me brother? Step brother, actually. I brung him here last summer – got him hiding in the forest." Hagrid looked amazed at the thought that not everyone was as careless with secrets as he was. "Come on, I'll introduce yer."

Luna followed Hagrid out his back door and into the forest. After a bit of a hike in a direction away from where the centaurs lived, she could start to hear loud 'twacks' and 'thumps' and crunchy-breaky sounds. "Oh good" Hagrid smiled "Garwpy's in a good mood today."

They came into a clearing that wasn't clear a year ago. Chained with a boat anchor type chain to a large bolder was a full-blood giant, who stood and shouted with deafening exuberance "Hagrid!" when they approached. He stopped, peered down at Luna dumbly and asked "Hermy?"

"Hermy?" Luna asked Hagrid.

"Oh – he thinks you are Hermione" Hagrid grinned. "He's got a thing for her, he has."

Luna calmly walked up to Garwp. Hagrid stammered nervously a bit, but decided to let her do what she felt was best. "Hi Garwp. I'm Luna." She pointed to herself as she said it.

"Loooona?" Garwp repeated, frowning. "No Hermy?" He sat back down and cocked his head, studying her.

"Luna" the pale witch nodded. Garwp started to shred a sapling and look agitated, but she swiftly drew her wand and created a light show of colored puffs of smoke and sparkles for Garwp. He drooled and clapped and cooed like a toddler. Like a very, very big toddler. While playing with him, she discreetly glowed some fairy spells of love and peacefulness, which settled the giant down totally.

"Grawp like Looona!" he burbled at her, while she calmly walked up to him and sat on his very large knee.

"Luna like Grawp" she smiled.

O0o0o0o0o0o0o

Lord Voldemort sat in his favorite chair – a curiously stiff and formal seat on a slightly raised dais, throne-like yet austere. As the room was empty of fawning servants and Death Eaters, and he allowed himself the luxury of groaning out loud.

Holding his head with his pale reptilian hands, he shuddered with grief and, if he allowed himself to name it, fear. Nagini. Nagini his beloved familiar was dead. Wormtail had not returned with her body yet, but would any minute. Nagini, always faithful, always knowing what to say to sooth her master's nerves. Nagini wasn't an incompetent boot licker like the rest of his followers. She was almost an equal. Now she was gone.

It must have been Potter, Voldemort pondered. No one else had the arrogance or skill to breech his wards, find Riddle Manor in spite of the Fidelius charm, and the power to defeat his beloved pet. With a deep sigh he sat up in his seat and started to strengthen his Occlumency shields – an exercise he hadn't needed for decades. Somehow, he knew Potter was able to access his mind as easily as he use to access his. Now he couldn't even feel the brat.

After a meditative hour or so a groveling figure in black approached his throne, fear rolling off him in tangible waves. "Yes?" Riddle asked him with arrogant impatience, licking his thin bloodless lips to taste the terror in the air.

"M-m-my Lord" the man trembled, speaking with a voice behind the mask that reflected youth, "we have the body of your familiar." The young wizard laid a large parcel at the Dark Lord's feet – obviously the body of his beloved snake wrapped in a cloak.

Riddle's eyes narrowed – he refused to show grief or emotion in front of his followers. Especially the newer ones. With a stiff flick of his wand, he magically drew back the cloak to look at Nagini one last time. "WHERE IS NAGINI'S HEAD?" he screamed at the cowering youth.

"W-w-we found her just like that, my Lord" the man cried. "I brought her to you immediately. We could find no trace of who did it."

"Where is Wormtail?" Riddle hissed darkly, glaring around the room. Most likely the rat forced this newbie into bringing the bad news so he could avoid punishment. No matter – he would make it up to the fat little rodent later.

"W-w-we don't know, my Lord" the man stuttered in fear. "He's missing."

"CRUCIO!" Riddle screamed at the top of his lungs, lashing out his anger through the spell. The young Death Eater, having just finished his second week in Voldemort's service, died swiftly from the force of the spell. Reasons like this was why he didn't offer Death Eaters a benefits package on hiring.

O0o0o0o0o0o0o

The Lupins were eating lunch together at Grimmauld Place when Mr. & Mrs. Weasley popped in through the floo. "You are off work early" Remus observed.

The father of the Weasley clan looked a bit nervous. "Can we speak safely here?" he asked, glancing around the familiar kitchen. Remus and Tonks nodded, and he proceeded to charm the room for privacy like Harry had taught him. "What's up?"

Molly and Arthur sat down and helped themselves to the food offered. Molly, never one to mince words, started right in. "How do you two feel about the order?"

Tonks laughed. "That's a loaded question. Can you be a tad more specific?"

The red headed husband and wife looked at each other. With a deep breath, Arthur said "OK, I'll go out on a limb. We have reason to suspect Albus has been tampering with our thoughts, and our children." They watched Remus and Tonks nervously for reaction.

Remus sighed sadly. "You are right – he has" he answered simply. Molly's face started to turn colors as she got ready to launch into an understandable tantrum. Remus quickly raised a hand "hold on, Molly. Let me fill you in. First of all, we don't agree with what he is doing. I didn't tell you because Albus is a master Occlumens – it's hard to keep secrets from him. Second of all, he's become so skillful at manipulating people, if you tell someone he's messing with them, chances are they will not believe it. Third of all, Harry is safe and almost ready to defeat Riddle."

Mrs. Weasley backed down instantly. "Go on" she said tersely.

"Let's visit Harry and the kids" Tonks suggested. "He can explain best, and he has all kinds of visual aids."

"You know where Harry is?" Mr. Weasley asked, not terribly surprised.

Remus smiled and Tonks called out "Dobby!" The house-elf popped into the room. "Dobby dear, could you pop all of us over to visit Harry?" she smiled sweetly at him, batting her eye lashes.

Dobby giggled. "Yes Mrs. Lupin – right now?" She shrugged and chirped "sure", so Dobby grabbed everyone's hands and popped away.

Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna were enjoying a relaxed lunch themselves. Hermione had just returned from her visit with the merfolk and they were going through stacks of books borrowed from the Hogwart's library trying to form a plan against dementors.

When the Weasleys popped in, Molly took one look at Harry and Hermione and with a strangled cry, ran forward and grabbed them in a crushing embrace. Then he whacked them both up side their heads with her purse.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN FRIGHTENING ME LIKE THAT?" she screeched at them both, who were trying admirably not to grin. "YOU COULD HAVE LET ME KNOW WHERE YOU WERE AT LEAST!" Then she looked around at the room, with its endless track of clicking, whirring marbles and huge moving canvas of Dumbledore. "Um, where are we, anyways?"

Harry grinned and bowed. "Welcome to Godric's Suitcase. Please allow me to show you around."

One tour later, Mrs. Weasley was relieved to see the boys and girls had separate quarters, Harry hadn't eloped, everyone was very well fed by Winky, and the world hadn't fallen apart without her. Neville and Luna discreetly popped out for a visit to his Gran, and the rest sat down to talk.

Settling down on the super-sofa and chairs, and Mr. Weasley nervously cleared his throat. "OK, we are very happy to find you are all right. Now what can you tell us about Ron, Ginny, and Albus." Everyone's mood became subdued.

Harry gazed at the pair thoughtfully for a bit while everyone fidgeted nervously. Finally he stood up and retrieved his untainted penseive and placed it in the middle of the coffee table. Gesturing over to the spy painting, he quickly explained how they had been watching Dumbledore all year, and this wasn't going to be pleasant for them to see.

Harry grabbed the memories from his mind of Ron storming in demanding the use of his payola, and Ginny's talk with the headmaster, and placed them in the stone bowl. Molly and Arthur looked almost frightened as they gazed at the swirling silver mist, but Harry shrugged and told them "it is best to know the truth."

When the Weasleys were done with the memories, they sat back in their chairs, anger and shock written over their faces. Molly had tears dripping silently down her cheeks, as she murmured over and over "my babies, my poor babies. What has he done to you?" Arthur didn't say a word, but was shaking with barely contained rage.

Molly looked at Harry and Hermione, blowing her nose and sniffing. "I always thought you would marry Ginny, Harry, and you Hermione would be with Ron. Now I find out any interest they had was only in their wallets. I'm so sorry – I thought I raised better children then that."

Hermione patted her arm. "Mrs. Weasley, you did raise great kids. Fred and George are over here all the time helping us. Bill and Charlie are wonderful, and Percy is back from a difficult time. Perhaps if Professor Dumbledore hadn't had pushed Ron and Ginny into spying on Harry, there wouldn't be so much unconscious hostility, and those relationships might have occurred. We will never know. As it stands, we are willing to bet that Dumbledore has given them charmed items, or charmed items in your home to keep them subservient to him, and obeying him no matter what they would honestly think or feel."

"What can we do?" Arthur finally spoke. Remus handed him a glass of Firewhiskey that they kept on hand in the trunk for cases such as this.

"We can ask Hogwarts to keep Dumbledore busy for the afternoon, and come to the burrow with you. The four of us will find any charmed items and remove the hexes, and we can remove any tampering with their minds. Dumbledore has been laying it on thick lately, and it won't be hard to do. Very clumsy and heavy handed." Harry stared at the table top. He really hated to go near Ron or Ginny, but he wanted to help the family in any way he could.

Mrs. Weasley nodded numbly, as her husband downed his drink. Hermione sized the red-heads up. "I think you should hear the rest of what the Headmaster has been doing, first. It will give you time to recover some from the shock."

Harry, Hermione, Remus and Tonks swiftly delivered the fast version of Harry's past year – finding his parent's will, the tainted penseive, forbidding Harry to go to Sirius' will reading, and all they learned through the spy canvas. They shared with them the training they had done with various beings and the founders and that the final battle was to take place soon. The discussion was peppered with many visits through the penseive.

When they had exhausted the topic, Harry and Hermione gently removed all blocks and false memories implanted in the Weasley parents, who took a rest, adjusting to the proper memories now in their heads. Arthur shook his head sadly and observed "I guess it's too late in the day to go to the burrow now."

"Er, I charmed the room for time slowing – we've only been here about 2 minutes actually" Harry gently smiled. His heart had been broken last summer by Ron, Ginny and Dumbledore, and now the people who loved him like their own were going through worse. He knew he had to help.

O0o0o0o0o0o0o

The walk though the burrow, with a sullen and uncooperative Ron and Ginny in tow, revealed what Harry and Hermione expected. The mantle in the kitchen, jewelry, shoes, robes, toys, tea pots – it took the two of them hours to find it all and safely contain them.

Molly shuddered. "Why not just remove the charms, Harry dear? I've no doubt you are powerful enough".

"Thanks Mrs. Weasley. We both could, but it might trigger an alarm to Dumbledore. By containing them this way, he thinks they are still in place and working." Harry was working inch by inch on the door jamb to envelope a potent loyalty charm.

Ginny was sitting in a seat by a sunny window, tears slowly dripping down her face. Ron was standing next to her, patting her arm and looking much less antagonistic than he was a couple hours ago. Tonks was keeping a covert eye on them to make sure they didn't try to contact the headmaster. The former best friend turned to Harry and asked "what now? What are you going to do to us?" The red-headed boy's hands were clenched in anger and fear.

Harry looked at him in shock. "Do to you?" he asked in amazement. "With your permission I'll remove all of the tampering Dumbledore has done to your heads, and I'll ask you not to talk to him. That's all I want to do to you." He turned away from Ron, visibly hurt.

Ginny sniffed. "Don't be a bigger prat than we've been, Ron. Can't you see – can't you feel the difference already? Dumbledore's been screwing with our heads ever since we've started Hogwarts. He's paid us to spy on our mate, and hexed us to never even question it. Harry – you can poke around my mind all you want – I owe it to you and Hermione." She jumped out of her chair and stood in front of him bravely.

The Boy-Who-Lived gave her a quick brotherly hug. "Ginny, thank you for trusting me. But you really want Hermione to do it. I don't think we need to be sharing thoughts or memories – it's not proper." She nodded in relieved agreement, and Hermione took her hand and sat down next to her on a sofa.

Hermione handed Ginny a handkerchief to compose herself, and then looked deep into her brown eyes. Dumbledore had never attempted to teach the young red-head any occlumency, or really had anything to do with her, except to use her as a snoop on Harry and potentially a distraction for him. Hermione was horrified to find implanted suggestions which had caused the poor girl to have hormonal surges beyond normal teenage urges, and much of her 'nasty' personality was truly caused by the headmaster's manipulations. Gently, lovingly, Hermione pointed out to Ginny everywhere Dumbledore had caused her craziness, removed the tampering, and soothed her guilt and battered ego before backing out of her mind.

They broke apart, and Hermione sent a quick message to Harry, letting him know the general nature of what she found without gossiping. Ginny flung herself into her mother's arms, weeping bitterly for her lost youth and Dumbledore's rape of her self-control.

"What did you do to her, 'Mione?" Ron shouted with agitation, but Ginny flung a hand out to him.

"Nothing Ron – she just took all of that dirtbag's influence out of my brain. Let Harry do you – you won't believe what he's done to us." And she started sobbing all over again, her mother crying with her.

"OK, Harry. Do me." Ron gulped and waited.

"Don't fret, mate" Harry said softly. "It doesn't hurt, and I'm not poking around – ask Ginny. I'm just looking for what the Goblins call 'scent'. Dumbledore's scent. Then I show it to you and remove it. It's a two-person thing." Ron lifted his gaze from his lap and with Gryffindor bravery, looked Harry in the eyes.

Harry went in gently and swiftly. Dumbledore had spent more years and more effort on Ron than Ginny, and there was a lot of tampering to deal with. Together the two young wizards explored, prodded, and exhumed the poison of the headmaster. Harry was grateful to learn that Ron and his meeting at Platform 9 ¾ that first September was just chance – the headmaster hadn't got to Ron until later that year. So once all the tampering was removed, they decided to sit down in Ron's head and play a game of wizard's chess as eleven year olds again – sort of starting their friendship over again. Molly and Arthur were curious to see giggling and smiling going on between the boys – far different from the guilt and loss that Ginny experienced. Ginny understood.

O0o0o0o0o0o0o

Harry and Hermione got home to Godric's Suitcase late that night. Luna and Neville were waiting up to get a full report. Winky and Dobby made a fancy Japanese dinner of sushi and sashimi for everyone, which was fine with Hermione as soon as she learned that no sentient fish were used. The elves never ceased to amaze with their culinary skills.

"So what's up for tomorrow?" Neville asked after hearing the good news that the Weasleys were all on their side now.

"I think I need to visit Madame Bones tomorrow" Harry said around a mouth full of rice, wiping a wasabi-inspired tear from his eye. We have three weeks left until school starts. I want to take Riddle down before that. I think Hogwarts grounds is probably the best location – heavily warded from the muggles so they don't know what's going on, and I don't want students here. I checked with Lady Hogwarts and she's fine with it. I think next Monday would be a lovely date – what do you guys think?"

Hermione grabbed her planner and the four of them agreed – the hopefully final battle against Riddle would be next Monday. Now the trick would be to let the order, the aurors, and all beings who wanted to fight for the light to know and be there without Death Eaters, Tom, or Fudge finding out.

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