In the privacy of his bedroom Dumbledore held the tiny mirror in front of his face. Harry had given him the repaired two way mirror he had shared with Sirius so they could keep in touch.
"Harry Potter," Dumbledore whispered, even now cautious he could be overheard.
After some time, during which there came an increasing amount of noise from the mirror, Harry's face appeared.
"Father! Is everything alright?"
"Yes, dear boy, don't worry. I was concerned for you. Is Severus alright?"
Harry looked over his shoulder.
"Well…I wouldn't call it 'alright', exactly. He's having trouble integrating the memories. Most of the time he is quiet and confused, but occasionally he acts like Sevvy, and at times he acts like…"
"POTTER!" Dumbledore heard from the background. Harry sighed.
"And sometimes he acts like Professor Snape," he finished a bit morosely.
"It would be so much better if he were at Hogwarts," Harry continued, "for one, he could talk to Salvatore there. He is very afraid, Albus. He thinks we don't want him anymore now that he is grown up, and Azkaban only affirmed this belief. You not being here hurts him, I know it does. You are his Daddy, and his father, no matter what set of memories is dominant at the time. Your approval means everything to him, much more even than my assurences."
The twinkle disappeared from Dumbledore's eyes.
"I know, Harry, and I would like nothing more than to be with him, but it's impossible right now. We're well on our way to remove Fudge from his office, but we're not there yet. The public is in uproar, however, since your interview. You are immensely popular, my boy, and my interview to Luna helped too. If WE love Severus, people reason, he can't be that bad."
"I hope so."
"I also wanted to warn you, Harry. Fudge is on his way out, but cornered snakes strike the most fiercely – no offense to your reptile companion, of course. Be careful. Before you left, I put a charm on you; if you are in danger, I will know instantly and we will come to your aid."
"Thank you, but this house is well-hidden; I doubt they will find us that easily. It took the whole Order weeks to track it down, and that was with your and Remus's memories of the place."
"I'm sure the Seven Paladins can handle Fudge," Dumbledore's eyes suddenly twinkled.
Harry spluttered. "Seven Paladins?"
"Didn't you read the Quibbler?" Dumbledore said innocently, "that's what they call your little group now. Hogwarts's Seven Paladins. Luna's doing, I am sure."
He laughed at Harry's indignant muttering as the connection was broken.
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"Did you find them?"
"No. They are well hidden."
"They are not in Dumbledore's houses. Snape has no house. They must be at one of the Potter residences."
"Probably, but all of them are heavily warded, and almost impossible to locate."
"Almost. The Minister gave us access to everything. The Order of the Phoenix found the boys when they were hiding; they must have found something. Possibly in the archives. Find out what it is."
"Right away."
The tall man leaned on the table, a candle eerily illuminating his scarred face and sending bizarre shadows over the golden hair.
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"Ah, Amelia, so good to see you. How are you?"
The witch sat down, her lips thin in disapproval.
"I am not here to socialize, Cornelius. I am here to inform you that a Vote of No Confidence has been filed with the Wizengamot."
The little man turned around, his eyebrows raised. "Against whom?" he enquired innocently.
"Against you, Cornelius. The Vote of No Confidence is on behalf of the people; the Wizengamot will also install an investigation concerning other strange occurances the past years."
Fudge narrowed his eyes. "Such as?"
"The Dementors in Little Whinging. Your denial of Voldemorts return. Your constant hindrance of the people who were actually doing something to fight him. Your absence at the final battle, not only personally, but also you sent no support at all. Your refusal to grant Severus Snape a trial and sending him to straight to Azkaban. Among other things."
"These sound like accusations, not investigations, Bones," Fudge said angrily.
"They could become charges should the investigation find you guilty of them," the woman replied, unphazed.
"My advice, Cornelius, would be that you resign now, voluntarily, while you still hold some influence and standing."
"Never!" the angry Minister retorted, "I won't! In time the public will come to see that I am right, that I've always been right! The old fool and that hideous boy orchestrated it all."
Bones paled. "Do you mean to say, Cornelius, that Albus Dumbledore had a hand in the return of that Dark Wizard? That Harry Potter voluntarily was tortured and nearly killed many times? That they are defending a Death Eater just to spite you?"
"Exactly!" Fudge happily exclaimed, "I'm so glad finally someone understands! You do see why I had to make those decisions now, don't you?"
"I can see that you are dangerously unbalanced, Cornelius. I should go get…"
An arm grabbed her from behind and a hand was pressed over her mouth.
A foul-smelling cloth was then held over her face and she slowly blacked out.
Fudge stared at his employee.
"That was close," the tall man said, lowering the body unto the floor.
"Is she…is she dead?"
"Merely unconscious. I will arrange for a quiet transport to Azkaban for her; you will write a press release that states she was in league with Dumbledore and Potter."
"Have you killed them yet?" Fudge asked, eager as a child on Christmas Eve.
"No," the man glanced at him with a mixture of exhasperation and disgust as he picked up the drugged Bones, "but we will. Tonight. Thanks to your impeccable archives, we know where he is."
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Harry entered with a tray of food.
"Go away," he heard.
"I'll put the food on the table," he said calmly, "you need to eat."
"Go away."
He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. "Why do you insist on being alone, Severus?"
"You're not real," he heard a whisper, "Harry left me in Azkaban. You can't be Harry. Potter hates me, why would Potter take care of me?"
"Oh, Severus," Harry sighed, squatting down on the floor in front of him, "Do you remember when you were six?"
A short nod.
"Do you remember when we lived in this place before?"
"Home. We cleaned and flew. Harry took me to the zoo. And then the bad people came."
"Not bad people, Sev. Misguided people. But yes, we lived here and we cleaned and flew and had fun, didn't we?"
Suddenly a brief smile lit up the pale face.
"Yes, we had fun."
Then a glare settled in. "Potter."
"Try to stay with me, Sev. In those weeks, I started to love you. Like you were my little brother. Nothing will ever change that. I wish we'd been in time to stop them from taking you to Azkaban. I'm very sorry I wasn't there when you needed me most…"
Harry trailed off, guilt overwhelming him.
He started out of his thoughts when Severus started talking.
"It's just…strange. You told me that I was six when my mind tells me I should have been an adult. There are…there are like, three different persons in me. The boy who lived with his parents and was abused. Sevvy. And…and whoever I was before I changed, because the Severus Snape you knew…isn't really me either. I just don't know who I am anymore…"
He shivered and pulled his robes closer around him.
"You…you don't have to help me if you don't want to," he mumbled, "I can…can just go…somewhere."
Harry shook his head.
"You're my brother. I'm not going to abandon you."
There was no more reaction. The Potions Master just stared out of the window and didn't react.
Feeling frustrated, Harry managed to squeeze his brothers shoulder without getting bitten, and left.
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Hermione woke up at 3 am. There was something strange going on, she could feel it. As she slipped into her robe and shoes, grabbing her wand, ready to investigate, she heard the soft voices of the boys.
She entered the livingroom cautiously, only to be dragged down behind the couch by Fred.
"Shhh," he whispered.
"What's wrong?" Hermione mouthed.
"People sneaking around the house. Nev got a glimpse of one; they're Assassins."
Hermione felt herself go rigid. "Ass…"
At any other time, the twins would have teased her mercilessly about the exact point in the word where her voice chose to stop cooperating. Not now, though.
Ron slipped closer.
"I counted eight. We're surrounded. Our advantage is they haven't seen us yet and don't expect us to be awake. We can surprise them. Fred, George…do you have your gags with you?"
The twins nodded.
"Simple things," they said, "a blowgun with tiny dirts, thinner than a needle, that penetrate almost everything. Coated in a Sleep potion."
"I'm the best with that one," Fred said, "I'll climb onto the roof and try to take them out."
"Good. We have to take them out one by one; we can't win a direct confrontation with eight assassins! Hermione, go get Harry," Ron said, "We will need him."
Harry sat up straight instantly when Hermione entered.
"Shhh!" the witch put a finger to his lips, "trouble. Assassins. Eight."
Harry felt a sudden surge of magic. Hermione looked at him, with a question in her eyes.
"Albus," Harry whispered, "the guarding spell he put on me has gone off. The Order will be here soon."
"Not soon enough," Hermione bit her lip, "they are approaching. Professional killers, Harry."
"Come," Harry said, casting a worried glance at Severus, who seemed to be fast asleep.
"Let him sleep. He's safest staying here anyway."
Fred had climbed onto the roof. George was getting their other gags ready; the portable golems.
"Letting a few lose once they know we are awake will confuse them," he said, giving them one each.
"Ok, folks…pair up."
Ron paired with Hermione, Harry with Neville. George joined Fred on the roof, ready to shoot from there.
They hid outside the house, stealthily.
One of the black figures had to cross the lawn to get to the house. Harry heard a soft sound from the roof. It seemed like nothing had happened, but when he was near the house, the man collapsed.
"One down," Neville mouthed. Harry nodded and pointed.
To their left, another assassin approached. Harry looked up, and realized Fred and George could not see this one; from their point of view, he blended in with the dark background.
Neville grasped his wand firmly – there hadn't been time to recover his own from the bottom of the sea, but Luna had delived one along with Circe. Amazingly, it was the perfect match.
The assassin had now seen them; but they were too close to do anything. He could not yell for help without the other inhabitants of the house waking up – and the teens could not yell without alerting the other seven.
So the silent battle began.
Harry quickly realized that the man was fast and strong. His spells came in rapid succession, but he favored his blade; Harry smirked. Concentrating, the sword of Gryffindor appeared in his hand. He silently thanked the headmaster for teaching him that wandless and silent trick.
CLANG!
The two blades collided. The assassin seemed surprised to find the teen knew swordfighting – and with a good sword too.
Harry knew the man was fast on his feet; but he also knew he was faster if he concentrated.
They moved gracefully around each other, attacking, parrying, neither gaining the upper hand for the moment.
Another assassin, alerted by the sound of steel against steel, ran up, but Neville had seen him.
He summoned up all his magic, and felt it flow practically unhindered through his body to his wand.
It wasn't until the red light had Stunned the assassin that he realized he had never said the words.
Harry meanwhile, drew first blood. And there was never to be any last blood.
The assassin, blood trickling down his shoulder, stepped back into the lighter background.
Moments later he fell to the tiny needle from Fred.
Meanwhile, at the other side of the house, Hermione was kissing Ron passionately just in front of the rosebushes.
Two assassins made their way up the the couple.
They stopped, a bit confused. Their training had them ready to deal with a lot of situations…but a couple making out instead of fighting them?
Casting a glance at each other, they never noticed the wands.
Two silent spells hit them straight in the chest, and they plunged headfirst into the roses.
The remaining three had figured out there was a problem, and had quickly banded together, prepared for the worst.
The four on the ground caught up with each other as well, while the twins on the roof secured the assassins that were down.
Suddenly noise filled the air. At the fence, several POPS indicated that people had Apparated or Portkeyed in.
Dumbledore, the eldest Weasley brothers, Remus Lupin and Filius Flitwick rushed towards the group.
Hexes started flying. In the midst of fighting, Harry saw Severus entering the yard.
"Sev! Go back!" he yelled.
Instead, the wizard looked at the people in the yard, and blindly ran off into the nearby forest, Harry chasing after him.