Disclaimer: I only own everything that resides in my room. Oh, and my own original stories. Everything else is someone else's.

Chapter 19

When the Levee Breaks, I'll Have No Place to Stay

The days after the news of his real parentage surfaced were true Hell for Harry and any who were seen around him. Hermione was forced to put up with the glares and hisses of her fellow Gryffindors, with her only protectors amongst them being a stalwart Ginny, a very nervous Ron, and a suddenly brash and defensive Neville. Wencia had already been almost ignored by anyone within Slytherin since Harry had threatened most of them earlier on, so she took little notice of any changes.

Luna Lovegood, batty as she was, accepted Harry with a smile and with Meru's sorting into Hufflepuff, he had friends in every House. Snape had been surprised by his niece's Sorting but had simply shrugged it off and commented that it was better than if she had followed him or – Merlin forbid – her deceased father.

A week and a half after the incident with Auror Walkens and Harry discovering Aika's body, the Minister of Magic arrived with a whole contingent of Auror's behind him and strode into the Great Hall. Harry immediately rose from his seat as they walked up to the Head Table and blatantly ignored both Snape and McGonagall's stares telling him to sit down.

It was only when Wencia tugged at his sleeve and he looked down into her violet eyes that he retook his seat.

"Cornelius," greeted Dumbledore as he rose from his seat. The entire Hall had fallen silent as he stood, all waiting to see what would occur.

They all knew – each and every one – that this was about the creature within their midst.

"Albus," returned the Minister as he removed his green bowler hat. "A very bad business this is, Albus. Very bad business indeed. I've let you get away with a great deal but now you've gone too far."

Dumbledore simply arched an eyebrow and said, "I haven't the slightest idea of what you're referring to, Cornelius."

Fudge attempted to scowl.

"You brought that…creature…here without even informing the Ministry."

Harry bristled and started to stand but a glower from Hermione and Snape pinned him in place. He growled something unsavory in Japanese under his breath as he sank back into his seat for a second time. Wencia gripped his hand tightly in hers then, willing him not to stand up again.

" 'Creature!' " exploded McGonagall, rising out of her seat. Her eyes flashed fire and she snarled, "He is no 'creature!' He's a person! Not some worthless pet or those foul beasts you're so fond of!"

"Minerva, please," said Dumbledore softly, looking over at his Deputy Headmistress. She glared but sat, her arms crossing over her chest as she turned to look at Snape down the line of the Table. The dark wizard inclined his head towards her then fixed his black gaze on the Minister of Magic.

Fudge took a step back at McGonagall's explosion then coughed before speaking again.

"As Minister of Magic, I hereby order the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to release Harry Potter into our custody as he is both a danger to this school and the wizarding world."

"That's a lie!" came a shout from the Hufflepuff table and Snape fixed his niece with a sharp look. He made a motion with his hands telling her to be silent but she shook her head defiantly.

Meru scrambled out of her seat and stormed right up to Fudge, who – even at his short statue – seemed to tower over the wisp of a girl. Hermione and Luna both shot to their feet at their respective tables but didn't move forward to stop her. They would have had to get through the Auror's that were spread out behind Fudge to even get there and that was likely not to happen.

"Harry's not a danger!" shouted the eleven-year-old, her gray eyes flashing. "He'd never harm anybody! And it's not right to judge somebody by their blood!"

"Don't say something you shouldn't, Meru," hissed Harry under his breath. "Dear Kami, don't."

Fudge just looked down at Meru with a frown then looked at Dumbledore.

"Albus."

The older wizard frowned then looked down at the young girl and gently said, "Miss Cloudfox, please return to your seat."

"NO!"

At the other end of the table, Snape clenched his fist underneath the tablecloth. He would like nothing more than to stand and defend Harry with his niece but some sense of order had to be maintained!

"Miss Cloudfox," said Dumbledore in a sterner tone. "Return to your seat."

Meru glared at him then sniffed and turned to eye Fudge with pure contempt. The fact that an eleven-year-old could look with contempt seemed to unsettle the Minister of Magic.

"Baka."

And with that she turned and returned to her seat, causing Hermione and Luna to sink back into theirs. On the other side of the Hall, Harry allowed himself a small smile at the fact that his young friend had just called the Minister an idiot.

"Cornelius," said Dumbledore softly, "I am afraid that I cannot do that."

Fudge bristled and hissed, "Albus, think about this!"

"There is nothing to think of, Cornelius. After the death of his foster parents, the Japanese Ministry has claimed Mister Potter as its ward until he turns eighteen. If you wish to take him anywhere, you will have to go through them."

The Minister of Magic stood in angry silence for a moment then chuckled, waving a hand at one of the Auror's who had tailed him into the castle.

"Auror Walkens," he said with a smug smile, "I trust you did remember the papers from the Japanese Minister?"

"Yes, sir," said the navy-robed man. He reached into his robes and withdrew a thick roll of parchment that he tossed at Dumbledore.

It landed in the old wizards plate with an almost ominous splat.

Harry sat stock-still for a moment then shrugged Wencia off, rising to his feet. She tried to cling to him again but Mika appeared from further down the table and held her in place. His eyes met Harry's and he frowned before he whispered, "Run."

"No," replied Harry. He then straightened to his full height, chin held high, and walked towards the Head Table. As he passed her, he saw Hermione shake her head, brown eyes glimmering with tears. He smiled at her then moved on, not looking back to see her turn and bury her face into a surprised Ron's shoulder.

The Auror's around Fudge noticed him and several started to move towards him. Fudge turned as one tapped him on the shoulder and blinked, clearly not having expected him to make such an appearance.

Harry stood staring at them for a moment before he reached up and hurled his cap to the floor, causing his ears to snap up into the air. He then shrugged out of his robes, dropping them to the floor as he uncurled his tail from his waist. It curled about his feet like a snake, the fur standing on end as the tip twitched irritably.

"Here," he hissed around his fangs as his eyes brightened and shifted to their feral form, "I am, Minister. Take me if you will."

"NO!" shrieked Meru, flinging herself out of her seat and over the Hufflepuff table. She darted past reaching hands and around the Ravenclaw table, throwing her arms about Harry's waist when she reached him. Her gray eyes burned out of her face as she glared at the Auror's, shouting, "YOU CAN'T TAKE HIM!"

"Meru, please," whispered Harry, carefully laying a clawed hand on her slim shoulder. "Sit back down."

"No! I won't let you do this!"

"Neither will I!" shouted Wencia as she tried to wrench herself from Mika's grip. The Head Boy held her for a moment then let out a squeak and collapsed as she mule-kicked him in the one spot no male ever wants to be hit. She then ran forward and drew her wand from her robes, angry sparks lashing from the end as she brandished it.

Fudge blinked at the two eleven-year-old's then looked at Walkens, who stepped forward with his wand pointed at Harry's head.

"How cowardly, Mister Potter," he purred. "Hiding behind two little girls who have no idea what you really are…"

Harry snarled at that and spat, "Wrong, Auror! They choose to hide me!"

"And so do we!" snapped Ginny's voice from behind him. He turned his head slightly and was shocked to see his friends arrayed in a line behind him, all of their wands drawn and at the ready (even if Ron's was being held a little shakily).

Hermione slowly moved out of the line, wrapping an arm about his waist as she reached him. Her hand briefly clenched over Meru's and she turned to smile at Harry, who blinked at her, then turned towards the Auror's and the Minister. Brown eyes hardened to shards of ice and she lashed out with her wand, her spell darting forward towards the government officials.

The spell hit the stones at the Minister's feet thanks to an Auror's quick shield spell and hissed like acid as it burned there. Fudge looked down at the stones for a moment then lifted his gaze to Hermione's face, studying her.

"The Japanese Ministry has given us full rights to him, young lady," said the Minister softly. "They apparently did not like the fact that he caused the death of three of their citizens."

Shouts of dismay and anger came from the mouths of Harry's defenders but only Meru and Hermione felt his body quiver in anger. Hermione turned to him and placed a hand on his chest, struggling not to cry as she saw the little humanity that remained in his feral eyes begin to fade in the wake of anger.

"Harry, don't," she whispered. "Don't lose yourself because of them!"

His muscles quivered and shook as he struggled between his human and demon sides. Both wanted so much to lunge through the Auror's at the Minister of Magic and make him suffer for that remark. He wasn't responsible for Aika, William, and Haia's deaths!

He wasn't!

"Come back," he heard Hermione whisper, her breath warm on his ear. "Please, Harry, come back to me…" He could hear tears in her voice and it broke his heart to know that he was the cause.

Harry choked back a sob and pulled her against him, burying his face in her shoulder. Inside he hurled his demon side back into its proper place with a vicious snarl and told it to stay there until he called it forth. He would not be ruled by it!

"Come now, Albus, surely you can see that this creature has no place here in this school now," he heard Fudge say loudly. "He nearly attacked me!"

"But he did not!"

Harry lifted his head as he heard Snape's voice ring out, soft but with such sharp and vicious undertones that it rang through the entire Hall. The dark Potions Master rose like a snake and fixed his ebony gaze on the Minister of Magic, a sneer twitching at his thin lips.

"And there is a great deal of difference between actually attacking and holding oneself back from doing so," he said coolly.

Walkens spun away from Harry towards the professor, his eyes flashing as he shouted, "Shut up, Death Eater scum!"

Three words caused the entire Great Hall to rise to its feet in confusion and fear and Snape glowered at the smirking Auror, his long fingers clenching on the top of the Head Table. His eyes then swept to his niece, who was now staring at him in shock. The surprise, betrayal, and slight fear he saw in her gray eyes made his heart clench painfully in his chest.

In the month since her arrival, he had spent so many hours trying to figure out how to tell her of his sordid past. As her uncle – and therefore her guardian since both of her parents were now deceased – he felt she needed to know those things. She needed to know what sort of man he was – and what he had been once.

This hadn't been the way he'd wanted her to find out.

"That is enough!" roared Dumbledore at the students, his voice intensified by a single thought. He looked over his half-moon glasses at them and ordered, "Prefects, please escort everyone back to their respective House's calmly and quietly. Mister Davids, Miss McClannan, kindly remain."

The Head Boy and Head Girl (the former of which was standing beside Ron in the line behind Harry) nodded as the Prefects bustled the rest of the student body out the door. A Gryffindor Prefect briefly paused, considering those in his house arrayed behind Harry, then glanced at McGonagall questioningly. When she shook her head, he nodded and shooed a group of nervous first years out into the entrance hall.

It did not take long for the Great Hall to empty of all but those standing at the fore of the room and a nervous looking Nadia McClannan, who stood looking nervously from her professor's to her fellow students, completely avoiding the Ministry party altogether.

Walkens snorted in the silence that had taken over since the students had been ushered out, the noise sounding almost like a gunshot going off.

"Afraid to let your precious students get a hint of truth, old man?" he sneered at the Headmaster, who simply looked at him with an icy gaze. The Auror sneered and opened his mouth to taunt the wizard again when he was suddenly replaced by a very surprised looking brown gerbil. Tail twitching, the rodent looked about then let out a squeak and ran underneath a table.

The leader of the Auror's sighed softly and made a subtle motion with his left hand, sending Walkens' partner to go and find the traumatized gerbil, er, Auror. He then turned towards McGonagall, who had her arms crossed over her chest with her wand resting against her upper arm. A single finger tapped in an annoyed fashion on it as she eyed the Ministry group over her glasses.

He bowed his head slightly towards her and said, "I apologize for my colleague, Professor. He…"

"I would rather not hear it, Auror Shacklebolt," said the older woman coldly. "To be blunt, I would like to hear the sounds of all of you leaving. And leaving Harry alone."

"Minerva," murmured Dumbledore, causing her to close her lips over anything else she was about to say.

Fudge frowned at this interaction then took a step forward out of his protective ring of Auror's. He looked pointedly at the roll of parchment still sitting in Dumbledore's plate and asked, "Do you really think you can fight the Ministry over this, Albus?"

Dumbledore glanced towards him then at Hermione and Harry. The han-akurei was watching him with his feral eyes that only the observant could still see the humanity in, his arms wrapped gently around the waist of the young woman who stood in defense of him. She herself had her head turned towards him, brown hair falling in a bushy cascade over one eye. Her gaze was pleading, begging him not to allow this to happen.

Begging him not to take the one she loved from her.

The old wizard picked up the parchment from his plate and cleaned it with a murmured charm before opening it. He sensed rather than saw Snape shift off to the side, knowing the man wanted to see this parchment from the Japanese Ministry for himself and probably make sure it wasn't a forgery.

As he finished, he looked back at the couple, apology in his eyes. The brown eyes closed and Hermione turned to press her face into Harry's chest, silent sobs making her shoulders shake. Harry stared blankly at Dumbledore for a moment then closed his eyes, bending his head to press a kiss into her hair.

"Albus, please," whispered McGonagall. "You can't…"

"We have no choice, Minerva. He has no more guardians to speak of."

McGonagall pursed her lips then blinked, turning to look at Snape who stood behind her. He frowned at her curiously then seemed to catch on to whatever she had realized, his dark eyes glimmering.

"Oh, do go ahead," he purred reassuringly.

The older witch nodded and her voice rang out in the Hall as an Auror moved to attempt to pry Hermione away from Harry.

"Just a moment, gentlemen! Mister Potter has a relative that remains!"

Fudge frowned, obviously annoyed at their further attempts to thwart his authority.

"And who would that be?" he asked, not even bothering with her title.

McGonagall smirked and replied, "Myself."

"Rubbish!" exclaimed Fudge. "Evans' family wasn't magical!"

"How wrong you are, dear Minister. It just so happens that the Evans family was descended from a Squib in the Malfoy Line."

"And how does that make you a relation?"

She smirked again at that.

"Why, Cornelius, haven't you ever wondered why Lucius Malfoy never speaks kindly of his father?"

The Minster of Magic stared dumbly at her, obviously confused.

McGonagall chuckled maliciously and said, "I'm the half sister he'd like to forget he had."

Fudge sputtered whilst anyone else in the Hall who didn't know of the relation stared in shock at the Transfiguration Professor. Snape chuckled darkly at the response and smirked at McGonagall, his eyes glinting with mirth.

The Minister then got a hold of himself and drew himself up to his full height – which wasn't very impressive at all – and said, "Proof of this relation will have to be seen before anything can be decided. Until then, the beast comes with us."

Harry didn't flinch at the insult but Hermione did and something dark flashed in Meru's gray eyes. Before his niece could say what was on her mind, Snape spoke.

"My dear Minister, it would likely be more prudent to allow Mister Potter to remain here in the castle – under the guard of your best Auror's, of course. After all, he is still the one said to defeat Voldemort. Taking him from the castle could give the enemy the best opportunity to take him."

The gerbil that had been Walkens – which was now held captive in his partner's hands – squeaked loudly as he finished speaking. Dumbledore frowned then looked pointedly at McGonagall, who sighed before flicking her wand and returning the Auror to his true form.

Walkens staggered, his hair disheveled and his eyes wild, then regained his balance and spat, "You mean it would give your Master a chance to take him. And you'd probably be the one to tell him we'd taken him!"

Snape flinched, a slight movement only the most observant could see, then fixed his most menacing glare on the hapless Auror. The man wilted slightly and Snape snarled, "I have been spying for Albus Dumbledore since before you joined the Auror's, whelp. Do not presume to know my business or myself. And since you so eloquently announced it to the entire school, which is riddled with the children of those who truly follow Voldemort, I can now no longer act in that position." He flexed his fingers on the table, rage flashing across his lean face, and roared, "Do you have any idea of the damage you have just done to our cause!"

Walkens gasped and took a step backwards – or tried to at least. His ankle twisted and he collapsed, eyes wide on Snape's enraged face.

"I…I…"

"SILENCE!" roared the Potions Master. He then took a deep breath and said in a much calmer voice, "Auror Shacklebolt, I would highly recommend removing Auror Walkens from within the Company of Auror's. He apparently cannot keep his tongue leashed, a trait I believe is needed within the Auror's."

"I'll take your recommendation to heart, Professor," said the lead Auror with a nod. He then moved forward and pulled Walkens to his feet, shoving him into the arms of two other Auror's. "Sir," he said then, addressing the Minister, "the Professor's suggestion is a good idea. Allowing Potter to remain in the school under guard would solve two problems at once."

Fudge looked at the Auror for a moment then nodded, saying, "Very well. The beast can remain. He then looked at Dumbledore sharply and added, "But he is to have no visitation excepting from his professor's. Two Auror's will guard his door to make sure of this. We don't want the students tainted any more than they already are, do we?"

Dumbledore stared for a long time at the man then said, "Your conditions are accepted, Cornelius. Severus?"

"Yes, Albus?"

"Show the Auror's to the third floor. I'll inform the house-elves to prepare a place for Harry to stay."

A dark eyebrow arched and Snape queried, "The third floor? Why not allow him to remain in his rooms?"

"We must humor them, Severus," replied Dumbledore softly. "At least until Minerva can claim guardianship on Harry."

"And if she cannot?"

"Then I trust you'll think of something."

The dark wizard blinked then smirked, his dark eyes glinting maliciously.

"Oh, yes," he purred, "I can think of something."

He then nodded and strode around the table, walking past the Auror's that moved out of his way as he went towards the small huddle of students. Meru bit her lip at his approach and he tried to smile reassuringly at her but found he didn't have the heart to. Not with what he was about to do.

As he stopped a few feet away from them, two Auror's lingering on either side of him, Hermione lifted her head from Harry's shoulder. He half expected her brown eyes to be staring at him accusingly but all he saw in them was hopelessness and tears. His heart ached for the girl as he realized she thought she was losing the one she loved.

Harry's eyes met his and he nodded slightly before he took Hermione's face in his clawed hands, gently turning her back towards him. Fresh tears spilled from her eyes and he frowned before leaning down and licking them away.

"Don't cry," he whispered to her, so softly no one else could hear. "I can't stand it when you cry, Mia-san."

"But…they're…oh, Harry!"

"I'll be fine. Trust me."

Hermione sniffed and breathed, "But I won't be able to see you!"

Harry smiled sadly at that.

"I know. Sneak letters in through McGonagall and Snape, if you can. But don't worry about me. I can take care of myself."

He then kissed her, the salt of her tears still on his lips. She shuddered and hugged him before she felt hands on her shoulders pulling her away. Harry looked at her one last time then gently pushed Meru and Wencia into Ginny's arms before he turned towards Snape.

The dark wizard stood still for a moment then said, "You have to come with us."

"I know," said Harry. He looked at the two Auror's then back at his professor. "Sir."

Snape stared at him then moved past him, the Auror's followed close behind. They closed in on either side of Harry, hands pointed at his back, and ushered him out of the hall.

He didn't look back once.

Hermione stared blankly after the small group for a moment then her knees shuddered and she collapsed to the floor. Cries of "Hermione!" echoed in her ears and she felt hands touching her, lifting her up again. But she didn't feel them. All she felt was the acute loss of the one person she loved.

Harry had become her world…now he was gone.

"Let's take her back to the Tower," she dimly heard Ginny say. Strong arms lifted her up and a shock of white hair above and to the right of her face revealed that Mika was carrying her. She shuddered and leaned her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes as she wished they were Harry's arms.

"We'll get him back, Hermione," she heard him swear softly. "No matter what it takes."

She closed her eyes more tightly in response.

No matter what is takes, he said.

He wouldn't like what it would take.

He wouldn't like it at all.

Author's Note

This chapter is jumpy and I'm NOT happy with it but I have no urge to rewrite the thing. So bear with it, please.

Chapter title from Led Zeppelin song "When the Levee Breaks"