Chapter 28
Harry Potter, temporal adventurer, assassin, murderer, temporal vigilante...he didn't really know what to call himself at the moment, looked around his house.
He'd always been confident he'd return here, just...everything felt somewhat...odd.
It had been six or so months here, that he was "away" while for him it had been closer to a year.
Then there were the temporal-physical affects of his temporal transference and how that had affected him.
A shower and a change he'd decided he needed more than anything, to get out of his clothing of the past and return to the present. No matter how comfortable he'd come to be in these clothes that he'd continued to source, after the repeated blood stains and spell damage that befell his various pieces of clothing.
It was time to put, if just a small bit of the past away and begin the focus on the present, even if it felt a little distant to him at the moment.
-/
Hermione wrapped her hands around the mug of tea, Harry seemed...she wasn't sure.
Older, somewhat weary, maybe time travel did that, he hadn't said how long he had been in the past, and her researches on the subject had hit several walls of 'Official Secrets Act'.
Ioan had been of some help, ready to keep her informed in case he returned and Judith kept mostly out of the conversation, Hermione didn't really like her attitude in general.
Though as Judith had pointed out (on more than one occasion during the time Harry was 'away') Hermione wasn't officially part of the organisation that Harry had set up; the League of Paranormal Investigations was something she had decided not to be an active participant of. Barring the occasional outing where Harry requested she help of course, like that time in San Francisco with the Doctor and Fitz Kreiner.
-/
Harry wrapped himself in a large bath towel as he stepped from his shower and looked out across the fields, he could see the various installations that he'd asked Ioan to start working on when he departed, from what Ioan had said there was still another 2 or so months of work to go.
But hopefully when it was all completed and camouflaged he'd and the League of Paranormal Investigations would have a useful surveillance network that would be better at monitoring alien transmissions and to tap into UNIT and other security organisations' networks.
It was one of several things Ioan had begun under his instructions while he'd been "away".
Looking in the mirror he paused for a moment at the many, many scars he had accumulated. Not all of them physical, though those were the most visible.
Downstairs he was sure Hermione and Ioan were having a cup or a mug of tea, or possibly some other form of hot beverage.
At some point he'd need to go downstairs and talk with them, with Ioan and Judith especially, whatever would need to be done with Ginny they'd need to work together. It was him and his organisation that had been charged with dealing with her and her associates' actions.
He had dealt with the her actions thus far, and he had dealt with her associates. Now it was just the final clear up that needed to be attended to.
-/
The determination with which Harry delivered the news about Ginny was...worrying for Hermione.
Even when he came down the stairs he seemed changed, even more so than she (and Ioan and even Judith) had during Harry's absence.
Then he wrapped her in one of the tightest hugs she'd ever received from anyone.
"Hello Hermione!" He said as he lifted her off her feet. "It's good to see you again." He practically whispered to her as he lifted her up.
"Harry...can't...hug...breath." She managed to croak out as he put her down.
Then when she came back face to face with Harry, there was his smile, his joyous, happy face. Almost all trace of the man who'd gone upstairs had disappeared. Or at least that's what he wanted her to think, but she had far too much experience in dealing with moody young men, she'd been to school with two of them, and continued to...more or less, date a not so easily provoked red head.
She knew at least her red haired Weasley wasn't going to fly off to the past in a huff. Maybe go for a fly around the university with no care in the world...but then they'd both done that after several glasses of a cheap aquamarine coloured spirit that George had brought back following a 'research trip'... that was another thing entirely, but that night with Ron still made her smile uncontrollably, and even the following morning's projectile vomiting session didn't detract from the memory.
Then she realised Harry was looking at her oddly.
"What?"
"You suddenly got a strange smile of your face, like you were giggling at a joke that only you know about."
She took a step away from Harry. "I'm allowed to laugh at my own jokes Harry Potter." And she didn't care how silly that sounded, he'd just accused her of giggling.
"It's fab to see you again Hermione," Harry beamed.
"Fab?" She stared at him. "Fab?" She repeated.
Harry shoved his hands into his jacket's pockets. "Excellent to see you."
"You have been stuck in the 70s haven't you? Was everything groovy as well?" She teased.
"Like I was on another planet," Harry replied and continued on his way to the kitchen.
"Ioan. You were right, a shower did do me the world of good."
"You had the look of a tired man Harry," Ioan said clapping Harry on the shoulder. "Just got a call from Judith, the job's going to be at least the rest of the day."
Harry nodded. "It's waited 30 years, it can wait a little longer," he said mostly to Ioan, though Hermione looked up as though she'd heard.
"You succeeded then? The past is safe?" She asked.
Harry nodded. "You're all still here and not under the tyrannical reign of a psychopathic delusional woman with designs on the overthrow of wizarding society and the eradication of considered thinking," Harry commented casually as he made himself a cup of tea.
There was some silence.
"Oh," Hermione said after a moment.
There was some more silence as Hermione seemed to compost what to say. "Can I ask...Harry...is she..."
"Is the mad bitch Ginevra Weasley alive?" Harry asked with such casual malice that it shocked Hermione and surprised Ioan.
"Erp..." Was all Hermione could manage.
Harry turned around from the kettle, keeping his face neutral. "Operational security Hermione, I can't confirm or deny her status."
"But...but...she wasn't with you or in the plane," she frowned and looked at him cocking an eyebrow. "You haven't got her stuffed in the boot of your car have you?!"
Harry laughed. "No. She's not in the back of the Jag."
Hermione exhaled slightly. "But you can't tell me anything more than that."
Harry shook his head.
Hermione thought for a moment or two. "Fine. I guess you've learnt some new phrases as well as 'Fab', 'Operational Security'..." She shook her head with a smile. "This is what happens when I'm friends with a man who runs an organisation that deals with magic and aliens."
"And all the stuff in between."
"Yes," Hermione's phone then beeped and she pulled it out to look at it. "That's my lecture reminder," she said in apology.
Harry took both her hands. "Rush off you your lecture Hermione, I'll explain everything I got up to...later."
"Later, when it's not part of your 'operational security'?" She asked looking at him, studying his face.
"Probably," Harry said with a shrug.
"Good enough from you Harry Potter," she said letting go of his hands and smiled to Ioan. "Ioan."
"Hermione," he said as she departed, through the door. She preferred to apparate from the driveway, the house and out-buildings contained a lot of alien technology that sometimes made apparition or disappariation difficult.
Harry found himself leaning against the kitchen benches, while Ioan remained silent.
"So," Ioan said after Harry had made himself a cup of tea and they'd walked around the back of the house to look out onto the fields.
"So, the work here should be ready...?" Harry started.
"As I said 6 months, it's be ready when everything is finished to our specifications. So...Ginny's followers…?" He trailed off looking to him.
"Dead." Harry answered simply, taking a sip of tea.
"And Ginny?" Ioan asked curiously.
"Theoretically alive," Harry answered. "It'll be easier if I explain everything when Judith is back here." Harry said, swallowing more tea. "How've you two been coping?"
"Without you Harry?" Ioan said.
"Yes, without me, your glorious leader, imperator," Harry paused and smiled. "Master."
Ioan laughed. "Megalomania doesn't suit you Harry."
"Maybe if I had a big flowing robe?" Harry chuckled.
"Or if you weren't gesticulating with a mug of tea?" Ioan asked.
"Quite, yes!" Harry exclaimed.
-/
Judith looked him over. "You look like shit Harry."
"Killing my way through Ginny's followers doesn't exactly put one in a mood to sing about daisies," he countered.
Judith shook her head. "It's hanging out in the 70s, all that military food." She stopped abruptly and then smiled. "Or were you worried about the Back to the Future issue, 'shagging' a relative?"
Harry shook his head with a smile. "Thank you Judith for bringing down the conversation to a level that it's about getting my dick out."
Judith grinned leaning into the chair. They were sitting in Harry's sitting room following an evening meal.
"Dragging this conversation back to the present, rather than about sex. I'd like to get this discussed so I can go home?" Ioan said as he poured himself a glass of Harry's brandy.
"Fine. I'll explain with some brevity then," Harry began with a dramatic sigh.
-/
Judith whistled. "So she's part alien bomb that needs to have her blood transfused and replaced otherwise she'll take out a sizeable chunk of the British countryside. And you've hidden her behind a temporal blanket for the past 30 years."
"Succinct Judith, I don't know how I managed without you all this time," commented with sarcasm.
"You didn't Harry, if you had you wouldn't be agonising as much over the little bitch's minion's deaths," Judith bit back with a smile.
"You warm my heart sometimes Judith," Harry said with saccharine sweetness.
"So you'll be briefing the Minister I trust?" Ioan asked eagerly.
"Ioan's hated the contact he's had to have, even in letter form," Judith said by way of explanation and no subtly to Ioan's discomfort.
Harry nodded and looked to Ioan guiltily. "I didn't think you'd get any contact from him while I was gone, I'm sorry Ioan."
Ioan just nodded. "I'll bid you good night for now and then we'll need, I assume to deal with the final end to Ms Weasley."
"Whatever that may be," Judith said.
"Needlessly ominous Judith," Harry commented as he finished his brandy.
Judith just smiled sweetly at him. "I try Harry, to inject some gravity into the situation."
-/
Harry shoved his hands into his pockets as he passed through the various sections of the Ministry. He'd dropped in early this morning, but the minister had been 'indisposed'.
He wasn't sure what that meant, but he wasn't going to barge in, not for this, this needed to be explained carefully.
For now he was just going to keep his head down and a voice bumping into anyone.
Which didn't help when someone walked into him.
"I am sorry," said a female voice. "Potter?"
Harry looked up from the bit of floor he'd been looking at and tried to remember the name of the woman whose voice sounded familiar.
"Daphne Greengrass," Harry greeted with a warm smile.
"Ms Greengrass," she corrected.
"Ms Greengrass. And what brings you to the hallowed halls of the Ministry?" Harry asked curiously.
"Merely filing some papers for my father and sister," she said.
Harry raised an eyebrow.
"An annulment," she added, not really enlightening Harry much. "And what of you Potter? In trouble with the Ministry, again?"
Harry smiled a secretive smile. "I would hardly be wandering the corridors of power were I at issue with those with power Ms Greengrass."
"Then...?" She pushed.
"How about we have a drink later, say 3 o'clock and we can talk about it?" Harry launched the question randomly.
Daphne blinked and stared at him as he continued. "The Whistle and the Elephant, it's about a 10 minute walk from North from the Leakey Couldran."
"A muggle bar?" Daphne said, wrinkling her nose.
"Where else to have a clandestine meeting with me; Harry Potter?" Harry smiled at her and turned to continue to his destination.
"Where indeed…?" Daphne wondered as she watched him leave her in the corridor.
-/
"So they're dead," Minister Shacklebolt repeated.
Harry sighed. "Yes. With no chance of coming back."
"You're sure..." He trailed off and looked at Harry's hard expression. "Of course you're sure Potter."
"You seem to have accepted what I've told you about Ginny with marvellously casual aplomb," Harry frowned slightly and wondered where he'd picked up a word like "aplomb", there were only two people that came to mind.
"What I want Potter are choices," Shaklebolt looked at him "to do with Ms Weasley now."
"I can retrieve her any day, but to make her safe you'll need a team from St Mungo's probably a muggle-knowledgable surgeon or two, blood replenishing potions and-" He was cut off.
"There's more?" The Minister cut him off.
"You'll need both Arthur and Molly Weasley, as well as their siblings in order to completely replenish Ginny's blood and remove the contaminated blood. I'll want to hang on to that and all the parts you remove from her body."
Shacklebolt felt like he needed to sit down, except he was already doing so. "Couldn't you just have killed her?" He asked with a sigh.
"It wasn't an option," Harry answered honestly.
"And if it had been, would you have taken it?" He asked, he wanted to know Potter's answer.
Harry remained silent for several seconds, and only answered when those seconds threatened to turn into minutes. "If it had been the only option, then yes, but you gave me leave to return her alive. She committed a crime, one I'm sure you'll find a wizarding method to deal with," Harry paused and met the Minister with a gaze. "And just before you suggest it, I'm going to counter you, I and my organisation will not be responsible for her rehabilitation."
Shacklebolt frowned and looked at Potter. "That hadn't been my initial thought. The Unspeakables requested some weeks ago the chance to study her. They have the facilities to best deal with issues such as Ms Weasley."
"Interesting," Harry commented. "That you should have given this so much thought."
"I didn't Potter. But your organisation seems to take more of this ministry's focus."
"The 21st century is when everything changes Minister," Harry smirked. "But, I will endeavour to take a more proactive stance, now that I have returned."
This seemed to placate the Minister. "It will take some time to consolidate resources to deal with this issue Potter, somewhere away from St Mungos I think," the Minister said, seemingly talking to himself.
"On the mainland, within..." Harry looked around for a map that he'd noticed hanging on the wall. "Within 100-150 miles of here."
"That's where she's being held?" Shacklebolt asked from his desk.
Harry shrugged. "Somewhere, I don't want you to be too hasty and try to finish her off."
"Why?" Shaklebolt looked at him carefully.
"Because she'll take with her a large amount of the British countryside."
-/
Daphne Greengrass did not take random men to bed with her, and she most certainly did not go to bed with men from her childhood school, and certainly not in a muggle hotel.
She had plenty of the right sort of friends who knew, that as wizards and witches of a certain age they had urges, desires that needed alleviating, and one could do so, in the calm and privacy of one's home. They were tasteful, well to do people, groomed correctly.
She most certainly did not bed someone with as many spell burns, scars, stab wounds and Merlin knew what else covered the man's body.
Daphne Greengrass allowed her hand to play over the man's damaged, marked, scared skin as he lay with his eyes lightly closed.
It was a nice muggle hotel, he certainly knew to take her to a good hotel, though she was sure some form of persuasion was at work to make her go along with him.
Yet, Daphne Greengrass hadn't left the bed she was currently sharing with the man whom she had accompanied.
When she had male companions to alleviate the urges they both felt, with the security of contraceptive charms and salves of course, they each departed, when the act was done, either to the bathing rooms, or away, to their own homes.
Yet, here she was, still in bed, following coitus.
She had of course made sure to cast all the contraceptive charms, even though the man had used a muggle device for his protection, it was, how the muggles did things without magic. Yet, that wasn't what fascinated her, here in this bed.
"Are you done tracing each of my scars?" Said the man gruffly as he opened his eyes, though he continued to stare at the ceiling.
Daphne Greengrass wasn't sure what to say, her hand frozen, as though she had been caught doing something she shouldn't.
"You're the first woman to see me naked like this in a good half a year," he admitted, his voice softening slightly.
That would explain the man's wild-nature, it had been something of a surprise for Daphne Greengrass, her past companions were vigorous, all witches and wizards were. To arrange a meeting to alleviate urges, you needed to be. But this man had been, something more, with something hidden behind him, something she hadn't noticed there before.
She had noticed it in the muggle tavern, the change in his personality, since they'd last met.
"Shall we go again?"
That was something her previous associates practically never said, it just wasn't the thing to ask when accompanying a witch or wizard to bed for mutual alleviation of desires.
-/
Harry rolled over in the bed and for a moment wondered where he was. He wasn't in UNIT HQ, then he checked himself, he was back in 2003...or was it 2004 and...
Daphne Greengrass was at the foot of his bed lacing up her boots.
"You're awake Potter," she said as though she were addressing a business meeting.
"So I am and you're...?" He trailed off.
"Leaving," she said looking around the room and waved her wand, all of his clothes landed on one side of the bed in a neat pile. "It was a fascinating experience," she paused as he pulled himself out of bed and smiled
"Same here," then he upgraded his smile to a grin.
"Good afternoon Potter," Daphne Greengrass said after a moment.
Harry mock saluted to her. "And to you-" She disapparated before he could finish his sentence.
-/
The new Land Rover Defender had been ordered shortly after the previous one had been pretty much mangled beyond general use, though Ioan had while he'd been away brought it back to some semblance of life.
Ioan had joked they'd save it to use during the zombie apocalypse and then slightly panicked looked at Harry. He'd merely shrugged and said "Buggered if I know."
But the new one which had been a substantive business expense had been modified with military grade materials it'd survive hopefully anything that was thrown at it. That included magical attacks, alien assaults and any other form of temporal, physical or psychological assault, and if it couldn't there was always the anti-tank guns, of which they could fit at least half a dozen in the back.
"So, an empty field is where you've been hiding little miss Weasley," Judith said as she appraised the area.
It hadn't changed at all, except for the approach track, it had gone, replaced by a fence with a some form of sign that used to say something angry in red writing, but had now faded away.
The track was totally over grown, but they'd found their way, mostly because Harry was driving and he remembered the way, like it had been last week.
That said it had been last week.
"It's so weird being here," Harry said to himself only to have Judith clap him on the shoulder.
"Never fear Harry, you're back in the 21st century, with hardcore porn on tap, you can't smoke on any flights and everything comes with warning labels," Judith voiced with a smile.
Harry breathed in a breath of the fresh air. "Ah yes, the century where I don't have any enemies and I'm not constantly worried about turning a corner and finding minions of my nemesis on the street corner."
Ioan chuckled beside them. "Only you Harry fill a sentence with words like 'nemesis' and 'minions' and it not sound ridiculous."
"So, what now, you're going to magic up a building?" Judith asked as she looked around.
Harry took a cable Ioan was offering him, it was plugged into the cigarette lighter socket in the Defender.
"That looked suspiciously like a remote control for a model aeroplane," Ioan observed as Harry checked he'd wired everything up. The Doctor had shown him how to do it, by manipulating the controls he would slowly be able to bring the building back into normal space-time, but he'd need to exactly align the controls for the temporal shift. With the technology the Doctor had left in place he would be able to shift parts of the building back into space-time, hopefully keeping most of the building out of sight.
Where Ginny was kept would still stay in stasis no matter what as that was separately wired up from everything, the Doctor had assured him that the equipment would keep her contained until they got her somewhere to deal with the problems. But they'd brought a biohazard patient transport box...thing to put her in, just in case.
"Pretty much," Harry said, but then murmured, partly to himself. "But like a TARDIS, not at all."
Then before them there was a whipping noise, a noise unlike anything yet familiar to the moors around them and then a crumbled, damaged entrance swam into view.
Harry felt tingles travel up and down his spine, seeing this again, with his friends, knowing that if he looked away it wouldn't be the 1970s, that all around him, around the world and the universe it wasn't the 1970s.
-/
"You've still not told us what this place you found to keep her in is."
"I didn't?" Harry said looking to Ioan with a smile.
"No. So?" Judith asked shifting the backpack, similar to the one Harry and Ioan were carrying, each was armed, just in case. The Doctor hadn't said anything might be lurking, but shifting something out of time for 30 years, who knew what might have got in and was plotting to take over the universe, just hopefully it wasn't a Chronovore or a Vortisaur.
"Welcome, to Torchwood Four." Harry said as he opened the doors.
"You, Harry Potter managed to hide Torchwood Four from the mighty Torchwood organisation?" Ioan wondered.
"I did attack it with tanks and an air strike first," Harry said with a grin. "Well, UNIT did that, I watched with binoculars."
Ioan shook his head, Torchwood hadn't been a huge part of the wizarding culture, but in some of the fringe areas that he'd initially tried to gain more acceptance, before he was totally shunned by the general populace had had some exposure to the Torchwood menace.
"You know your way around then," Judith said as they walked the corridors, still lit by the generators on sight.
"It's weird, 30 years and yet, last week. Time travel," Harry shook his head with a grin.
-/
"So that's her, the bitch queen who started all this, buggered up everything and sent you on a temporal manhunt to the era of flares and genetic purity lunatics."
"Succinct as ever Judith," Harry said. They three were standing at the door to the room where Ginny had laid, outside of time barely any time had passed since she'd been shot, repeatedly, 30 years or so ago.
"So there she is in own very own Back to the Future Delorean from the past reveal moment," Ioan looked to Harry and Judith who just shook their heads.
"Well I'd better get in there and check everything's still working," Harry said and heard the safety be clicked off the gun Judith had holster a moment ago, Ioan was also holding his wand.
"She took several bullets barely 12 hours ago," he paused "Relatively speaking."
"Relatively speaking she's, by your own description a 'psychotic bitch with enough alien technology to eradicate a large portion of English countryside'," Judith commented idly.
-/
It was again a bizarre sensation of deja vu, walking in and seeing Ginny lying there, dead-like. Everything was as it was, there wasn't even any dust to suggest the passage of time, it was truly weird.
Harry made a mental note to ask the Doctor about it the next time he dropped round, or the next time Harry saw him, whichever would come first. Or ask Magister about it, but Magister was much less likely to drop in the same place twice, unless it was to mock UNIT or the Doctor. But he had much less of a love for Earth's (or another planet's) history, unlike the Doctor.
Double checking the equipment he let out a breath he'd been holding, everything was in working order, and all the connections were in place to be able to hook up a few battery packs they'd brought with them to power it away from this place.
Ioan let out a breath of air as he exited the room, Judith just looked at him shrewdly. "Well?"
Harry nodded. "Now we've got to box her up ready for the move."
"Just like slaughtered cattle off to market."
Ioan and Harry looked to one another at Judith's comment.
"Only remotely like that," Harry said. "Do you want to keep guard, just in case, while Ioan and I fetch the bio-box?"
"I think that's very wise Harry," Judith eyed the room.
-/
"Judith seems more on edge." Harry said to Ioan as they walked outside into the wind once more.
"We've had to deal with a few things while you were away," he shrugged. "Nothing too bad, but let's just say we're glad you, with your knowledge and experience are back from the back of beyond."
"It was the 70s, not really the back of beyond, more somewhere that flares and blood purists liked to inhabit," Harry commented, unlocking the back of the Land Rover Defender, inside was the plastic box in which they'd restrain and contain Ginny until they transported her to the Ministry's location they'd chosen to 'contain and remove' the alien technology within Ginny.
Not that they were calling it "alien", it was a 'foreign malfeasance' that the specialists from St Mungo's was to be dealing with, with everything they were removing to be taken away by them; the League of Paranormal Investigations. Harry had admitted to Ioan and Judith that it was good to finally be able to refer to the organisation, the one they were a part of, rather than being part of UNIT, while doing the 'other' things on the side. Like removing people, permanently.
Now that he was back in his own time, any removing would at least be within context of their organisation, he'd have assistance, help, people to talk to. Not the...dearth in the 70s, even though it was just and necessary...it was still a bloody period in his life.
Maybe if he'd managed to get a shag while he was there he'd feel better about the time he'd spent in the free loving 70s, but he'd been too paranoid about shagging someone who'd turn out to be someone he knew in his present...or something. Carol Bell also wouldn't give him the time of day and threatened to put his bollocks in a vice, or run them over with her car or chop his todger off with a meat cleaver.
But he'd felt very much more upbeat, having returned to the 21st century and his...'meeting' with Daphne had been unexpected and interesting, very much both, interesting and unexpected.
"Is it still a one night stand if you don't spend the night?" Harry mused as they walked along.
"I'm sorry?" Ioan called backwards from where he was carrying the front of the biohazard box.
"Is it-" Harry repeated again, still somewhat musing to himself.
Ioan shook his head/ "That's what I thought you said."
"What did Harry say?" Judith said as they put the box down by the door.
Ioan chuckled/ "He wants to know if it's a one night stand if you don't spend the night."
"Ah, men and their discussions. Thinking about your dick even when you're dealing with a psychotic ex, Harry Potter," Judith punched him, relatively hard on the shoulder.
"What?" Harry said rubbing it.
"It depends if you do it again, if it's once off, maybe it's a one night stand, if she's classy it's a dalliance with a stranger," Judith said casually. "Now shall we deal with the bitch and get her into the box and discuss our glorious leader's sex life another day?"
-/
Judith had spent the entire drive reached around the back, keeping an eye on the box that held the still in stasis Ginny Weasley. Keeping an eye and a gun on her.
The house was unassuming in a wood down the end of a track that never saw any vehicles, with horses probably being the only form of transport that had travelled along it regularly. It was a good thing they had a four wheel drive as anything less would no doubt not have made the creek crossing and up the bank on the other side amongst the other obstacles that littered the track.
There was no impressions in the grass outside the house, though it was well trimmed, not cut by mechanical means, but still well trimmed. Only the smallest amount of foot traffic around the very front of the house.
Nothing seemed disturbed by their arrival, despite them likely disturbing something, given the lack of any combustion engines having been here any time recently if ever.
"This is..." Ioan trailed off looking around.
Harry turned off the engine. "Ioan-" Harry looked to Ioan sitting beside him looking out. He looked back to him, his face of neutrality mixed with concern. "Stay here I think. Judith?"
"Yes?" She smiled at him.
"You come with me, I'd like your...skills just in case," said Harry as he looked out of the windscreen. "This windscreen is the toughened variety right?" Harry asked looking out of the window again and back to Ioan who smiled.
"Yes Harry, should I worry?" Ioan wondered.
"No more than usual." Harry said as he got out.
"The great British countryside, murderers, suicides and cannibals," Judith said as she breathed in a breath of air.
Harry smiled. "Now I remember why I missed you so much."
"My charm?" She smiled at him.
"Exactly, well, let's see if we're going to get shot," Harry said, patting his pockets absentmindedly.
As they approached the door it opened of its own accord, inside the lighting was provided by lamps, lighting the dark corridor which seemed to lead naturally to a room off at its end, off to one side.
"This isn't at all worrying." Harry said to himself, his wand out as they walked slowly down the corridor. "What's wrong with Ioan?"
"He had to deal with some Ministry goons while you were away, put him in a bad place for a while," Judith answered promptly.
"Should I sort it out with the Ministry?" Harry asked in a worried tone.
Judith smiled a casual almost secretive smile at him. "You have learnt something in your time away, and not just the ability to use 'shag' convincingly."
"Or I could take him out for a drink or a meal?" Harry wondered.
Judith smiled like a cat. "That is much less interesting."
The door was ajar. Harry and Judith looked at it, Harry shrugged and pushed it open and walked in, and promptly had at least four wands pointing at him.
"Ah, just like old times, wands pointed at me, next I'll be tortured in a cellar, maybe we'll be tied up!" Harry called backwards to Judith. "I can tell you all about my friend who used to know a hermit and the daisiest daisy he ever saw."
"What are you prattling about Potter?" Said one of the men.
There was a click of a safety coming off a gun behind him. "That's my friend, she's got a gun and will likely use it," Harry said looking to the men around him, and then realised one of them was a woman, with a really short hair cut. He mentally said 'oops' to himself. "I thought we were all here for the same thing, or at least not to shoot at me."
"We are, Mr Potter have you brought the patient?" Said a fifth voice further inside the room, there was a woman dressed all in white, in similar garb as those he'd seen in St Mungo's, though looked to have an extra layer of protection on it than he'd seen previously.
"The patient's outside, I trust these people are here for security?" Harry asked.
"Yes," answered one of the men, they had lowered their wands once Harry had started talking to the Healer, and had totally ignored their wands. Judith hadn't lowered her weapon.
"Good, when will the Wealseys be arriving?" Harry asked.
One of the men nodded to another of them.
"There's an out building with a fire." The same man who spoke initially said by way of explanation.
"Good." Harry walked forward, there was high table in the room with hefty looking restraints, there was also a small raised area which could have been a pillow, or the suggestion of one.
"I'm Healer Craddock," she said and gestured to man on the other side of the "My associate Healer Williams."
"You've been informed by the Minister as to what will need to be done," Harry asked, his voice devoid of emotion.
Craddock nodded and gestured towards a shelf to one side of the room. "We have everything ready, the Minister mentioned you would handle disposing of all...waste."
Harry nodded. That was something both he and the Minister had agreed on, he would get rid of all the bio-waste and any other bits of alien technology that was within Ginny. They had several large bio-waste containers shrunken in the Defender.
"They're arriving now." Called one of the men from the corridor.
"Looks like we'd better get the..." Harry trailed off and shook his head. "Patient."
-/
"I'll stay here, watching surgery with a group of incantation-happy meat-heats isn't something I really want to do." Ioan said as they arrived to get the box that contained the cultural and temporal terrorist Ginevra Molly Wealsey.
"Doesn't have a ring to it, like Voldemort did. Ginny Weasley," Judith commented, who had the uncanny ability to encroach on his internal musings.
"Voldemort is" Harry shook his head. "Was I mean a different sort of psychopath," Harry said as he threw on the backpack that contained the shrunken biohazard containers.
Judith holstered her gun as they took hold of the box.
"Ioan, be ready," Harry paused and looked at him. "I have my concerns as well." Ioan nodded.
Harry could hear Molly Weasley in another room berating the 'guards' as they walked.
"Oh my," said Healer Craddock.
"Yeah." Harry said as they placed the box on a table beside the bench and released the top of it.
Then Judith and he removed her from the lower half of the box, placing her on the bench. Healer Williams rushed forward placing the restraints on her, Judith assisted.
Harry carefully removed the stasis equipment, still running via its batteries.
"She's in a form of stasis, I'll remove it when you're ready," Harry said by way of an explanation of the contraption.
Healer Craddock just nodded. Harry took the opportunity to unshrink the biohazard tubs.
They were all an electric red colour with large biohazard symbols on them. "For blood, biomatter and any other things you remove." Harry gestured to the tubs, they'd brought twice as many as they thought they might need even in a worst case scenario, just in case.
Williams took them to one side to set up charms to direct the blood flow.
"Harry," Judith murmured close to him and motioned with her eyes towards the back of the room where one of the men was eyeing them with a look of concern, bordering on worry on his face.
Harry wandered over.
"How violent is she going to get?" One of them asked.
"What do you know?" Harry looked to them.
"Enough, the Minister said you'd be of great assistance," he said gruffly, while chewing his lip.
"Have your people cover the windows and the doors, and once the surgery starts don't let anyone leave," Harry looked him in the eye. "Stun them if necessary."
"And her?" He gestured towards Ginny.
"She needs to face what she's done, best not kill her," he paused "I've worked very hard to get that little bitch back here."
"That's my daughter you...! Harry?" Said a voice and then a woman who walked in.
"As I said, stun if necessary. If that doesn't stop her" Harry nodded towards the surgery area. "Blast chunks of her body away, I trust there are some good anti-apparition wards in place?"
The man nodded.
"Good, she likes the apparition as a means of escape, even through wards.," Harry said with a smile of remembrance. "If I'd been a little quicker I might have brought her back in a barrel," Harry continued with a slight quirk of smirk.
Then the rest of the Weasley family walked in. Harry hadn't expected that, but the Minister said he had to consult with the Healers as the best course of action to save the psychotic bitch queen of cultural-temporal terrorism.
"Heya mate," Said George and Ron.
Ron hugged him. George offered him his hand and then pulled him into a hug. "You found her, I don't know what you did but..." He said as he hugged him.
"I couldn't tell you," Harry said honestly. As they pulled back and George looked at him, worry, concern and several other emotions streaming across his face, his hand, going up to scratch where his ear used to be. Ron looked from his brother to his sister, torn.
"Is she..." Ron swallowed.
"She's alive, that's what you're all here to sort out," Harry began in a softer tone.
"And then, Harry, we know you..." Ron looked at him. "Hermione said you didn't explain, just that you got Ginny...I..."
Harry shook his head. "I can't say..." He trailed off looking to where Molly and Arthur were being held back from Ginny's bullet ridden body, still in stasis. "I located where she was and brought her back, alive." More or less. He added mentally.
"She just said you looked rough and that if you looked rough then...Ginny...Mum and Dad wouldn't say what..." Ron started.
"What is going on Harry?" George asked looking between Harry and Ginny.
"You're here to save the life you your sister," Harry explained.
"Save?!" The both exclaimed looking at him.
Harry maintained a neutral expression. "You know Ginny got into something" he shrugged with a sigh. "She got into something which hurt a lot of people and had the potential to affect a lot more. In the process of her actions she was effected, you're here to right that." Hopefully. He added again mentally. If not we might need to take more drastic actions. Hopefully that wouldn't be necessary. Harry shut down that line of thought, Judith was giving him a knowing look.
"Mr Potter, we're about ready," Healer Craddock announced.
"You should join your parents," Harry gestured towards them.
"Why Harry?" Ron asked.
"Because this isn't going to be pleasant," was all he said.
-/
Harry looked at the straps that were holding her down, along with the physical restraints that Judith had double checked there were also magical bonds.
"You're ready then," Harry said after a moment gauging the restraints.
The Weasley family were looking on, Molly having been quietened and ordered not to speak unless spoken to by one of the men with wands.
"Yes, please release her," Healer Craddock said, her wand out, there was also a large array of tools behind her, including things that looked like scalpels and other instruments.
Harry stood in front of the stasis equipment, that the Doctor had cobbled together all those years and barely a few weeks ago. There was a fzzt as something shorted as he powered it down. Immediately Ginny's chest began rising up and down and the bullet holes began to ooze once more. Harry slipped the stasis device into his bag and stepped back a little to where Judith was standing, her hand on her gun, though it wasn't out, yet he knew she could remove it, likely in less time than it would take him to say Avada Kedavra.
Then Ginny started to struggle and no doubt attempt to apparate.
She then looked around and seemed to ignore her family instead zeroing in on him.
"Well, it's the bastard who tried to gun me down, where's your toy army with their doctor?" Harry thought she'd finished before she added. "You delusional, deviant filthy bastard."
Harry stepped forward and clapped. "Welcome back to the land of psychotic living Ms Weasley."
"Ginny...I..." Molly started.
"Mum..." She whispered and then looked to Harry. "So you did it, you brought me back."
"I wasn't going to let you pervert the timeline Ginny," Harry began softly.
"You're the perverted deviant Harry Potter!" Ginny snarled.
"We should begin." Craddock announced.
Harry nodded. "I'll just be here." Harry stepped backwards a little.
"Yes, leave me to be surgically operated upon, you step back with your minions Harry Potter, pity I have none of those to comfort me," she shouted at him as she struggled against the restraints, all of them and the table creaking against the struggle.
-/
Ron took a step back and saw Harry taken a weapon from one of his 'associates', one of the people who worked with Harry, this one was likely Judith. Hermione had said she didn't like her, which meant she really didn't like her.
Ron could see why.
"Blimey Harry..." Ron looked over to where the Healers were getting ready, and where they'd gagged his sister.
"You knew she'd gone off the rocker a bit." Harry said in what was probably the understatement of two centuries.
"I know, I just, didn't know, my little sister would go..." Ron breathed in. "She's a total nutter!"
Harry smiled, Judith chuckled beside him. "That's putting it lightly."
"What happened to her 'minions'?" Ron asked curiously.
Harry opened his mouth and then thought better of it, then opened his mouth again and his shoulders slumped.
"They were dealt with, Harry had little choice in the matter," Judith answered saving him from replying after Harry had paused a few times.
Ron looked to Harry who nodded. "Yes, I dealt with them and the manner through which I...made safe the area in which they operated in displeased Tsar Ginny."
"Tsar?" Ron looked at him. He'd heard Hermione intone in a similar way, it was probably something from muggle history. Hermione was always on him to read a bit of the muggle world, about the wars and inventions and stuff. And to continue to learn to drive. Harry seemed to like it. Though Harry also seemed to hold the muggle weapon, the gun very easily as well.
Ron let his mind wander so he didn't hear the shouts that were turning to screams, all coming from his sister and quite audible, despite the gag the healers had strapped in. "What's...what's happening."
"I believe they're starting the operation, you'll probably need to be there," Harry said.
"Why?" Ron queried looking to the front of the room.
"For blood," Harry's response made him shiver.
-/
Ginny had somehow spat out the gag. "Hello little brother, and George, cavorting with the delusional deviant over there?" Ron looked to George slightly open mouthed, or at least he would have been, had the other Healer not put a mask over his face. The masks were of muggle design, as was some of the equipment. He'd seen some of it on the telly programmes that were showing on Hermione's telly.
"Need any help?" Came Harry's voice from across the room, he seemed quite chirpy.
"With Ms psychotic terrorist he means, not the blood letting," called Harry's friend...or whatever she was, from what Hermione had said she wasn't his girlfriend.
Since Harry and...since he and Hermione had been together and then apart for a time and then together and whatever they were doing he and Harry hadn't really chatted or met for a while and Harry had never mentioned anyone after his sister.
"Ron wake up." George shook him.
"Typical, his sister, lying abused by the Ministry's lackeys and medical pigs and my little brother day dreaming about the suggestible alien worshipping Potter."
"Sit here please Mr Weasley," the Healer said as his associate stuffed the gag back into Ginny's face and tightened it, not with magic, it was held on like a belt buckle.
"Just call me Ron, there's too many Mr Weasleys here," Ron said.
"Yeah and they're all dad. I'm George, don't mind Ginny," George said, scratching his ear-hole as he tried not to look at his little sister. Her body laid almost bare and covered in sterilising solutions. There was also the blood and...other things that weren't blood, or anything else that he could even find a word for.
-/
"You bring me to the nicest of places Harry," Judith had holstered her weapon but stood with her hand on it as the Healers operated on Ginny.
There was another 'clunk' into one of the plastic biohazard tubs as another piece of alien technology or bone, or whatever was dropped into it.
The first time they'd done it he'd been surprised at such a loud 'clunk', but now that they'd gone past the tenth piece he'd given up being surprised and now it was just the sounds of the operation.
There was of course the barking / screaming from Ginny, the Healers had noted that the daren't use any anesthetics muggle or magical lest they interfere with what they were doing.
He wasn't sure how he felt about himself that he was glad that she was suffering through it. Harry put it down to one of those elements of his personality that had accumulated during his time in the 1970s.
The Ministry's men and women stood around stoically watching and waiting. Harry wasn't sure who they were precisely, whether they were Aurors, or part of the Minister's detail or Unspeakables or what. They weren't the run of the mill people, but aside from their initial contact they hadn't tried to initiate a conversation, so they'd remained silent while he and Judith chatted about random things, while occasionally talking about the operation.
The casual and somewhat callous nature of their conversation earned them some looks from Molly and Arthur Weasley. But neither said anything.
-/
"They're still going then?" Ioan asked as Harry walked out of the house.
Harry nodded. "They said will be at least another hour or so, I saw them with a bunch of pepper ups, for the Healers, not for the mad-cow."
"Mad-cow?" Ioan asked curiously.
"Something I started to call her when I was, back in time," Harry explained.
"In the groovy 70s," Ioan chuckled. "Where you managed to meet aliens, a semi-secret Intelligence Taskforce and a spot of murder."
"I meant to meet them," Harry smiled. "And the other things I knew were there." Harry said leaning against the bonnet of the Defender.
"Should I be worried that you're out here making small talk? Do I need to break out the small arms? Or that box of explosives?" Ioan asked.
Harry looked up at the trees and back to Ioan. "Not yet, no."
"And the meat-heads?" Ioan wondered.
"Still quite meaty, though now they've gone stoic and quiet. I just needed a break, there's only so much real-life long-form surgery you can watch-" He was cut off.
"And chat with Judith?" Ioan added with a smile.
"That too. I think we should go out, after we've sorted this, have a drink and talk."
Ioan looked at him and back to the house. "Alright," he paused looking around him and back to the house. "Yes."
-/
"So, anything else interesting happening?" Harry asked as he sidled up next to Judith.
"While you were out having a slash?" Judith asked casually.
"If I needed to relieve myself I wouldn't have taken that long," Harry commented.
"For a dangerous surgery involving blood, screams and mayhem Harry this is quite disappointing in its lack of rivers of blood and bile flowing across the table and covering the floor," Judith said nodding her head towards the table, earning herself and Harry some curious glances from the Ministry's representatives.
"I've had enough bile from the mad-cow recently Judith, and blood come to think of it," Harrmy mused.
"You need to stop recriminating about what you did back then," she dropped her voice and stood slightly closer to him. "It's not as though you could've asked nicely for them to stop, and you couldn't have brought them back," she looked at him in the eyes. "And you knew what you were getting into."
Harry rubbed his shoulder, it felt like she'd punched him in the shoulder, even though all she'd said was word. "You really know how to make me feel better."
"And to emphasise my usefulness in that area every time you get recriminating mood I'm going to inflict some form of physical pain on you," she smiled wickedly "or maybe you'll just think I have."
Harry smirked at her. "Is that so I learn to externalise my 'pain' rather than internalising it."
Judith shrugged. "That works as best as my reason."
"What's your reason?" Harry asked after a minor pause.
Judith just shrugged non-committally and turned her head motioning towards the Healer who was walking towards them.
"Healer Craddock..." Harry said, trailing off as he realised he wasn't sure what he was going to ask and saying 'Will the bitch make it' might have sounded a little bit angry.
"So, will the bitch make it?" Judith asked, again managing to pre-empt his thoughts on various matters.
The Healer was totally unfazed by Judith's questions, and Harry noted as an aside totally benefit of blood. For an operation that was quite bloody from the outset everyone the Healers and most of the work surfaces were quite blood free. Magic was like that though, quite blood free, except when the situation called for it.
"Yes," she said totally ignoring Judith and instead focusing in on Harry.
"That's...well..." Harry stuffed his hands into his pockets, despite everything he'd gone through in order to get her here, there was some small part of him that wasn't so much so wishing that she died here, but hoping she some how expired, through Ginny Weasley's own faults. Again, he wasn't sure what he felt about this piece of him. He felt the same way about the part of him that was disappointed that she was going to live.
"That's..." Harry repeated again. "Good for the Ministry."
"And I imagine when they're lucid, her family." Craddock motioned over to where the Weasley family were being attended by the other Healer. "We had to remove a rather large amount of blood and other elements from her blood relatives to ensure she didn't expire."
Harry just raised an eyebrow. "I did imagine that given the extent of the..." He trailed off again trying to think of a good vague comment on what was within the mad-cow Weasley. "Additions within her body."
Craddock merely nodded. "We have placed everything used, including the instruments in the tubs you've provided. My colleague and I will allow you and your" She paused looking to Judith "Associate a moment to check everything."
"Thank you," Harry inclined his head in a half not.
-/
"She liked you," Harry muttered as soon as the Healer was out of ear-shot.
"I'm likeable by everyone, and everyone who isn't...they can be killed," Judith said with a chilling careless abandon where upon Harry understood she meant every word.
"That's not why I like you," Harry said as he walked forwards towards the woman who tried to kill him, and he wished her dead. Yet, he'd saved her life.
The gag was in place, though she was still conscious and eyed him with focused anger communicated just through her facial expression and eyes. She'd been crying, obviously through the pain, but it was the burning hatred that still shone through her eyes.
A part of him wanted to lean into her and tell her how all her followers were dead because of him, that she had no hope of escape, because of him, that her psychotic little plan wouldn't come to fruition because of what he'd done. But he didn't do that, that sort of attack worked better with an audience.
Harry joined Judith checking around the operation area, everything had been cleared down and the Healers had even written notes and stuck them to each of the tubs noting in some detail what each of them contained.
"Everything check out?" Judith lifted one of the smaller tubs, checking it for its weight and nodded.
"All looks in order," Harry nodded, patting down his pockets and removing a roll of tape and proceeded to check the tightness of the lids and seal them thoroughly with tape.
-/
Ioan had the engine running as they loaded the last of the barrels.
"Eager to leave?" Harry asked as they got in.
"Remember I did research into the many ways of the Ministry and their alien encounters, occasionally they had bad encounters," Ioan replied.
Ioan threw the Defender into reverse gear in order to complete a U-turn.
"So?" Harry said and was thankful he'd put his seat belt on and that he and Judith had strapped in the containers tightly.
"Weasley's now clean of any alien-tech, but the house isn't," Harry replied.
Judith sighed. "It's a pity, that place would have been great for one of those make over programmes."
"What?" Harry said to Judith as the building exploded behind them, Harry watched as the flames promptly extinguished themselves and the remaining construction crumbled to dust in a ball of fiery sickly orange spell fire. "What?" Harry repeated.
"They don't do it often but it probably means Ginny Weasley will be released at some point," Ioan continued.
"Rather than just." Judith made a strangled noise as she dragged a finger across her throat.
"What...so...they destroyed the building so there's no evidence of the operation having taken place…?" Harry trailed off.
"And anything Ms Weasley might've had to say about it is just her feeding on the general populous wizarding explanation," Ioan continued as they slowed to make it along a dried river bed.
"Oh...Clever." Harry said as he leaned into the seat.
-/
The room was deep, deep within the Ministry, it had been his fortune or mis-fortune to discover that these rooms existed when he became Minister.
Officially the rooms didn't exist, they had none of the grandeur of the courtrooms, nor any of their grandiose imposing states, these rooms were rather plain, windowless and totally impervious to magic. Any transformation, be it animagus or otherwise was disallowed, so said the Unspeakables. There was no form of magical monitoring that functioned in here, nor could you cast any spell, potions failed in here.
According to some hypothesises from the Unspeakables this room had been one of the founding parts of the Ministry and had become so bathed in spells, from magic of clashing and differing styles it had come to repel and act against it, forcing its presence from the room.
They also postulated, that a witch or wizard left within the room for a lengthy amount of time would go mad, or lose their magic, having it forced from them entirely.
That was one of the grim options on the table for Ms Ginevra Molly Weasley who was mostly recovered from the operations performed on her a fortnight ago. Since then she'd been under close security in her home. Her relatives had also been under close security, but she was the only one who had officially been under security, the others were there just in case they got 'ideas' about moving her.
She was sitting on the table watching him like a dragon.
"So Minister Shacklebolt what have you got for me?" She leaned forward, her hands making a hard metal clunking noise from the hand cuffs as she placed them on the desk. He legs were similarly secured. "Now that Potter has delivered me to the Ministry."
He looked at her face and into her eyes, he'd seen plenty of people with that look. Plenty of people after the war continued to rabidly believe in Voldemort.
But then there was her interesting certainty as she would think it, belief was too light a word for conviction of her standing. It was always those whom you did not expect.
Harry Potter for one, there had been a lot of people who thought he would enter the Ministry. But he did something else surprising. No matter how much what Potter did he hated to acknowledge it was a surprising move.
"Even if I am delusional, can you take the chance that a delusion might become real?"
That had been what Potter had said to him, and Potter and his League of Paranormal Investigations had proved capable. Despite people aware of his existence thinking that he was especially delusional.
"I have several proposals about what to do with you," ge said after several moment's thought.
"Killing me I suppose is one of them?" She sneered.
"Potter could have done that," he challenged.
Weasley laughed, or cackled, leaning right back in her chair and laughing up at the ceiling.
"He may have shot me, cursed me and done other things to me," she smiled at the Minister. "But to kill me wouldn't be in Harry's character."
Kingsley totally disagreed with her on that front, killing was in Harry's character. But it was a sign of how much he cared for the other members of the Wealsey family that had born out in the extraordinary lengths he'd gone through to bring this woman back from where she had escaped to.
But where she had been did present options.
"Officially we've removed all the Dementors from Azkaban, but there's always a need for their services, no matter how grim," Kingsley said watching her.
She was...dangerous. Her actions had proved that. Her actions whilst in this century weren't exactly acceptable, but they could have been dealt with. It was her actions in the previous century that had become concerning and how far she had intended to go was what made her dangerous.
There was also what the Unspeakables' equipment said about her.
Ginevra Molly Weasly stared at him coldly. "I've looked into the face of insanity, seen wizards, who I knew, throw their sanity to the wind and spout off their 'confirmation' of aliens, their deficiency and delusion in things that have never existed. If people like that exist then perhaps the touch of a Dementor will help me withdraw from the world and see it in a new light."
Kingsley tried to remember when he'd met someone who was such surety.
"You're somewhat unique Ms Weasley, with your situation and experiences, killing you would be an inefficient use of resources."
She started to speak once more. "So perhaps the Veil then, shall I join 'Uncle' Sirius, Harry will be so pleased his Godfather will have some company from his dear departed ex-girlfriend," she said sarcastically with a sneer.
Kingsley smiled at her, which seemed to throw her slightly. "You are partially-right Ms Weasley."
"Oh?" She looked at him surprised.
"Your experiences, as I said have left you as a unique specimen, there are several individuals within the Ministry who are curious about you. And as you can't talk of your experiences to anyone, there is a perfect place for you."
-/
A/N:
Minor edit done March 2021.
Yes, Ginny's alive, I wasn't going to go through everything that she and Harry have been through just to kill her or throw her in the Veil or something like that.
Now that Ginny's run has plateaued somewhat I should explain my original plans concerning Ginny and Harry and everything.
Way back, when I was trying to stick to canon I had intended to follow right through and make Harry and Ginny end up together (despite not exactly liking the pairing). Obviously it panned out differently.
But originally I always had the 1970s arc planned, and Harry and Ginny were always going to come apart because of Harry's understanding of aliens and Ginny's opposite stance.
In my original plans Ginny was sent back in time (or went back herself), but had no followers with her. Harry would have followed her back because of his love for her despite what had gone before. In the 70s Ginny would have come under the control of 'Associate' (who was an extremely vague character in my plans, the name was the only thing that was really defined), he became the Patron.
His control of Ginny would have been more insidious, and may have been a wizard using alien technology. He'd have had far more control over Ginny and she'd have carried out 'stuff' in the 70s for both Muggles and Wizards alike (likely working against the wizarding and muggle governments and UNIT).
I even wrote around a page of a chapter that would have taken place during the events of 'The Stolen Earth' featuring Harry and Ginny, when I get to the chapter that focuses on those events (or close to those events) I might add it within the Author notes of that chapter.
Thanks for reading.
