AN: Sorry for being late on this chapter. I've been absolutely swamped at work. Another two weeks and I go on holiday leave. Hopefully I can get ahead and find a way to stick to posting every week or two. As always, thanks for the support! Let me know what you think, and if you have any opinions or ideas of what you'd like to see happen.
Chapter 12
Harry and Ron were waiting for Severus in the normal place. It was the next morning after they'd set up the ambushes, and Harry wanted to know how successful it had been. He also wanted to know what Voldemort's plans were since he'd gotten word that Jason's team had prevented some Death Eater's from returning to England.
"You have made the Dark Lord angrier than anyone ever has, including Dumbledore," Snape's dry tone broke the silence, and Harry and Ron glanced over at the man. "Your little stunt stunning him has made him furious, and he's put out a ten thousand galleon bounty on your heads."
Harry and Ron grinned.
"That amuses you?" Snape asked with a scowl.
"A little," Harry admitted. "That's the same price that he put on my head in our world, and the price that he put on Jason's head after Jason broke his hip and knocked him to the ground."
"I see . . . " Snape said slowly. "Well, he is screaming at anyone who brings him bad news, and so far, no one has brought him any good news. He killed the messenger who let him know that Witcher is preventing his reinforcements from returning and that they liberated Iceland."
"What's he doing about it?" Harry asked.
"He's ordered Snyde to retake the island, though I don't think he understands how thinly his forces are spread in the Americas, and even more so here in Europe," Snape said. "He has the wands that were supposed to return here that cannot now, but word of these countries breaking free will spread, and the North and South American countries have the most widespread resistances, and I suspect those will only increase with the news."
"Jason has plans to try and prevent them from retaking anything," Harry said, nodding.
"That's good, though I'm not sure he'll have to make much of an effort," Snape said. "Word of your attacks has spread far and wide, and it seems to have inspired the South American Alliance to make a push. Two major battles were fought in Brazil, and another was fought in Peru, which is a change from the mostly defensive war they've put on for the last couple years."
"What were the results?" Harry asked eagerly.
"The Dark Lord's forces were pushed out of Brazil, though the death toll was high on both sides. They'll have tried to reinforce the surrounding countries, but if the Alliance pushes hard enough, the Dark Lord will have to divert troops from other areas," Snape briefed. "They held in Peru, retaining control of a town called Lima, however, with control of the whole of Brazil now with the Alliance, the forces in Peru will either need reinforced or will have to pull back before they're overwhelmed. The Alliance now has a majority control of South America."
"Brilliant," Ron said. "If the Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans can start pushing their attacks, You Know Who won't be able to even come up with a counter without giving up control in other areas."
"The Dark Lord never really had the troops to take the South American continent," Snape admitted. "He's gotten by because the Alliance has remained mostly defensive, as has many of the larger resistances or independent countries, but they have been ruthless in rooting out Dark Lord supporters within their borders, so they don't have traitors feeding him intel, nor does he have the support in the local governments that normally helps him take control."
"That's great news," Harry said. "What were the results of the ambushes we set up yesterday?"
Snape paused. "Those were surprisingly ruthless and inventive. I don't know how many of you actually participated in the attack at the third site, but between the four sites, you managed to kill nearly seventy Death Eaters, and you put another thirty in St. Mungos."
Harry felt a grim sense of satisfaction. "How will this affect the Taboo?"
"He refuses to take it down, but they'll apparate farther away from where the word is triggered in order to try and prevent an ambush. It's unlikely to be of any use," Snape responded. "With those losses, and Witcher stopping the reinforcements from coming in, the Dark Lord is going to struggle to protect everything he wants to protect."
"Good," Harry said. "Do you have updated information on Death Eater homes and guards for certain families?"
Snape nodded and pulled out several sheets of paper.
"You should also know that vampires have retaken up the castle, as have a contingent of Death Eaters," Snape said, and Harry nodded.
"Alright, thanks," Harry said, looking at Ron, who nodded. "Let us know if anything major comes up."
"There is one other thing," Snape said quietly, and Harry arched an eyebrow at the man.
Harry's eyes widened as Snape pulled Ravenclaw's Diadem out of his robes.
"I managed to find this right where Witcher said it should be," Snape said. "I created a replica and replaced it. I'm confident that I can kill Nagini whenever you give me the word."
Harry nodded. "Don't do anything yet, but be prepared. This is incredible work. Thank you very much."
Snape nodded, and then apparated away.
"Are you ready to try out Jace and Alicia's ritual or are you going to wait for them to come back?" Ron asked with interest."
"I think Gin and I can handle it," Harry said. "As much as we should probably wait, I'd like to give the diadem to Gabby and Maddy for their studies, and I'm curious to attempt the ritual myself."
"Ah, well, I guess I can understand that," Ron said a bit awkwardly, but Harry let it lie.
Ron and Hermione had been a bit more cautious around Maddy and Gabby, and had hinted a time or two about Harry not getting too attached to the two girls, and Hermione had once even pointed out that they weren't really cousins. He knew his friends were just trying to look out for him, but it annoyed him, since he liked the girls, and they treated him like family.
"So, as risky as it is, I think we need to try and take out Snyde," Harry said.
"Agreed," Ron said. "He seems to be the one capable of coordinating Riddle's forces. If we take him out, someone else will take over, but it will take them some time to figure it out. I think we need to draw his QRF forces away, thus buying a strike team more time to get in, possibly get some information, and then get out."
"Wish we had Jace and Alicia right now," Harry muttered. "It would make tonight's operation much easier."
"True," Ron said, "but we'll be fine, especially with some support from the Order."
"Well, let's get back and start fine tuning the details for tonight," Harry said with a sigh, and the two of them apparated away.
**HP**
"Do you think that they'll listen to what you have to say?" Becca asked
"I'm not really sure," Jason admitted. "If Kane Finch is in charge of the Auror department, then we have a chance of convincing him, or at least we will after he gets over being pissed that we made it through their magical borders without anyone realizing it."
It was the third day since they'd left England. On the first day, after ambushing the portkey reception area in Iceland, they'd moved on to liberate the country, and lock it down. They then had moved to the Netherlands to ambush another group of Death Eaters coming in to reinforce England. They'd then hit the Faroe Islands, liberating the small group of Islands before setting up back in France for the night.
The next day they'd continued to hit portkey reception areas in Spain and Denmark before liberating Greenland, and ambushing some dementors on their way to the French coast, having come from Poland. They ended the day talking to a contact in the Danish Resistance that the French had given them.
The Danes had been more receptive and friendly upon receiving the information that they'd passed on and had been more than happy to take Jason and Alicia's advice on future attacks. They weren't a big group, but there also weren't many Death Eaters in Denmark. After the ten guarding the portkey site had been killed, there were only ninety Death Eaters or so left in the country.
This morning, they'd ambushed some more Dementors, hit two portkey sites in Denmark and Norway, and would hit another one in Belgium later in the evening. Before that though, Jason had wanted to meet up with the Australian Ministry to try and convince them to start sending troops out to liberate the many controlled islands around them. While they were dealing with the Australians, Isabelle and the rest of the team were hunting down Dementors.
"Let's get in there," Alicia said with a sigh.
Jason gave a rueful chuckle. "If it's Kane, he's going to throw a fit."
"You worked with this guy?" Becca asked interestedly.
"Well, if it's him, then yes," Alicia said. "We were here for roughly three months working with the Australian Ministry to track down a group of dark arts supporters that they had. Their leader, Ayla Fletcher, was a fairly powerful witch, but her power paled in comparison to her ruthlessness. The Australians were struggling to deal with her and her supporters since she had financial backing from outside the country, and was rallying dark witches and wizards to her cause. She wasn't as devious as Riddle, nor as powerful, but she was more bloodthirsty. She didn't try to recruit people by blackmail or using the imperious curse, she simply murdered them, their families, and their neighbors. That spread the word not to cross her fairly quickly."
"Kane was the head of the Auror Office, and while he was a capable Auror, he was struggling to keep up with The Inferno, as they called themselves," Jason continued.
"The Inferno?" Rebecca asked with a half laugh.
"Yes, a fairly stupid name to state how they were burning away the old world," Alicia said with a snort. "Despite the stupid name, they were dangerous, and it took us nearly three months to finally corner Fletcher."
"After You-Know-Who, beating her in a duel must have been easy," Rebeccca said.
"No, it wasn't," Jason said, causing Becca to look at him in surprise. "Fletcher was not as powerful as Riddle, but she was very knowledgeable and very skilled. It wasn't an easy duel. The weak dark lords and ladies don't last, nor do they convince people to rally behind them very easily. "
"I guess I didn't think of that," Rebecca said.
"Trust me," Jason said, "Voldemort is very dangerous, and a skilled combatant, but he's only one man. Prodigies aren't exactly common, but they aren't so rare that only one will appear in the world at a time. There are often several within a country, let alone around the world. Some of the self proclaimed dark lords that Alicia and I dealt with after the war probably work for Voldemort unless they were killed or are hiding, biding their time. People fear him because he seemingly can't die, but I can assure you there are more people in this world capable of killing him than Kingsley Shacklebolt and Dumbledore. Mine and my sister's counterparts might even be one pair. If he's still alive, the American's have a hitwizard named Lanston Brown that I would actually consider Voldemort the underdog against."
"Really, he's that powerful?" Rebecca asked in amazement.
"Yeah, he's very powerful. I wouldn't bet against Ileana Silva from Brazil either," Alicia said.
"True," Jason said, nodding. "Vicious, cunning, and fast. She's a good friend, but I would be hesitant to try and duel her. In either case, we also were trying to capture Fletcher, not kill her. That made dueling her harder, but we eventually managed to capture her."
"A lot of effort considering the Australians executed her only a month later," Alicia muttered.
"They executed her?" Rebecca asked in surprise.
"Yeah, they took stock of Grindelwald's first escape and decided they didn't even want to risk it, especially since Riddle ended up getting information from Grindelwald in our world before he killed him," Jason explained. "I mean, they gave her more of a fair trial than she would have gotten in our Ministry before the war, so I have to give them credit. She was found guilty and then sentenced to death."
"Do they use dementors to kill convicts like in England?" Rebecca asked.
"No, there are no dementors this far south," Alicia said with a smile. "Dementors need the cold to survive. In Europe, for instance, you aren't likely to find Dementors south of France, and that's pretty much the line through Europe and Asia. In North America, you'll only find Dementors in the northern parts of the United States and in Canada. Dementors also can only cross large bodies of water by ship, so you aren't likely to find them on islands unless someone deliberately shipped them there, or they somehow ended up on a boat or plane leaving."
"So, that's why You-Know-Who can only bring back so many dementors," Rebecaa said, catching on. "He has a lot less than most people think, and if he brings back too many, he weakons his forces elsewhere."
"Exactly," Alicia said, nodding in approval. "By all accounts, he's pulling back far more dementors than are needed for Britain's population. He's definitely leaving other countries short, especially since according to Severus's reports, he only has around forty five thousand dementors worldwide. A paltry number in comparison to the size of the world."
"Well, why aren't there more?" Rebecca said.
"Riddle can't let them grow too much or they'd eventually just start feeding on everybody," Jason said. "Riddle doesn't know of a magical way to kill dementors, or at least I don't believe he does, and I doubt he's capable of conjuring a patronus. If the dementors got too powerful, they'd overwhelm even him, and I'm not sure even his horcruxes would help him if a dementor sucked out his soul."
"Huh, so dementors might eventually have been his downfall," Rebecca muttered.
"Possibly, though he might just have moved south to escape them, or he might have used the non magical method of killing dementors," Alicia said with a shrug.
"What way is that?" Rebecca asked.
"Starving them," Jason said with a frown. "It's what the Russians did to them in our world. Like us, they'd been betrayed by the dementors one too many times, so they decided they would find a way to kill the dementors, which involved herding them into a vault, buried deep underground, and then locking them in there. It takes quite a while for a dementor to starve to death, but when you lock them in a buried vault, that no one will reach, you've got plenty of time."
Rebecca shuddered.
"Yes, not a pleasant end, even for such abominable creatures," Alicia agreed.
Their conversation ended as the three of them entered the Australian Ministry of Magic. It was a grand building, and Jason always remembered Arthur Weasley's words from so long ago: "We can't help showing off."
They approached the visitors entrance. The guard at the station glanced at them, a confused look on his face. It was probably rare that people he didn't recognize showed up. Like any ministry, real visitors weren't all that common, but with Australia restricted from all travel, it was unlikely they received any, since travelers from around the country likely just went to satellite offices for the Ministry or their DMLE rather than come to the main branch.
"Hello," Jason greeted politely with a smile, going with the Albus Dumbledore approach. "We need to head over the Auror office."
"I haven't see you three before," the guard said cautiously, looking guarded. "Where are you all from?"
"England," Alicia replied cheerfully, and the guard's face changed from guarded to fearful, and he quickly set off an alert charm with his wand. A
All around the room, witches and wizards drew their wands, and pointed them at Jason, Alicia, and Rebecca, the latter of whom had drawn her wand and taken a defensive stance, looking nervous.
"Put your wand away, Rebecca," Jason said quietly, before looking at the guard. "We're not here for a fight, nor are we followers of Voldemort."
"That doesn't matter to him, and it remains to be seen to the rest of us," a deep voice responded, and Jason smiled before turning to a tall, lanky wizard, who was staring at their group with interest.
"Oh, I know," Jason said. "I was just trying to calm his nerves a bit. "It's nice to see you, Kane, even if you don't know who I am."
Kane frowned. "Should I know you?"
"Not at all," Jason said, smiling wide, and Kane's annoyed look, "but we know you. Are you the Head of the Auror Office?"
"Yes, I am," Kane answered, and Rebecca glanced around seeing a great many witches and wizards gathered around, awaiting Kane's signal. "You know who I am, but you didn't know I was the Head?"
"Well, it's a long story," Jason said pleasantly. "One I would like to tell you, but this is hardly the place or time. Perhaps you can escort us to one of your interrogation rooms so that we can explain, which will also help answer your questions."
"So, you're surrendering to us?" Kane asked, his guard not dropping in the slightest.
"More like agreeing to questioning," Jason answered, looking a bit sorry. "We refuse to let you take our wands, and will resist if you force us to defend ourselves."
"You seem to think that you can just walk on out of here?" Kane responded.
"Well, I don't know about walk," Jason replied, "but we certainly have ways out, if needed. I'd prefer not to have to use them however. We've come to enlist your help?"
"My help?" Kane responded, with a frown.
"Well, yours, but also more your country's help," Jason replied.
"You're saying that you're from the English resistance," Kane said.
"Sort of," Jason said with a shrug. "We've been assisting the English resistance, among others. We've got some of our people continuing the attacks in England, weakening the Death Eaters which will lead up to killing Voldemort. We're attacking abroad to stop reinforcements from reaching England, while also helping others to retake their lands."
"A bold plan," Kane said dryly. "I don't know how you slipped past our protections, but they should have tipped you off to the fact that there are no Death Eaters in this land, nor any war. We don't need to retake our lands."
"Not yet," Alicia said, and Kane looked at her. "You can only stay on the defense so long. The war will end in one of two ways. Voldemort conquering the world except for Australia, or him losing. If he loses, then your defense will have paid off in that you will have lost no lives in the war, but you will also have no allies in the rest of the world, having not assisted. If Voldemort wins, well, your defense will only be your undoing, since you won't be able to hold off his forces forever, especially if he commits a large force, like he hasn't done yet."
"Perhaps that's true, but we hardly have the troops to really make a difference in this war," Kane debated.
"Not true at all," Jason said, "or at least not true considering what we want you to do."
Kane sighed, and looked around the room, getting a nod from a tough looking woman. "Very well, let's take this to the Minister's Conference Room."
Around the room, most of the people started relaxing, giving the three travelers curious glances, though there were quite a few who stayed defensive, most of those having the looks of soldiers, aurors, or hitwizards and hitwitches.
Jason smiled, and he, Alicia, and Rebecca followed Kane into the Ministry. They were followed by the tough looking woman, another more administrative woman and her two attendants, and four others who were definitely members of the DMLE. They crossed through the atrium, reaching a set of lifts that took them down into the Ministry, which was mostly underground, except for the Atrium. They reached the bottom floor which opened up into a reception area that had had a small reception desk, and three doors, one on the left side of the room, one across from the elevator behind the reception desk, and one on the right side of the room. The door on the right opened, and two more aurors stepped out, looking grim. The group walked over to the door on the left, and entered to find a large conference room.
The administrative woman took the head of the table, and her two attendants sat on her left, while the tough looking woman, and Kane took two seats to the right of the woman. The rest of them grabbed seats around the table.
"May I present Minister Miranda Turner," Kane introduced, "and our head of the DMLE, Charlotte Kelly."
Jason and Alicia both nodded at the pair, as Rebecca stayed silent, looking a bit nervous and awkward. Minister Turner looked at them curiously, while Charlotte Kelly gave them cautious looks.
"How did you get through our defenses?" Kelly asked, starting off the meeting.
"Phoenix travel," Jason said, and he smiled as he saw surprised looks flash across everyone's faces.
"Apollo," Alicia called, and the phoenix flashed into the room, landing on her shoulder.
"I've never heard of a phoenix being aligned with a dark wizard," Kelly admitted grudgingly, and Jason watched some of the wariness creep out of the aurors.
"This is my sister's phoenix," Jason said with a smile, looking at Apollo, before reaching into his cloak and pulling out a still very young Artemis. "This is my familiar, Artemis. She took a killing curse in a battle with the Death Eaters a couple days ago, so she'll be out of the fight for a bit, but I figured I'd be as truthful and up front with you all as possible."
"How do you know me?" Kane asked, looking less grim, but still a hint of cautiousness.
"Well, we know you from our world," Jason said, and he spent the next hour explaining about how the Order had summoned Harry and them from another universe, one where Voldemort had been defeated, and they watched as the Australian wizards looks went from cautious to astounded as the tale was told. Jason didn't go in depth for everything, not feeling like they had the time, nor did he feel inclined to do so, but gave a broad overview of the situation.
"While this is fascinating and all, and it certainly gives me hope that this world war will actually come to an end, I have to ask what this has to do with my people, with my administration," Minister Turner asked.
"We want you to push the fight, and start reclaiming all the oceanic islands from the Death Eaters," Alicia said, wandlessly conjuring a map that they'd prepared beforehand which outlined what they wanted the Australians to hit, and had annotations with the intelligence that Severus had gathered for them.
"As you can see, most of these islands have few Death Eaters on them," Alicia briefed. "Like many other small population islands, they had one or two dark arts supporters that simply took control, and it wasn't worth the villages to fight back, knowing it would end in death. The main exception is Papua New Guinea, and there are sizable groups on these few other islands. If you can even recruit some Aurors from New Zealand and Tasmania, you should be able to sweep most of these islands in short order."
"Then you just need to raise international borders and Voldemort will be hard pressed to take any islands, even if he wanted to, plus he'll have lost a sizable amount of territory," Jason continued. "In the grand scheme of things, most of these islands won't amount to much," Jason said, cutting off the protests he could see coming from a few of the Aurors, "but word will spread that people are actively rebelling against the Death Eaters and winning. Hopefully, as word spreads, it will inspire others to fight back as well."
Minister Turner turned to Kane and Kelly, both of whom nodded grudgingly in approval, agreeing with Jason and Alicia's assessments.
"Is it worth risking my people's lives to take some small islands that won't necessarily matter in the "grand scheme of things?" Minister Turner asked with a frown.
"Yes," Jason said firmly. "Should we fail and Voldemort win against us in Britain, those islands will provide a vital defense for your people, not to mention they're staging areas for Death Eaters to attack here from. Plus, if word spreads that the countries that have remained free are now launching counter offenses against the Death Eaters, and winning, it will certainly help convince others to start fighting."
"I would agree with his assessment, Minister," Kane agreed grudgingly.
"Do you have any contact with New Zealand or Tasmania?" Alicia asked, and Minister Turner and Kelly nodded.
"We have a private Floo Network connected to both islands allowing for contact and travel," Kelly briefed.
"Perfect," Jason said with a grin. "If you could convince them to aid you, you'd be able to sweep the islands in short order, and perhaps more, if you'd be willing."
"More would take us into Southeast Asia," Kelly muttered, shaking her head. "We'd have to commit all of our forces to make much of a difference in several of those nations, and even then, we'd need the people of those nations to join us, which there's no guarantee of, at least at this point."
Minister Turner closed her eyes and sighed. "I could agree to your plans and mobilize our troops to start reclaiming islands, and then we'll move to a case by case basis after that."
Jason and Alicia smiled, both feeling relieved that this was going as they'd hoped.
"How many troops do you have at your disposal?" Alicia asked. "If you don't mind my asking."
"Between our volunteer Defense force, aurors, and hitwizards and hitwitches, we have around two thousand available wands," Kelly said succinctly. "I know New Zealand has around six hundred or so, and Tasmania only has around thirty or so. Regardless, we will not commit all of our troops to this endeavor. We are not going to bet everything on the plans of an outsider, no matter what tales or promises he brings."
Jason just grinned at the woman. "I don't blame you, and we'll take what we can get. Thank you. We have one other request."
"What request?" Minister Turner asked with a frown.
"We liberated a bunch of men and women who had been enslaved and put to work in Voldemort's brothels," Alicia said. "We don't have the medical personnel or facilities to really treat them. Would you be willing to let us send them to your hospital?"
Turner, Kane, and Kelly exchanged looks.
"It's a security risk, but a minor one at that," Kane said.
Kelly nodded in agreement. "We have the capabilities, and that's a small favor to ask."
"Very well," Turner said, nodding. "You can drop them off at St. Alexander's and we'll care for them."
He and Alicia both stood up, and Rebecca hastened to follow their lead, causing the Australians to jolt in surprise.
"Thank you very much. We have some Death Eaters to ambush, so it's time for us to leave. Thanks for the help and the hospitality. If any of your people wish to continue the fight after you retake the islands, send them our way," Jason said with a wave, and then he grabbed Rebecca's and Alicia's hands and they flame traveled away, leaving the Australians in a stunned silence.
**HP**
Harry looked around at his tired friends and family. They'd been busy over the week and a half since Jason's team had left. They'd conducted raids almost every night, usually on soft targets or hitting Death Eater homes, trying to slowly wean down the Death Eater forces.
They'd only done three major attacks in the twelve days. The first one had been on Gerrick Snyde, the Head of the Department of Magical Transportation's home, which resulted in his and his wife's death, along with six Death Eater guards. After that, they'd done a few small raids on minor Death Eaters before gathering the full strength of the Order and hitting the vampire castle, killing all the vampires and the twenty Death Eaters that had been stationed there.
It had been a costly battle that ended with four deaths in the Order, two of whom died when Jason and Isabelle's evil counterparts had shown up as reinforcements for the Death Eaters: Wendy Jones, Emmiline Vance, Gawain Robards, and Mundungus Fletcher. On the flip side, they'd killed all the vampires and Death Eaters stationed at the castle, destroying the castle in the process. One upside besides the victory, and despite the losses was the leader of the Death Eaters killed was Frederick Carrow, one of Voldemort's contemporaries.
They'd stuck to low level raids for the next three days after the raid on the castle until last night when they'd gone and hit the home of the new Head of the Department of Magical Transportation: George Rosier, another contemporary of Voldemort. They'd killed him, his wife, his ten guards, and had gotten lucky in that his son, Evan Rosier, the Head Auror had been visiting, and killed him, and his five traveling guards.
Days earlier, they'd gotten a nice sign of Jason's progress in getting aid abroad when Apollo grabbed most of the patients they'd had in the field hospital and took them off for proper treatment in a hospital in Australia. Roughly twenty patients stayed including Jamie and Alicia Spinnet, all wanting to fight the Death Eaters as soon as they were fully capable. They'd also received word that the Australian forces had started their attacks, claiming island after island, wiping out Voldemort's forces wherever they went.
Through Severus, this morning they'd learned that various rebellions and attacks by different resistances across the world had increased drastically as word spread of the South American Alliance's victories, combined with the English Resistance's victories.
"I think we'll take the night off," Harry said to the room, and they looked at him in surprise. "We need rest, and I think we should celebrate all the successes we've had, and," Harry said with a grin, "we might as well drink for Jason's team."
There were laughs around the room.
"Well, I'd say we try and celebrate like Jace and Alicia, but even we've been impressed with some of the shenanigans those two have gotten into when they go on a bender," Fred said with a grin.
Harry had to nod in agreement. Jason and Alicia certainly had shown themselves capable of having fun during their Hogwarts years, especially when they were together, but with the threat of Voldemort looming, and then becoming all too real, Jason, and in turn Alicia had both thrown themselves into training and their educations. Sure, they'd still relax and have fun, especially at parties after Quidditch matches, but they'd both still been so dedicated to preparing for Voldemort that truly letting loose had taken a backroad. Other than Quidditch parties, Harry had only really seen Jason let loose in the early parts of their first year, and the summer after their second year when he'd stayed with them with Jack and Juliana in Egypt. After the war though, they finally relaxed.
Sure, there had still been Death Eaters about, but their mindset had changed from one of survival to one of really living. Being who they were, they still studied, and had their projects, but it was at a much more relaxed pace. As a couple, they went out to movies, went bowling, explored London finding new things to try, and just enjoyed trying to talk all the rest of them into joining them for whatever new thing caught their fancy.
Honestly, it had been great to see his friends so happy and enjoying life. Jason, Isabelle, and Alicia had shouldered a lot of the burdens of the war, even earlier than Harry had with their discovery of the horcruxes, so them letting loose had really helped Harry himself relax, though Ginny had been great at helping him move on as well. Harry himself had struggled to move on from Voldemort the most, and immediately joining the aurors and hunting Death Eaters hadn't helped, but his friends really living, and his mischievous girlfriend often forcing him to join them had been the help he'd desperatly needed.
"It would be fun to try and prank the Ministry, like they did in Taiwan though," Harry muttered, thinking it through.
Fred and George grinned.
"Oooh, I can just imagine all those stuffy Death Eaters being forced to deal with it," George said. "We could Charm the doors so Death Eaters randomly see old Voldie every now and then, just causing them to freak out and start prostrating themselves to some random person who would have no idea what was going on."
"Or, spike their morning teas with singing potion, so they just randomly start breaking out loudly in song," Fred added gleefully. "Maybe even tie it into a good old fashion rhyming curse."
"You know, we could honor Jace and Alicia's prank while doing it," George said thoughtfully. "They flooded the place with paint and confetti, how about we just flat out flood it, so everyone's shoes will be soaked all day, and we apply a charm so that they can't dry their feet, and just have to deal with it!"
"Oh, that's evil," Angie said with a grin. "I love it! I knew there was a reason I kept you around!"
George winked at her.
"That would more be honoring dear Gin Gin and Harrikin's prank on the Daily Prophet and the vile Ms. Skeeter," Fred pointed out.
"Oh, that was the best," Jamie said with a giggle. "Plus, I had the whole week off work since no stories could be printed. Best prank ever!"
"I don't know," Ron said. "Harry turning Sirius's hair grey and Remus's hair black was pretty good."
Everyone started laughing remembering the event, and nodding in agreement.
"Yeah, Remus dodging hexes looking completely bewildered while Sirius screamed about him stealing his gorgeous locks of hair was one the best things I had ever seen," John agreed with a chuckle.
"Sirius wouldn't talk to me for a week," Harry said with a wide grin. "Remus, on the other hand, made sure to take me out for lunch that whole week just to repeat how proud he was."
Ginny chuckled. "Sirius kept asking me how I could agree to marry such a backstabbing twat."
Everyone laughed again.
"Alright, in addition to tonight's plan," Harry said with a smile, feeling some tension drain from his shoulders. "We'll drink, have fun, and decide how we'll prank the Death Eaters, and maybe even prank Riddle if we can. Merlin knows we owe them."