"Excellent." Dumbledore beamed. "I'll send Alastor a Patronus and get him to meet me in my office, first thing this morning. Then I'll speak to Severus. After that, I'll pop out and see Mr Lovegood, Lady Longbottom and the Grangers. Hmm… Should I tell Petunia that Harry shan't be returning to them?"
"I would. Given them some warning of the wards coming down." Remus said.
"Yes, I suppose I should. After that, I'll speak to Harry and whichever of children I have permissions for." He looked at the three men. "Remus, I suggest that you very briefly return to Grimmauld Place, pack up your things and join Cyril and… will you still go by Bucky?" The last question was directed to Bucky, who nodded. "Very good. The Express heads for London on Saturday, we have a lot to do and little time to do it in, gentlemen. I suggest we get what sleep we can, in what remains of tonight, for the next few days are going to be rather busy."
Harry and Hermione watched as Molly Weasley gathered up her children and chivvied them in the direction of the public floo-fireplaces, before turning to look for Remus Lupin and Mad-Eye Moody. Since a day after the trip to the DoM and a private interview with Dumbledore, their mother and someone from the DMLE, Ron and Ginny had been avoiding Harry and Hermione. Thankfully, Madam Bones saw fit to tell them why. Molly and her children had been reminded that love potions like amortentia are illegal and will net both the maker and the dispenser a nice long stay in Azkaban. And that if a person were to sign any magical contract, say a marriage or betrothal contract, under the influence of such potions, the contract would flare and not be considered valid, and that the influenced person would have to be treated with purging potions which would remove any traces of any potion from their system.
Whether Ginny and Ron were involved in the conception of the plan to marry Ginny to Harry and Ron to Hermione, or not, made no difference, not at this point. They'd been involved in the ongoing planning and had small phials of the potion in their luggage, that was sufficient for the DMLE to act. Ron would be forfeiting his NEWTs, his grades were low and the DMLE saw little reason to delay his sentence, he would be joining the Auror academy, where he would remain a trainee for the next ten years. Ginny, on the other hand, had good marks and it was suggested that she return to Hogwarts for her OWLs and possibly her NEWTs, depending on her OWL results. She would no longer be a member of Gryffindor but would be housed in separate accommodation, she would be under heavy restrictions and only be permitted to attend classes with the other students, the rest of her time, she would be remanded to her rooms. Molly was incredibly lucky, in that when the DMLE searched the Burrow and found traces of the potion, they were unable to definitively pinpoint her as the only or even primary brewer. The traces of her magic were there but so was someone else's and while initially, Arthur was questioned, he was quickly discarded as a suspect after a magical scan, leaving the DMLE still on the hunt for Molly's accomplice.
"Are you sure your parents are okay with this?" Harry asked Hermione.
"Yes, Harry." She sighed, he'd asked a dozen times since the Headmaster had told them. "I love my parents and they love me, they just aren't all that keen on me being a witch. It's turning out to be a bit too dangerous for their liking."
"But they're still going to let you learn to fight?" Harry wanted to know.
"Oh, yes." Hermione nodded. "Daddy was in the Royal Marines, when he was younger and he said that while he still wasn't happy about how dangerous the wizarding world was, me getting training in how to defend myself, actually lessened his concern. He'll always worry, but he knows how stubborn I am and that I can't leave the wizarding world until I finish my schooling. So, as far as he is concerned, me knowing how to fight and defend myself is a good thing."
"Oh, okay…" Harry nodded and shrugged. "There's Remus." He pointed off to one side.
"Good. Let's go." Hermione grabbed Harry's hand and headed in the direction that he'd pointed.
"Hi, Remus." Harry gave his honorary Uncle a sad smile.
"Hello Harry, Hermione." Remus gave them a tired smile. "Where's Neville and Luna?"
"They went to fetch Luna's trunks, she didn't get a chance to shrink them before the elves put them on the train." Hermione answered.
"They were going to ask a seventh year to do it for her, now." Harry added.
"Here they come." Moody told them without turning in the direction of the luggage carriage.
"Oh, good. It wouldn't do to be late." Remus smirked. "We're going to the home of an amazing man."
"You just like him because he can shut the other one up." Moody muttered.
"Of course, I do." Remus replied, keeping his voice bland.
"Humph…" Moody grunted.
"Do we want to know?" Neville asked as he and Luna joined them.
"No." Moody rumbled. "Read this." He thrust a small piece of parchment at Harry. "All of you."
The Marauders' Training Ground is on Freedom Island, in the Irish Sea.
"Uh…" Neville exclaimed in confusion.
"Fidelius." Was all Harry needed to say, for Neville's face to clear.
"Got it." The other boy nodded sharply.
"Everyone take hold of the rope." Remus instructed and once Moody and the four teens did so, he activated the portkey.
"I hate portkeys." Harry said as he crashed to the ground.
"Pup!" A barked yell startled Harry enough to look up.
"Si-Sirius…?" He whispered and stood dumbfounded as he was enveloped in Sirius' arms.
"And that's one of the surprises Dumbledore told you about." Remus said to the three other teens. "The Veil didn't like the way he tasted, so it spat him back out."
"It what?!" Hermione squawked.
"It spat him out, again." Remus said as he watched the reunion between godfather and godson. "It just didn't do it in the same place. Or at the same time." He went on. "As you can see, he looks a lot younger, that is a result of him making the Veil send him back here."
"Back here?" Hermione asked.
"Initially, he was sent to Germany." Remus replied. "Germany in 1945." Hermione gasped in shock. "Yes. He spent nearly two years in that time, before he forced the Veil to return him, here, to this time. He was spat out, outside the Shrieking Shack, about eleven pm, the same night as he went into the Veil."
"But… but he didn't arrive in the DoM until after one-thirty in the morning." Hermione objected.
"I know." Remus sighed. "Technically, he was back before he even left."
"Oi, Bucky!" Sirius yelled over his shoulder, to the house behind him. "Bucky! Come meet the pups."
"Pup?" Neville asked.
"I am not a pup." Hermione glared at Sirius, only to gasp as a tall dark-haired man left the house and walked towards them. "Bucky? Bucky… Barnes…?" She whispered.
"They're not pups, Siri." The man shook his head. "They're too old for pups. They might not be wolves, yet, but they're not pups, anymore."
"Harry will always be my pup." Sirius argued.
"Er… Hello?" Harry looked at the newcomer.
"Hey, kid." The man said. "I'm Bucky and when this idiot stops being an idiot, he might introduce us, properly."
"Are you Bucky Barnes?" Hermione asked and when he nodded cautiously, she went on. "I did an essay on your disappearance, at primary school. It's documented that you returned from Europe and joined the SSR, then a year and a half later, you closed down your back account and just… vanished."
"Yep, that's pretty much what happened." Bucky said. "My last mission with the Howlies, I fell from a train in the alps, the Veil tossed Sirius out, pretty much above the train and luckily he had an old broom in his pocket-"
"Undetectable Expansion Charm?" Hermione cut in to ask.
"Nah, shrunken broom." Bucky corrected. "Anyway, he caught me before I hit the ground, but the broom couldn't take the abuse and fell apart. We landed in a river and I got a pretty good concussion. Sirius pulled me out and did a point-me to our base. We had to walk for nearly three days to reach it."
"He shouldn't have apparated with you, if you had a concussion." Hermione nodded.
"Yeah." Bucky nodded with her. "We arrived back just hours after Steve killed Schmidt and Germany surrendered. Only to be told that Steve had crashed Schmidt's plane into the ocean somewhere."
"He was your friend?" Hermione asked quietly. "The Captain?"
"He was like my brother." Bucky whispered.
"I'm sorry for your loss…" Hermione's voice was even quieter.
"Thanks." Bucky gave her a small smile.
"And that's why you came with Sirius or was that an accident?" Neville asked.
"Oh, no. No accident, there." Bucky objected. "I wasn't letting him get away from me."
"That's why Dumbledore suggested that each of you bring a set of formal robes." Remus added. "These two are getting married, tomorrow."
"Married?" Harry looked from Sirius to Bucky. "Really? You want to marry him?" Harry pointed at Sirius.
"Yep." Bucky grinned. "And seeing as how he's still being an idiot, how's about you introducing your friends?"
"Sure." Harry blinked at the change in subject. "This is Hermione, she's been my best friend since I started Hogwarts. Neville shares a dorm with me and Luna came to the DoM with us. They've worked hard this year in the D.A., Neville's come a long way and Luna's been doing great." Harry gestured to each teen as he spoke.
"Good to hear." Moody said. "Come Monday, Tonks will take you to the wandier in Dublin, for a set of custom wands." He saw each teen grasp their wands tighter, while Neville's fingers clenched like he was griping his father's broken wand. "Nothing against what you've already got but yer need more than one wand. The wandier will test your wand against yer core and depending on compatibility and access levels, you'll get at least one, possibly two or even three wands custom-made to match you and your magic."
"We're going to work you hard over the summer." Remus agreed. "Having backup wands is always good."
"In addition to wand-work, I'll be teaching all four of you how to fight, muggle style." Bucky said. "Not just fight but fight dirty. Street fighting, knife fighting, hand to hand and the little bit of martial arts I-" he cut himself off and frowned into space.
"What is it?" Remus asked.
"Martial Arts." Bucky mused. "Morita was good at that. What are the chances that we can see if he's still alive and if he can teach them that?"
"You want the Howling Commandos to train us?" Hermione was almost bouncing with excitement. "Oh, yes!Please? Pretty, pretty please?" She begged.
"It would make things a bit easier, having some help." Bucky shrugged. "But I don't know who's still alive, it's been fifty years since I saw them last."
"James Morita, James Falsworth and Timothy Dugan are still alive." Hermione was quick to answer. "Or were as of the 1st of September, last year. Samuel Juniper Jnr died in 1946, Gabe Jones died in 1954 , Jacques Dernier in 1979, Percival Pinkerton in 1987 and Sam Sawyer in 1992."
"What about Chester Phillips, Peggy Carter and Howard Stark?" Bucky asked.
"Colonel Chester Phillips died in 1970(?) or '71, on the training field yelling at an unnamed private. Howard Stark died from cancer in 1992."
"And Carter?" Bucky wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"Margaret Carter is still alive, she only retired from S.H.I.E.L.D last year." Hermione said. "Apparently she returned to England to retire, but that's been kept very quiet."
"I have an address." Bucky said. "She and Howard both told me to come visit them, but…"
"Howard's gone." Hermione said quietly.
"Yeah." Bucky nodded. "But if Carter's still alive, she'll have a way to contact the Howlies."
"I can take you." Tonks said, she'd been leaning against the house for most of the conversation. "Sirius won't really blend in, in the muggle world. You're not too bad. Let me change your coat and we can go."
"Better get Sirius to do that." Remus warned. "Bucky's a Partial Void. So far, only Sirius' magic works on him."
"Uh, okay." The pink-haired woman blinked.
Half an hour later, Bucky pressed a button beside a large gate.
"Yes?" A disembodied male voice asked.
"Looking for Peg Carter?" Bucky said. "I was told that this was the address and I was to give a password."
"A password? Please hold." The speaker clicked and went dead for nearly a minute. When it crackled back to life, the voice was quite different. "You mentioned a password. What is it?" The female voice asked.
"The Veil. 18th December 1946. 2:15 am." Bucky said.
"That is… correct." The gate unlocked and began to slide open. "Please wait inside the gate, a vehicle will be with you shortly."
"Yes, ma'am." Bucky replied and once the gate was open far enough, he stepped through and encouraged Tonks to join him.
"I have could just apparated us to the house." She said.
"Muggles." Bucky said. "And you have a Statute about using magic in front of them."
"What are you, then, if you're not a muggle?" Tonks asked.
"I'm a Partial Void and the betrothed of a Lord of an Ancient and Noble House." He replied. "And as a Void, even a partial one, the Statute doesn't consider me a muggle, or so Dumbledore said."
"Oh." Tonks grunted. "I didn't know that."
"Now you do." Barnes gave her a sideways look of amusement.
"Shuddup…" She muttered.
A strange little vehicle came around the tree-line and down the drive, before coming to a halt beside Bucky.
"Barnes." Peggy Carter nodded to him. "I take it worked."
"Pretty much." Bucky nodded. "A few minor changes, though."
"Oh?"
"Sirius and I are both twenty-five, now." He grimaced. "The Veil altered our physical ages. I lost nearly five years but Sirius lost eleven."
"Ah." The older woman acknowledged. "Well, get in. we can go back to the house and talk."
"I'm kinda on a deadline, here, Peg." Bucky warned. "I'm hoping that you have a way to contact the Howlies. The kids need training and Morita was the best at hand to hand."
"He's already here." Peggy replied. "So are Falsworth and Dugan. We meet up, every year and as I knew you were hoping that the Veil would send you to Scotland or England sometime late this year, I agreed to host the boys."
"Fabulous." Bucky grinned. "Now all we have to do is tell them about magic and convince them to help out."
His grin made both Tonks and Carter groan.