* ~ The Eighth Year Universe ~ *

Love Wins

You Don't Have to Carry the Weight of the World on Your Shoulders

The chapter title is from the song:

Call on Me – Angels Fall.


The ministry was chaotic in the wake of the Statute Saboteurs attack. It wasn't until Hermione, Draco, and Sadie arrived that they realised quite how severe the attack had been.

Half of the atrium was cordoned off to the public, thanks to a large barrier that glittered around the perimeter. On the other side, the usual ministry traffic were all trying to peer over to see what the fuss was about.

Hermione tensed by Draco's side, and he wanted to reach down and take her hand. But they were at work; they had to remain professional. Even more so now, in the wake of all that had happened.

"Minister!" A nervous-looking witch in her early 20's said.

Hermione smiled in greeting, "Good morning, Sofia."

Sofia, whose blonde hair had been swept back into a professional bun but whose wide eyes gave away her youth, lowered her voice and said.

"They have murdered someone, ma'am."

Draco's eyes widened slightly, "That explains why I got the call…" he realised. Over Sofia's shoulder, he could see Ben waving him over into the cordoned-off area.

Sadie frowned, "Do I have permission to be at the scene?"

"Uh…" Sofia looked between them, "Head Auror Smith said no unauthorised personnel."

"She's an Unspeakable; she's authorised," Draco remarked calmly, "Assuming the Minister agrees?"

Hermione nodded, "Where did this happen?"

Sofia nudged her head into the cordoned-off area where Ben awaited them.

"In that stairwell."

Draco sighed and pressed his wand against the barrier preventing anyone from getting in, and a doorway opened up.

"I'll meet you in my office shortly, Sofia," Hermione said, glancing back at the young woman.

"Have everything ready because we will need to put out a statement and possibly give an interview to the WWN."

"Yes, Ma'am," Sofia said. She rushed off towards the elevators with a nod, and Hermione and Sadie followed Draco through the barrier.

The moment they had crossed it, the gap closed over again.

"Sir," Ben called, "You've got to see this."

"That's never a good sign," Draco muttered, picking up the pace as they strode towards the stairwell.

They saw it the moment they stepped into the corridor that led down to the lowest depths of the ministry. But the body didn't even look human, and it was certainly not identifiable. It looked mummified - the skin was still intact but pulled so tight that it appeared as if this person had died a long time ago. The figure looked ancient and decrepit.

Hermione brought her hand up to her mouth, and Draco pressed his hand to her back for a brief moment before stepping over the body to get a closer look.

"Thank Merlin, you're here," A voice said, which made Sadie look up.

She nodded at the young, blonde woman, "Hey, Briar. Do we know what did this?"

Briar shook her head, "It was a curse, so we are waiting for the Curse Breakers to arrive and tell us which one."

"Ah, so we're waiting for Satan's arrival, are we?" Draco asked dryly.

Heels clicked behind them, and Daphne stepped into the corridor. Despite being over 40 years old, she still wore dragon hide trousers and heeled boots to work, and annoyingly enough, she still looked good in them.

"Actually, I prefer to be called 'Queen of all that is evil', but I will answer to Satan."

Hermione bit back a smirk at the look on Draco's face.

Daphne brushed past him, "Morning, Draco," she added, with false politeness.

"Good morning, Daphne," Draco returned.

Charlus stepped in behind Daphne. He opened his mouth to make a joke, then he saw the body and gagged.

"Charlus, if you're going to throw up, do it somewhere else," Daphne said dryly.

Charlus swallowed and shook his head, "No, I'm fine."

Daphne looked from the body to the group of people around it and raised an eyebrow, "I don't suppose someone stole a mummy from the local museum?"

Draco gave her an exasperated look, "It's obviously a fresh body. So why does it look like that?"

"Because it has been cursed," Daphne replied, "That's a human corpse, mummified with dark magic."

"What kind of curse can do something like that?" Hermione asked quietly.

Daphne knelt to get a closer look. She shook her head, "Only one that I've seen before. It's called the withering curse, but you would probably know it as the -"

" – curse that killed Dumbledore," Hermione finished. Her eyes met Daphne's, "That wasn't just dark magic, Daphne. That was ancient blood magic, the sort that defined Voldemort's reign of terror."

Daphne nodded. She looked around at the others, and then her eyes settled on Hermione once more, "You know your curses, Hermione, so I won't talk to you like a novice. The withering curse only killed Dumbledore because he went to Severus Snape. Whatever Snape did, it slowed the spell down, but eventually, it would have done this to Dumbledore if - "

" - Snape hadn't killed him," Draco finished. He swallowed as the memory of that night flooded back to him.

Daphne looked over at her old friend, "Yes, but whoever cast this curse? They did the opposite of that, they sped it up. This spell is designed for traitors, for enemies."

She shook her head, "It's supposed to kill someone slowly. It withers their body over the course of a few hours, it's agonising, and once it's ripped through a body part, the only way to save the person is to amputate. This, though? It killed in minutes, which means it was modified to be sped up."

Hermione looked up sharply, "Only a Curse Breaker could do that, fiddle with magic that old."

Sadie shook her head, "No, an Unspeakable could do it too."

They all looked at Sadie, whose eyes gave away how conflicted she felt, "We tamper with all kinds of things down there – the essence of life and self…. In our case, that's magic."

"So the Statute Saboteurs are either Curse Breakers or Unspeakables," Draco said quietly, "Either way, that's not good."

Hermione sighed and looked over at Ben, "How do we know for certain that this was the Statute Saboteurs?"

"Because they wanted us to know," Ben said darkly.

The Head Auror pointed his wand towards the ground and uttered the word, "Revelio."

They all stepped back when a previously invisible symbol appeared on the floor in front of the victim.

"They left their calling card," Draco said, his own eyes darkening.

Ben nodded, and Draco cursed under his breath, "Do we have any idea who this is?" he motioned to the figure on the ground.

Briar shook her head, "We're worried that it's an Unspeakable. With where the body was discovered…."

Sadie frowned and looked at the staircase behind them, "That leads into the back entrance of the Department of Mysteries."

"There's more than one entrance?" Charlus asked in surprise.

Daphne nodded, "There has to be. Unspeakables don't want to have to navigate that awful spinning room every time."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at her, "The spinning room? That's top-secret, Daphne. How on earth could you possibly know about that?"

Daphne smirked, "Because I am so much more than just a pretty face, Hermione."

"Flirting with her will get you absolutely nowhere," A new voice said, "And thank you, for dobbing me in with the Minister for Magic, love."

They all turned to the door, where Harry Potter had just appeared.

Daphne gave him an apologetic look, and Hermione shook her head in amusement.

"I'm not even surprised that he divulged ministry secrets."

Harry grinned and raised his hands, "Guess you know me too well."

Sadie looked over at Briar, "Have you heard from Regina yet?"

Briar bit her lip and shook her head.

"Okay," Sadie said with a sigh, "Let's get down there and do a headcount to see if we can work out who's missing."

Briar nodded and took a step back, motioning for Sadie to walk ahead.

The two women disappeared, and Hermione looked over at Ben, "Can a medical examiner identify the victim?"

Ben looked at the mummified corpse, "It will be difficult, but yeah, our guy is good."

"In that case, get this victim into the morgue and find out whatever you can," Hermione ordered.

Harry shook his head, "Wait a minute."

He knelt and ran his wand over the victim – whatever he had done made some diagnostics appear in silvery writing above the corpse. Harry studied them, then flicked his wand to make them disappear, and a frown began to form on his face.

"Well, she's a witch," Harry said, "But she was hit with a magic suppressing charm before the curse hit her."

Daphne looked at her husband over the victim's body, "You're saying someone stopped her from fighting back then killed her?"

Harry nodded, a dark look forming in his eyes. He pushed himself up and nodded to Ben, "Get her to the morgue, see what Arlo can make of this."

Ben placed a portkey on the corpse, magically sending it up to the morgue.

"You ought to get back up the department," Harry mused. "There's going to be an uproar when people discover that another attack happened in the ministry, despite all the Minister's new precautions."

Draco's eyes were still dark as he glanced at Ben, "Harry's right. Put extra people out on the streets, we need them to know that there's a visible presence there to protect them."

"Yes, sirs," He said,

The younger man then left, leaving only Hermione, Draco, Harry and the Curse Breakers.

"If Sadie's hunch is right, then why would the Statute Saboteurs kill an Unspeakable?" Daphne asked quietly.

"Because they needed something out of the Department of Mysteries," Hermione said darkly.

Draco looked up in disbelief, "You think they infiltrated the DOM?"

"It's not that hard," Harry pointed out, "I did it when I was 15."

"You did a lot of things before you came of age that most wizards couldn't dream of doing," Draco said, giving his old friend a pointed look, "You're the exception, not the rule."

Harry smiled slightly, "Aw, Draco. That's so sweet. I've missed working with you too."

Draco rolled his eyes and looked at Hermione, "Do you think they got what they came for?"

"There's only one way to know," Hermione said quietly. Her eyes met Draco's.

"Send a Patronus down there. Instruct them to do a full inventory. If there's even a single unicorn hair out of place, I need to know about it."

Draco nodded and walked a few paces away so that he could send the Patronus in peace.

Hermione sighed and looked at Harry, who she realised was quite the embodiment of Albus Dumbledore in his prime. He was wearing a grey, striped three-piece suit with an emerald green shirt underneath, and his hands were stuffed into his pockets.

"Could you really not work anything out from the body?"

"I worked a hell of a lot out from the body, actually," Harry remarked calmly, "The victim's head was here," he pointed at the floor, "Which means that she was killed running away."

"But there were no signs of a struggle," Charlus pointed out.

"There wouldn't have been." Harry said darkly, "She was hit from behind by the magic suppressing curse which people will tell you that you don't feel, but trust me, you do."

Draco returned to the scene and nodded, "It feels like a punch to the gut."

"It felt more like someone was trying to rip my heart out when I had it used on me," Harry remarked.

"Do you have experience with that feeling?" Draco asked sarcastically.

"Do you know what? Now that you mention it, a crazy Brazilian witch did try that once," Harry said, cocking his head at Draco, "Back when I worked with Neville."

"Was this the same crazy Brazilian witch who tried to sleep with you?" Daphne asked, raising an eyebrow at her husband.

"Uh, yes," Harry admitted, "But I told her in no uncertain terms that I was taken."

Hermione scoffed, "Neville stupefied her."

"How do you know that?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Do you really think you're the only Potbottom who gossips?" Hermione quipped with a raised eyebrow.

Harry made a face, "I wish you'd stop calling us that."

"You call us the Black-Nott's," Draco pointed out calmly.

"Yes, but you named your own castle that, so it's kind of fair play," Harry said sassily.

"Girls," Daphne objected, "We have more pressing matters to deal with, don't you think?"

"Thank you for being the voice of reason, Daphne," Hermione said smoothly.

"God, now all the flirting makes sense," Charlus muttered behind Daphne.

Hermione shot her son a warning look, and Daphne turned to him with a raised eyebrow, "What was that, Charlus?"

"Nothing," Charlus said quickly.

Daphne twirled her wand in her hands, "No?"

Charlus looked from his boss to his mother, and then he caved.

"Sorry, Mum, but I'm more scared of her."

Hermione rolled her eyes, and Charlus admitted, "Mum told us she had a crush on you when she was 13."

Daphne looked over at Hermione and grinned.

"Oh god, you shouldn't have told her that," Harry muttered, "She's going to be unbearable."

"You knew?" Draco asked in surprise.

"Of course I knew. I was best friends with her when we were 13! She blushed every time Daphne spoke to her; it was hilarious. Ron and I used to take bets on how long it would take for it to happen on an average day," Harry joked.

Hermione sighed and gave Harry an exasperated look.

"We all had silly crushes when we were young, and the point I was making when I told the children that was that those crushes don't define you or your sexuality."

"Well.." Daphne mused, biting back a grin, "You and Sadie? I mean, I'm not saying you have a type, but two people in your foursome are blonde with blue eyes."

"Unbearable, see?" Harry said, shaking his head in amusement.

Hermione gave Harry an irritated look, "Can we get back to the terrorist attack and subsequent murder, please? I think it's far more pertinent to the conversation than any of this."

"You're right," Harry admitted, "It is. Now here's my concern, Hermione. This happened despite your precautions which means that whoever did it has access to the ministry. They were not under the imperius curse, or they wouldn't have gotten through those doors."

"Which means that they have already infiltrated our ministry," Hermione said. The dread in her voice was mirrored in all of their eyes.

"Whoever they were," Draco mused, "They may not have been under the imperius curse, but…there are other ways to make someone do your bidding. You and I both know that, Harry."

Harry nodded, his gaze meeting Draco's, "They could have been under duress."

Draco held his gaze for a moment, "Either way, this is bad."

Harry nodded and looked over at Hermione, "Like a whole suitcase of bad. Maybe even Pandora's box level of bad."

"Why?" Charlus asked, looking between the older adults.

"Because our ministry is one of the oldest in Europe," Hermione said, swallowing and looking up at the others, "There are things down there that could destroy the world in the wrong hands."

Draco stepped over and looked between Harry and Hermione, "We need to find out what they took."

"As soon as possible," Harry agreed.


"We can't put out a statement until we know who that victim is," Hermione said as she paced her office.

"We could, but if we told the nation that there was nothing to worry about, we would be lying," Draco said. He was sitting on the sofa, his foot tapping the ground anxiously.

Harry sighed and leaned against the window frame, "We need more information."

As if on cue, a knock sounded on the office door.

"Come in!" Hermione called, her eyes fixed on the door.

The door clicked open, and Sadie stepped in, looking ominous.

"Do you know who the victim is?"

"We can't say for sure, but we only have one member of staff unaccounted for," Sadie said, "We finally managed to get a hold of Regina. She was holidaying at an underground spa, which was why our Patronus's couldn't reach her."

Sadie's eyes flicked towards Harry, "But there's someone else who…didn't show up for work today."

The way Sadie looked at him made Harry frown and stand up straight, "Who?"

"Natasha Wolfe."

A wave of nausea hit Harry so suddenly that he genuinely thought he might throw up then and there.

"What?" Draco asked weakly.

"That's not even the worst news."

They all looked at Sadie when she said that. The blonde woman took a few more steps into the room and looked directly across the desk at Hermione.

Hermione knew what the other woman was thinking from the look in her eyes. She stared right back at Sadie, a hard look in her eyes.

"Did you find out what was missing?"

Sadie nodded. She took a breath and cast her gaze around the room.

"The last room that Natasha accessed was the Identity Chamber."

Hermione's eyes widened in horror, but Harry and Draco looked at each other blankly.

"Do we get let in on the secret?" Draco asked. He raised an eyebrow at Sadie, who was paler than usual and was fidgeting, something she rarely did.

Hermione swallowed and looked up at the two men, "The Identity Chamber is where the essence of what makes us us is studied."

Sadie nodded, "We study things like how certain genetic traits are passed down, from the basics like eye colour to the more complicated genes like parseltongue, which only manifests in some descendants."

Harry frowned as he began to comprehend this.

Sadie continued, "We use it to weed out genes that can pass down and cause genetic illnesses for the most part. But…we have blood samples that have been kept on ice for years, of some of the most powerful witches and wizards to live or those who had unique abilities."

Draco's eyes widened with the realisation of what that meant.

"She also accessed the Soul Chamber, just before that," Sadie added, "Which is where the very essence of being is studied. It's also where we study magical signatures."

Harry looked between the two women in disbelief, "Are you telling me that down there," he motioned through the floor, "There's a vial of Tom Riddle's blood?"

Sadie nodded.

"So any mad scientist could bring these people back?" Harry asked in disbelief, "With dark, ancient blood rituals like the one that Voldemort used to come back in 1994?"

"No," Hermione said firmly, "Because Unspeakables are vetted thoroughly. They are trained to die rather than give away secrets. They take an Unbreakable Vow."

"If that's the case, why didn't it kill Natasha?" Harry asked sharply, "Why did the Statute Saboteurs have to do it?"

"Because there are ways around Unbreakable Vows," Sadie said, her eyes meeting Draco's.

Draco nodded, and Hermione bowed her head, seeming to understand that cryptic statement.

Harry looked at them both blankly, then he lost his temper.

"Right!" Harry snapped, "Could we quit it with the unspoken communication and just use our words here, please? I'm Harry, not Theo. I can't read this Black-Nott mind language bullshit!"

Draco gave Harry an exasperated look and explained, "I suspected Sadie of something, and if I outright asked her, she couldn't answer with words because that would break the vow, and she would die. But she could do something out of character, which would be answer enough to me because I would know it was out of character."

Harry raised an eyebrow, "What did you do, have sex with him?"

Sadie scoffed, "No, I kissed him."

"That's out of character?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"I thought you four were one big happy family. Now that you two - " he motioned between Hermione and Draco, " – are obviously speaking again."

"We are a family, but that doesn't mean we all share the same dynamic," Hermione explained calmly.

"Which is a nice way of saying he only fucks Hermione and Theo," Sadie remarked matter of factly.

"Sadie!" Draco exclaimed.

Harry snorted, "Right, as much as I want to laugh at that comment, I'm not going to because Sadie, you're only this short-tempered and blunt when you're worried."

"Correct," Sadie said coolly, "Non-verbal actions can sometimes be a way of getting around the Unbreakable Vow. But there is also a get-out clause in there. Suppose Unspeakables are coerced, by which I mean their life is threatened. In that case, they can divulge the secrets because we value their life above our privacy."

"As honourable as that is, it's also how Augustus Rookwood managed to tell Voldemort everything," Draco pointed out.

"That's a fair point," Harry agreed, "And it also means she was coerced because we know she can't have been imperiused and…Natasha didn't do this of her volition."

"No, she didn't," Draco agreed, "But that doesn't mean she wasn't imperiused. We know that nobody can enter the building under a mind-altering curse. But that's not to say someone else couldn't have put the curse on her once she was inside."

"So anyone could be working with the Statute Saboteurs, and we would have no idea," Hermione said, the fear in her voice apparent.

"Fuck," Harry said, shaking his head and kicking the wall in frustration, "It's just like last time!"

Draco rubbed his eyes, "If she was coerced, the chances are that they threatened someone close to her. We need to get people out to check on her family."

"Rob," Harry realised, nausea hitting him again.

Rob. His mentor, a man he had admired for a very long time, a man who had taught him so much – not just about being an Auror, but about being a decent human being. And now, his daughter was dead.

Another knock sounded at the door, and they all jumped. Although nobody said it, they all knew that their reaction said it all. They had no idea if the person on the other side of that door was legitimate or was working with the Saboteurs.

They couldn't trust anyone anymore.

"Come in!" Hermione called, trying to keep her tone even.

The door clicked open, and this time Ben stepped in with a brown file in his hands.

"Minister," He said, nodding to Hermione.

Hermione reached out for the file, which Ben handed her.

She flipped it open and swallowed, "This confirms it. The victim was Natasha Wolfe."

"I need to tell Rob and Jen," Harry said. His throat felt tight and the knot he'd had in his stomach for weeks tightened too.

Ben nodded, "Give him my condolences, Harry."

Harry sighed but nodded, "Ben, it looks likely that she was being coerced by the Statute Saboteurs. Get her family into a safe house and check for any curses or booby traps placed around their home."

Ben nodded, "Yes, sir."

Harry would generally have said something along the lines of 'don't call me sir', but he was too concerned with the horrific news to think like that right now.

"Like Harry said, Ben," Draco said with a nod, "Look out for the Wolfe's and pick your taskforce quickly. I want them shipped out to Hungary sooner rather than later."

Ben bowed his head, "Sir," he said before leaving the room.

Harry sighed and made to leave, but Draco reached out and grabbed his wrist, "Harry, wait."

He looked back to Draco expectantly, "Yeah?"

"Do you want me to come with you?" Draco asked.

Harry swallowed and shook his head, "No…this is Rob, Draco. He…"

"He was there for you when it felt like everyone else was abandoning you," Draco said quietly.

Harry nodded, his voice breaking, "I need to do this on my own."

Draco let go of Harry's wrist and nodded, "If you feel like you need a drink afterwards, don't have one. Come to the castle, or go to Neville."

"Yeah," Harry said. He cleared his throat and left, letting the door swing shut behind him.

Hermione and Draco both looked at Sadie.

"What does it mean? The fact they used Natasha to access those chambers?" Draco asked.

"From what they stole…it looks like they are trying to mix magic with genetics," Sadie admitted. She bit her lip, "And I'm not talking about doing that to a foetus like we have done in the DOM…I think they want to do it to an adult."

Hermione looked Sadie in the eye, "Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think."

"I don't think I can," Sadie said weakly.

Hermione sighed and looked at Draco, "They aren't just weaponising the imperius curse to make it touch-bond. They needed access to blood and to the room where magical signatures are studied. If they are capable of making the imperius curse touch-bond, then who knows what they could do with that kind of information?"

Sadie delivered the final blow, "They stole a research paper. It was from an old project that got shelved years ago before I even joined the department."

She reached into her bag and pulled out a brown file, with the words 'CLASSIFIED' stamped on top in red writing.

"We keep copies in the archive room, luckily," Sadie said, handing the file to Hermione with a shaking hand.

Hermione opened it and read the name of the project, which was stamped at the top of the first page.

"The Emerald Lightning Project," Hermione said.

Draco looked at Sadie in disbelief, "No…they didn't."

"They did," Sadie said bitterly, "The aim was to recreate Harry Potter – a hero capable of such magical feats, who could speak to snakes."

"They stole everything they needed to make their own saviour," Hermione said. She was too stunned and horrified to even be angry about that right now.

Draco cursed and kicked the desk, "You are damn lucky that Harry isn't in this room because he would have cursed you for all for this! Who the fucking hell authorised that?"

"Who do you think authorised it?" Hermione asked irritably, "Was this project started in 1997, by any chance?"

Sadie just nodded.

"Then it was fucking Scrimgeour!" Hermione fumed. "In a last-ditch attempt, just in case Harry actually did snuff it before he could kill Voldemort. They wanted a back-up."

Draco swore and ran a hand through his hair.

"Somebody has to tell me."


When Harry knocked on the door to Rob and Jen's townhouse in London, he felt the bile rise in his throat. But he swallowed hard and forced him to stand up straight.

The door was pulled open by Rob. He smiled at Harry when he saw the robes and that he had his badge back on.

"Hey kid, you bored of retirement already?"

Harry shook his head and glanced behind him as a team of Aurors arrived.

Rob frowned, "What's going on?"

"They need to check your house and wards for curses or booby-traps," Harry forced himself to say.

"Why?" Rob asked, looking from the Aurors back to Harry.

Harry swallowed, "We need to talk, Rob. Can I come in?"

Rob took a step back, his face paling, "Is it Nick? Is he okay?"

"Nick is fine," Harry said, stepping into the house and shutting the door behind him, "But there was another Statute Saboteur attack today, and this one was fatal."

Rob took a step back, "Harry, I know Jen's in Romania right now-"

Harry shook his head and interrupted, "It happened in London, at the Ministry of Magic, Rob."

Rob's face fell. He shook his head and took another step back, "No."

"I'm sorry, Rob," Harry said, his voice cracking.

"Harry, you're lying," Rob said, shaking his head and fighting back the tears, "You're fucking lying! It's not true. Not Nat….no, she's fine."

Harry swallowed, "I've never lied to you, Rob. This is why I wanted you to hear it from me-"

"No!" Rob growled as he shoved Harry into the wall and held him there by his neck, "No!" he growled, baring slightly sharper than usual teeth, "Cause as soon as you say it, it's true, and I won't believe it! I can't believe it!"

Harry balled his hand into a fist and blasted Rob off of him. He didn't even cast a shield charm over himself as he grabbed Rob from behind and held him in a locked position to stop him from thrashing and hurting himself.

He cursed, growled and screamed, but Harry didn't relent until the sounds became sobs. That was when he weakened his grip and pulled Rob into a hug, tears streaming down his own face.

"I'm so sorry, Rob."


When Harry walked into the CPS building, he felt emotionally exhausted. He had spent the morning consoling Rob, which had included flooing Romania and telling Jen. She had broken down and come home immediately.

Harry had only left when Elizabeth and John showed up to comfort them. Elizabeth had pulled Jen into a hug, and John had patted Harry on the back and muttered, "Thanks, Harry. We've got this if you need to deal with the situation."

Harry had swallowed, nodded and taken his leave.

All he wanted to do was go home, but he had promised Rob that he would tell Nick, and he couldn't go back on that promise.

The sound of laughter floated through from the main office.

"It's your own fault. If you'd just made her pancakes, she wouldn't be withholding," Teddy was saying.

"Dude, I'm not metrosexual like you. I'm a man; I don't make pancakes. That's sappy," Nick retorted.

"You'd do it for your kid," Teddy teased.

Nick snorted, "Would I? Would I really make imaginary pancakes for my imaginary kid?"

Harry stepped into the room, and the two men fell silent. He was relieved to see that they were alone.

Teddy sat up straight the moment he saw the look on his dad's face. He knew something was seriously wrong.

"Dad, what's happened?"

"By now, the two of you will have heard that there was another attack by the Statute Saboteurs this morning," Harry said quietly, "It happened in the Ministry."

"Yeah, the rumour filtered down," Nick said with a nod, "What's it got to do with CPS?"

"Nothing, unfortunately," Harry said, barely holding back a sigh, "That would be easier than the truth."

Nick's face fell, "What…what do you mean?"

"The victim was identified a few hours ago," Harry said evenly, "It was Natasha."

Nick swallowed and looked at Harry with a dark look in his eyes, "Why?"

Before Harry could answer, Nick got to his feet. Teddy reached out for him, but Nick pulled away.

"Why her?" Nick asked, his eyes boring into Harry's, "What did she ever do?"

Harry did sigh that time, "They coerced her because she was an Unspeakable. They needed her to steal something for them. We don't know what yet."

"And then they killed her when they didn't have a purpose for her?" Nick asked, his eyes burning with fury, "And tossed her into a back corridor like she meant nothing?"

Harry could only nod.

Nick turned around and threw a blasting curse at the wall.

Teddy reached out and clamped his fist over Nick's, casting a shield charm as he did so. He looked Nick in the eye and shook his head, "That's not the way to deal with it, Nick."

"No," Nick said, unashamed of the tears on his cheeks, "Going to Hungary and wiping out every single one of these bastards is, though."

Teddy nodded and let go of Nick's hand, "You will get your revenge, but you need to be within the realms of the law when you do. Your dad can't handle you ending up in jail. You're all he has left now."

Nick let out a breath, and on it came a sob. That was when Teddy knew it was safe to pull the other man into his arms. Surely enough, he came willingly and buried his head in Teddy's shoulder to try to cover up the sobs that wracked his body.

Harry swallowed and looked Teddy in the eye, "I'll be around if you need me."

Teddy gave him a marginal nod, and Harry took his leave.


When Draco Black walked into his greenhouse, Neville froze and looked at him steadily.

"Is he okay?"

Draco nodded, "He's fine, but….I need your help."

Neville eyed the other man carefully, "That's ominous."

"Yeah, it is," Draco said. He shut the door to the greenhouse behind him and threw up a silencing charm, then he turned back to Neville.

"I need to talk to him, and you have to be by my side when I do because…I think he might lose control," Draco managed to say.

"I thought I was a match for him, then that night…when he nearly killed himself."

Draco swallowed and shook his head, "Even if I'd gotten there sooner, I don't think I could have stopped him. The only person who could have done was recovering from a pretty serious surgery if I recall."

Neville was good at keeping his tone even, his gaze steady and his emotions shielded. He had been ever since he became a Professor, but even more so since he became Headmaster.

"What could possibly be so bad?" He asked calmly.

"An old Department of Mysteries file has come to light," Draco said, choosing his words carefully.

"A discarded project, from 1997."

Neville's composure flickered for a moment, "About Harry?"

"Irrevocably about Harry," Draco agreed. His voice was quiet, but his tone was rather foreboding.


"Are you sure about this?"

Neville crossed his arms and leaned against a tree, "It's as good a place as any."

"Why not the Forest of Dean?" Draco asked curiously.

"It's…" Neville trailed off, "It's not that it's sacred, exactly, but it's his. That place belongs to Harry and Hermione in ways that Daphne gave up trying to understand years ago."

"I suppose I understand that," Draco said, with a look on his face that said he absolutely did not get it.

Still, Neville didn't argue with him.

The trees rustled up ahead, and Harry stepped out, his hands shoved into the pockets of his summer cloak.

"Weird place to meet up and hang out," Harry mused, glancing around at the trees, "I mean, the last time I was here, I died, so….what's the big secret?"

Neville glanced over at Draco, "I think I'll leave it up to Draco to explain."

Harry frowned at Neville, "If it's Draco's secret, then why are you here?"

"In case you try to destroy my school, or, you know, yourself," Neville said offhandedly, "When you find out what the secret is."

Harry looked at Draco sharply, "You think I'm going to lose control of my magic?"

"Let's just call it a precaution," Draco said carefully.

"Which we won't need," Neville said, raising an eyebrow at Harry, "Because you're a well-adjusted mentally healthy adult who doesn't do that anymore, right?"

"Sure thing…." Harry said although he didn't quite sound convinced.

"What's going on, guys?"

"We found out what they had Natasha steal," Draco explained, "They took some blood samples and a lot of genetics research."

Harry's eyes darkened, "Tom Riddle's blood?"

Draco shook his head, "They also stole a file from an old project that got commissioned in 1997 and shelved in 1999. I think it's better if you see it for yourself…."

He held out the file, and Harry took it, flipping it open and glancing at it warily.

"The Emerald Lightning Project?" He said quietly.

"Read it," Draco said quietly.

Harry met his eye, "Why?"

"Because I don't want to tell you," Draco admitted, "It's better if you read it."

Harry nodded and scanned the first page, then he flipped over and read about the genetic traits that were to be implemented. His frown deepened, and then finally, it made sense when he flipped over the final page.

"They were building a soldier, in my image?"

Draco nodded, and although Neville said nothing, he was watching Harry carefully.

"And the Statute Saboteurs stole this?" Hary asked quietly.

Draco nodded, "Hermione thinks that they want to build their own saviour. Someone who can…be a match to you, because in their eyes, you are their biggest obstacle to gaining control of this country."

Neville pushed himself off the tree, grabbed his wand and said under his breath.

"And 3…2…1."

"Of all the fucking ridiculous ideas I've heard, that has got to be the worst of them! And how is it that after 40 years, they are still fucking my life up! First Dumbledore, then Fudge and now that fucking moron Scrimgeour. They've been gone for over 20 years, and still, they are fucking using me!"

He started to pace and shook his head.

"How the fuck did they even get my blood? How on earth is that legal? They can't just take my blood and store it illegally! Are you telling me they've been making clones down there? And you!" he pointed at Draco, who didn't flinch or look scared, to his credit.

"Your…Sadie…knew about this?"

"Don't blame Sadie for this," Draco said quietly, "This was before her time. She wouldn't even have found out about it if we hadn't ordered a deep search to discover what had been taken or copied."

Harry scoffed and turned away from them.

"And of course, they aren't making clones of you," Draco added, "Don't be ridiculous."

"You've just told me they've been trying to recreate me!" Hary snapped, spinning on his heel to look at him, "So nothing would fucking surprise me anymore, Draco!"

"They have been trying to recreate your magical power," Draco corrected.

"If we are right, then we think the Statue Saboteurs are going to use this research to create a warrior, with your magical strength, the ability to speak parseltongue and…they uh…they accessed the Soul Room."

Harry's eyes darkened, "What the hell does that mean?"

"Sadie says it's where they study magical signatures," Draco said quietly.

"If they had access to yours….they could make themselves a warrior who fought just like you, with the same amount of power and the ability to command snakes."

"So they are creating a clone of me then?" Harry snapped. His hands began to glow orange, and Neville stepped forward.

"Harry," He said quietly but firmly, "No."

Harry opened his eyes, and they were no longer emerald. Instead, they shone amber, and by Merlin, he looked furious.

With a sigh, Neville shook his head and pointed his wand at a spot just behind Harry, "Revelio."

The spell revealed a large stone, it looked like it had once been the headstone of a stone circle, but now it stood alone in the forest.

"You're a big boy now, Harry," Neville said, in the most condescending tone possible, "You don't lose your temper and destroy forests. But all this magic has to go somewhere, so channel it into that stone."

Harry turned around and yelled, throwing his fists out towards the stone. Draco threw his hands up to shield his eyes from the light as two beams of orange-red magic shot from Harry's hands and hit the stone, which, miraculously, didn't blow up the second it was hit.

The yell that Harry let out was born from complete frustration, and both men understood why. He felt used, he felt useless, he felt like somehow, this was his fault.

And when he was done, and the forest went dark once more – Harry was exhausted.

Draco let his arm drop, and he looked over at Harry, who was on his knees now.

The stone in front of him was glowing orange, and Neville crossed the clearing to pull his best friend to his feet. He pulled Harry into a hug, and Harry murmured to him.

"Thanks, Nev."

"No problem, Harry," Neville replied. He patted his best friend on the back, "I've needed to recharge the ward stone for at least a year, but it would magically exhaust any normal person."

Harry drew back to look at Neville, and for a moment, Draco thought that a fight might break out. Then Harry laughed and nodded, "Glad to be of service, I suppose."

Draco looked between them in disbelief, "Harry…I've got to be honest, I know you well. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that outwith my family circle, you're my best friend, but….there's no one apart from Neville that could have gotten away with that."

"Yeah, you made the right call bringing him," Harry admitted. He leaned against Neville, and Draco noticed that he was sweating and looked incredibly pale.

"Are you going to be okay?" Draco asked.

Harry scoffed, "I always am, right?"

"This is different," Draco said quietly, "You would be within your rights to kick up a stink about it, with the Ministry, the press…."

"I won't," Harry said. He shook his head, "But as soon as I wake up tomorrow, I'm taking charge of the situation. We're getting boots on the ground in Hungary, and we're doing it soon."

A clap of thunder sounded above them, and Draco looked up.

"We should probably go. A storm's coming."

Harry's eyes were dark when they met Draco's.

"I think it's already here."

- TBC -