A/N: Warning - mayhem ahead….!

Chapter 32 - The Power of Being Prepared for Anything

They'd had a good showing of fifth years, but the few sixth and seventh year members had all begged off the Thursday night DA meeting for various reasons. The reduced size of fifteen members, plus Harry, had been perfectly matched as they'd paired off to practice and quickly master two new spells. Harry received the usual rave reviews and thank you's as tonight's session broke up and everyone began to head back to their Houses.

"I'm having a night in my dorm," Harry informed Severus, who had shown up to watch the last few minutes of the meeting.

"Very well," Severus acknowledged, skillfully smothering the sudden urge to argue that Harry should continue spending nights in his bedroom, in what Severus was starting to think of as their common space. Where was that coming from? He knew he'd next see The Boy Who Lived the following morning, in Potions class, so separation anxiety was uncalled for. Still, he felt compelled to stand with arms folded, watching the group of fifteen and sixteen year old wizards and witches chatter excitedly about what they'd just learned as they filed out of the MDTA. The pride he felt for Harry felt parental.

Where was THAT coming from?

0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0

The five Gryffindor fifth year boys crowded into their dorm room, still chattering about a great squeezing spell Theodore Knott had shown the group after they'd mastered the icicle spell Harry had shown them.

"You could bloody well finish someone off if you used those two spells together!" Seamus declared. As usual, he was quite worked up over the intense session of magical practice they'd just had.

"I'm more interested in getting my magic aligned with doing spells without my wand," Neville announced quietly. He held out his hand like he'd seen Harry do, and shakily, but successfully, levitated a small, brightly wrapped package from where it had been sat upon his bed.

"NEVILLE!"

The package quickly dropped back to onto the comforter.

"That's bloody brilliant, mate!" Seamus yelled, now more enthusiastic than ever. "I'm still only just starting to feel that tingling in my hands that Harry says to look for! Well done, Longbottom!"

"Neville, you got it! That was quite fast!" Harry agreed. His ego was soaring with delight at his friend's determination. Neville had really shifted a lot this term. But then he flashed onto that bad day with Severus, and the round of potions he and Neville had done together, and recalled how quickly Neville could still get overtaken with nerves. "Remember, mate, be really careful to only do small bits at first. I'd say don't do any more practice tonight. It drains you much, much faster than you'll realize, until it's too late, and you're already tapped out."

Neville's face had been set in an expression that Harry could only describe as what he'd imagine a soldier's might look like, before heading into battle. But Neville acknowledged Harry's advice with a nod, and then finally broke into a grin as Ron and Dean cheered for him. There was a round of loud claps of impressed hands onto Neville's shoulders and back as everyone gathered their pajamas and shower things to head into the large bathroom shared by all Gryffindor boys.

Neville watched them go, before realizing he wanted a shower as well, and headed over to his bed area to gather what he needed. The small package caught his attention again. Where had it come from? A quick look around the room revealed a similar small gift on each bed, the only difference between them was the color of the shiny gift wrap. "Wonder what this is?" he said aloud as he went to pick it up.

0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0

It was only as Harry was returning to his dorm in pajamas that he reflected that he'd not consulted the Map since before dinner. He'd quite forgotten about it, actually, until undressing for his shower, and now was carrying it back to his dorm, along with his discarded uniform. It was complicating his nightly routine of emptying his pockets. Harry had been careful to create a nightly ritual for himself to make sure he didn't lose track of any of his vital tools. He'd pulled out the coin and his wand just now, but the pocket-locker he'd been using to store extra vials of protection potion- oh, and the little lead box Kreacher had made for the ring horcrux, were too many things for his hands to grasp as he walked along the short corridor with his classmates back to their dorm room.

He reentered their shared sleeping chamber with nervous focus until he finally reached his bed and dumped everything down upon it to sort. The coin and the wand went to the nightstand; his damp towel was hung on the rack near his bed to dry; his uniform shirt, t-shirt and pants went into his clothes hamper; his jumper was hung on a hook on the bedpost; and his trousers remained in his hand so he could fish out the contents of the pockets, and transfer that to the clean ones he'd don in the morning.

"Where's Neville?" Ron asked.

Harry turned to find Ron standing over Neville's bed, staring down at the pajamas and towel Neville should have taken with him when he'd gone to shower…. huh? Where'd Neville go? Harry turned to grab the Map from his bed, and his hand brushed a small, brightly wrapped package -

POP!

"Harry?" Dean called in confusion.

"PORT KEY!" Ron yelled, staring at the empty space where Harry had just stood. "Oh, shite!" He grabbed handfuls of his hair while he mentally scrambled to decide what to do next.

0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0

Harry slammed onto a hard, wooden floor, landing on his hip and shoulder with enough force to suggest he may now have a renewed dislocation, possibly two.

And then there was the intense pain in his scar.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

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Ron ran to Harry's bed and opened up the Map, looking frantically for both Harry and Neville, but not finding them anywhere in the castle. Now what?

"What should we do?" Dean was asking.

"Should we get McGonagall?" Seamus suggested.

They'd both crowded over to where Ron now had Harry's coin and wand in his hand. He thought for a split second, then said, "Get dressed! And get your wands!" He scooted back over to his own bed, switched his pajamas for jeans and jumper and trainers, stuffed Harry's wand up his sleeve while he used his own wand to send a message through the coin, hoping madly that he was doing it correctly:

HELP! Harry's been portkeyed away somewhere. It just sort of happened! There were presents on our beds! Neville touched one too! We're going to go after them! Nuntius!

0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0

HELP! Harry's -….. -somewhere….. - presents -…. - going after -…..

"What in the name of Merlin-" Lucius groused nervously. This can't be good. Clearly someone was frantically trying to message them all about…. Dammit! The message repeated its loop and was still completely garbled. He rushed over to his fireplace and floo'd to Dumbledore's office, arriving only an instant before Remus.

"Did you get anything coherent out of that message?" Remus demanded, stepping aside as Severus came through next.

"I was watching the Map just now," Severus said tersely, hating the way his chest was tightening up with primal fear. "Harry had been in his dorm room, and then he disappeared, seconds before that message came through. No sign of Longbottom, either."

"Where is Albus?" Lucius demanded.

By now they were crowding around the low table where Dumbledore's copy of the Map was usually spread out, but it was missing. Remus produced his copy and they took a look at Gryffindor Tower. And that was when they all saw Ron Weasley's, Dean Thomas', and Seamus Finnigan's names also disappear from sight.

Gentlemen and Minerva,….. I have once again….. been detained by Ministry officials….. under suspicion of unnamed criminal….. infractions. I will monitor events….. on the coin, via your….. messaging as this plays out…..

"Then we'll begin in the Gryffindor fifth year boys' dormitory," Severus snapped as he took large strides right back to the hearth. "Merlin forbid we can count on our Ministry to help with this! What in the hell is wrong with that group of idiots? Gryffindor Common Room!"

Lucius and Remus were right behind him as Dumbledore's next message came through.

Be on notice that….. Dolores Umbridge was released from….. St. Mungo's early this morning.

0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0

There were a few Gryffindors still up and lingering near the warm fire in the Common Room, most of whom were either dozing or gathering their things to take upstairs. Hermione was helping Ginny finish an Ancient Runes assignment, when the shocking site of their Potions Professor arriving through the floo network forced them to their feet. Professor Lupin immediately followed, and then Mr. Malfoy. The energy shifted from cozy and sleepy to rattled and shaking in a matter of seconds, now that all students were constantly on edge.

The Gryffindor witches looked at each other with widened eyes, and just knew that this meant Harry was in danger. But as the adults all rushed up the stairs together, they realized there was a larger drama underway.

0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0

Ron, Seamus, and Dean had all landed in a heap on cold, rough dirt, in what appeared to be the Forbidden Forest, but who really knew? It was dark, and shadowy, and freezing.

"Blimey!" Ron complained over the groans of discomfort from the others. Neither one of these two friends had ever been involved in one of Harry's struggles. But I have… His leadership instincts kicked in. "Wands at the ready, mates!"

"Expelliarmus," a deep, feral voice called from behind them.

The three of them spun around in unison, as each of their wands slipped through their fingers, and sailed over to a very tall and burly wizard, who had an awful lot of hair, all over, including his neck and the visible portion of his chest revealed through the deep V-cut in his pullover.

"Who in the bloody hell are you?" Seamus blurted out in shock.

But the only response to his inquiry was a loud, "Retrorsus!" issued by the furry wizard, which blasted Seamus backward, along with Ron and Dean, to land heavily enough to each have the wind knocked out of his lungs. None of them could move, let alone breathe.

"Nec movere!"

Now none of them could move, even once they'd resumed normal breathing.

"Hmmm, I smell mudblood, halfblood, and blood traitor," Fenrir Greyback announced. He leveled his wand at Dean. "Let's start with the worst of you, shall we?"

0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0

Harry struggled in desperation to open his eyes through the agonizing pain in his scar, so that he could figure out where he was, and who had brought him here. I don't have my wand or the coin….

"Harry Potter, lovely to see you again," Peter Pettigrew said insincerely. "I've long hoped to get you back into a state where I could use you for the one and only purpose you've been allowed to live for."

"Wha-?" Harry tried to respond with something cheeky, but this pain was as bad as if Voldemort himself was nearby. Think! he begged himself. He took a slow, calming breath, ignoring Wormtail's nasally giggle of glee, and instead brought the tingle of his magic right up to his palms, and waited for the most opportune moment to act.

Peter was not particularly happy that Harry seemed rather distracted. "Did you hear me, idiot boy?" he demanded. "You're far, far away from the help of your new and devoted mentors, so don't even dream that they'll come for you. How could they possibly know where you've gone to?"

"Dunno," Harry said numbly, trying not to succumb to the veil of fear that this new reality was introducing. He rolled so that he was on hands and knees, but now realized his shoulder pain presented a real obstacle. It was difficult to move his left arm again. Bugger! However… he did still have his trousers clutched in his left hand, oddly enough. He relaxed his grip and moved them so that they were not in the way of him bracing his hand on the floor. The pocket-locker is still in them, and it has the lead box for the ring, he remembered.

Someone groaned from several feet away. Neville!

"And that pathetic little sot, is a present for Bellatrix to play with," Peter said. Then he laughed again, his breaths whistling through his buck teeth and saliva-dampened lower lip. "How's that scar pain, Harry?"

0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0

Ron had nearly started to cry as Dean was attacked. It was awful to see his good friend being tortured by someone who clearly was driven by hatred and delusion, and Ron was truly terrified for Dean. He tried to think straight, but it was really difficult! He still had Harry's wand up his sleeve, but he couldn't move yet. Since Greyback had called out every spell he'd used, Ron knew that Dean had already suffered two rounds of the Cruciatus, and now was experiencing some spell called Pressura that was making Dean yell weakly, and finally pass out.

"Sod off! Bloody coward!" Ron raged. "All of you bloody followers of Him are SUCH. BLOODY. COWARDS!"

"Shut it, Ginger," Greyback said scornfully. "There's three of you, and one of me. How exactly does that make me the coward?" Now Greyback flicked his wand as he said, "Movere!" and Dean's limp body took flight and landed heavily beside Ron. "Well?" he taunted, turning his black eyes to stare at Ron, asking condescendingly, "are you the brave one then?" He shrugged. "Very well, boy, face me next. The half blood can go last! Movere!" He flicked his wand again and now Ron was free to move.

Ron feigned collapsing to his knees, as he shook his wrist to free Harry's wand and palmed it.

"Get up, boy!"

"Expelliarmus!" Ron yelled as he spun his upper body toward their captor, casting with a confidence born of adrenaline and rage, for the first time ever, only to discover that it added quite a punch to the magic that came through Harry's wand. Fenrir Greyback's wand came sailing right to Ron, while the large wizard got knocked hard onto his bum. Ron roared and ran towards the downed beast of a wizard, reaching him quickly, and jamming his knee into Greyback's chin so hard he heard bones break in both of their bodies. Next, Ron snatched their stolen wands from where they protruded from Greyback's pocket. Still operating under frenzy-driven fury, Ron found his own wand, and used it to cast the icicle spell, "Glacies!" all before he tried to put weight back onto the leg that he'd just used for his attack. His knee gave out, and his magic didn't make the impact he'd intended. And then the pain hit.

"Ahhhhhh!"

Collapsed on the ground again, Ron stared up at the night sky, battling despair. Greyback was sort of frozen, but seemed like he was coming out of it. Ron couldn't walk. Dean was out cold. And Seamus was still pinned down by that Nec movere spell…. Hold on, Ron reflected mentally…. Nec movere? Movere? Ron turned and pointed his wand at Seamus and called, "Movere!" with waning strength, but with enough magical force to free his dormmate from the spell.

Now what?

0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0

Harry finally recognized his surroundings. He was in Borgin and Burkes, in the back section, away from the views through the windows. He watched Neville continue to slowly drag himself closer to the center of the scene while Peter babbled away.

"Do you see this, Harry?…. Harry?….. Harry! Pay attention or I'll use the same methods of punishment that Pius used on you!"

Oh Merlin, that's just what I need. Errrgghh! Harry was panting, struggling to play along with this bastard, but also trying to catch Neville's eye as his friend inched still closer. Now Harry could see that Neville's leg must be broken, and that his fellow Gryffindor was also in real, agonizing pain. But Neville stubbornly kept dragging himself across the floor.

Meanwhile Wormtail was holding his shiny hand up and wiggling the fingers to draw Harry's eyes to the ring horcrux, which sat on the prosthetic index finger. "Yes, there you are Harry, good lad, paying attention," the round lump of a Marauder declared. "You may as well know what I'm going to do, to bring my Lord back, with your help, Harry. We're just waiting on a few friends to come help us. Sssyysthyyhh hethhhsshtheth sshtheth."

What? Wormtail is speaking Parseltongue! That means….

No wonder Harry's scar was so intensely painful. Nagini.

0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0

The squad of three very tense wizards burst into the fifth year boy's dormitory, and spread out to search for obvious signs of port keys, but quickly surmised that it was a futile and foolish endeavor. "We need to summon them," Severus said, "I imagine a Protego shield should prevent contact, but I could be wrong…. be prepared to be transported to Merlin knows where. Stand together."

Remus and Lucius came to complete a triangular formation, ready to block a flying port key from any direction. Remus raised his wand.

"Accio portkey!" Remus said, and waited with his wand still pointed outward. Two brightly wrapped gift boxes came soaring toward them from two of the beds, and each wizard produced a full bodied shield to prevent contact, which did indeed stop the small boxes midflight and cause them to drop to the floor. "These could yield two separate locations, and neither may take us to where those boys are," Remus said grimly.

"Dammit!" Lucius finally burst out, unleashing his suppressed angst from this developing drama. He'd at least managed to see on the Map that Draco was in his Common Room for the moment, but what if there were port keys awaiting that group?

"I suggest we conceal one of these and all three of us use the other for transport. Once we ascertain what awaits us, we can decide whether to use the second key. Agreed?" Severus asked, but he was already conjuring a pocket-locker on the floor beside one of the port keys.

"Agreed," Lucius and Remus said together as Severus levitated the gift box into the magically expanded interior of the locker, which he next levitated into the pocket of his robes.

The three wizards grabbed an arm of a mate to connect them all together, while Severus reached for the remaining brightly wrapped package.

POP!

0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0

The squad landed heavily, but kept themselves upright, and spun around to survey their surroundings in the chilled darkness of the familiar open space in the Forbidden Forest, where Harry had killed Voldemort. They jogged into the clearing, each casting a succession of Claritus maximus charms to fully illuminate the area, and found they'd arrived at the conclusion of a showdown between three of Harry's dormmates and the villainous Fenrir Greyback, and it appeared that the boys had nearly prevailed. Nearly. But the boys were sprawled on the ground in various states of injury, and the currently dormant werewolf was jumping to his feet and growling with glee at the prospect of a new fight.

No one questioned Remus' use of a vicious de-hairing hex that literally ripped the body hair from Fenrir's skin. Someone had simultaneously casted a silencing charm on him, so his yelps of pain went unheard. Much like those of his many, many victims. As much as Remus wanted to contemplate further measures of vengeance, time was racing by and they had no idea what had become of Harry and Neville, so he casted an angry Incarcerous, as did both Severus and Lucius, yielding such tight bindings on Greyback that it would take a team of wizards to release him.

"Ron! Dean! Seamus!" Remus called out to each of the young wizards as the adults rushed over to assess the extent of their injuries.

"I'm fine, Professor," Seamus yelled in frustration. "My ankle hurts, and I was too late to help Ron, and-"

Severus worked quickly, casting warming charms on each of the boys, and cushioning the ground beneath them while the rattled fifth years blurted out segmented recaps of their experience. He was shaking with fury at this turn of events, and hating the damage that had been done to these three young wizards. Merlin only knew that in contrast, Harry most likely had experienced multiple extremes of this scenario in the meantime.

"Expecto patronum!" Lucius cast his stallion Patronus, gave it a silent message, and sent it galloping off to get help from the Order. "That will bring your father here to help you, Ronald," he assured the youngest Weasley male.

Remus levitated a small, brightly wrapped package over into their collective view. "This was sitting over near Greyback."

"That's the wrapping that was on the presents that Harry and Neville got," Ron told them from where he was still trying to sit up. "Ours were different."

POP! POP! POP! Tonks, Arthur Weasley, and John Dawlish arrived simultaneously.

"Go!" Tonks urged Remus. "We'll handle this lot!"

Remus looked at Severus and Lucius and found them ready to grasp this newest port key. "On three, then."

0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0

Harry could only guess how he could possibly get the upper hand in this horrible scenario. Right now, he was badly injured to the point that he was probably immobile, and so was Neville. Harry had no wand, and it was a good bet that Neville's had been taken. Wormtail had tremendous power while wearing that ring on his artificial hand, so the only move Harry could even contemplate was to try to get the ring off of Wormtail's hand….

All this, in addition to avoiding being mauled by that colossal snake.

Oddly, the snake seemed to be enchanted by Wormtail's Parseltongue monologue for the moment, but that couldn't last, especially if Harry actually could get that ring away from Wormtail…. he fished the lead box out of his trouser pocket and used small finger movements to wandlessly open it without looking downward. Thank you, Severus, for teaching me a few tricks. Wormtail was none the wiser.

He glanced at Neville and found his friend waiting to catch his eye.

Meanwhile Peter Pettigrew alternated between talking to Nagini, and loftily reciting the means by which he was going to "rebirth" his Dark Lord by putting Harry into a large cauldron and boiling him alive. The evil betrayer of Harry's parents and Sirius was clearly still waiting for others to arrive, before the real drama began. He kept stopping to giggle through his teeth. It didn't seem to matter that Harry wasn't paying close attention anymore.

Harry held Neville's gaze for a moment and then looked down at his left hand and opened and closed it, then looked back at Neville, who nodded. Then he mouthed, wand? which Neville definitely understood, and gave a tight, quick nod. Neville had his wand!

POP! POP! POP! the sounds of arrival-by-portkey into the store interrupted Peter's self indulging recitation.

"Freeze and Squeeze!" Harry didn't dare look to see who'd just arrived, but rasped this directive at Neville in a dramatic whisper, and hoped with all of his might that his friend's magic was strong enough.

Harry, in the meantime shoved his right hand forward in a silent Pulsas, which knocked Peter's wand out of his hand, just as Neville channeled his true Gryffindor spirit through his wand as he quickly cast the back-to-back spells they'd just practiced in the DA session.

"Glacies! Exprimi!"

The two teens watched in fascination as Wormtail's shiny metallic hand grew rigid, and then it's sleek surface cracked and wrinkled as its now frozen surface was squeezed so hard that it quickly shattered into shards which littered the floor with tinkles and clinks.

Clink...clink!...clink-clink-clink!

"ACCIO RING!" Harry shouted over Peter's yell of shocked outrage.

He immediately sensed a tad of relief from the pain in his scar, now that the ring wasn't connected to Pettigrew. He held up the open lead box, caught the ring within it, and quickly slapped the lid in place. That caused more pain relief, but now Nagini was reacting to the shift in the magical energy in the room. And that was when Harry realized that the new arrivals were his three favorite adult wizards. It was also when Nagini realized that Wormtail would make a nice snack. Time. To. GO.

"I apologize in advance, son," Severus said to Harry, with a stoney tone so loaded with suppressed emotions, it took a minute for Harry to register that he'd been called son just now.

"And I apologize as well, Mr. Longbottom," Lucius quickly told Neville, as he and Severus casted quick Petrificus totalis jinxes on the two injured boys to keep them still during the rapid transit of Apparation that was underway, before the giant snake could choose to make a meal of one of them over the deeply reviled Wormtail.

"Come, Wolf," Severus advised just before he POPPED out of sight with Harry.

Remus held his steely stare on the whimpering rodent-like visage of his former schoolmate, contemplating the merits of killing this bastard in cold blood, rather than letting fate have its way. He sighed and Disapparated before he did something stupid.

A/N: there you go: a little adrenaline rush, just for you!