Harry and Merope to the Rescue - Chapter 29

Disclaimer:

I don't own the HP universe, unfortunately. And if it's not obvious, the letter from R.A.B. was copied and pasted from one of the fandom websites, which is also from HP and the H-BP.

In the weeks following Boxing Day; Harry, with the occasional help of Remus and Sirius, finished constructing the treehouses, which more resembled a large treetop resort, rather than an actual treehouse. There were cabins spread out in the treetops to accommodate any extra guests that the family chose to invite in the future, either immediate future or in the generations to come. The main home was at the center, while all the cabins surrounded it at varying distances making almost a star shaped pattern with the swinging wooden bridges connecting all the cabins to each other and what would become known as Potter's Refuge.

Because the island was already so heavily warded, Harry only installed the standard common sense charms on the cabins and Potter Refuge itself. There were safety charms to prevent falls while walking across the bridges, charms to prevent pests from coming into the homes, fire prevention, and other standard household charms that would be installed in a typical wizarding home.

Lastly, Harry created a Room of Requirement in a separate cabin space that was keyed to only the Potter family and those who had proven themselves to be loyal friends. While Harry didn't think there was going to be a loyalty problem at this point in time, he was thinking of the future generations of Potters. It was his hope that Little Harry's descendants would use this island not only as a getaway, but also a place for battle training, should the need ever arise again. Although Harry hoped that his time here would prevent any wars from breaking out, that's not to say that something wouldn't happen to cause a war 300 years from now.

After the family housing was completed, they packed up the tents and everybody moved in, including Walburga on occasion, who was given her own cabin to use while in residence that she named Gran's Place. Additionally, Remus had a cabin that he chose to call Moony's Retreat, and Sirius called his cabin Padfoot's Lounge. The remaining cabins were left unnamed for possible future inhabitants.

After finishing with Potter's Refuge and the surrounding cabins, Harry had managed to actually separate out a part of land from the main island, creating a new small island, to be used for the werewolves. It was heavily warded and protected, with several strongly warded cabins scattered about the wooded area, and permanently charmed to appear as if it was the only island present, keeping the main island unplottable, but leaving the new island capable of being seen by magicals. He also made sure to put up plenty of warning signs for those few magicals who enjoyed traveling by sea. He decided to name the small island Safe Haven.

When Harry wasn't working on his various projects on the island, he was keeping Mad-Eye updated on his investigations as to the missing purebloods. He almost wished he had planned for such a scenario - being in charge of the investigation - when he disposed of the free death eaters. Of course, all he had been thinking at that point was making sure they were never a problem again, and he hadn't been planning on opening HP Investigations when he had first arrived.

It was March of 1982 when Harry had a "break" in the case and scheduled a meeting with Moody.

Ministry:

Harry greeted Mad-Eye with a handshake as he came down to the visitor's desk to escort him to the DMLE offices. They made small talk on the way there. Mad-Eye, being ever wary of eavesdroppers, refused to speak about any cases in the hallways of the Ministry. Harry couldn't blame him, of course, so they engaged in talk about Christmas and upcoming plans for spring, et cetera.

After they made it to Mad-Eye's office and the wards had been set, Moody said, "So, what were you able to find out?"

Harry looked at Mad-Eye gravely and said, "Well, after many interviews with the remaining family members, with liberal use of reading between the lines, I was able to piece together a couple of clues that led me to a cave with a lake that had been made the resting place of a horde of inferi."

Mad-Eye's good eye grew wide and his magical eye stopped spinning momentarily, such was his surprise at that information, then he asked, "Do you believe they were attempting something with the inferi?"

Harry shook his head and said, "I found this in a chest covered in potion in the middle of the island of the inferi," holding up the decoy locket that Regulus Black replaced the original horcrux with. "There was a note inside from someone with the initials of R.A.B., perhaps you can recognize who they belong to?"

Moody took the offered locket and opened it up to find the note and read it aloud:

"To the Dark Lord - I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more. - R.A.B."

Moody was silent for a long moment after reading the note, then finally looked back up at Harry and said gruffly, "Well, I don't recognize the initials off the top of my head, but hopefully this R.A.B. fellow was able to destroy the horcrux before he was killed." After a pause he asked, "What else were you able to find about our missing persons?"

Clearing his throat, Harry said, "Well, I placed wards to disable the inferi and drained the lake, then I took pictures of the bodies I found." Harry then handed the photographs over to Mad-Eye. "I compared them to the pictures I had of our missing people, it appears that nine of these bodies are the missing purebloods, and the rest might be identified by review of old case files, although, I suspect some are probably muggles that were stolen from their graves."

"You do good work, Potter," said Moody, sounding impressed. "You've at least given us a way to be able to give some closure to a lot of folks by finding what you did. Now, what is your theory about why they were there?"

"Well, it's my belief they went there with the intention to use that horcrux to resurrect Voldemort, but someone touched the water, which triggered the inferi to come out," said Harry thoughtfully.

"Yeah, that sounds like a plausible theory," said Moody, nodding his head in agreement. "Did you destroy the inferi after you took the pictures?"

"I did. Then I refilled the lake and removed all the enchantments and magic from the cave, that way it would be safe if anyone else stumbles upon the place," said Harry.

Moody reached over to shake Harry's hand again and said, "Thank you, for not only taking care of that task, but for solving the case so quickly."

Harry smiled and returned the handshake saying, "It was my pleasure, Moody."

After a moment of silence, Moody asked quietly, "What do you suppose are the chances that Voldemort is gone for good?"

Harry thought to himself for a moment, not wanting to lie himself into a corner, because while he knew that the chances were very slim that Voldemort would come back, because he had already destroyed all the horcruxes himself. However, he really didn't want to cause the aurors to have to attempt to run them all down unnecessarily.

After really only a moment's pause, Harry responded, "Well, I think we should go under the assumption that this R.A.B. person was able to destroy the horcrux before he was killed." Before Moody could respond, Harry added, "Please believe me that if the Dark Idiot does miraculously get resurrected, all you need to do is send word to me and I'll be here. I guarantee you that I will not allow him to become the nuisance he was before."

Moody looked at Harry in quiet contemplation for a moment and then nodded sharply. Then they spoke for a few more minutes before Harry made his way back out of the Ministry and headed back home to the island.

Time Skip:

In the following weeks, Sirius finally made headway on getting the Ministry's clutches away from the cottage in Godric's Hollow. Surprisingly, it was Dumbledore that convinced the Wizengamot that he made an error in judgment when he agreed to allow the Ministry to use property that was not his own to offer. It seemed Dumbledore had mellowed down significantly, after being hit with his own spells, Sirius could only hope that the change was lasting.

Time Skip:

Several more weeks had passed before anything of note had happened. It was just before Harry was ready to open up his island to the werewolves when he was informed that there was a meeting at the Wizengamot where some members were attempting to pass laws that would restrict his ability to provide a safe haven for werewolves. They were quickly disabused of the notion that they had any control over any property that he owned, especially when said property was not even located within the boundaries of Great Britain.

Note:

I was going to make this chapter longer with additional time skips, but the current scene I'm working on felt as if it would make this chapter longer than I wanted it to be, so it will be in its own chapter. No promises to have that portion uploaded tonight (7/30/2020), but I am going to try to.