Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter. All rights to the characters and universe the story belongs in belong to JK Rowling

Chapter 17 - Grimmauld Place

'So, Harry, explain to me again why I'm giving up my Saturday for this?' asked a rather disgruntled Ron as he choked on the dust he had just battered out of the curtains.

'Well knowing you, it's not that you're my best mate, rather the free booze and food I promised.' Said a rather amused Harry as he watched his friend, unsuccessfully, try to clean himself up.

'Yep, I thought it might be something like that.' Agreed Ron sagely.

The two wizards along with Kreacher were clearing up the lower levels of 12 Grimmauld Place so it would at least be presentable for the meeting the next day. They had been at it all morning and they were feeling in need of a distraction, as many young men (or women for that matter) would when left with the dreadful task of cleaning.

They worked through lunch, with only slight misgivings from Ron and made good progress throughout the day. In fact, it almost looked liveable when three o'clock rolled around and by then there was only one task left to do.

'Kreacher, you're not going to like this, is there any way to get rid of her?' Asked Harry in a whisper whilst pointing at a pair of drawn curtains that were hiding a portrait.

'I don't know Master Harry. There's a permanent sticking charm on her, you may have to take out the wall.'

'I take it there's a reason Sirius didn't do that.' Said Harry wryly.

'It's load bearing.'

Harry rubbed his forehead 'Could we just take out part of the wall and not all of it?'

'You could try Master, but it might not work.'

'It's just Harry' he reminded Kreacher 'What's worst case scenario if it doesn't work?'

'The house falls down.' Said the elf without a hint of irony.

'We should have looked at this first Harry. If it fell down, we wouldn't have had to clean it.' Said Ron barely containing his laughter at the situation.

'Bollocks' muttered Harry. He looked up at Ron whose shoulders were still shaking. 'What do you reckon?'

'We could just blast a hole in the wall?' said Ron with a wide grin. Then he just about managed to add 'Then run like hell in case the place comes down' before descending into a fit of laughter. Which in turn caused Mrs Black to start shrieking about mudbloods and blood traitors.

'Well I'm glad you're finding this funny' said Harry grumpily after casting a silencing charm on her and kicking thin air in frustration.

'You could try burning her off.' Ventured Kreacher.

'Yeah I don't fancy burning the place down to be honest. Sod it, I'll just cast a Muffliato on her before they get here. That'll have to do before I have time to do something properly.'

'Excellent' said Ron rubbing his hands together. 'So, what's next.'

'Pub.'

Not half an hour later, they were both showered, changed and walking into the Leaky Cauldron with thirsty expressions. Harry ordered the drinks, and they sat in a booth.

'How's Hermione? I've not wrote to her for a couple of weeks.' Asked Harry.

'Yeah, she's fine I spoke to her yesterday, those mirrors are brilliant by the way. She's just worried about her revision timetable and what to get us for Christmas now she can't get us homework planners.' Harry laughed 'To be honest she's worried about you though you should write to her about the raid.'

'I will it's just hard to write or talk about, knowing how close I came.' Said Harry solemnly staring resolutely at the table.

'She'll understand mate, she knows what's happened, she just wants to know how you're doing.'

'I know. I just scared myself.'

Ron looked at him sympathetically. 'It'll be alright mate.'

'Well you pair look in high spirits, cleaning wasn't that bad was it?' Asked George with a cheerful smile as he scooted in next to Ron.

'You alright George, we were just talking about the Raid.' Ron told him.

George's face fell. 'Sorry, I didn't mean to make light about it.'

'It's OK' said Harry 'I'm just being my usual broody self over it.'

'It's shit isn't it knowing you've got that in you. After Fred died all I wanted to do was fight and kill Death Eaters. If I was stood in front of them I would have reacted in the same way.' Stated George darkly.

'Do you think we'll ever get over the war?' Asked Harry quietly.

'We will.' Said Ron strongly 'We made a massive difference, we're finally safe from you-know-who. It'll take time but we'll recover everyone will.'

'Yeah, and you two are continuing to make a difference as Aurors.' Added George.

Harry shot him and Ron a quizzical look, Ron answered his unspoken question excitedly 'Oh yeah, I haven't told you. I'm joining up!'

Harry smiled widely 'That's great news, when's your test?'

'Already had it' said Ron proudly, 'Robards asked me to be in on the meeting tomorrow.' Harry's face fell 'What's wrong Harry?'

'What's wrong, what's bloody wrong?' Harry almost yelled at him, Ron shrunk back into his seat 'I've already brought the food for tomorrow, now I'm going to have to get the same again to keep you fed.' He continued with mock annoyance.

George burst out laughing 'You'll need another trip to Gringotts Harry.'

'You're right, no shitty nibbles Harry, I want a full-on roast' chuckled Ron.

The next day Harry, Ron, Neville, Trott, O'Manda, Owens, Robards, and Kingsley were sat at Grimmauld Place and were about to begin their meeting. Only Harry and Trott knew what was being discussed completely, they had been careful not to let anything slip.

'Thank you all for coming' Started Trott, 'We're sorry to drag everyone to a meeting out of hours but me and Harry found something rather unusual after the raid on Monday night.' At this she passed copies of the letter around so everyone could read it.

Robards paled 'Do you think we have a mole?' he asked quietly.

Harry and Trott shared a glance 'We hope not, we still thought it best not to ignore it.' Trott answered.

'Even if there isn't the letter has had the desired effect of causing discontent.' Mused Robards quietly 'I take it you trust everyone in this room then Trott?'

'Yeah I do sir. I don't really know how to go about searching for the mole though.'

'They'll show themselves if we starve them of information. Have we got any leads on following Priory and the others that escaped with him?'

'No one came forward with any new intel from questioning sir.' Said O'Manda 'The ones that did speak seemed to be werewolves who were forced to be there rather like Sam.'

'I think I've got something though.' Said Harry, he described the map he had found.

'Good work Potter, so we can see these circles on the map then if we visit it?' Asked Robards.

'No I wiped the marks so that no one would realise what I worked out. That's what this is for.' He pulled a vile with a silvery liquid inside from his pocket and laid it on the table while summoning a Pensieve. 'I hope you don't mind me borrowing this Sir?'

'Not at all.'

'Well it's only a short memory with the circles pre-laid out. I didn't think you would all want to feel sick after finding each location as I did.'

'It was you who threw up all over the wall' exclaimed Trott pointing at him.

'Yeah it was horrible.' Harry shuddered 'Anyway let's take a look,' he poured the memory in the Pensieve 'I'll freeze the memory when we are in.' With a deep breathe he plunged face first into the device and froze the memory in place as the others joined him.

They each took a look around looking at each of the places marked on the map. 'These are big areas to cover Potter, I don't recognise any of the places neither, so they've not held importance before. At least not to us.' Said Robards after around half an hour of looking at each one carefully.

'I know sir, I'm sorry I couldn't narrow it down but I thought it would be too easy to just aim at the middle. The places we are looking for, if they exist could be anywhere in those circles.'

'What do you mean if they exist?' Asked Ron.

'These could be decoys to make us look in the wrong direction.' Explained Harry.

'I don't think so Potter, I think you're spot on.' Said Robards. They all gathered at the centre of the map 'Trott, can you run this operation away from the office with this team?'

'I should be able to, does this mean we're running this on nights then?'

'Not quite, I'll make up some assignments to make it look like you are busy. Work through the days and report to me and Kingsley of what you are going to do. I'll get clearance for you to work in each country.

'I want each of these locations thoroughly scouted and then we'll decide how to proceed. If we can I would like to hit them simultaneously, or at least some of them. Potter is Grimmauld Place OK to carry on using for you all to work from?'

'Yeah sure, I'll make it more hospitable.'

'Good, is there anyone else that you would like in on this?' Robards asked the group.

Harry shifted uncomfortably, he knew this next idea might not go down well. 'I would like Sam involved.'

'Are you sure he can be trusted?' Asked Robards sharply.

Harry didn't flinch and met the old Aurors eyes 'I think so. He's good to work with and everything he showed us was honest. I didn't detect any manipulation of his memory and trust me I checked it Friday night. If that's true he didn't know what they were brewing.'

'I agree with Harry Gawain' All heads turned to Kingsley 'I met Sam myself, he seemed to know Remus Lupin well, anyone who was a friend of Remus' can be trusted.'

'Are you all agreed?' The others all nodded their approval 'Very well, I'll send him to you in the morning.'

They exited the Pensieve and sat down to eat as Kreacher served Lunch. Much to Ron's approval, Harry had done a Sunday dinner. Both him and Kreacher had worked on it all morning with the house elf finishing up and serving whilst the meeting was going on. It wouldn't have competed with Mrs Weasley's fine cooking, but it was certainly passable.

While he was eating Harry's mind wondered back to the potion that Priory had used to transform 'Have we sent that potion off to St Mungo's for analysing? You know the one that turned Priory and the others into werewolves.'

'Yeah, after reading your report Potter, I sent some off along with a supposed antidote. They are going to research it to see if it can be used or modified to cure the lycanthropy completely or at least stop them from transforming.'

'OK how are we going to deal with this at the minute? They are effectively Lycans they could change and attack anywhere, anytime'

'We know Potter, I've alerted the other ministries and sent them the antidote that we found at their hideout. It's going to be standard for everyone to carry the antidote on them from now on. Just in case.'

Happy that everything possible was being done Harry returned to his plate and started thinking about the upcoming task. His mind was whirring with what was waiting for them. At least with Voldemort we knew who we were fighting. We don't know who's at the top of the ladder with this one.

'What was the point in that map anyway?' Asked Ron as he finished his plate.

'What do you mean?' Asked Neville.

'Well what was the point they must know we can follow it why leave it lying around?'

'They could be leading us into a trap.' Wondered Owens.

'Or it could be a way of getting to each location.' Ventured O'Manda.

'I think that's most likely.' agreed Trott 'I wonder how it works.'

'There must be a way of seeing through the Confundus Charm, and somehow activating them.' Said Harry.

'That will be a good place for you all to start.' Said Robards 'I would also suggest you find out where those tracks go.'

'I'd bet 20 Galleons on Hogsmeade.' Said Harry.

On Monday morning Grimmauld Place was alive with activity, Sam had turned up at nine O'Clock after being sent by Robards with copies of all the paperwork they would need. These included reports of the various raids and countless stakeout nights, as well as an inventory of everything that had been taken in as evidence complete with diagnostic reports on each item and each statement from those that were in custody.

Harry and Trott had been working on making a replica of the map in the small office so they could see it without using the Pensieve and even went to the trouble of finding another map to fill in the blanks on the locations. They were positive these weren't entirely accurate, but it was at least a start and they would have an idea of the terrain.

O'Manda and Owens had headed off to take a look at the charms on the map itself to see if they could figure out how it would work. They had agreed to go ahead as the most experienced dealing with wards and curses. Ron had mentioned about Bill being a curse breaker, however, for now they agreed to keep it in house.

Ron and Neville were going over each country there was a marker on the map to try and find more about them, particularly information on any vampire and/or werewolf colonies and places that were likely to be attacked.

'Harry is there any more research material around we could look at?' Asked Neville.

The trouble was they were meant to be keeping out of regular haunts that other Aurors would use to find information. This meant they had been limited to the Grimmauld Place library. Harry thought for a moment and was surprised when Ron jumped up from his seat.

'Of, course the library.' He shouted in excitement.

Harry raised an eyebrow at him 'You've already looked in the library.'

'I know that you idiot. I mean the Hogwarts library!'

Harry grinned. Hermione's really rubbing off on him. 'That's brilliant, you reckon we could send these two on a field Trip Leanne?'

'Yeah why not, say hello to McGonagall for me and take this.' She wrote a slip out and handed it to them. 'I'm sure she'll believe you, that note just makes it an official request.'

'Try and get Hermione involved and say hello to everyone for me as well.' Said Harry.

'We will.' Promised Neville as the two put on their cloaks and headed out the door to disapparate to Hogsmeade.

'Who's Hermione?' Asked Trott, she was sure she had heard the name before.

'She's Ron's girlfriend and my other best friend, along with Ron.'

'Oh, she helped you take down Voldemort.'

'Yeah, she's also the queen of the library. If anyone can dig up some gold on those locations it's her.'