Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever, own Harry Potter. It is the property of J.K. Rowling and her associates. No monetary or material profit was gained from this story.

Inheritance of the Elves

Chapter 14

Awaken

Kama wasn't sure who to go to first, Harry or the Twins. Of course, that might not be an option. As soon as Harry had collapsed, the storm of power had ceased. The Death eaters were coming out of their daze to find that their Lord was dead. Needless to say, they were not in the most forgiving of moods.

Kama stood over the three of them, ready to protect his friends. Luckily, he didn't have to. Just as the wizards in black robes had surrounded him completely the dilapidated ballroom was flooded with Her Majesty's Royal Guard. Never in his life was he happier to see his fellow elves.

Kama waved at Nimbus, Nuvain, and Kylan in acknowledgement as they helped round up the extra Death eaters. He leaned over the three men that now lied in a heap at his feet. They'd all been through hell; thank god it had only lasted a day. He shuddered to think about what might have happened if the twins had been here any longer.

Carefully, Kama moved the three mates onto conjured stretchers. He made certain to keep them as close together as possible. A medic rushed over, having waited with others for the Death eaters to be rounded up before coming in to work their own magic.

She was horrified at the extent of the twins' injuries. Working quickly the two of them stabilized the three and moved them to safety.

OoOoO

Draco flattened himself to the wall as another group of elves rushed down the main hallway. He would have to keep to the less known routes.

Filthy elves… It was there fault that he was in this mess. His Lord was dead because of them. But now, he needed to get out of here and get rid of anything that connected him to this. All of the others were being rounded up by the elvish guards, which was fine by him. Voldemort and Potter's friends were they only ones who had any clue that he was involved in bring the twins to the manor. One of the four was already dead. Now, he needed to take care of the rest of the evidence.

It took a lot of ducking around corners and crawling through disgusting places, but he was finally out of Riddle Manor. Draco span on the spot, disappearing to the same slimy alley he'd first met them in.

OoOoO

Hermione cursed under her breath as she peered around the corner of Diagon alley. That damn ferret was just lucky that she was already in London, lockdown on the 'kids' had increased the longer that Harry and the twins remained missing.

Ducking into a doorway so that an auror would pass, she finally made it to the alleyway where Draco was waiting for her.

"What do you want? Do you have any idea what might happen to me if they find me here?" Hermione hissed at the blond, pushing his shoulder in frustration before stalking up and down stones in irritation.

"The Dark Lord is dead. The plan didn't work!" She whirled on his in shock and rage.

"What do you mean it didn't work!"

"The twins were captured and taken to the Dark Lord. But when Scar-head showed up, it all fell apart. I got out while all of those filthy elves were rounding up the others."

An odd look crossed her face as Hermione absorbed this information. The ultimate hope was that the twins would be out of the equation before Harry killed Voldemort. But this could still work. It wasn't entirely necessary that Fred and George be dead for the overall goal to be achieved, was it?

"The elves don't just have the Death eaters, do they? The twins and Harry are with them."

Draco sneered at her, but nodded in confirmation.

Hermione smiled. "We can make this work."

OoOoO

Harry blinked slowly. He was warm and comfortable. The elf wasn't entirely sure he'd felt this nice in a while. But suddenly the events of the day before rushed back to him.

He went to sit up but found that it wasn't possible. Two heads full over red hair rested on his torso; long freckled arms reached across him to keep in contact with each other. Harry was thoroughly pinned to the mattress by his mates.

Smiling, Harry laid back against the pillows. He was able to wiggle his arms up without waking the twins. He sighed gently as he began to card his fingers through his mates' hair. He stared at the ceiling trying to rein in the bubbly feeling that was creeping through his body. His eyes stung as the warmth from the twins made him sigh quietly.

Moments later he started to laugh, trying to stifle it so that he didn't wake Fred and George. Voldemort was dead. The Death eaters were more than likely on the run. He was here with his mates and they were going to be okay. Everything was going to be okay.

About that time, Nimbus and the others started trooping into the room. Harry beamed at them in delight. They smiled in return.

"That was very foolish you know," Nimbus stared at the dark haired man on the bed steadily.

"I couldn't leave them there, Nimbus."

There was a look exchanged between the two, before Nimbus nodded.

Before the conversation could advance any further, there was a knock on the door. An elf that Harry had never seen before entered, "Albus Dumbledore is outside."

oOoOo

Bill wasn't sure to make of the note. It had appeared from seemingly nowhere, supposedly dropped off with several letters to the Order.

It had passed a battery of detection spells and several suspicious looks from Mad-Eye before the Headmaster had read it.

Voldemort dead. Boy-Who-lived and Weasley Twins in custody of the Elves.

Two simple sentences had thrown the whole house into a frenzy.

The Curse-breaker had tried to stay out of the middle of the argument that was currently ensuing in the dining room of Number 13. Many people were demanding immediate action against the elves for "stealing" the Potter boy. Others were convinced that this was some trap that would lead them all into the hands of the Dark Lord.

Everyone seemed more concerned with the information that was in the letter (very little) than with how the damned thing had gotten into the house to begin with. There were wards upon wards that would prevent just such a missive from randomly appearing. Just because it hadn't been cursed or poisoned did not mean that the sender had good intentions.

Bill scanned the room with keen eyes. Dumbledore was talking urgently with Mad-Eye and Kingsley, probably about the likelihood of this information proving true. His mum was in hysterics about the possibility that Harry had gone after You-Know-Who at all, much less without the Order and dragging two of her sons along with him. The rest of the Order was just as he expected it to be: loud and annoying as they argued the same points over and over again.

Only one group was not acting as he expected them to. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny weren't scared or excited. They weren't demanding to go after Harry. In fact they seemed rather unsurprised by the note. Hermione even looked a little…. If Bill didn't know any better, he would almost say that she looked like everything was going exactly to her plan.

Thing was, Bill wasn't so sure that he knew better anymore.

oOoOo

The throne room was magnificent in its simplicity. Beautiful white marble and walls covered with glorious works of art. There were tapestries detailing key moments in history and a simple white runner from the doors to where the Queen was sitting.

This might have intimidated some… most, in fact. Then again, Albus Dumbledore was a master of keeping his composure.

He strolled up the runner, admiring the art work as he went. Seemingly no attention was paid the woman sitting regally upon the throne. When he eventually reached her, Dumbledore gave a deep nod.

The Royal Guards stationed around the room, gripped the pommels of their swords in restrained anger. This man dared to disrespect the queen. Taking his time to reach her throne after demand to see a resident of the citadel, not even bowing once he deigned notice her.

But their Queen had foreseen this possibility and instructed them to not interfere unless there was a danger to her life or the lives of any of her subjects.

"Your Majesty. I believe that you are holding a few wizards on your grounds today. I have come to take them home."

One regal eyebrow arched in amusement. "Is that so?"

"It is Your Majesty." He stood there, radiating his grandfatherly image as though they both were not well aware of the game that was being played.

"As I see it, the people that you speak of are an Elf of my people and his guests. If they would like to leave with you, that is certainly their choice. But if they should choose otherwise, then I shan't be telling them to leave."

Dumbledore narrowed his eyes at the dark-haired woman. Her eyes glittered at his irritation.

"I should like to see them then."

The woman smiled benignly. "Oh, I am afraid that is not at all possible."

"Why not?" His anger and frustration was starting to seep through to the surface, though he was trying hard to reign it in. The 'Great' Albus Dumbledore was not often used to being thwarted.

"I am afraid that they are being seen to by our healers. They have had quite a rough day. It wouldn't do to interrupt a healer at work would it?" She didn't give him time to respond, "You may of course wait until they are ready for visitors. One of my guards will make sure that you don't get lost."

She smiled at his speechlessness. "Now. If you will excuse me, I have other matters to see to. Good day."

She rose gracefully and began walking from the room. All of her guards followed, but the one who would make sure that Dumbledore didn't stumble into any place that he shouldn't.

"Good day, Your Majesty." There wasn't anything else for him to say.

oOoOo

As Dumbledore and the Queen were matching wits, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were being escorted to a small room off the healing chambers to wait for Dumbledore. The elves that were with them refused to answer any questions put to them, whether they were about the palace, elves in general, or Harry specifically. This angered Ginny but Hermione remained undaunted. She had considered bringing her in on this little scheme but the Weasley temper would give the whole plan away.

Ron trailed behind the girls, attempting to remain unnoticed as much as possible. He fiddled with his want absentmindedly, thoughts of the spells that he would love to cast at the guards flitting through his mind.

It was a long walk to the healing wing of the Elven compound as it was situated in the very middle of it all. The halls were full of turns and switchbacks to confuse intruders. The trio tried to keep of where they were but everything looked similar and tended to blend together.

At last they reached the right set of rooms.

"Wait here," barked one of their guards as they went to speak to Harry, letting him know of his visitors.

"Follow me," a quick gesture was all they saw before the first guard disappeared around the corner. The Three students rushed after him. If they got lost it would be near impossible to find their way out.

Harry was sitting up in his bed, bracketed on both sides by the twins. While they were awake it did not appear as though either was truly with it. Their eyes and bodies drooped with exhaustion.

Harry laughed briefly at the shocked looks on their faces, "They thought it would be easier to keep us out of trouble if they dumped us all in the same place."

He noted their strained chuckles and the tight looks. If looks could kill Hermione and Ginny would have put the twins six feet under with a glance. Ron was directing all of his ire-filled looks at Harry. Oddly enough, he wasn't stomping around and yelling at anybody. Yet.

oOoOoOo

Bill huffed as he began to climb the stairs back up to his temporary room. Ron, Ginny, and Hermione left with Dumbledore to retrieve Harry and the twins. The Headmaster also wanted to find out about the Dark Lord. It was amazing on how the death of an evil as great as Lord Voldemort could be swept under the rug in favor of berating the boy who had killed him. Bill shook his head. He supposed that it wasn't fair to call Harry a boy any longer. The red head was not entirely sure Harry had been a boy for many years now.

He began to open the door to his room when there was a large clatter and a lot of cursing in the kitchen. Bill had thought that he was the only one a Grimmauld. Shrugging, he quickly descended the stairs to offer his assistance. What he found drew him up short. Sitting in the middle of the kitchen, muttering at a dropped plate of food was his brother Ron. The same brother that he had seen leaving not an hour ago.

A/N: You know, I keep intending for the last chapter that I post to be the last chapter of this story. It never seems to work out that way. This is already quite a bit longer than most of the chapters, so I'm stopping it here to be continued in the next one.