Chap. 50: The Headmaster's office, Hermione and Daphne, the War Committee, and home.
Harry had to give his wife credit, since after they left the great hall, and even though she did cling tightly to his right arm, she kept a stiff upper lip all the way to the Headmaster's Office before she broke down in his arms. Thus, Harry found himself sitting across from the Headmaster's desk with Daphne in his lap, who was now sobbing into his chest as everyone looked on. All his rage seemed to quickly dissolve with his hurt wife in his arms.
"Shhh, honey," Harry said before kissing his wife on her right temple. "It's all over, now, and things will be handled by me."
This statement made everyone in the room, besides Daphne, wince.
"I felt so dirty, Harry," Daphne pitifully sobbed through her stopped-up nose, which was running as much as her watering eyes. "After I made it back to our room, I bathed and bathed to scrub him off me. I just couldn't face you after that because I felt so ashamed."
Here, Harry glanced at everyone around them, where Dumbledore and Slughorn sported grimaces, and McGonagall was wiping tears from her eyes. Hermione, though, looked to be in shock.
"He didn't befoul you, dear," Harry replied, "and as a matter of fact, I've never been more proud of you, nor more in love with you. Besides, even if he had, it would not have caused me to love you any less. There's nothing to be ashamed of, dear. Nothing at all."
"Really?" Daphne asked in a timid voice as she finally looked up at her husband.
Harry noticed that his wife's now pouting face was colored an awful mottled-red, and her tears had run all over her cheeks, but worse was the large bubble of, well, mucus, to put it politely, that arose from her left nostril. Daphne was not a pretty crier, Harry noticed, and he never wanted to see her this upset and pitiful ever again.
As quickly as he could, he unwrapped his arm from around his wife's waist and fished out his pocket square, where he quickly wiped away his wife's tears, and then her nose before anyone could see what he saw. Next, he leaned forward and kissed her on her forehead.
"There, now," Harry said in a soft voice, "all better." Next, he handed Daphne his pocket square in case her nose kept running.
Daphne studied Harry momentarily before she leaned forward and gave him a chaste kiss.
"I do so love you, husband of mine."
"I love you too, dear," Harry replied before Daphne slowly rose from his lap after collecting herself, and sat down in the chair beside Harry, which the old Headmaster had conjured beforehand, where she took his hand.
"Please," Daphne timidly said to everyone in the room with a sniff, "excuse me. I was a touch upset."
"No need to apologize, my dear," Dumbledore replied with a small smile.
Finally, Harry gave the Headmaster a hard stare and asked, "Now, what exactly happened?"
After Albus, Minerva, Horace, and Hermione told him everything that they knew, Harry sat back and chewed over his words before he spoke.
"Flint is now under an official investigation by the ministry."
"There's no need for..." Dumbledore began, but Harry cut him off by raising his hand.
"The investigation was ordered the day before this occurred, Headmaster," Harry explained. "We suspect him of being guilty of more things than just being a perverted simpleton.
"We, as in the Ministry of Magic, wonder why he showed up here, as a student, again, and during this year. We also wonder if he might be a marked Death Eater and if he might have been sent here for some nefarious purpose yet unknown. We are also well aware of Fenton's," here, Hermione looked lost, "er, his father's ties to Tom, and it is rumored that he is behind some upcoming legislation that could be designed to help fund the Death Eaters in a round-about and hidden way."
One could have heard a pin drop after what Harry stated, though Daphne looked thoughtful, especially after remembering what Terence had told Harry at Hogsmeade.
"Now, I am glad that you have suspended him for two weeks, Headmaster," Harry said with a nod at the aged and sick man, "since that will give us time to investigate him and stop him if he is up to something.
"What we, the Ministry, would like to know is, has he been acting abnormally this year, and has anyone noticed anything out of the ordinary?"
"He seems to think that he has taken over Draco's position, Harry," Daphne replied. "He even bragged about that in the common room after Draco left."
"Hmmm," Harry said while lost in thought. "Have you noticed anything, Hermione?"
"No, Harry," Hermione said with a shake of her head, "since he keeps his head down in class."
"I've noticed that as well, Harry," Minerva stated, to which Horace also nodded.
"Well," said Harry, "that makes him a little suspicious in my book as if he's trying to go about unnoticed. He's generally a right arse, to be honest."
"Harry," Dumbledore sighed, "I think you're reading too much into his actions."
"We'll see, Headmaster, we'll see," Harry replied as he stood up and held out an official scroll to his wife. "Daphne, dear, you'll need this."
She accepted it, stood, unrolled it, and began to read.
"Harry," Daphne hesitantly said, "does this mean what I think it does?"
"Yes, dear," Harry said as he drew her into him and wrapped his arms around her. "By the Minister's order, the trace has been lifted on you, and you can now perform magic outside school. You, my dear, are now a full-fledged witch."
Hermione looked stunned at the news, and so did the professors.
"Rufus gave me that just before this happened," Harry continued, "and I would have owled it to you today if Flint hadn't done what he did requiring my visit. It was over Flint, though, and over who you are, as to why the trace was lifted. It was also so that you could protect Astoria and Tracey while in Hogsmeade if I'm not there. Also, and you can tell them both this, that I give them permission to use any hex, jinx, or curse, and any counters if you are accosted by someone wishing to do any of you harm, especially by the Death Eaters. I'll take the heat for it if you're forced into doing so."
Daphne, finally, smiled, stood on her toes, and gave Harry a quick kiss. "Thank you, darling, thank you!"
"You'll need to write to Rufus and thank him as well, dear," Harry replied as he released his wife. "Plus, you might want to write to Helen and Cyrus, eh, about the news?"
"I will," Daphne said with a quick nod, "this afternoon."
Dear Merlin, Hermione thought, they actually do love one another. There was no faking what she had witnessed, and it simply floored her.
"Now, I must be going," Harry remarked to everyone in the room as he looked at his watch, "since I have a busy schedule at the ministry today where the War Committee meets at ten.
"If anything else occurs, or if you notice anything that seems to be off, please let me know at once, yea?"
"Of course, Harry, of course," Horace finally spoke up while Minerva nodded beside him.
After Harry turned and made his way across the office, and just before he was about to open the door, he turned to look back at Hermione.
"Thanks, Hermione, for sticking up for my wife. It means a lot."
At Hermione's shocked expression, Harry doffed his cap and left with the door giving a slight click shut behind him.
As Hermione and Daphne were making their way down the stairs, Hermione mulled over her words before she spoke.
"Daphne," Hermione said with a sigh, "I want to apologize to you for thinking that you and Harry really didn't love each other."
Daphne stopped in her tracks at this, and so did Hermione, who was now wringing her hands.
"I just could not understand how Harry had fallen in love with a pureblood witch over a betrothal contract."
"What makes you think that I'm a pureblood, Hermione?" Daphne inquired.
"Well," Hermione answered, "your family is in Nott's book, and you're from the Sacred Twenty-Eight."
Here, Daphne shook her head. "Hermione, my great-grandmother was a half-blood from New York; Queenie Goldstein."
This left Hermione stunned with her mouth working, though no words were spilling forth. Finally, she came to herself.
"That name sounds familiar," Hermione muttered, and then it hit her, "she was a sister to Porpentina Scamander, wasn't she? So, that's why Harry said you were related to them..."
"Yes," Daphne replied, "Tina and Newt were my great auntie and uncle. They worked with the Headmaster, along with my great-grandmother, Queenie, and my great-grandfather, Jacob Kowalski, who was a muggle, to bring Grindelwald down. My grandmother, Victoria, who was only eighteen when living here with her parents, did too, where she met her husband, who was a Macmillan. They had two daughters, one, my mother, Helen, and one, Tracey's mother, Ruth.
"Hermione, I would have thought that by now you would understand that Nott's book was meant to cover up his family's muggle ties, as well as those families that he saw as the titans of our world and the connected. Even the Weasleys, at that time, were well connected.
"Harry's family should have been at the top, and they're probably purer than any family listed in it. They only ever married magicals from magical families, even marrying outside Britain, until James married Lily. It's really what your definition of a pureblood is, to be honest, as many lines have muggle-borns or half-bloods in them, and some even muggles.
"The Potters weren't listed because Harry's great-grandfather and namesake wanted to help the muggles fight the Great War. He tried to bring that about in the Wizengamot. He was afraid the Germans would bomb Diagon Alley and invade. Plus, Henry Potter was totally against Grindelwald, who was rising up at that time, where Nott and others supported him."
"Well, Harry never said..." Hermione muttered.
"Hermione," Daphne said with a sigh, "my husband is very private about his family life. Plus, he never knew much of this until recently, where he's learned of a lot; he just doesn't speak of it. I'm probably the only one who knows, and I won't speak of it. Well, I physically can't, as it's in our contract. We're barred from speaking of these things unless one of us tells the other they can, and we wanted it that way because the magic keeps us from revealing family secrets. Even now, I'm pushing it with what I've revealed."
"That's - that's barbaric!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Is it, now," said Daphne as she studied Hermione. "What if I was captured, and they tried to torture my husband's whereabouts out of me, or where our home is located, hmmm? Harry and I not only agreed to this, we both also wanted it.
"Hermione, this is not the muggle world. Everyone has magic, and they can use that for good, or for bad, to obtain what they want. I care too much for my husband, and it would destroy me if I were to ever reveal his secrets or anything else that could damage or hurt him. That's what love is all about, Hermione."
When Harry, Cyrus, and Gareth walked into the conference room a little late, everyone noticed how upset the three were, and thought it best to not ask why. They would reveal it if they wanted it known.
After Harry collected himself, he raised the gavel and brought it down onto the table.
"The seventh meeting of the War Committee shall come to order. We'll review the old business, first."
Most everyone at the table noticed that Harry, Cyrus, nor Gareth were really with it, today, but they finished with the old business, where Harry looked out at everyone before speaking.
"Now, onto the new business, and I have something that may be of importance.
"Both the Minister and I were warned about Marcus Flint, and the Minister placed him under investigation a few days ago. This morning, I had to travel to Hogwarts over Flint, where he had molested my wife in front of witnesses. The Headmaster suspended him for two weeks."
Several gasped at this, and Augusta looked at Harry with an appalled expression. "Surely not!"
"I'm afraid so, Dowager Longbottom," Harry responded. "I was told that he has been keeping to himself and is now very quiet during classes, which isn't like him, and that, to me, makes him suspect. Before, I must say, he was a Hippogriff's arse in class, to be honest.
"It makes one wonder what Marcus is actually up to, or what he was, possibly, ordered to do. What with the Headmaster being ill, one wonders if Marcus may have been sent to help Albus along on his otherworldly way at an earlier date while thinking that a new headmaster might pass him on. One also wonders if his father knows this as well, and I wonder if his father didn't take an order from Tom." Harry, then, went on to inform them of what occurred at school, and on the train.
This, of course, set off a discussion about the students' protection, and what they should do about it. Should they place a couple of Aurors at the school? If so, why not send Tonks and Proudfoot since they're handling the case, some asked.
Finally, it came time to inform them of "Operation Midnight." Here, Harry stood and began pacing about the room.
"We are very close to ending Tom," Harry said, which caused several to gasp. "He's still in Europe, now, but we wish to draw him to a place of our choosing where I would then face him. That night will be his mortal end.
"There are things which I cannot tell you about, which is how he stayed alive. That is one of the most closely guarded secrets that this ministry has. What I can tell you, however, is that a magical artifact must be destroyed before he can be ended, and we will use that to draw him to us.
"I will destroy the artifact upon his arrival, and before he can act. This will, of course, upset him greatly, and I want to use that to my advantage, and take him out.
"Also, Tom is sick," Harry explained, which gobsmacked many. "He has a withering curse placed on his soul, and we do not know, for sure, who cursed him. That is why we have been waiting, for as long as we could, before we take action, as we want him weakened. However, we want to eliminate him before the Headmaster's death, to keep Tom from trying to attack the ministry and control the school. Therefore, we have a limited window in which to act."
"When do you plan on doing it?" Cyrus spoke up in a low voice.
Harry turned around to take in his father-in-law, who looked worried. Here, he sighed.
"Cyrus, well, as soon as possible, and after the next Wizengamot meeting next Monday."
"Son," said Cyrus, "if something were to happen to you, well, it would not only destroy Daphne but our entire family, I fear."
"I know," Harry replied in a choked-up and gravelly voice before he quickly looked away. Finally, and after a minute, Harry cleared his throat.
"I intend on sending word to Tom, via the Vampires, that we plan on destroying the artifact on the next full moon. That would be February the 22nd and on a Saturday. I do not look for Albus to live any longer than a month or two after that; his curse is advancing."
"Why the full moon, Harry?" Kingsley Shacklebolt asked, and Harry knew that he was in Albus' pocket.
"Well, so I can see," Harry replied with a smirk, though it was a partial lie. "If I have to fight at close quarters, I like to see what I'm doing."
"Yes," Auror Savage said, "we heard about your altercation with Dolohov. Close quarters, was it, and without a wand?"
"Yes," Harry replied.
"What do you mean?" Augusta asked.
"Harry snapped the man's neck with his bare hands," Scrimgeour replied, and then, smirked. Augusta paled at this. Harry wished he hadn't revealed that as Kingsley could inform Dumbledore.
"He then helped Severus after he was attacked by You-Know-Who," Kingsley said.
"But you were in Barbados, Neville said," Augusta remarked.
"Snape had an emergency international portkey, which I had given him," Harry explained. "When he showed up at our home, he was a right mess. Ol' Tom did a number on him over the werewolves, and he spent a few days at the wizarding hospital on the island."
Everyone looked a little sick over what happened to the werewolves, except Rufus.
"What should we tell the Prophet?" Augusta wondered.
"That things are well," Rufus said. "No need to worry the public when they have no reason to be. If pushed, I'll tell them that we are close, but no more."
Harry paced for a bit more before he sat, and glanced over at Rufus. "When will Cobb & Webb's and the Curiosity Shop be coming up for auction?" This obtained the interest of both Cyrus and Gareth, but they were only thinking of Cobb & Webb's and wondered what Harry had up his sleeve.
"Well,..."
After Harry arrived at Black Manor, he had a drink with Bathilda before he helped her to the dining room, where they had their supper. Next, he helped the elderly witch to her bed and made his way upstairs to his room.
Harry placed another record on his stereo's turntable, set the volume low, and crawled into his bed, which Kreacher had turned down for him.
Harry sat there for a few seconds before he picked up his glass of brandy from the bedside table, and took a sip. Next, he fished his mirror from the drawer, and called out, "Daphne."
It took a few seconds, but Daphne's face did appear, and she looked much better than she had that morning. "How are you, dear?"
"I'm better, Harry," Daphne replied. "Not only did I have a discussion with Hermione after you left, but also with Astoria and Tracey just before you called, and I told them what I could. It's like a huge weight was lifted off my chest, to be honest."
"I'm glad, dear. I've been worried about you all day, and your father and uncle have been as well."
"They were at the committee meeting?" Daphne asked.
"Yes," Harry replied, "and I told them about what happened before we entered. Both were ready to hunt Flint down, like I was, earlier, but if we did, we may not find out what he's up to.
"Tonks and Proudfoot will be sent there starting this weekend to watch over the school. One will always be around, while the other is off investigating the Flints. Rufus pulled Kingsley into it as well, and he will be tagging along during the investigations."
"Is that really needed, Harry?"
"Yes, dear, it is," Harry replied. "It's not just me, but the parents who are now upset, as the ministry started receiving owls, and some were Howlers, by noon. News travels fast, dear, and you know how the rumor mill works."
"What does the public think, Harry?" Daphne timidly asked.
"Oh, they're all in support of you, dear. Plus, they're worried about what could happen to their daughters as well. This will quell the pervert's urges in the four houses, too, unless they're highly stupid."
Harry and Daphne continued their talk for another thirty minutes, where he assured her that he still loved her more than anything and that she shouldn't let what happened bother her. Finally, it looked like that sank in, and then she told him about Hermione, which made him chortle out loud. He was wondering when that would finally come to a head, as he had waited for his wife to inform Hermione about her real ancestry for a while. That was her family's business after all.
Last, the two said their goodbyes for the night, where Harry took the last drink of his brandy before dousing the light and turning over to go to sleep. Tomorrow would be another long and grinding day at the ministry, and he also had to stop by The Magic Eye in the morning.
A/N: Thanks, everyone, for all the reviews.