AN: this was supposed to go up Monday but my birthday was Sunday and i was too hung over to get to it until yesterday. also the reason these chapters are taking so long to come out is because i'm DMing a campaign in a system i made up and it's taking a lot of my free time to retcon a lot of D&D 5e to fit my old west campaign. i know i could use the dead lands system but my players and i are D&D nerds and we like the d20 system better so it's taking up 90% of my free time to get the game up and running. the good news is i might be able to get a good HP story out of the campaign notes with just a little tweaking. also this story is like 65% done, and as usual it will be twice as long as i said it would be at the start.
The busy month of September rolled into an even busier October for the whole group. Starting with Andy and her lineage hearing for Vera and Cassie. The hearing went about as well as could be expected when the group controlled 22 of the 40 seats on the Wizengamot. The titles and vaults were handed over to Cassie. But she could not sit on the wizengamot until she was a full witch. She needed to pass the OWLs to be a certified witch. That meant she had until June to lean five years of spells, potions, and history. Of course her first hurdle was getting a wand.
Cassie and and Vera went right to Ollivanders from the ministry building to buy a wand but after an hour of testing she only found a partial match. It was an 12 ¾ inch oak with a maple handle and a horntail heartstring. Ollivander looked at the small green and gold sparks that fizzled out of the tip of the wand and hummed in confusion.
"What?" Cassie asked looking annoyed at having to try so many wands without a match.
"You my dear, are one of the most challenging matches I've ever seen." He said looking at the huge pile of opened boxes.
"You don't say." Cassie said angrily making more sparks shoot out of the front of her wand.
"I wish I could say I have a better match but I don't think there is a better match. You might have to track down another wand maker or, you might find a better match in your family vault. Most family bloodlines have a similar magical signature and they tend to prefer a core and wood type. It how I narrowed you down to dragon and oak. An ancestor's wand might do the trick." He said.
"Maybe. We're heading to the bank later today. How much for the wand?" Cassie asked pulling a coin purse out of her bag.
"With the two woods and the rare heart string it comes to 10 galleons even." He said.
"Is that a lot?" She asked her grandmother as she took the coins out.
"It's 250 pounds dear." Vera said.
"Wow. That much for a piece of wood?" She said looking at the stick in her hand.
"With that piece of wood you can unlock a whole world of magic." Ollivander said looking insulted.
"Well not with this piece of wood I won't. You said so yourself it's not a perfect match. Here, keep your stick. I'll have Harry make a nicer one for me." She said handing him back the wand.
"Cassie!" Vera said looking shocked.
"Right, sorry for the insult. I'm just frustrated. I feel like this was a total waist of both of our time. Especially since I know Harry can make something for me." Cassie said looking embarrassed.
"Harry? Is he a wand maker?" Ollivander asked.
"No, he's a…" Vera stopped Cassie.
"He's a friend and powerful wizard." Vera said.
"Oh, you're talking about Harry Potter. Yes, I suppose he could make you a wand, but I hesitate to say it will work. I've never seen a made wand. I wonder what it will be? Would you mind bringing it by so I can inspect it before you use it? I can test it in my safe box and certify it for you. I would love to know what your true match looks like." Ollivander asked.
"I wonder if we can just have Harry come here and talk to you about it?" Cassie said looking at her gran.
"Call him, it's after lunch." Vera said looking at her watch.
"Good thinking." Cassie said pulling the mobile phone out and walking out of the shop. After a short conversation she hung up and came back in. "He said he'll be here in a minute." She said.
"Good, I was expecting him a few months ago and he never came in for a proper wand. I was looking forward to his wand fitting." Ollivander said excitedly as the door to the shop opened and closed.
"Don't hold your breath. I don't need a wand and I have a staff if I really need something to boost my spell work." Harry said lowering the hood on his invisibility robe. "Harry Potter." He said holding out his hand to the wand maker.
"Garrick Ollivander. You said you have a staff?" He asked looking excited.
"I do, i'd let you examine it but anyone that touches it not in Merlin's blood line receives a nasty shock when they touch it." Harry said calmly as Ollivander practically crapped himself at the idea of looking at Merlin's staff.
"Can I just see it? Could you perhaps bring it b…" He stopped as Harry pulled the shrunken staff out of his bag and expanded it. "My good God." He muttered as he pulled a long dark wood wand from his sleeve and cast a spell at the staff. The spell hit the staff and a lighting bolt shot back at him causing the old man to roll out of the way as the bolt hit the shelf behind him and turned it black tossing wand boxes to the floor.
"I told you it was defencive. Sorry about that, here let me fix that." Harry said waving at the shelf and fixing the damage. He then packed the wands back into their boxes and put them back on the shelf with another wave.
"No, that was my fault, I should know better, but I got too excited for my own good. I should know better than to mess with a power stone." Ollivander said with a rueful smile as he got up off the ground and brushing himself off.
"Power stone?" Cassie asked looking at the gold staff.
"It's a gemstone that has a rune string etched on it. It collects ambient magic in the air and stores it like a battery. This ruby is a power stone. It take any spell cast through it and amplifies it using the power stored in the stone. The shield charm items you both wear have power stones at their cores. Power stones are used to power enhancements." Harry explained in his teacher's voice as he shrunk his staff and put it away.
"You know…" Ollivander said before trailing off with an odd look in his eyes like he was doing long division.
"I know what?" Harry asked with a smirk.
"WHat?" He asked snapping out of his stupper.
"No, you. You were on to something. What was it?" Harry asked.
"Power stones, if you made a wand that could handle a power stone like Merlin's staff then anyone could, in theory, cast spells as long as they have a core to activate the power in the stone. Just like the staff works. But instead of taking a powerful spell and overpowering it…"
"It takes a very weak activation spell and amps it up to a normal spell." Harry finished for him.
"Yes, but you would need to find a wood that could handle the power output off the stone." Ollivander said.
"Or not." Harry said pulling a few gold coins out of his bag and holding them in his hand. He closed his eyes and and the gold coins formed into a wand handle that was five inches long with engraved dragon scales around the grip. The handle ended in a dragon's head with the mouth open. There was a flash of light and when it died down there was an eight inch spike made of deep red ruby sticking out of the mouth like the dragon was spitting fire. Harry floated the wand in the air in front of him and surrounded it with glowing white light. When the light faded the red spike glowed with an internal fire. Harry floated the wand to Cassie.
"Wow." She said reaching for it.
"Wait!" Ollivander said. "We need to test it to see if it's safe." He said holding out his hand to stop Cassie but it was too late. She grabbed the wand and as soon as she got a good grip on it red and gold sparks shot out of the front and a wind swept through the shop tossing boxes and upending shelves.
"Holy crap." Cassie said looking at the wand in her hand.
"Well, we know it's a match and that it's powerful." Ollivander said laughing at the destruction of his shop.
"I'll say. Watch out where you point that thing Cas." Harry said fixing the shop and putting boxes back on shelves.
"Now this is a wand." Cassie said excitedly.
"Yes, and tomorrow I'll show you how to use it. For now, here's a forearm sheath." Harry said making a holster for the wand and handing it to her.
"Thank you Harry. I love my new wand." Cassie said slipping on the leather under her sleeve and putting the wand away.
"You know that a wand like that could work for a lot of people. People that I can't match because their cores are too small or weak." Ollivander said looking at Harry.
"People that don't get Hogwarts letters you mean. Yes, I was thinking about that. We have to test it for sure but I've already got something in the works regarding that oversight." Harry said.
"I figured as much, you being the Lord Gryffindor." Ollivander said.
"And when I do fix that oversight those people are going to need wands." Harry said with a nod.
"I wonder if you could make a wand like that with a wood handle?" Ollivander said.
"Let's find out." Harry said making a eight inch crystal spike with the rune string etched down the side. "You wouldn't happen to have a wood handle would you?" Harry asked with a smirk. Ollivander summoned a Maple handle from the back of the shop and handed it to Harry. Harry stuck the crystal into the handle and fused them together with magic. The wand glowed and flashed and Harry handed it to Ollivander. He ran a few scans on the wand and nodded.
"This is very powerful but it's nowhere near as powerful as the one you made for Miss Lestrange." He said setting the wand on the counter.
"I made the crystal out of common quarts. It will hold a charge but it won't over power spells. It will, as you said before make a weak wizard into a wizard. Nothing more. And it's less valuable. It's also easier to make and I added a protection rune to the shaft to make it shatter resistent. I could pump out a case of a thousand of those with a thought. The thing is, I can't sit around all day making and selling wands. I have other matters to attend to. Plus it's not my trade. But if someone were to get a case of quarts shafts and make the handles for them…" Harry left the idea in the air.
"Partners or would I be a vender that just buys wand shafts from you?" Ollivander asked.
"Partners, and I'll have my law witch come up with some kind of patent for the wands." Harry said holding out his right hand.
"Partners." Ollivander said shaking his hand.
"Here is your first case of 500 crystal wand shafts." Harry said making a wood crate lined with red velvet full of stacked crystal wand shafts. These were in the traditional six sided crystal shape with just a slight taper to a more blunted point. Harry pulled one out and looked it over before handing it to the wand maker. "The rune string is under the surface to prevent damage to the string and avert potential failure of the wand. I also added my crest to the wand as well as your name. That should boost sales." Harry said.
"Speaking of sales, how much are we charging and what's the split?" Ollivander asked looking at the wand shaft. It was half an inch wide at the bottom and it tapered to an eighth of an inch at the tip making it a perfect wand shape.
"How much do you charge for a finely crafted wand handle?" Harry asked.
"Between one and three Galleons depending on the wood and the time it takes to craft it. Add another gold piece for the box and the registration fee. So we'll call it two to four galleons on my end." Ollivander said doing mental math.
"Then add a gold piece for the shaft and set it aside for me. These wands are going to people that were denied a life of magic. I don't think we should shaft them, pun intended, for the wand that will unlock their true potential." Harry said making the old man laugh.
"No, I think you're right. So we're looking at three gold pieces for a low end and five for a high end wand. Not bad for what it's worth. We're going to have to sit down with the wand registration department to discuss these new wands at some point. Can you get out of school that often?" Ollivander asked just now realizing Harry should be in class at the moment.
"Don't worry about it. But if you run into any trouble just call Andromeda Black Tonks. She's my personal law witch and she will handle any issues. How fast do you think you'll have this batch done?" Harry asked pointing at the crate.
"500 wand handles, plus boxes, paperwork for the ministry, and testing; two weeks. But the next batch will go much quicker." The master craftsman said with confidence.
"Good, in about two weeks my friend and I are going to receive an Order of Merlin again, third class I think, and I would love to announce this partnership at the press conference. It will also help me get the word out that we're expanding the school to include day and night classes for OWL prep to witches and wizards that should have gotten a letter but didn't. I'm hoping we can have teachers hired soon so we can start that in a month or so." Harry said thinking out loud more so than talking to the wand maker.
"My word you are busy. Well I can have about 1,500 wands ready to go in a month if I call in my nephew to help me ramp up production." Ollivander said.
"Nephew?" Harry asked breaking out of his train of thought.
"Xenophilius Lovegood." Ollivander said.
"Now that's a mouth full." Cassie said.
"We all call him Xeno for short. He's a bit odd but he knows the family trade and it will be good to have him and his daughter in the shop more." Ollivander said with a smile.
"Whatever it takes to get the job done. Take it out of my cut. Now if you will excuse me I have a class to get back to." Harry said looking down at his watch before vanishing from the shop.
"He really is an odd young man, but he has a good heart." Ollivander said with a smile.
"That he does. It was nice meeting you Mr. Ollivander, I might be by in a few weeks to buy a wand of my own. Something I thought i'd never do. Come along Cassie, we have so much more to do today." Vera said leading her granddaughter out of the wand shop.
"It was nice to meet you, please do come back again." The wand maker called out to them as they left. He then rushed to the fireplace and called his nephew.
The two ladies made their way to the bank and they were lead right into the director's office. With the documents given to them by the court they were given access to the family vault, as well as Rabastan and Rodolphus' personal vaults. In addition to that was the family manor house in Blackpool. All together they had 6,680,759 gold galleons or just over 167 million pounds. The two women almost passed out from the amount. They had the contents of the two personal vaults, which were just over a million galleons split into two new vaults. One would be shared between the two women as they built their new lives and the other half of the gold would go to Harry's vault so he could use it to hire staff and build the school up so they could start the OWL prep classes. They wanted to make sure they used their new wealth for good, and they thought of no one better than Harry to use the gold for good. They were about to head down to the vaults when there was a knock at the door and Bill Weasley came in.
"Good afternoon Director." Bill said with an easy smile.
"Mr. Weasley, what may I ask are you doing here?" The Director asked.
"I've been hired by Lord Harry Potter to inspect the Family vault before anyone goes in. I took this contract as is my right under my terms of service oath to the bank. I was also hired to inspect the house and the wards before they enter." Bill said.
"Harry hired you?" Vera asked.
"Yes, I was contracted out by his law witch Andromeda Black. She came into my office a few minutes ago with a mobile phone. I was handed a bag of gold coins and a bank draft and given very precise instructions to not let anyone into the vault before I run a full scan on everything. With the size of the vault this is going to take a few days I'm afraid. I can start with the house if you would like and that way you can move in while I work on your vault. If you have any questions I was instructed that you should call Harry directly." Bill said.
"I think we will, no offence." Vera said as Cassie pulled out her phone.
"None taken. This was just dropped into my lap a few minutes ago but the honor of working for Harry directly and the amount of gold that was dropped on my desk made this a deal too good to pass up." Bill said.
"How much gold are we talking about if you don't mind me asking?" Vera asked.
"He paid me three times my fee for a job like this which is a thousand galleons and bought my retainer for the next two years and he paid me in advance. All told 23,000 gallons." Bill said.
"Oh my. That boy is too much." Vera said shaking her head.
"On top of that he gave me this mobile phone, and this very nice shield charm watch." Bill said showing Vera the gold watch he was wearing.
"It's all on the level. Harry said he thought about it after he left us at the wand shop. He said the family is just as bad as the Blacks and Sirius had a hell of a time cleaning out his house and vaults. He said Bill comes very highly regarded and his brothers vouched for him. He also invited us to dinner at the house in a few house but said to take our time in the alley and spend some of our new wealth on shiny things." Cassie said laughing.
"That's Harry for you. Bill, it's nice to meet you and we are happy to have you looking out for our safety. Would you please start on the house and then we can worry about the vault. Take your time and make sure you don't miss anything. We are not magically inclined just yet and we are ill prepared for anything nasty that might be in the house. It's been a long time since I set foot in that house and I can tell you now you're going to have your work cut out for you." Vera said shaking his hand.
"I look forward to the challenge. Your house and vaults are a curse breaker's dream. I wonder how many different dark and deadly curses I can find." Bill said excitedly.
"Well happy hunting. This is the Portkey to House Fog Hill." Vera said handing him the gold key the Director handed her an hour ago.
A few minutes later the women left the bank and headed down the alley. They spent the next two hours window shopping and by the time they portkeyed to the Granger's back yard they were loaded down with bags and wearing fine robes and witches hats.
"You two went full witch on us." Harry said in greeting the two.
"We might have gone a little overboard but this was the first time in a long time we didn't have to look at price tags." Vera said.
"Besides Harry, I look good as a witch." Cassie said twirling to show off her black and gold robes.
"She just wants to look good for the next time we see Bill." Vera said ratting out her granddaughter.
"Gran!" Cassie said blushing.
"Is Bill quit the catch?" Harry asked with a smirk.
"Tall handsome and he has a bad boy look about him without the bad boy attitude." Vera said making Cassie blush harder.
"I had no idea, I hired the best man for the job based on the information I had on hand. The fact that this is going to be so very entertaining is a happy accident." Harry said laughing as he lead them over to the table where the rest of the group was gathering for dinner.
The back yard was cool in the night air but around the backyard Harry setup magical heating lamps so they could keep using the back yard as their classroom. It was a cool and breezy 50 outside but in the back yard it was a nice 73 with a slight breeze just to keep the air moving. They sat down next to the Longbottoms and Alice greeted the two with a hug and a tired smile.
"How did your day go?" Alice asked. She was wearing a black track suit and she had a towel around her neck.
"Good, we are both Ladies of the house of Lestrange and Cassie is the head of house. We have a curse breaker cleaning out the house in Blackpool right now. This morning we were just getting by, tonight we go to bed multi-millionaires. That's Harry for you." Vera said laughing.
"Tell me about it. Four days ago we could barely walk now he has us jogging and working out. This yoga thing he's teaching us is really nice. I feel more limber than ever but I'll tell you I've never been more sore in my life. Of course it doesn't help that our son is helping to teach us this stuff and he's way too good at it." Alice said with a grin.
"You look deliriously happy my dear." Vera said patting the woman on the back.
"I am. I think we all are." Alice said before Harry got everyone's attention.
"Tonight we will be having two options, a meat and a fish. For the meat we have lamb chops over garlic mashed potatoes with pan seared green beans and mushrooms. For the fish option we have grilled tuna with sauteed new potatoes and asparagus in a light lemon and herb butter. Who's having the meat?" Harry asked looking at the table.
"I love having dinner at this house." Alice said as Harry made plates for everyone and he came around the table to talk to everyone. When he got to the Longbottoms he patted them on the back.
"You two are making great progress. This time next month and you should be halfway to full health. Here are your dinner tonics and remember to eat a lot, even if you feel full try to have a double helping of meat and just one glass of wine." Harry said.
"Thanks to you kids we are up and about." Frank said patting Harry's hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, we're family, we stick together. Now eat up. We're watching a moving on the big screen later, and it's the guys turn to pick. I'm thinking the Three Amigos." Harry said.
"What's that?" Frank asked.
"Just the most funny moving of all time. You'll see." Harry said as he turning the Vera and Cassie. "How are you two doing? Need anything?" He asked.
"No and before I forget. We added this to your account at the bank. It's to help you get the OWL program off the ground." Vera said handing him the deposit draft.
"Vera! You didn't have to do that, we have way enough gold to do that. But I'll make you a deal. I'll start a fund for scholarships for people that can't afford the courses in your name. Maybe in your daughter's name? How about that?" Harry asked.
"I would like that a lot. And if the fund ever needs more just let me know. That's a very sweet idea Harry. Thank you." Vera said hugging him as a tear rolled down her cheek.
"We'll set it up at the bank tomorrow. For now relax and enjoy the night air." Harry said before he moved on down the table. Harry made it back to his place after a few minutes and made a plate for himself. As soon as he started to eat the wards flashed and Bill landed on the ground next to the table. His robes were smoking and singed, he had huge claw marks across his chest and it looked like he fell out of a very tall tree and hit every sharp branch on the way down. He was covered in bruises, cuts, and what looked like thorns. His breathing was labored and he was barely conscious.
"Wards! Guardians! Traps…" He gasped out before he passed out.
"Wow." Harry said before he was next to the curse breaker and casting spells. Hermione was next to him a second later opening her medical bag.
"Bill!" Cassie yelled as she rushed around the table which started the rest of the group getting up to see what was going on.
"OKAY! Everyone calm down!" Harry yelled stopping everyone in their tracks. "Good, go back to your meals, we will handle this. Remain calm. And let us work." Harry said before turning back to his partner. "What are we looking at?" Harry asked closing up the huge slashes across Bill's chest.
"Broken bones, organ damage, internal bleeding, burns, cuts, and bruises. I also detect a good concussion. We need to get him to a bed and get potions into him right now." She said looking worried as she pulled bottles out of her bag.
"Let's get him into the garage for now. Mary can you join us? We might need a hand." Harry said floating the man off the ground and rushing him into the garage. He put a cushioning charm on the pool table and set the dying man on the play surface. He magically stripped Bill as Hermione pulled doses of different healing tonics out of bottles using hypodermic needles.
"What can I do?" Mary Thomas asked as she watched the kids work.
"Prep an IV line, we're going to pump him full of potions to heal him." Harry said as he cast spells at Bill to heal his internal injuries.
"I can do that." Mary said taking the IV line from the table and tying off Bill's arm. In seconds she had the needle in, and taped to Bill's arm. She hooked the IV bag to it and hug it off the pole Harry made. She looked up and Hermione handed her a syringe full of glowing red potion.
"This first. Followed by these three in order down the line. I need to assist Harry." Hermione said.
"I got it." Mary said as she pushed the air out of the syringe before she added the red potion to the IV line.
"Thanks." Hermione said before she rushed around the table to help Harry close up Bill's wounds. They worked frantically for fifteen minutes but they healed Bill fully. Harry poured a power tonic into his mouth and Bill shot up out of his coma.
"Wards!" He yelled before he saw he was naked. "Um," he said covering himself with his hands.
"Relax son, I'm a doctor." Marry said.
"I'm not." Hermione said with a blushing smirk.
"Hermione." Harry said batting her shoulder as he made a screen and handed Bill a pile of clothes. "Get dressed and then you can tell us what happened." Harry said tiredly as he turned and headed back to the table dragging Hermione with him.
"How is he Harry?" Cassie asked as he took his seat and went back to his now cold food.
"Fine, he was touch and go for a second there but we healed his wounds and the potions worked just like we thought they would. The legality of using untested emergency healing tonics on someone without their consent is questionable, but I doubt he'll complain about it." Harry said as he eyes lulled close for a second before he shook his head.
"Harry dear, are you okay?" Emma asked touching his head.
"I'll be fine, I just need to eat and get some sleep. I want to find out what happened before I head off to bed." Harry said yawning.
"I'll tell you what happened. That house is a death trap!" Bill said walking slowly towards the table with Marry helping him.
"Care to explain?" Harry asked.
"I showed up in front of the gates using the portkey. I tested the wards and found weak anti-apparition and portkey wards. I crossed those easy enough and I walked up the long driveway to the front door. The door had a minor lock spell and a regular lock that the key fit. I walked into the house and the lights came on like they should have. I did a sweep of the house and everything was going fine. The house had a few traps and some nasty infestations but I'm talking about standard dark objects, cursed doorways, and doxy infestations. Nothing too major." Bill said sitting in a chair by the table. He took a glass and filled it with water. He drank heavily and sighed.
"Then how did all that happen?" Dan asked.
"Well you see the house is one big trap. I just figured it out too late. The house's wards were made to trap Curse breakers. It allowed me to pass deeper into the house before the wards attacked. I made it all the way up to the third floor master bedroom and found the door to the room locked. I tried the standard spells but the door was stuck. So I tried the old curse breakers trick of vanishing the door. That's when the house went into full on murder mode. Wards locked down the property and even my emergency goblin portkey didn't work. The suits of armor and the stuffed hunting trophies in the hallways and rooms came to life and attacked me. I had to blast my way back to the front door. If I wasn't wearing your shield charm and my full length dragonhide coat I would be dead three or four times over. I made it to the stairs and as I was coming down they collapsed and turning into a slide. At the base of the stairs the floor slid open and I tumbled into a pit full of spikes. I managed to catch the edge of the trap door and that saved my life. I pulled myself up and crawled to the front door. The plants by the front door lashed out at me shooting little thorns at me. I ran out the door and came face to face with a six foot tall gargoyle made of stone with razor sharp claws and a beak that can crush a stone column. I know because it lunged at me and bit the column behind me in half. I hit it with a blasting curse and it did nothing. I ran and it tackled me to the ground. I spun around and it clawed at me but I hit it with a killing cursed and it looked like it stopped moving for a second. I scrambled to my feet and ran into a second gargoyle that raked it's claws across my chest and slammed me to the ground. I felt a bunch of my ribs shatter and I felt myself fading away. I blacked out knowing I was dead and the the next thing I know I'm waking up here." Bill said.
"My god. How are we going to turn the wards off?" Vera asked.
"We have to get through the ward line, passed all of those traps and defences and up to the master bedroom where the ward stone is and turn them off." Bill said looking at the half eaten lamb on Cassie's plate. "You going to finish that?" He asked.
"Here." Harry made him a fresh plate but with that he felt the last bit of his reserves dwindle.
"Thank's!" Bill said before he attacked his plate.
"Eat up and gather whatever you think you need to shut down the wards. Tomorrow we attack that house and take it back. For now, I need some sleep." Harry said standing up on unsteady feet. "Goodnight." He said walking into the house.
"When he said we he meant him?" Bill asked as Harry walked into the house.
"Yes, me and Neville to I suspect. Full frontal assault with sabers and spells." Hermione said.
"Are you sure that safe dear?" Emma asked.
"Mum, it's a lot safer than facing a dark lord. We'll be fine. Bill was almost killed because the house took him by surprise. It was built to trick curse breakers. It lulled him into the heart of the house and then it sprung its trap. We know what we're walking into. We will be in full armor with multiple shield enchantments, and carrying lightsabers. We will be fine. Bill, we will clear a path for you, you just have to shut the wards down once we get you in." Hermione said looking at Neville who locked eyes with her and nodded once.
"I'm coming too. I will stick close to Bill and provide back up incase one of you guys go down and need to be healed. I might not be as good of a fighter as you three, but you all know I'm good at the healing side of things." Susan said.
"Okay, but that's it. With five of us we are strong enough to get in and get to the third floor but small enough to not get in each other's way." Hermione said. "For now we should sit down and map out the house so we know what we're walking into." Hermione said looking at her watch.
They spent the next few hours preparing the assault on the house for the next day and then they headed headed through the trunk and went to bed in their dorm rooms. They spent the next day in class and in between classes they worked on werewolf research and battle plans. They turned back time one day that night and slept in their beds at home. The next day they woke up and it was Tuesday again but this time they were on turned time. They headed down to breakfast. Most of the group had a relaxing morning ahead of them as the new members of the group were going to work out and study as well as run the Longbottoms through some training. At the tail end of breakfast Bill showed up and he ate with them. When they were finished with breakfast they put on their gear. Bill watched Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Susan pull out weapons cases and put on heavy armor vests and wide leather belts with pouches. They clipped a set of two silver cylinders onto the belts. Harry added a gold sword to his belt and added a heavy looking gold chain around his neck made of linked box lockets. He turned to Bill and handed him a vest and a locket chain.
"Put these on. The vest is enchanted dragonhide and the chain is made of box lockets each one has a enchanted shield stone. How are you with a blade?" Harry asked as he helped Bill get the vest on.
"I'm not a danger to myself with a long blade." BIll said as he put the chain on and felt the amount of magic rolling over his form.
"Good, this is a lightsaber. It will cut anything you touch with it. Anything. So keep it unlight and only turn it on if you have to. This red button activates it." Harry said.
"Hey Harry, do you think we should try some guns?" Neville asked looking at his kit.
"Well, the dart guns won't be much help against enchanted armor and we're not trained enough for handguns that fire bullets. We have rifles, but those would be hard to maneuver in a house. Even the lever action winchesters." Harry said looking at his kit.
"What about a pump shotgun Harry?" Dan suggested.
"It's an idea. We really only used them that one time when you showed us how to shoot clay targets." Harry said thinking about it.
"Well you made the set of bird guns for us. Can't you make a pump gun with a shorter barrel that fires a never ending barrage of buckshot?" Dan asked.
"Good question. Hold on." Harry said pulling a book of gun blueprints out of his bag. He set it on the table and paged through it for a minute. "Yes. This might work." Harry said holding out his hands and a Stevens 620 trench shotgun materialized in his hands.
He stepped off to the woods and made a target on a tree thirty feet away. He shouldered the shotgun, worked the action to chamber a round, and fired it blowing the center of the target away with buckshot. The gun was loud and the kick was bad enough to rattle his teeth. Harry shook his head and made a box for the gun. He locked it in the box and set it on the ground at his feet. He held out his hands and he made another Stevens 620. He shoulder this gun, worked the action, and blew out the center of the target again but this time there was no sound and almost no kick but the amount of buckshot looked like it was three times as much. He slung the shotgun over his shoulder and smiled.
"Hey Nev. I think I have a new toy for us." Harry said making another shotgun for Neville who walked over with a smirk.
"Nice. I like the wood and it's got a good weight to it." He said shouldering the gun and test firing it. "Very nice." Neville said with a grin.
"Hey Hermione, You want one too?" He asked.
"Sure, you boys can't have all the fun. Come on you two, let test out the new gear." Hermione said leading Bill and Susan over to where Neville was blasting the tree over and over again in the same spot. After ten minutes they all had a trench shotgun and they all knew how to shoot. Harry watched as they all took out their tree and nodded.
"Okay, I think we're good for now. We're going to work in teams. Hermione and I are going to be team one. Neville you and Susan will be team two. Hermione and I will lead. We will drop anything that moves with our guns. If we encounter something that we can't drop using the guns we will drop them and attack with our sabers. Team two will follow us with Bill. Your job is to protect Bill and get him to the ward stone in the master bedroom. Use the guns and your sabers to take out anything following you guys as we clear your path. Bill should always be close by. Bill your job is going to be to take down the wards so I want you to save your magic for that. Stay safe and stay alive. Let Neville and Susan handle the bulk of the fighting. Is everyone ready to do this?" Harry asked looking at everyone and checking their gear.
"Yes, let's do this!" Neville said
"Wait!" Alice called out as she and Emma ran over to the group and hugged the kids. "Stay safe. This sucks. We should be the ones doing this sort of thing not you kids." She said looking pissed off at herself for being too weak.
"It's fine, it's what we trained for. This was an easy mission with our sabers. With these shoguns this is going to be a cakewalk." Harry said confidently.
"Well still, look out for each other and come home safe." Emma said.
"All of us have ten shield charmed stones on us and each one has an emergency portkey that I made. I can activate those portkeys at any time and we'll land in this backyard." Harry said with a reassuring smile.
"Good. Stay as safe as you can be." Emma said as she backed away from the group with Alice.
"Okay, Bill hold out the portkey and let's ride out." Harry said holding his shotgun by the pump grip in his left hand as he touched the key with his right. The rest of the group followed his example. When they were all touching the gold key Bill intoned 'Go' and they vanished. They landed outside the gate and Harry shouldered his shotgun as he scanned the yard with his mage sight. He saw two massive enchanted objects on the roof and a third one in the distance somewhere. He smiled as the two objects stopped moving and focused on them.
"Bill open the gate, everyone else, the gargoyles are on the roof waiting for us to cross the ward line. When the gate is open I want us to rush the house and keep your eyes up and your head on a swivel. Do as much damage to the house as we need to I can fix it tomorrow." Harry said as Bill approached the gate with the key.
Bill opened the gate and swung it open. Harry and Hermione rushed into the yard with their guns up. Harry watched as the two big gargoyles jumped off the roof and ran at them. Harry waited until the lead gargoyle was forty foot away and started pumping shots at it. Hermione followed his lead with the second dog monster. The buckshot took huge chips out of the stone beasts but they were still coming. As they crossed the ten foot mark from them Harry dropped his gun and pulled the two sabers off his belt. He lit them and attacked the advancing stone beast with a set of double uppercut swings that split his stone dog monster in three pieces. He swung a few more times to make sure it was down before looking up and seeing Hermione finishing off her beast the same way. He shared a smirk with her before he summoned the two shotguns off the ground and tossed her one as they kept running for the front door.
Twenty foot to the front door Harry held out his right hand and ripped the door and the door frame out of the wall and tossed it aside. He saw the two big fren looking plants inside the front entryway and blasted them with a few shots blowing the plants, as well as a good portion of the first two stairs and the marble floor, away. They slowed to a walk as they approached the hole in the wall where the door used to be. Harry walked slightly ahead of Hermione and scanned the entryway with his mage sight. He could see the wards crackling in the walls and he tracked movement of three enchanted objects in the room to the left off the entryway. He held up three fingers and pointed at the doors to what he guessed was a parler. He force pushed the doors open and two big cats and a huge brown bear in the room turned and attacked. Harry blasted the lion with two shots as Hermione took out the lioness. They both hit the bear with two shots but it kept advancing. Again Harry dropped his shotgun and pulled his sabers. He waited until the charging bear got close enough to swipe at him before he spun away from the claws and cut the bear in half. He was about to summon his gun when a book case shifted into a wood gargoyle and attacked him when his back was turned. He spun away from the attack and bisected the wood cat beast like a loaf of bread. He quartered it with a return double underhand swing and scanned the room with his mage sight one more time to make sure he got everything. Hermione handed him his shotgun.
"This is not working. Susan, I need you to work with Hermione using the shotguns and I'll be on permanent saber duty. Neville, watch Bill's back." Harry said slinging his shotgun across his back as he looked at the staircase and the door to the dining room across the hall.
"Harry, way don't we just rush to the Master bedroom and let Bill get started. We can defend the third floor hallway as he works, it will funnel these things into one hallway and we can concentrate fire." Neville said.
"That's a good question. All in favor?" Harry asked.
"I think it's a plan. It's better then clearing room to room." Hermione said.
"It will be a bigger fight but it will be the only fight." Susan said.
"Then we go right to the top and we fly up to cut the risk of the stairs collapsing on us." Harry said pulling his broom out as well as a second broom that he tossed to Bill.
"This is a nice broom." Bill said looking at the Nimbus 2000.
"Keep it, I can make more. Saber's out! Cut down anything that approaches you." Harry said holding his broom with his left hand and his saber with his right.
He waited for the rest of the group to coppie him before he lead the charge up the winding staircase. At the top of the first staircase there was a line of three suits of armor waiting for them. Harry blasted through the line with his saber parallel to the floor and bisected the three guardians causing a clatter as the plate steel hit the floor. Harry made the sharp turn and headed up the second staircase as a flock of six birds came at him at full dive from the third floor. Harry pulled six of the framed pictures off the wall and flung them into the birds making a cloud of feathers he blasted through as he crested the top of the stars and came face to face with a Hippogryph rearing up with its fore leg talons extended. Harry charged the beat with his saber out in front of him and slammed into the horse bird with enough force to push it back down the hall. Harry roll to his feet, summoned his other saber off his belt, ignited it, and double slashed the bird horse into six chunks of smoldering hair and feathers. He looked back and saw the rest of the group crest the stairs as five suits of armor charged down the hall with swords out. He was about to warn them when Hermione and Neville hopped off their brooms and took the five animated suits of armor down with quick and vicious strikes that carved the armor into strips of hot steel.
"Nice work." Harry said to Hermione who turned to look at him. Her eyes got wide and Harry ducked out of the way. As he moved a huge mase hit the floor putting a hole in the wood. Harry looked up at a ten foot tall Helmed Horror in black armor with horns and spikes sticking out of the platemail he was made of. The huge black knight pulled the six foot long mace that looked like it weighed fifty pounds out of the floor and it attacked Harry with it's huge spiked tower shield. Harry blocked the shield with a force push and rolled under it's legs. He popped up to his feet and plunged both of his sabers into the back of the knight and pulled his arms apart cutting the torso in half. He struck again splitting the torso into pieces before taking the legs apart with two more swings. He looked at the group as the doors at the other end of the hall busted open and a pack of five dire wolves came charging down the hall heading for the group. Harry ran to the group with his sabers up.
"Susan and Neville get Bill into the master bedroom!" He yelled as he threw his left saber at the head wolve. The blade of blue energy shot through the wolf like a hot knife through butter taking a good chunk of the head and front left quarter with it making the wolf miss a step and tumble into the other four wolves buying the group enough time to run by him and Hermione to turn on the pack with her pump gun. She hit the wolves with a wall of buckshot dropping three of the four still moving wolves as Harry cut the fourth wolf in two with his saber. Harry summoned his other saber and they both ran after the group down the hall.
They found two blasted apart suits of armor and the door to the bedroom was ripped out of the wall leaving a good sized hole. Inside the room the big bed was tossed aside and Bill on his knees casting spells at a runic symbol on the floor with a big rough cut blue stone in the center that was glowing and pulsing. Neville and Susan were looking around the room with their guns at the ready.
"Did you force pull the door out of the wall Nev?" Harry asked with a smirk.
"Yeah but Sue took out the suits of armor." Neville said.
"Harry, we got company!" Hermione called out from the doorway. Harry looked out into the hall and saw a huge six foot tall spider coming up the stairs. Hermione blasted the spider with her gun but the hide took the impacts and showed no damage. Harry threw his left saber on a flat plane spin and it swept past the big spider taking out two of it's legs on the right hand side at the first knuckle making the big spider stumble. Harry followed it up with his right saber which flew end over end cutting a big grove up the spiders back making it screech an unholy sound as it's fangs twitched and contracted and it's glassy eyes focused on Harry.
Harry grabbed the two sabers off Hermione's belt as the big bug limped towards them. He lit them and floated them with his magic. He spun the sabers like a lawnmower and pushed them at the spider. The spinning blades met spider flesh and the results was a mess so bad Hermione almost lost her lunch. The was black icker and viscera all over the hallway and the floor was covered in chunks of spider. Harry was just starting to relax when thousands of little hand sized spiders came pouring out of the body of the spider. Harry summoned the lightsabers and pulled hermione into the bedroom. He sealed up the hole in the wall where the door was with plate steel. They turned around and saw Bill still kneeling over the stone casting spells at it. The sound of thousands of spiders trying to breach the steel door was deafening.
"How's it going out there, Good I hope?" Neville asked as the sound of little pincers chewing on the plaster walls got louder.
"It's going, how about in here?" Harry asked waving at the wall and making it plate steel.
"It's going." Neville said as a gryphon gargoyle came busting through the window in the bedroom. Harry charged the stone bird cat and chopped it down to brick sized stones with a fury of blows.
"Hey Bill, Curse breaking is not my thing but can I get an ETA on when you might have control over the house?" Harry asked as he bared the windows with steel plunging the room into darkness for a second as Hermione conjured a few lanterns.
"The wards are fighting me because they know I'm not a the owner of the property." Bill said as sweat dripped down his forehead.
"Should I get Cassie?" Harry asked.
"Not unless she can cast curse breaker level spells. The house is in full lockdown and unless you have the password or you have the same blood that made the wards in the first place and you can over power this stone you're not taking down the wards." Bill said.
"Right, move aside Bill." Harry said as the spiders started to come through holes in the ceiling.
"WHat?!" Bill said seeing the spiders crawling down the walls.
"Get out of my way!" Harry said pushing Bill out of the circle to the feet of the group. He waved at the group to put a shield up around them. He took the knife out of his boot and cut his palm. He held his hand out and blood pooled him his palm. A second later he slammed his hand on the blue stone and forced his magic through the blood. There was a bright flash of light and when it faded the spiders were gone. Harry smiled and fell over.
"Harry!" Hermione called out as she rushed to his side and healed his hand.
"How is he?" Neville asked keeping his gun at the ready.
"He's fine, just drained. He blasted the hell out of those wards though." Hermione said pulling a power tonic off her belt and fed it to Harry.
"Yes he did, how the hell did he force the wards to accept him as their master?" Bill said running scans on the ward stone that was glowing brighter than before.
"Blood match." Harry groaned out as he sat up.
"WHat?" Bill asked.
"Blood match. Sirius told me that every house shares blood because somewhere up the family tree we are all intermixed. I cut my hand, and pooled all of the Lestrange magical blood I had in my system to my hand and forced the wards to except me. Hurt like hell." Harry said shaking his head.
"I have never seen anything like this. You rewrote the code of the wards. At this very moment they are rebuilding the defences." Bill said as the stone gryphon reformed and stood up. Neville sung his gun up to blast it but the stone beast bowed to Harry and looked at the metal window confused. Harry waved at the windows and the door and it went back to normal. The beast jumped out the window and the window fixed itself. Out in the hall the spider iker was gone and the helmed horror walked by the bedroom door as it headed into the study. Neville tracked it with his gun.
"This is freaky Harry." Neville said as the hippogryph reformed and headed to the other end of the hallway where it went back into the wall with it's head sticking out before the wall sealed up around it.
"It's all a part of the wards and after the fight we just had I'm confident Vera and Cassie are as safe as can be." Harry said getting up off the floor.
"But they still have to live in this house of horrors." Susan said looking at the suits of armor that took their places by the stairs.
"So we can redress some of this stuff but I'm going to recommend to the Ladies Lestrange that they keep these horrors. Now let's head back to the house. Root Beers are on me people." Harry said making a portkey.
They all gathered around Harry and soon they were standing in the Granger's back yard. As soon as they landed the moms were on them. Harry summoned cold mugs and bottles from the cooler as he dropped into a seat at the bar. The kids explained how things went, they left out most of the near death things, but they said the house was under Harry's control and he would hand over control to Cassie as soon as she could control the wards.
After lunch Harry and Hermione portkeyed back to the house with Cassie and Vera. Vera got her first look at the house she was born and raised in since the age of eleven. She looked at the greystone manor house and tears rolled down her cheeks as her knees gave out. Harry and Cassie caught her and held her up as they walked through the gate headed to the spooky looking house.
"I have not seen this house in so long. Fog Hill." She said softly.
"Why Fog Hill Gran?" Cassie asked.
"We are backed up to the sea to the northeast and the hills to the southwest. When it rains and the cold air sweeps through here the fog rolls in so thick you need to stay on the gravel path to find your way to the house and the out buildings or you're liable to get lost for hours. We had a caretaker, Mr. Cutler, that tried to cut the grass and the fog rolled in thick and deep and he was lost for three hours." She said with a soft sad smile.
"It's a bit dark and drewry Gran." Cassie said as they approached the front door.
"Our family has never been one for joy and merriment. But we can change all that Cassie dear. We can add life to the place." Vera said patting her granddaughter on the arm.
"Trust me this house is full of life. The wards proved that." Harry said under his breath as he looked at the roof of the house to see the gargoyles perched up there looking scary and intimidating.
"What was that Harry dear?" Vera asked.
"Nothing, I was just saying the house just needs a little light." Harry said catching Cassie's eye as she tried not to laugh.
They spent the a few hours walking through the house making notes and looking at what was in the house and what needed to be fixed or upgraded. As they walked through the house Vera pointed out things to her granddaughter. Harry and Hermione stayed out of their way and followed along making suggestions and recommendations about wards and what had to stay and what could go. They also made suggestions about what Harry could make for them so they wouldn't have to try to track down what they were looking for.
The group portkeyed back to the Granger's house in time for dinner. Bill was still at the house talking to Dan and Frank at the bar and that night Cassie sat close to him at dinner. They flirted shamelessly and most of the table had to keep their laughter from spilling out. When they both reached for the bread basket at the same time and they blushed when their hands touched Harry laughed so hard he choked on the piece of chicken in his mouth. After dinner Hermione set up Lady and Geoff the horses for them and they took a slow ride around the path using floating lanterns and lumos spells to light their way. The ride that should have normally taken no more than an hour at the slowest pace took close to two hours and Harry had to fly out over the woods to call them in. He found them snogging on a blanket just down the path to the back yard and made sure to announce himself before he got too close for fear of seeing something he could not unsee. On his way back to the house Harry looked up at the almost full moon and it reminded him of the job he still needed to do. They were sure they had a more stable and healthier alternative to the wolfsbane almost locked up but they were also sure that with enough time and the right books they could have the curse beat. Harry flew back to the house and made a note in his head to see if the Lestrange library had any books on werewolves.
