Author's Notes: Right, first things first. I will remind you all that I'll be releasing the first ten chapters I've rewritten in a bundle and then will be returning to writing. Next month I'll put out whatever I manage to write. Next up...I'd like recommendations for Fics to read. I am one lonely sod, with nothing to do with my spare time. I need something to read, or I'll go crazy. Crazy isn't good in this case. Also I'd like to remind everyone that there are challenges posted on my profile. I'd love to see them taken up. On a similar and somewhat related note. I'm willing to help with other peoples works. I'm not much got for grammar and spelling really, but I'm fairly solid at helping put together a coherent and logical plot, when I'm not making stupid decisions like trying to please everyone at once. If you want a resume of sorts contact me and I'll tell you a little about myself.
Chapter 6: Aftermath
—
About an hour and a half later, the lot of them were returning to Grimmauld place. Harry appearing drained and tired. Tonks had to part ways with her younger cohorts once inside. "I've got to let the other Order members know what's what," She noted apologetically. "Not that hanging out with you guys isn't fun." She noted winking.
Harry chuckled tiredly. "Ah well, I suppose we'll just have to find some way to entertain ourselves then. Who knows what kind of trouble we can get up to…" He joked as he backed towards the stairs.
"Not so much worried that there will be trouble, but that I won't get to take part in it," She teased. "Sometimes being an adult really sucks you know?" She lamented.
The teens made it upstairs and Tonks turned to make her way to the kitchen, she pushed inside and looked around. The room was relatively busy tonight, quite a few people had shown up early in the hopes of hearing the news as soon as possible. Remus, Sirius, Moody, Kingsley, Hestia, all the adult Weasleys, and Fleur, all sat expectantly in the kitchen.
"So, how'd it go?" Sirius asked a touch worriedly as Tonks just stared blankly at them.
Tonks smiled, "Cleared," She declared, and the group in the kitchen breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"Excellent," Said Arthur Weasley smiling, "How hard did Fudge make it on you? He's got quite the grudge against Harry," He noted.
Tonks laughed and smiled. "Ha! Harry destroyed him," She said in satisfaction, honestly impressed with the boy. "Created a firestorm for Fudge,"
The others blinked surprise. "What 'appened?" Fleur asked curious.
Tonks smiled, perhaps for the first time, at the part Veela girl, "He proved that Fudge and Umbridge were the ones sending the Dementors and goon squads after him. Proved Sirius is innocent, and the finished with a grand finale of "You-Know-Who is back and I can prove it." She said smiling crookedly.
That left the other members of the Orders stunned for a good minute. Moody was the first to respond, barking a harsh laugh. "Ha! The boy works fast when he's given his lead I'll give him that." Their was a pair of cracks out in the halfway. "How is it that the whole bloody Order can't manage those things, but he can?" He asked pondering thoughtfully.
Dumbledore stalked in followed closely by Minerva Mcgonagall, "Because Harry took risks that we could not truly afford to make," He said a touch darkly. "If it had gone other than how it did, it could have seriously damaged our goals. As it is he may have just plunged Wizarding Britain into chaos." He said sighing and sitting in a summoned chair.
Tonks was exasperated, "Come on Dumbledore, Harry did great, he managed something difficult for anyone, let alone a teenager." She argued rolling her eyes.
Dumbledore sighed. "Nymphadora—" Dumbledore said chastising.
Tonks whirled and pointed accusingly "Dumbledore! I told you not to use that name, I've asked you time and again, stop bloody calling me that!" She growled irritably. She hated when her name was used, which was bad enough, but the condescending tone Albus had adopted was infuriating.
Dumbledore sighed and raised a pair of placating hands "I apologize, you are correct you have asked me not to use your given name, but my point stands in regards to Harry," He countered. "Should he seek to continue to act as…recklessly as he has we shall need to begin planning our efforts to take into account his interference," He explained at their confused looks. "The boy moves in a straight line towards his objectives, not caring for any obstacles that lay in his path, we must move in curves where he does not to avoid the potential complications. He just ignores such complications as a matter of course." He explained tiredly "He is just a boy, who is distressed, he has no concept of the greater good—"
Tonks was annoyed "Bloody hell, here we go again," She snapped. Sirius nodded tiredly in agreement from the sidelines. Dumbledore noticed Kingsley and Hestia were looking uncertain. The rest of the Order appeared surprised by the outburst.
"Tonks?" Albus asked, "Do you no longer agree with our aims?" He asked worriedly.
She sighed. "Dumbledore, I signed on to protect people from You-Know-Who, not to reshape the world to match some grand vision you dreamed up. I'm staying with the Order, because it's the best chance to stop what's-his-face. But you can count me out of any of this revolutionary rhetoric rubbish." She snapped.
"I agree," Sirius noted, "We're here to stop a madman not reshape the world in our image," He growled.
Then to everyone's surprise Hestia Jones spoke up, "I second that. We're here to help and protect people, the rest can wait until there's no war looming." She said nodding to her metamorph friend.
Dumbledore tried to regain some ground, "Those two goals are not mutually exclusive,"
Tonks nodded, "Maybe not, but this greater good stuff is getting in the way of the other. We never act for fear of the consequences." She said wearily. "Sometimes you just need to do something, I'm tired of sitting on my arse, while that bastard moves unhindered."
Dumbledore ignored that "I have no doubt Harry, intended his actions for the best, and he achieved the best outcome he could given those actions. However he is young, and is not yet mature enough to understand sacrifices will need to be made. He is not currently capable of seeing the big picture." He said trying for a soothing tone.
Tonks pushed back to her feet, "Look, I agree with him by and large, which I guess means I'm not mature enough for your grand vision Dumbledore," She said bitingly. "I came here to spread the good news and to celebrate Harry achieving something worthwhile. If that's not going to happen down here, among the adults, maybe I really do belong among with the young'uns," She said and nodded grimly to the rest of the room before stalking out of the room.
"Smooth Dumbledore, real smooth," Sirius growled. "So what, any of us who don't want to do things your way and your way only are too young or stupid to get it?" He accused. "Bah, I'm gonna go join the pups for tonight, this is getting us nowhere." He too stood up and left.
Dumbledore sighed, these meetings really weren't going as planned lately.
—
Madam Bones had arrived home later than anticipated, Apparating into the private garden of her penthouse floor apartment, and bustling through the door into the main house. An Isolated home on the upper floor of her building in South Kensington. She'd had to stay even later than anticipated dispatching Aurors to deal with those Identified as Death Eaters in the boy's memories. Just about the only Auror she'd given the night off was Tonks, who had done a bang up job thus far and had earned an evening off, though she'd need to talk to her and Kingsley about the Order of the Phoenix.
She walked through the house into the kitchen, where she found Susan on a stool pulled up to the counter reading a book, one of her favoured pastimes during the summer months. She looked up and smiled when she heard her guardian enter the room, closing the book and setting it on the counter. "Hey Aunt Amy, how'd it turn out?" She asked cheerfully.
"About as well as can be expected. I was right, it was ginormous," She said smiling ruefully to her ward. "Gonna be a hell of a lot of backlash from this."
Susan was interested. "Oh yeah, what happened?"
Amelia sighed tiredly and set her bag on the counter. "Well we've confirmed it, You-Know-Who is really back, we saw it in an authenticated memory while Harry was under Veritaserum."
Her niece flinched. "Damn, I had hoped he was mistaken," She noted looking pale and grim.
"We all were, but it's confirmed, and we've got some additional complications." Madam Bones relayed. "Sirius Black has been exonerated, and Harry Potter inherited his family titles, he is now, Lord Harry James Potter," She noted dryly. Susan blinked surprise.
"I didn't know his family was titled," Susan noted.
"They are, I assumed that something to do with blood rights had prevented it from being passed onto Harry, but apparently he just took a while before reading his family's will." Amelia explained. "Any who, an additional complication is that Fudge and Umbridge are on their way out thanks to tonights hearing." She saw her nieces startled expression. "Harry was attacked twice in the last week. Once with Dementors, and once with Dementors and out of uniform Prison Guards. And we all know who they report to…"
"They sent Prison Guards after Harry? Why!?" Susan asked perplexed.
"Apparently he was spreading discontent or some such nonsense by speaking about the return of you-know-who." Her aunt replied. "They had orders to take him by any means necessary. Up to and including the kiss." She reported grimly remembering the order form. "He had to fight for his life in an alley near the Tower. A girl who was with him at the time was injured, hit with a cruciatus from the reports."
Susan blanched. "Was it Hermione? The girl with him I mean,"
Amelia shook her head. "No Hermione was at the trial for moral support today, but the girl who was with Harry during the attack was an American transfer student by the name of Kara Smith,"
"What happened, how did Harry escape? Or did he call for help, and the Aurors showed?" Susan asked trying to follow the story.
"He didn't escape, he was cornered and had to fight through, an Auror who was searching for him showed up just as the fight ended." Amelia explained shaking her head.
"He fought through a squad of DMC guards and Dementors?" Susan asked surprised.
"Ten Dementors, one of which he killed," Amelia smiled grimly, seeing Susans expression. "I know I was surprised by that one too, and fourteen guardsmen, killing six,"
"He killed them?" Susan yelped surprised.
"When his friend went down, he thought she'd been killed and increased the violence of his attacks. He's a hell of a duelist by the way, I don't know if you saw that in the tournament, but he's incredibly skilled, especially for a minor," Amelia explained. She felt sympathy for the boy he was obviously still suffering from an ordeal, probably the death of his fellow champion and the events in the alley had triggered him. She felt bad for the families of the guardsmen too. "He's been cleared of wrong doing, and Fudge and Umbridge are now under the wand." She assured her niece.
"Poor Harry, he just can't catch a break can he?" Susan noted sadly. "So what happens now?" She asked worried.
"We wait, and we see what the fallout is going to be. Nothing else we can do but keep doing what we'd normally do otherwise. Have to wait for the smoke to clear and the dust to settle, see what shape our world is in" She had Rufus to hold down the fort until morning, she'd be there for when the real fireworks started kicking off.
—
Hermione was sitting in her bed reading later that night after everyone had gone home following the celebrations. To be honest she wasn't so much reading as thinking, the book was more or less a prop sitting in front of unfocused eyes. The celebration had been nice, but it was only a temporary distraction from the revelations of the trial. They'd sung, and danced, something Hermione was surprised Tonks and Kara had been able to talk her into. She generally wasn't one for such things, but the other two had been having so much fun she couldn't help but join in. Harry was content to sit and chat with them while the frolicked. Tonks and Sirius, had it seemed, taken it upon themselves to show the adult worlds appreciation for their success today in the trial.
Now as Hermione sat in her room trying to read, the trial came back to her. Harry had basically revealed that not only was You-Know-Who, alive, something which was not a shock to Hermione considering. But the monster had figured out how to make himself the next best thing to Immortal, which was a shock. Harry had been vague about the details of what he knew of the process, but it sounded horrifying, being a spell fuelled by death and murder.
But that wasn't what worried her the most. Harry had known, for some time at least, that a portion of his greatest enemies soul, had fused itself to him. He'd known long enough to have figured it out in it's entirety, and have started taking precautions against its influence, using an art Hermione had never heard of before, Occlumency. Not only that but he'd somehow found out about a prophecy which related to his war with You-Know-Who, and which implied it might come at the cost of his own life. And he'd known all this and kept it secret, from her and everyone else.
Why? Why did he keep it from her? Did he not trust her? Did he believe she'd spread it around? He should know better than that after all these years, so there had to be an alternate explanation, didn't there?
It did however cast some light on Harry's mental state, in addition to the cues she'd singled out as symptoms of whatever the problem was. She had listed off those she'd noticed prior to the trial. He was withdrawn, and disliked speaking of his problems with others, not necessarily something new. However he was also apparently reliving his memories and had problems sleeping, he was irritable with many of those he had previously been close to. He didn't trust as easily and appeared tired. He was bizarrely focused sometimes and had taken to the company of new people keeping only one of the old, herself. Finally he was unusually remorseful for anything he perceived as a slight towards those he was on good terms with. He was…different. There was no denying it now. He was more mature and yet…it wasn't in a healthy way, it was the maturity of someone who'd been forced to grow up all at once.
What did all this mean? She had no earthly clue. She'd looked through the books provided and even looked it up over her laptop's excruciatingly slow internet connection. Too many possibilities, she'd need more data or need to eliminate some symptoms as irrelevant. She needed to watch more closely.
Where had her friend gone? She gave herself a sharp shake and got annoyed with herself for that thought. He was her Harry, he just wasn't the same as he'd been before, he couldn't have remained that naive and sweet child he'd been over the years forever…It was just a shame that his childhood had apparently ended so abruptly.
She looked at her list of likely conditions, and stared at the most likely, a condition which had been gaining in frequency over the last decade or two among the muggle population. PTSD, also known as post-traumatic stress disorder. A common affliction among soldiers who had seen combat, so it wasn't outside the realm of possibility with Harry. But where had it come from if that was what it in fact was? It hadn't just come out of a clear blue sky. It had to have built up following a traumatic event, was that traumatic event the death of Cedric and the end of the third task? Some of the symptoms he displayed suggested it went back further than that, as she'd seen them prior to that event…
She was frustrated, this either meant, he had been hiding additional trauma's, a possibility, it had been accumulating over time, or he had multiple afflictions? Ye Gods, what if it's all three? She wondered with a jolt. She flipped to the section of her book on PTSD.
Incidents likely to cause of PTSD included, war maybe, natural disasters unlikely, car or plane crashes the time with the whomping willow? Unlikely, Terrorist attacks maybe?, sudden death of a loved one, Harry had way too much of that. Rape no, kidnapping no, assault maybe, sexual abuse no, physical abuse possibly, childhood neglect probable.
She considered that and pared down the list to those that were possible or likely. War and Terrorist attacks could fall in together in the Death Eater and You-Know-Who incidents…The Deaths or Injuries of Loved ones? He'd never seemed to be too overwhelmed by that before, but that didn't mean that it couldn't have changed. Assault, how many times had Harry been attacked by Malfoy…but what about the physical abuse? Surely I would have noticed that. Wouldn't I?
She pulled her laptop out and looked up ways to tell is someone is being physically abused. It took a while. She initially wanted to dismiss the possibility. Harry had no unexplained injuries that she'd seen, but how closely had she looked? When had she ever seen him without his shirt? He avoided or flat out refused to return to the Dursleys when he could… She looked to Emotional Abuse and Neglect next. There he fit in perfectly. So she added that to a possible cause of PTSD.
She was virtually certain he was being neglected, but that wasn't really a surprise, but the possibility of physical abuse…How did she test for that? And if she found it, what then? It's not like she could just ring up the muggle police, the Dursleys knew too much about the Wizarding World… She could report it to Dumbledore? But what would he do about it? Dumbledore's strategies in regard to Harry, had been lacklustre to say the least lately…She could try the Aurors…What about Tonks? Whispered a voice in the back of her mind. Tonks could be an excellent choice, a friend and an Auror, who knew how to handle such things…She could talk with her tomorrow, perhaps.
—
Voldemort stood among the ruins of what had, indeed at one time, been the house of Gaunt. His blood relatives had lived in this place, worthless excuses for wizards. Inbred and stupid the lot of them. So why was he here today? Why was he standing among the ashes of a shattered hovel? Because he was angry, furious, enraged. Beyond anything he'd ever been before this time. Not only had his presence been revealed to the quivering masses before the time of his choosing, not only had several of his most loyal been captured and incarcerated. But the boy was beginning to figure out the true nature of his enemy. Was beginning to guess the true magnitude of the immortal god in the making who was Voldemort.
And how had he figured these things out? It was not at the hands of his nemesis the ever meddlesome and interfering Dumbledore, indeed if his reports were accurate the boys alliance with the old man was slowly crumbling. He was acting independently by and large. He had sussed out the vague image of the truth by himself, based on observations made during their encounters.
That such a simple, cretinous creature as Harry Potter, had stumbled across the truth and managed to, simply by accident, destroy one of his souls fragments, and identify another was bad enough. But he had, under the influence of Veritaserum, blurted his suspicions to those greater than himself, no doubt Dumbledore would be searching now for his Horcruxes, no doubt the ministries finest would be searching for them once they delved deeply enough. He would need to change strategy. He desired to move the fragments, but he could not, for fear of aiding his foes in their searches. After all several of them were concealed right under their very noses. He had only come to site of the hiding place of his family ring because he needed to conceal it better. Part of this had been his destruction of the hovel, another part of it was the added enchantments and wards he placed, he would see to the securing of the others as it became possible. But that too could wait, wait until he'd hunted down his enemies and scoured them
from the face of the earth. It could wait until he ruled as a true god among men.
—
Early the next morning, and a few hundred kilometres south and west of where Harry was sleeping soundly, on the south coast of Britain lay the estate of the House Greengrass. Daphne Greengrass, the eldest daughter of said family. Swam under the early morning sun in the pool beside the main house. It should tell you something about the families affluence, that they had not only a primary mansion, but a separate guest house as well on their sprawling property. Daphne, a girl of fifteen, swam a slow breast stroke back and forth across the pool, a portion of her morning routine.
Eventually as the sun started to peek above the hills to east proper, she got out of the pool and towelled off before securing a robe about herself and padding into the kitchen through the open door. Her sister was, quite predictably, passed out with her head on the kitchen table. It was very difficult to keep Astoria awake at this time in the morning, she was the sort of teenager who liked to stay up late and then sleep until noon. Daphne settled herself at the table and poured herself some cereal.
Quite unusually her father decided to join them for breakfast that day. Lightly swatting his unconscious younger daughter awake with his newspaper as he passed. He paused across from Daphne and looked at her seriously. She stared back quizzically. "What?" She asked worried that her hair was doing something weird.
"What do you know of Harry Potter?" He asked, a question which appeared to be heavily out of left field for Daphne, but being the smart girl she was she adapted quickly. "Gryffindor golden boy, my age, average height, average build, black hair, green eyes, lightning bolt scar. Tends towards trouble at school, has repeatedly rebuffed our attempts at approaching him. Seeker of the Gryffindor quidditch team. No girlfriend I've ever heard about. Keeps the company of Hermione Granger and that odious Weasley boy. Commonly referred to as The-Boy-Who-Lived, The Fourth Champion, or in the case of Slytherins, Dumbledores pet." She reported rapid fire, studiously detailed. Lord Matthias Greengrass smiled proudly at his daughter.
Astoria made an incoherent noise and awoke briefly to shuffle out of the room. Matthias chuckled darkly. "Well the boy has apparently made somewhat of a mess down at the Ministry," He noted.
Daphne cocked her head interestedly. "Oh? What did Golden Boy do this time?" She asked curious. Harry Potter's ability to find trouble was astounding.
"Bring down the government," her father said dryly. At first Daphne took that as a creative hyperbole, but found out that wasn't the case when he dropped the paper in front of her. Her eye's widened as she read the headline and summary. Fudge was under investigation as was his crony Umbridge. She skimmed the first page reading the bolded quotes and sections.
"Fudge was insane enough to set prison guards on Harry?" She asked her father, who had no doubt already read the whole thing.
He nodded grimly. "And now six of them have to go home in coffins." He noted causing his daughters eyes to widen further. "It appear Harry Potter, now Lord Potter by the way, has decided to make his entrance onto the political stage. And he's not content to do it the way everyone else does. He's already voiced his support for Amelia Bones as a replacement for Fudge. But there's one more thing, it isn't mentioned in the first bit. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's return has been confirmed poppet." He said sadly, and she just about choked on her cereal. "I've already called to have the wards upgraded and recharged," He assured her. "Now what do we do about our new player?" he asked her. Testing, always testing, his daughter's political know how, she was already on par with him in many ways, and he expected her to surpass him soon enough. She would be a force to be reckoned with in time.
She considered that, "We need to approach him directly, I could manage it at school of course, but it may be easier to get past that Weasley git now," She noted dryly. "Make our position clear and view his response in person, no more intermediaries. If this is the kind of thing he can achieve right out of the gate we need to at least be able to communicate with him," She noted sourly.
"I agree, in fact i've sent a letter exactly to that effect. I was wondering, should he agree to meet, would you be interested in attending?" He asked.
She was surprised and pleased at her father's desire to include her. "I would love to, if only to get a few jabs in about proper etiquette for turning down an overture." She growled.
He chuckled, "Play nice, at least the first time darling," He requested. "Now, lets assume he actually says yes to a meet, what then? What should we seek to discuss? What should we demand, what should we be prepared to give, who should we expect him to bring in his entourage?"
Daphne began calculating and planning. "We should discuss settling outstanding debts and arrangements, we should inquire about why our overtures were rebuffed, we should avoid demands, at least to start with, unless he gives insult severe enough to demand satisfaction…As for what we should be prepared to give? What is the exact nature of his Lordship, I never learned much about the Potters in the Nobility," She admitted regretfully, an oversight she now regretted.
"He is now Lord Harry James Potter, sole heir of Most Noble and Most Ancient House Potter, sole remaining descendant of Ignotus Peverell, one of the first noble families to rise in wake of the fall of Arthur's court, approximately concurrent with the founders of Hogwarts.
She whistled appreciatively. That was a hell of a pedigree, about the only way you could be more high blooded was if you were the primary heir of one of the founders or Merlin himself. But Harry hadn't trumpeted his heritage from the rooftops, how curious. "In that case, we should be very accommodating of appropriately voiced requests, his family is going to hold more sway than most…" She paused. "Now for your final question, his entourage, expect him, possibly Dumbledore himself, but almost certainly his two closest confidants, that uncultured boor, Ronald Billius Weasley, and Hermione Granger." She said thinking hard.
"You have made your opinion of the Weasley boy clear, but what of this Granger girl?" Matthias asked pensively.
Daphne sighed, Hermione was a constant thorn in her side academically. "She's the only person who consistently outscores me, and she does it in every bloody class." She noted darkly. "I hate to admit it, but she's brilliant, what she's doing hanging around an idiot like Weasley is beyond me. She's average looking, but that's not important to our considerations. She's muggleborn and about the closest person to Potter himself of the group. We should stay on her good side if we hope to appeal to Lord Potter." She noted.
"Understood," he said pleased by his daughters assessments.
Now it was her turn to ask questions, "What do you know of his politics? His finances, his properties? Is he broke like the Weasleys, is he rolling in it like the Malfoys or Longbottoms?" She asked as it could have bearing on any negotiations between them.
"We know next to nothing, we know they had holding but they were never specified, the Potters have always played it close to the chest. We know that just prior to their losses at the hands of You-Know-Who, they were quite wealthy enough to bargain on equal terms with us whenever we asked." He noted.
She pondered that. "Well then, we shall just have to see what eventuates otherwise, shall we not?" She asked.
"Indeed, it would be nice if we could make an ally of him, but who knows what way the dice will land hmm?" He asked smiling idly.
—
Amelia padded tiredly into the kitchen, house coat flapping behind her, as she hurried in search of her morning tea. Susan was, as ever, up before her, already showered, dressed and reading the paper at the table.
Amelia nodded to the paper in her hands when she looked up, a worried crease on her forehead. "So how bad is it?" She asked pouring herself some tea.
Susan grimaced. "Well the stuff in there certainly explains a few things about Harry, poor guy. But you're going to want to have a talk with him. I think Rita took what he said and ran with it in a couple places." She noted irritably.
"Uh oh, what'd she do?" Amelia asked worried.
Susan flipped the paper open to a page and pressed it across the table. "Congratulations on your nomination, looks like you may be one of front runners for the next Minister." She said apologetically.
Amelia read the article and was scowling deeply and growling by the end. "You know I think I'm gonna kill that woman…" She sighed. "You're right, I need talk to Harry, judging from the editorials he's got more political pull than he thinks, and if that's the case someone needs to tell him what he's getting himself into besides Albus."
"You really don't like the Headmaster then?" Susan asked worried.
Amelia hesitated. "Albus is a good man, but he's too much of a manipulator for his own good, he's constantly trying to nudge things in the direction he thinks is best and unfortunately he's wrong more often than he's not." She explained.
"Then Harry, needs to hear advice from someone other than him." Susan agreed solemnly. "Just be careful yourself Aunt Amy, I don't know that you want to lock horns with Dumbledore,"
—
Harry woke to the sound of a cacophony coming from the rookery. He stumbled out in search of the source and found Kara in the messenger room trying to soothe an irate Hedwig and Pigwidgeon. It took Harry joining the effort to get Hedwig settled, and a well placed summoning charm to get a hold of pig so he could stuff him into his cage. There were a number of messenger owls all waiting relatively calmly with messages. Harry paused, mildly out of breath from battling his own owl to talk to Kara while they pulled and payed for messages. "So, how's it cookin' Kara?" He asked smiling ruefully.
"It's a comin', I'm managing and we're making progress with the mission so I'm happy," She said pulling the last letter. "Could do to get out of the house for something other than life an' death business, you know?" She teased.
Harry chuckled as he packed the Daily Prophet under his arm, and opened the first letter addressed to him. He scanned it and sighed. "Bone's wants to talk with me, something must have come unstuck somewhere…" He noted and opened the next letter few letters which all appeared to be along the same lines. "Three letters from news agencies requesting interviews…It says something sad about the media that I'm more tempted to take up the Quibbler on that request, than to take up the serious agencies." He chuckled.
"Why?" Kara asked curious.
"The Quibbler's edited by the father of someone I knew last time round, lots of fun, you'd like her." He noted. "Maybe I should look into it?" He said speculatively then shook that off and picked up the next and last letter for him. A gilded envelope addressed to Lord Potter. Curiosity got the better of him despite his distrust of gilded things. His eyebrows climbed ever higher as he considered the letters contents, then barked a laugh. "Huh! I'm officially being approached by another Noble House to open negotiations." He explained to Kara.
She blinked surprise. "Really, what about?"
"It implies it's mostly about opening lines of communication, and maybe forging alliances. House Greengrass of all people," He noted a little shocked. He knew of Daphne Greengrass, but had never spoken with her. "What do you think?"
She thought about that, "Ask for opinions from Hermione I'd say, but on the face of it? I'd go for it. You need allies right? You want people you can call on when you need them." She noted.
"True enough, I'll talk with Hermione see what she knows, maybe Sirius?" he speculated as they passed out into the hall. Harry grabbing lone letter addressed to Hermione.
Hermione was at the table in the kitchen quietly munching on some cereal, morosely thinking about how badly the summer holidays messed up her sleep schedule. She always took weeks to adjust after the summer vacation. These thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Harry and Kara from upstairs. Harry dropped a letter in front of her and plunked down beside her at the head of the table before he started reading through the Daily Prophet.
She dutifully tore open her letter and read it over, it was her parents asking if she needed them to send anything additional. She was contemplating what to send back when her eyes landed on Harry, she could ask for advice couldn't she? They knew this stuff better than she, they had too so they could watch for abused children in their jobs…
Harry tossed down the Daily Prophet looking disgruntled. "What? They get it all wrong as usual?" She asked wryly.
He shook his head. "No, they actually did really well for the most part, almost spot on for a change, its just this part here. Its got Madam Bones wanting to talk with me, apparently Rita warped what I said so I nominated Bones for Minister for Magic." He said tiredly.
She winced. "Ah, is that what all the other letters are about too?" She asked.
"Sort of, news agencies." He said sliding the pile across to her. She started leafing through it.
She laughed when she came to the Quibbler. "Ha, well you know this one can go in the bin." She said smirking a little.
Harry laughed dryly. "Can you honestly say the other two are that much better?
She had to stop and think about that, "You know thats really sad that I can't" She noted.
Harry remembered something and smiled. "You know the Quibbler is actually edited by the father of one of the kids in Ravenclaw?" He noted piquing Hermione's curiosity.
"Oh, who's that?" She asked curious.
"Luna Lovegood," He reported.
"Ah, that explains a lot," Hermione said grimacing slightly.
"Some of it yeah," Harry agreed. "But she definitely catches more trouble than is fair considering what I've heard about her." He said, thinking sadly of the things that he knew happened to Luna. He caught Hermione's quizzical look. "For example, why do you think she dresses so oddly? Some of it is that she has a bit of a different sense of style yeah, but part of it is because the other Ravenclaws take her stuff and hide it around the castle."
Hermione frowned shaking her head. "That's not right, why hasn't anyone done anything about it?" She asked.
Harry shrugged, "Don't know, you'd think Dumbledore would know about it, but maybe he doesn't for some reason, also Ravenclaw is the house of the clever," He noted. He saw her nodding ruefully. "We could always do something about it," He pointed out, baiting the hook a touch.
She nodded thoughtfully. "What are you suggesting?"
"Befriend her, keep an eye open for trouble, let it be known messing with her, means messing with us?" He suggested.
"That could work, but it's not like we could back up such claims, it's not like either of us are Prefects, and we can't go getting into fights…" She argued.
Harry snorted drawing her eyes. "Honestly Hermione, do you see any of the other fifth year girls beating you out for the Prefect position?" He said smiling, "And you can browbeat the ginger tosser into backing you up," he argued.
Hermione frowned at his continued hostility to Ron, "Harry surely you don't think Ron will get the position over you, you're clearly the best choice among the fifth year boys," She noted.
Harry made a rude noise, "Hermione what in Dumbledore's behaviour lately, makes you think he'd allow me to take that position, he's got it into his head that I'm too…something to be trusted with tasks. No, he'll insist it go to the next candidate, which sad as it is, is the ginger ass crab." He said nodding appreciatively to Kara, who had supplied that moniker for him in the afterlife. Kara herself nodded smiling slightly.
"Fine, lets assume that either one of us gets into the Prefecture, we'll watch out for Luna, I don't like the sounds of that," She said in exasperated agreement.
"Sounds like a plan to me, besides I've heard other rumours which have me even more worried than that one, so I'd have been doing something about it anyways, at least this way we can attack the problem within the rules." Harry noted, satisfied.
"What else have you heard?" She asked worried, what he'd said was bad enough.
Harry thought about that, "There are rumours of Luna being forced out of Ravenclaw Tower in the buff…" He murmured darkly, and Hermione's eyes widened. "Exactly, I want to investigate that, see if we can't figure out what's causing it. If its just an innocent oddity of Luna's I guess we look the other way, but if it's something else?" He let her fill in the blanks.
"Then we will handle it," She said determined, then sighed looking at the letter in her hands. "I'd better write a reply to this, would you mind if I borrow Hedwig?" She asked.
"Not at all, just be sure to owl treat her before sending her on her way, she gets grumpy when she goes without." He noted wryly, a thought occurred to him as she got up. "Hang on a sec," He said looking to the two girls. "You two up for some practice today, we have the right to use magic following the trial…Kara could use some help getting up to speed still," He noted.
Hermione smiled enthusiastically she'd honestly forgotten about that positive backlash they'd gotten following the trial. "I'd be happy to help with that," then frowned a touch. "But why me? It's not like you don't have a ton of the most competent adults in Wizarding Britain hanging around constantly, you could get Lupin or Sirius or even Professor Mcgonagall to help out…" She noted uncertainly, that nagging little voice int he back of her head telling her he had people who were more useful around to help him.
He gave her a confused look, "Because you're my friend and I like working with you?" He said as though the answer should be obvious.
She pinked at the sincerity in his voice, "Oh—well like I said, I'd be happy to help," She said smiling slightly, looking down for a moment, before glancing about a touch nervously. She spotted the clock and noted how empty the kitchen was. That had been unusual a couple days ago. "You know it's strange the Weasleys haven't returned yet," She noted absently.
Harry shrugged picking up the dishes and carrying them to the sink, before starting to work on them scrubbing them by hand in the sink beneath a stream of water. "I miss having the Twins and Ginny around," He agreed.
She frowned. "Harry, what happened with Ron? I don't understand, he can be difficult and rude and… Well you know? Harry will you please tell me what happened, maybe I can help smooth things out or…I don't know, prove what you suspect he did or something." She said a tad exasperated. Harry and Ron could fight over the oddest things but Harry generally wasn't the one holding a grudge.
He was silent for a minute, and his eyes flicked to Kara who shrugged. Hermione wondered about that. Does that mean she knows? She asked herself suspiciously. Harry nodded and turned his eyes on Hermione, "I'll tell you, just not here, too much risk of being over heard. Meet me outside my room once you're done with you letter." He said decisively, bobbing
his head, then returned to aggressively scrubbing the bowl, avoiding her gaze.
—
Hermione rushed to get her letter written and sent. It detailed her "observed" symptoms in a hypothetical patient, and how she'd diagnosed it. She was looking to get her parents to confirm or at least concur with her preliminary diagnosis. She also asked "purely out of curiosity" how to get someone who was being abused in such ways to admit it or reveal the evidence of it.
Close to ten minutes later she had the letter flying its way to her parents house on the other side of the city. She hurried out of the girl's bedroom to find Kara observing Harry as he carefully cast spells at the door and walls of his bedroom. He was muttering and mumbling absently under his breath, tapping his wand against the wall or the doorframe several times, before standing. "There, that should keep out unwanted ears. Magical or otherwise," He noted with satisfaction.
"What did you use?" Kara asked, for once beating Hermione to a question.
"Immotus, Protego, Silencio, Muffliato and a couple others," He said absently gesturing them through the door. Hermione and Kara hurried into the cramped quarters which served as Harry's room. There was a notably empty bed on the other side of the room where Ron usually slept. Harry turned and started casting again, muttering under his breath, his eyes slightly vacant. Fulmen Velarium He hissed and there was a hiss and the smell of ozone in the air before he closed the door.
"Harry, I've never even heard of some of those…" Hermione protested. "You haven't been taking spell advice from the twins have you?" She asked worried.
Harry rolled his eyes, good natured. "No, I haven't," He chuckled.
"What do they do?" She asked. "Can you show them to me?" was the eager follow up.
"Absolutely. I'll even do that today after we've finished talking. As for what I used. Well you know about protego, it's a basic shield right? Immotus is an imperturbability charm. Silencio stops whatever is causing the noise from making it. In this case I cast it on the walls making it so they won't vibrate so much letting people hear our voices. Muffliato? Creates a buzzing tuned to block out your voice from a persons ears." He noted in order. "Fulmen Velarium? Fully charged creates a lightning effect that can kill a person, on the setting I've got it at it'll just knock 'em off their feet if I don't want them going through that door…Now then where were we?" He asked as he sat himself tiredly on the edge of the bed. "Right, what's Ron up to. You sure you want to know this, I can probably figure out a way to handle it…" He noted. "Sometimes ignorance is bliss." He noted.
Hermione snorted her derision at that concept. "The defence of those too weak to handle things that hurt." She argued.
Harry put up placating hands, "All right, don't say I didn't warn you…Ron is potioning us," He said simply.
Hermione looked at him dumbfounded for a moment. "What do you mean? What potions?" She asked startled. Whatever she'd been expecting, it hadn't been that.
"He has been slipping us Amortentia and Loyalty curatives in the food and drinks he provides. You notice how much time he spends hang around our food?'" He explained then continued when she looked doubtful. "Here's a question, what does Molly's cooking smell like to you?" He asked.
"Well it's different depending on the meal isn't it?" Hermione noted.
"What smell does all of her cooking have in common for you?" He said redirecting.
"Uh, like the burrow I suppose, but she cooks it there a lot of the time…" She argued.
"Mown grass, fresh parchment, spearmint, and a musky smell?" Harry asked her curiously.
She agreed. "Yes, exactly, it is odd that she uses spearmint so much in her food I'll admit." She conceded, a tad irrelevantly.
"Hermione she doesn't put spearmint in her food, I've never smelt or tasted it even once in the wizarding world except when I'm around you right after you brush your teeth. I smell
broom handle, treacle tart, and a flowery smell I recognize from the burrow…" He explained leading her along. But she either didn't or couldn't see it, so he said it plainly. "Hermione, amortentia smells like the things a person loves and the person it's keyed to. You love the smell of fresh cut grass, you love the smell of fresh parchment, you love the smell of your parents dental practice because you associate it with them. That musky smell, I guarantee it's the smell you associate with Ron. Me? I love Treacle tart as far as food goes, I love the smell of a new broom, and that flowery smell? I only smell it on Ginny." He said sadly as understanding dawned in her eyes.
"They're potioning us into loving them?" She asked aghast.
"Yes, though amortentia doesn't create real love, that's stated clearly in every text I've read on it in the last while. It creates the illusion of love, and a feeling of obsession. Hermione do you remember what Molly said about how she caught Arthur's eye?" He asked cautiously.
She did, a passing comment, a joke almost last year. She'd potioned him, and he'd stuck around afterwards. "I think I'm going to be sick." She mumbled.
"Yeah, I can sympathize with that, I like Ginny just fine as a person, but she's not…you know, the one?" He offered. "And you and Ron fight like cats and dogs, but you always come back round to him don't you?" He asked. "Think about it, Molly, who I guarantee is involved in this, needs someone to do the deed when she's not there herself. It could be argued that Ginny might manage it but she's not close enough to us to modify our food on a regular basis…The twins? They would never go along with a plan like that. Ron on the other hand?" He offered.
She nodded numbly. "Isn't so big on loyalty…I'm going to kill that rat…" She said with rising heat.
"Can't be doing that though, as much as we might want to, if we're going to punish him and Molly in any meaningful way, it has to be by the book," He pointed out without a ton of conviction.
"…Of course, Ron is terrible at potions, the Twins could do it of course, but…" She trailed off.
"Yeah like I said, they don't have the disposition for it. Molly on the other hand has already has done it once, doing it again? Wouldn't be a problem." He pointed out darkly.
She was silent, a couple tears gathering in her eyes at the realization that one of her few friends wasn't really a friend at all. She collapsed, onto the bed limply. "Why would they do this to us?" She asked dully. Yet another friend who wasn't really a friend, she thought, a familiar betrayal, just a little more spectacular than those she'd experienced before coming to Hogwarts.
Harry sighed sympathetically, and pulled her into a one armed hug, rubbing her shoulder. "It's me, I'm not positive, but I think they're hoping to latch onto my family's prestige and wealth. Molly's little plan with Arthur didn't work out so well, got to try again right? Get Ron in close to administer the doses and she's halfway there." Harry noted.
"But why would they potion me? I'm not…" She couldn't think of what to say next.
Harry held her a little tighter, "Hermione, you're my best friend, you always have been and you're female, Molly, who I indeed believe to be the planner behind this, would see you as an obstacle between Ginny and me, she had to get you out of the way…" He trailed off not wanting to say the next part, but she noticed it.
"What Harry, you're holding something back, what?" She demanded tightly.
Harry sighed, this was proof that sometime it was better to be ignorant than know all the facts, but it was too late to hold back now. "And she needed a way to reward Ron for his efforts."
She blinked. "Reward? Like, I'm…Like I'm just a…" She couldn't finish.
Harry shrugged, but not like he didn't care. "Possibly, but it's more likely that it was as plain to them as it is to everyone else…You're going places Hermione, you're going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future, and if Ron wants a woman who will carry him to glory?" He let her see what he meant.
She laughed bitterly tears welling in her eyes. "So either way they see me as a free ride, of one kind or another?" She spat. "A baby making sex toy, or a free ticket to a life of luxury?" Shaking with fury, and grief, and pain.
Harry just held her, wrapping both arms around her for a time and rubbing her back. Kara was standing looking lost on the side, unsure how to help her friends. Harry finally noticed her and gestured her over and wrapped his left arm around her and letting her wrap her right around him. Right about now, being held was the best help for any of them.
Eventually Hermione stopped weeping, the sting dulling slightly in depression. "So what do you need me to do Harry," She asked, wanting to at least be useful. People didn't abandon her if she was useful, right?
"Nothing, I can handle this, like I said. You only need to be my friend." He said soothingly. She looked to him surprised by that declaration.
She hugged him in thanks. "Thanks Harry, that means a lot right now," She said roughly.
"Now, how can I make you feel a little better?" He asked glancing into her face and smiling briefly.
She sighed and thought, about that, "Tell me about those spells, it'll help me take my mind off all this." She still unhappy.
Harry nodded and chuckled slightly, then began reciting. "Silencio, is basically a spell that…"
—
The lesson in Silencio went remarkably well, Kara was, despite being inexperienced, very methodical in her learning style, she mimicked demonstrated wand motions close to perfectly and could catch the nuances of pronunciation pretty well. Hermione, who had the advantage of experience mastered the spell quicker, but not by much. They practiced on an alarm clock they kept in the room. Whenever the girls misfired, causing it to belt out at an agonizingly piercing rate Harry would silence it.
It was as they both succeeded in casting it effectively five times in a row, that Harry had a thought, it had been percolating since reading the letter an hour or so earlier. He turned to Hermione, who was putting back the clock where it belonged, after making sure it wasn't going to ring again. "Hermione what do you know about Daphne Greengrass?" He asked curious.
She looked surprised by the question, then gave a wry smile. "Why Harry you have your eye on another girl? And a Slytherin no less?" She asked teasing a touch weakly.
He gave a start as he realized what she thought he was after. "Oh. No, nothing like that actually," He said mildly thrown.
Hermione smiled thinly at his vexed expression. "Well like I was saying she's a Slytherin, where she's known as the Ice Queen." She noted dryly. "Has a sister by the name of Astoria, Pureblood, but I haven't heard her go spouting off against half-bloods or muggle-borns—and before you ask, no, nothing I've heard has ever connected her or her family with the Death Eaters, they were neutral in the last war from what I know," She thought on. "Political, attends or heads up most of the politics study groups."
Harry vaguely remembered she was a member of the Inquisitorial squad last time round, that'd make sense if she was a political type, it would fit with an attempt at a house alliance…
Hermione continued unaware of the monologue in his head. "Down right nasty when provoked. Got detention for a week when she beat down Nott for coming on too hard. He had to go to Saint Mungo's for treatment, heard that through the gossip brigade." She noted nodding in satisfaction. Girls had to stand up for themselves in a male dominated Wizarding world, especially against pigs like Nott. She shrugged, "Is known to be on speaking terms with Malfoy and Parkinson, but not necessarily friends with them. In fact she's only known to have one friend aside from her sister, Tracy Davis a half-blood Slytherin who she goes everywhere with, there's speculation that they might be—you know? Together.." Harry nodded thoughtfully, then looked to her and nodded for her to continue. She sighed at the next part. "About as well proportioned as Fleur, 86-63-89 cm, six foot, and already has 32B's." She said hint of jealousy in her tone. Harry blinked surprised.
"Uh, thats a very detail description." He noted. "I didn't really need to know her cup size, but thanks I guess?" He ventured uncertainly.
She rolled her eyes. Harry was so…awkward, around girls. "Harry I'm roommates with the two worst gossips in our year if not the whole school. I also make meticulous records in my head…Why are you asking about her?" She asked shrewdly.
Harry pulled a letter from his pile and handed it to her. She looked it over and read it. Her eyes widening in mild surprise. "What do you think?" He asked as she refolded the letter.
"I don't know Harry…" Hermione murmured uncertainly. "I—I think you should at least go to the meeting, see what they want and what they think about you?" She suggested. Politics and alliances weren't her usual purview.
Harry sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. "What do you think Kara?"
She shrugged. "Like I said, you need friends, you need allies, if they play nice, I see no harm in giving them a chance. If they screw it up, dump 'em and get yourself different ones." She said thoughtfully.
"Okay, but how am I going to meet with them? Dumbledore's not going to want me out of the house." He noted irritably.
"Perhaps he'd allow it were it to be somewhere out in the open under guard?" Hermione speculated.
"Okay, let's suppose we can swing it, when and where?" He asked aloud, spitballing.
"Well Gringotts is the obvious choice, owned by a neutral party, a highly secure facility used to keeping meetings a secret." Hermione pointed out. "As for when? As soon as possible, so as not to let them feel slighted."
Harry nodded thoughtfully. "And I'm on good terms with the director and Griphook. Shouldn't be a problem to set up." He agreed liking Hermione's idea. He nodded thoughtfully, "Thats the plan then, lets see if we can't get the adults to cooperate."
Author's Note: Read, Review, Rate, Comment, and send me predictions and stuff.