Harry Potter and The Shades of Grey

by Ravenwood240

Harry has lost his strongest supporter and has to chart his own course. Someone is going to make him an offer he can't refuse, even if it feels like dealing with the devil. STATUS Change: This story will be finished as written... The other SoG will be renamed and changed.

13. Blood and Death

It is the first of August and Harry will have a decent week, at first. We are entering the endgame of this story. After this chapter, there will be just three more chapters and an the Epilogue. (Which hopefully, I can do a better job on than some I have read.)

Violence Warning: This chapter will have death, violence and blood as Voldemort's plans start coming together. These fights have been planned for sometime and unlike some other authors, nobody that dies in this chapter will die for no reason. They will die however. At least one will be a major character.

Disclaimer: I am neither British nor a mother, nor do I have money flowing like water. On the bright side, since I didn't create Harry Potter, Voldemort or the Wizard World, I can walk down a street and not be mugged by fans, nor do I have to have guards to insure my family is not kidnapped. Nor do I have the shame of having to say I wrote the epilogue at the end of book seven. All in all, I like my life and JKR can keep the fame and money. I get nothing from this but the enjoyment of writing, a reward worth more to me than any amount of money.

Harry Potter and the Shades of Grey

Chapter Thirteen

Blood and Death

OoOoOoO Harry and Blaise, Potter Manor, 01AUG1997. OoOoOoO

Harry stared at the gates that guarded Potter manor. Tonight, for the first time, he would sleep in a place that was his. Not a place that belonged to one of his families, but his. He smiled at the thought. Blaise and Daphne waited patiently nearby. They had the job of keeping Harry busy until two, when Hermione, Pansy and Ginny would be finished with the Dursleys. They regretted missing the vengeance party, but they had drawn the short straws.

He turned, looking out over the valley. The Potter ancestral home stood at the crest of a small hill and looked out over a lush valley. At the far end of the valley stood Godric's Hollow and the home that James and Lily had used in preference to the manor.

According to the Potter Histories, the manor had been built when the Potters had more than a hundred family members and it had been capable of holding them all for celebrations and important meetings. It had an entire floor of bedrooms and six other floors, built in a time when labour was cheap and bigger was better. Having magic to help built and maintain the manor had helped as well. The entire thing was over twenty thousand square metres which was far too large for anyone that didn't have Weasley style families, so James and Lily had closed it up and lived in the smaller home at the other end of Godric's Hollow.

He turned his back on Godric's Hollow and the house he would have to deal with one day. It was still there, according to the paperwork that had come with the inheritance and still the same as the day Voldemort had attacked. That would have to be changed.

That was for another day, though. He was here to open the Potter home again. He walked up to the gate and laid his hand, the one with the Potter signet on it, on the gate, directly over the Potter seal. "I am Harry James Potter, the Head of this House, and I command you to open."

The papers that had described how he could find the manor had explained how to open the house and property and Harry waited. After a second, the seal began to glow, a glow answered by the signet ring on his hand. They glowed for a few seconds and then stopped.

The massive gates swung open and Harry had his first view of the manor. It had been built in the mid sixteen hundreds and looked it. It was a massive castle complete with a moat and drawbridge. The castle looked as if it had been abandoned for years, with wild growths where the gardens used to be and a thick layer of green things growing on the water flowing sluggishly in the moat. Harry knew from the histories that it had been attacked twice and besieged once, but had never fallen yet. He started towards the house and stopped again as more than a dozen house elves popped up and stood before him. Most of them looked younger. The one in front, though, was wrinkled and bent with age.

He stepped forward. "I brings the new elfs, Master Potter. These is the ones not spoken for, that know not a bonding. If the Master would just accept them, we will be away."

Harry looked at the old elf. He held up his hand. "Dobby," he called. Dobby appeared a second later. "Dobby, inform these elves of the rules under which I bond an elf." He turned to look at the old elf. Harry had been expecting this, as the Potter histories had mentioned the house elves of the family. "What is your name?"

"I is Boody, Master Potter. Is you changing the rules of the elfs?" The old elf looked disturbed.

Harry knelt before him, looking at him eye to eye. "I am. It may be new, Boody, but Dobby and Winky, who are bound to me under those rules will explain everything, and I have much for any elf to do."

The old elf sighed. "Always the Potter Masters change things. Boody wishes the Masters would make up their minds."

Dobby looked at the old elf. "Harry Potter Sir has good rules. He is not fond of the Master word though. I cannot convince him that it is the only proper form of address for the Potter Sir."

Dobby and the old elf stared at each other for a few seconds and the old elf nodded. "I will instruct the new elfs, and bring them back when it is done. Then I will tell the others."

The elves disappeared and Dobby looked at Harry. "The ladies are doing well, but Dobby will get back. Many people are are at their little party. Winky cannot do it all herself."

Harry looked at him. "Dobby, there is nothing going on there that I should know about, is there?"

Dobby looked at Harry. "Harry Potter Sir, Dobby would tell you about anything that was not right. Dobby thinks that everything that is happening is right and proper." Dobby disappeared.

Harry looked at Blaise and Daphne who were looking at each other. "Is it just me, or did that sound like a Pansy answer?"

Blaise grinned. "If you mean did Dobby say everything you want to hear while telling you absolutely nothing, yes. I'd say he's been taking lessons in Slytherin from someone."

Harry sighed as he thought about it for a second. "Remind me to talk to Pansy and Ginny about corrupting my elves later."

Blaise looked up. "Ginny? I thought she was a Gryffindor, though and though."

Daphne looked at him as if he was insane. "Blaise dear, I love you but if you think that girl's a Gryffindor, you're not paying attention. I think the only reason she got into Gryffindor was the Weasley legacy."

Harry started toward the house and as soon as they passed the gates, the house and the grounds shimmered and changed. The house was much the same but cleaner, with glass in all the window and neatly cultured gardens surrounding the house. The great wall around the house was open and Blaise stared at the house. "Nice place, Harry. Is that a Quidditch goal I see in back?"

Harry nodded. "Yes. My great grandfather had a replica of the Hogwarts Pitch built in 1954, when his son came back from his second year with a place on the Gryffindor Quidditch team."

Harry sighed, feeling the house calling to him. "Let's go. I think I have to key the wards before I can allow anyone else to find the place." he was looking around as he walked, seeing the things described in the Potter histories.

There was the burned ground, where nothing would grow, where Archibald Potter had killed the Dark Lord Drakenoir in 1459. This manor hadn't been here then, but the Potters had lived on this land since 1149, when Fredrick Potter had been granted the Barony of Godric's Hollow. The walls around the keep were the only part of the grounds that had been here the entire time the Potters had lived and died here.

There, the small knoll where more than twenty generations of Potters had been hand fasted and married.

He looked up as the wall came closer, looking for the burned scrapings where the dragon controlled by Drakenoir had died after Eleanor Potter had killed it, casting a spell that took her life as it killed the mainstay of Drakenoir's army, allowing her husband to get close enough to fight and kill Drakenoir

Harry stopped just short of the drawbridge, suddenly understand why the Purebloods fought so hard to keep what they saw as their rights and privileges.

For a thousand years or more, those families had been the only thing between the common people of these lands and the dangers of the rest of the world. They gloried in their family, because those people had done things that should be remembered.

Yet, Harry, brought up as a Muggle, could see the point of people trying to look forward to the future. Those times were past and while the people who did those things should be remembered, that did not mean that the people of today had to kowtow to the descendants of those people.

Harry sighed as the moment of insight passed. Standing on the land of thirty-nine generations of Potters was opening his mind to things Blaise and Pansy had been trying to tell him for some time now.

He stepped up on the drawbridge and walked across it, followed by Blaise and Daphne. As he entered the gardens Harry was surprised to see a dozen ghosts waiting for him. He stopped, studying them.

One of the ghosts came forward. "You bear the Potter crest. Will you then be opening the fortress, Baron Potter?"

"I will. I will be living here."

The ghosts murmured for a minute and the one in front smiled. "It has been long since last these halls heard the sounds of laughter and children, Baron Potter. It will be good to remember those things."

Harry sighed. "It would indeed, but that time has not come yet. The Dark Lord that drove my parents into hiding is still after me and this will be a place of war for awhile longer. Soon, I hope to end this war once and for all."

Harry could feel the emotions of the ghosts, dim and faint, not like he could feel the emotions of the living, but he could tell they wanted the formality. "I would open the wards to my allies. Would you be kind enough to direct me to the centre of the house, so that I can do so."

The ghost in the lead nodded. "Of course, Baron Potter. This way."

Harry and his friends followed the ghost to a room with no windows. "But lay your hands on that crystal, Baron Potter and the wards will read what you want. Be warned. Should you have faked or stolen the Potter signet, the crystal will not be forgiving."

Harry nodded and stepped up to the small stone pedestal that was the room's only decoration. On top of it was a gleaming white crystal, half the size of a Quaffle with hundreds of facets glowing and shimmering in the light. He took a deep breath and placed both hands on the stone.

OoOoOoO The Horcrux team, Windenmere Compound, 01AUG1997. OoOoOoO

"That's it, then. You're sure we can destroy the bits of soul." Mrs. Warrington said.

"Yes. We're trying to refine the technique now so that we can save the heirlooms that idiot used. What was his problem, abusing bits of history like this?" Mrs. Warrington shook her head.

"Who can say? I can assume that a man who has no real history to be proud of, who was raised in an orphanage, might want to have a connection to history in whatever way he could arrange." She sighed. "It would only be conjecture, however."

Jonathan Montague shook his head. "Well, we've run all the tests we can do right now. Slytherin's locket seems to have the best possibility of coming out of the attempt undamaged, so as soon as Miss Granger and the Curse breakers tell us to go ahead, we'll try it. Is there anything to work on until then?"

Mrs. Warrington nodded. "Mr. Potter has given us a number of things to be evaluated and destroyed from the Black estate. Be very careful with them, Miss Black has already had a few problems with them and she says that whatever you do, do not open the book she has tied shut. Apparently, when Miss Black opened it, it cast a rotting curse she survived only because her Defender was there. None of us have a Defender."

Jonathan sighed. "Does he even realize the power he is throwing away? You don't have to use these things, even. Merely owning many of them would allow you to power a great many wards around your house or property."

"I know that, but Voldemort has warped Mr. Potter's perception of these things, and it will take him a long time to understand that Dark and evil are two different things."

"So we're going to destroy hundreds of years of history, because he doesn't understand?"

Mrs. Warrington shrugged and then smiled thinly. "I didn't say that. That is Mr. Potter's desire right now. We will evaluate them, when we have time and destroy those that don't mean anything. The important ones, those will take a lot of work and we have more important things to do right now, don't we?"

Jonathan thought about it. "Of course we do. The Horcrux experiments, tests, and working out the location of the ones we don't have are the priority."

Mrs. Warrington nodded. "By the time we get to the important things he is asking us about, maybe he will have a different viewpoint."

Jonathan nodded. "I'll get right on it."

"Mr. Montague, I would suggest destroying that book, though. Mr. Potter would not be happy to find out that we had kept something that nearly killed Miss Black."

Jonathan looked at her. "Miss Granger prefers to be called Miss Granger, why do you insist on calling her Miss Black?"

"She will be the Lady Montrose soon enough. She has to understand that in this world she is stepping into, her title is important. She, like Harry may think the person is important, but that is not so in high society, and we all know that. Both of them will have to learn it."

Jonathan nodded. "Do they really think anyone cares which person wears the title of Lord or Lady Whoever? It's the title that matters to the masses, not the person. It's an image, a perception, not the reality."

"I know that, you know that, now we have to teach the two of them that."

OoOoOoO Auror Shacklebolt, The Ministry, 01AUG1997. OoOoOoO

Kingsley looked at the masses of data he had gotten handed this morning. He had been given the official position of Auror Liaison to the Commander of the Magical Forces and between the research he'd already been doing and the things he was supposed to be briefing Harry on, there were maybe fifty files on his desk with the red tab that meant 'urgent' and dozens more with lesser tabs on them.

He dug out the files he'd been looking into the last two days. The vampires were being extraordinarily careless about dead bodies, allowing them to be found every night. That had to be deliberate.

Another oddity, Muggleborns were disappearing, one or two a day, something that might not have been noticed, had Hermione's network not lost a couple of theirs and gone looking for them.

Last, and most troubling, the werewolves had been very quiet, and now, two days before the full moon, most of them were disappearing from their regular lairs. He frowned at the pattern and waved his wand at the map on the wall. Almost all of the werewolves that were suspected of working for Voldemort or Greyback had disappeared, except the ones around (Get map of Britain, find town of 2-300 population, fairly isolated and near mountains or woods.) He thought about it and came up with an idea that was chilling, but that wouldn't go away.

He really needed to talk to Potter.

OoOoOoO Harry, Potter manor, 01AUG1997. OoOoOoO

Harry touched the crystal and it flared up in a rainbow of colours that crawled up Harry's arms and covered him in a writhing mass of light.

Harry never saw that though, being completely taken up in the strange experience of having an alien presence in his mind. This wasn't like Snape, or Voldemort, both of whom were somewhat human.

This was more than the Sorting hat, and less in a way. It was a spell, designed to do just one thing: examine whoever touched it and compare that person to a set of standards stored in the crystal.

When the crystal had finished with Harry it began to plant a series of questions in his head. As soon as Harry thought about the answer to that question, another question would appear. Blaise would tell him later that he touched the crystal and stood there for about three minutes, but it seemed to take far longer to Harry.

The crystal finally let Harry go and he stepped back shaking his head. "I'm glad the Sorting Hat wasn't like that," he said. "It would scare the hell out of the first years."

Blaise grinned. "I've heard that the old family wards have rather extreme ways to defend the ancestral homes, but this is the first time I've ever seen it. Not fun, I take it?"

Harry took one last look at the crystal and started out of the room. "Better than having someone trying to kill you, not as much fun as snogging."

Blaise and Daphne were holding hands as they followed Harry. "Harry," Daphne said, "That covers a rather wide range of things, some of which are quite fun."

"It's not fun, Daphne, but I can't explain it any better than that. It's as if the crystal has some sort of spell in my head that prevents accurate descriptions of what it does."

Blaise frowned. "It did do what you wanted with the wards though, didn't it?"

Harry nodded. "The Floo is open, one room can be Apparated into, and no one but me can Apparate away from here." He thought for a minute, remembering the other things he'd had the ward do. "Anyone with a Dark Mark trying to enter the wards is not going to be happy."

Harry counted backward from ten as he waited. As he said three in his head, Blaise asked, "what do you mean by that?"

"Anyone using magical means to enter the property with a Dark magic mark of any kind will be deposited in the dungeons. Anyone trying to use non-magical means to enter the grounds will be led around to the far side and shown the stairs." He grinned at their blank looks. "There's a cliff at the back of the property. The stairs are one way and end halfway up the cliff. Reginald Potter built it three hundred years ago, during the time of the Dark Lord Orion Black. Once you're on the stairs, you have to finish walking them."

Blaise thought about that for a minute. "So, they walk off a stair that is how high off the ground?"

"Less than one hundred metres. It is the rather annoying place you end up that is the problem. The last step is a Portkey to the middle of the Atlantic ocean. A very powerful Wizard might be able to reach land from there, if he knew where he was. Without knowing where he is, it's doubtful anyone could escape."

Daphne raised an eyebrow. "That's a very Slytherin trick, Harry. I thought you Gryffindors were more direct than that."

"Reginald Potter married Alyssa Goyle, who inspired him to build it. As you might guess by the name, she was a Slytherin." Harry grinned at their looks. "I have been studying, since everyone seems to think I should know all of these things."

Blaise shook his head. "Harry, to be perfectly honest, if someone had told me a year ago that we would be working together and you would be able to name any of your family past your parents, I would have called them barking mad."

Harry sighed. "I don't understand what Professor Dumbledore was up to, but Hermione and Pansy have finally convinced me that he had some plan for me that didn't include me knowing about my heritage. Since we don't know what it was, there's nothing we can do about it now, but it does mean I have a lot to learn."

Daphne smiled impishly. "So, Lord Baron Potter Black Montrose, when are you throwing your party?"

Harry looked blank. "What party?"

Blaise and Daphne grinned at him. "Harry, you have heard of Débutante balls, correct?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, but they were for girls entering the marriage market and died out nearly thirty years ago, I thought."

Blaise sighed. "And how far behind the Muggles is the Wizard world? This is much the same thing, only it's your formal introduction into the political world. It also shows that you have the capability to host a proper event, which will enhance your social standing."

"Political glad-handing. Oh yay." Blaise and Daphne laughed at Harry's expression until he looked at them. "Blaise, it occurs to me that you two have been very busy setting up my house and I haven't asked you two to do much. I think it's time to ask you to do something."

"Sorry, Harry, but neither of us know enough about your situation to put on a proper event. You'll have to ask Pansy or Ginny, maybe. While the Weasleys don't have the standing or the position to have to have one of these parties, Mrs. Weasley was a Prewitts and knows all about them. She might be able to play the hostess."

Harry frowned, thinking about something. "How many of these parties will I have to host? One for each family name, or can I have one event for me?"

Blaise shrugged. "I never actually looked into the nuances of it, Harry. I just learned what I needed to know as Zabini." A shadow crossed his face. "Not that I need that information any more."

Harry sighed. He didn't really have anything to say, since he still thought the death of Blaise's father and the end of the Zabini name was his fault. If he hadn't offered to protect Blaise, his father wouldn't have been tortured and killed.

Harry stopped suddenly, staring at nothing. "Blaise, how old is your family name?"

Blaise looked at Harry oddly and then realized he meant the Zabini name. "Not old at all, less than a hundred and thirty years, actually, why?"

Harry looked at him with a smile. "Is there anything in your family rules that says the House cannot pass to a woman?"

Blaise blinked and then nodded slowly. "Almost all the families have something like that. It's traditional."

Harry thought some more. "Pansy's father has changed those rules in his family, since his only child is a girl and a few more of the Windenmere group have those rules also. Pansy's second born child will bear the Parkinson name and be the next Parkinson. Didn't your father make those same changes?"

Blaise sighed. "No, because he had a son."

Harry sighed. "However, your father was also a smart man, who might have made those changes, after he had to disinherit you. And, even if he didn't, who can say otherwise, if we tell the world he did?"

Blaise blinked. "Harry, that's..."

"A family matter," Harry interrupted him, "between the Zabinis and no one else." He smiled at Blaise. "I think we could get your fiancée's family to help out, if you could convince them that your family was worth saving."

Daphne smiled. "I think Daddy would be overjoyed to have another family join us."

Blaise thought about it. "It might work, but we're going to have to work fast. The paperwork is going to have to be perfect as well."

Harry nodded. "You two had better get started, then. I'll let the girls finish what they are doing and then we're going to have to get together. Daphne, after you get this started, will you have the Parkinson's send some owls? I want everyone to gather. It's been a hectic summer and I need to bring everyone up to date on everything that we're doing. While I'm at Hogwarts, I can't always be here for every decision and I know first hand that keeping too many secrets from my allies can be bad. We'll have a planning session."

The other two nodded. "Harry, thank you." Harry and Blaise looked at each other. Harry tried to say something but Blaise shook his head. "We've got work to do. We've said everything that needs to be said here."

Daphne just sighed. Men were so squeamish about feelings. "We do need to know one more thing, Blaise."

Harry and Blaise looked at her. Daphne smirked at their matching looks of confusion. "Harry, where's the Floo?"

OoOoOoO Nicholas Sharpstar, The Wizengamot, 01AUG1997. OoOoOoO

"And that is the final request put forward under the new law. I feel certain, however, that as word of the events of the last two days become public knowledge, there will be more claims coming forward." Nicholas looked around the room. Most of the Wizengamot looked tired, including their newest member, Lady Sally Ann Slytherin.

Normally, the Slytherin should have been hyphenated, but Sally Ann had not been normal yet. She was a breath of fresh air, without yet offending anyone. Yet. Nicholas smiled to himself. When the Purebloods realized what a winsome smile and a few fluttered eyelashes were doing to the Wizengamot votes, they would be annoyed and those tactics would stop working, but right now, she was cutting a huge swath through the Wizengamot Wizards.

Harry Potter had told him to help her, but six years of navigating the rocky politics of Slytherin house had done that girl a world of good. He'd had a chance to talk to her and she had a natural talent for talking and politicking that would make her a force to be considered in the future. He smiled as he thought about his coup, getting her as a client. Between the Potter account and hers, he would have a lot of influence and there were things he wanted to do.

Now, he just had to convince Harry and the Lady Slytherin. He dragged his wavering attention back to the Wizengamot as Markus Inkee spoke. "The claims of the injured parties are found to be just. With the sole exception of Lord Black's claim, the Wizengamot will forward the dispositions to the goblins at Gringotts, allowing them to take the required amounts from each of the vaults in question and inform us if any vault does not have the funds required." He smiled thinly. "Since I don't believe any of the families in question have enough money to pay off the debts, I think we're going to have to take many of their properties and businesses to pay their debts." He looked at the newest member of the Wizengamot, who was in one of the oldest seats.

"Lady Slytherin, the Wizengamot has approved Lord Black's request, based on your responses to our questions. However, given the state of the nation today, it is contingent on you upholding the high standards expected of an ancient and noble House. Should you fall into Darkness, that title can and will be taken back. Some of us feel that it should have gone to Lord Black, as he has already shown the conduct required of the title. The Wizengamot will be watching you."

Lady Slytherin, formerly Sally Ann Perks, a fourth generation witch from Brisbane, stood up. Years of dealing with the rival factions in Slytherin House without joining any of them allowed her to maintain a calm bearing as she bowed slightly to Wizard Inkee. "At this time, my only desires are to finish Hogwarts and learn more of my new House. The Death Eaters and their ilk are not to my liking. Lord Black will put paid to their accounts soon enough and I will make the name of Slytherin great again."

Nicholas smiled. Lady Slytherin was better even than Harry at making a good impression without saying anything that could hurt her. He moved over to her as the meeting ended and the members began filing out. "If you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask."

"I am going to have to see you a couple of times before I go back to Hogwarts. I will need a will, among other things. Until I am married and have children of my own, I am going to designate Lord Black as my heir and I would appreciate it if that would become public knowledge."

Nicholas nodded. "I will do so, if that is your wish, but do you mind if I ask why?"

Lady Slytherin looked at him. "Lord Black was just trying to redeem Slytherin's line and hurt his enemy, but I do not want You Know Who after me for being a pretender to his title. I want him to know that in the event of my death, the title will go to the one person he cannot beat."

Nicholas nodded. "I'll have the papers drawn up tonight and you can sign them in the morning. Right now, I believe Miss Lovegood and a Mr. Veritaseek, from the Quibbler and the Bludger, are wishing to speak to you. There will probably be someone from the Prophet there as well, but I don't know who that will be."

Lady Slytherin thought for a minute. "Would you be kind enough to tell them that I will meet with them in the morning? I have parents who might like to know what is happening, and plans to make to protect them. My family is my focus tonight." She said her goodbyes to Nicholas and used the Apparation point in the Ministry.

Nicholas smiled as he thought about what had happened in the last two days. Old Rat Bastard was going to be very unhappy when he found out everything that had happened. "The day of Vengeance is coming, Mary," he muttered to himself and a wife twenty years dead as he stepped up to the Apparation point. Nicholas Apparated to his office. He had a great deal of work to do.

OoOoOoO Mad-Eye Moody, The Inferno, 01AUG1997. OoOoOoO

"What in hell was that, lad?" Moody looked at Lee Jordan, who was shaking his head and trying to clear some of the cobwebs out of his brain. "You're half my size, a tenth as well trained and you thought it might be a good idea to physically attack me? What the bloody hell were you thinking?"

Lee looked up. "Harry and some of the Order have noticed that a lot of the Pureblood wizards don't have any knowledge of fighting that doesn't include wands. Since I couldn't break your defence with magic, I tried a different approach." He stood up and wiggled his jaw gingerly. "It didn't work very well."

Moody grinned at him. "Lad, I didn't live to be this old or battered without learning a thing or two about what happens when the wands are gone. Get with me after the others are gone, and I'll show you what you did wrong and give you some tips in how to hurt people."

Lee shook his head again and eyed Moody warily. "This isn't going to hurt as much as whatever you just did to me, is it?"

Moody shrugged. "Pain can useful. It reinforces lessons like nothing else. However, it will not be as bad as attacking me. I won't be trying to hurt you."

Lee sighed. "I should have known that any suggestion of George's would have consequences."

Moody narrowed his eyes. "George suggested you do that?" Moody smiled again. "Make sure George and Fred join you. I think they need a few lessons in this technique, if they're going to be offering it as a suggestion."

OoOoOoO Harry and the Order, Potter Manor, 02AUG1997. OoOoOoO

The house elves had outdone themselves, Harry decided. He was a little uncomfortable sitting at the head of the table, but he hadn't been given a choice. He looked around. Hermione and Pansy sat to his left and Ginny was on the right.

Beyond them were all of Harry's allies in the order. The Weasleys sat next to the heads of the families that had joined him and at other tables, almost all of the DA, the Diagon Alley Defence Group, the Windenmere fighters and the other people that had been working with Harry were enjoying the end of a dinner that matched any Harry had seen at Hogwarts.

The Potter elves had been doing maintenance only on the grounds for so long that a chance to truly do something had thrown them into a frenzy of cleaning and cooking. Harry was certain that many of the utensils were cleaner than they had even been.

He looked down the long room and marvelled at what had changed in one short summer. He had allies, friends and a rapidly growing support base that probably wouldn't go away at the first negative story.

He wasn't going back to the Dursley house, ever. He had this huge house, that he had spent more than five hours walking through yesterday, and he hadn't covered it all yet. Harry sighed as the after dinner chatter among the people in the room grew. If Voldemort was gone, the Ministry cleaned up, a few laws fixed, he'd be able to have some fun.

Pansy leaned over to Hermione and whispered something in her ear. Hermione nodded and leaned over to Harry. "This is a good time to start, Harry." She smiled at his look. "You're talked to everyone here, Harry."

Harry looked out over the crowd. "In smaller groups, Hermione, not all at once. This was my idea, though." Harry took a deep breath and stood up.

"I hope you all enjoyed the meal, because now that's it's over, we've got some work to do. All of you have been working on various projects, some of which I have been keeping secret, some of which were simply minor in the overall scheme of things, although they were important in their own way."

Harry looked out over the crowd and discarded all the things he'd been thinking of saying here. "I owe all of you for what you've been doing, from the research to Colin's pictures. You've all done things that will go unnoticed, for the most part, except by me and those of us here. I will know, and each of you will know what you have done to defeat Voldemort. I will remember and I thank all of you. I have been reading and doing some writing in the Potter and Black Histories. Everyone here will be Written and Remembered."

Harry sighed. "That said, we have a lot to cover. Kingsley, you showed me some things this morning that everyone needs to see. Why don't you start?"

Kingsley Shacklebolt stood up. "A few days ago, I started checking on some odd facts and this is what I've found out. Voldemort has apparently made some sort of deals with the vampires of Britain and the werewolves. We're trying to locate the vampire's nest now and we were keeping track of the werewolves, until two days ago. Right now, most of the werewolves are acting normally. A few, however, mostly those known to be associated with Greyback's pack, have been disappearing from their regular areas. There is one exception to that. The associates of Greyback that live in this area are still in their homes."

Kingsley and a few others had been warned that they would be giving briefings and he pulled a sheet of parchment from his robes. It floated over to a wall and grew, becoming a map of (Whatever town) and everyone looked at it. "We have a few theories about what's going on, but this morning, word came that all the rest of the werewolves we were watching disappeared last night." Kingsley looked at Remus. "Remus, why don't you give us some background on Greyback and his pack before I continue?"

Remus stood up. "Right now, Britain has a werewolf population of approximately one hundred and forty werewolves. Greyback and his pack are less than thirty as far as we know. Most of them were turned by Greyback himself. They are people that wanted to become something more than human and were willing to accept the risk of dying to get the advantages of being a werewolf. They don't see the blood-lust or madness as a disadvantage."

Remus took a drink out of his cup and continued. "Most of the werewolves are like me, ordinary people that were attacked because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time and they happened to have magic. If a Muggle is bitten by a werewolf, usually, they're unaffected or killed. Those few Muggles that have survived an attack have been found to be Squibs. Apparently, whatever makes us capable of doing magic also makes us susceptible to this Curse."

"Professor Lupin," Harry blushed, as all eyes turned toward him. "Sorry, I was remembering third year. I was wondering why you called this a Curse. I thought it was a disease?"

Remus frowned. "The Ministry calls it a disease and tries to treat it as such. They haven't had any luck with that and this affliction has one indicator that should be clear, marking it as a Curse. No natural or magical disease I've ever heard of, can change a person's moral outlook so completely as to make a mother eat her child, or a loving husband kill his spouse. That marks this as a Curse to my eyes."

Hermione was thinking about it and she started to scribble notes on a pad of paper as she absently took a lock of hair and began nibbling on it. Pansy sighed and took the hair from her mouth and gave it a sharp tug. Hermione winced and frowned at her before returning to her notes.

Harry was thinking about it as well. "Why would the Ministry be treating it as a disease if it's a curse?"

"Cynically, I think because it allows them to create more controls on werewolves, if it is an incurable disease." Remus smiled. "Or it could simply be that the first Ministry person that was assigned to look into it called it a disease and bureaucratic inertia has kept them in the same rut."

Kingsley stood back up. "Which ever it is, that can wait, since you're not going to find a cure in time to stop whatever is going to happen tomorrow night." He used his wand as a pointer, tapping three small towns. "These are the only targets that they can reach, given the times that they disappeared. Given Greyback's usual habits when attacking Muggles and wizards, we think it will be (Whatever town). The town is only (Pop.), and there are a few wizard families there. I estimate there are 46 wizard targets in the area, in 13 houses."

Harry winced. "That's going to spread us far too thin, unless we can consolidate all of our targets in one place, so we can utilize all of our training and forces."

Moody sighed. "Harry, what did you and the Minister talk about on your birthday?"

Harry blinked and then blushed again. "I keep forgetting that. I can call on the Aurors, can't I?" He frowned, as he thought about it. "Moody, are they good enough to fight werewolves? I'm not going to send them to needless deaths."

Moody nodded. "They can take most werewolves, if they're prepared and alert. Greyback, he's a different story, but the average Auror has the training to take the average werewolf."

Harry nodded and looked at the map again. "How certain are we that this is the target?"

"Threat analysis actually came from another group." Ron Weasley stood up. "Based on past attacks, Greyback's mindset and some minor information lifted from one of Greyback's followers, we have arrived at the following conclusions. One, Greyback is planning a massive slaughter, such as the werewolves have not done since the 1200s. Two: based on the movements patterns of the missing creatures, the target has to be in this area. The target must be small enough to be overwhelmed in a single night, large enough to make an impact and have a high enough wizard population to create new followers for Greyback." Ron motioned at the map. "This town has everything they need. It is small enough that cutting it off from Muggle detection methods for a night is simple, isolated enough that the chances of someone driving in and escaping are slim and most important, it has history."

Ron smiled at the looks of confusion on most people's faces. "Greyback was born there. His family moved when he was twelve, but he has been back many times, maintaining a Muggle cover as a travelling salesman. He knows the area quite well."

Ron turned back to the map, and his face assumed a look most of the people could identify. It was the same look of focussed concentration that he had when he was playing chess or trying to make a new Quidditch play. "Given the data we have, the current theory is that the Muggles will be slaughtered and Greyback will take the younger Wizards and attempt to turn them. Any that are too old for him or that can not be turned will be killed out of hand."

Moody nodded. "That werewolf you interrogated, he won't be giving the game away, will he?"

Ron shook his head. "He doesn't even know we talked to him. Veritaserum and Obliviate are useful tools."

Harry nodded. "Right. I'll need all the fighters tomorrow. We'll base out of here, with Portkeys to take us to where we need to be. The leaders of the various fighting groups will meet here tomorrow at nine in the morning to plan our response to this attack. Right now, I believe Mr. Sharpstar has some things to tell us."

Nicholas Sharpstar stood up. "While I don't have any such dramatic plans to point out, I have been having a bit of fun in the political arena. The Wizengamot approved all of the claims we made against Death Eaters. Gringotts has been instructed to make the payments to the claimants." He looked at Harry. "The Wizengamot has asked me to relay a message to you, Harry. They ask that you not give any more titles away, without first consulting with them. They understand that you bought the Malfoy family and that your plan for the Slytherin title was acceptable, but the Wizengamot does have the right to reject a new family taking a title. The Malfoys, while very rich, didn't have a title as such, but they are still a little upset that you gave such a prestigious family to the people you gave it to."

Colin Creevey-Malfoy looked up from his place at the end of one of the tables. "What you mean is that they're upset that the Malfoy name now belongs to a Muggleborn."

Nicholas Sharpstar nodded. "Pretty much. They're letting it go this time, but not even your fame, Lord Black, will be of much use if you continue to offend the Wizengamot."

Harry shrugged. "While they were disturbed about what I did, was the other law passed?"

Sharpstar nodded. "By a narrow margin, but yes, it passed. The Minister signed it today."

Harry smiled. "Perfect. Why don't you explain what we've done to everyone else."

"The law is quite simple and very clear. Any person that acknowledges any so called 'Dark Lord' as their master or boss may not hold any public office or Ministry position." Sharpstar smiled. "As soon as the proof we need comes back from the International Conference of Wizards, we're going to put a lot of people out of work. We think that we can prove that the Dark Mark cannot be given to a person under the Imperius."

Harry nodded. "After the various vaults are emptied and the Death Eaters are looking for ways to finance their lives and Voldemort, we're going to buy everything they have at greatly reduced prices." He smiled at the group. "After all, they'll have to have money, but it's a buyer's market when you can't openly sell anything without the goblins taking it."

Harry looked at Nicholas. "Do you have anything else to report?"

Nicholas nodded slowly and stood up again. "It has nothing to do with politics or laws but since my associate doesn't like talking in front of large groups, I have the burden of announcing this." He took a deep breath as he pulled some notes from his pocket. "Six days ago, Hermione's Muggleborn network came to me, asking if I knew a good investigator. I directed them to James Henry Michaels, the investigator I use and he gave me this report this morning."

He looked at the notes. "Over the last week, more than two dozen people have been kidnapped from their homes, jobs or off the street. The Muggles think it is the actions of a new cult, from the evidence left behind. According to them, the people have nothing in common." He looked up at the crowd. "Mr. Michaels has access to some information they don't have though, and he was able to learn that all of the people taken were Muggleborn witches or wizards. He was also able to determine that the ones taking them have at least one wizard with them. He's dropped his other work for now and is working on this full time."

He looked at Harry. "When he finds the people responsible, he wants to know if you want to deal with it or if he should call in the Aurors."

Harry frowned. "Why do the police think it's a cult?"

"According to the police, an eyewitness to a possible suspect said the woman was wearing clothes with satanic drawings and had a tattoo of a pentagram with a goat's head over it."

Hermione hissed. "Satanists, who can really do magic. This is going to be a bloody fight, no matter which way you go, Harry."

Harry frowned, not understanding. Hermione saw his puzzlement. "Harry, they believe in a god and think he will reward them for doing things, and that if they die in his services, they will be exalted in his service. They will be fanatically loyal and willing to die."

Harry frowned as he thought about it. He looked at Pansy. "I need to speak to Gerald. I do have a use for him and his group after all."

Pansy nodded, looking at her father. "I'll set something up tomorrow."

Mr. Parkinson was watching Harry. Gerald was the man who led the Windenmere group of fighters that had been trained to fight harder than most people. They knew the Unforgivables and had demonstrated that they could use them. They had been created originally to fight the Death Eaters, using the Death Eater's own tactics against them, back when the Windenmeres had tried to break away from Voldemort.

The Windenmeres had revealed the group to Harry in early July, but Harry had decided against using them, since his Order and the Diagon Alley Defence Group was doing so well. Harry understood why they had been created and didn't mind, but he was hesitant about using the group for his fight. Harry didn't want to ask anyone to do anything he wouldn't do, even if they were willing. Mr. Parkinson frowned. He'd have a word with Pansy tonight. The last thing they needed was Harry being a little too Dark. Grey was fine, but walking the line between grey and dark was hard and they didn't need Harry becoming the next Dark Lord.

The dinner went on, with Moody speaking of the missions his group had done. Nearly two thirds of all the known Death Eaters were looking for a place to live and more than a hundred Dark things had been destroyed in his raids or captured for later destruction, once they figured out how to do it.

The Shades of Grey company was also paying for the care of several former prisoners of the Death Eaters, mostly young women found in Death Eater houses who had been tormented into insanity. Harry still grew angry every time he thought about those people. They were Muggles, treated as playthings by people that thought they were better than others because an accident of birth made them capable of doing magic.

Harry had tried to get Hermione to research a way to take a person's magic forever, but she had refused and after she explained why, Harry had reluctantly agreed with her. Harry might have the best of intentions, planning only to use the spell on Death Eaters, but sooner or later, it would come out and the next person to use it might not have the same ideals as Harry. The thought of Voldemort being able to strip a person's magic was enough for Harry to drop the idea.

The planning went on late into the night as the group made simple plans for any possible situations that might arise while Harry was at Hogwarts. The Black clan was as protected as they could get, with every home under a Fidelius, but there were hundreds of families that didn't have that protection since they didn't have the resources to do the spell.

It cost a lot to cast the spell, in materials and energy, plus the caster had to have a basic working knowledge of Runes and Arithmancy, since the caster was the one who set the conditions of the spell before casting it. Harry had the researchers in the clan looking for a cheaper and easier way to achieve the same effects but they hadn't found anything yet.

Harry was talking to Shacklebolt and Ron about the next night when Hermione and Narcissa Black came up to him. "Harry, may I speak to you, please?" Harry excused himself and looked at Hermione. She led him to a small alcove with Narcissa following them. Hermione looked at Harry. "Harry, we've been talking and I think Narcissa and I need to go into the Muggle world for a couple of hours this week. If I'm right, she may have to spend a night or two there."

Harry looked at Narcissa, who was looking hopeful and embarrassed at the same time. Harry looked back at Hermione. "Am I going to have to do anything here, or can you two handle it?" He could tell that neither of them was willing to go into details for some reason.

"We can handle it, Harry, but we're going to need some money from you, and we might have to travel to Sweden for part of it."

Harry thought about it. If it was in the Muggle world, the Death Eaters were not as big of a problem. He looked around and saw Miranda standing near by, watching over Hermione. "What are the dangers of going to Sweden?"

Miranda considered it for a minute and Harry saw that flash of humour in her eyes again. "I'd have to check with Miss Lovegood, but I think the Crumple-horned Snorkacks are mostly peaceful this time of year." She managed to get that out without even smiling.

Harry grinned and turned back to Hermione. "Go ahead, just make sure I know when you're going. If I have the people, I may send a couple more with you."

Hermione and Narcissa looked at each other. "That's fine, Harry, as long as they are witches. This is a girls only trip."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that but only nodded. Hermione hugged him and she left, whispering to Narcissa. Harry was watching the groups of people working out plans in their particular areas when he was hailed again.

"Wotcher, Harry. You've been having a lot of fun without me."

Harry turned with a smile. "Wotcher, Tonks. I thought you were in the hospital for another couple of days."

Tonks looked a little pale but she was standing, unlike the last time Harry had seen her in St. Mungo's. Remus stood nearby and he actually looked worse than Tonks. Of course, he was a werewolf with the full moon tomorrow night, so that was only to be expected. "I was supposed to be, but I convinced them that I was ready to go." She frowned. "They still won't clear me for any work except desk duty for another two weeks though."

Harry nodded. "Tonks, if I have the report from the Healers right, that curse caused your internal organs to start rotting and in the last few weeks, you've had every internal organ in your body replaced magically, yes?"

Tonks nodded. "Yes. Do you have any idea how annoying it is, not being able to use my gift? They wouldn't let me change anything, not even my hair, since they don't know if it would disrupt the healing." She changed her hair, cycling through a dozen colours before making it the vibrant pink Harry remembered from their first meeting. She looked at him hopefully. "You're going to let me work again, right, Harry? I can be useful tomorrow night."

Harry stared at her in disbelief. "Tonks, no." He saw the flicker of anger in her eyes and held up one hand. "Before you go off on me, let me explain, since you wouldn't be going on this mission even if you were completely healthy, which you're not. Some one has to watch over Remus and make sure he is protected while all of our fighters are busy. Do you trust anyone else to do that, knowing that most of the world thinks he's a danger?"

Tonks looked at Remus. "No, not really."

Remus looked at Harry. "I have been keeping myself safe for years, Harry. I don't need to wrapped in wool."

Harry flushed and looked away. Remus stared at him. "I've seen that look before. James used to have the very same expression on his face, just before he admitted doing something we weren't going to like." Remus stared at him and had a sudden idea. "Harry, you've known where I was for the last few full moons. Has someone been watching me?"

Harry winced. "Yes." He looked at Remus, who was beginning to look angry. "You're family, Remus, the last bit of family I have that can tell me about my parents. You're the only person I have that can tell me about things like dad's expressions, or how mum and he got together. Do you really blame me for watching over you?"

Remus frowned at him, torn between pride and affection for a minute. He sighed. "When you put it like that, no, I don't suppose I can. We will be having a talk though, about you doing it."

Harry shrugged. "It was for your protection, Remus, and I will never be sorry about anything I do that keeps my family safe."

Remus sighed. Given Harry's upbringing and his attitude, Remus couldn't win this argument, even if he didn't agree with the thought. He let it go and looked around, making sure they were alone. "I do have a question for you, Harry, if you would assume your Lord Black persona for a minute."

Harry blinked, not expecting that. "I can do that. What do you want to discuss?"

"Lord Black, I wish to court Nymphadora Tonks, of your family. In accordance with the customs and traditions, I am asking you for the right."

Harry almost smiled, until he saw how serious Remus was. He made a mental note to look into those customs as he looked at Tonks, who was staring at Remus. "Miss Tonks, I have received an offer to court you from Remus Lupin. Is it your wish to allow this?"

Tonks just nodded. Harry turned to Remus. "I will expect honourable behaviour from you, Mr. Lupin," he said, improvising madly. "Your request is granted."

Remus nodded. "Thank you, Lord Black."

Harry grinned at him. "Now, all you have to do is ask her father."

Remus winced. "You just had to say that, didn't you?"

OoOoOoO Harry, The Ministry, 03AUG1997. OoOoOoO

Harry walked into the Ministry and waited for the person in front of him to finish getting their badge. He stepped up to the Auror's desk. "Harry Potter, here to work." The Auror looked up. "Here you are, Sir." Harry pinned on his badge and looked at the Auror again. "Where will I find the office of the Commander of Magical Warfare?"

The Auror blinked. He blushed. "One second, Sir. I have to look it up. It's been so long since those offices were used that I am not certain." He reached into his desk and consulted a small book. "Level four, section two. The offices will be marked, Sir."

Harry thanked him and headed for the lifts. He found his new offices after a few minutes of wandering around. He stepped inside. "Good morning, Sir. I am Melissa Fairwater. The Minister has appointed me to be your assistant. Your office is ready and hot chocolate will be ready in five minutes. There are some papers awaiting you in there."

Harry nodded and looked at the outer room of his new office. He suppressed a smile. Harry Potter, Muggle raised wizard, not even out of Hogwarts yet, had an office. His urge to smile faded as he looked at the symbol of his new office. The crossed wand and sword of the Department of Magical Warfare had an air of menace and violence that made him remember what he had to do tonight.

He walked over to the only door and opened the door. The office inside was not very large with a desk and four chairs in front of it. The walls were covered with maps of the magical sections of the British islands. There were two filing cabinets and a another door. Harry opened the door to find a large conference room. He shut the door and sat down at his desk. The top of the desk was empty except for an ink pot, two quills and a pile of parchments. He sighed and picked up the first one.

Being the Responsibilities, Duties, Rights and Privileges of the Commander of Magical Forces as set down in the Magical Warfare Act of 1091 and the amendments of 1102, 1341 and 1450.

Harry sighed. It seemed like all he'd done this summer was assume more duties, some willingly, others less so. He started reading.

A few minutes later he was interrupted by Miss Fairwater bringing him some hot chocolate. He blinked as he realized it was exactly how he liked it. She saw his look and smiled. "I had a long chat with three young ladies that know everything about you, Sir. It is my duty to insure that you have everything you need to work efficiently and I take pride in my work."

Harry smiled. "Thank you, Miss Fairwater. Would you know if the Minister has a few minutes to have a private conversation this morning? I have an item of some importance I must discuss with him."

She looked at him and saw the tension around his eyes. "Sir, if it is in regard to your duties, you do have the right to interrupt him at any time, no matter what he's doing."

Harry thought about it for a minute. "Send him a note with my apologies and tell him that I will be in to see him at ten, would you please? I also need a Floo connection."

"The Floo is in the other office, right down the hall, room 423." She saw his look and smiled. "Your associates will be using those rooms, as soon as you pick them, Sir. Your communications person has all of the Floo, owl and other communications things in their office so that you can work on your duties without being interrupted."

Harry nodded. "That's all covered in those papers you have on my desk, correct?"

She nodded. Harry shook his head. "I'll have a list of the people I want tomorrow or the next day, depending on what happens tonight."

She frowned. "Will we be seeing action tonight, Sir?"

Harry looked at her questioningly. "I'm your aide, Sir. I go everywhere you do, when you're working."

Harry sighed. "You're an Auror, aren't you?"

She nodded. "Yes Sir. Class of 1994. I was ranked tenth in the class." She grinned impishly then. "One place ahead of Auror Tonks."

Harry smiled. "If you do half as well as she has, you'll be a credit to the Aurors." He frowned for a second. "I don't mean to offend, but what is a well trained Auror doing in your position? Isn't it," He hesitated, looking for the right word.

"Sir, I volunteered for this job. I'll be right in the middle of everything working with you and the word around the Aurors is that you won't leave any of your people behind. Plus, having a stint in an office is required for advancement into the senior Auror ranks and this office is going to generate a lot of attention, which I will share in, also good for my career."

Harry smiled. "You were a Slytherin in Hogwarts, weren't you?"

She frowned. "I know you're a Gryffindor, Sir. Is there a problem with that?"

Harry shook his head. "Not at all. Miss Parkinson-Potter is one of the better people I know, along with Blaise Zabini-Montrose and Daphne Greengrass-Black." Harry thought for a minute. "Millicent Bulstrode is not a bad person either. I was guessing because most Gryffindors would be saying something about defending the world, Hufflepuffs wouldn't worry about their career and Ravenclaws would have chosen a more intellectual position to advance themselves. Only Slytherins are so blunt about advancing themselves and doing the work."

She thought about it. "So how did a logical mind end up in Gryffindor, Sir?"

Harry grinned again as he headed for his office. "I had a bad upbringing, raised by Muggles."

She sniffed. "Sir, I am a Muggleborn, and that is offensive."

Harry stopped and turned to look at her. He saw the smile and sighed. "Thank goodness. I thought you were serious for a minute and I would have hated to have fired you on the first day." Harry hid his smile for a second as he watched the astonishment flow across her face. "Obviously, any Muggleborn who got into Slytherin and made it out alive is far too sneaky and dangerous to be working for me. She'd end up taking my job in a week." He watched her consider that for a minute and then she smiled at him.

"Take your job? No, thanks, Sir. I don't want to be the Boy-Who-Lived. It would go terribly with my dress robes."

That surprised a laugh out of Harry.

OoOoOoO Harry and others, The Minister's Office, 03AUG1997. OoOoOoO

"And that is what we plan on doing tonight. It gives us the best chance of stopping this before it happens, given the resources at hand. It would help, Minister, if you could find a way to create a few more Aurors, about twenty or so." Harry finished the presentation he had given the Minister with the help of Ron and Shacklebolt.

Minister Scrimgeour was looking at the map and answered absently. "It wouldn't help today, but we're recruiting now. It takes four months to finish the basic Auror school and then we can put those Aurors in places we have skilled troops while they finish the advanced schooling."

He looked up with a smile. "Speaking of skilled Aurors, Mr. Potter, you will be happy to know that Auror Wilkes has been reassigned and is no longer cataloguing confiscated materials."

Harry nodded. "Thank you, Minister."

The Minister looked at the sheets Shacklebolt had brought with him after getting Harry's Floo call. "How many werewolves are we looking at?"

"At least thirty, according to the intelligence, Sir. I would say about forty, just to be safe."

The minister frowned. "Even if I gave you every Auror we have, that's only fifty, without uncovering some other area."

Harry shrugged. "I want forty. That will leave ten for a reaction force with my map team. We'll have eighty seven total fighters on site. It's not the three to one odds I want, but war is never everything you want."

Minister Scrimgeour looked at Harry. "Mr. Potter, just between you and I, just how many fighters does your order have?"

Harry looked at him. "My Order, or me?"

The Minister thought about that. "How many fighters do you command?"

"Tonight, we'll have forty seven at this event, ten as the reaction team in the map room, three on light duty from injuries, one indisposed and four on other missions."

"You have sixty-five fighters, Mr. Potter? I only have one hundred and fifty Auror right now."

Harry shrugged. He hadn't mentioned Gerald's group or the Diagon Alley Defence Group, since he didn't command those two groups. All total, Harry could call on a hundred fighters plus Moody's trainers, but he didn't want those numbers in anyone's head but his for now. After this was over and Voldemort was dead, he'd make sure that every one of them got the recognition they deserved.

Of course, they were up against an enemy that had a dozen advantages, including numbers they thought.

Harry brought his thoughts back to the current threat as the Minister asked another question. They had a lot to work out and not much time. The moon rose early tonight.

One way or another, this would all be over by midnight.

OoOoOoO The Diagon Alley Defence Group, Diagon Alley, 03AUG1997. OoOoOoO

Fred and George were busy all day. One of them had to stay in the store, watching over the potions, charms and other things cooking in the back, and making sure no one accidentally blew anything up that wasn't supposed to blow up in the shop itself.

The other twins was going around to the members of their group, warning them that everyone was on call tonight, as all of Harry's people would be busy. The DADG was going to be used if anything major came in from Death Eaters or other problems while Harry and the nameless Order were busy.

Fred smiled slightly as he headed for another shop. Harry had offered to make them an official arm of his new job, but Fred and George had hastily declined the honour. It was bad enough, having to be semi respectable business men, but their reputation would never survive, if anyone ever found out they were working for the Ministry.

OoOoOoO Moody and the Inferno trainers, the Inferno, 03AUG1997. OoOoOoO

"The enemy will be werewolves, and Harry has already said that his rules are in play. We come home, they fail at whatever they're doing and if they don't go home, too bad for them."

The group grinned and settled down to the serious work of planning and preparing for tonight's events.

OoOoOoO The Order Without a Name, Grimmauld Place, 03AUG1997. OoOoOoO

Auror Wilkes sighed. "I'd rather be out there with all of you tonight, but I have a squad to run in the assault. Kingsley will be with Harry somewhere, and the rest of the Aurors will be where ever Harry puts them."

The members of the Order that were not involved in something were here. Several of them were making vests. The vests were white with a Gryffindor red trim and the Black Clan emblem on the back, under the insignia of the Department of Magical Warfare. They were making them for everyone, including the Aurors. Since there was going to be a lot of confusion out there and it was going to be a night time mission, they needed a way for the various groups to keep from targeting each other.

The front of the Auror vests would have a place for the Department of Magical Warfare insignia, and the other groups out there would have their own symbols. The Black clan people would have the Black clan symbol, the nameless Order would have the emerald green lightning bolt and Fred and George had told them to put a monogram "DADG" on the ones the Diagon Alley Defence Group would using, after the vest makers had refused to waste time animating a rubber chicken design. Moody's people would have a flame on theirs, showing they were part of the Inferno crew.

Some of the group were rotating in and out of the target area, learning more about it and attempting to find the wizard houses. They were also carefully looking for the gathering place of the werewolves. Harry would rather assault the werewolves in a remote area and try and keep them out of the town or any houses if he could.

So far, they hadn't found any sign of them. They were building a good map of the area though.

OoOoOoO Lady Slytherin, Diagon Alley, 03AUG1997. OoOoOoO

"And that will conclude this statement. Thank you for your time and I will take a few questions."

Luna simply smiled and watched the woman Harry had chosen as the best representative of Slytherin.

Lemos Veritaseek raised his hand to attract Lady Slytherin's attention. "Lady Slytherin, will you be returning to Hogwarts this year?"

"Of course. If the commander of Magical Warfare can find the time to get his NEWTs under the current situation, I can find no reason for me to be absent."

Rita Skeeter asked, "Lady Slytherin, have you any one in mind for your consort?"

Sally-Ann smiled. She'd won five Galleons from Nicholas Sharpstar. He'd bet that the reporter from Witch Weekly would ask that question. "I have not been titled long enough to have even considered the possibilities in that topic yet. Since finding the right person will require some thought and study, I have no one in mind yet."

Gilda Lockhart was the younger sister of that Lockhart, Sally-Ann knew and she was rapidly gaining a reputation for being very good at ferreting out secrets. Lady Slytherin was having Sharpstar look into her background. Sally-Ann had a few allies and a decent network in Slytherin house itself, but in just about a year, she would be entering a much larger arena and she would need help from outside Hogwarts. "Lady Slytherin, would you mind telling our readers what you're likes and dislikes are?"

"That's a very broad question, and I simply don't have time to answer it right now. Leave a contact with my Solicitor and we'll try and schedule an interview before I go back to Hogwarts."

Nicholas stood up from the chair where he'd been watching Lady Slytherin talk. "Milady, we have to go, you have another appointment."

Sally-Ann thanked the reporters again and allowed them to take a couple of pictures before leaving with Sharpstar. "Is my will ready, Mr. Sharpstar?"

"It is, and I noted you were quick to tell the reporters who your heir was. Have you told Lord Black he is your heir yet?"

Sally-Ann smiled. "Of course I have. I sent him an owl this morning."

Nicholas smiled. "Which, given the way he moves around, means he'll find out sometime tonight, when he gets home from whatever he's doing today."

Sally-Ann shrugged. "How should I know? I've been watching the owls deliver the mail at breakfast time for six years. I assume he got it at breakfast time."

Nicholas looked at her innocent face and smiled. "You do that very well, Lady. Remind me to think about what you're telling me, before I give you any promises. I believe you could sell shoes to a basilisk."

Sally-Ann was about to answer when a wizard approached them. "Mr. Sharpstar?"

Nicholas looked at him and knew him vaguely. He was one of Harry's people. Three more wizards stood behind him, each of them looking in a different direction. "That's me. What may I do for you?"

"Mr. Potter has asked us to watch over you and the Lady Slytherin today, Sir. There are some things going on and Mr. Potter would be happier if you two had trained help on hand."

Sally-Ann and Nicholas looked at each other. "Mr. Sharpstar, if Harry Potter thinks it would be better for to have help around, I'm not going to tell him no."

Nicholas nodded and the four wizards moved away, surrounding them but not being obvious. Nicholas sighed. "I wonder what we'll be reading about in the morning."

OoOoOoO Harry, The Department of Magical Law Enforcement, 03AUG1997. OoOoOoO

"Good afternoon. Since many of you have been called in when you were not scheduled to work, I assume you must have figured out that this is going to be something different."

Harry looked at the group of Aurors that had been tasked to help him defend the town. Most of them were older Aurors, ones that had been around awhile and who had proven that they wouldn't freeze in a pitched battle.

Some of them were looking at him dubiously. He sighed. "I know what some of you are thinking. Who is this kid, and what makes him able to lead us. Am I correct?"

One of the older Aurors stood up. "Mr. Potter, everyone here knows who you are. That you're powerful, and that you can fight, none of us doubt. What we want to know, is why we should trust you to lead us, when you don't have any of our training, or our experience?"

"First off, you're wrong." Harry looked at the back of the room, where the answer had come from. "I've been training the boy." Moody came stumping up to stand next to Harry. "He's not a senior Auror yet, but I'd pit his skills and training against any first to fifth year Auror in the Ministry now."

The Aurors looked at each other. Moody was insane, yes, but before he'd gone around the bend, he'd been a legend, survivor of more battles against Dark Wizards than anyone in more than three hundred years.

"I understand that you don't know why I'm here, or how well I can lead. I understand that and can respect it. I would think less of you if you didn't have doubts about a new commander that drops in from nowhere. However, I am in charge and we will do this my way. Anyone that doesn't like that at the end of this briefing can pull out and he will be replaced." Harry smiled at Auror Wilkes. "I understand that they need someone to catalogue the confiscated items."

Harry looked at Miss Fairwater. "If you would, please." She nodded and a map flew to the wall and unrolled against it.

"Before I even start this briefing, let me tell you all something. While you are under my command, I have a few rules that you will abide by, or I will make you wish Voldemort had gotten his hands on you. Our people come first. If that means you kill the bad guys, no problem. I prefer that, in fact. Dead enemies can't get back up to hurt anyone else. Second, everyone of ours comes back. We don't leave anyone behind, dead or alive, certainly not alive. If you can't live with those rules, go away now."

No one moved and Harry nodded. "The target is Forestwake. We believe that Greyback and his pack will attempt to slaughter the entire town tonight as part of Voldemort's newest offence."

The Aurors murmured and one raised his hand. "Pardon me, Sir, but there are not enough of us to face any amount of werewolves and protect that much area."

"I know that, and we will be joined by two more groups of people, bringing out total numbers higher than they are now. Everyone will be issued a vest that will identify you as one of us to everyone out there. Anyone wearing the vest is a friend from somewhere and they will bring our total numbers to one hundred people. We will also have a reserve component, twenty more that we can call on in case things go sideways. In a real emergency, I have another crew to call on, fifteen more people."

Harry looked at the Aurors. "The others have been briefed already and everyone knows what I am about to tell you. If things go that bad, those fifteen people will be covering our retreat and in order to do so, they have been authorized to use certain spells and curses that we will not be using. Does anyone have a problem with that?"

One of the Aurors frowned. "Are you saying that they can use the Unforgivables?"

Harry nodded, holding up a parchment. "I have a release, signed by the Minister and the Head of the Wizengamot, allowing those people only to use them in cases of dire emergency. I will have to present my case for the use of those spells to the Wizengamot afterwards. If they disagree, I am responsible."

He turned back to the map, picking up a pointer. "We have been scouting the area under invisibility and other charms today and this is what we have right now."

Harry went on to detail the plans they had made so far. Without knowing which way the werewolves would be coming from or even how many there were, Harry had chosen to hold five groups of twenty people in a circle around the town. One of the Aurors asked why. "Because we don't know how they're going to come at this. With scouts in the air on brooms, we should see them coming and have time to move into better positions, but if they simply rush the town in a mass, I don't want anyone getting caught alone or in a group so small that all they can do is replay Horatio at the Bridge."

Two hours later the entire group was gathered at the Ministry and Harry group was passing out the vests. The people Harry was using as his staff right now, Kingsley, Moody and Ron were laying out last minute changes and instructions.

Harry was listening and watching but his mind was on what was going to happen tonight. He was winding up as tension and nervous energy filled the room. One of the drawbacks of Harry's Aestuomagius ability was that he felt what the people around him were feeling and it affected his mood.

Right now, everyone was getting tense and Harry was beginning to explore everyone around him with those tendrils of magic that meant his ability was growing stronger. The stronger Harry's emotions grew, the stronger this power of his grew.

That was a good thing, when he had something to do with that power, but if he didn't, it would continue to grow until something happened. Hermione, who had known Harry longer than anyone else except Ron, was the first to see what was happening.

She got Ron's attention and pointed at Harry. Ron looked and came over to Hermione. "If anyone asks, we went out to take care of some last minute things," Hermione said and collected Pansy and Ginny on the way over to Ron.

The three girls shepherded a mildly protesting Harry into another room quickly and quietly. Ron shook his head. Harry would be lucky if he was ever allowed to be angry again. Those three kept him on a short emotional leash.

He was distracted by an Auror then, asking another question, wanting clarification of one of the plans for the assault that night.

OoOoOoO The Department of Magical Warfare, (Whatever town) 03AUG1997. OoOoOoO

Harry looked over his massed troops at the rally point that they would be going to their assigned positions from. "Everyone has their instructions. Go out there, be careful and come back."

Auror Wilkes stiffened to attention. "Yes Sir," she said, giving Harry a salute. She turned to her team. "Let's go, people, we've got hunting to do." Her team disappeared and the other teams followed her.

Harry looked around at his command group. Hermione, Pansy and Ginny stood there with Miranda, Luna, Ron and Neville. Over to one side, Harry's assistant, Auror Fairwater was watching a dozen Healers setting up one of the magical tents, which would be the field hospital for any injuries.

Hermione had a small square and she tapped it with her wand. It grew and became a large chalkboard. Hermione tapped a parchment and it spread itself over the board. Hermione looked at Harry with a smile. She tapped the parchment with her wand, saying "The Order Without a Name."

Harry watched as lines began spreading over the parchment. Ron, who's training had included a great deal of looking at maps, was the first to realize that it was slowly becoming a map of the surrounding area. "That's brilliant, Hermione. How did you do it?"

"It's an offshoot of the Marauder's Map. Remus and I worked it out while we were working on the Apparation map. It will show any surrounding area you take it to, and will show a few different things. First, it shows everyone wearing one of our vests tonight, so we can track our people. It also tracks un-warded magical items and beings in its area. It can't penetrate wards yet, we're still working on that, but it will show any warded area as a black blot."

The group watched as the map spread out further, outlining the town and the surrounding areas. Harry nodded. The map seemed to cover about ten kilometres in every direction from the centre of the map. He looked at it as small coloured lights began to appear. Hermione anticipated his questions. "The white dots are our people, anyone with a vest. Blue dots are magical beings of some type." She took a deep breath. "Transformed werewolves will appear as red dots, thanks to some work with Remus last month. The green dots are un-warded magic of some kind and the black areas are warded areas."

Harry pulled her into a one armed hug as he looked at the map. "Brilliant work, Hermione."

Ron was looking at it. "Can I take a closer look at an area?"

Hermione shook her head. "Not yet, it's not actually ready for use yet, but this mission is too important to leave to chance, if it might help."

Ron frowned. "Pity, that. I would love to know what this is."

Everyone looked at the area he was pointing at. There were a dozen closely placed green dots there, out in the middle of a grove that didn't have anything else nearby. There were in a circle, covering an area about thirty metres wide. Hermione frowned at it. "Some type of magical thing, but what, I don't know."

Harry looked at Hermione. "Could it be dangerous?"

Hermione shrugged. "All I can say is that it is magical. We haven't done the more sensitive spells that could tell us more yet."

Harry nodded. "That's OK, Hermione. You've done wonders to get this much out." He looked at the small circle of green dots again. "Which group is this, the ones closest to the magical things?"

Ron looked at the map. "Moody's group."

Harry winced. Moody was not the person he wanted to tell about unknown magical things near him just before a major battle was starting. He sighed and took out one of the Auror mirrors he'd been given earlier that day. The mirror was similar to the one Sirius had given him, except that Harry could talk to any one of the groups out there or even all of them at once. All of the Group leaders had one, and Harry had a couple of spares, in case something went wrong.

"Moody, this is Harry."

"Aye, lad. What can I do for you?"

Harry described what the map was seeing and Moody promised to check it out. A minute later, the people watching the map saw three of the white dots at Moody's position move toward the green dots.

The two sets of dots intermixed for a few seconds and then returned to Moody's position. A minute later, Moody was calling Harry on the mirror. "I don't know how you saw those things, Harry, and I will be asking later, but they're small wards that can be activated with a wand. It appears that you've found some wizard's privacy area. Nothing to do with us tonight."

Harry frowned as Pansy and Ginny giggled. "What sort of privacy area?" he asked.

Pansy grinned. "It's usually set up by a wizard looking to have a private place to 'talk' to his girlfriend, Harry."

Harry was about to ask another question when he realized what she meant. "Oh. I see."

Ron was looking at the map. "Harry, we've got movement and red dots."

The group turned to the map. A mass of red dots was moving onto the upper edge of the map, moving toward the village from the forest. Harry hissed. "There's more than thirty of them. Can we tell how many there are?"

Hermione touched the bottom of the map and a small section changed, becoming a group of symbols and words with the title 'map key' at the top. She touched the area again and it expanded up on side.

Running down the side of the map was a list.

Friendly: 100

Magical beings: 239

Magical items: 25

Unknown: 2

Warded areas: 17

Werewolves: 43

Below that was a description of what each dot colour meant. Ron was watching the map closely. "No attempts at strategy at all, just one mass rush." He frowned, thinking back over some of the things he'd learned over the summer. 'Something is wrong here, Harry. Greyback is more cunning than this."

Harry was one the mirror again. "All units, we have forty three enemy troops approaching from the north. Auror Wilkes, they're coming your way. Moody, you and Auror Shacklebolt are the next two closest groups. Support and assist. Fred, you and George break your group in half and cover their positions."

Harry watched as the white dots began moving. He passed the mirror to Ron. "You know what to do, Ron." Ron nodded, his eyes on the map.

Harry pulled his broomstick from his pocket and tapped it with his wand. He turned, to see the rest of his group was already mounted, even Hermione. Hermione was not the best flyer, but she could use a broom as well as any normal witch. It was only the superior skills of her closest friends that made her look worse than she was.

Pansy, who was not a Quidditch obsessed flyer, or one with a massive amount of natural skill, was no better than she was, and they tended to hang back and fly higher than the rest.

Harry smiled at them. His grinned turned into a smirk for a second as he looked at Hermione. He held a finger to his lips. "Shhh, be wevvy, wevvy quiet. I'm hunting werewolwes."

Hermione stared at him blankly for a second before she got the Elmer Fudd imitation. She rolled her eyes. "Of all the things you could get from the Muggle world, you had to remember a cartoon?"

Harry shrugged and looked at the map again. The red dots were still two kilometres from the rapidly gathering white dots and when Harry turned around again, he was very serious. "I want everyone to come back. No exceptions."

He lifted off, the rest following him in a group. Luna and Neville were close together, with Pansy, Hermione and Miranda behind them.

Out in front, Harry led Ginny and Auror Fairwater, who was not bad on a Broomstick. The group came closer to the area where the werewolves were coming from and slowed, searching the area for signs of the battle.

Harry heard a buzzing in his pocket and slowed a bit more to take out a mirror. "Go ahead, Ron."

"The enemy is about one hundred metres ahead of the Order and you are about two hundred behind them and slightly left of them."

Harry nodded, forgetting Ron couldn't see him. "Thanks, Ron." He put the mirror away and headed in the direction Ron had indicated. They'd barely started when a couple of howls and some light flashes showed them exactly where the battle was.

Harry snarled silently and took off, quickly outpacing everyone else on his Broomstick. Harry's new Broom wasn't as fast as his Firebolt, but it was still the best the Comet company made and no one else had one to compare to it, except Ginny and she simply didn't have Harry's skill.

Harry shot over a tree to see the battle below him. Auror Wilkes had laid out the portable swamps in two legs, forming a V shape that funnelled the beast controlled werewolves down into a tightly packed mass and impeded their superior speed.

Some of the smarter ones were turning from the massed spells that her group was firing into their midst, but Moody and Shacklebolt were on the flanks and targeting those trying to run. Harry threw a Reductor at a werewolf trying to escape, cutting his leg nearly in half just above the knee. A second later another curse Harry didn't recognize was splashing the werewolf's head across the swamp he fell into.

Harry felt the buzz again and pulled up, watching the battle. "Harry! Twenty two more have appeared, right in the middle of town!"

Harry's eyes blazed and he turned for town, pushing the Comet 310 hard. His team followed, unsure of why Harry was changing the plan, but trusting him to have a good reason.

Ron had been watching the battle when the map key changed and the red dots appeared in a building in the town. He'd called the nearest groups and then told Harry.

Ron was looking at the battle, where werewolves were going down rapidly and then back at the town, where red dots were entering houses in all directions. "All groups, we have twenty two werewolves in the town. They are splitting up and entering the houses."

Auror Wilkes heard that and swore. They still had a dozen or so werewolves to take care of here. She looked at her people and called Moody. "Our two groups can handle this, go help the Muggles."

Moody didn't need any more urging and collected his people, Apparating away within a minute.

Auror Wilkes turned back to killing werewolves with a snarl. This was going to be a bloody night.

Greyback snarled at the woman in front of him and tore her throat out with a careless swipe of his claws, glorying in the spray of blood over his face. Greyback was an Alpha wolf and he still had some intelligence, even as he allowed his beast to run rampant.

He smirked as his ears caught the sounds of howling outside of town. From the sounds, they were encountering resistance. That would keep the Aurors busy. A week ago, one of his followers had missed an appointment. Some quick magic had shown them that he had been Obviated and those fools out there were paying the price. Greyback had taken them all from their homes this morning, when no one expected to see a werewolf in public, and it was likely no one knew yet that many of the lesser werewolves, the ones that tried not to hurt people were even missing yet. By setting them up in the forest at the edge of town, he had made sure that they would attack as soon as the smell of eat and blood reached their enhanced senses.

They would give him time to do what had to be done tonight.

He leaped, busting out of the window after his nose told him no one else was alive in this house. He would show those fools how to kill properly. He landed and howled, a victory howl as his nose and ears told him that the hunting this night was superb.

He ran down the street, seeking another house of living meat to kill.

Ron was directing people toward red dots, but it was taking time. The red dots of the werewolves had split up, going in twenty different directions at once. Since he could only talk to someone with a mirror, he had to relay a red dot location to whoever had the mirror and they relayed to a group of fighters who would move in to contain the werewolf.

He noted absently that Harry and the other broomstick riders were entering town but he was too busy to say anything to them right then.

Susan Bones peered around the broken doorway of the house that had a werewolf in it, according to her group leader. She didn't see anything, and motioned the rest of her people to follow her. They were all inside when a scream echoed from upstairs somewhere and cut off with a sudden gurgle. She was starting toward the stairs when a werewolf came bounding down them.

His speed put him among them before they could get a curse off and a slash of yellowed claws opened the chest of Dean Thomas, crumpling him where he stood.

The werewolf was over two metres tall and Susan stuck her wand at the base of his skull and cast the Concussio spell that Charlie Weasley had used so well.

The werewolf dropped, his head simply gone in a fine red mist. Susan caught a glimpse of Colin Creevy snapping a picture as she dropped to check on her team mate and friend. "He's alive. Give me a Portkey."

Hands picked her up and another took her place. Dean and Seamus Finnegan were gone. "Sorry, but we need you here. They'll take care of them."

Susan looked at her team. "We need to stay spread out a bit more. Remember that speed."

She pulled out her mirror as she led them out of the house. "One down, where's the next one?"

Auror Wilkes was supervising the final clean up of the werewolves at the first battle site, although it had not been a battle, but a slaughter. She was absently wondering why Greyback had been so stupid. He fought better than this.

Almost all of the werewolves that had come in this way were dead, and the ones that weren't, were trussed up in silver chains that kept them unconscious and docile. They were making sure they hadn't missed any of them right now, and that all of the 'dead' bodies were dead.

That was proven to be a good thing as a werewolf erupted from the edge of a swamp, attacking the Auror that had gotten a little too close. The Auror's cries barely lasted a second before a gaping muzzle was buried in his throat and claws were tearing and shredding things in his abdomen.

The Auror fell and before the bloody monster could move, a dozen curses hit him at once, ripping him apart much as he had just done to the young Auror.

Auror Wilkes winced. That made three of hers dead and four badly enough wounded to need the field hospital. Hopefully, none of them would be turned.

Fred and George had been tasked out for a new duty. Their people from the Diagon Alley Defence Group had a lot of Portkeys and they were desperately trying to evacuate Muggles from outlying houses, moving into town.

The Portkeys sent the Muggles to a warehouse where the Obliviators were waiting. They would have a memory of a bad gas leak planted in their heads after the memories of the night were erased.

By dawn, the town would look as if a gas leak had erupted, covering any evidence they couldn't destroy of the evening's events. Harry had hoped to contained the werewolves outside of town, but Ron had insisted on planning for the worst case scenario.

This wasn't it, but it was bad enough.

Hermione and Pansy were providing cover for Harry, Ginny and Miss Fairwater. Hermione was certain Harry was doing something to make the werewolves attack him, because all he was doing was floating down the street slowly, about a metre off the ground.

As he went along, every so often, a werewolf would come out of the shadows or a house and come straight for Harry. None of them had reached him yet, not with spells coming from five different wands and directions.

Ron was watching the town and cursing. The map was fuzzy as more and more dots collected in town. He was certain there were at least five more red dots in town, but he couldn't find them.

The map went black suddenly and then cleared to being a simple sheet of parchment. Ron touched it with his wand. "The Order Without a Name."

He swore and jumped back as the parchment burst into flames. He grabbed his Broomstick and took off, heading for town.

In town, Harry and his group had stopped another werewolf, and then landed as Hermione and Luna worked on the two Muggles that the werewolf had been attacking when they came on him. Miss Fairwater and Miranda were standing at the edges of the group, watching for more werewolves and Neville was handing things to Luna from her bag.

Ginny was the only one that hadn't landed yet, circling overhead and providing air cover. She passed by a house with a broken door and windows, indicating a werewolf had already been there and left when she heard a faint cry.

She slowed, cocking her head, and heard it again. There was a baby crying in the house. Ginny flew in through the shattered window, her wand out. She landed and followed the faint cry.

She nearly threw up as she walked past the remains of a woman. She followed the cry to a small room. In the room, she found a baby hidden hastily in a closet. She picked the child up and shushed it, trying to calm the child.

She turned, starting back out the way she'd come. A hideous snarl greeted her and she looked up to see two werewolves entering the room, their eyes fixed on her and the child.

Ginny froze for a second and that was too long as the one in front jumped at her.

Harry looked around as Hermione's Portkey sent the Muggles away for better care than they could give them. He pulled his mirror and was about to call Ron when Ron landed next to him.

"The map blew up, Harry. We have almost all of the werewolves down, but there may be one or two more." Ron looked around. "Where's Ginny?"

The group looked around. A scream and a howl came from a building one door down and they spun. Harry was there one second and not the next. The crack that announced his departure left them all a little shaken as they rushed for the sounds.

Ron and Miss Fairwater were just entering the house when a new sound assaulted their ears. It was an unearthly cry of loss and anger.

The house glowed for a second, before every window in it and two of the walls blew up, pelting them all with debris and glass. Miranda grabbed Hermione. Hermione struggled but Miranda didn't even notice as she removed a shard of glass from Hermione's neck and healed the deep gash. By the time she was done, the others were inside. Ron and Miss Fairwater picked themselves up from the ground and followed Pansy into the house.

Ginny jumped back into the closet as the werewolf jumped at her, turning her back on the creature, sheltering the baby in her arms as she pulled her wand. Blinding agony shot through her system as the werewolf raked her back, opening her robes and skin open, baring her spine and tearing chunks of meat and skin away. She screamed as one of the monsters howled.

She held on to consciousness with a ragged edge and stuck her wand under her arm. "Concussio."

He fell, Charlie's spell ripping and pulverizing his upper half into so much shredded meat. Ginny would never find out how well her spell worked as the second werewolf stepped on his dead companion and reached out to grab Ginny's exposed spine and rip it out of her body.

Ginny faded out, crumpling around the baby that was still crying weakly, her last thought to cover it with her body, hoping that someone would be here in time to save the child.

The werewolf was reaching for her again when a crack hurt his ears and he spun, Ginny's spine in his hand still. Before he saw what was behind him a new sound tore across his ears, making him howl in pain as the impossibly loud sound ripped at his acute hearing.

Harry Apparated as he heard the scream, not knowing how he did it blind, and not even thinking about it. He appeared behind a werewolf who spun and Harry's world stopped, everything frozen in crystal clarity before him.

The werewolf, with something red and bloody in his hand.

An even bloodier body, with hair he knew better than his own, crumpling behind it.

A faint cry, coming from the body.

Harry screamed, anger, hate and fear for Ginny sending his emotionally powered magic to heights he'd never reached in training. The house shuddered and shook as Harry screamed and he directed everything he felt at the werewolf.

The thing disappeared, gone in a flash of burning light.

Harry crawled over the body, never realizing he was on his knees. He tried to turn her over, but she didn't turn right, her body twisting in ways nothing human should be able to move. Harry moaned, and suddenly his magic flared again. He had this power. He could fix this.

He reached, pushing the power into Ginny, willing her to live again. He could feel the damage repairing itself, healing all the marks the werewolves had inflicted on her, replacing everything and he reached deeper, pushing more magic into her.

Pansy reached the room first and saw Harry surrounded by a glowing light, Ginny's body in his arms. She saw Ginny's body and her heart fell. No magic in the world could bring a wizard back from those injuries. Spines and brains were two of the trickiest things to work on, and no one had yet found a way to replace a missing spine. She started toward Harry when the light around him flared and then disappeared, flowing into Ginny. She stared, disbelieving, as Ginny's injuries disappeared.

That was impossible. She looked at Harry and saw his eyes. They were fixed on something only he could see as his lips formed one word again and again.

"Live."

Pansy suddenly knew what Harry was trying to do. She moved toward him, only to be stopped by the heat that was starting to radiate from Harry. She could feel her skin beginning to burn, like a bad sunburn.

Pansy cried out but Harry never changed, even as his hair singed and his skin reddened, blistering badly. Pansy raised her wand. Harry was going to keep trying to raise Ginny until he literally burned out and she couldn't think of any other way to stop him

"Stupefy."

The beam hit Harry and Pansy flew though the wall as Harry exploded in a wash of magical energy.

OoOoOoO The Author, Here and Now. OoOoOoO

I have known since before I wrote the second chapter that Ginny was going to die. While I don't have the rather severe dislike of her that some people do, I don't feel that her personality, what we saw of it, is right for Harry and a long term relationship. Harry is going to be a right mess in the next chapter and it may take some determined work work by a few people to bring him out of it.

In other news, I am working on the next chapter of BoB and MM&WS and chapter two of the Penultimate Straw is at the Beta Team of Kinsfire and Ishtar (Whose works you should read. Really, go on and read them, I'll wait. Sounds of humming and singing. OK, that was worth it, wasn't it?) along with the final chapter of Sweet, Sweet Revenge.

OoOoOoO The Fate of Ginny's Killer. OoOoOoO

He screamed, deep in the back of the mind of this creature. He'd caught the scent of another hunter, a hound of some kind, this time and he was off and running again.

He knew who he was, of course. His name was Jonathan Nott, second cousin to Theodore Nott and third in command of Greyback's pack.

What he didn't understand was how he'd become this small rabbit or why it had a bleeding wound that attracted every hunter in the area. He didn't understand why it never healed either.

What he did know was that he had already been eaten a dozen times, and still he returned to this body the next dawn, only to be eaten again, by foxes, wild ferrets, weasels and anything else big enough to tear the flesh from his body and devour him.

He could all too vividly recall each death, the pain and fear of this helpless little creature he'd become as he died again and again.

Had he known that this would continue forever, until the planet died, he might have despaired. Had he known that he would never go insane or end this torment, he would have despaired.

Instead, he ran, hunted and eaten every day.