Godric's Hollow
The next day

The five dark robed and masked wizards crept up through the woods to the edge of the clearing. After watching roughly a half hour, they stood up and stepped into the clearing to confer.

"I don't see anything different from the last time we were here." This from Bella Lestrange. "The Dark Lord says that he detected magic coming from here, but whoever was here must have already left. Nothing here but the ruins of Potter's old house."

"Do you think that we should go closer to make sure?" Her husband Rudolphus asked.

Bella looked at the ruins with distaste. "No, I'm sure that it was probably just one of those fools for the Order doing something on behalf of the Potter brat. Wherever he might be…. Probably keeping company with the Longbottoms at St. Mungo's. Either that or he is dead and they are just hiding his death. This is the only time that I have wished that the Dark Lord hadn't killed Pettigrew. He was an aggravating little twit, but at least no one would have noticed a rat hanging around in some of these places."

She suddenly stopped, looked down at her forearm, then at the other Death Eaters. She nodded. "He is calling, let's go." With that, the Death Eaters disappeared.

"Whew! That was close." Tonks said. "Apparently we set the spells properly. If they had come about 3 feet farther, we were going to have a fight on our hands."

"Yeah, but they're really slipping up. The Bella Lestrange I remember would have turned over every rock here to carry out Voldemort's bidding. They must be getting a bit disheartened that someone is actually showing some defiance toward them instead of just quaking in their boots." With that, Harry reentered the sweat lodge. He had finished the interior, now it sported painted hides on the walls and a fire pit in the middle. There were some cowhides on the floor to sit upon and a small rack holding earthenware jars filled with different powders and paints. It was now time for the dedication.

Harry took off his robes, leaving him clad only in a soft leather loincloth. He then pulled out a small mirror, and grabbing a few pots off the rack, painted the ceremonial lines and symbols on his face and chest. Once done with this, he placed wood in the fire pit and ignited it with his wand. When the fire was blazing well, he took some powders out of the pots, threw them on the fire and began chanting the spells which would activate the powers of the lodge. As he sat cross-legged, chanting, the symbols painted on the hides, one at a time, began to glow, spreading in a clockwise direction until all of the symbols cast a gentle golden light. Then the markings on Harry's body, starting with the lines on his face, took on the same unearthly glow. Although he knew it was coming, the voice in his head startled him.

"Harry James Potter. I am the Keeper of the Gate between Earth and Eternity. You will speak to me only this one time. You must now name your spirit guide. Choose well, for your guide will be the only one who will be able to open the gate into your lodge from this world."

"I name Sirius Black, bound to me in ceremony as my Godfather, charged by my parents to protect and care for me in my youth."

"Well spoken Harry Potter. I call forward Sirius Black, Godfather to Harry Potter! Do you, Sirius Black, agree to be in the service of your Godson, Harry Potter, be his spirit guide and his gatekeeper between the two worlds?"

"Merlin, YES!" The emphatic voice of Sirius rang in Harry's head. Hearing it, Harry almost lost his concentration, but recovered.

"Very well, go to him." Harry could sense amusement in the voice of the Keeper of the Gate, and thought for a moment that it sounded somewhat like Dumbledore. Not the voice itself, but the wry good humor in the sound of the voice. "Harry Potter, good fortune to you." With that, the Keeper of the Gate withdrew and the silvery shape of Sirius formed in the sweat lodge, sitting directly across from Harry.

"Harry, I can't believe how good you look!" Sirius snickered. "I would say that your wardrobe leaves a bit to be desired though. Your Mom and Dad want to see you though. When I was summoned, they followed me to the gate. Are you ready to see them?" Harry nodded. Sirius stood up and reached his hand in the air. Part of his arm disappeared. "James, Lily, come through." With that, the spirits of his parents materialised next to Sirius. He pulled back his arm and sat down. The arm now looked whole. Harry assumed that he had lost sight of the arm as it went into the spirit world while opening the door.

"My baby boy is all grown up!" Lily exclaimed. James cocked his eyebrow at Harry while taking in the body paint and loincloth.

"Its part of the magic, Dad. It is native American magic, something that Voldemort cannot detect. There are no good British spells for this."

"Whatever it takes, Son. We are always seeing spirits from other places and hearing them brag about visiting their families. It gets to the point where spirits from our traditions start feeling a bit forgotten. Maybe you could go into business selling spirit houses here. Make a change so that they look like proper parlors.. Not that you need the money, but it might be nice for our friends to see their families."

Lily took in Harry's garb. "And maybe figure some way to dress up a bit so the spirits won't be too terribly shocked." She smiled. "You are one handsome man now though."

James grinned. "Of course he is dear, he looks just like me. Your eyes though."

Harry gave them a rundown on all that had happened the past couple of years. When he told them about Dumbledore's death, they both looked shaken and confused. "We have not seen him, Harry", his mother said.

"What? I saw him die. I was there when Snape cast the killing spell. I saw him entombed! HE WAS DEAD! Is there some other plane of existence he could have gone to?"

"Not that we know of. I could ask when I get home though." This from Sirius. "As far as Voldemort and his gang of thugs killing us though, you cannot EVER blame yourself. We made the choice to stand and fight. We gave up our lives willingly, he did not take them from us. And don't blame yourself for Cedric either. He does not blame you, I have spoken to him since he arrived. He is happy where he is, but he does want justice. You have to put the pain behind you and deliver that justice. For him and all of the other victims of Voldemort's rage. You are our soldier, Harry. The scales of good and evil will be out of balance until justice has been delivered, not just to Voldemort, but also his followers."

"I will do my best, Padfoot." Harry swore.

"Don't just do your best, reach inside you and take the power to excel. Whatever sacrifice you must make will be rewarded. Cleanse the earth of those evildoers who have hurt so many for so long." This from James.

"I promise. I wish I could stay here forever, but I need to get back to the castle. The next time, I will bring Lupin with me. He really wants to see you all."

The three spirits stepped around the fire and embraced Harry. Unlike the cold feeling when a ghost passes though a person, this was warm and comforting. Harry felt the brush of lips against his face, then Sirius reached up, opened the gate between worlds, and the spirits vanished.

Harry took his wand and put out the fire. He then wiped off the paints, then got dressed. Going outside, he nodded at his three bodyguards, then said, "It's done. Let's go home." With that, Tonks pulled out her portkey, they all took hold, and disappeared.

Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft

Appearing at the entrance of the school, they went inside. As the door shut behind them, a voice was heard. "Hem, hem". In shock, they turned to the side and saw a robed and masked Death Eater. Without stopping to think, all three drew their wands and fired off an assortment of curses. Nothing happened. The Death Eater pulled back its hood and took off the mask, revealing the laughing face of Ron Weasley.

"Merlin! You should have seen your faces!" Ron could not stop laughing. You looked as if you had been caught with your pants down."

"What is the meaning of this?" Moody asked angrily.

"Relax, it is part of the plan. We just had to see how it would work." This from Minerva McGonagall. She strode up to the group. "Mr. Dursley has been working on his part in the plan, but needed to test it in real-life conditions. It worked wonderfully. Mr. Dursley, please come here."

Dudley stepped out from behind a column. "What I did was nullify all magic in a particular area, that being the entrance hall. I just used my regular wand for this area, on the battleground I will be using my dueling wand."

"Why would you want to disrupt all of the magic in the area?" Tonks asked.

"Well, Harry has told me about how the Death Eaters always seem to escape as soon as the battle is not going their way. They will be expecting anti-disappearation spells, but they could still use a portkey. This way, the only way that they will be able to fight is with their hands. No killing curses, no severing spells, no Crucio… What they are going to have is oddly shaped sticks that do nothing against our weapons that will work. Ours will work because they won't be dependent on magic. And as soon as we disable a Death Eater, we will break their wands and non-magically bind them. We can also make sure that they cannot appearate when the magic is restored."

"What about when they are sent to Azkaban? They'll just escape again. Just like always."

"That is not going to happen." McGonagall said flatly. "The Wizagamot tried them all in abstentia the last couple of days and sentenced them to death. Of course, they did not come in to the court to defend themselves, but it means when they are captured, they go straight through the Veil in the Department of Mysteries. The Ministry has also taken a page out of the American Bureau of Magic's book and has ordered the extermination of all Dementors. We are all going to be working on the spells that the Americans have sent over to accomplish that end."

For the first time in ages, Harry felt hope that they could actually win this battle and come out unscathed.

"What's for dinner?" he asked with a smile.