A/N: I do not own Harry Potter
A/N2: I would like to thank .Grey13 for thanking the time out to read through the draft.
SIXTEEN
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Scotland
Harry lay perfectly content on the bed, his eyes fixed upon his sleeping wife. Even as he stared at her, he could see the sun shining, and because Hermione was the one who was facing towards the sun, it certainly made true the statement, 'to watch the sunrise at your face'.
The two of them were inside the private quarters of the Duke of Gryffindor, though as he and Hermione had looked around their new quarters last night, the two of them thought that it would probably be more apt to just call it an apartment.
This was because the said private quarters had eight different rooms, a common room, a sitting room, kitchen, dinning room, a bathroom that was probably the size of half of a Hogwarts classroom, a training room, and two bedrooms. Of course, Harry and Hermione had decided to just use one of the bedrooms.
The bedroom that they had chosen was the bigger room, it was half the size of an average London flat, complete with its own private bathroom and two walk in closets, each large enough to hold clothes that would last half a year without ever having to repeat said clothes.
The room was decorated much like the common room at Gryffindor tower, though that was hardly surprising since they are in the private quarters of the Duke of Gryffindor, but the carpet was of a richer gold color, and the walls are devoid of any paintings. Hermione believed that the reason for that was because magical portraits can be used to spy on people, so she reckoned that the last person to occupy the quarters had ordered them removed.
Harry carefully stretched as he stiffened a yawn, he did not wish to disturb his wife from her sleep, but after he stretched and looked at her, he conceded that it was already too late for that since Hermione was already stirring herself awake.
For a brief few moments after she had woken herself up, Hermione looked at Harry with a confused expression on her face, but Harry knew that his wife was not confused because of his presence on the bed. The two of them, after all, are well used to it by now, but rather, she was confused because she could not recognize where they were in the short amount of time available to her to recognize her surroundings.
Just as quick as this confusion had arrived at her face, the said confusion vanished as she finally remembered where they were. She cast one glance towards the ceiling of their room, smiled, and then looked back at Harry before she mouthed, "Good morning, my love"
Harry smiled at her, he leaned in closer to her, kissed her lightly on the lips, before he pulled away and smiled at her while saying, "Good morning, my love"
Hermione returned the morning greeting of her husband, and then she playfully pushed him off of the bed. Luckily for Harry, he was well prepared by now, being pushed off your bed every morning since you started to sleep with your wife would do that, and he was able to jump to his feet the same moment that he felt the bed run out under him, earning him a playful frown from the face of his wife.
"I've since learned that being pushed off of the bed can be a painful thing, love" Harry replied, he smiled as his wife started to laugh. Hermione continued laughing while Harry made his way to her side of the bed and gently helped her to his feet. Unlike Hermione, Harry was too much of a gentleman to try anything funny, well, that and he did not really like to irritate a freshly woken Hermione Potter.
Hermione gratefully accepted her husband's offer, and she allowed him to help her to her feet. She saw the appreciative smile on her husband's face, but she chose not to comment on it, since when she saw the smile, she smiled as well, and she knew that it had something to do with her choice of nightdress.
Hermione looked down at herself, and smiled. Mentally, she thanked her mom for introducing her to nightgowns, and she congratulated herself for having the foresight to buy herself half a dozen white short sleeved gowns.
"It's not fair, you know" Harry suddenly said.
Hermione frowned as she looked at her husband, "What's not fair?" she asked, using a tone of voice that they both knew well, it was the tone of voice that she used whenever she was about to launch into rant mode.
Harry smiled at his wife, "You get to seduce your husband with that almost nothing that you are wearing and we are not allowed to progress far enough" he mock-complained.
Hermione smiled, "I seem to remember that it was you who instituted that rule, my dear husband" she replied. She paused for a few moments, and then she added, "Come on, we are going to be late for breakfast".
Undisclosed Location
British Indian Ocean Territory
Walden MacNair was surrounded by white. Even if he kept his eyes closed, which was most of the time, he saw white.
When he regained consciousness, the ministry executioner discovered that he was standing in a deep, cylindrical tube, a kind of a silo. About ten feet high, its walls were perfectly smooth, coated with plaster that had been painted white and then finished with something to make it shine. High beyond his reach were two big flood lamps that burned continuously. There was a total absence of darkness, not even a hint of shadows.
This frightened him. He was used to working in the shadows, after all, and MacNair understood the darkness would protect him. Being placed in the middle of a silo that had nothing but light was more than enough to instill panic in him, for the light somehow communicated to him that he had been caught and not even the Dark Lord would be able to save him.
At first, MacNair thought that it was some makeshift holding cell. That thought actually reassured him. He had had brief experiences with confinement, it was part of his job, both his public and private, but then he discovered that the diameter of the silo was barely large enough to accommodate his shoulders. He could lean a few inches in any direction, but he could not sit down.
After a while, he thought he heard a faint hum, like a bee buzzing in his ear. As the hours passed, the buzzing got stronger and stronger, and the walls, whiter and whiter, before they started to close in on him, and that was when MacNair first closed his eyes, briefly.
When he opened his eyes again, the whiteness was even starker, if such a thing were possible.
MacNair used his mental exercises in an attempt to keep what he recognized was his sanity from slipping. For a while, it helped, but he discovered, to his horror, that no matter how hard he tried, he would always slip.
He figured that his losing battle to get a grip on his sanity had something to do with the white walls that he was seeing, so he closed his eyes and attempted to clear his mind once more.
Again, for a while, it worked, but then the buzzing got stronger, as if a forty ton bee was buzzing its wings right on his ear, then MacNair heard what might have been a scream, a human scream. He had no idea that the sound was coming from him.
Without warning, he staggered back, falling through a concealed door. He felt someone grab his shoulders and drag him outside the place where he was confined. For a brief moment, the whiteness was gone, but then someone slipped a hood over his head, and the white had returned.
"Everything is going to be alright" a gentle female voice that MacNair did not recognize said softly. The voice spoke so softly and so gently that MacNair would have sworn that the person was whispering right beside his ear, "I'm going to take away all the pain" the voice promised, "All if it" she assured him, "You'll have some water, then you can talk to me"
Suddenly, MacNair threw his arms around the source of the voice, holding her as a drowning man would a piece of driftwood. All the while, the voice continued to talk to him and still him, until he was able to take his first halting steps.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Scotland
Harry and Hermione had their breakfast away from Ron and Ginny Weasley. They were thankful that Neville had kept true to his word that he would cover them, the Longbottom heir had chosen to take a seat beside Hermione during breakfast, while Fred and George did their part by taking the seats that were directly opposite Harry and Hermione.
Since Harry had taken the seat at the edge of the table, he did not need to worry about anyone taking the seat beside him. It was a good thing too, since his attention was mostly towards Hermione during the course of the breakfast.
Fred and George, who were seated opposite them, would later wonder how the two of them, Harry and Hermione, were even able to eat their breakfast when they must have spent the entire breakfast hour staring at one another.
After breakfast was potions class. Surprisingly, Snape appeared to have been in no mood to taunt Harry, and since Malfoy had still to return from wherever he went during the first night, potions class went without a hitch. Snape, it seemed, was wise enough not to provoke either Harry or Hermione after the revelations during the feast.
Harry, working with Hermione, since Ron used to be his partner, was able to produce a perfect example of the potion that they were brewing (the Draught of Peace) that even Snape had no choice but to compliment him on it (it appeared as if you needed five years in order to brew a perfect potion Potter was what he said).
It was not enough to remove the smile that was written on Harry's face.
When they entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, they found Umbridge already seated at the teacher's desk. With an audible groan, after all, the entire school had witnessed her humiliation, the class entered the classroom. It could not be denied that almost everyone was hoping that she would be gone from Hogwarts.
"Well, good afternoon" Umbridge said when finally the whole class had sat down.
A few people mumbled, "Good afternoon" in reply, though Harry and Hermione could tell that they only did so because they did not want to appear impolite.
"Tut, tut" said the professor. "That won't do, now, will it? I would like you, please, to reply 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge.' One more time, please. Good Afternoon, class!"
Before anyone could reply, a voice from behind the class said, "We are here to study Defense Against the Dark Arts, not etiquette" the voice said.
Everyone turned towards the source of the voice, including Harry and Hermione, with a shocked expression on their faces, but none was more shocked than Professor Umbridge herself. Well, she was at first, but Harry and Hermione were quickly wearing the same shocked expression when they saw that it was none other than Pansy Parkinson who said those words.
Umbridge looked ready to reply, but before she could open her mouth, Pansy added, "I could be spending the day trying to woo Ginny Weasley, yet I am stuck here listening to an oversized toad as she tries to teach us etiquette" she sniggered.
Harry and Hermione blinked and looked at one another. The unasked question, 'who drank the potion last night' was finally answered, and now that they know the answer, they could not help but smile.
"You're right" Blaise Zabini joined his housemate, the rather handsome Slytherin looked at Umbridge with disgust before he turned back to his housemate and added, "Do you think that you and I would be in-laws soon Pansy? I mean, you fancy Ginny and I kind of fancy Ronald" and with that, he cast an almost shy look towards the red-head, who promptly hid under his desk.
If it was physically possible for eyes to pop out, then both Harry's emerald green orbs and Hermione's almond brown eyes would have popped off of their eye sockets. The married couple looked at one another and mentally thought the same thing, 'this was bloody brilliant and insane as well'
"Professor" Pansy said in mock deference, "I recognize that you must be a powerful magical user, after all, not all toads are capable of transforming into humans, but professor, being able to do such a thing is an accomplishment in itself, you do not need to claim that you are an expert in defense, we know that you are an accomplished magical user already"
"Professor" Blaise added, "If anything else, your defeat at the hands of Professor Flitwick had proves that you are not cut out for this course, but I do not think that that is enough of a justification for you to start teaching us etiquette" he promptly stood up, made a show of gathering his things, before he turned towards the professor and said, "I would be taking my leave now," he walked towards Ron and then said, "Would you mind showing me around?"
"Detention!" Umbridge spat out, "Parkinson and Zabini, I would have thought that purebloods like you would behave better than Potter here!"
Now that his name had been dragged, Harry had no choice but to get involved as well. The Duke of Gryffindor stood up from his seat and turned his attention towards his defense professor. The glare that he was giving the defense professor was more than enough to make her cower, "I would appreciate it very much, Professor, if you would refrain from dragging my name into this," he smirked, "After all, it would not do well if the world were to figure out that you are harassing me after you and the Minister lost your case against me"
"I think that what she had just said constituted defamation of character, my love" Hermione suddenly said, "We can sue her for that, I bet Anton and the press would have a field day"
Harry smiled at his wife, "I could already imagine the headlines" he looked at Umbridge, "Incompetent Toad defames the character of Boy-Who-Lived, do you think Fudge would survive the fall out that this would cause, Senior Undersecretary?" he added the last with sarcasm.
"Out!" Umbridge suddenly yelled, "All of you, out of this room now! One thousand points from all of you!"
At that moment, a deep sound, seemingly having come from within the walls of the castle itself, clanged, and for a brief moment, everyone in the defense classroom could see the fearful expression that was written on the face of their defense professor.
Entertainment, however, was rudely interrupted a few moments later when, with a loud pop that usually accompanies an apparition, Dolores Umbridge disappeared from her classroom, much to the confusion of all the students except for Harry and Hermione.
"Well, it seems that Hogwarts is deciding on her own on that one" Harry commented to his wife.
"I bet that it would be a popular decision, love" Hermione replied.
Professor McGonagall chose that moment to appear in the classroom. She was fully prepared to disturb Dolores Umbridge because there was something that she needed to talk about with the Lord and Lady Gryffindor, so she was pleasantly surprised when she entered the defense classroom and failed to find said toad anywhere.
"She was kicked by the castle, Professor" Harry said in an almost bored tone as the class witnessed Professor McGonagall looking around the classroom, "Needless to say, she would not be coming back"
The edge of the lip of the Scottish Professor turned up, but then she nodded, "Then we would have to look for a new defense Professor" she replied, and then she sighed, "that is not the reason I am here, though," she turned his attention towards Harry and Hermione, "My Lord and Lady Gryffindor" she announced formally, "I would like to speak with you about your bodyguards"
Harry looked at Hermione, who nodded upon meeting the gaze of her husband. Harry nodded back and then turned his attention once more towards the Transfiguration professor, "Lead the way, Professor"
Undisclosed location
British Indian Ocean Territory
Al, Remus and Sirius stood at the edge of the small makeshift room, their gaze concentrated upon the man seated at the edge of the table that was located at the center of the room.
Walden MacNair was a feared man, but after the treatment that he had received, that had changed. His eyes were glassy and washed out, like those of day-old fish on ice. His voice was a monotone, with no timbre or texture to it. When he spoke, it was as though he had been hypnotized.
Seated opposite MacNair was a young woman, no more than twenty five years of age from her looks, with blonde hair. On her lap, covered by a cloth, was a gun, the barrel pointed at MacNair's shoulders, though everyone could see that that was unnecessary, as there were five men armed with FN FAL battle rifles in the room after all. If MacNair were so much as to twitch the wrong way, he would have found himself staring at the business end of those rifles.
The Ministry executioner, however, paid no heed to these men, in fact, to him, these men did not exist. He only had his eyes for the woman who was seated in front of him, his interrogator.
"Are you sure that she can do it?" a clearly worried Sirius asked Al. Beside him, Remus also nursed his doubts in regards to this interrogation method, but the werewolf was smart enough to realize that Al knew what he was doing.
Al smiled, "Hillary was a professional interrogator with the NSA before I met her and recruited her" he replied, "She's the best we have when it comes to interrogators"
Sirius looked unsure, but then he nodded. The marauder understood the reasons why Al had chosen to do the interrogation without veritaserum, but understanding the reason did not make him approve of it. Sirius Black, after all, was a member of a pureblood family, and some of their ideology of magical being superior to muggles has rubbed off on him.
"What is your name, please" the woman that Al had referred to as Hillary had started her interrogation. Her voice was soft, as if she was speaking with a child. Remus and Sirius would not complain about the tone of voice that she used, because, judging from the tone of voice that the ministry executioner had used when he replied, she may as well be speaking with a child rather than a cold-blooded killer. .
Sirius and Remus expected MacNair to start sprouting off his pureblood ideology, so they were pleasantly surprised when MacNair replied, "Walden Christopher MacNair" he replied.
"What do you do?" Hillary asked pleasantly.
"I work as an executioner for the Ministry of Magic in Britain" he replied, he did not hesitate to add, "I also am the executioner of the Dark Lord"
"Name all the Death Eaters that you can remember, please"
MacNair nodded, unaware that at that moment, he was giving the people who would be listening to the tape recorder currently on the surface of the table a list of people that would take them weeks to identify and locate.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Scotland
Professor McGonagall led Harry and Hermione into her office. Once they were seated, she sealed her office. She was well aware that the Headmaster would want to gatecrash this meeting.
"Now that we are alone, Lord and Lady Gryffindor" McGonagall began, "I would like to ask you about those bodyguards that you have told me about"
"Please call us Harry and Hermione, Professor" Harry replied, he smiled at his favorite professor and added, "You have earned that right, Professor" he said.
"Thank you Mister….Harry" McGonagall replied, she sighed and then looked at Hermione, "You too Hermione"
Hermione smiled, "You were instrumental in helping the two of us find each other professor" she replied, "If not for you introducing me to the magical world, I would not have known Harry, and while I believe that we would have met eventually, I still like this better" and with that, she promptly stood from her seat, made the short crossing to the chair that Harry was using and sat at the lap of her husband.
"Yes" McGonagall agreed, she sighed again before she continued, "About these guards, Harry?"
Harry nodded, "Yes Professor" he replied, "Hedwig returned with a letter this morning" he explained. He noted that the eyes of his professor, and Harry guessed that the transfiguration professor failed to catch Hedwig coming in during breakfast.
Harry would have laughed then and there if the secret was not so important. The reason that Professor McGonagall did not see Hedwig this morning was because the owl was not the one who delivered the letter, in fact, no owl was used, and no letter was delivered. The method of communication was the mirrors.
"Al and a select few of our bodyguards would be heading here tomorrow to have a discussion with you" Hermione added for her husband, "You'll like Al, he is a no non-sense kind of a person"
"He was a Hogwarts student, but did not finish Professor" Harry replied, "Gryffindor house"
"Alvin York, yes I remember him, Harry" Professor McGonagall replied, she smiled fondly, "Does he still claim that defense is his best subject?"
Harry nodded, "Yes, professor" he replied.
McGonagall smiled, "I see" she replied, "then perhaps he would help me fix the problem that his two charges had created" she looked amusedly at Harry and Hermione, both of whom were wearing confused expression on their faces. The Scottish professor decided to cut them some slack and added, "Al York could have taught any class at Hogwarts, but since Defense is the only available, he would have to teach defense"
"But professor…" Hermione began.
"I know that your bodyguards have an official reason to stay, Lord Potter" Professor McGonagall said, she had switched to using Harry's title since this was now formal business, "but having Al here as your teacher is for the other students, surely, you do not want your schoolmates to be taught by that Toad?"
It was the first time that Harry and Hermione had heard their Head of House insult a fellow professor, and they had to admit that it was refreshing, at the least.
Professor McGonagall continued, "Since the Headmaster cannot remove Umbridge without a replacement, I would say that this pretty much solves the problem" she smiled at Harry, she already knew what the young man would say and countered it even before she can say anything else, "You can order him to take the job, after all"
Harry looked at Hermione, who nodded after a few moments. With obvious reluctance, Harry nodded back to his wife before he looked back at the Deputy Headmistress and replied, "I'll get him"
"Excellent" Professor McGonagall replied, "I shall inform the Headmaster that we will have a new defense professor before the week is out", she looked at Harry and asked, "At what time would Professor York be here tomorrow, Harry?"
"A little after lunch professor" Harry replied, he smirked towards his favorite professor as he added, "If you ask me, I think that he just wants to have an audience when he arrives"