Harry remained in his kneeling position, cradling Kreacher's body in his arms. Anger began to fuel his magic, and the control that he kept over it began to slip a bit. Harry placed Kreacher on the floor, folding his arms across his chest and then conjured a white sheet with the Black Family Crest in the middle and laid it across Kreacher's body.
Harry stood up and moved to check on Dobby. "How is he?"
Remus was the first to answer, "He is weak, but alright. Whatever Kreacher did, healed Dobby completely. He's a sleep right now, but he should be fine in a few days."
"Winky, please take Dobby home and if you need to, chain him to the bed, to make sure he rests, and I want you to rest as well."
"Winky will do as Master Gryffindor asks." Winky walked over to Dobby, hugged him tightly and disappeared.
Harry turned to the amassed group and spoke in a form voice. "Dobby was not just a servant, or a friend. He was a part of my family. Tom Riddle's will pay for what he has done, but today I want to take a pound of flesh from those fucking animals that did this to Dobby.
"Anyone who wants to go, suit up. I am leaving in five minutes and hell will be riding with me." Without another word, Harry left the conference room and headed towards his office with Ginny following.
"Well, I am sure as hell going to make sure that Harry doesn't kill anyone." Bill said as he kissed his wife and departed to go get changed.
Molly began to fuss around the room, picking things up "I think Fleur and I will take Kreacher's body to Potter Manor. I heard Kreacher tell Harry that he wanted to be buried with the Potter House Elves."
Everyone nodded their heads in acceptance. "Minerva, could you please wait for Mr. Wood and Mr. Krum to return and finish debriefing them please. I believe they can stay on the second floor in one of the suites until Harry and the rest of us return." Albus said, taking charge of the situation.
"Everyone else, get ready to fight." Everyone nodded and left the conference to gear up.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Five minutes later, Harry, Ginny, Albus, Remus, Bill, Charlie, Tonks, Ron, Hermione, Kingsley, Moody, Griphook, Mackrack, and a squadron of Goblin Soldiers were in the portkey room. Everyone had their battle robes on along most were carrying some sort of weapon. Harry was surprised when he saw Albus too carried a sword.
"I do not plan on playing with a different set of rules anymore Harry. You are our leader; whatever you do, I will follow."
"Thank you Albus, just be careful. I lost you once; I really don't want to have to go thru that again. Besides, I think Minerva might not be very happy with you if you did."
Albus smiled at his quasi-grandson and smiled, Harry returned the smile. "Alright, weapons ready. I do want a few to interrogate, if we can make it happen."
Harry tapped the portkey, a metal ring, activating it, portkeying the group behind the death eater camp in France. As soon as the group landed, the Order of the Phoenix and Allies jumped to action. Harry, Albus, and Ginny teamed up and began to triple team their enemies with a wide variety of spells. Together, the threesome cut a wide path thru the Death Eaters towards the wards of the Flamel Estate.
Bill, Charlie, and Remus teamed up as well and took the right flank while Arthur, Ron, and Hermione took up the left flank. With the addition of Fred, George, and Moody launching an arterial attack, the Death Eaters never knew what hit them. Many were falling to stunners and Incarcerous Curses; there were those, many those who had dealt with Harry, Ginny, and Albus, who had been killed by their weapons.
Those Death Eaters who were running the operation still had not been found by the Order. Harry, Ginny, and Albus thought they would be close to where they were attempting to break down the wards. Ron, Hermione, and Arthur thought that they would be somewhere away from the fighting, Bill, Charlie and Remus thought they had already fled.
Growing more and more impatient, Harry began to interrogate the captured death eaters. Using full strength legilimency and pure force of will, Harry continued to rip minds apart until he learned that the leaders of this operation, who were French Death Eaters, decided to attack Château Delacour and enjoy the fruits of their labor.
"Phoenix One to Phoenix Strike Team Alpha: Death Eater leaders are planning attack on Château Delacour. Royal Phoenix and Chameleon, remain here to tidy up with Bishop; everyone else apparate to Château Delacour."
Harry looked over to Ginny who silently understood what he wanted. She nodded and flamed away from Harry as Harry turned into his Phoenix form and flamed away as well. Albus just shook his head and he too transformed into his phoenix form and flamed away as well.
Ginny reappeared next to Ron, Hermione and Arthur. "I'll take you." Ginny said before transforming into her phoenix form. The three Weasleys grabbed Ginny tail feathers and disappeared in a burst of flames.
Château Delacour was located on a bluff overlooking a babbling brook. It was normally a peaceful place, but not tonight. Tonight, seven death eaters were trying to fight back against three people within the Château. One of them was a mere child of 12 years old while the other two were never the world's best duelists. However they were holding their own until Madam Delacour went down to a cutting curse.
By the time the Death Eaters were able to take advantage of this, they heard an unholy cry as some on descended from heaven. One of the Death Eaters thought that it was an Archangel, one of gods fighting angels. Others thought it was some Vampire Demon, but in reality it was a very pissed off Harry Potter, the Sword of Gryffindor in one hand, and his wand in the other. Both were launching curses at the Death Eaters below.
Caught unaware, the Death Eaters began to strike back as Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Albus, and the rest of the order arrived to continue the fight. Within five minutes, the Death Eaters were bound and gagged. Harry began to interrogate the leaders about their mission as Bill, Charlie, and one of the goblin medics ran into the Château to check on the Delacours.
As Harry continued his interrogation, he discovered why they were in France. Voldemort needed the Philosopher's Stone.
________________________________________________________________________________
"Albus, I thought you and Nicholas destroyed that damn stone in my first year! I mean come on, Nicholas and his wife would still be alive if they could, couldn't they?" Harry screamed.
Harry, Albus, Hermione, Ron, Arthur, Remus, and Tonks were sitting in one of the sitting rooms of the Flamel Estate. As the Head of the House of Flamel, Harry was able to lift the wards and awaken Devon, the head elf of the Flamel Estate. He was now waking the other elves and inspecting the entire estate while Harry and the others were talking.
Bill and Charlie remained at Château Delacour, providing extra security and Wards. Mackrack also left two of his best wardmasters to help Bill erect new powerful wards along with they extra protection of the Weasley Family Wards.
The rest of the strike team headed back to London to debrief the others and to begin work on the information Wood and Krum had returned with.
"I do not know Harry. I know Nicholas said that it would take a while for the Elixir of Life to run its course thru his and Perenelle's bodies. However, I know for a fact that the stone is gone, I destroyed it using Fiendfyre."
A disembodied voice could be heard "Is that how you did it Albus? I always wondered." As everyone looked around, a specter of Nicholas Flamel appeared to enter the sitting room thru a wall.
"Welcome to the Griffin's Den, you would know it simply as the Flamel Estate. I am the result of many hours of work by Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. I am, in essence, a very large pensieve that has every one of their memories and emotions within it. I am able to move about the confines of Griffin's Den and the grounds contained within its walls.
"You all may me Nicholas, since I am everything that made Nicholas. If you wish, I can also summon Perenelle to speak if you wish."
"No, it's alright…err…Nicholas. Tell me, why did I not know this placed existed when I placed the Flamel Family Signet Ring on my finger?" Harry stated.
The specter laughed loudly. "Ah it did work. Well, first off, please sit down. I assume Devon is waking the elves as we speak yes? Good. Well to answer your question Lord Flamel, when Nicholas and Perenelle were preparing for their next great adventure, they decided that this estate should be preserved because there was no set heir Because of their advanced age, Nicholas had sired many bloodlines and there was no clear heir at the time.
"I do know however that shortly before their death, Perenelle had a vision of you Lord Flamel claiming your birthright as the head of House of Flamel thru your mother's, the Evans Family's, bloodline. Nicholas knew of your destiny and so he made sure that I worked."
Albus smiled at the recreation of his old friend. "Actually Nicholas, Harry is not Lord Flamel. His proper name and title is Lord Gryffindor, Harry James Potter; Head of the Ancient and Most Nobles Houses of Azkaban, Black, Flamel, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Potter, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin; Lord of Hogwarts; Lord Protector of the Realm of the Magical Great Britain." Harry took a small bow.
Nicholas looked gobsmacked. "So not only is Harry Lord Protector of the Realm, but he also controls Hogwarts, Azkaban Prison, and is head of eight of the oldest families of Great Britain."
"Yeah pretty much" Harry said with a straight face. He then turned serious. "Nicholas, did you ever make another stone? The reason why I ask is because Death Eaters and other followers of Lord Voldemort and the Order of the Dark Mages tried to penetrate the wards here. One of my friends was mortally wounded while gathering intelligence about this. This friend then returned to us where another friend gave up his own life force to sustain and heal Dobby."
Nicholas looked unhappy to hear this news. Though he was not Nicholas Flamel himself, he was the closest thing to him in every regard, especially his sense of right and wrong. It was one lesson that both he and Perenelle tried to teach Albus when Albus was the Alchemist's Apprentice.
Being a Master to an Apprentice didn't just involve teaching the apprentice the skills for his or her profession, it also included life lessons, philosophy, morals, and advanced studies in right and wrong. Albus, even as a young apprentice, always believed in the needs of the many, outweighed the needs of the few or the one, except when it came to medical and other personal needs. The lesson Albus never learned was that no philosophy or rule was absolute. It took Albus over a hundred years to learn that lesson, thanks to one Harry Potter and his verbal ass kicking he gave Albus.
"Harry, can I call you Harry?" Harry nodded. "The stone was the only one ever made. On their deathbeds, Nicholas and Perenelle used their remaining magic to caste an ancient spell that destroyed their research on the creation of the stone. The embers of the remains were then banished into a volcano they found in Italy where it was consumed in fire. The traces of the Elixir of Life were dealt with the same way. There is nothing left here regarding the stone except for the instructions on how to make a magical staff, like Merlin used."
"But Merlin was extremely proficient in wandless magic. He didn't need to amplify or channel his magic." Hermione screamed.
"You must be Miss Granger—"
"Actually, it's Mrs. Hermione Weasley. But every book I read—"
"That is your problem young Mrs. Weasley, don't believe everything you read in a book. Books are written by the victors of wars and battles and are usually biased towards one side of another. To answer your statement though, yes Merlin was proficient in wandless magic, but he did ended create a staff. For Merlin was an old man and needed help to walk. One day while wandering around, he discovered a fallen phoenix feather. Being the curious man he was, he played with it and discovered that he could channel his magic thru it, amplifying the effect the magic had.
"After spending many years researching cores, Merlin took his staff and added magical cores, giving him better control over many of the spells that took multiple wizards to complete. On his death bed, Merlin broke his staff in multiple smaller pieces, which became the first wands. Witches and Wizards have been making and using wands ever since. Because of this, wizards and witches have become lazy, not pushing their magic to their limits."
"Fascinating. Nicholas, how integrated are you into the estate? Can you control the wards, house elves, etc?" Harry asked, a plan forming in his head.
"I am completely integrated into not just the heart stone, but every single stone that makes up the Estate and magic that binds it all together. Why, what are you planning?"
"Just watch. Griffin's Den, here me: I Harry James Potter, Lord Flamel and Head of the House of Flamel, I command you to answer the orders and commands of the Creations known as Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. They will serve as my stewards while I am away."
The specter of Nicholas became solid as did another form, which emerged from the same spot Nicholas did. As the Flamels became solid, they were encompassed with a red and purple light. The light then encircled Harry and Ginny before it faded into the ethos. However the two now solid specters remained solid.
"Nicholas, Perenelle, you are now the caretakers of this estate. I will have Griphook install one of the goblin made communication devise so that you may contact me at any time. I want the place to be used as a safe house of those who are hiding from Voldemort and other Dark Witches and Wizards. Also, I was thinking about letting our Research and Development branch of the Order of the Phoenix use the Den as their base of operations one day."
"As you wish Lord Gryffindor, Perenelle and I will act as your stewards and caretakers until you feel you no longer need us. By the way, we already have the Goblin Communication System installed already. Nicholas and Perenelle helped with the creation of the spells and the metallurgy needed for their operation and creation."
"Thank you Nicholas. Now, please raise all the wards. I do not want anything entering or exiting the Estate. If you need anything, please let me know at once. Now, I would to stay and chat, but we need to return to England, I have a member of my family to bury."
"Of course Harry. Be well and do come see us soon." Perenelle said, smiling at Harry and Ginny "Hopefully before you have children."
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Harry and Ginny flamed directly to the backyard of Potter Manor. It was almost sunrise and Harry wanted to have Kreacher buried before the sun rose. Harry and Ginny shed their battle robes and prepared to head for the Potter family cemetery behind the Manor, deep in the woods.
As they getting ready to go, Tiffy appeared next to them. She already knew what they were planning to do. "Lord and Lady Gryffindor, we is prepared Kreacher's body to be buried with honor. Tiffy is heading out to dig Kreacher's grave, if Lord and Lady Gryffindor would like to join Tiffy."
"Thank you Tiffy, we would be honored to help you." Harry said.
Harry and Ginny followed the little elf towards the deep wood where the cemetery was. After a slow twenty minute walk, the three of them arrived at an iron gate. Tiffy waved her hand at the gate, causing it to open wide. Once they were within the cemetery, Harry saw that was filled with many different headstones.
Following Tiffy, Harry and Ginny read some of the names on the tombstones, they soon discovered that this wasn't just the cemetery for the elves, it was the cemetery for all of the Potters and Gryffindors going all the way back to Godric and Gwendolyn Gryffindor, whose mausoleum was in the middle of the cemetery, behind the ceremonial altar which was used for the funeral ceremony.
Finally, Tiffy stopped next to a couple of headstones and large area of open ground. "Lord Gryffindor Harry Potter sir; this is where Tiffy will dig the grave for Kreacher. He is to be buried next Master James, Mistress Lily, and Mister Sirius. Tiffy will begin now."
Tiffy turned and conjured a small spade shovel and began to dig as Ginny and Harry read the tombstones. The bigger of the two was James and Lily Potter's Tombstone. One side read:
Here lies
James Harold Potter
"Prongs"
Beloved Brother, Husband, and Father
Lord of the Ancient and Most Noble
House of Potter
Order of Merlin, First Class
Member, Order of the Phoenix
Born-June 11, 1960
Died-October 31, 1981
By the Wand of Lord Voldemort
While Defending his Family
Next to James' was Lily's epitaph:
Here Lies
Lily Marie Evans Potter
"Tiger Lily"
Beloved Sister, Wife, and Mother
Lady of the Ancient and Most Noble
House of Potter
Order of Merlin, First Class
Member, Order of the Phoenix
Born-April 21, 1960
Died-October 31, 1981
By the Wand of Lord Voldemort
While Defending her Son
Underneath the two epitaphs were two quotes:
Marauders In Life and In Death
"There Will Be An Answer…Let It Be…"
At the top of the tombstone was the Potter Family Crest in full relief. Above each of their names were a majestic stag and a tiger lily. The tombstone itself was made out of white marble with the inscriptions filled with red and gold colorings.
Next to their tombstone stood another, this time in black marble with gold, red, silver and green coloring:
Here Lies
Sirius Orion Black
"Padfoot"
Beloved Brother, Godfather, and Cousin
Lord of the Ancient of Most Noble House of Black
Order of Merlin, First Class
Member, Order of the Phoenix
Born-March 28, 1960
Died-June 28, 1996
By the Wand of his Cousin Bellatrix Lestrange
While Defending His Godson and Friends from Death Eaters
Marauders In Life and In Death
"We Won't Get Fooled Again…"
Like his parents' headstone, Sirius' headstone bore his Family Crest in full relief along with the black Grim that was his animagus form. Harry fell to his knees in front of his parents' grave and just stared at it for a long time. Ginny placed her hand on his shoulder, giving him her silent support.
"Mum…dad…I'm here. I never knew where exactly you were buried at. I guess either Remus or Albus did the headstone. I need to thank them. Anyway, I…miss you both so much. I grew up with Petunia, and before you go ballistic and ask Zeus to launch some lightning bolts down on her ass, I have already taken care it.
"Anyway…Dad I met the best friends in the world on my first trip to Hogwarts; Ron and Hermione Weasley. They just got married a couple of weeks ago in a huge ceremony with Remus and his wife Tonks, Neville Longbottom and his new wife Luna, Ginny's eldest brother Bill and his wife Fleur. Oh, I should introduce my wife…Mum, dad…this is my wife and soulmate, Ginevra Molly Potter. She is my everything dad. Mum, if you were half as fiery as Ginny is, I feel sorry for dad.
"Anyway, I have to end this war soon. Voldemort, Tom Riddle, is killing too many people. He killed you two, Bellatrix killed Sirius, Snape killed Albus, but at least we got him back. They Death Eaters have ruined a lot of lives…but I do not know if I am ready to do this or not. Anyway, I hope you two are happy and that Sirius is pranking you guys. I love you."
Harry rose from his knees and headed over to help Tiffy finish the hole. Twenty minutes later, Harry, Ginny, and Tiffy were drinking some water when Winky and Dobby walked over to where they were resting.
"Harry and Ginny Potter! Yous both should be getting cleaned up for Kreacher's funeral. Winky will clean you up and Bobby will get yours clothes. Dobby, yous sit next to Harry Potter and makes sure hes rests. Lord Harry Potter sir, can yous please make sure Dobby rests? Dobby should be remaining in bed, but Dobby said Dobby would come to Kreacher's funeral if he had to ride Miss Hermie's Crookshanks."
While Winky was talking, she began to clean up both Harry and Ginny using her elf magic; all the while muttering about Dobby being a bad elf for not following Lord Harry's orders and her own orders on top of it. 'Evidently female house elves run the family just like human females.' Harry thought.
Bobby appeared shortly after Winky finished cleaning Harry and Ginny. Winky then complained to Bobby that the robes were not ironed properly. Bobby, being a smart elf, decided hew would go and escort everyone to the cemetery from the house, while Winky ironed the robes and then held them up for inspection. Knowing that time was short, Harry and Ginny flamed into their formal dress robes. Harry transformed into his Lion form and carried the recuperating Dobby and the upset Winky over to the ceremonial altar where the funeral would take place.
Once everyone was gathered, Harry changed back into his human form, caste a couple of cleaning charms, and proceeded to the stone podium in front of the assembled group. The entire executive committee of the Order was there as well as Hagrid, Fleur, Griphook, Mackrack, Minister Bones, Gabby from Hogwarts, Professor Flitwick, Professor Slughorn, Firenze, Magorian, Fawkes, and a couple of the griffins and unicorns who lived on the grounds of Potter Manor. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen…elves, phoenixes, centaurs, griffins, and all magical creatures here today; we are gathered here today to honor one of the bravest creatures I have ever met. Most of Kreacher's life was not pleasant. He spent a majority of his life in the service of vicious, dark, and evil wizards and witches who believed the duty of a house elf was to be tortured and punished for the smallest mistakes.
"It was this poisoning that led to Kreacher aiding in the death of my godfather Sirius Black. However, once I completed my soul bonding with my wife, the magic that was released from our bonding went straight thru the bond I had with all of the elves bonded to me at the time, which was just Kreacher. This pure love was enough to purge him of the dark poison he had lived with for years.
"Dobby and Winky, who bonded themselves to me before my soul bonding, saw that Kreacher had changed and brought him with them to my home at the time. I saw and felt the change within Kreacher and so I opened my heart to elf. Kreacher did nothing to ever make me disappointed in him. He sometimes annoyed me about eating, but Mum Weasley and Winky do the same thing constantly."
The entire group laughed loudly, though Harry could clearly hear Winky and Molly muttering about how thin he was and not eating enough.
"Kreacher became one of my senior elves, responsible for all of the Black Family Elves and properties and did he job without complaint and gave me very detailed reports. Of course this was after Kreacher learned how to read and write since the former Lord and Lady Black did not think an elf should know how to read.
"Kreacher died giving Dobby, his friend and partner-in-crime, a chance to live. Dobby returned to me after gathering information vital to our efforts to end Lord Voldemort's reign of terror. Kreacher, knowing that Dobby would not survive his injuries, gave what the Americans call "The Last Full Measure of Devotion' and poured his already failing magic and life force into Dobby's body thereby saving his life. Because of Kreacher's selfless act, Dobby and Winky's child will have both parents to love them and nurture them."
Harry moved away from the podium and over to Kreacher's body on the altar. "Kreacher, you were a great and noble elf. I wish you all the best and all my love on your next great adventure. So Mote It Be." With a wave of his hand, Harry levitated Kreacher's body from the altar and led the procession to Kreacher's grave site.
Once everyone was gathered around the grave, Harry lowered Kreacher's body into the ground. "As we all came from the earth, to the earth we all must return to. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. God almighty, creator of heaven and earth, we give this body back to nature and pray that you accept his soul into your company." Harry bowed his head as Dobby, Winky, and Tiffy, used their magic to fill in the grave and erect the tombstone.
As they finished, Fawkes, who had been sitting on Albus' shoulder, let out a long mournful cry and took flight into the air only to land on Kreacher's gravestone. The phoenix cried a few tears on the fresh dirt of the grave and watched as fire roses sprouted from the grave.
Fawkes continued to perch on the tombstone as a strong gust of wind blew through the cemetery. As the breeze picked up in strength, a golden ball of light dropped from the sky; when it was only a few meters from the ground, the ball formed the image of Kreacher.
Kreacher looked thirty years younger with very little white hair. Instead his hair was graying and his skin was taught and healthy looking. His butler's uniform was crisp and he was wearing a traveling cloak and top hat.
"Master Harry, Kreacher has done very bad things in his life. He betrayed his Master Sirius and helped to kill Master Regulus when Mistress Walburga ordered it. But Kreacher is free of that bad magic now and Kreacher wants to help his noble and honorable master defeat the dark lord.
"Kreacher knows that the Dark Lord needs his dark obelisk to survive. The Dark Lord has no magic left in his current form. Kreacher knows that the Dark Lord is needing a baby from Misses Bellatrix to survive, but Misses Bellatrix cannot make a baby.
"Kreacher knows the Dark Lord has found a new baby body and will soon return, but Kreacher knows the Dark Lord needs his magical obelisk to fight Master Harry and any of his Order. If Master Harry destroys the Dark Lord's Obelisk, then the Dark Lord will meet his downfall."
Kreacher then turned to Dobby and Winky and spoke, "Kreacher is very happy for Dobby and Winky. Dobby is a good elf and will be a good daddy to his elflings. Kreacher only asks that Dobby and Winky take care of Master Harry and Mistress Ginny. Master Harry and Mistress Ginny is good and noble people, but get into trouble sometimes, they needs yous to help them."
Kreacher then turned back to the group at large, "Kreacher knows that yous will beat the Dark Lord and his followers, Kreacher wants yous all to know that Kreacher's life is avenged as long as yous all loves each other and that Kreacher not see any of yous for a very long time. Goodbye." With a last formal bow, Kreacher faded into small flakes of gold that the breeze blew into the sky.
___________________
A/N: The quote on James and Lily's Tombstone is from The Beatles song 'Let it be'
The quote on Sirius' Tombstone is from The Who song 'Won't Get Fooled Again'
Yes it may be rushed, but I want to get this story finished for all the readers who continue to read an enjoy my stories.