Harry Potter and The Fate We Make

Chapter 12: Preparing And Perplexing

A/N: Disclaimer's in the first chapter.

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July 15, 1995

The next few days were incredibly tense. Harry, Hermione, Neville and the Weasleys took to spending every spare hour they could snitch practicing spells and learning to duel. Sirius joined them quite a bit, though he and the twins still spent a lot of time in the basement potions lab. Explosions of varying intensities became so commonplace that by the third day, no one bothered to do more than shake their head or cock an eyebrow when another explosion went off. By day five, Harry admitted to himself that he honestly found the long stretches of silence from the basement to be far more unnerving.

Their pool of instructors widened considerably. Moody, Shacklebolt and even Tonks took their turns teaching. Even Bill Weasley got into the act, teaching them how to recognize wards and what they did, since Death Eaters liked to deprive their prey of escape routes. Bill didn't teach them how to break wards. Not only was there no time, but it took a knowledge base that only Hermione was anywhere close to possessing. He did teach them about how large an area wards could cover, and the energy cost to the caster, both of which came in handy for getting out of the situation or finding the weak member of the enemy's attack force.

Reports of the escaped dementors attacking wizards and muggles alike were headline news, and the wizarding world was definitely starting to panic. Fudge was attempting to blame the dementor's defection on Sirius, and was claiming that the matter would be cleared up soon, and there was no need for worry. The Order (minus Snape, of course) treated these proclamations with the scorn they deserved, at least in the privacy of the manor.

Worse, there had been more Death Eater raids. Small ones, yet, but there.

Today, as Harry stumbled down the stairs, still half asleep, he heard a most welcome voice that banished the sleepiness. He hurried into the kitchen, to find Remus, looking a touch travel-worn but otherwise fine, talking to Molly. "Remus! You're back!" Harry hurried over and gave the man a hug, thrilled to see him again.

Remus looked quite pleased at the greeting. "Indeed I am. Molly tells me I've missed quite a bit in the last week."

Harry laughed. "No kidding. It's getting to the point where I start to worry when there hasn't been an explosion in the last hour. Whatever Sirius, Fred and George are up to, it's definitely keeping the rest of us on our toes." He told Remus, deliberately ignoring the more serious news.

Shortly thereafter, everyone descended on the kitchen for breakfast. Hermione, Neville and the Weasley gang all greeted Remus with delight and no small amount of relief. Sirius just gave Remus an almost evil grin that had everyone wondering what he was up to. Midway through breakfast, Tonks arrived, and leaned over Remus to grab some bacon and toast.

"So who got the painting off the wall?" She asked, which made Harry blink.

"It's gone?"

"Yep. Nothing but blank wall. So, who did it? 'cause whoever it was deserves a pat on the back at the very least."

Harry laughed. "Dobby! Winky!" A second later, the pair of elves popped in, looking a touch disconcerted at being among so many wizards. "Finally got it down, huh?"

Dobby gave the others a worried glance before nodding. "Yes sir, Harry Potter sir. We's be having to take out part of the wall to gets it done, but wes gets it down, sir. Then we's be putting the wall back together."

Dobby got the surprise of his life (and Harry did too) when Tonks swept the little elf up into a hug. "Thank you! That old biddy was driving everyone crazy with her caterwauling." And then Winky got a hug too.

Harry nearly broke a rib trying not to laugh at the expression on Dobby and Winky's faces. They were torn between shock that they'd been hugged, HUGGED! and tears of gratitude. "I promised you two a special reward if you managed it." He told them. "So you two decide what you want and let me know, all right?"

He got a pair of nods from the gobsmacked elves, and then they popped out. Sirius shook his head in amazement. "Those two are going to be wholly devoted to you, if they weren't already."

Harry chuckled. "Dobby's been attached to me since the summer after first year." He admitted. That made Sirius brighten.

"You never did get around to telling me that story." Sirius commented.

So Harry told the highly-edited version ... mostly Dobby's appearances and actions, and how he'd freed Dobby. Everyone seemed more than happy that Malfoy got a bit of comeuppance.

Breakfast broke up and everyone trooped to the dueling chamber, including, to Harry's slight surprise (but to his pleasure), Remus. He, Tonks, and Sirius put their heads together, then gathered the kids together.

"All right, you lot. Since there's three of us today, we're going to have a free-form battle, you guys against the three of us. You guys can use any spells you can manage. We'll be using stingers, stunners, and color-marking spells, in place of the stuff you'd see in a more serious fight." That said, the three adults split up and started conjuring random junk for everyone to hide behind or use as a weapon.

Harry blinked. There was seven of them. Seven! Granted that they didn't know any nasty spells yet, but still ... he glared at the trio. So they thought they could whip slightly better than two to one odds, did they? Well, he'd show them! And yes, some part of him was quite aware that the three of them had more skill, but when you've battled adult wizards more than once, that sort of thing loses its intimidation power.

Once the adults finished the conjuring, everyone scattered, and then Tonks started the count. At ten, the room lit up like crazy as Harry and company started yelling spells. The adults were quieter, but no less quick to start spitting spells, and the kids were forced into ducking and running and shielding themselves.

The twins were, predictably, working together, and seemed to be focusing on trying to take Tonks, the youngest and (well, technically) least trained of the three adults out of the fight. Sheer habit had Harry, Hermione and Ron working together, while Neville and Ginny teamed up. Together, they were trying to keep the Marauders busy, which was not an easy task. It was rather quickly becoming evident that while Sirius and Remus had been separated for over a decade, they had not lost the ability to work as a team. And they were downright scary. It made Harry wonder just how scary the three men had been when his dad was alive. It must have been a sight to behold.

At the five minute mark, all of the kids were bruised and sore from diving for cover, out of breath and their concentration was suffering. One of the twins got a lucky shot in on Tonks, somehow managing to hit her with a petrificus totalis. Sirius came to her defense ... and fired off a green-colored color-marking spell.

Harry, ten feet away, saw it and reacted instinctively. Despite knowing it was a color-marking spell, despite the fact that the green wasn't even 'Avada Kedavra' green but a paler shade, for a split second Harry reacted as if that's exactly what it was. He flung a hand out and bellowed "NO!" at the top of his lungs.

A shield flared to life midway between the twins and Sirius. Almost wholly transparent and wobbling crazily, but a shield. The spell hit it and shattered it easily, splattering all over one of the twins' chest a moment later. Half a second after that, Harry sat down hard as his legs abruptly turned to jelly and his head started swimming. For a heartbeat, there was complete, startled silence from everyone in the room. It was Remus that regained his wits first, and hurried to Harry's side, followed quickly by Sirius and then the rest.

"Harry! Are you all right? You're rather pale." Remus asked worriedly. "Tonks! Fetch Madame Pomphrey, please!"

It took Harry a few moments to be able to answer. "I don't feel so good." He admitted. He felt, actually, rather like he had in the aftermath of the graveyard. Shaky, exhausted, and probably more than a bit shocky. Renus nodded, and then glanced over at Sirius. Together, they bundled him off to his room, and Madame Pomphrey showed up a few minutes later. She scowled at him. "Really, Mr. Potter. It's not enough that you insist on giving me fits during the school year? Decided to occupy my summers as well now, have you?" Despite the acerbity of her comments, there was an underlying tone of concern as she waved her wand at him, then tutted. "Whatever have you been doing, you silly boy?" Then she pulled some bottles out of the bag she'd brought with her and handed them to him with a sharp look. "Drink these. All of it." She commanded. Harry made a face of disgust but obeyed. Madame Pomphrey turned her attention to Remus and Sirius. "He's to rest the rest of the day. He's magically exhausted. Whatever has he been doing to get in such a state?"

"Learning dueling." Sirius said, though he didn't explain what, exactly, had got Harry so worn out. Once Pomphrey bustled out, Sirius sat down on the end of the bed. "So, pup ... " He sounded torn between worry, amusement, and a tinge of awe. "You remember me mentioning that will and intent had more to do with magic than most people think? I'm pretty sure you just proved my point, kiddo. But let's not do that again anytime soon, right? You look like something the hippogriff ran over."

Harry sighed as he shifted in the bed. "Feel like it, too."

Sirius chuckled. "Now, what you did was called wandless magic. It's a controlled version of the accidental stuff you did before Hogwarts. Wandless magic is very much governed by a witch or wizard's innate strength, since they're calling on nothing more than their native power, with no assist from a wand. So not everyone can do it, and most of the folks who can are limited to small things ... levitating books, snuffing out candles, that sort of thing. It takes real power to manage more than that ... and trust me pup, that shield, weak as it was, qualifies as 'more than that'. That you're not even full grown yet, and therefore don't yet have your full strength in magic ... " Sirius trailed off, and gave Harry a somewhat misty, sad grin. "Your dad would be so proud, kiddo. I know Remus and I both are ... well, now we're getting over the surprise, anyway!" Sirius ruffled Harry's hair, despite Harry's attempts to evade him. "Though now I think of it, neither of us should really be surprised, not after you learning the patronus." Nevermind Harry chasing off so many dementors at once!

"Now, once you've recovered, say in a day or two, we'll try this again under more, shall we say, controlled circumstances. And with much more modest goals. In time, you might actually be able to form a serviceable shield ... at least in front of yourself. The odds of being able to shield someone at a distance from you ... well ... I'm not sure even Merlin himself ever managed such a thing. But that's not likely to happen until after you graduate, which is when your magical core matures fully. Still, any bit you can do without a wand will help."

Harry rather agreed with that sentiment, and nodded agreement to Sirius before yawning hugely. Sirius chuckled and ruffled his hair again, much to Harry's annoyance.

"Rest, pup. You've earned it."

A long nap put Harry mostly to rights, though he still felt a bit loggy and slow when he got up for dinner that evening. Molly fussed over him and Dumbledore, who had stopped by to make sure he was all right after finding out Pomphrey had been by, was looking more than a bit pleased. Harry didn't know why he was, and he was also sure he didn't want to know why.

He clambered into bed early. Too bad he wasn't going to get a good night's sleep.

The street was quiet and calm, only a handful of porchlights gave evidence that someone might possibly be awake this late in the night. That quiet was shattered by numerous pops as ominous figured in black cloaks and silver masks popped in at one end of the street.

"Kill them all." Voldemort hissed.

The Death Eaters immediately fanned out, two and three to a house, blowing doors in. Within seconds, screams rang up and down the street. Voldemort ignored all this and marched down the street to one house in particular, blasting the door with a lazy flick of his wand. But before he could enter, the sounds of multiple apparations sounded once more, and Voldemort whirled. The Order had arrived.

The street became a warzone as the Order frantically tried to drive the Death Eaters off, spells ricocheting in every direction. Voldemort barely paid this any mind, as all his attention was on one particular wizard. Dumbledore. Dumbledore shot a spell at Voldemort, who deflected it.

"Why do you try, old man? You cannot save them all. They are not worth your protection. Weak, pathetic creatures. Fit only to be used as cattle." And then flicked an ugly-looking brown-red spell at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore blocked the spell and shot one of his own. "Give up, Tom. You will not win."

Voldemort blocked it almost lazily. "You are a fool, old man . You will die, and then who will save them? The boy? Do you really think some mewling child can succeed where even you have failed? No, old man. The world is mine to do with as I will, and all shall bow at my feet. But I tire of toying with you. Farewell for now, old man. And do give the boy my regards. I will deal with him soon enough."

Voldemort apparated away, followed swiftly by his minions, leaving a battered and bruised Order to clean up the mess they left behind.