It took several hours for Gawain to figure out what to say to Harry and Hermione once Regulus and Minerva had removed the compulsion spell from him. While he did so, he and a team of French Spell-Crafters tried to figure out, using the memories from Severus and Sirius, exactly what spells the fifteen year olds used to create the one that killed Dumbledore. By suppertime, they still hadn't figured it out, and Gawain decided it was time to go home. Mysteriously, Sirius and Severus had taken everyone out to dinner that night as soon as Gawain walked in the door.
Gawain went up the stairs and woke Harry from his nearly daylong slumber. "Harry, I do believe that you and I need to have a little chat. Your uncles have decided to take everyone out to eat tonight, so the three of us have the house all to ourselves."
"Is Hermione going to get the same "chat" as I am?" Harry pulled the blanket over his face so that only his eyes were showing.
"Of course she is. You two are in a heap of trouble with the English Ministry, you know."
"We wouldn't be if they weren't paid off by Death Eaters and stupendously incompetent."
"As true as that may be, you're still in trouble. I'll see you in the sitting room." Harry couldn't help but be a bit afraid of the possible punishment that his dad could come up with. Gawain was a Marauder—he'd know all of the worst punishments.
The older Malfoy pulled a chair over to the couch that Harry and Hermione were sitting on and began his speech. "Imagine my surprise when, after Minerva, Molly, Regulus, and Ginny had broken that compulsion spell, I found out that my son and his best friend had, in effect run away. How do you think I felt when I heard that, Harry?" Gawain arched his eyebrow, much like Severus was known to do when angry.
"You were angry at me for thinking two fifteen year olds could take on Dumbledore. But you were more than angry…you were scared that you'd lose me like you lost mum."
"Did you use your Seer powers to tell you that?"
"No. I just know what I would be thinking if you did something like that." Harry couldn't lie, and Gawain knew it. He almost got rid of their punishment. Almost.
"There's another thing I want to ask you. I read the note you left for everyone, thanks for that, which mentioned that you'd improved upon our spells. How long did it take you, exactly?"
"Harry found the spells over Christmas break and it took us a couple of weeks to add what we wanted," Hermione shrugged. "It wasn't that hard. Professor Snape, Lily, and Remus left really good notes, which Harry found behind a loose brick in the Common Room."
"I can't believe that. Yet I know that you can't possibly be making this up. It's a lot to take in. I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that it didn't take you all that long to develop the spell you used this morning. Would you like to explain how exactly you did it? I had a whole team of Spell-Crafters working on it for hours, and they couldn't even come up with the base spells you used."
"Well, we started out by researching the development of the Killing Curse and the Patronus."
"We liked the idea of the Patronus and the way it channels good feelings. We didn't like the Killing Curse because Voldemort uses it far too frequently, and that's the way he killed Harry's mum. Eventually, Ron suggested we look for a spell that could meld the Patronus with the Imperious Curse, effectively creating a spell that would 'possess with good'."
"In this really old book in our library upstairs, I found a spell that was like the Imperious, but gives the person a choice of whether they want to do the action or not."
"We modified the spell a bit, mixed in the Patronus idea, and got our spell. I took detailed notes, and our test subjects were quite pleased with the results."
Gawain's mouth dropped open. "You had TEST SUBJECTS?"
"Of course, Dad. We had to know what effects the spell would have. We tested it on Uncle Sirius and Uncle Severus. Since they love and have no intentions to turn evil, the spell didn't do all that much." Hermione's elbow made contact with Harry's rib. "Okay, so it got rid of Uncle Sev's Dark Mark and took away the lingering side effects Uncle Sirius had from Azkaban, but other than that…"
"You two are unbelievable. I've half a mind to punish your uncles instead of you." Gawain looked at them. "Did you say you got rid of Severus' Dark Mark?"
"Yup, Uncle Regulus', too." We did it to him last night, right before we left. Do you need our services?"
"That would be lovely…after I give you your punishment."Harry gave his dad his best "I-am-so-sorry-Daddy-please-don't-punish-me" look. "Don't do that, Harry. It doesn't work for your godfather and it didn't even work for your mother. I am immune to that look. You and Hermione will be spending three days a week helping Severus. I am told the Hospital Wing is quite low on some necessary potions. I am fairly certain that the two of you will be competent enough to handle any potion he gives you." Gawain's punishment wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been, considering who he was. He was proud of them for their achievement—most of his Spell-Crafters couldn't have come up with anything near the caliber of this spell.
Harry and Hermione readied their wands and pointed them at Gawain. Suddenly, he felt as if he was at a sunny beach, and years of tension and toil melted away. When he opened his eyes and looked at his arm, the ugly black mark that had been there for years was gone. "That is something else. How exactly does it do what you need it to?"
"In basic terms, the spell really does possess you with good. If you have made the choice to permanently be bad and there isn't any chance in saving you, you'll die. If you've had at least one regret of a bad choice you've made, the spell gives you a chance to redeem yourself. You'll have to read the notes. They're quite extensive." Hermione jumped up from the couch and ran upstairs to get them.
"We bound them like a book. I wrote about the background research we did and how we arrived at our final hypothesis and our results. Hermione wrote down the information about our test subjects and the tutorial on how to use our spell."
"Here you go Mr. Malfoy." Hermione set the tome in his hands.
"The Harmony Spell by Harrison Orion Abraxas Black Malfoy and Hermione Jean Granger with additional notes by Severus Aurelius Tobias Black Snape and Sirius Charles Black. That's an impressive title." Gawain flipped through the book. "I don't suppose you would mind if I took this to work tomorrow, would you? My Spell-Crafters would love to look at this. Unfortunately, there's something I forgot to tell you— that pompous fool that the British call their Minister stopped by my office today with a list of the charges against you."
"There's a list? We didn't break that many laws, did we?" Harry rolled his eyes. Knowing the way Fudge acted, half of the charges were probably false.
"Yes. I shall read it to you. You'll hear it at the trial, which is tomorrow at 7 am. 'The Official Listing of the Charges Against Harrison O. A. Black Malfoy and Hermione J. Granger:
One count of assaulting a Ministry Official with a stunning spell and a large book
Two counts of breaking the Restriction for Underage Wizardry
Innumerable counts of using illegal spells
Two counts of breaking the International Statute of Secrecy' "
"Half of those charges are completely ridiculous. We didn't break the Restriction for Underage Wizardry because that only applies to people who have permanent residences in England. We don't live in England anymore." Harry looked at his father for confirmation.
"Correct. Hermione's parents do, but since her legal Magical Guardian lives here, she is exempt from that law as well. I've looked at your memories, and I know you didn't use any illegal spells, either. You used some very old, obscure spells that are borderline dark, but none of them were illegal. Since Dumbledore was using spells that were mainly dark in nature and more than illegal, you're not in any danger from that, either."
"We didn't break the Secrecy Statute. We were entirely inside and there were really thick curtains on the window. There's no way any Muggles saw what we were doing."
"I know that. That's why I'll be providing your legal counsel tomorrow. Trust me when I say that we will win."
A/n: Review!