A Mother's Love is a crossover between The Dresden Files and Harry Potter. It takes place after Cold Days and midway through Deathly Hallows. Yes I know it's not actually possible this is my story. Artistic licence so to speak.

All know and recognisable characters and places, magic etc are the rightful property of Mr Jim Butcher and Ms J. . I own nothing but this crazy idea.

I will make alterations and repairs when people point out glaring errors, as I am unbeta'd and appreciate the feedback.

Chapter Ten

Why it was all Harry's Fault

Harry Potter's P.V.O.

Seeing Dresden go all Winter Knight on Snape was strangely satisfying. Seeing the man scared was disturbing. Once Dresden came back in and everyone settled down, Snape needed two calming draughts and a soothing solution, I recognised them from my own stays in Madam Pomfrey's care. I bet he made his own and took no others.

I always hated talking to groups but it doesn't seem to bother Dresden, but then the guy never shuts up anyway. I guess being a smart mouth must be in our genes. He filled my little army in on our meeting with the goblins, and this brought a great round of laughter. Bill was wiping tears from his eyes and said, in a laughter choked voice, "The Goblin nation is never going to forget this Harry, you just got another nation wide fan club!" I banged my head on the table. "Why me?" Dresden smirked at me.

"Now, we know where the diadem is, and where the snake will be. The cup, the diary, the locket and the ring have been destroyed. We've done so without Voldie getting wind of what we're up too. Bellatrix won't breath a word of her encounter with Thomas if she wants to live." There was a round of head nods in agreement. However we won't have the element of surprise in our next encounter. He's smart, he'll do his research and be ready for us. We just have to stay under the radar until we have the diadem and work out how to destroy it."

Snape spoke up then, the first time I'd heard him all night. "If Mr Potter is willing, perhaps we can obtain some Basilisk fangs to do the deed?" I blinked.. was Snape being polite? To me? Fred, George and Ron all looked thunderstruck. Hermione looked smug.

Dresden continued. "The Goblin's have a way to transfer the Horcrux to a less valuable container, we will be able to retain the diadem, I believe it is very valuable." there were a few nods and Snape looked relieved. The loss of Slytherin's locket had been a blow. Knowing that they had been able to save Hufflepuff's cup and could soon retrieve Ravenclaw's lost diadem was appealing. "However I definitely want to get some of that Basilisk Venom. We may be able to use it against Voldie." the twins looked up instantly. Fred began..

"We may have..."

"A few ideas that we can.."

"Adapt to be of more lethal use.."

"By adding ingredients.."

"Of the highly classified ..

"Nearly Impossible to obtain..."

"Possibly borderline illegal.."

"Variety." said George

Dresden blinked at their twin speak and Mrs Weasley looked ready to protest when Remus spoke up. "That is an excellent idea, Fred and George are near genius in their ability to create clever inventions, you should be very proud, Arthur, Molly, your sons will always be able to make their way in the world. They will never need to work for anyone but themselves." I had to admire Remus's skill. "I will supervise of course. We will likely be using some dangerous things and I am particularly good at shield spells." Molly beamed and to my surprise didn't utter another word of protest. Snape looked thoughtful.. then a little hopeful. "Ah Mr Potter, I believe the Basilisk beneath Hogwarts belongs to you, right of conquest so to speak.. I would be willing to orchestrate access to the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk if I may take a portion of the beast for my own stores and for Hogwarts. I will also help you sell what you don't need. I ask only that I may explore the Chamber." I stared. He WAS being polite! I pinched myself. OW. Nope not dreaming.

I suddenly had wonderful thought... Remus was a Marauder.. the SMARTEST Marauder at that. The Marauder's journals were full of his neat writing, detailed descriptions of spells, both learned and made up, plans, plots schemes and prank ideas. In Sirius's cramped scrawl were potion recipes it seemed he wasn't at all bad at it in school. The Twins. plus a Marauder, plus the journals and input from everyone else here in the keep, the Death Eater's were in for a very nasty shock. Likely with fireworks, explosions and fireballs. It was going to be so awesome!

Dresden's POV

It was all my fault really. After most of a night plotting and planning I had been exhausted and had all but fallen into bed but still..

I'd made a grave error. I had left Bob, unattended in the kitchen. The Weasley family, who had been hiding due to their 'blood traitor' tendencies, had stayed in the keep over night and Molly, Arthur and the twins had gotten up earlier then I had. Molly had paid the skull no mind, and Arthur had simply moved it from the table to the counter, never noticing the faint orange glow in it's eyes. The twins, pranksters and mischief makers to the bone, couldn't resist the allure of the human skull and managed to swipe it from the kitchen. Of course by the time they found a hidey-hole Bob was awake and the Unholy Triad was formed. he first time I realised the depth of their depraved minds was when Remus was pranked, jail style. The poor guy had been spying in Diagon Alley, putting his superior sense to use as well as getting some potion ingredients for Snape. He'd come back to the Keep for a shower and some sleep, it would be full moon in two days and he'd have to be contained. I suspected Mouse was planning to stay with him, he was awfully smoochy with Remus. So when the unholy shriek echoed through the house and I saw the twins, with Bob in a football carry under Fred's arm, bolting down the stairs, I knew something was up. I looked up the stairs and saw a dripping wet, very blue, very angry werewolf. My mouth fell open. Bob whooped. "We Blu-Loo'd him Boss!" and they'd kept running. As Remus bolted past me after them I pressed back against the wall. No way was I getting in his way. Hermione was staring after them, then, in a perfect imitation of Murphy, fixed me with a look. "Explain" she said. Not willing to argue with the 'smartest witch' of her generation I patted a step beside me. She sat and I explained. "I send Bob out on fact finding missions back home. He takes my Cat, Mister, and they go walkabout. Unfortunately Bob loves strip clubs, and women in general so he often takes side trips. He heard a story told by an ex prisoner once, jail pranks he'd pulled. Apparently pouring blu-loo over someone stains their skin for up to four days, meaning they had to meet their parole officer looking like a Smurf. Bob thought it was so funny that he's been trying to get me or Thomas to do it to the other for years." Hermione blinked at me. "Wait.. I thought he was supposed to be a being of intellect over a1000 years old?" I nodded. "He acts worse then the twins!"

"You don't know the half of it I sighed.

I would have to separate them, eventually. Leaving Bob in the hands of one of the Twins was not an option but their unique brand of insane genius might just tip the fight in our favour. Some of their planning sounded downright evil and they had been discussing how to get Severus to let them test things with his dark-mark. When Remus forgave them for the blu-loo prank, in the form of thoroughly pranking them back. (Bob did not appreciate his skull being bright pink and covered in glitter any more then the twins enjoyed having their feet reversed for twenty four hours.) had joined their little group I had been mildly relieved until I remembered that Moony had been known as the "Smart" Marauder. Their handbooks and animagus journals had been largely in his neat handwriting. Somehow adding a Marauder to the mix just made them more scary.

As I left the room I heard Bob explaining the concept of grenades. The twins immediately began making suggestions for magical alternatives. The Death Eater's were in for a really big surprise.

Searching out Harry I found him in the back garden of the Keep, leaning back against a big tree looking pensive.

I dropped down beside him and we sat in companionable silence. Mouse smooched up to me, he'd spent most of the past few days keeping Hermione in bed. The girl was worse then Karrin at bed rest! For awhile he lay between us and we dolled out pats and scratches in peace. Harry sighed and I eyed him briefly. Then I made a decision. I sprang to my feet and hauled the still awkward teenager up.

"Hey!" he protested, as he gained his feet.

"No more brooding Kid. How about I teach you to throw fire and you teach me how to do that levitation spell you used on Thomas?"

Harry grinned. "Sure!"

It was all my fault. Me and my big ideas.

Harry Potter's POV

Really it was all Dresden's fault. Honest.

We found a quiet spot beyond the outer buildings, as near to the Keeps rear wall as we could with room to move. Dresden was especially keen not to let Ms Murphy know what he was up to. I smirked then thought about what Mrs Weasley would say about me learning to throw fire.. or worse.. Hermione. I checked to make sure none of the upstairs windows overlooked our spot. Dresden looked at Mouse. "Go run interference boy.. fake a sore paw or something." Mouse huffed and I swear he gave Dresden a dirty look. "Don't be a wimp. She likes you.. go on" Mouse whined then stalked off in a very put-upon way. I hid my laughter. Just.

I liked Harry Dresden. It was cool I had family, even if we were from different dimensions and I idly wondered if I could go for a visit. I also really wanted to meet Maggie. She was more family after all.

"The incantation I use in 'Fuego', but that doesn't really matter, this type of magic is all about intent. This is pretty straightforward Pyromancy but it can take time to get a decent sized fireball. First try will probably just a few sparks, at least that's been the norm for the newbie's I've helped train."

I flicked out my empty hand and, just to practice intoned "Fuego"

Dresden was a good teacher. He took the time to explain things in a way I could understand. It was reassuring to know I wasn't likely to get it first time. No pressure. It was a nice change. In no time at all he had me completely relaxed and I had found my core. It felt hot and eager to respond to my thoughts.

"Take slow deep breaths, in and out. Now picture a ball of fire in your mind, form it, hold it, feel it's heat." I did, seeing a ball of bright flame in my minds eye, balanced as if cupped in my palm. I breathed slowly and nodded carefully, not loosing my focus on the ball of flame.

"When your ready, thrust your arm forward and speak the incantation, as you do, imagine throwing the ball with great velocity at your target." I nodded again, took a deep breath and fixed my eyes on the wall. I'd been surprised when Dresden had inscribed a circle on the wall and muttered a spell at it. It glowed brightly and he had grinned. "Can't have target practise without a target!"

I drew in my breath and pictured Dresden as he'd thrown fire earlier, he'd shown me a bit of what he could do and I was determined to practise until I got just as good.

Thrusting my hand forward I yelled "Fuego".. but nothing happened.

Rinse and repeat. Four more times and still nothing. Not even sparks. I could feel the magic but I wasn't getting it.

"It's ok Kid, this is different magic to what you use, try again" Dresden didn't sound even a little annoyed, and I had failed utterly four times already. I growled in frustration.

A memory came to me, far back in my childhood. Dudley and I had had chickenpox. We were both miserable and, for all her faults, Aunt Petunia loathed sick kids, she was a germ-a-phoebe so we dosed up to the eyeball, drenched in ointments then quarantined together and told to 'get along'. We'd had a pile of food, lots of drinks and no adults. Uncle Vernon hadn't had chicken pox so he stayed away. To keep us (see Dudley) quiet and entertained Uncle Vernon had set up a SNES and we'd played endless games of Street Fighter. I only got to play because Dudley couldn't beat the game and I would let him win enough he liked playing with me better. I always chose Ryu, Dudley had never mastered his moves.

Dresden said it wasn't the word but the intent... So thrusting my hand forward I yelled "Hadoken!"

A basketball sized ball of bright blue flame bloomed from my hand and hurtled towards the wall. I heard Dresden cheer then curse and felt the snap of a magical shield coming up just before the fire ball hit it's target.

WHOOMP! The blast and boom knocked me clean of my feet, and I had been behind Dresden's shield with him. Sparks and little flames flew all around us and my ears rung. The Keep groaned under the pressure wave and the ground beneath us shook.

I laughed "That was fucking AWESOME!" I screamed, my ears still ringing.

Dresden picked himself up. He too was laughing. "Street fighter fan huh?" he asked. I just grinned at him. Then we looked at the wall. I gulped. There was a basketball sized hole right through it, and as we watched a whole segment of wall cracked and fell in. I looked back at Dresden who looked like he was trying hard not to laugh. "Uh.. oops." I offered and he cracked up, laughing so hard he almost sat back down.

There were House Elf pops behind us and horrified squeaks followed by footsteps running in our direction. Then came a sound that stopped Dresden's laughter cold.

Ms Murphy's voice rang out, clear and pissed off. "Harry!"

We looked at one another, pasted on fake innocent expressions and then looked back at her. In unison we said

"It was Harry's fault!"

Dresden's POV

I'm still not sure how it was MY fault.. but all the girls are sure blaming me. I mean come on! I wasn't even involved. How is that fair?

It seems that teenage boys and very young men are the same, even across dimensions. They can and will look at naked girls, especially named girls doing interesting things, any chance they get.

However most of them aren't wizards with access to a 1000+ year old, perverted Memory Spirit who'd had unfettered access to the internet for the past two years.

The boys had ALL disappeared.. that was a dead give away something was up.

Thomas and Arthur had taken Mouse out for a run through the surrounding forest. Arthur was grilling Thomas about our world. I thought I heard him asking about Snape and Lupin were buried in a potion in the basement lab and Hermione was lying down again with Molly watching to make sure she actually rested. The girls had become good friends. So it was Mrs Weasley and Karrin joined me on a man hunt. We climbed to the top of the keep.

The second was the locked door. I had to get Hermione to teach me that Alohomora spell.

When we walked in, Bob was apparently playing movie director again.. with a twist. Three different porn movies were being played on the smooth white wall.

Realising what they'd been doing I'd fled, having snatched up Bob and cut off their entertainment. No way was I hanging around, Karrin was pissed and Mrs Weasley.. well she scared the shit outta me. I was taking the safe option and running for it.

I locked Bob in a box. He was only coming out when we needed him. He was going get me into too much trouble.

I still don't know how this was MY fault.

Dresden's POV

THIS time it was Potter's fault. I take no responsibility. Even if I was the one casting the spells. During the battle at Malfoy Manor Potter had managed to disarm some blond kid his age and the wand he'd captured was working well for him. Not so much for me.

"The incantation is 'Wingardium Leviosa' coupledwith the hand movement, swish and flick." I had watched carefully as the boy did the spell and the large quill in front of us floated into the air. It had LOOKED easy enough.

Holding the foreign wand I felt the weird ebb and flow of magical energies within it. It didn't like me. That much I got.

I frowned and focussed of the quill. Seriously.. why did they still use the horrid things. I had tried writing with one and ended up with chicken scratch.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

maybe I shouldn't have shouted.. and pulled back on my power..

Everything in the room rose three feet into the air and suddenly began ricocheting around the room at great speed. Harry and I dropped flat and covered our heads. As soon as I let go of the wand the spell dropped and EVERYTHING, from books and cups, to paperweights and a bright silver letter opener came raining down on us. I was briefly glad I hadn't tried the spell in the kitchen, until a paver sized tome, the thickness of a brick, hit me on the top of my head.

We lay there in the destruction until footsteps roused our attention. Dazedly we looked up at Hermione and Molly. Luna was lurking a little further beyond them and they were all laughing at us.

Totally Harry's fault.