Disclaimer: I'm just a tadpole in the Pond of J.K. Rowling

A/N: Have I told you lately how wonderful you guys are for reading and reviewing my little story! Forgive me for the shortness of this chapter it just seemed to naturally want to end where it did. Call it a small interlude after the madness of the last chapter. I plan to have another chapter out later this week so you won't have to wait as long for the next update. I hope you enjoy Chapter 27 of Watching Over Harry.

Chapter 27

Harry Potter was sitting in the dark and depressing dungeon of Black Manor. The dungeon was not a part of the main house but one of the four buildings that stood behind the manor. It was a small one room ten by ten brick house with a trap door in the middle of the room. The trap door opened to reveal a circular stair case that descended some twenty feet.

It was dark, wet, and cold; the air was thick with echoes of the past atrocities that occurred here. The Black family put their kinsmen and family above all else but their enemies were never shown mercy or compassion. Many a witch and wizard had suffered the wrath of the Blacks in this dungeon. Iron manacles hung from every cell, an Iron Maiden could be seen on the far wall as well as the Rack and other instruments of torture.

Harry found it morbidly curious that such an old wizarding family would use muggle means of torture to inflict pain and death on their enemies. Although, he mused he shouldn't have found it curious at all. The Blacks were nothing if not equal opportunist when it came to doling out punishment and what could be more demeaning to a pure blood witch or wizard than to be tortured and killed by muggle means. The psychological fear that would be instilled in those that would come against them would be tremendous.

It was here where Harry had come to be alone with his thoughts, the dreariness and depressive feeling of the place was mirrored by his own feelings he had in his chest. He sat on the bottom most steps into the dark hell hole. The only light was the gentle flicker of a few torches that cast an orange hue through the dismal dark place.

It had been three days since the attack on his Godmother's home. Neville was still in critical condition at St. Mungos; Harry convinced the magical hospital to place Neville in his own room in the secure wing of the hospital. Amelia had even ordered round the clock auror protection for her future son-in-law.

The dark magic experts were still trying to determine the nature of the curse that had been placed on the dagger. They almost lost Neville when they had tried to remove the blasted thing. It seemed that any attempt to remove the cursed blade would initiate its final purpose and kill the person it had been plunged into.

A diagnostic charm showed that Neville's pain receptors where in a state of continual flare. To avoid permanent damage to his nervous system and mental state the healers blocked all receptor signals to the brain and had placed Neville in magical stasis. This kept the curse from continuing but it did not cure it, only stopping it temporarily. The concern now was to find a cure before the curse overcame the magically induced stasis and continued to slowly kill the Longbottom heir.

Lady Longbottom had not left her grandson's side, her constant vigil and her fierce protectiveness over Neville showed aside of Augusta that was rarely seen, that of a tender and caring grandmother who would die for her charge. In all the years that Amelia and Minerva had known the Dowager Lady they had never seen her show a moment of weakness even when her son and daughter-in-law had been tortured to insanity she had remained the fierce and stoic woman that they had always seen her to be.

But now she almost seemed defeated, her eyes were red and swollen from the uncharacteristic tears that seemed to have no end. The depth of love she had for Neville had become so apparent in the soulful eyes that watched over him. Harry had been by to see Neville every day, on his first visit he had begun to apologize to the elderly witch, but she would have none of it. She had told him in no uncertain terms that the blame lay directly at the feat of Voldemort and no other.

Harry had nodded and gave the powerful witch a half smile. Of course Harry did blame himself, he knew that it was ridiculous to take the blame, but with him taking a more visible stand against Voldemort, he could not help but correlate all these attacks on his friends and family to his outing of Voldemort last year with his interview in the Quibbler. Add that to taking on Dumbledore and the pureblood elites in the Wizengamot he was painting a very large target not only on himself but on his family as well.

Susan and Amelia had taken up temporary residence at Black Manor until Rowan Hill was repaired and new wards could be set by the goblins. However it would take several weeks for everything to be taken care of. Susan was still recovering from the after effects of being held under the Cruciatus curse. Narcissa and Madam Pomfrey were providing healing and restorative potions to the young redhead on a daily basis.

Her spirits had been almost crushed as she was informed of Neville's condition, but Tonks had been a great source of distraction and comfort for the redhead and kept her from sinking further into depression. Tonks would regale her with stories from her auror training days which were full of comedic incidents involving the clumsy metamorph.

Her one woman show of 'who am I?' was a big hit with the younger girls of the family as Tonks would change into various Hogwarts professors. Harry even blushed as she assumed the form of the sultry…and Hogwarts voted sexiest professor by all male students, the sultry Professor Sinestra. Harry blushed when Tonks as Professor Sinestra pushed her ample bosoms' into his face and informed Harry that he had been a bad boy in class and suggestively told him that he would be serving detention under her that evening.

This had all the girls in the house rolling with laughter at Harry's expense who took it with as much dignity as possible, which was to say he was beet red, and falling over his words to make up a suitable comeback but failing miserably.

Amelia had not been seen for most of the three days. She had statements to make, funerals to attend and a Ministry still to run. The attack on Minister Bones had some of the gray families reconsidering their decisions on allying themselves with Lord Potter. It seemed that the Dark Lord still had reach; although the attack was not successful it did show the members of the Wizengamot that no one was untouchable for the Dark Lord and his followers.

Narcissa had risen to the challenge and had been using all her political acumen to reassure the Gray Houses that an alliance with House Potter would be mutually beneficial and that a unified front against the dangers of extremism would once again bring peace and stability to their world. She may have also off handedly reminded them of the potential of House Potter calling in all outstanding debts as a means to finance his stand against the Dark Lord. This had the desired effect Narcissa was looking for as many of the Great Houses reaffirmed their allegiance to House Potter.

Dumbledore had not been quiet during this time either, he began a campaign of press releases underscoring his past successes against Grindelwald and You-Know-Who, and the failure of the current administration in protecting the public. His tenure as the longest serving headmaster of Hogwarts was also played up and painted him as the most capable of keeping students' safe and preparing them for their futures as productive members of society.

He accused Lady Longbottom as interim Grand Witch of the Wizengamot of collusion with the current Minister for Magic Amelia Bones of promoting a too progressive agenda and allowing legislation to pass that would get rid of the proud traditions of pureblood culture and endangering the continuation of that unique culture. Dumbledore's following was becoming more vocal in their support for him and their dissatisfaction with the current administration.

Demonstrations started to pop up outside the Ministry and in Diagon Alley. Dumbledore held rallies on the steps of Gringotts and at the Leaky Cauldron calling for a vote of no confidence in Minister Bones and Grand Witch Longbottom. Dumbledore was determined to regain his power and authority even if he had to pander to the pure blood elites to do so. And if he could firmly destroy Potter's support base he might be able to get the boy to come back to his fold, as it should be. After all if he felt isolated and unprotected that would give him the motivation he needed to come back to the light side and be the martyr Albus needed him to be.

Harry saw the wizarding world spinning out of control; there were now three distinct factions at play now. There was Voldemort and his merry band of psychopaths bent on total destruction of everything that did not fall into their narrow vision of what the wizarding world should look like. A world where purebloods' ruled and everyone else served or died.

The second group of course being Dumbledore's, Dumbledore's design for the wizarding world had come clearer to Harry as he searched for the rhyme and reason for Dumbledore's actions. The 'Greater Good' was no more than a complete suppression of free will. What was the 'Greater Good?' It was whatever Albus bloody Dumbledore decided it to be. It was a theocracy with the arrogant bastard as the center Deity with every witch and wizard praying prostate at the throne of the manipulative berk.

Harry's vision and the goal of those that supported him was one of freedom and equality, a representative government that considered all magicals of sentience. The old ways segregated and pitted one species against another and if segregation and bigotry were allowed to continue there would never be a lasting peace for any magical.

Harry sat in the semi darkness of the dungeon with his knees up to his chest is head resting heavily on them. Neville wasn't expected to live, Susan still suffering from being hit with the Cruciatus, Minerva injured, and twelve aurors were dead. It was all so overwhelming, and he feared never-ending. There had to be away to avoid bloodshed and bring the wizarding world together…there just had to be.

"I don't know what to do." Harry whispered. " Someone tell me what to do."

Next to Harry lay the wand that had chosen him in the Potter Family vault. The Le Fey wand, it was only nine inches in length and a deep dark cherry red in color, Harry was unsure of the type of wood or magical core the wand contained and was too afraid to have Ollivander examine it, fearing there would be too many awkward questions about its origin.

Unnoticed by Harry the wand began to glow a faint purple, Harry's eyes became extremely heavy and were soon closed and immediately he became oblivious to the world around him. He was not sure when he had fallen asleep but it was with a start that he woke up and finding himself in a strange place. Harry was not sure where he was except that he was laying on his back on a rather uncomfortable bed looking up at a thatched roof.

He let his eyes roam around and he determined he was in some kind of earthen cottage with a thatched roof. He could see daylight coming from a small window that was to the right of a wooden door. His eyes continued to roam around the room until he came to the hearth of the cottage where a modest fire was crackling; just to the right of the hearth he saw movement. He tilted his head to get a better angle to get a better look at what had moved.

Sitting on a small stool was a woman; she looked to be in her early to mid thirties with waist length dirty blond hair in a loose braid and piercing blue eyes. The woman stood from her stool and walked toward him. She was very petite perhaps only about four feet eight inches in height if that. She had sharp but very feminine features and a Romanesque nose, she wasn't beautiful in the classical sense but he was to classify her it would be that she was pleasant to look upon. Though her stature was small, Harry could tell by her walk that she had all the grace and strength of a predator. She had that same predatory gaze and walk that Bella had when she fought.

A warm smiled softened the woman's face as she approached the bed that Harry lay upon. "Welcome Lord Potter, I have been most anxious to meet you." The woman spoke with an old English inflection. "But where are my manners?" She scolded herself. "Please forgive me my lord, allow me to introduce myself, I am… Morgana Le Fey." The woman stated and gave a slight curtsey.

oooOOOooo

A/N: I love to get some ideas from you all on what Morgana and Harry will discuss in the coming chapter. It should be related to how he should fight or not fight the war. And maybe some personal advice for Harry as well.

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