Chapter 36 – Ancestry revealed? Part 1
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Ministry of Magic
The new minister for magic, Madam Bones seated behind her desk carefully observing the man the ministry of France and sent as their representative.
Madam Bones was flanked on both sides by the head of the auror division Rufus Scrimgeour and the head of the department of mysteries Alexander Croaker.
"I believe I told this was to be a meeting with your minister, not some unknown person," said Madam Bones coldly.
"Our minister has better things to do than answer summons from you, Madam Bones," said the man smoothly, his voice heavily accented. "However if you wish to meet the minister urgently then I will be happy to arrange a meeting at our ministry."
"You know the situation in our country right now and you know damn well the reason I wanted to meet him here!" she snapped angrily.
For the past week they had repeatedly asked for aid from the French but they were consistently been ignored until Madam Bones had lost patience and sent Patricia Selwyn, the head of the department of external affairs to the French ministry to request for aid and a meeting with the minister.
But they had blown her off saying the minister was too busy with their own affairs but he would come down to London as soon as possible to meet with Madam Bones. And now they had sent this Mr. Gasquet instead.
"We are aware of the situation Minister, and we really don't see why you need our help," replied the man coolly.
"We need your help because, we no longer have the manpower to keep the muggles unaware of what is going on and prevent more attacks from the dark lord!"
"A difficult problem indeed minister," said Mr. Gasquet inclining his head. "But correct me if I'm wrong, the previous minister had seen fit to ignore us when we had a mass murderer on the loose and he also refused to let us carry out an operation to capture the murderer when we found out he was hiding in this country."
"I'll correct you then," cut across Madam Bones icily. "That murderer of yours was caught by our aurors and he turned out to be a mentally unstable man who had killed some distant relative of your minister because that relative had gotten that man fired from his job because he didn't recognize him!"
Mr. Gasquet suddenly found a spot behind the minister to be very interesting.
"Be as it may, I think the real reason your minister is being so troublesome is because of a deal that went wrong when Fudge was in power."
"Then you should know the damage your ministries arrogance has cost ours!" said Gasquet furiously.
Madam Bones closed her eyes cursing Fudge for the umpteenth time. "I understand your unwillingness to help us because of Ex-minister Fudge's incompetence, but I'd hoped your ministry would be mature enough to put those mistakes in the past to tackle the menace that is Lord Voldemort."
Mr. Gasquet appeared pleased and Madam Bones knew that there would be a price to pay if they needed more help. They could have asked other countries for help but their magical communities were small and their law enforcement units smaller. The French were the second largest magical community in the world but had the best auror force.
"This is a list of our demands," said Gasquet. "If you comply, we will send our entire team of obliviators here plus some of our best aurors to help you keep your streets safe."
Madam Bones took the parchment and her expression slowly turned red with fury upon reading the list but kept her mouth shut and quietly handed the list to Unspeakable Croaker.
"So that's why you requested me to be here Gasquet," said Croaker with dry amusement.
"Think of it as a cost for what your ex-minister has done to us."
"Desperate times call for desperate measures minister," growled Rufus. "I think it best we give them what they want."
"Though it pains me to say this, but we have no choice," said Croaker. "These artifacts and research materials mean nothing if we are all dead."
"Then we have a deal?" asked Mr. Gasquet eagerly.
"How soon will your obliviators be here?" asked Madam Bones.
"Within the hour minister," he replied quickly.
"I want them here in 30 minutes along with your minister. He owes us for sending a worm like you in his place," she said. "We will need them to get to work immediately. The dark lord's latest attack left hundreds of muggles dead along with hundred more survivors to spread rumors about what they saw."
"I will not waste any time then," said Mr. Gasquet.
"Rufus, please make sure Mr. Gasquet swears an oath to deliver what he has promised us."
"Yes, minister," said Scrimgeour and escorted an outraged Mr. Gasquet out ignoring his protests.
Once the man had left Madam Bones turned to Croaker.
"You want me to conceal our special portkey's in the artifacts don't you?" he said.
"Yes," she replied. "Once this is over I want them back. They are far too valuable to be lost."
"And the research they want?"
"Leave out the parts where the breakthroughs were achieved. Give them the end result and but make sure they never figure out how it was done."
"Yes Madam Bones," he said.
"And Croaker."
"Yes ma'am?"
"Have we found out which of our aurors report to Dumbledore's order?"
"Unfortunately no, his agents are good at what they do. But I'd hoped you'd decide to let them be. After all their aim too, is to stop Voldemort."
"I know," she said heavily. "But I'd hoped Dumbledore would stop operating outside our authority and work with us instead."
Croaker gave the minister a penetrating look, looking for words to put her mind at ease. This would be a perfect opportunity to gain more funding and increase the functioning of his department he thought.
"There is a project which our department came up with to turn the war in our favor," he said carefully. "But we were never allowed to go ahead with the project because of the erm… risks it involved."
Madam Bones narrowed her eyes. She knew what Croaker was talking about and had from time to time prevented it from being implemented, though Croaker didn't know that.
"You know how illegal it is and the ramifications if the truth were to reach the public, not to mention how immoral it is."
"It may be immoral yes," replied Croaker. "But it would also mean fewer deatheater's on the streets."
The minister sighed and began drumming her fingers on her desk considering what Croaker had in mind.
"How many of your men will be involved?"
"No more than five. All of them are exceptional at retrieval missions and the veil of death will be a perfect way to cover up the deaths."
"And I suppose you will be using veritaserum to interrogate them?" she asked.
"We will use our strongest dose. If they are found to be innocent then we will wipe their memories and leave them where we found them. They would have no knowledge that the ministry was ever involved," said the unspeakable confidently.
Madam Bones still felt a little uncomfortable with going through with Croaker's plan but she knew if the ministry kept doing things within the law, the dark lord would have no trouble taking over her job.
"We might have to brief Dumbledore about this. It would worsen the ministries relationship with him if we accidentally picked up one of his spies."
Croaker nodded, happy that she had agreed. "So we can proceed then."
"Yes, there will be no paper work and but I want an oath from you that you will regularly update me on your progress and you will not do anything without approval from me first," she said sharply.
"An oath minister? Don't you think that's a little excessive?"
"No I don't," she replied coldly. "A mission without paperwork is bound to slip out of control and I don't want that to happen. Do you understand unspeakable Croaker?"
"I do minister," he said quietly. He then drew his wand and swore that he would not do anything without the approval of the minister when it came to the mission of capturing deatheater's only.
"So you can start with compiling a list known deatheater's and bring it to my desk so we can start the elimination process."
"Yes ma'am."
Also, have we found out what the goblins are up to?" she asked wearily. "We wouldn't want them to start another revolution at a time like this."
"At this time we don't know what they are up to," he said slowly. "They fired all their human employees two nights ago and I'm sorry to say this, but they also have been gathering arms."
"And why are you telling me this now!" she asked, her temper rising.
"I got this Intel just a few hours ago and didn't think it was necessary to burdenyou with it until we knew the reason behind their actions," said Croaker calmly.
The minister let out a tired sigh. "Keep me updated Croaker," she said. "And ask my assistant to find and send Arthur Weasley in."
"Weasley?"
"He has proven himself to be extremely loyal to Dumbledore in the past and I am sure his is a part of Dumbledore's order."
Croaker nodded and walked out of the office quietly. He knew what they were about to do was highly illegal but war is war, he thought grimly.
It was time to start hitting back hard.
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Hogsmeade
It was the last day of school before the holidays started and the students had been allowed to visit Hogsmeade before they left for home.
"Oh there goes a Double D!" said Blaise in excitement.
"How can you tell?" asked Harry curiously. "You can hardly notice them in robes."
"And in those robes they look like they could be a modest C," he said grinning.
"Ah! I see," said Harry, the light bulb in his mind suddenly glowing bright.
Harry and Blaise were sitting under an old banyan tree a little distance away from the three broomsticks and Blaise was trying to teach Harry the art of predicting the bust size of a woman.
"What about her?" said Harry, pointing to one of the sixth year Hogwarts girls.
"Oh that's Lisa," said Blaise. "She's a Hufflepuff and I think she's a 32 B."
Harry grinned at Blaise's knowledge about the women of Hogwarts. "You know, if you had a girlfriend, she'd break up with you in less than 2 days."
"Why is that!" asked Blaise indignantly.
"You'd keep staring at other hot women and keep describing their… 'Ahem' dimensions to her. Can you name even a single girl who likes to hear a boyfriend talk about other girls?"
"If I had a chick, then I would like you to know that I would pamper her rotten."
Harry snorted, "Yeah right."
"You're one to talk," said Blaise, "didn't you come here with Daphne?"
"Oh yeah, I gave her some excuse and told her I'd meet her at four at Honeydukes."
"Why?"
Harry just shrugged. "I'll be going back with her though," he said.
Blaise's eyes widened in realization, "You're just want to make out with her!"
"Yeah," said Harry blushing a bit. "I kind of enjoyed the first time… and erm… I don't think she'd mind it too much if we did it again."
Blaise smile was getting broader by the second and Harry refused to look at his best friend.
"You sly bugger! You're just using her!"
"I'm not using her! We're just enjoying… the… the feel of each others lips on the other," said Harry.
"Do you like her?" asked Blaise.
"No, not that much," he said.
Blaise's eyes filled with tears.
"What's wrong!" asked Harry mystified.
"I just can't believe you're using her for pleasure," he said sniffing.
"You don't approve?"
"Are you kidding! I'm so damn proud of you!" he said, tears falling freely and threw his arms around Harry hugging him tight.
"Blaise get off!" yelled Harry and with the assistance of a little magic, he managed to push his tall friend away from him.
After Blaise calmed down he remembered what had happened the last time Harry had kissed her.
"Hey what about that problem you had with your body temperature and all that?" he asked Harry.
"Oh I got that sorted out," replied Harry. "If want to know it went haywire for a bit because I was growing up."
"You're still growing up genius," said Blaise sarcastically. "Or is this the limit of your growth!"
"Not like that idiot," said Harry annoyed. "I mean it was like hitting puberty."
"Oh… oh Okay. So you got it under control now?"
"Pretty much," replied Harry.
They went silent for a bit just enjoying the cool atmosphere.
"I wish witch's learnt to dress up like muggle women," said Blaise suddenly.
"What? Why?"
Blaise sighed. "Look over there. That's Alicia Spinnet and she's a muggleborn."
"I see her."
"Look at her! Look at her clothes! The way her jeans hug her arse and that tight T-shirt defining all her curves! She's got amazing tits!"
"She looks like she's a C," said Harry hesitantly.
"A 34 C most probably," he said gloomily. "Maybe I should design clothes for women," he added brightening up.
Harry laughed. "I think it'd be better for them to roam about naked instead."
"Hmm… even better," said Blaise.
Sighing Harry got up and dusted the dirt off his clothes. "Well I'll leave you to your perverted thoughts. I've to go and meet Daphne," he said.
"I'll come with you."
"Suit yourself."
Around five past four Daphne turned up with Tracey and they were accompanied by another red haired girl.
"Hey Harry, Blaise," said Daphne. Tracey just nodded at them.
"Had a fun time at that womeny store?" asked Harry.
"Actually we were at the Witch's corner," said the red head.
Harry looked at her with a frown. She looked familiar but he couldn't remember how he knew her. "I'm sorry, do I know you?" asked Harry politely.
"That's Susan Bones Harry, she's a 36…," started Blaise but he was cut of when Harry kicked him hard.
"Bloody hell, that hurt Harry!" cried Blaise.
"Oh I'm sorry Blaise, I thought I saw a bug crawling up your leg," said Harry glaring at him.
"An imaginary bug Harry?" asked Tracey, her eyebrows raised.
"Don't worry about it, pleasure meeting you Susan, shall we go Daphne?" Harry said quickly with a touch of impatience.
"What's the hurry?" asked Tracey with a smirk. "Want to spend some quality time with Daphne?"
"Tracey!" said Daphne mortified.
"Actually Tracey," said Harry folding his arms, "I intend to."
"Oh," replied Tracey effectively shut up.
"Nice," whispered Blaise smiling broadly.
There was another few seconds of awkward silence and awkward staring.
"Well," said Daphne slipping her hand in Harry's. "I guess we'll see you later. Bye Suzy, Tracey."
Once they were out hearing distance Daphne looked at Harry curiously and asked, "So why did you really kick Blaise?"
"He was about to tell us her size," he replied uncomfortably.
"Her size? What do you mean?"
"How do you know Susan, by the way?" asked Harry, desperate to change the topic. He certainly did not want to discuss breast sizes with his date!
"We've known each other since the age of 5," replied Daphne. "Her mother and mine were friends during their time in Hogwarts."
"That's interesting," said Harry with a laugh.
"Why?"
"I always expected Slytherin's to be friends with just Slytherin's and no one else."
"Susan's mother and mine were in Ravenclaw," said Daphne rolling her eyes. "My dad was a Slytherin."
"And you ended up being a Slytherin, your dad must be so proud."
Time passed by in such fashion with Harry and Daphne chatting. They spent some time in Honeydukes tasting different types of sweets before it was finally time to get back to the castle.
On the way back both Harry and Daphne by accident sat in a carriage with Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. In an attempt not to look at the two Gryffindor's Harry busied himself trying to identify other Hogwarts students. Harry spotted Lillian with her short black hair which was now sporting a few green stripes get into a carriage with Weasley, Granger and Longbottom. He also saw Susan Bones get into a carriage with her Ravenclaw friends and Blaise had joined Malfoy and his goons in another carriage.
Once all the students were inside the carriages set off with a tense atmosphere in their carriage. The two gossip queens of their year were eying Harry and Daphne with interest and Daphne was trying to kill them with her eyes. It was very ineffective thought Harry.
Mercifully the ride was over soon and Daphne literally dragged Harry into the castle.
"What's the hurry?" asked Harry in amusement.
"I cannot believe those two!" she burst out all of a sudden.
"Huh? They didn't even say a thing," said.
"Oh they didn't have to say anything," she spat out. "It was all written in their eyes. Just you wait, by tomorrow the rumors about us would have spread through out Hogwarts!"
Harry wanted to say 'like I care' but held his tongue.
"You know," he said instead. "There's an empty classroom right here."
"What?"
Harry took a deep breath, "Do you want to… you know…"
"Oh… oh!" she said blushing.
Harry closed the gap between them while gathering his courage and suppressing the other voice in his head which was telling him to turn and run.
Daphne's heart rate increased when Harry stepped closer to her. She too was looking forward to making out and was just waiting for Harry to make a move first.
"Gladly," she whispered before placing her lips on his.
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About half an hour later Daphne returned alone to the common room looking angry.
"Hey Daph," said Tracey "You okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine," she huffed and sat on the sofa folding her arms.
"Where's Potter," asked Millicent.
"Do I look like I care," snapped Daphne.
"What happened!" asked Draco looking interested. Some older students also leaned in wanting to hear some gossip.
Daphne just threw her arms up in frustration. "Am I bad looking?" she asked.
"Of course not," replied Blaise in an instant drawing amused looks from the people around him.
"If she were two years older I would die to get into her pants," muttered a sixth year quietly to his friends.
"Thanks Blaise," said Daphne. She had not heard the sixth year. "Well after Hogsmeade that bastard and I went into an empty classroom and we made out."
"Nice," whispered the boys around and the girls nodded solemnly listening to her every word.
"And then after a while I asked him if this meant if I was his girl friend and do you know what he said!"
"What?" asked Tracey.
"That he wasn't interested in that kind of sappy stuff!"
The girls gasped out loud.
"I mean we've gone on two dates, made out three or four times and when I ask him if we should start seeing each other he just blows me off!"
"Potter's got balls, I'll give you that," said Pucey sniggering.
"How was the snog," asked Tracey trying hard not to laugh.
Daphne look of anger melted into regret. "It was great," she said. In her mind Daphne was thinking if she hadn't asked him that damn question she could be still having a great snogging session with Harry.
"Draco, will you kick his arse for me?" said Daphne sniffing. Her anger had dissipated and the hurt of rejection had set in.
"What!" squeaked Draco.
"Beat the shit out of that arrogant piece of shit!"
"Err… I don't know Daphne," said Draco awkwardly. "I mean he's my friend and I erm wouldn't want to jeopardize my friendship him."
Blaise snorted. "I can count the number of words you've spoken to Harry all year on one hand let alone two!"
Draco glared at Blaise and Blaise just smirked. He knew Draco was just scared of Harry and the Malfoy heir knew that Harry could destroy him with ease in a duel.
"Where's Harry anyway?" asked Tracey. She didn't want to hurt Daphne but she was with Harry on this one. Daphne was a year elder to them all and was a tad more mature when it came to things like having a relationship with someone.
The only reason she was in her third year and not fourth was because her birthday was on the 3rd of September and Hogwarts was very strict about their age rule.
"I don't know and I don't care," said Daphne with a sigh. "I'm going to bed," she announced and left the common room.
The small crowd which had gathered around Daphne slowly dispersed into smaller groups after she left. The drama was over and it was back to discussing Slytherin politics.
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Headmaster's office
"Concentrate Harry," said Dumbledore softly. The headmaster was sitting in his high chair with his wand out and Harry was sitting opposite him trying his hardest to clear his mind.
"Legilimens"
Harry felt the familiar feeling of a needle poke at his mind. He focused on keeping his mind empty of all thoughts and it worked for about 5 seconds before his memories started flashing in front of his eyes.
Dumbledore immediately withdrew.
"That was a great improvement Harry," said the headmaster smiling. "You were able to fend me off for 2 seconds longer."
"It would have been just a second if my wand weren't providing a little protection to my mind," said Harry disappointedly.
"Occlumency is a very, very difficult art to master," said Dumbledore. "You can't just imagine a wall around your mind and prevent your mind from being read."
"I know, you've told be that before," said Harry dryly. "But no matter how much I try and no matter how much advice you give me, every time I try to not think of anything, something pops up no matter what. It's impossible to not have any thoughts roaming in your head!"
"And that is exactly why mastering occlumency is considered to be beyond the capabilities of a normal witch or wizard," said Dumbledore. "I could teach you innumerable curses and deadly magic, but if you face an opponent who has mastered legilimency and occlumency, you will lose no matter what."
Harry's shoulders slumped.
"You have mastered both haven't you?"
Dumbledore nodded, "And so have Professor Snape and Lord Voldemort."
"Alright," said Harry gathering his wits. "All I have to do is not think. That's the key isn't it? Not to think?"
"Everyone has their own methods Harry. You can choose your own."
"Right," breathed Harry.
"But remember this Harry, once you achieve this state of the mind, something will happen to you and you must under no circumstances panic," said Dumbledore seriously.
"Not panic?" asked Harry confused. "Why? What will happen?"
"You'll see if you ever reach that stage," said Dumbledore. "Now let's get back to practicing."
Harry nodded and closed his eyes in another attempt to empty his mind.
"Legilimens"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Harry left the headmasters office a little over an hour later with a terrible headache. He had made no progress and the task seemed to be getting harder and harder with every attempt.
But Harry wasn't going to give up. No, he had learnt when he was six years old that his path to success was not giving up.
He was going to keep trying until he succeeded.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Grimmauld Place
Three days had gone since Harry had returned home and he had sulked continuously for three days and counting.
"Hey Harry," said Sirius. "You're up early."
Harry ignored Sirius and sat down at the table grumpily.
Sirius sighed. "You're still mad?"
"No I'm not mad," replied Harry. "I'm just annoyed."
"Same thing," said Sirius with a snort.
"No its not, if I were angry I would have cursed that damn clumsy auror and I would have cursed you too for turning this into the head quarters of that damn phoenix club."
"I'm surprised you're acting so bratish," said Sirius idly.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you always act so mature and all, one would just think you would understand why I offered for my house to be made headquarters. But like any other kid of your age, you too get mad when people enter your room without permission," he said.
Harry glared at his godfather whose lips were threatening to break out into a smile.
"I'm not like other kids," said Harry childishly.
"Morning you guys," said a sleepy looking Tonks entering the dining hall.
"Morning Tonks," said Sirius.
"Damn auror," muttered Harry.
"Kreacher!" called out Sirius.
The once pathetic looking and now some what cleaner elf popped into existence and bowed deeply. "Yes master?"
"Bring us some breakfast will you?"
The elf nodded and popped away.
"How are the Weasley's?" Tonks asked Sirius.
"Oh they're fine, just a little shook up though.
"Hmmm? What happened to the Weasley's?" asked Harry interestedly.
"Their house was attacked by deatheater's but the wards we put around them held long enough for them to escape."
"They were attacked! Any of them dead?"
Tonks frowned. "You sound very hopeful."
"Well I wouldn't be shedding any tears for them," Harry replied with a smirk.
Tonks looked away from him in disgust.
"What happened now?" asked Sirius. Tonks and Harry surprisingly didn't like each other. Harry didn't like her because she was too clumsy and had spilt milk on him the first time they met and Tonks didn't like Harry because he had insulted her hair and called her a fat arse.
"She tried to molest me last night," said Harry deadpanned.
"I did not!" said Tonks outraged. "I just accidently entered his room and then I fell on him."
Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Really?"
"Actually it was your godson who did the molesting."
"Excuse me!" said Harry.
"He squeezed my breasts and pushed me off!"
"Those were your breasts? Huh, I just thought it was the extra fat on you."
Tonks stood up angrily and rolled up her sleeves. "You want to fight midget!"
"What are you going to do? Sit on me? Nymphadora!"
"How dare you!"
"Alright enough," shouted Sirius. "Tonks, are you arguing with a thirteen year old?"
Tonks huffed and sat down angrily.
"And Harry, please don't fight with every order member you don't like! Yesterday Kingsley wasn't amused when you called him a bald headed bastard."
"He is one for trying to order me up to my room," shot back Harry.
"Well you can imagine how bad things are going to be from today then," muttered Tonks.
"What do you mean?" asked Harry.
Sirius sighed. "Now Harry, I want you to calm down first."
"What does she mean!"
"The deatheater's burned down the Weasley's home so they're living here from today," said Tonks. "In fact they're sleeping upstairs as we speak."
Harry mouth open and shut several times and he was finding it very difficult to breath!
"Harry?"
His face was slowly turning blue.
"Breathe Harry!"
"The Weasley's are living here?" Harry finally choked out.
"And I'm sure you can co-exist," replied Sirius rising up from his chair and hurrying over to Harry side.
"The red headed bastard is living under this roof!" Harry choked out again.
Sirius placed his hands on Harry's shoulders and forced him back into his chair.
"I know you hate them Harry, but you have to realize there s a war going on! And there's enough room in our house for them and us to live peacefully!"
Unfortunately Molly Weasley chose that exact moment to enter the room.
"Molly!" exclaimed Tonks, "Shouldn't you be resting?"
"Molly smiled wearily. "I couldn't sleep knowing our house is being destroyed by deatheater's."
Tonks hugged Mrs. Weasley. "How are the kids?"
"The twins and Percy didn't sleep too but Ron and Ginny somehow managed to shut their eyes for a while."
"It's going to be alright Molly," said Sirius comfortingly.
"Thank you for letting us stay here Sirius," she said sniffing. "It was very kind of you."
"Get rid of them Sirius!" hissed Harry furiously. "I don't want their damn tears to fill up this house!"
"Have a heart Harry!" whispered Sirius. "Err… why don't you call the kids down Molly, I'm sure they're hungry."
Harry's eyes widened in horror. "Do want another war you damn dog!" whispered Harry.
"Stop thinking about yourself for a moment and think about them and don't think of them as Weasley's, think of them as a family who just lost their home!"
Tonks meanwhile hadn't missed the conversation between Harry and Sirius and stuck out her tongue at Harry just to infuriate him.
Harry's blood pressure rose and he lifted a plate nearby to throw it at the now green headed auror.
Sirius snatched the plate out of Harry hand and glared at Tonks. "Molly do you mind if I have a word with Tonks here?"
"No, go ahead Sirius, I'll just go and get the kids."
Harry just watched silently as Sirius dragged Tonks away berating for acting so immature and as Molly Weasley left the room to bring the rest of the Weasley's down.
Him in a house with three Gryffindor's who hated him as much as he hated them? There was definitely no way there was going to be peace.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Kreacher meanwhile had brought some delicious looking pancakes along with some bread, butter and eggs.
Harry didn't bother to wait for anyone and began to eat. All that anger had left him very hungry.
Just as he was through his third pancake he heard voices coming down the stairs.
"This house is neat mom!" came the voice of one of the twins.
"Yeah, the rug on the floor feels like heaven and I think that chandelier was made of pure gold!" said his hated enemy Ronald Weasley.
"Be quite kids," scolded Mrs. Weasley, "You are all guests here and I expect you to behave yourselves."
"Whom does the house belong to mom?" asked Ginny.
"Sirius Black," replied Molly as they entered the room.
"Oh cool! Pancakes!" exclaimed Ron. He hurried over to the table and began piling his plate.
The others though had noticed Harry sitting at the other end unlike their brother.
"Oh hi Harry," said Ginny with a smile and pulled out a chair and sat next to him.
Ron looked up in shock. "Whass fe foin er!" he said spitting food all over!
He got a rap on his head by his mother for that. "This house belongs to him too so I expect you to be polite to him!" she said sternly. "Now behave!" she said again left.
"On second thought, things might not be so bad," thought Harry while a smile grew on his face.
Embarrassed Ron looked away from Harry and began eating his food quietly. The twins took a seat opposite to Ginny eyeing Harry carefully while Percy sat opposite Ron.
"Sorry about your house," Harry said to Ginny. While he hated the other three, he didn't have any problem with their sister.
"It's alright," said Ginny sadly, "Houses can always be rebuilt."
"We might have spotted some of your friends parents out there though," said George.
"I hope you said hi from my side," said Harry coolly.
The twins didn't respond to the jab but their ears turned red in anger.
"Stop it George, Fred. You know it's not his fault they attacked us," said Ginny.
"I bet he knew about it though," muttered Ron.
"Hmmm, I do remember Draco saying something about it," said Harry looking thoughtful.
Fred stood up angrily. "I don't care if it's not his fault, what's pissing me off is that he's not sorry!"
"Sit down Fred," said Percy sternly. "Ginny, get away from him and come sit here."
"Yeah, sit down Fred," sneered Harry. "You should remember you're living in my house and I absolutely don't like raised voices."
Ginny sighed. "Stop it you two," she told the twins. "Please don't antagonize them Harry," she said. "And I thought you would have learnt to ignore what us Slytherin's say," she added looking at her brothers angrily.
Scowling the twins took their plates and headed over near Ron who was quietly observing the byplay.
"And since your sister asked so sweetly, I promise not to talk to you," said Harry smiling.
He then stood up and placed a kiss on her cheek. "Nice to see you Ginny," he said and walked out of the room leaving behind four speechless Weasley's and a deeply blushing Weasley.
"Ginny!" gasped Ron.
"He just did that to anger you all," she said hurriedly not wanting a fight.
"So much for his promise," growled George.
"He promised not to talk to you," replied a still red Ginny. "And being the Slytherin he is, he won't pass up an opportunity to get your tempers to raise."
"Damn Snake."
-x-x-x-x-x-
As it turned out the Weasley's weren't the only ones to be attacked that night. Voldemort and his men had launched simultaneous attacks on several important ministry members including Madam Bones. The minister and her niece had escaped but a number of good aurors lost their lives including Susan's father. Her mother was grievously wounded but she was well on her way to recovery.
A few other deatheater's had picked out a random muggle neighborhood and had killed everyone in their sleep. A number of muggles were missing too, probably captured by Voldemort for a slow and painful death.
All this was in retaliation to the law which Madam Bones had recently passed. 'All wizards or witches branded by the dark mark were to be subjected to interrogation under the influence veritaserum.'
It had been passed so fast that it didn't give people like Lucius Malfoy, Nott, Macnair enough time to run and they were captured and held in a cell in the ministry itself with a Dementor guarding them each.
Also the project which the head of the department of mysteries, now called Project Cleanliness was bearing fruit too. Out of the few hundred people they had interrogated, they had caught about 10 unbranded deatheater's and those who were unredeemable had been thrown through veil of death without any pity the others a choice, either spy for them or rot in Azkaban.
Several teams of obliviators were patrolling the streets of muggle London and were making sure that the truth about their existence wasn't revealed.
A lot of members in the Wizengamot were calling for the shutting down of Hogwarts because of the war but Dumbledore firmly maintained that Hogwarts was the safest place to be and also proposed that families whose life was in danger could take up temporary residence in the castle itself. This idea was met with a positive response and a lot of families had started living in the castle already.
And now after the attack on the minister, it was near impossible for unauthorized workers to get into the ministry of magic without setting siege to the place.
Diagon Alley was faring no better. People now hardly ventured there and if they did, they made sure they bought enough goods to last them for months. There were posters of wanted criminals everywhere along with several pamphlets flying about listing a set of important instructions along with the emergency floo address of the auror department.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Meanwhile in Malfoy Manor Voldemort wasn't staying idle. Last nights attacks were not as productive as he had hoped and his fury was felt by all his followers.
And loosing his supporters was doing nothing to calm his temper as Avery screamed louder and the dark lord's curse grew stronger.
A few seconds later the curse was lifted and Avery who kept twitching on the floor was dragged away by two deatheater's.
"SHUT UP!" screamed Voldemort suddenly and the already terrified deatheater's looked nervously at one and another wondering who their lord was talking to.
"I SAID SHUT UP!" he screamed again, his black eyes staring at nobody in particular. He took a deep breath and looked at his most trusted lieutenant, Bellatrix Lestrange.
"Bellatrix, gather up all the strongest of my men and prepare them."
"Yes my lord," she said bowing.
"The ministry is doing all it can to hide my existence from the muggles. But with our next attack there won't be anything to hide anymore and soon those pathetic creatures will learn to kneel before their new lord," he said as his face twisted into an ugly smile.
"Crouch!"
"Yes milord," said Crouch junior kneeling before Voldemort.
"Have you made any progress on the wards around Hogwarts?"
"We have identified some of the simpler wards and have found a way to disable them. But the further we go, the more dangerous and obscure the wards get," he said. "Feathers was burnt to crisp because of one misstep."
Voldemort narrowed his eyes. "I expect you to figure out a way to bring them down by the beginning of the next term."
"Yes my lord," whispered Crouch. He stepped forward and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes before swiftly leaving.
"Have you figured out how to break your husband out of his prison yet Narcissa?" he asked the blond witch coldly.
"A plan is still being worked out my lord," said Mrs. Malfoy.
"Tut tut, I expect better Narcissa," he said, his eyes boring into hers. "After all he is your beloved husband isn't he?"
"Y-yes my lord."
"Now get out," he hissed. "All of you."
"Why don't you use the torture curse on her my dear Tom."
"WILL YOU KEEP SHUT!" screamed Voldemort again and his deatheater's literally ran out of the room.
Every time Voldemort used dark magic, the voice in his head would start talking to him and it was talking more and more as each day passed by and it was driving him mad.
"Use my power Voldemort and you'll grow even more powerful," said the voice with a chuckle.
Voldemort looked around for someone to kill but then remembered he had ordered them out.
His scream of rage was heard by the deatheater's still remaining in the house and they ran faster to get away.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Grimmauld Place
It was nearing night fall and Harry was sitting glumly in his room. He was still finding it extremely difficult to clear his mind and so far he hadn't had any success when it came to that. Also it was difficult to practice when there was no one prodding his mind so he didn't know whether he was doing good or not.
Plus later that day he had heard even more bad news. It seemed that due the danger of muggleborns being attacked, Granger and her parents including Lillian and her father had moving to Grimmauld place until powerful wards could be erected around their houses.
"You in there Harry?" said Sirius knocking on the door.
"Yeah."
"Come downstairs then, Molly has prepared some delicious looking food and I'm sure you don't want to miss it."
Harry sighed. He remembered her cooking alright. And no, he certainly was not going to miss it.
He opened the door and came out surprising Sirius. "That was fast," said Sirius in surprise. "I half expected you to through a fit!"
Harry shrugged. "My stomach needs food," he said.
The dining table had been magically expanded to fit all the inhabitants of the house. And Harry grimaced upon hearing the amount of noise being generated.
Mr. Weasley was sitting with Percy and Mr. and Mrs. Granger talking excitably with them. Lillian and sitting with Hermione and Ron and she nodded slightly in his direction. Sirius headed towards the twins who were talking to each other in low voices.
Harry sat besides Mr. Austin, Lillian's father as the rest of the places were occupied and he had no intention of sitting with the twins.
"So you're Harry huh?" said Mr. Austin suddenly.
"Yeah I am," replied Harry. "Frec… I mean Lillian told you about me huh?"
"Yes she did. And I remember you accompanying that Professor from your school. You were quite short and thin back then."
"I guess I grew up then," said Harry. "What did Lillian say about me though?" he asked curiously.
"Oh she says a lot of things," replied Mr. Austin with a laugh. "But more or less she says that you're a scumbag with a good heart."
Harry frowned. "Well she's a dumb blonde who acts before she thinks."
"Well she's not blonde and she's certainly not dumb," replied Mr. Austin smiling. "But I do disapprove of her current hair style."
Harry looked at her and noticed that she had added a pair of orange stripes to her hair.
"It does make her look ugly," said Harry.
"I think it looks cool and funky," said Sirius joining in. "And I think you like her."
Mr. Austin burst out laughing at the expression on Harry's face.
"I think she likes you too but it might take some time for her to realize that," he said.
"You both are mad," said Harry in disgust. "And I think I've just lost my appetite."
"Oh come on Harry, it was a joke!" said Sirius laughing.
"It wasn't funny!"
After they had eaten their full Sirius led most of the kids out to help him throw away some Black heirlooms.
Hermione and Lillian decided to check out the Black library and Harry decided to settle down in his favorite while listening to the adults talk.
The Grangers were sitting nearby listening to Arthur Weasley explain the situation in the wizarding world while Donald Austin had taken a seat next to Harry.
"That chair looks comfortable," he said taking out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
"It is," agreed Harry, "No one sits in it but me."
"You got a light?" he asked Harry.
"No, but I have a wand."
Harry took out his wand and lit a small flame long enough for Mr. Austin.
"Does your daughter know you smoke?"
"She does, but she knows I only smoke when I'm stressed out."
"So what do you do for a living Mr. Austin?"
"I work in an insurance company," he replied.
"Oh, okay," said Harry and he went back to staring at the others around him.
A few minutes passed by and a few order members passed by to take some rest from whatever it was that they were doing.
"Could you light another one for me Harry?" asked Donald having finished his first cigarette.
"Sure," said Harry.
"Your parents aren't here?" asked Donald suddenly. "I'd love to have a chat with them."
Harry looked at the man in surprise. "Lillian didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"They died when I was one. They were murdered by Voldemort."
"Oh! I'm sorry," he apologized. "My wife died when Lillian was one."
"I know. It was a car accident wasn't it?"
"Lillian told you?"
"We exchanged a few stories."
"Then she must trust you because she hates to talk about it," he said smiling sadly.
"How did the accident happen?" asked Harry. He knew it was insensitive of him but that hadn't stopped him before.
"Hmmm… it was Halloween I think," said Donald. "We were passing through a small village when suddenly there was a sudden great blast of wind which lifted our car right off the ground and we went rolling until it crashed into a tree."
"A blast of wind?"
"It was sort of a bluish kind. The authorities at the hospital told me that a power station had blown up nearby and it was an electromagnetic pulse that hit us."
"Wow," said Harry, his eyebrows raised. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," replied Lillian's father. "I've made my peace with that chapter of my life."
"Which village was it though?"
"Hmmm, I think it was called Godric's swallow or something like that," he said taking a long drag.
Harry sat up straight at that. "I'm sorry what!"
"Godric's something was the village's name? Why?"
"N-no reason," stammered Harry and he quickly got out of his chair.
"Where are you going?"
"Just off to bed," replied Harry. "Goodnight Mr. Austin."
"Call me Donald or Don for short."
Harry just smiled and hurried out of the room to look for Sirius.
He found Sirius in the Black tapestry room with the rest of his school mates. They were busy blasting names of the tree.
"Can I talk to you Sirius?" asked Harry.
"Sure what's up?"
"In private!"
"Wait up kids," he said. "We've still got a bunch of other names to blast off."
Harry pulled Sirius into the opposite room which held a bunch of trophies and quickly locked and silenced the room.
"What's wrong Harry?" asked Sirius looking concerned.
"I've got a question for you," said Harry.
"Shoot."
"Imagine you killed a wizard."
"What!"
"Just listen!" snapped Harry. "Now imagine a wizard or witch is killed, is it possible that when they die their magic sort of explodes?"
"Sure," replied Sirius. "Voldemort is a perfect example. When the killing curse bounced of you he didn't die but instead he was blasted out his body and his body along with his magic exploded almost bringing the house down on you."
"Then how did he get his magic back?"
"Who knows," said Sirius with a shrug. "Probably some dark ritual."
"Now what if there was a person close by when it happened. Could he or she be affected?"
Sirius looked thoughtful. "Well I suppose it could affect them. Muggles and adult wizards probably wouldn't be affected but it could affect children."
"How?"
"A child's core is very volatile, so if they were in an area when such a blast took place then their cores could grow to become stronger or in case of muggle children, it could awaken their magical abilities."
"If the wizard had some special abilities could those abilities be transferred?"
"I don't know. It might depend on their closeness to the blast site. Are you wondering about your Parselmouth ability?"
"Sort of," replied Harry. On the inside he was tremendously excited. This could explain everything about Lillian. How she could speak Parseltongue and maybe she was born a witch but because of being near a magical blast site, her core had evolved and made her a fire elemental.
It could explain how he became an elemental too.
"Don't worry about it Harry," said Sirius snapping Harry out of his high speed thought process.
"Huh? Worry about what?"
"About your Parselmouth ability."
"Oh yeah, sure. Thanks Sirius," said Harry and hurried back to his room. He needed to think.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
It was close to 1 am in the night when Lillian felt someone shake her.
"Wake up," whispered the voice.
"Lemme sleep," she said groggily.
"Freckles wake up!" whispered the voice again shaking her harder.
It was then she registered the voice and the name it had called her and she sat up like a bolt smashing into its head in the process.
She fell back on the bed clutching her head while Harry had fallen off the bed clutching his head in pain.
"What the hell are you doing here!" she said angrily.
"Your head is hard as hell," said Harry standing up.
"So is yours," she snapped. "Now what are you doing here!"
"Need your help with something," he whispered.
"With what?"
"I'll tell you when you get dressed."
"Tell me first and then I'll come," she whispered back.
Sighing Harry raised his lit wand in her face. "Just get dressed Freckles," he said. "I can see your tits through that gown."
"What!" she gasped and quickly looked down in horror. Harry was right, in the light it was easy to see through her night gown.
"You!" she growled angrily but Harry and already leaped back sniggering.
"Just get dressed and come out!"
Five minutes later Lillian had hastily pulled on some jeans and put a shirt on.
"You look hideous," commented Harry.
"This better be good Potter," she said glaring, but the effect was lost as she yawned.
She followed Harry to his room and he directed her to sit on the bed while he began rummaging through one of his drawers.
"Got it," he announced turning back towards her.
"Got what?" she asked sleepily.
"This is a portkey to my ancestral home," he said, showing her the triangular device.
Lillian blinked twice.
"What?"
"I said this is a portkey which will take us to my ancestral home!"
Her mouth dropped open in surprise. "So why are you showing it to me?"
Harry sighed. "Consider it like a symbol of my trust."
"Huh?"
"I want you to come with me," said Harry grimacing. This was very hard for him to do! "Be my back up or something like that."
Lillian frowned. "Is this some kind of a trick? Sort of revenge for sticking that sign on your back?"
"That was you!" gasped Harry.
"Okay I suppose its not," replied Lillian wincing.
"That was NOT funny!"
"It sure was," she said grinning.
Harry took a deep calming breath remembering the purpose of calling her.
"Anyway, all I was trying to say is that I want you to come with me."
Lillian folded her legs and looked at Harry with still lingering suspicion. "Why? I'm sure you would rather do this sort of a thing on your own."
"Why can't you just accept my offer without any questions!" asked Harry exasperatedly.
"I know you wouldn't."
"Alright," said Harry with a sigh. "Alright fine."
Lillian gestured at him to go on.
"Today I was talking with your father and came to this startling conclusion that you trust me… completely and I realized you knew everything about me and still haven't told anyone including your best friends so I thought you would consider this as a symbol of my trust towards you."
It took Lillian a few seconds to process that.
"Wow," she said. "Thanks I guess."
"So you want to come or not?"
She jumped of the bed grinning, "I'd love to!"
"Great! Now just place your finger on this and we can leave," he said showing her the portkey.
After she had placed her finger on it Harry looked at her solemnly.
"What?" she asked him.
"There's something else I need to tell you."
"What," she asked, a feeling of dread filling up inside her.
"I know how you can speak Parseltongue."
"WHAT!"
"Domus," said Harry grinning from ear to ear whisking them away into a vortex of color.