A/N: I meant to get this out much earlier, but I was out of town to attend my aunt's funeral. So... enjoy!

32. Desperate

It was an absolute nightmare. He wanted to do something, but there was nothing he could do. Dora was like a stranger now. She didn't even look up when someone would speak. She just woke up, had her meals, sat motionlessly for about an hour and then locked herself up in her room. Andromeda was trying to be strong, but Ted's loss hit her pretty hard. She acted normal, but every time she came out of her room, the redness in her eyes told that things were anything but normal for her.

Harry had hoped that Sirius and Andromeda could pass a bill to the Wizengamot to seize the Gringotts vaults of known Death Eaters to capture the Hufflepuff cup, but he couldn't possibly ask Andromeda to go to the court while she was having difficulty in going to the kitchen. Whatever was needed, Harry would have to do it alone.

He could ask Sirius for help, though. His godfather often came over to check on Andromeda and Dora, but he looked like he'd rather kill some Death Eaters than having to bear the empty looks of his cousin and her daughter. Harry knew the feeling very well, but he didn't want to go live with Sirius and Jennifer either as it would feel like he was abandoning the Tonks family. At night, he would formulate and refine his plans on getting the final horcruxes, which he admitted, were very dangerous, if not outright stupid.

By the middle of July, he decided to stop planning and get to action. He figured that his plan couldn't get any better if he spent three more months on it. After breakfast one morning, he left a note near the fireplace for Andromeda. It said that he was going to Susan's place for a few days to give her company. To keep his word, he went to Susan's place and found the redhead staring into space near the fire. She nearly shrieked, but stopped herself when she saw it was Harry.

She had become thin and her face was a far cry from the usual outbursts of expressions. Nonetheless, she gave him a small smile.

"Hey Sue. How are you holding up?" he asked her gently, sitting next to her.

"Not good." She replied sadly, leaning her head on his shoulders. "I want to do something, but..."

"There's nothing to do." He finished the sentence for her and she nodded. "I felt like that too. Dora has become a stranger. Andromeda tries very hard, but she is hurting. It was totally a nightmare."

She nodded in understanding. "It must be bad for you, being around grieving people all the time."

"It is, but they were my family too. I feel bad that I couldn't do anything that might help-"

"Couldn't?" she asked, noticing the past tense. Harry tensed a bit. He could tell everything to Susan and ask for her opinion, or he could just lie to her and avoid it altogether. Lying would be the easier option, of course, but he didn't like to be lied and he would be a hypocrite to do that to his surrogate sister.

"I have some plans. I am sick of waiting for everything to be perfect again and I'm going to run some errands-"

"Can you take me with you please?" she interrupted him mid-sentence and he was taken aback.

"Take you? But these are... kinda dangerous things I might have to do, Sue."

"I don't care. I want to help. Please Harry." She begged him and Harry understood why. Anything was better than sitting idly and mourning.

"I could take you if you can make your wand untraceable as soon as you can. You need to do magic."

For the first time since she heard about her parents' murder, Susan's eyes shone up.

"Consider it done. So what's the plan?"

...

Holding her now-untraceable wand, Susan levitated the sofa and dropped it back to the ground. It had the desired effect. Harry scrambled up from his slumber and quickly drew out his wand.

"Blimey Sue, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" he exclaimed when he saw Susan smirking. "Wait, how did you get your wand clear so fast? It has been just a few hours."

"Auntie." Was all she explained and Harry understood. There were advantages of having the Minister for Magic as your aunt. Amelia was building up the defence system quickly and trying to ensure the safety of every citizen. Providing her niece an untraceable wand wasn't something she had to think over for long. She knew that the people close to her needed to defend themselves, and Susan was the only family she got left.

"Okay. So which elf should we use?" he asked.

"I can't send Bob because he needs to take care of Sam and Auntie. You can use Sirius' elf, but that would seem suspicious. Do you know any other elves?" she asked, scratching her head.

"I... oh wait, I know an elf, but I don't know if he will listen to me."

"Who is it?"

"Dobby. The one who almost killed me in the attempt of saving my life." He said with a grin and Susan chuckled.

"He is free, right? Why don't you call him and see what happens?" she suggested.

As it turned out, Dobby was quite happy to help 'the great Harry Potter' and Susan was worried that the elf might kill itself from over-excitement.

"Do you remember what do you have to do?" Harry checked one last time.

"Yes Harry Potter! Dobby must find Rodolphus Lestrange and find a place where he can be ambushed."

"Exactly." Harry nodded. "Now go. Try to come fast, but don't overexert yourself, okay?"

"Harry Potter is very kind and noble! Dobby feels honoured to-"

"Dobby go!"

After the elf vanished with a loud crack, Harry turned to Susan.

"This might take a couple of days. What should we do?" he asked her and she thought for a while.

"Let's go to Sirius and ask him to give us some tips in duelling." She suggested.

"Sounds like a plan."

Sirius was an excellent duellist. And Jennifer was no slouch. Both of them volunteered in the training of Harry and Susan and Harry made sure that he held back most of his power during the training. He never told anyone, but his parents gave him quite some training and tips.

One could argue that they were in the 'in-between-limbo' for a very short time, but that's where they would be wrong. Time had no meaning there. He could have spent two whole lifetimes there and it wouldn't be a second in the mortal world. As a matter of fact, Harry spent around two months with his parents when Lily assured him time wasn't flowing at the other side. In this time he had some training that didn't include wandwork, got to know his parents, and simply enjoyed his time with them. It was the reason he now felt a sense of closure over his parents death. Of course he still missed them, but he wouldn't have nightmares for that.

The training with Sirius helped him to get accustomed with his magic. And it didn't hurt that Susan now had a steely determination and was improving alarmingly fast. Harry supposed that losing your parents after spending fifteen years with them was harder than losing them as an infant. She had more memories of her parents than him, and missed them a lot more than he missed his own parents. He guessed that even Sam wouldn't be much better than Susan after maybe a year.

'Who am I to complain if she is getting that good?' he thought to himself as Susan blasted a conjured rat to pieces.

...

She didn't want to get involved in this.

Andromeda Tonks was never known as a coward, but she always wanted to stay away from the first war. She wanted to see Voldemort gone and didn't believe in the pureblood-superiority crap, but fighting the Death Eaters head-on never appealed to her. Call her selfish, but she preferred keeping her family safe and sound over dying in a fight.

Of course, she knew that she couldn't just take a back seat once Voldemort returned, what with Nymphadora being an Auror and Harry living with them. She didn't regret any of these and when she started hunting Voldemort's horcruxes herself, she knew that she would be in the hit list of the Dark Lord soon enough. What hurt the most was the fact that she was completely unharmed and Ted had to die simply because he was at the wrong place in the wrong time.

She still felt hollow when she remembered Ted's smiling face. He was the one who gave her the strength to stand up to her family. He was her pillar, someone she could always count on to lend a sympathetic shoulder.

Everyone knew the tough, cool and slightly frightening Andromeda Tonks. But Ted knew the other side of her. The feminine, loving and humorous side of her. He accepted her despite all her faults. He didn't care that she was a Black, or the fact that she had a large knowledge of Dark Magic. He didn't hold it against her if she acted moody or secretive. He gave her all the space she needed, but never avoided her. He made her feel young and beautiful. Her fellow Slytherins often said that Hufflepuffs were dumb losers, but she found her perfect guy in that Hufflepuff house and together they had their perfect Hufflepuff daughter.

She knew she had to be strong for Nymphadora, but she could was finding it very difficult managing to hold herself together. She rarely saw her daughter except for mealtimes and she knew she was locking herself in her room. She even saw Harry grieving for Ted and poor boy looked lost. She actually felt relieved when she read his note about staying at Susan's place for a while. She could imagine that living with Nymphadora and her would be pretty depressing right now. And heavens knew Susan needed some comfort too.

She was trying to be strong and go back to normal life, even though she knew life would never be the same for her without Ted. She was getting better and she knew that given some time, she could finally come out of her shell.

And then the Death Eaters would regret every moment they lived since they took the Dark Mark.

...

"So we are not going to Knockturn Alley?" Susan asked for confirmation.

"No. It would be far too dangerous." Harry replied, looking at a map of the area surrounding the targeted house. It was a prostitute house just outside Knockturn Alley. According to what Dobby found, two weeks after the Ministry was raided and Azkaban was broken, Rodolphus Lestrange started visiting this place notorious for its dark wards and slightly freaky prostitutes. If anyone entered there with an intention of anything other than shagging a prostitute and paying for it, the wards would dissolve the person's vital organs with their bones, resulting in a horrific death.

"Do you think your cloak would work in that house?"

"I don't know, but I don't want to risk it. Dobby said he always comes down to the bar beside it under glamour charms after he is done. We will wait outside the bar, grab him when he tries to go in."

"But what would you do when he is captured? I mean he is not going to listen to us just because we have him captured." Susan asked, sounding tensed. This wasn't another silly adventure in school. If something went wrong here, it wouldn't be detention or expulsion they would have to worry about. It was a potentially deadly mission as the Death Eater wouldn't hesitate to use the killing curse on either of them.

"Then we make him listen. I will use the Imperius Curse." He said gravely. Susan's eyes widened for a moment but then she nodded in understanding. It was war, and you can't win a war by disarming or stunning. The times were desperate and they had to take desperate measures to do the right thing. Nobody cared about a dead person who followed morals in a fight.

"Have you ever done it before?" she asked him nervously and he quickly shook his head. Sighing, she said, "You need to practise. Put it on me."

Harry stared at her, not sure if he heard it right.

"But it's an Unforgivable, Sue. I can't put you-"

"You can't afford to mess it up on the Death Eater. Put it on me and I will try to resist as much as I can."

When he didn't respond, she took his wand from the table and handed it to him.

"Do it, Harry."

He took a deep breath and cast the spell.

"Imperio!"

He mentally gave his order to Susan, but he could see her fighting. She had a dazed look, but her movements seemed very strained. Knowing that it had failed, he lifted the curse.

"It was very weak." She told him as soon as she was free. "You need to truly desire to control me. Try again."

After five more tries, Susan was dancing stupidly on the table and Harry laughed in relief. He had mastered it and understood the concept. Just for the fun of it, he let her dance for two whole minutes before releasing it.

"Prat!" she punched his arm as soon as she was back in control of her mind, but Harry was too busy laughing to pay attention.

...

She was getting a little worried now. It seemed like Harry hasn't been here for a while. In fact, she didn't even notice since when he wasn't home.

Of course, she had been too sad to pay attention to anything, but that wasn't a good excuse at all. She knew she shouldn't have blocked out everyone like she did. She guessed that her daddy wouldn't be too happy if he knew what she was doing, but she couldn't face it. She didn't want anyone to see her cry anymore. It made her feel weak. But she knew she shouldn't have worried about that.

Sirius would understand.

Harry would definitely understand.

And mum was probably worse off.

Snapping out of the train of depressing thoughts, she wandered around in the kitchen, trying to find any traces of Harry. His room looked unused and cold. Maybe he left for Sirius' place because she had been locking herself away. He would understand, of course, but if she were in his place, she would leave as soon as it wasn't rude anymore.

I guess it's time to talk to mum.

With a sigh, she went to her parents' room, where Andromeda was sitting idly on the bed, her guards down, her face missing the usual confident and cool mask. She looked deep in thought.

"Mum?" she called with a barely recognisable voice. Lack of use made her voice croaky and unclear.

Andromeda looked surprised to see her daughter, but she quickly smiled when she realized that it was the first time in months her daughter came out of her room other than meal time. She motioned at the spot beside her and her daughter sat down quietly.

There was a moment of awkward silence when none of them were sure what to do next. Then Andromeda put an arm around the younger woman's shoulder and they both fell to a comfortable embrace.

"I've missed you Dora."

She sighed, her head in the crook of her mother's neck, and squeezed her mother's waist.

"Sorry mum."

"It's alright. It will be alright." She murmured.

They knew it would be long before the wounds would heal, but they had to be strong... and stay together. They had to support each other and live on.

"So have you seen Harry around?" Tonks asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Already looking for your boyfriend?" her mother teased and she jumped apart.

"Wha- How on earth did you know that?" she almost shouted, her hair turning to a violent red.

"Know what- wait, you mean he is really your boyfriend?" It was now Andromeda's turn to shout.

"Oh dear god!" Tonks moaned, wishing that the ground would make a crack for her to disappear into.

The awkwardness in the air was so pronounced that it was almost threatening. Andromeda decided to break it a bit.

"Well I guess I could say that your taste has improved significantly." She forced a chuckle.

Tonks looked miserable for a moment before she realized what her mother said.

"Wait, you're not gonna tell me that he is too young for me or something like that?" she asked incredulously. Andromeda looked thoughtful for a moment before answering.

"Well, it's true that he is younger than your usual dates, but he is way more mature than any of them. Sometimes I think he is more mature than even you." She smirked at her daughter's outraged expression. "Don't deny it, Nymphadora. You might be an Auror, but I don't think you can even cook your own meal."

"That's completely beside the point!" she cried.

"If you say so." Andromeda said with a knowing grin. Then she turned serious. "Just one thing, the poor boy has seen enough trouble in his life. And Merlin knows that with the Prophecy above his head, he won't be in peace until Voldemort is gone. What I'm saying is that this may or may not work well between the two of you. Just make sure you don't hurt him more than necessary. And another thing I should tell you as your mother. Before you take a decision make sure you can live with it."

Blue-haired now, she used her metamorphing abilities to stop the blush. Once she calmed down, she spoke in a shaky voice.

"Um... thanks mum. Now as I was asking, where is Harry?"

"He went to Susan's place a few days back."

"Okay. I'll check on him."

...

Harry turned around to check if Susan was okay. She looked a bit pale, but her jaws were set and she looked determined. He nodded at her and held out the Invisibility Cloak and she put it on.

"Now we wait for a while." He whispered and she nodded in understanding.

After what seemed like eternity, the older Lestrange came into sight. He looked drunk, Harry thanked goodness for that. The bulky Death Eater didn't notice the slight distortion in the air in front of him, where Harry was waiting, under the disillusionment charm, to break his fall once Susan hit him with a stunner.

That part went well and Harry was wishing that he was a bit stronger as he struggled to support the burly man's weight. However, he seemed to have deviated from his habits and brought company.

"Rod? You okay?"

The other man, Rabastan Lestrange, came out of the same path and looked suspiciously at the slightly shaking and stiff figure of his brother and pulled out his wand. He saw a red light coming his way out of nowhere and put up a shield just in time.

"Who the-"

His words didn't get the chance to escape his mouth as using the diversion from Susan, Harry threw a colourless freezing charm at him. Predictably, he froze.

"What do we do with him?" Harry asked at the general direction of Susan. He didn't want Voldemort to be aware of anything he was doing, so capturing was out of question. They had a plan for Rodolphus, but the new guy could be a problem.

"We should erase his memory." Susan suggested, nervously glancing around.

"Good call. We can put a tracking charm on him and then send him back. A confundus charm should do it."

"Okay, I'll do it. You try to hold him up a little longer."

Susan sent away a confused looking Rabastan back to the Death Eater headquarters and took position in front of Rodolphus.

"Accio portkey." She whispered, but nothing came. Well, Rodolphus might be arrogant, but she wouldn't complain.

"Ready?" Harry asked Susan, standing directly behind Rodolphus, still under the renewed Disillusionment Charm.

"Yes." She whispered back, stowing away the Death Eater's wand in her pocket. Pointing her own wand at the man in front of her, she muttered, "Rennervate."

"Imperio."

He barely had the time to regain his senses when he was hit from behind and his mind went blank. He felt joyful and relaxed, waiting for any commands.

"You think it worked?" Harry asked Susan, who nodded.

"Susan?"

"Oh right, you can't see me. Yeah, I think it worked. His eyes are glazed over. You should join me now."

The Death Eater showed almost no resistance to the Imperius, and Harry was grateful for that. He expected a notorious Death Eater like Rodolphus to be very much strong and possibly difficult to handle, but this was too easy. What he didn't know was that if another wizard tried to control any of the three Lestranges, they would fight back instantly. But in his excitement of the mission, Harry poured his last bit of will behind the curse. Rodolphus was strong, but when it came to a battle of will power, even Voldemort didn't stand a chance in front of a determined Harry Potter.

Lestrange donned a hooded cloak and quickly moved towards Gringotts. Trailing behind him were Harry and Susan, looking out for any signs of trouble. Harry's father gave him a piece of information about the Cloak he didn't know before. Apparently, James discovered it when all Marauders had to run under the Cloak one night. The Cloak was expandable. Now Harry and Susan could comfortably keep their pace after placing a certain spell at the neck of the cloak.

The goblins didn't react at all when Rodolphus showed his face and ordered a goblin to retrieve a certain cup from the vaults. They seemed bored when the cup disappeared from his hands after it was delivered by the goblin.

"Now we dispose of him." Harry whispered in Susan's ear, trying not to feel bad about it.

"Let's do it quickly." Susan whispered as Harry gave his commands to the man and he began to argue with the goblins about stealing his cup. Soon, he pulled out his wand and threw a flesh cutter at the nearest goblin.

"Let's go." Harry urged Susan out of the building and turned around one last time and immediately wished he hadn't. One of the goblins brought down a gigantic axe and Rodolphus Lestrange was cut in half... vertically.

Susan tried to block out the inhumane scream of the Death Eater but she couldn't. Thankfully, she didn't look back and from the expression in Harry's face, she was glad that she didn't.

"He deserved it, Harry. Remember Neville's parents?" she tried to comfort him as he stared at the cup he held with shaking hands.

"Yeah. He deserved it. And most importantly, we got the horcrux." He said, letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"Yeah. Mission Successful." Susan said with a half-smile.

"Aye aye, captain!"

A/N: review please!