The Leader

Chapter 45

Harry got the most unwilling Death Eater to swallow the Veritaserum, watching him go docile, he'd taken one look at the bottle and began struggling madly, trying to get free of the magical restraints which had just tightened around him further to the extent he couldn't breath. Harry had then placed the right amount of pressure on his jaw until it opened tears streaming down his face at the pain for resisting. Of course, Amycus Carrow did not remember the Veritaserum so he wouldn't have been able to tell the others. He was slightly distracted by the fact his mate was out there alone in a position that could be a trap. He trusted his people impeccably to keep Severus safe, especially Rick, who had been with him since the beginning.

It was for that reason he set up a dictiquill, which would write down absolutely everything both of them said, if he did miss something then it was guaranteed not to be lost forever. He would read it later today just to make sure once he was sure that all had gone well. He quite often had the dictiquill record everything anyway, especially if it was something important and he only ever interrogated people if it WAS important.

"Did you get special training from the Dark Lord?" Harry questioned, beginning on simple things, the more he knew the better a decision he could make.

"Yes," Rodolphus answered quietly, sitting there staring straight ahead looking for all the world as if he was bored.

"Has he ever given you any items of importance and asked you to hide it somewhere safe?" Harry queried, glancing at the time, fifteen minutes past ten, he still had an entire hour and then some before he would get word.

"No," Rodolphus replied, his mind was extremely fuzzy, he couldn't think and he was unable to pay attention to anything other than the vampire's voice.

"Have you ever seen the Dark Lord give anyone items and asked to hide it?" Harry questioned next.

"I didn't see it no," was the reply.

Harry smirked, "Did you hear about the Dark Lord giving items to the other Death Eaters?"

"Yes," the Death Eater admitted.

"Who, when and what?" Harry fired off, claiming the only decent seat in the room, he didn't need to sit per se but it was mostly out of habit, people didn't stand so still and if humans saw it they get leery of it. So he'd trained himself to be more human especially when he was out amongst the humans - mostly attending Gringotts auctions.

"My wife received Hufflepuff's cup, it resides within our vault, Lucius received a book of some sort," Rodolphus replied without a single pause.

"Have you ever seen the Dark Lord in possession of any other item belonging to the Four Founders of Hogwarts?" Harry queried.

"He is Slytherin's heir, back in the day he used to wear the Gaunt ring and Slytherin's locket," Rodolphus stated.

"Does he still have possession of the Slytherin locket?" Harry perked up getting interested in the conversation he was having now. Staring intently at Lestrange, but his hearing picked up someone coming into the prison.

"I don't know, it was my father who spoke of it, how he was back in the day," Rodolphus said, a gleam of awe and deference shining through his eyes remembering the entire conversation.

Standing up ignoring the Death Eater, he had just taken one step when the door opened and the smell of Fenrir Greyback hit him quickly. He stared up at the big guy, at least Jack didn't tower over him much like Fenrir did, although their muscle mass was probably on par with each other. Noticing that he was looking at Lestrange in interest, amber eyes gleaming with malice.

"What are you doing here?" Harry questioned his voice strong yet tinged with confusion, redirecting Fenrir's attention. "Did you go with the others to Hogsmeade?"

"No," Fenrir said his voice a husky grumble except when he was angry then it was a pure growl. "I can't find Darius anywhere, the girl needs a potion she's too hot to touch, got shivers, looks like the Flu on top of everythin' else." calling her 'girl' because she hadn't come round long enough or coherent enough to answer them.

"Is she magical?" Harry's eyes narrowed at the description.

"Dunno," Fenrir shrugged, not sure why that mattered.

"We need to find out if she is, it might be the wizard flu she has and it's dangerous especially if she doesn't get the appropriate potions," Harry stated sharply, "Rick is the only one that can answer that with a glance, and he's currently busy, he'll be gone for another hour." pinching the bridge of his nose, it was up to him then.

"Where is she?" Harry questioned after a few seconds of silence.

"9th cabin, with my pack," Fenrir murmured out, far enough away from Remus Lupin. Normally he'd rather sleep outside, but he had Aaron to think about, he had to keep him warm, safe, he was right now curled up wrapped in animal fur fast asleep. There were three rooms in the cabin, one was being used for the girl, the other his son and he and the rest of the pack slept in the other they were used to it now and held absolutely no modesty.

"Then lets go," Harry stated firmly, as always taking charge as always. Leaving the wizard tied up, he'd gotten some information out of him and he honestly couldn't think of anything more he could ask the Death Eater. He knew mostly everything he needed to know about Tom Riddle aka the Dark Lord Voldemort. He had the right people around him to enable him to get all he ever required. With the exception of the Horcruxes, now that was information he had to gather now, using any and ever piece of information gathered about him.

Harry didn't see the shrewd glance Fenrir Greyback gave him; it wasn't in his experience that leaders did anything for themselves. They just demanded things to be done, and if they failed they paid the price. So it surprised him that Harry was willing to step in, do what needed to be done. He was beginning to see the real difference between the two sides, this one he preferred. The only time his son had been used against him (if it could be called that) was in a bid to keep Aaron safe. Shaking off his thoughts he moved in a quick stride to catch up.

He was beginning to realize that everyone here had been telling the truth from the beginning and no front was being put on.

Harry walked at a fast human pace, Fenrir kept up with him without too much trouble. Fenrir opened the door to his cabin and walked in, showing Harry where the girl was. She was lay spread out on top of animal skins and under blankets; Harry could feel the heat emanating from her as he approached her. Fenrir was right, she was far too warm, if they didn't get her temperature down soon she'd die from this.

"She needs to be put in an cool bath to bring the temperature down immediately, there's ones in the warehouse" Harry stated, "Do that I'm going back to the manor I don't have any potions for wizarding flu here." she was a witch, in fact she should have already gotten her letter, unless she'd been on the street…although she might be younger, Poppy would be able to tell. Darius was a good healer but Poppy had a lot more experience.

Harry Apparated away leaving Fenrir to grunt and slowly pick up the cub keeping her wrapped in the covers as he left the cabin without a backwards glance. He knew Linus would look after his son for him if he woke up. So she was a witch, she'd probably been thrown out when her parents realized what she was. If she'd even been in he house, he hadn't, they'd abandoned him at the damn Muggle hospital he'd been in after an 'animal' mauling. He'd barely survived that before running from the hospital before he could be taken into Muggle care.

"Hey, everything alright?" Wyatt said, glancing at Fenrir as he came in with the newest werewolf in the pack in his arms. Putting down the knife from where he had been cutting up the meat for their next meal. Well the werewolves next meal, since vampires didn't eat meat. The blood of the animal (killed without pain) was drained for the vampires who preferred animal blood than hunting (not all of them had the stomach for it) he stood in front of Fenrir and added, "What can I do to help?"

"She needs a cool bath, she's too hot," Fenrir grumbled, part of him felt insulted that this vampire hybrid didn't think he could do this himself, yet another part of him felt glad that he wasn't being viewed as an enemy, they were welcoming him to their extensive pack, where all creatures were welcomed no matter their appetite. He'd been introduced to a few vampires, ones who lived solely on animal blood; there were ones who lived on human blood and some both.

"Come on," Wyatt said, already gone up the stairs, before Fenrir had taken a step he heard water running. It wasn't the large one he'd used when he first came here to collect his son. It was a claw foot normal tub, he realized stepping into the room, and this must be for those wishing privacy. "Should we get May or Sara to help her?" he questioned awkwardly.

Fenrir shook his head, he was going to keep her clothes on, he didn't need help to look after his pack, and he didn't know why he thought of her as such, maybe because he was so used to looking after those who had been abandoned. Or perhaps he saw himself in the little girl, either way; he was going to do this himself. It helped him be busy, sitting around just didn't sit well with him at all. Removing the covers from the delirious girl, he slowly lowered her into the bath, gripping her hands tightly when she began to fight against him, kicking and splashing about desperate to get out of the cool bath but likely unaware of anything.

Wyatt helped keep her feet from hitting out; she was sick as it was, she didn't need broken bones to go with it or bruises. They'd never had anyone this sick; sure they were ill for a few days but something like this? She looked really, really bad. Glancing to the sound of Apparating, he remained relaxed when he smelt his leader.

"How long has she been in there?" Harry asked, closing the door behind him.

"Bout five minutes," Fenrir told him, his voice rumbling as always, noticing that she stilled hearing it.

"Alright, a few more minutes then she can get taken out," Harry informed them, placing the vials on the table beside the dish of soaps next to the bath. He then went to the cupboard and removed a few bath towels, laying one out on the floor, the other he placed at the side. "We need to be quick, if she starts shivering again her temperature will rise and we don't want that."

Between the three of them they removed her from the bath, wrapped her in the towel and began to dry her, Harry absently cast a spell to dry her clothes quickly. "Sit her up for a moment," Harry stated seriously, plucking a few of the vials from the table before getting the girl to drink them. A fever reducer, pain reliever and the potion given to those with wizarding flu to stop it affecting their magic and to help get rid of it. "There, now those potions take them with you, give her them every six hours, one is a pain reliever and the other is a fever reducer, if it doesn't get better within two days I'll get someone in who can help." Darius was good, but wizarding flu in a child…like he'd thought earlier Poppy would be better off helping. He would rather that be a last resort.

"I'll take them," Wyatt said, gently scooping up the vials, ready to assist Fenrir in getting the girl back to the cabin.

"Take water with you, plenty of it, she'll need to stay hydrated otherwise she'll be hospitalised, and St. Mungo's wont care," Harry pointed out, gritting his teeth; they didn't care for creatures of any kind, and would often neglect them no matter how severely they were hurt. The prejudices run amok in even the healer side of the magical world. "Some soup, chicken and tomato, something that she can swallow even if she doesn't come around."

"I'll make it for her once I get back, I'm getting lunch ready anyway," Wyatt offered, in the werewolf cabins there was no supplies, except water and snacks. The only cabin that got stocked was Brecon's, Alan's and Black's cabin.

"Good," Harry stated in satisfaction, "Darius should be here tomorrow, he'll probably come to see her first thing, tell him to let me know how it goes." he said in his normal demanding way without being condescending Wyatt knew from experience he was just concerned and displaying it in his usual way.

"I will," Wyatt promised, not sure if Fenrir would actually say anything to Darius or not so he would just to be on the safe side and keep things going smoothly.

Harry nodded, and with one last concerned glance at the girl he left the bathroom and made his way back to the 'prison' of sorts. He hoped she survived, but the longer she remained sick the worse it was. She was skin and bone, there wasn't an ounce of fat on her and she wasn't eating, had a fever, had wizarding flu (something that was affecting her magic while she was already sick) it didn't look good. He would do everything he could for her, like he did with everyone else who passed over his threshold and became a member of his sanctuary. As he walked he remembered the letters. One of them had been from Amelia Bones he would need to read it just in case there was anything of importance within it.

He ignored the Death Eaters as he waked passed them and into the room, the altered Veritaserum had worn off. The wizard was twisting in the most pathetic display trying to get out of the restraints he'd ever seen. His eyes were glazed slightly indicating that the special affect he had added to the Veritaserum was working, he was confused but Harry knew from experience it would wear off rapidly and even as he thought it his eyes began to shine with fear and confusion the confused glaze dying away completely.

"What did you do to me?" Rodolphus hissed at Harry, his mind running a mile a minute, he couldn't remember anything after he began to choke him. He must have Obliviated him, made him forget, other than feeling a little drained and weak he felt fine…what had happened? What had he said? What if the Dark Lord found out? His heart was pounding erratically in his chest, and more importantly what would happen next?

"Nothing, yet," Harry said coolly, flicking his wand he stunned and removed the bindings, levitating him back to his cell. It looked as though a trip to Gringotts was in order. He wasn't stupid enough to think for a second he could get into Gringotts, back out with the object without the goblins knowing and he definitely didn't want to get on their bad side. Not with the accounts he had, so he would have to try and strike up a deal with them. It was going to cost him an arm and a leg he knew that before even approaching them. Slamming the door closed, causing them all to jump, Harry chuckled darkly as he left amused by their fear.

Within moments Harry was in the warehouse, he gave Wyatt a nod, leaving the door open he moved over to the sitting area, which was empty, that didn't surprise him, it was nearing lunchtime though, and soon they'd all be packed in to eat. He sat in his favourite winged back black leather chair. He had a similar one in the manor, although this one had black covered wood for arms as apposed to leather.

Sighing softy, knowing he had more time to kill before he knew his mate was safe, he removed the letters from his pocket (expansion charm) with ease. They were already in order in what he had deemed as important. So it wasn't surprising that Amelia's was at the top and Granger was at the bottom. He wasn't even sure he wanted to read her letter; the same old crap was getting tiresome. Seeing her hadn't helped things either, she was still had the same irritating haughtier than thou attitude. Why the hell she'd married Ronald Weasley he did not know, but it definitely wasn't out of love, he had seen the looks she threw him, she was utterly disgusted by him. Oh she put on a good front, maybe a little denial that she was so unhappy and trying to convince herself otherwise.

Unsealing the envelope, he read it and slowly a smile of satisfaction appeared on his face, well, it was a done deal; they could now start transferring the prisoners over. Apparently Fudge was being extremely unpleasant over it, no doubt due to Dumbledore and likely the purebloods, the hidden Death Eaters within the Ministry. Knowing that his Death Eaters were being taken elsewhere has probably angered him immensely. Which meant for this to be pulled off they had to do it immediately, lest they risk Voldemort attacking the prison, it was something he himself would do.

Tonight, he'd sent Amelia enough Portkey's to get everyone off the island and straight into their newly acquired home. Which meant overtime for the Auror's, he'd see if he could get her to let a few of his people take care of it as well, give them some money, a payday to tide them over until he gave everyone magical equality.

Sighing in exasperation, it seemed he'd have more to do today than usual as of late, but such as life, he never complained, but he did desire to have some more time alone with his mate. Last night and this morning would just have to tide him over, but he would need to make it clear to Severus that he did care. The wizard was insecure, about his feelings only, the rest of him was confident cool and powerful, an odd combination but he knew Severus hadn't had an easy life so it didn't surprise him that he would be confident in all areas other than partnership.

The rest of the mail was updates, apparently Dumbledore had decided against telling his precious Order how the meeting had really gone between himself and the old man. Giving them hope that he would still join them, end the madness that was Voldemort. Oh, he was going to end Voldemort alright, but the Order wouldn't be a part of it. They were truly a pathetic lot, waiting on a damn teenager to end the war for them, while pathetically doddering on trying to be useful, thinking they were making a difference when in fact they weren't.

If Dumbledore continued to push him, he would see to it that the Ministry found out the names of every single order member there was (minus those who had joined him of course), leaving Dumbledore with nothing. It would make things more difficult for the old fool, which was just an added bonus. Of course, if that happened and his own weren't arrested he'd know but he was beyond caring, he rarely got anything useful about the Order meetings. Not that he'd asked Bill to do it, Bill had offered and Harry could see he wanted to be doing something, keeping his mind off things, and so he had agreed.

"I just heard about the girl, how is it really looking?" Jack asked, concern rearing its head for the young cub, wandering into the warehouse, making his way over to Harry and sitting on a couch nearby. It was distinctively odd, ever since Reg had come to them; he'd had a constant shadow beside him. Today was the first time he'd had any alone time, he felt as though he was missing an appendage.

"If she got the potion in time and manages to keep the water and what little food she manages to eat she stands a chance," Harry stated firmly. "If she doesn't make any progress in the next day I'll get Poppy over,"

Jack relaxed a little at that, Poppy was one determined witch, the best Medi-witch around, if she wanted to she could take her healers exams and pass with flying colours but she didn't, she was quite happy the way things were for the moment. Poppy held a lot of resentment for St. Mungo's and their despicable ways. Probably due to the fact Poppy had grown up in poverty, her mother had worked hard to see her through Hogwarts and Poppy began working to get her certificate in Medi-witchery. To the point, she'd never been able to afford St. Mungo's they'd been forced to endure, it was probably what made Poppy wish to be a healer in the first place.

"Is Darius due back tomorrow?" Harry asked, already knowing the answer but desiring confirmation.

"Yes," Jack answered, giving Harry the confirmation he was looking for.

Harry hummed with a nod, folding the letters and replacing them in his pocket, he could hear the others descending in droves just as the lunch bell went now that Wyatt was finished prepping their meal. With the others not yet back, he might as well get the letter to Amelia written out and the Portkey's to the new prison handed out. He might as well get something productive done while he waited.

Just then he heard the telltale sound of Apparating, followed by the scent of blood, which nearly overwhelmed the scent of his mate and the others. Something had gone wrong; he didn't even need to hear the others calling out in concern from outside. He bolted outside, relaxing when he realized that none of his people were badly hurt, just a few scrapes here and there, it looked as though the blonde woman, Narcissa Malfoy had taken a blasting curse to the shoulder, now nobody usually cursed your shoulder, and he would bet she had covered her son to protect him from the curses.

"Severus can you heal her?" Harry stated sharply, gaining everyone's attention. "If you cannot I can call in someone else, Jack, retrieve a blood…"

"Replenisher and pain reliever, got it," Jack said already moving away, beginning to jog after he got passed everyone who was milling around, staring at the Malfoy's with grimaces of disgust or distrust.

"I can do it," Severus said after a few moments, his face drawn in a faint line, the smell of the freshly oozing blood was tempting him, urging him to bite, to take just a taste of the sweet nectar. He refused to give into it, plus this would help him in the long run, he wasn't going to let blood get the better of him or take over his life.

"Very well, take them to cabin ten," Harry stated, eyeing the woman who was in extreme pain, he could tell she'd soon be unconscious. "Jessie, Alan, Howard you know what to do." telling them without saying explicitly to keep a damn eye on them and not to let them go anywhere. "They stay in the damn cabin; I'll get to them tomorrow."

Severus thankfully said nothing; he really didn't want his mate to try and contradict him or fight him not about everyone's safety. He would never risk the safety of his people, let alone for spoiled, rich entitled people who had made all their lives harder.

Speaking of rich and entitled, he was rather amazed that the boy kept his mouth shut. One glance at him though and he had his answer, he was in shock. It would wear off soon enough, then he would complain about his housing, if he did it within his earshot then he'd bloody make the boy leave he wasn't going to endure his attitude here. He'd put up with it for a year at Hogwarts, he wasn't about to do it in his own domain.

"Get your lunch, Jack, take them to the cabin, number ten," Harry stated loudly, causing everyone to disperse, understanding what their leader wanted without him having to come out and say it.

"Are you alright? What happened?" Harry asked, giving him a once over, not surprised he wasn't hit, Severus could hold his own against just about anyone.

"Must have had someone there we missed or someone who came in at the last minute and called the Dark Lord, he did not attend but sent the Death Eaters. They weren't expecting everyone, they were quickly forced to retreat or be defeated, and Narcissa took the spells aimed at Draco. I'm not sure why the Dark Lord would want them killed." Severus answered, a frown marring his face.

"Perhaps he suspected she'd do this," Harry said, "If you know her perhaps he dose as well, I need to go to Gringotts, do you want to attend or stay with the Malfoys?" he wouldn't be surprised if Severus did want to remain with them. He certainly cared enough about them despite the potential danger it posed by going to them. He would have been jealous if Severus hadn't already given in to him.

"I'd like to go," Severus answered right away, watching Harry work was always mesmerising, he wasn't going to miss it for the world.

There we go! so will Harry be forced to unviel the Order members in a bid to get Dumbledore to back away or will he do as he's told bid his time and actually do something dangerous to Harry ending up in prison? Or will he be forced to live in the new world being constantly watched? R&R please