Ch 11 Preparation on All Sides
"I've spoken with Scorpius and Cleopatra, and they have agreed to marry December twentieth, as long as you can get Jezebel to come and witness the wedding," Narcissa told Draco and Astoria Sunday November twenty-seventh. "Inform Jezebel. Cleo is looking forward to meeting her family."
"Cleo and Scorpius do not get to dictate the timing of their wedding," Draco snarled.
"Since it is their wedding, I think they do," Narcissa countered, holding firm. "Cleo has made it very clear that if Jezebel is too much a coward to come to the wedding, she will marry Albus, and she will believe that Jezebel has given up her control of the island. I do not understand what is going on, but I get the impression that they think they could take over the island if Jezebel does not meet Cleo before she becomes an adult at seventeen. Something about Jezebel's power diminishing and Cleo's increasing."
"I will inform Jezebel, but she is not going to be happy," Draco replied.
"Jezebel's happiness is the least of my concerns," Narcissa growled. "I'm still upset that you and that worthless wife of yours signed the betrothal papers and are forcing this marriage." Narcissa left the room without a backwards glance at her 'son' and his wife.
"I need to disable the fireplace at Malfoy Manor once Jezebel comes through it," Harry told George, Angelina and some of the staff of Angelina's Angel Armor. "Any ideas?"
"Fireworks, or more precisely bombs," George suggested. He moved to a table in the workshop and picked up the item as he spoke. "I have a magical remote control that can ignite explosives powerful enough to disable the Floo. If you come through the Floo you just have to deposit them before you leave the Floo. If you are wearing your invisibility cloak no one should notice."
"We should fit everybody who is going to be there with magical Kevlar undergarments," Angelina suggested. "There is a passage between our private Floo and the store that doesn't go through the Wheezes, so no one needs to know they were there."
"A team from Jezebel wants to inspect Malfoy Manor," Narcissa told Harry, using Molly's magical/muggle mobile when she was visiting Molly.
"I am going to procure a magical/muggle mobile for you," Harry told Narcissa. "I want Molly to teach you how to text message, so you can tell me when the team will be coming. I've a good magical map of Malfoy Manor and the property around it, and can see where they are going, even if you are not with them all of the time."
"I will be back to see Molly tomorrow," Narcissa replied.
Harry disconnected the call, and Narcissa turned to Molly and, holding out the mobile, told her friend, "Harry is going to procure one of these for me. He says you need to teach me how to text message."
Molly did, and Narcissa gasped, "That is all you have to do? It's so easy even a Muggle could do it!"
"Muggle's do it all the time, from what I understand," Molly replied with a grin.
Draco and Narcissa met the witch and wizard from the Island of the Pirate Witch Queen, as they came through the Floo in the living room.
"We need to examine the house," the witch barked. Narcissa raised her eyebrow at the woman's rudeness.
"Let me get some keys from my office," Narcissa told the pair. She went into her office and texted Harry, "The witch and wizard are here to examine Malfoy Manor."
Harry texted back, "Thank you."
After making them wait several minutes, Narcissa left her office, and led them out to the imposing entrance hall, up the magnificent central staircase, and around to another staircase, purposefully avoiding critical areas and wasting time. "The great-grandmothers, Druella Rosier Black and Godiva Greengrass Malfoy live in apartments up here," Narcissa told the couple.
They looked at a wall with a couple of doors. "That is an attic, where we store unused things," Narcissa explained, as she unlocked the doors.
The couple looked inside, and then the witch told Narcissa, "We will seal this area until after the wedding."
"Why?" Narcissa complained. "It is just an attic. It is not your house! I'm not having you seal up any part of MY house."
"We have our orders!" the witch yelled. She sealed the door as Narcissa fumed.
Narcissa unsealed the door before turning her wand on the woman when she went to reseal it. "I'm stuck with you coming to the house for the wedding, but not before!" Narcissa insisted, glaring at the witch.
The witch and wizard scowled, but did not argue. Narcissa was visibly tense and upset.
On the other side of the entryway was a large furnished greeting or common area, and behind it a modest sized kitchen. On either side were the apartments, each of which had a large sitting room, a private bathroom, a large bedroom, and ample closet and storage space. The couple from Jezebel spent a little time talking privately with each witch.
The went down to the next floor. Narcissa showed them the door to her suite at one end of the hall but refused them entrance. "Seal the door when you come back," she proposed.
"We need to make sure there is only your bedroom and an En-suite bath," the witch explained. "We will not look in your drawers."
Narcissa reluctantly let just the witch in, glaring at her as she briefly examined the room from the doorway, refusing them entrance further.
She pointed out the bedrooms in the middle, including Scorpius and Cleo's bedrooms. Then Draco showed them his bedroom and bath. What should have been the nursery but was now Astoria's room was locked, so they went out into the hall. Next to the nursery/bedroom was another bedroom that Astoria had turned into a private room for herself, and when they knocked, she opened the door and reluctantly let the four Magi in.
It was obvious that Astoria had turned the bathroom for the nursery into her bathroom, so she did not have to share a bathroom with Draco.
The witch examined Astoria, and the wizard examined Draco. The witch then snapped, "You signed a contract to let Draco into your body and have his children. You need to have more children! You need a spare, at least."
"I do not need to let him rape me, and I do not want or need another parasite in my body," Astoria exclaimed.
The wizard turned to Draco, sneering, "What kind of a wizard are you, that you let her get away with rebuffing you. She is your wife. She signed a contract to let you into her, and it does not matter if she doesn't want it. She is obligated to let you."
Draco didn't say anything, embarrassed and angry that Astoria was speaking this way.
The witch and wizard then did some spells over Draco and Astoria, to their discomfort. Draco felt like he really should see what he could do to be more of a husband to Astoria, and Astoria was aware that she had rebuffed any attempt by Draco to be a husband. For the first time in a very long time,she felt a bit of regret for not being more of a wife to Draco, felt that she owed him sex even if she didn't exactly love him.
Astoria stayed behind, as the rest continued, looking at bedrooms. Finally, they came to the house elf (or Elf) housing area, and demanded to be let in. WJ, one of the Malfoy Eves, met them at the door and announced, "You may not come in. This is a private Elf area."
"House elves are to obey!" the wizard screamed, trying to push past.
"Elves do not have to let impertinent Magi into their quarters," WJ replied, slamming the door on the wizard, nearly catching his hand in the door.
The witch and wizard both tried to get into the Elf area, without success.
"House elves are almost never a problem," the witch suggested. "Forget about it."
The witch and wizard continued their tour of Malfoy Manor, and the grounds surrounding the Manor, making snide comments and complaints before leaving.
Harry had someone from the DMLE watch their map of Malfoy Manor. When Jezebel's witch and wizard were gone, she told Harry, "The two Magi did not go into the Elf quarters."
"Did you notice anything else?" Harry wondered.
The witch went over all she observed, but there was nothing else she had noticed that seemed important.
Narcissa texted Harry, can you meet me at the New Burrow?
Harry texted back, I am free and will meet you there.
Narcissa, as was her custom, took the Floo to the New Burrow. Molly greeted her. "Hello, Narcissa. It is always good to see you."
"It's good to see you as well, Molly. I hope you don't mind, but I'm here to meet Harry," Narcissa told her friend as Harry came through the Floo.
"Hello, Mum," Harry told Molly. "I need to speak with Narcissa about the pregnancies. It is all very confidential, but you are welcome to listen."
"Well, a couple from Jezebel have examined Malfoy Manor," Narcissa told Harry. "It sounds like they are going to station someone in every area of the house, the two apartments on the second floor, in all the bedrooms on the first floor, and all the rooms on the main floor. I think they are also going to have people in the lower level and outside."
"That's not really a surprise," Harry reflected. "Any things they did not notice?
"Several rooms have secret passages, and I made sure that they didn't find any of them," Narcissa told Harry. "They cannot be used to hide in or to get into the Manor, but they can be used to escape if anything happens. There is one here," and she pointed to a place on the map, "that could be used to escape from the living room."
"Who would use it?" Harry wondered. "Albus and Cleopatra have to battle and defeat Jezebel, probably kill her, and the rest of us need to help."
"If Draco goes over to that corner of the room he is probably going to try and escape, and at least not fight on the side of Jezebel," Narcissa suggested. "Here is another niche that someone could hide in. I understand you have an invisibility cloak and wearing that and standing here you should be as safe as you could be."
Harry sighed. The Invisibility Cloak could be used by his family, but it was not really supposed to be lent to anyone else. Albus was not going to need it, so he was going to be the one person who could hide under the cloak and use it to help defend people. It had been years since he had been in a battle, delegating that to others, but this was one fight he could not avoid.
"I'm going to have to have a team hiding in the Elf area, so once Jezebel comes into the Manor, we have more people to fight. I hate to be so outnumbered."
"You've always fought best when outnumbered, Harry. But this is rather frightening, isn't it," Narcissa observed.
"Yes," Harry replied. "Very. Ever since the Battle of Hogwarts I've tried very hard never to be outnumbered, and at least at first I am worried that we will be."
Harry called together a team of Aurors and others to plan guarding Albus, Cleo and the others at Malfoy Manor. Cho Chang, who still led some of the missions, was there, as was Ron Weasley. Ron was an excellent tactician, and although he had not led a raid since he had retired as a full time Auror, he still kept up with training, and consulted on tactics from time to time.
"You say ten of us can fit in the Elf area," Cho confirmed.
"That is what I am being told," Harry replied, pointing to the Elf area on the map.
"So, if there are twenty or twenty-five of Jezebel's allies in the living room, we are going to be badly outnumbered?" Cho wondered.
"I'm afraid so," Harry replied. He raised his hands as if to indicate 'what else can I do.' "As soon as Jezebel is in the living room, I am going to call a stage five, all hands-on deck, International Auror Alert, and we will eventually have way more Aurors than the Magi that Jezebel can gather.
"Everyone in the room needs to distract and keep people from fighting Albus and Cleo. The Elves will set up a shield, so as long as the Elves are not overwhelmed,I'm not worried about Albus and Cleo losing. Well, all the omens say they will win, and it will be two against one, but I will be honest and say I am totally terrified. I just don't see any alternative. The International Aurors have tried to defeat the Pirate Witch Queen for centuries and have concluded that our only chance is to get her out of her island."
Harry looked at the assembled group, frustration and sorrow evident in his bearing.
"I need to leave one Auror in the Elf area putting up a shield that will keep the Magi guarding all the rooms from coming downstairs to join in the fight. That leaves nine of us to Apparate into the battle," Cho told the meeting. "I don't like this."
"You don't need to lead this team, Cho," Harry let his long-time classmate and friend know.
"I do, though," Cho replied. "My last big raid. After this I am going to retire and be a grandmother. I'd like to let that idiot son of mine, who so wants excitement and to be a hero, to lead, but he would probably get himself killed. He is going to be a father, so he won't get the most dangerous assignments, but he still wants to be an Auror."
"Everyone going with you needs to be a volunteer, Cho, and they all need to know just how dangerous this is," Harry stressed, obviously very worried.
"We haven't lost an Auror in Britain since we captured the last of the Death Eaters years ago," Cho remarked. "That is good, but I am worried that too many of our Aurors don't really think they can be killed. I saw enough death at The Battle of Hogwarts to know just how real, how messy, how permanent death is."
Harry and his team spend hours trying to anticipate everything, although as Ron observed, "Battle plans never last very long past the start of a battle."
2022