Harry wasn't standing in front of a villa, he was in a library. A library with books and shelves going on beyond his sight. He sighed.
"What do you want, death?" Harry asked.
"To talk. While externally, you don't show the signs, internally you are being eaten up by a couple of things. The biggest is the death of your friend, Hermione Granger," Death replied.
"Why did she have to die?"
"I like it, straight to the point. Fate has many people that no matter what Chance does, die at or before a certain time. There is nothing I can do to stop it. Hermione was one of those people. You are another. I had to pay fate, seven open-ended favors to keep you off that list," Death said sadly.
"What?" Harry almost screamed.
"Yes, Harry. Fate has punching bags. You were one. Hermione was another," Death said. "Would you like to know what fates, you spared her from?" Harry could just nod.
"Since I brought you back from a chance split, here are the many ways she would have died, all before she turned 42. Because of the split, you took two avada kedavras. She would have been captured. Again three choices. The worst, I think from her point of view. She was captured by the Carrows. She has several children by Amycus and is raped to death by them. The other choices, impaled on a heated spike by Hestia and Flora; and flayed, total skin removal, the tossed in salt waters. Once the pain shattered her mind, fed to a devil's snare by Alecto which kept her alive as it slowly digested her over six months," Death said.
"What is a chance split?" Harry asked while shuddering. His failure cost his friends worse than him. He also started weeping silently.
"That is where chance butts into fate's plans. Until that point in time, the multiple possibilities are still possible. In this case, she had three ways she would die. At the ages of forty-one, twenty-seven, and thirty. That is what would have happened if you reached that split in the forest."
"Now, if you had been missed by Bellatrix, then potion queen Molly would have come into play. You would have married Ginevra and Hermione would have married Ronald. Hermione would have died either at the hands of Ronald, a curse from Ginevra, a dementor's kiss, or her own hands. You would have died from a curse from Ronald or Ginevra, poison made by Molly, a dementor, or physical assault by the child of Ronald and Ginevra. Both Hermione and your children would also die before their seventh year," Death finished.
"Given those options, which would she choose over a perfectly aimed piercing hex to the head, instantly killing her?" Death asked. "I think if she knew the options, she would still want her death on her terms."
"Also, by her the way she went out, I could make Fate agree to spare Gabrielle who would have died at the bottom of the lake, and Fleur who would have died in the maze," Death said.
"It is not fair," Harry said still crying.
"No, it is not. Fate made a prophecy that ensured all of your life, you and the people around you will suffer. There is nothing I can do about that. I can only nudge it a bit. That way you will have some joy. Some pleasure. There are no two ways about this though. Your life will have a lot of pain," Death said.
"So the more I kill, the less pain I have?" Harry asked.
"Yes. The more disruptions in the weave, the less suffering you will have. The less you those you care about will suffer. You have a saving people thing. This is your chance to save people," Death said.
"What has that to do with magical Britain?" Harry asked.
"Four to five thousand lives compared to the life of every other witch or wizard till humanity dies out?"
"What?"
"The British Purebloods, they get so arrogant they do not stop stupid death eaters from attacking the wrong muggles. When the muggle Prime Minister complains about it to the Minister of Magic. You can guess how that went. In the next attack, the muggle security services kill three. What was not known by the ministry, muggles had by that time cracked the human genome. They used that information to find a genetic abnormality. Witches and wizards have a fifth protein. The muggles created a virus that was only supposed to wipe out the terrorists. The Prime minister orders retribution. It spread out of control. It spread worldwide. It killed off all but a handful. It only took five years. For an unknown reason, magical could not stop it." Death said. "Dumbledore, Fudge, and Riddle are all alike. Because of that, they must die."
"Okay. What do I need to do?" Harry asked.
"Follow the plan. I will make it easier for you. You will now be fluent in French. Also, Delcour did not apparate their mansion. You are going to a veela colony. There you you deal with your veela wives. Then you will have the rest of the summer to set everything up," Death said
"What about Dumbledore? Even if I go through with the plan, it doesn't kill him. I don't see him ever leaving me alone," Harry said.
"He won't. The magical schools all around the world are of a higher standard than Hogwarts. You will be put back into the third year at Beauxbatons. During your summers, you will do raids on Britain as well as handle attacks on the Delacour properties by Dumbledore's order. When you graduate, you will have more knowledge, more power, and a better wand than Dumbledore. With your spy, Nymphadora, and your wives, you will confront him. If you live, and continue to occasionally kill; you get your happily ever after.
{s}
"This isn't a manor, Mister Delacour," Harry said looking around at a wooded area with a covered entrance.
"No, this is where my wife's veela colony's entrance is. They have magic to keep my youngest alive until she can consummate her marriage. I had to. To save her.," Jaques said.
"It is okay, we will do what we can to save her," Harry said entering the cave.
{s}
"I hope that is the only time we have sex in front of the crowd," Harry said. The pain in his groin woke him. He could see where his cock had been rubbed so raw it bled.
"I did not mind it, I enjoy sex, no matter when or how," Fleur said.
"Could you at least tell me why? Why what happened was not what your father said" Harry asked. He whimpered as Fleur applied the essence of dittany to his enflamed member.
"Oui. My sister needs to bond with you fully. Her magic is not yet ready for such a strain. To do it now will kill her. To not do it now will kill her. You see the dilemma. Our mama found a way to postpone the need for her to bond. We had to make your magic encase her in your power. This will keep her safe. It should last until she has matured. At that time, however, she will be primed. The first time you are together, she will be bound to you. We did not tell Papa the truth. He might have had objections."
"What does that mean?" Harry asked.
"Well, she will be one of your wives. More importantly, as her mate, you will have to satisfy her. When she goes into heat, if you do not take potions, she will make love to you until you die," Fleur said with a smile. "I and your other wife will help with that,"
"Will you go into heat, also? You said you and the other wife?"
"Oui, and oui, of course, we are veela. Two to three times we go into heat a year if we have a mate. As far as Gabrielle and me, since we are both female veela, it is a non-issue," Fleur replied with rolled eyes.
"Why am I so hungry? And tired?" Harry asked.
"It is July 30th, you have only been fed potions for the last twenty-eight days. Then you slept once the ritual was completed," Fleur said with a smirk.
"I..." Harry tried to say.
"You provided your magic through your seed for the ritual. You provided it, let's say every five to fifteen minutes for twenty-eight days. Then you slept for twenty-four hours,"
Harry dropped his head back stunned. "You wanted my sister to survive, non? That was the sacrifice. I am just glad you had the power to last. While you may be in pain, imagine my poor sister. Our healers had to keep her alive while being basically crucified for the same length of time. The fact she was standing on a stone ledge kept her alive. The whole colony is also exhausted. We had to keep both of you continually bathed in the allure to a high level," Fleur said.
"Oh…" Harry said, still not being able to think much.
"Yes, it was an extreme ritual for an extreme situation. You did agree, mind you, and never tried to stop it. For that, mama anointed you as a friend of the veela nation. You will be able to take our daughters to the enclaves and colonies," Fleur said.
"What about our sons?" Harry asked.
"There hasn't been a male veela, or a veela having a male child in over five millennia," Fleur scoffs.
"Well, that gives me something to shoot for. Now, how soon will I be fully recovered? And have you heard from Millicent Bulstrode?" Harry asked.
"The goblin healers say three more days. Millie has also been given access to the colony. She is sleeping. She was allowed entry as you finished. The lust your final issuance caused me to have to keep her occupied for five hours. Why the rush, Mom amour?" Fleur asked.
"We have until September first, to have many things in place in England. Three places have to close that day. One is a certain castle in Scotland," Harry said. "I am going to need your whole family's help."
{s}
"Mister Potter, Miss Bulstrode, please come with me," Amelia ordered as she met them trying to board the express.
"What is this about?" Harry asked.
"You were seen in France this summer. Your magical guardian has not permitted you to leave the country. Nor have you been authorized international portkeys," Amelia said.
"Okay, let's get this sorted," Harry said with a smile. That smile put Amelia on alert. It reminded her too much of his father when he was going to pull a massive prank on you.
{s}
"As you can see from this document, the tournament emancipated me. Now, as to your allegation of illegal portkeys, bah. Did you know it is slightly less than an hour and a half from the muggle Heathrow airport to Beauvais-Tillé Airport, Paris?" Harry asked with a Cheshire grin.
"You wouldn't have these documents so readily on hand unless you knew what I was investigating. Since you knew that, you could have given them to me at King's Cross. Why…" Amelia asked as her watch officer burst in.
"There is a problem with the express. The express was re-routed because of a prior train derailment. The express has problems near the Kylesku bridge,"
"Come, you two. I don't think this is a coincidence with you being in the DMLE right now," Amelia said.
{s}
Amelia was downcast. The train all aboard was dead. A cargo trained de-railed right in front of the train, causing it to also derail. The train in all its inhabitants were now in the Loch a' Chàirn Bhàin.
She was about to say something when the watch officer appeared again. This time he was bleeding and covered in soot.
"What happened?" Amelia asked.
"There were some explosions, on the outskirts of Knockturn. They then chained their way up and ended just short of Gringotts. All the wards broke. All the on-duty Aurors went. We found muggle Aurors and fire people there. Shacklebolt found out it was," The young Auror panted. "A developer was poking around muggle buildings back to the alley. It had an unexploded World War II explosive. That set a chain reaction. Both Knockturn and Diagon were built over the remains of an RAF bomb-making factory that a German air raid put out of business. Shacklebolt thought wizards, in their haste, put down enchantments before clearing the area for things that go boom. When the first explosion happened, it took the wards down and caused the other explosions to happen."
Amelia was rocked back with that. She did not doubt that wizards would be that stupid. Then she realized. Edward would have been in the command center of the DMLE when that happened. How could he be hurt? "Did more explosions happen when you went to the alleys?"
"I don't know. With all the muggles around, Shack had us return to the ministry. When we got there, it was chaos. Fudge and Umbridge are dead. So is the Wizengamot. The ICW came to remove the Department of Mysteries because they felt we could not be trusted. Well, Umbridge ordered us to try and stop them. I was the only one to get out," Edward said as a healer from Saint Mungo's healed his arm.
"Once is an anomaly. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is enemy action," Harry said.
"You think Voldemort is behind this?" Amelia asked to see Harry shrug.
"Since Hogwarts cannot open this term, drop us off at London Stansted Airport near Molehill Green. We will see if we can start with Susan," Millie said.
{s}
Dumbledore was not happy. He had been warned that the express would be late because of a muggle rail incident. He could not wait for the great hall to be filled with more teachers and students, than Sprout and Flitwick. If it wasn't for pressure from Fudge, they would not be here this year over the incident with that mudblood, Granger. Even Hagrid was not happy with him.
Albus did not think even the pressure the ministry was putting on them would keep them past June. His internal whining was interrupted by the hall doors opening. He was expecting students and the new teachers. What he received was Amelia Bones and two Aurors.
"Amelia, is there another delay with the express?" Albus asked.
"No, the situation is far, far worse," Amelia said as she closed on the head table.
"What happened?" Flitwick asked.
"You three will need to close Hogwarts," Amelia said.
"That is not a funny joke, Amelia. You know that Fudge would never allow this school to close," Albus pontificated. He did not like Madam Bones and her joke was not amusing.
"Well, the ICW came into the ministry today and removed the Department of Mysteries. Senior Secretary Umbridge fired the first curse to stop them. Her, Cornelius and quite a few ministry personnel died. The only reason I still have Aurors right now is the other two events that kept us from the ministry." Amelia said.
"That is horrible. I am sure the Wizengamot will call a special session and we will have a new minister. A minister that will keep this school open," Dumbledore countered.
"Except the Wizengamot was in session. They also tried to fight. They are all dead. As you know, only you, I and Lord Potter are left. Not even the minimum of seven," Amelia said.
"I did not agree to let Mister Potter take his lordship," Albus said looking a little strained.
"Your tournament emancipated him, neither you nor Bagman allowed for a second selection of champions. All of the judges agreed he could compete in a tournament you said that was only for of-age wizards and witches," Amelia again countered.
"I refuse to allow it. I revoke his emancipation," Dumbledore bellowed.
"You can only overturn an emancipation within six months. It has been eleven. Now, back to this mess. With no ministry, there will be no funds to keep this school active," Amelia said.
"We will just tax Knockturn Alley. If necessary we will also charge those businesses, property, and people in Diagon," Dumbledore said.
"Wrong on two counts, Albus. Both alleys were destroyed today. Did you know that both were built over a bombed-out RAF munition factory that was bombed in World War Two?" Amelia asked.
"How stupid," Filius said. "You said two counts."
"Oh, right. No new taxes because there is nothing to tax. We also don't have the authority to tax," Amelia said.
"Then we will grind it out of our students," Albus thundered.
"Wrong again, there are only two students left, and I sent them to France this afternoon," Amelia said.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THERE ARE ONLY TWO STUDENTS LEFT!" Albus roared.
"Harry Potter and Millicent Bulstrode were the only two students left alive after the express had an accident. All the other students and your new teachers died," Amelia said.
"How did those two become the only survivors?" Albus asked. He thought he would have total control over Potter. Only two survivors of a train wreck. They had to be involved. He would be happy to just kill Bulstrode.
"They were not on the train. Thanks to your tip about Harry and the girl illegally portkeying to the continent, I took them in for questioning straight from King's Cross," Amelia said.
"Well, where are they then?" Albus asked in desperation. He needed the boy. It was for the greater good.
"I took them to a muggle airport. They let me know that they were safe at their destination before I came here," Amelia answered looking quite pleased with herself. Albus looked like she had stolen all his favorite sweets.
"Where was their destination?" Albus asked, his fear now showing.
"I don't know. Somewhere near a school. They told me via patronus that they were going to be allowed to attend tonight in another magical school. All I will say is where they are has a curse on sight order for you. You killed by deed, Gabrielle Delacour. Both the ICW and France want your head on a pike. Did you know, Albus, that Magical France still uses the guillotine?" Amelia was having a hard time not laughing at the headmaster. He created this situation. She felt she could let him rot in it.
"Then Amelia, you, Pomona, and Fillius must get the boy back here. Without him, he who shall not be named will take over magical Britain." Albus pleaded.
"No," Pomona and Fillius said together as they got up to head to their chambers. They had to pack and leave the castle before Albus tried to get them to do something stupid.
"I agree with your two ex-teachers. With the ministry gone, I am no longer in the Wizengamot. I am no longer the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Notifying you was my last duty. I am now just a witch. I plan to go to my home, pack and close it, and go to France to get a job there, near my niece," Amelia stated.
"You cannot do that. You must retrieve Potter. It is for the greater good," Albus stated coldly.
"So what? The news has already spread. Many will be leaving our shores. Thanks to you and Fudge, the ICW will encourage folks to leave. You can stay in this castle and have your greater good, but I will have none of it. Enjoy becoming Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing of magical Britain remains," Amelia stated. She was glad the two Aurors with her had their wands out and pointed at Dumbledore from flanking positions.
"Amelia, please? If you don't retrieve Potter, what remains will fall under Voldemort. Surely you cannot have that on your conscious?" Albus tried one last time. Amelia didn't answer. She and her bodyguards backed out of the hall. The three wands never quit pointing at him. With her gone and since Fawkes had disappeared, he had few options. He sent patroni out to every member of the order he could.