Shield

by FeeBe

Percival Graves has been sent by Magic and Death into an uncertain future to help Harry. Their attempt to permanently rid the world of the Tom Riddle was thwarted by Hermione, who took credit for killing the Dark Lord allowing his wraith to return to his followers. Read Sword and Shield first. Slash. Hermione and Dumbledore bashing. Not God mode Harry.

6. Chapter 6

There are times when one hears a statement that in the moment, is only processed on a superficial level. It is immediately accepted as fact (or brushed aside) and not given any attention. Later, while the conscious mind is processing other things, such as a colleague having been obliviated, the subconscious mind is taking out that little factoid and disassembling it. Then when the mind is quiescent mayhap in sleep, the subconscious pushes that little thought forward and suddenly the conscious mind takes hold of it.

Severus sat up with a gasp, scanning the room to ascertain what had woken him. All was still and quiet, the hum of his wards palpable to his magic, intact and undisturbed. Yet there he was, pulse racing, skin cooling as the night air hit the sweat on his skin. He shivered. There was not a thing out of place in the physical world. Logically then the issue was internal, he ran a quick diagnostic over his body, all seemed well. Mental then? What had he been dreaming about?

Oh!

A picture rose unbidden, two seats side by side, a small table laden with books, in between. A fire in the grate, providing warmth, in a room that regardless of the weather always felt cool in the evening. It was late … very late. So late that it was in fact very early. Suddenly he knew it was not a dream, but a memory.

"I…I," the man at his side stuttered, before admitting, "No, I find that I would very much mind should something happen to you, a … and not just for Harry's sake. Like Harry I also find that I do not want you to have to be sent away either."

"Why?" Indeed, why should someone notice or care about his absence? There was a strange feeling of tightness in his chest and Severus found it hard to swallow around the lump in his throat. Perhaps he was sickening with something.

"Because we would miss you Severus," his companion admitted, staring into the fire and resolutely not looking at the man sat beside him.

"We would miss you?" Severus repeated in a whisper, his voice caught on the words as if he did not comprehend them. "We?"

It was best to examine the statement logically. Of course, the boy would miss him. Harry was a Gryffindor in that he wore his heart on his sleeve. Like any of the neglected children Severus had seen, despite their rough start (which Severus admitted was completely his own fault), Harry had become fiercely attached to his mentor. Strangely enough Severus found that he would miss the boy too, should he have to be sent away to America.

That was not the point though. The point was that little word at the front of the statement. It was not Harry, nor he … no it was WE. Meaning they, meaning plural. Inclusive of the speaker. There was that tight feeling in his chest again, surely, he was too young to be having a heart attack! He quickly checked; his pulse was fast but regular.

Severus did not consider himself a stupid man, and he had become aware that there was some strange tension growing between himself and Black. He knew he disliked it when he saw McKinnon with her hands all over the other man, leaning into him as they talked. His felt strangely ill when he thought about the pair of them sharing dinner alone in that house, when Remus was busy. At times the tension grew so great when they were apart that, regardless of the risk Severus absolutely had to step through the floo to see the other man. And that had, absolutely not, been the reason that he had found himself stepping through the floo the other evening. It all meant nothing of course, the other man had been cordial, and every now and then, there had seemed to be an … almost … moment. A glance held a fraction to long, a brushing of fingertips as an item was passed between them that seemed to zing with some kind of … energy. A breathless moment that seemed to have the potential to be something … more, but that was all. Each time he had dismissed it as being imagined.

The Potions Master shook his head, trying to clear away the last vestiges of sleep. Could Black … Sirius … could he have … meant it? Would he really miss … No … it was too ridiculous to contemplate, surely the man had been joking. They had always had a contentious relationship, only putting aside their arguments for the sake of the boy. Still the Animagus had apologised. Out of love for his Godson, of course. Surprisingly they had managed to move past the anger. Though there was still a little sniping between them, it now seemed to carry an undercurrent of … something else. It was almost fun, Severus got some joy out of making the other man, pause, blush or even laugh.

With a huff, Severus let his body fall back onto his pillow, and forced his eyes to close.

Behind his lids another image rose unbidden. It was the event that had caused his epiphany. The moment he had looked at Lily and known that he had lost her irrevocably and forever. She had turned those verdant eyes on Potter and given him a LOOK. In that look, Severus had known that even if she had not yet admitted it to herself, that Lily was in love with James Potter. Severus had fancied himself in love with his friend at the time and the revelation had hurt. That Lily, his Lily, would never look at him that way. His first and indeed only friend would never feel that way about him. That he was so un-loveable and unwanted, so abhorrent that neither she nor anyone else would ever love him.

Years later as he had watched and seen students, colleagues and acquaintances fall in and out of love in front of him, he had realised that he had been wrong. He had loved Lily certainly, but he had not been 'in love' with her. He had loved the idea that she had represented. She was wild and bold and free. He had wanted 'that' desperately. For his mother and himself to be free from his father. Free to be allowed to just spend time inventing potions or researching spells. How long had it been since he had done so? At the time it had felt like forever though in reality it was merely the summer. In the end, the desire for freedom was the reason he had fallen in with the Death Eaters. They had offered him everything he had thought that he had wanted, everything that he had thought had been denied him when she had turned her eyes on another. He had been wrong. They had offered him nothing, they had only wanted to use him. And use him they did.

Severus rolled himself onto his side, back towards the wall, drawing the blanket over himself. Snuggling in a way he had not done since he was a child.

But WHY would Black say such a thing? What did he mean by it?

Severus pushed himself onto his back again. He just could not find any comfort. Severus bought the memory forward again, this time watching it as if in a pensieve, he stood on one side of the fireplace, and watched the men as they sat reading. The one on the right glanced to his left at the other man, who was deeply engrossed in his book. The man on the left, paused in his reading reached for a quill to make a note on a piece of parchment, and the man on the right hurriedly returned his eyes to his own book. But there was something in that look … something … It was a look he had never thought anyone would … No. He was wrong. Must be wrong! Severus replayed the little snippet again, there it was. He allowed the scene to play through once more.

"… we would miss you Severus," his companion admitted with a barely audible quaver in his voice as he stared into the fire, cheeks lightly flushed, resolutely not looking at the man sat beside him.

There it was again. Gryffindors, so completely unable to unable to mask their expression. Severus shot upright and was on his feet on the way to the floo before he could form a conscious thought.

-o0o-

The question, Dumbledore thought, was who exactly had stolen away the ring and why? Clearly it was not Tom Riddle himself, he would hardly bother to reset the protections. No, it was someone who thought to deceive them all. It irked him that he had destroyed any chance of figuring out who it was himself. He could not even blame anyone else for it. All evidence had been destroyed in the fire and any magical residue would have been eclipsed by his own.

Was it some traitor to the light? A spy who had secreted away the piece of the Dark Lords soul in order to return him to life. Or was it some Death Eater suffering from a burst of conscience? Had Regulus Black discovered more than one of the Dark Lord's Horcruxes? Dumbledore smiled, oh yes, he knew about the younger Black's defection. Of course, he did. That had been a work of genius, even if he did say so himself, separating and driving a wedge between the siblings, so neither would notice when the other was placed in a position of danger. After all that was what the pawns were for. Albus shook his head, no, he would have known if Regulus had discovered more than one Horcrux.

Could it possibly be someone closer to either leader? Someone who thought they were helping to bring down the Dark Lord or were alternately preserving a piece of the Dark Lord's soul. There was only one thing that Albus was sure of; it was someone who knew dark magic. Severus?! He was by far the smartest of all of Voldemort's sycophants. And he already knew Voldemort had made at least one Horcrux. Had he double crossed them all? No … the vow would have ensured that at the very least any action he took had to be for the preservation of Harry Potter. It was what made it so ideal. The boy of course had to die in order for Riddle to be defeated, and in that moment, the vow would extract its price for failure, Severus unable to prevent Harry's death, would also die. It was perfect in its simplicity. The man was far too clever, and it was a wonder he had never figured out how magically strong he was. If he had even an ounce of charisma, he could have easily been a worthy opponent. But as it stood no one would ever take the man seriously, especially not with that tattoo on his arm, and Albus had already made sure the world knew about that.

Albus flooed directly into the Severus' rooms, he was startled as the man burst from his bedroom, wrapping a robe around himself as he moved.

"Going somewhere, my boy?" Dumbledore asked.

"Felt my wards … I thought …" Severus shook his head, as if clearing away the drowsiness of sleep, though Albus thought the other man's eyes were too bright for him to have just been roused.

"Ah, my apologies for waking you."

"What was it you needed? It is rather late." Severus pointed out blandly, trying to ensure that Dumbledore got to the point without his usual prevarication. He had to see Sirius so he could find out what the man had meant.

"I have noticed that you have been spending more time away from the school of late," Dumbledore stated. In actuality he had been away himself and had no idea what his pawn had been up to, but it was always good to appear to be omni-cognisant.

Severus was unimpressed, he had been at the castle enough to recognise Dumbledore's statement for the lie it was, "That's odd. I have barely left the school apart from visiting Black's house to arrange lessons at your request. I have been rather involved in my experiments."

"Experiments?"

"Yes, it seems that Potter came across several old journals. One of them held instructions for an untested variant of Wolf's Bane."

"Are they the Potter family journal's? How did he come by them?" Dumbledore asked momentarily concerned that his strong hold had been breached. It was a ridiculous thought, as if the boy could have not only discovered where the Potter Grimoire was held but then removed it from its protections, with his mediocre skills.

"No, they were Lily's. I believe Black had them secreted in a trunk that he had stowed somewhere or other. I, of course confiscated it," Severus smirked. "The boy can barely be trusted near a cauldron. He breaks the rules enough I hardly dare to think the mischief he could get up to with one of Lily's potions journals. He'd be blowing up the dorm rooms, I have no doubt."

"And?"

Snape merely raised an elegant brow.

"How did it go?" Dumbledore pressed. Oh, the publicity he could gain if he found a cure for … of course he could keep it secret. Who knew when the lure of a cure could be used to blackmail favours out of a doting father or worried mother? He had tried the route of having the beast itself in his debt, however in the long run they did not have much to offer. Remus was proof of that, until he had reached the end of his usefulness and been disposed of. Hope however was a powerful motivator.

"It failed obviously," Severus snorted as if it had been the expected outcome.

"Ah, yes, while she had quite the potions talent, Lily did not have the same advantages as those with a more prestigious background," Dumbledore said sagely. Advantages like access to generations worth of books or vaults full of gold. In fact, if she had not married a Potter, Dumbledore would not have had a use for her at all.

"I have spent a little time researching at Black's residence," Snape admitted. "There are some aspects of her work that show merit. I believe she was trying to produce a potion that was cheaper and decreased the pain of the transformation, rather than a true cure."

"Knowing your distaste for the beasts, I would not have thought that you would invest time into such a project," Dumbledore challenged. It was disappointing that it was not a cure, still perhaps it could be used for something.

"If it works perhaps, we can sway more of the packs to our side," Severus shrugged as if he did not care. "Besides," Severus let his voice catch, laden with emotion, "Lily …"

"Ah, yes, the foibles of youth," Dumbledore tutted. There was another reason Severus was a weak opponent, too emotional. Yes, he hid it behind a dour mask, but underneath that façade he was as emotional as the rest. Clearly it had not been Severus, the headmaster mused, turning back to the fireplace. "Well, I wish you a goodnight then, my boy."

Severus watched the headmaster distractedly twist away, wondering what the purpose of the whole conversation had been. Regardless it was clear that the headmaster was keeping a close eye on him than he had assumed, perhaps it would be best if instead of heading to Grimmauld Place he returned to his bed. So, thinking, Severus made his way back to his room.

-o0o-

It was the day after they had received their O.W.L results. Much to Harry's chagrin, Mrs Weasley had said that Percival was not allowed to visit more than once a week due to it being too much trouble. Harry had promptly offered to return home to decrease her workload, an option which had been vetoed with the ever useful – 'but Professor Dumbledore said', making Harry regret agreeing to pretend to be under the elixir's influence. Ginny wanted to play two aside Quidditch and would not listen when Ron and Harry said that they were happy to take turns playing one on one with her. The youngest Weasley badgered Hermione into joining them, and there was suspiciously little resistance. Midway through the match, all was well. The boys were most surprised at the enthusiasm with which Hermione was playing given her dislike of flying. Harry was drifting above the orchard, not paying much attention to the game, when he felt a stabbing pain, straight through the right side of his stomach. He listed to the left clutching at his side.

"Harry!" Ron called out in alarm.

"Ahhh!" Harry moaned, guiding his broom into a shallow dive as he attempted to right himself. Once the ground was only a couple of feet away, he allowed himself to simply fall onto the grass with a grunt, unable to hold himself upright against the strength of his spasming abdomen.

"You alright mate?" Ron asked, landing next to him, grabbing the shooting star Harry had been riding.

"Gnnnnn," Harry moaned clutching at his stomach.

"I told you, you shouldn't have had that extra pancake," Hermione scolded as she wobbled her way closer on her borrowed broom.

Ginny dismounted elegantly next to the group, just as with a sharp twist, Harry vomited up what appeared to be everything he had ever eaten. Ginny jumped out of the way to avoid the splatter.

"Eww," the youngest redhead wrinkled her nose. "I didn't know you had carrots for breakfast!"

"Oooh!" Harry moaned as his stomach clenched again.

"Ginny you run in and get mum, I'll levitate Harry. Hermione can you bring the brooms, please," Ron took charge of the situation.

"Me! Carry the brooms," Hermione protested. "I'm better at charms I should be the one to levitate Harry, now move out of the way," Hermione ordered, drawing her wand.

"I'll walk," Harry said forestalling the argument as he dragged himself to his feet. There was no way he was going to let Hermione cast a spell on him. He leaned heavily on Ron as they slowly made their way back to the Burrow, stopping for Harry to be sick twice more on the way.

Finally, Harry was deposited into a chair in the kitchen. His head slumped to the table as the world spun.

"Want … S'rus!" the dark-haired boy whined.

"Tcha'" Mrs Weasley tutted. "I'll sort you out, never worry dear."

"Want … S'rus," Harry insisted more strongly, lifting his head.

Ron pushed his way round his mother to the floo, "I'll get him."

"Now, Ron there is no need for that. What would that man, even do?"

"Sirius!" Ron called, ignoring his mother and sticking his head in the fire.

"'Arry!" Fleur entered the kitchen behind the group. "What 'as 'appened?"

"He just started puking up everywhere," Ginny said with a dramatic shudder, "It was really gross. All orange and goopy!"

"It sounds like 'e 'as been poisoned," Fleur said, moving over to put her hand on the boy's sweaty forehead. "'e has no fever."

"Could it be his allergy?" Ron asked, "He reacted badly at school and …"

"Harry has allergies?" Molly Weasley gasped. "Why didn't you say something?" she demanded angrily of Ron.

"I did!" he defended himself indignantly. "I wrote you a letter when it happened. Remember he can't have Elderberry." Molly's lips snapped shut. Now that he mentioned it, she vaguely remembered Ron writing something about Harry's trip to the infirmary. Perhaps she should have paid closer attention, though the only reason she had even read Ron's letter was because he had been made Prefect. Typically, she left Fred and George's letters for Arthur to read.

"Well 'is lips 'aven't swollen, so I don't think it is that." Fleur said reasonably.

"Harry!" Sirius knocked on the door, having had to apparate to the ward boundary and run up the path as Molly had refused to grant him access through the floo.

"Really! Ron, Sirius didn't need …"

"I most certainly did, Molly!" Sirius made his way quickly to Harry's side. "I've called Addison, he'll be here momentarily. Percival will lead him to the house," Sirius assured his son. "Can you tell me what happened?" Harry's eyes just rolled behind his lids, and he moaned again.

There was a knock at the door, and Molly Weasley opened it with a huff, "We don't need you!" she said and went to slam the door closed in the man's face, but Addison was fast enough to prevent the door closing with a judiciously placed boot.

"Molly, that man is Harry's healer you will allow him entrance, or my son will be coming home with me! I don't care what Dumbledore might say on the matter."

"Fine! But I could have dealt with it myself!" Molly bustled into the kitchen, so she would not have to look at the interloper.

"Ron was about to tell me what happened." Sirius told Addison.

"We were flying, then Harry groaned and clutched at his left side, he managed to get almost to the ground before he fell off his broom and then he vomited."

"Show me where?" Addison stood from where he had been crouched beside Harry.

"Is that really necessary," Mrs Weasley protested sticking her head through the doorway, demonstrating that while she had not been in the room, she was still observing them all. Addison made no comment, and just followed Ron from the room. "Really this is ridiculous, Sirius. All this fuss over a little illness. Boys get sick all the time. He probably over-ate at breakfast."

"That's what I said," chipped in Hermione. "I told him he shouldn't have had that extra pancake."

Sirius ignored the complaining, and levitated a now mostly comatose Harry, onto the couch, where Percival covered him with a blanket. It took Addison only ten minutes to retrieve his samples and return. More time was spent, with a strange thin strip of paper that was dipped into the mess and came out covered in different coloured stripes. Finally, Addison sighed, his grave expression easing slightly, as he straightened his back, he vanished the contents of the vials he had been using.

"What is wrong with him?" Sirius demanded worriedly.

The healer turned glanced around the room and then looked at Sirius. With a wave Sirius placed at silencing ward around the three standing by the couch. "It appears that someone has given Harry a potent love potion."

"Amortentia," hissed Percival.

"Indeed, but his system or rather the venom and tears, is fighting it, breaking it down quickly. Essentially the same situation as if you had eaten spoiled food, resulting in the pain. The pain then leads to the expulsion of the contents of his stomach, including any residual potion."

"Why doesn't it happen with normal potions?" Percival asked. "Like the pain-relieving potion."

"I am not entirely sure," the healer admitted. 'Though I have two hypotheses. The first is that the components that those sorts of potions are broken down into, are absorbed quickly in the stomach so the body can use them. They don't sit in the blood stream long enough to elicit a reaction. Though I expect he burns through normal potions much more quickly than most people. The second is that with other potions he knowingly ingests them. Magic is about intent; he knows that he is taking the potions and they will have an affect so his body and the substances with in it allow it to occur."

'I think it's the first," Percival said with a decisive nod. "I've seen Madame Pomfrey spell potions into him when he was unconscious. They still work"

"How long from ingestion to his reaction?"

"However long it takes to be absorbed and enter his blood stream. Anything from half an hour for water to several hours if the potion is mixed with food. There has been some hypothesis that the more complicated the potion the longer the absorption time. Given the contents in the sample I'd say around two to three hours ago."

"So, it was probably in something that he had at breakfast."

"How about we call Severus in?" Percival suggested, from his seat, by Harry's feet. "Addison can suggest that it is a reaction to some kind of potion."

"And Severus can then tell Dumbledore his hypothesis that the combination of Basilisk venom and Phoenix tears is dissolving the elixir which will mean Harry can stop pretending to be affected by the elixir," Sirius finished, dropping the ward.

"I think we need to involve a Potions Master, I believe you know Severus Snape," Addison said in a serious voice that carried through the bottom floor of the house, "The boy has clearly ingested some kind of potion that he is reacting to. His body will process it but, in the meantime, he will be in pain, perhaps the Potions Master can help."

"Surely just rest will be enough," Molly suggested.

"And leave Harry in pain!" Percival and Ron protested simultaneously.

Harry let out a particularly pained groan and writhed on the couch, tangling his limbs in the blanket. That was finally enough, even Molly Weasley could see that they needed to seek help, and St Mungo's was just not an option.

-o0o-

"How did it go?" Sirius asked abruptly as Severus stepped out of the floo.

"I heard the floo! Is that Profe …" Percival asked running into the kitchen.

"It went well," Severus replied to Sirius' question. "I have managed to convince Dumbledore that the Elixir will wear off slowly. Harry may need to have other episodes of illness as it wears off, perhaps headaches or some such. We need to be careful now though as he will research other means to keep Harry under control."

"What if we layer protective charms on something?" Sirius mused.

"Charms only affect the item they are cast on," Percival said. "The idea of a charmed protective amulet that can protect you from all ills is a myth. Though, perhaps something small that can carry runic wards might work …"

"Harry could use it as his project for his Runes NEWT," Severus suggested.

"I think he would actually like that," Percival smiled.

"Will you stay for tea?"

"I shouldn't, Dumbledore is watching me closely at the moment and I am not sure why."

"But you came …"

"Yes, I have told him I am researching a potion from one of Lily's journals."

"Well head to the library, I'll bring in tea, you can't go back without a book or some notes or something," Sirius said moving towards the kitchen.

"I also have information about Minerva."

"Professor McGonagall? Is she alright?" Percival asked.

"She's … better, health-wise she is fine."

"What happened?" Sirius asked, directing hot water from his wand into the teapot.

"When she was filing the year's papers Minerva found some exams she had marked but could not remember giving. As Dumbledore was away from the castle, she asked for my assistance. After some discussion she realised she had been obliviated. Her memories have now been retrieved," Severus spoke as he led the way into the study.

"And this is important to us because …"

"Your son was one of the people who took the exam. In fact, her memory of him in her extension lessons had been entirely removed."

"In preparation for the new school year she has asked," Severus pulled a small packet from his pocket, holding it out towards Percival, "that Harry be given this. With instructions to place it under his tongue for a month. A light sticking charm should be sufficient to hold it in place."

Percival opened a corner of the packet to reveal a single leaf, Sirius' face broke into an enormous grin, Severus looked away.

"Why didn't she bring it?" Percival asked, taking the packet.

"For the same reason that I will take notes back with me. Dumbledore is watching. We do not know the reason that he took her memories, but for now we need to ensure that he does not know that she has them back."

"So, the extension lessons will continue?"

"Yes, though for some of you they will be disguised as detentions." Severus quickly wrote a few words in the index book. "I have yet to check on the other Professors, though I believe they will be similarly affected."

"What is the potion you are working on?"

Severus hesitated, "I … do not wish to get your hopes up, but Lily left notes on a possible potion to cure Lycanthropy. It was untested. When I did test it… let's just say it was unsuccessful, but I feel that it is close. Perhaps there is a step missing, or another ingredient required…" his eyes fell to the book that was now in his lap.

"Thank you …" Sirius said. "I know, it must be hard, especially after what I did to you."

"It is precisely because of what you did," Severus said softly not looking up. "If I can do this, then no-one need ever be faced with that, ever again."

-o0o-

"Janey…"

"You know I think I really prefer being Marlene," the brunet admitted to Remus as they sat at the breakfast table.

"Marlene then," Remus nodded agreeably. He sat down beside her and picked two pieces of toast off the tray.

"It's quiet today," she noted the lack of the boisterous Animagus and the teen.

"I heard the floo go last night, so I assume they were up late and are sleeping in."

"Oh," Marlene seemed disappointed.

"Did you need something?"

"I had planned to visit Gringotts today, but I …"

"You're worried about being recognised and don't want to go alone," Remus suggested when she paused.

"Exactly."

"Well, I'm free. The others may have been better known for their human transfiguration skills, but I was no slouch," Remus referenced the pranks that the Marauders had pulled at Hogwarts.

"Oh, alright then."

Half an hour later an elderly couple, complete with matching walking sticks was standing by the floo.

"Ladies first," Remus gestured to the fireplace.

Marlene took a pinch of floo powder and dropped it into the fireplace calling out 'Diagon Alley'. Remus followed.

The trip to Gringotts was uneventful and fortunately the foyer of the bank was empty when they arrived.

"I would like to speak to the McKinnon Account Manager, please," she said in a respectful tone.

The Goblin, looked her up and down and sneered, "You would do well to heed the warning on the doors."

"I have no intention of stealing anything from this bank,' Marlene replied indignantly.

"We'll see. Griphook will take you through."

A small Goblin stepped forward and led them through an open doorway to their right. Three tunnels later Remus was becoming concerned. As a werewolf he had never been so far into the bank.

"Remove your disguises," a burly Goblin, seated at a desk grunted as they finally entered an office, 'You may use your wands."

They did so under his watchful gaze.

"Stonehammer,' Marlene nodded to her Accountant.

"Lady McKinnon,' he bared his teeth, "You have been missing," the words fell somewhere between a question and a statement.

"Yes, did you enact my will?"

"We tried. The seal would not break."

"What of my parent's and brother's wills."

'They were read and administered."

"That's fine. Has anyone tried to access the accounts?"

Stonehammer, uttered one name, "Dumbledore." Before going on to explain, "He came to the bank, not twelve hours after the attack. He stated that your parents and yourself had left him various articles as well as Galleons. We arranged the will reading and when we could not open yours it was assumed that you had lived, a fact we kept quiet. As expected, your parents left everything to Milton and yourself. It was determined that your brother passed before your parents, leaving you the main beneficiary."

"Dumbledore," Marlene echoed faintly. Her eyes lost focus as she stared at the Goblin seated opposite, memories storming her consciousness. "He found out that Lily and I knew."

"What did you know?" Remus asked quietly.

"That he and Grindlewald were engaged. They had made a blood pact, they could not to attack one another. That is why he, Dumbledore, took so long stepping up to fight. There was a … something … something happened in American, argh … I can't …" Her hands clutched at her hair.

"You're doing so well Marlene," Remus moved to her side, conjuring a glass and filling it with water. "Don't push. It will come when you are ready. Have you thought about discussing it with Severus?"

Marlene took the cup gratefully and sipped the cool water.

"I … I wasn't just obliviated, I was hit over the head," Marlene tested the sentence on her tongue before continuing more surely, "Someone, Dumbledore I think, came out of the floo, and hit me over the back of my head. I wonder whether it was because of what Lily and I had discovered, or was he just after money?"

"Does it matter?" Remus asked. "He didn't succeed."

"No, my parents changed their will just weeks before the attack. They said that Dumbledore made too many decisions that he said were for the 'Greater Good' but with no one to keep him in check. Whose 'Greater Good' was it?"

"We agree," Stonehammer said. "This is your account book." He pulled forth a large tome and explained the system. "As you can see, the McKinnon finances are in good shape."

"If you could continue as previously instructed. I would appreciate it," Marlene said. "When I have finished recuperating, I will have an in-depth look, and we'll go from there."

"As you wish," Stonehammer agreed, tucking the book back into the drawer in his desk. "Will that be all?"

"I just need to make a withdrawal. I find I am out of robes, and I refuse to wear Walburga's any longer!"

-o0o-

Bill wandered down for breakfast early, well earlier than any of the other residents. It was earlier than he had expected to wake given how late he had returned to the Burrow the previous evening. He had been held up. First at work and had then spent two hours exploring a property that he thought might make a nice home. It was only small. Just two bedrooms, but it was on a large block of land with plenty of room to expand. Not to mention that it was just a short walk from the house down to a secluded and sheltered cove, something he was sure Fleur would approve of. After having watched his father expand and expand and expand the Burrow, Bill had a fair idea of what was possible and what was not, when it came to magical home renovations. Though he thought that he might get professionals in when the time came so it did not end up quite so … unique as his parent's house. By the time Bill had arrived home, everyone was in bed, so it was stranger than usual that nobody else was up yet.

The tea was steeping, and he had a plate piled high with buttered toast in front of him by the time Ron and Harry stumbled own the stairs.

"Hook in, there's plenty," Bill nudged the plate towards to two boys. Harry eyed the toast warily before ignoring it in favour of summoning a cup and pouring himself some tea.

'Oi, mate," Ron waved his hand in the direction of the kitchen, grinning as Harry summoned a second cup. "Thanks." He stole the kettle from Harry. "Still not feeling right?"

Harry shook his head, groaned and dropped his forehead to the table. It had taken several hours for the cramping in his stomach to subside. In the end Percival and Ron ended up just sitting on the boxes in Fred and George's room, while Harry lay on the bed. Percival, after a nod from Harry had told Ron the reason for his illness. Though they withheld the information about Dumbledore and the Elixir, until Ron was proficient at Occlumency.

"Bill's been teaching me," Ron had confessed. "I asked him to when he came home. I'm just not that good at it yet."

"What happened?" Bill asked the boys.

"Fleur didn't tell you?"

"Ah," Bill blushed, "Fleur had other things on her mind last night."

"Riiiight!" Ron drawled. "Someone gave Harry a potion yesterday, and he reacted badly to it. Sirius called in a healer."

"How did someone potion Harry? I didn't think you were going anywhere yesterday?"

"We didn't."

"But that's crazy, Harry's family!" Bill dropped his cup, spilling his tea over the table. Harry waved his hand banishing the mess. "But who …?" Bill stared at the place the liquid had disappeared from. He shook his head then righted the cup and poured himself another cup of tea.

"Not sure," Ron took a bite of toast. "Hermione or mum, maybe Ginny."

"Doesn't matter," Harry said morosely. "Know any detection spells?"

Bill looked at him thoughtfully, "Well actually, I might have had to learn them at Hogwarts when one of the Ravenclaw Prefects decided that …"

And so, began an impromptu lesson. An hour later both boys could, with a near silent murmur and wand held so the tip just protruded from their hand, cast a spell that would detect most potions.

"Keep practicing," Bill encouraged, "and you'll both be able to cast it silently. We'll do some more tomorrow there are probably a few other things that I should show you."

"Thanks Bill," Harry was looking less ill. "I think I could manage some toast now."

"Ah!" Ron blushed looking at the empty plate that sat on the table.

-o0o-

"Do you think," Amelia paused for a moment in consideration, "That Riddle could have left anything at the manor?"

The group around the table considered the question, while looking at the notes spread out in front of them.

"It's very close to the shack," Remus replied. "It doesn't make sense for him to use it as well."

"There have been lights on at nights over the last year or so," Marlene countered.

"Each place seems to have significance for him …" Moody mused. "The Gaunt shack, Hogwarts, Gringotts … well maybe not the Grimmauld Place. Though perhaps he has a penchant for the Black family?"

"Ewww," Sirius whined. "Couldn't you take the compass thingy that the Unspeakables created and check?"

"Well it would tell us if he had left another Horcrux there but not if he had left anything else. I want to know what he is planning."

"To get his body back," Sirius shrugged.

"Well, yes, but what then? Maybe there will be a clue. It's possible that they left something behind."

"So who should go?"

"I think it would be best if we kept this to trained investigative Aurors, and I'll see if I can't get an Unspeakable to attend."

"Let us know how it goes."

"We will," Amelia assured.

-o0o-

Twelve hours later, Amelia Bones, Alastor Moody and Unspeakable Jones, apparated to the roadway outside of Little Hangleton. Amelia, who had been about to lead the way down the lane, stopped in stunned silence. Gone was the hedgerow and the surrounding wood. You could now see all the way into the clearing where the Gaunt Shack had stood. Nothing remained of the structure. Everything was burnt and black. The group hurried towards the town.

The rustling of scale on scale drew their attention to a divot at the side of the road and they stopped. Red eyes set in pale-grey skin, were just visible from under a rock.

"Is that an …"

"An Ashwinder? Yes," the Unspeakable agreed, casting a spell to contain the snake where it was and mark the location, so the creature could be removed to a safer location.

"But that means this was all caused by a magical fire!" Amelia surveyed the destructed landscape. "Do you think it extends into the town?"

"Yes," Moody said gruffly, and began stomping off in the direction of the little village.

As they crested the hill, the true extent of the devastation became clear, even at this distance they could tell that the hamlet had been utterly destroyed. There was not a building left whole … except the Manor on the hill.

"Can you tell who caused all of this?" Amelia waved her arm in a wide gesture encompassing the burnt landscape.

"Mmmm," Jones hummed, and began casting again. He froze for a second seemingly in surprise and then cast a second time, and a third.

"What's wrong?" huffed Moody when five minutes had passed.

"Well, the usual procedure is to take a record of the magic which I then match against the records kept at the Ministry, but …"

"Well what's the problem?" Moody asked in exasperation at the man's pauses.

"If you work with a person regularly, you can become familiar enough with their magic to recognise it, and I recognise this particular magical signature."

"And?"

"It belongs to Albus Dumbledore," he admitted gravely.

"Is this evidence admissible to the Wizengamot?' Amelia asked.

"Yes, though I need to find the point of ignition."

"I'm just guessing," Moody pointed off to the side, they had drawn level with the remains of the shack. Smoke could still be seen rising from a perfect circle of ground that was scorched white.

Amelia stared. Albus Dumbledore knew that someone was hunting horcruxes and he was not pleased by this at all. She turned to the Unspeakable.

"I want you to investigate this, if nothing else we can raise charges of Muggle baiting. I will let you know that was the site of the hut owned by the Gaunt's. I suspect if we levelled charges Dumbledore would find some excuse, but …" Her gaze was drawn back to the remains of the village "If we find even one body in there, I'll be taking it straight to the other side."

"Amelia!"

"No, Alastor. They may not have magic, but they are human, and their families deserve answers."

"I fear you are right, the death toll may be high," Jones agreed. "There would have been little warning and no way for them to protect themselves even if they had time. Though it will have to be dealt with … delicately. The muggles have long had the means to annihilate us entirely," he warned.

"You can't mean that!" Amelia scoffed.

"Amelia, they have weapons that can cast projectiles at an un-blockable speed. They have devices that explode with sufficient force to destroy all of Hogsmeade in one go and they have … they call it chemical warfare. Pathogens smaller than the eye can see, that can be delivered in a white powder. Exposure before you are even aware. Or gas that will cause you to lose consciousness, another that attacks the nervous system of the body…"

"But we have …"

"The bubble head charm would only work if you know to cast it," he said grimly.

"But they can never find us, with our wards…"

"They have systems that scan for what the eye cannot see, detecting the heat of our bodies. They can view the world from miles above which leads to questions about why exactly there are many acres of land that appear to be ignored. There are few places outside of Diagon Alley where we have actually folded space. Then there are all the towns where the wix live alongside Muggles."

"Then, we will have to be careful what information is given, but the families still need closure."

"And we will come up with a plausible reason for it, but a wizard being the cause of a hundred Muggle deaths …"

Amelia seemed to fold in on herself, "I concede. Clearly the Aurors need to be more aware of the Muggle world. What are the Unspeakables doing to counteract these threats?"

"What threats?" Jones shrugged. "Muggles are simple, you don't attack them, and they won't attack you, they are too busy attacking each other. Besides that, we are attempting to develop wards and shields to combat the chemical weapons. Our Potion's Masters are working on a cure for the pathogens, and we negotiate with the governments on the rest. Perhaps in time more places will need to be completely hidden away."

"Dumbledore has to go. He cannot be allowed to get away with this," Amelia gestured to the decimated landscape and town.

The group had finally arrived in what was left of Little Hangleton.

"Don't, you don't want to see," Moody, stopped Amelia from approaching one building too closely. "You were right."

"I guess we head to the Manor then."

The path to the Manor was as burnt as the surrounding landscape.

"The wards start here," Jones stated, a hand held out to the side to prevent the others from crossing the distinct line between the burnt and untouched landscapes. When he was sure they had stopped he took a quick casting. "They are frayed and poorly cast. About the only thing they would manage to stop is fire, but there is a clear magical signature here so hopeful we will find a match."

It was but the matter of a moment for the Unspeakable to remove the wards.

"I'll go first," Moody took the lead, his magically eye swivelling wildly in his head. "Wands out,' he said gruffly as they approached the large double doors.

A quick spell and a push and they made their way into a foyer that once must have been grand but was now dilapidated. The marble floors were covered in filth, the wooden banister was missing in places, and the carpet on the stairs was threadbare.

"In here," he pointed to a door to the right. "I warn you now, it's not pretty."

The others braced themselves but made their way through the door.

-o0o-

Somehow Sirius had managed to convince Molly to allow Percival to visit again, possibly it was blackmail after Harry taking ill. The three boys were gathered in Fred and George's old room. They had pushed the twin beds closer together and stacked most of the boxes against the wall, leaving a space in the middle of the room, where they were using four boxes as chairs and a table.

"So are we ruling out Ginny?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, what 15-year-old can brew Amortentia?" Harry agreed.

"Never rule out anyone, she could be a potions prodigy," Percival frowned. "Though it is probably unlikely. She hasn't been flirting or acting guilty or anything?"

Harry shook his head.

"I doubt that the twins would have done it either," Ron said thoughtfully. "They have a weak love potion that they sell, maybe they might have used that as a prank, but they wouldn't use anything stronger."

"Not to mention, they would have wanted to be present to watch the results of a prank. Fleur is definitely out, she's too in love with Bill," Harry added with a smile.

"Bill and dad were at work, and you know I am pants at potions," Ron ticked each person off the list that lay on the box they were using as a table.

"Which leaves Mrs. Weasley and Hermione."

"I know she's your mum and I want to rule her out, but she's always had a thing about me and Ginny," Harry frowned.

"And we all know that Hermione is delusional, and her behaviour was odd that day, when has she ever wanted to play quidditch," Ron added. "Speaking of which, I wonder where she is," he glanced at the door,

"I might have warded the room to prevent her coming in," Percival admitted with a wry smile. The other two boys visibly relaxed, they had been having trouble avoiding Hermione.

"I don't think there is anything more we can do with this at the moment given the lack of evidence. All you can do is practice the detection spells that Bill taught you."

Percival had checked that both of them could cast the spell, and they were now working on being able to cast it on each other's plates without speaking.

"Via a very convoluted path, I have been asked to give you this," Percival handed a small packet to Harry.

"Who's it from?" Harry asked, tearing open a corner.

"A leaf!" Ron snorted indignantly as the contents fell onto Harry's palm, "Neville could have just come here and given it to you himself.

"It's a Mandrake leaf,' Harry murmured, a touch of awe in his voice.

"From McGonagall," Percival confirmed.

"She thinks I'm ready?"

"You and the others. She will be visiting everyone during the summer, so you can start the meditation when you get back to school."

"Wicked!" Harry breathed, grinning widely.

"It's not wicked it's a ruddy leaf!" Ron protested.

"It's so they can start the process of becoming Animagi," Percival explained.

"Oh," Ron sounded disappointed. "I remember now, the extension lessons."

"Yeah," Harry admitted.

"Perhaps I can start Ron off," Percival added thoughtfully.

"Could you?" Harry asked. "Then he wouldn't be under the same time pressure as we will in class, but he won't miss out."

"What do you think Ron? It will be a lot of work, and you'll still have your prefect duties."

"Like Harry said, we could go slower. Maybe do more in the holidays," Ron said thoughtfully. "Prefect duties do take up a lot of time, and in sixth year we take on more patrols to lessen the load on the O.W.L and N.E.W.T students."

"Organising the study groups took time as well," Harry added.

"I don't want to give those up, I think they really helped … Maybe I just won't have time," Ron sounded regretful.

"We can start working on it now," Percival said. "The Mandake leaf bit, apart from finding one, there is nothing preventing you doing that now and the meditation you can start and continue at school. You can brew the potion over the Yule break and take it at the start of next summer or anytime in between. I'm sure the class will just be doing some intensive meditation sessions, but it isn't much different from what you will have been doing with Bill."

"Do you think I'll be able to do it?" Ron asked unsurely.

"Mate,' Harry grasped his friend's shoulder. "There's no doubt. Pettigrew did it and you're worth twelve of him. Do you think Neville might like to do it to?"

-o0o-

Barely waiting for his quiet knock to be acknowledged Bill stepped into the room.

"What are you boys up to that has the women of the house up in arms?"

The three snorted, and shared a glance, before Ron was nominated to speak.

"We've been avoiding Hermione as much as possible, which means Ginny has to put up with her, and she complains to mum."

"And Fleur?" Bill arched a brow.

"Have you heard how those three talk to her? It's not nice Bill, and I'm not saying that out of any allure induced infatuation. Frankly, it's amazing that she hasn't slapped one of them already. Fleur's a saint!" Harry said.

"I'd noticed," Bill said. "I plan to get her out of here as soon as I can."

"What else has been going on?"

"We are running seriously short of hiding places," Ron complained.

"Attic?"

"Ginny found us and told Hermione."

"The rookery?"

"Ginny."

"The orchard?"

The three boys just glared.

"Right, what about setting up a ward?"

"Can we make something portable?" Harry asked. "I just thought that for something like that it would need to be more permanent."

"You're right in one sense, It's not like the wards you set up round a cauldron, they're very simple, so don't need much magic. These would need something a little more, but they're not like house wards."

"Is it the number of things you want it to do or is it the amount of power it takes?" Harry asked consideringly.

"A bit of both, and the amount of area being covered. A house is fairly easy as you know its size but it's a large area whereas I think you guys want something that can be variable in that aspect. But for disillusioning the area, you'll need more power than say, just blocking out sound."

"I thought you were more into taking wards apart, not putting them up?" Ron said.

"My job is more about breaking them down, but you don't learn to break an egg without wanting to know what's going to happen to its contents. Besides I got to help put the ones up here."

"Did you do war wards?" Ron asked.

"Not quite," Bill said grimly, "I tried but mum and dad didn't want something that destructive."

"Why? What do they do?" Harry asked.

"They're killers Harry," Neville said. "I wish Mum and Dad had engaged the war wards."

"They might have dropped them, Nev. Everyone thought it was over …"

Harry turned back to Bill, "But how do they work? What do they do? When I was looking to make wards for the hospital wing, I etched them into the doorway, so Madame Pomfrey can use the ambient magic from Hogwarts to engage them. If someone tries to cross them or tries to break them, they are fuelled by that energy. Do they work like that?"

"Not usually. They're fuelled by the magic of the household, and its occupants or the power from leylines, if the house is close enough to one. War wards generally aren't intention based they treat anyone who tries to cross the ward line that is not immediate family, as an intruder and there is a fatal response. Often the response is a wide area spell, or what is called legion killers. It's a literal description. I rather suspect that the ones on Grimmauld Place would take out large portions of London if they were ever triggered."

"And if they're breached?" Harry asked.

"Well they could fail if overloaded, which would not only trigger the response, but an internal explosion as the energy holding the wards together is released. It would completely destroy the home and everyone in it. Most old manors will have a bolt hole, that allows everyone inside to get to safety, if that looks like happening, though the amount of magic required is far beyond anything that is possible unless you have a legion of wizards attacking, and that would have triggered the wards before then."

"So, what has Sirius set up at home?"

"I think he has them set to immediate family only. In your case it would mean that only you and Sirius could enter the house directly and anyone else would need to be given permission to enter. They could also enter using portkeys that have been created by Sirius, if they match the magical signature of the person they are assigned to. It's possible that he has also set that up some kind of Fidelius as well, because no-one seems to remember what your house is called."

"So what will we need?" Harry asked.

"Well, what do you want to block?"

"Sight," offered Ron.

"Sound," added Neville.

"And smell," said Harry. "Can we block the homenum revelio spell?"

"I … not that I know, but how about you work on that and let me know. If you figure it out though, you keep it to yourselves. Can you imagine if a thief got hold of such a thing?"

-o0o-

Hermione was angry. No, it was more than that. She was furious. She knew that Ron and Harry were avoiding her. She did not know how they were doing it, but whenever she went to find them, they disappeared. Not only that but Harry had reacted to a potion she had brewed once again. It was enough to give a girl a complex. It was all his own fault of course, if he would just do what she wanted then she would not have to potion him. She did not understand why Harry just would not do what she wanted him to.

Hermione knew what was best for him! She was his best friend. The three of them had gone through so much together and it was clear to see where they would end up. She would marry Ron and Harry would marry Ginny and they would all be one happy family. They would have children at the same time and be the best parents ever. Much better than her own or Harry's for that matter. Who gets themselves blown up when they have a small child to look after? It was irresponsible, that was what it was. Not that she would mention it to Harry, he would only take offense and start whining.

Everything she did was for their own good and they were just too dense to see it. After all it was not like she needed Harry's fame anymore. She could achieve all her goals without them if she wanted to, now that she had defeated Voldemort. She would be the youngest Minister for Magic in the history of the Magical world. With Dumbledore as her mentor, she would provide the leadership that had been so sorely lacking. The magical world would be integrated with the normal world, and they would all thank her for it. Oh, she could see some of them complaining, but it would not be long until they could not live without the muggles and their inventions.

Hermione sighed, what really made her blood boil was the way both Harry and Ron were following after Percival. It was something that was going to need to be addressed. She had already 'persuaded' Molly that the older boy was trouble. That had not been too difficult at all, given Molly agreed that Ginny and Harry would be perfect together. At least she would be able to spend some time with her boys before school started again. They would need help with their assignments, and she would be right there. With a little compulsion here and a suggestibility potion there they would soon be inseparable once more.

She had thought it would be so easy. But after Harry being ill (he must be allergic to something else, she just knew she had brewed that potion correctly), it seemed that through a run of bad luck, every dish, cup or pot that held her potions had been spilt or left abandoned. It was so frustrating.

Hermione knew she just had to be persistent. She had all summer after all, and the boys could not hide the entire time.

-o0o-

Neville had written back in a surprisingly short period of time. Yes, he could supply a mandrake leaf and yes, he would like to try and become an Animagi as well. It was something that his father had never achieved, but he hoped it would make his gran proud of him. Though he was not at all confident that he would succeed. It would also give Percival the chance to check his Occlumency barriers.

They had gathered in the orchard. While Percival could cast a spell that made Hermione avoid Harry's room, the other two boys had not learnt it yet so Harry had been working on a warding scheme that they could carry with them. It consisted of five stones that he had engraved with runes. It could be set up around any location and would protect an area the size of an average bedroom. As long as they stayed within the boundary no-one would be able to see them or hear them. It worked brilliantly in Harry's bedroom. However, Hermione was becoming suspicious. The number of times that Molly or Ginny had told her that the boys were in Harry's room and she could not see them when she went to find them was getting to be ridiculous. So they had moved out into the orchard. This had led to the discovery of THE problem. As with the Disillusionment charm there was a slight shimmering in the air. It had not been noticeable in Harry's room with its tiny window providing only minimal light. In the orchard however, the dome shape was quite visible. For the time being they had retreated behind a wall of trees. Percival had promised to teach them the spells he knew when he visited next.

"H…how do we do this?' Neville passing a leaf to Ron.

"It's got to be held in our mouth for an entire month. McGonagall advised using a sticking charm. We used fresh Mandrake leaves to make the potion, but the older version of the potion uses the one that's been in your mouth," Harry informed the older boys. "I'll talk to Snape to see which he thinks is better. If we remake it, Percival and I might be able to make yours at the same time."

Ron turned his wand to point at his face.

"Careful, you'll take your eye out!" Harry smirked, snatching away Ron's wand before he could cast, causing Neville to chuckle.

"We could just cast on the leaf and then put it in," Neville suggested.

Ron froze, "Yeah, of course." He wrestled his wand back from Harry, using his longer reach to his advantage.

In short order the three boys had the leaves stuck to the inside of their cheeks and were gagging as the taste leeched into their mouths.

"This is going to be really disgusting," Ron complained.

"Yeah but it'll be worth it," Harry replied.

"Percival won't want to kiss you until it's done," Neville teased causing Harry to turn sharply and stare at the blonde.

"But …"

"Think about it Harry, you've seen what happens when you leave a leaf in water for a while, right? Now imagine that, but in your mouth." The three boys blanched.

"It'll be worth it," Harry said, sounding much less sure and excited this time.

"It will. It's just going to be gross for a while. I'm just glad that I can stand to lose a little weight, I can't imagine food is going to taste pleasant for a while." Ron looked bereft at the comment, causing Harry and Neville to laugh.

"Never fear Ron, I'm sure Percival will have some advice for us."

Neville looked at Harry curiously, "Is Percival an Animagus? He isn't on the register."

"He's got ICW registration not the Ministry one, the same as Sirius. I'm planning on doing the same," Harry said. "It's perfectly legal but I doubt anyone ever checks the International registry."

"Hey, is that Hermione," Ron said urgently, glancing at a figure walking towards them from the direction of The Burrow.

Harry sighed, "Well we knew she'd find us eventually."

The boys pocketed the ward stones causing their protection to fall.

-o0o-

"Make it a double!" Amelia groaned falling into a chair. Moody raised his hand to beckon for a drink as well, he looked surprisingly pale.

"I've not seen anything like it. The body was completely drained of all its blood. Poor lass was probably tortured for hours before the end," he raised his glass and downed the golden liquid in one gulp, before lifting it towards Sirius in a silent plea for more.

"Kreacher make up two spare rooms please," Sirius topped up both glasses.

"I really must be getting back to Susan …"

"Well then I will have Winky apparate you home, but I won't risk you splinching yourself," Sirius said firmly.

"I'll stay," Moody acquiesced raising his glass for a third time. Despite looking at the grizzled veteran in some astonishment, Sirius filled the glass again.

Finally, the pair of Aurors seemed to have settled.

"Perhaps you can now explain why you both reek of smoke?" Sirius asked trying to divert their thoughts from the body they had found that they had been talking about when they arrived.

"We apparated to the same location, but everything had been destroyed, burnt, nothing as left."

"Accidentally lit?" Remus asked. He had been watching the scene silently until now.

"No," Moody shook his head and there was an odd tension in his expression. "Magical. Deliberately lit. Bloody Unspeakable found at least three Ashwinders, was more excited about that than was natural!"

"That's just Jones," Amelia nodded, "Magical creatures are his hobby."

"Sooo, he took them back to the ministry?" Sirius asked, Severus would love to have access to one for potions ingredients.

"Yeah, class whatever restricted, well you know…" Moody huffed, looking disappointedly at his now empty glass. "Jones reckons Dumbledore did it."

"Well shit …" Sirius stood abruptly, "at least now we know why Dumbledore was checking on Severus. He thinks he took the Horcrux."

"Can we use that?" Amelia tipper her head to the side. "Make him think that Snape is collecting them."

Sirius shook his head, "Severus has a vow to protect Harry, so while he could say that he was investigating it to prevent Harry being hurt. Dumbledore has already threatened him. If he burnt down a forest when he discovered it gone … no I won't put Severus at that kind of risk." Sirius ignored Amelia's questioning eyebrows and Moody's smirk. "Besides he would just demand that Severus give it to him and I don't think we can allow that to happen."

"I agree," Remus said. "We don't want to let any of the ones we've already collated out of our sight. We know there's still the one at Gringotts and probably HIS snake that we need to get."

"And don't forget Harry," Sirius added sounding depressed.

"WHAT!" Moody exclaimed. "But …"

"Um …" Sirius looked sheepishly at the scarred man. "Ah … sorry … I thought you knew that."

"James' and Lily's boy? The boy who made me the first Christmas present I've received in fifteen years. My first present since the one his mother gave me. That boy has a, has a …"

"In his scar," Sirius reached for the bottle and poured himself a finger of firewhiskey into the glass that had just appeared on the sideboard, before refilling Moody's. "How are negotiations going with the Goblins, Amelia?"

"They are being particularly finicky with their bargaining," Amelia complained.

"What are they after?"

"I'm not sure they are being very obtuse. I suspect it is because I am a representative of the Ministry."

"Have you offered the Goblin made items from the Black vaults?" Remus suggested.

"I can't," Sirius said. "Harry said he wanted to keep it all for the history and then went and gave back the Goblin made items from the Black vaults and all the Potter ones as well. There's none left."

Moody snorted, "I bet they love him."

"His account manager does seem to be inordinately fond of him."

"Unusual in a Goblin."

"Very," Remus grinned. "But I guess Harry takes after Lily like that."

"Perhaps you can hint that as Bellatrix is a Black, I am thinking of dis-owning her and taking back her dowry from her vault, and I would be willing to let them take any Goblin made items from that," Sirius said.

"I thought you were going to do that ages ago," Remus said.

"Well I seem to have run across all these other jobs to do in the meantime," Sirius pouted.

Amelia smiled at the bickering pair, "I'll make the offer. Though I don't think it will make much difference. Part of the issue may be the Ministry accessing citizens vaults, so me offering something that is not from my own family, probably won't be received well."

"Perhaps Cresswell can help he's the Goblin liaison isn't he?"

There was a pause as Amelia mulled it over before Remus bought them back on track, "How much of the forest is gone?'

"All of it," Amelia said tightly. "Right up to the ward line around the manor house."

"The town…?"

"All gone. We know at least three people died," Alastor said grimly.

"Did anybody escape?"

"We don't know. It must have happened so fast."

"Marlene …" Remus' voice tuck in his throat.

"She's already been through so much," Amelia agreed. "Can we leave it to you to tell her?"

"Tell me what?"

The group turned to the door to see the dressing gown clad woman.

"Little Hangleton, it … it's been burned down."

"Oh … Did anyone get hurt?"

"Three have died, beyond that we don't know," Remus admitted softly. "I'll go with you if you want to check."

"Please, they were so kind, taking me in when I was lost and confused."

"I thought you had gone to sleep?"

"I woke up and heard voices down here, so I thought I'd come and see what was going on. What's going on?"

"How's your Occlumency girl?" Moody asked.

"Not as good as it was."

"When it's better we'll tell you. Till then you concentrate on getting better."

"Well, Dumbledore doesn't even know she's alive, there's safety in that," said Remus.

"But he still comes here sometimes and if he sees her, he will go to any lengths to find out what she remembers," Sirius said.

"They're right," Marlene agreed. "I'll just head back to bed."

They listened as her footsteps faded.

"So, the town is gone, but the manor's still there, protected by wards."

"Piss poor wards," snorted Moody. "Cast by your old buddy Pettigrew according to Jones."

"He was never much good at them."

"They've been removed now. Remember the missing lady? Well, we also found her."

"And?'

Amelia shook her head, "You really don't want to know the details. The short story is that whatever they were doing the Death Eaters needed a lot of blood."

"Any evidence of who it was?"

"No, it was just a dump site and they cleaned all the magical residue off the body. I know it's unlikely, but can you keep an eye on the papers?" she looked at Remus. "We left the body there and tipped of the muggle Aurors. Maybe they can find something we didn't."

"Any sign of her boy?"

"None," Amelia shook her head. "Jones hinted that there are rituals that will allow for long term possession. It is likely that the mother' blood was used to fuel the ritual that allowed the possession of her son."

"So he has completed the first step in coming back again."

Moody said nothing but held out his glass.

-o0o-

A number of things had surprised Bill when he had returned home. The first had been Ron's study habits. He had gotten in and done his summer homework without fussing, going so far as to ask advice from Bill. Then it was clear that the estrangement he had noted between the group of three during the Yule break had only become worse. Leading to a clear divide that Hermione was still trying to bridge, the boys were having none of it. When you included Percival and Neville the boys had a nicely rounded study group Bill realised. Both Ron and Neville seemed to be dedicated to learning Occlumency over the summer, which was also odd, though he supposed that someone like Harry must have a lot of secrets.

It was all very odd. Then there were the changes in the boys themselves. Ron seemed much more … well less lazy. He was dedicated to helping the younger kids at Hogwarts, he had been happy to spend an entire afternoon, learning the detection spell, and he was interested in the future. The results of the second auction were in and Ron had received close to fifty-six thousand Galleons. Striknott had encouraged him to invest the first portion and the vault had already gained ten percent in profit.

Bill did not know much about Neville, however the little he had seen, showed a boy leaving behind his insecurities and becoming a man. He seemed a fiercely loyal friend and Bill was happy that Ron had a someone like that on his side. Especially with all the shenanigans, he and Harry got up to.

Lastly there was Harry … Here his mind stuttered. He could barely comprehend the changes to the boy. He had been so meek and timid just two years ago at the Quidditch world cup. Dressed in rags, almost silent and doing his best to be ignored. And now he was practically a young man. He had also turned his study habits around and had been demonstrating a proficiency at silent wandless casting that spoke of intense practice.

The influence of Percival since he had come along, had helped those boys immensely.

Bill noticed Harry, sitting at the table with a small flat rock, and an engraving tool. A piece of paper lying in front of him.

"Hey Harry, what have you got there?" Bill pulled out the chair next to the dark-haired boy and sat down.

-o0o-

Boys were disgusting, Hermione decided as she watched Harry and Bill scribbling away on a piece of paper. They had said that they were working on Runes, not that she believed it. Harry was barely an average student and that was if you gave him some leeway for his yearly adventures. It was ridiculous to assume he could have learnt enough Runes in that short a period of time to actually sit his O.W.L let alone pass it. The truth would come out this year, then he would come running back to her for help.

But back to the point, boys were disgusting. One thing was for sure, she was going to have to talk to Ron about his level of hygiene. Sure, boys were generally less clean than girls, but it was beyond ridiculous now. It seemed as if both boys had just stopped brushing their teeth. They could curdle milk with the smell of their breath alone. It could not be healthy. The only positive side that she could see was the way that Ron was eating. The volume had decreased, and he had slowed down, so he was no longer shovelling food into his mouth, making mealtimes more pleasant. Still there was no way she was going to allow him to kiss her with that mouth!

The creaking of the back door drew her attention and she looked up from her book to see Neville and Percival walk into the house wide grins on their faces. That was another strange occurrence, Neville had been spending a significant amount of time at the Burrow. Ron had never mentioned him visiting in the holidays before and now they seemed to be thick as thieves. Not only that but Ron and Bill still disappeared regularly. The last year had shown her that Ron was not asking his brother for relationship advice. No, they must be up to something and the fact that she was not included was driving her crazy.

"We are good to go," Neville grinned. "Oh, and before I forget," he reached into his bag and removed two small potted plants.

"Mint! You're a champion Nev," Harry grinned ripping a leaf off the plant and popping it directly into his mouth so he could chew on it.

"You could just brush your teeth," Hermione said in disgust.

"Ah well we could but that would rather defeat the purpose. You see Bill has been teaching us the teeth cleaning and freshening charms. Cleaning we have down, but the freshening …" Harry shrugged, "let's just say it's a work in progress. Still practice makes perfect."

There was no way they were going to tell Hermione the real reason. Honestly it was a wonder that she hadn't questioned that Ron should already know the spell having grown up in a magical household.

"Just use a toothbrush!"

"Well we could but … I want to learn to do it the wizard way," said Harry enthusiastically.

"Besides you can't practice that it's school holidays and you aren't allowed to use magic. You'll be in so much trouble!" Hermione scolded.

"Well, we would be, but we're getting around it by borrowing Bill's wand and doing it under his supervision." Ron popped a leaf into his mouth and began to chew.

"It's perfectly allowable in this case, Hermione," Bill reassured her. "There is very little damage that can be done with that particular spell. Like most of the household charms, it is generally accepted that parents, or of-age siblings, will teach the younger kids at home, so long as they are supervised closely."

"But that's unfair, I should be allowed to use magic in the holidays too."

"You can use the same justification. Normally Muggleborns learn these charms by visiting a friend who is from a wizarding family, like Harry is doing, or by borrowing a book on useful everyday charms, and practicing at school. If you want to join in the lessons, tomorrow we start on folding clothes tomorrow. Though the boys will still need to practice their breath fresheners."

Hermione looked vaguely horrified, "No thank you. I think I can sort it out myself."

"Alright then," Bill smiled agreeably. "Hey, Ron, did you want to come with me to Gringotts?"

"Sure,' Ron shrugged.

'Why would you want to go to Gringotts?"

"I think I might like to work there after school," Ron lied easily.

"You're not smart enough to be a curse breaker. In any case you didn't take Ancient Runes," Hermione snorted derisively.

"Thanks for the ego boost. Regardless, there are other jobs there. And for your information I have been self-studying Runes and I'm hoping to take my O.W.L for it at Yule."

"Well done, Ron," Neville complimented the red head.

"I can't help you if you insist on being ridiculous Ron."

"Well it's lucky that I don't want your help anyway!" Ron snapped back finally cracking after another week of having to deal with the girl. "I happen to have the best human curse-breaker Gringotts has ever seen as my big brother. I think I'll be okay."

"Well I never. There's no need to be so rude! I'm not speaking to you again until you apologise!" Hermione exclaimed, sticking out her chin and folding her arms. If she had been standing, they were sure she would have stamped her foot.

"Which will happen at the arse end of never," Ron huffed. "Thanks Bill. Gringotts tomorrow would be great. Can Harry come? I'm sure he won't want to hang around here."

"Oi!" Ginny complained.

"No offence Gin," Ron reached out and attempted to ruffle her hair, but she slapped his hand away. "Perhaps you can visit Luna."

"Yeah, of course Harry can come."

"No Harry you can't!" Hermione protested. "It's too dangerous, who knows what the Death Eaters would do to you if they found you."

"Thanks mate," Harry said ignoring Hermione. "Want to come for a fly?"

-o0o-

-cut-

The headmaster lowered the letter he had just received from his apprentice. She had confessed to having given the boy Amortentia. He really wished she would let go of that particular plan. He had changed his mind there was really no benefit to Harry marrying the youngest Weasley. It had become clear that the girl was too headstrong and would not easily be swayed and it would only lead to him having to potion another pawn, which he just did not have time for. Despite being a pureblood the Weasley's had no money nor were they powerful. There was nothing to be gained by the action.

It had made everything worse, and Dumbledore was furious. She had overstepped this time. Giving Harry yet another potion. While certainly she could not have known that the combination of Basilisk Venom and Phoenix tears would break down the Elixir, the addition of the Amortentia had only exacerbated the issue, possibly the interaction between the two had accelerated the process. No doubt the Elixir would soon be eliminated from his system. At least the love potion had covered the remnants of the Elixir in his blood, so there was no evidence of any further tampering.

No matter how many times he tried to talk to her about subtlety in planning, she just did not get it. Perhaps another dose of consequences was in order. Yes, that should help. He would just have to be careful not to take it too far. He was getting far too old to have to find and break in yet another apprentice!

- cut –

Hermione convincing Molly Weasley to restrict the amount of time Percival could see Harry.

"Have you seen Harry and Ron?" Hermione asked Mrs Weasley as she walked into the kitchen. It was a warm summer's afternoon, and she was sure the boys were skiving off their homework again.

"Sorry dear," Mrs Weasley smiled. Hermione was such a nice girl. It was obvious how much she cared about both boys. Certainly, there would be no worries about them keeping up with their schoolwork with Hermione Granger around. But that was what boys needed, they were so wilful, but at the end of the day it was a woman's work to keep them organised. She felt quite relieved that they had someone like Hermione looking out for them. It was probably why Ron had done as well on his O. as he had.

"Where did you last see them?"

"They were in Ron's room earlier," Molly continued kneading the bread dough.

The fuzzy haired girl ran up the stairs, Ron's room was empty, so she continued on to Harry's which was also empty. Harry's trunk sat jammed between the end of one of the twin beds and the boxes that had been moved to line the walls. Hermione quickly glanced down the hall, when there was no one about she moved into the room and closed the door behind her.

"Right. I don't know why you didn't want me to see your O.W.L results, Harry Potter, but you can't stop me now," she muttered as she stalked the trunk, which sat there looking inconspicuous. For a moment she hesitated, the memory of the last time she had tried to break into a trunk came into her mind. But this was Harry, oblivious Harry, useless Harry, Harry who, while powerful, was only a mediocre wizard, who never studied and definitely did not know any advanced spells. It was unlikely that he had the same sorts of protections on his trunk. She snorted; it was not like he would be able to cast them anyway. Percival's trunk had obviously been protected by someone on Seraphina Picquery's security team, the boy himself was rather dim after all.

Hermione grabbed hold of the lid of the trunk.

It snapped showing its teeth.

Teeth?

How was that even possible! Surely it must have been her imagination. Yes, that was it. Hermione reached out for the trunk again, only to for it to move out of the way. She looked again. The trunk was back where it had started from. She reached again.

Snap! The damn thing had bitten her hand.

It hurt.

There were little rivulets of blood from where its teeth had punctured her skin.

Hermione backed away. Perhaps this was not Harry's trunk at all, perhaps this was another unfinished prank from the twins. Yes that was it. The twins had been enchanting a trunk and messed it up. Really it was irresponsible for them to leave such a thing in the room where Harry was going to sleep. It just was not safe!

Hermione turned on her heels and ran from the room. The trunk tucked its feet away, a long tongue running around the rim. It seemed inordinately pleased with itself.

After she had complained to Mrs Weasley about the seemingly sentient trunk (Molly promised to investigate) Hermione went out into the yard to find Ron and Harry. Unfortunately, they were nowhere to be found, so she returned to the kitchen.

"It's all that Percival's fault, Mrs Weasley," Hermione complained. "I know that Harry could do better, but with Percival hanging around, I just can't convince him to do anything anymore. He just won't listen. The only person he listens to is Percival," the disdain was clearly audible in her voice. "What makes it worse is that once Percival came along Harry started ignoring Ginny. I know Harry was just about to ask Ginny to go out with him and then … nothing. All his time is taken up with that … boy! Ginny was so devastated."

Molly thought back, Ginny had not seemed particularly upset lately, nor had she and Harry appeared to be that close, but … Hermione was Harry's best friend, so surely she would know.

"You know, I don't think you should allow him to come visit so often," Hermione asserted. "If Harry just had some time away from him, I am sure he would remember how he felt about Ginny."

"You think he has been bewitched?!" Molly gasped.

"Well," Hermione drawled. "I couldn't say for sure, but don't you think it odd that Percival suddenly appears, and Harry just happens to fall in love with him. Harry, our Harry, who never appeared to be remotely interested in boys before, now won't be separated from one? No there is something very wrong about the whole thing."

"Well I suppose that is odd, still I'm sure that Albus …"

"Alb … Professor Dumbledore agrees with me," Hermione said smugly dropping her piece de resistance.

"He does? Hmm, well in that case, I'll have to see what I can do."