Kneel to Peverell Might: Book 4: The Prisoner

by Lord Anvil

Harry and his friends take pilgrimages, to find 'old magic' and new allies. Meanwhile, many students begin to suspect the game being played, and they take measures. Servants of the Dark Lord return and alliances are forged. Battles are fought, and innovations rapidly advance. Many are deceived. Harry has his pieces and the noose is around their necks - time to start pulling.

7. Chapter 7: Naughty Naysayer November

Chapter 7: Naughty Naysayer November

Part I: Rumours and more Rumours

The Guild was expected to release products in November.

Harry and Hermione had settled on releasing a new device, that would bedazzle the magicals internationally, and locally. There was also restructuring to facilitate changes. A countdown had been created on the data slate, and Luna and Clementine had created an advertisement. It was full of technical jargon and would be unveiled the night, before the product was released. The Guild which had been silent for a long while, suddenly became a hotly discussed topic. Rumours were afoot, and the Wizarding public rightly believed that some type of truly revolutionary product was on the way. The rumours began to spiral out of control, as the shadowed image and time on the data slate ominously counted down.

Black Heavy Industries became the new wizarding business conglomerate. Listed under Black heavy Industries was G.W.D (Greengrass, Weasley and Davis) Mining Systems, Weasley Sporting Goods, Greengrass & Davis Apothecaries, Davis Publishing House, Longbottom Agricultural, Weasley-Singh Kitchen, Singh Medical, Findlay Logistics, Quibbler Media House, Weasley Wizarding Wheezes, Longbottom and Weasley Quidditch Broadcasting Limited, Granger-Black Pharmaceuticals, Findlay & Tonks Retainer Group and finally, GP & G (Greengrass, Peverell and Granger) Shipbuilding and Industrial. Mind you, these companies did not include the several other companies that had been bought over. Those companies would include Nimbus, Obscurus, and many other Diagon Alley Businesses where Black heavy industries held the majority share. The only businesses that remained included everything that was linked to the former Death Eaters.

Even they began to whisper, as House Black became a financial powerhouse.

GP & G Shipbuilding and Industrial had been created the same evening of the Raven-II reveal. Peverell-Black Industries had been renamed and altered as necessary, to accommodate Daphne. The Shipwright Division would build heavy vehicles, and the Industrial Division would build armour, weapons, and consumer devices.

So what was the mystery magical product that had gotten magical England excited?

GP & G Shipbuilding and Industrial (under the guise of their Diagon Alley Shell companies) were preparing to release Hand Terminal v1.

The Hand Terminal v1 was a Samsung sized magical 'phone' that would replace the existing data slate. It was pocket friendly, rugged and even had a sophisticated 3D interface that was projected purely by illusions. Gringotts banking was integrated into the device for a seamless experience. If a larger screen was needed, it was projected via illusions. The existing and upcoming accessory ecosystem would continue to be compatible with the new hand terminal. It was also possible to lay the magi-phone down flat on a table, and even get a desktop experience.

To facilitate the new product, more manufacturing drones were created. Now all of the previous manufacturing and assembly lines for the data slates had been scrapped. A couple of 'bugs' would gather around, and construct the item. Both Harry and Hermione looked at the new operation with a certain amount of sadness. The original fabrication lines had served them quite well, but it was time to retire them now. Harry could easily manipulate sub-atomic particles. This contributed to the ability to forge devices that would boggle most current processor manufacturers. Layer upon layer of nanoscopic material was sprayed on by the drones, with precision. Building the Acrylic body from scratch with its entangled cores had been no problem. The polymer was sprayed on and hardened within a containment field, while the internals were simultaneously 'printed' right in place.

The newest feature of the magi-phone was an A.I. liquid crystal layer - It possessed superconducting neuron-like structures. This would allow RuneOs to run many A.I. type applications. The drones in evolving the most efficient fabrication structures, had packaged the internals in a very power efficient manner. The device contained an antenna array, complimented by a layer of piezoelectric crystals. Passive mechanical motion, magical conduction from a person's hand and charged magical environments were sufficient to constantly power the device.

Hermione had picked up hundreds of new specialised Futhark runes, that were internal to the Dragon Reserve. She had built the magic for the illusionary interface of the device. Hermione's ability to conjure illusions had improved to the point where they possessed depth. Even Rowena Ravenclaw's illusions on the Hogwarts Roof were still translucent. If you looked at it for long enough, you could the see structure of the Hogwarts roof. Hermione's illusions were solid, and could be mistaken for real objects, even under close examination. Only touching the conjured items could reveal the true nature of her constructs.

Luna had developed a User Interface that was based on concepts found in augmented reality. Finally, the item selections were driven by finger touches that occurred in mid-air. Projecting a magical positioning matrix had been an interesting side-line project. The radar project had been adapted into something new, as they had eliminated the spinning components.

Daphne was the newest contributor. She while being a pureblood, had taken to computer science like a fish to water. Her contributions included a new file system that was based on UNIX standards. It featured a root folder, partitioning options, a system reserved area, RAID redundancy, and a file explorer. There was even a bit-torrent styled protocol to transmit large files quickly.

Harry and Hermione's jaws had dropped when the snake had shown them her improvements.

Every day since July of year one, Daphne would commit hundreds of lines of arithmantic code and runes to RuneOs, daily. During the holidays, she worked for many hours non-stop, as she improved the systems and built new modules. RuneOs 5 now was three million lines of code, and Hermione only acted in a supervisory role, or helped Daphne with certain problems. Otherwise, the 'runicware' was now filled with the majority of Daphne's work.

Additionally, was the new evolutionary manufacturing algorithm that Daphne had designed for the Raven-II. Now, it was being used everywhere. The manufacturing drones had made a vertical structure like a beehive, as they manufactured thousands of the Hand Terminals in the hexagonal pockets. Other drones had evolved polymer wings as they carried the completed devices to be packaged. The packaging systems resembled caterpillars that would spin cocoons-like paper sheets around the devices. Other drones branded the paper and sprayed on the text. The drones themselves had been allowed to evolve to best do their job. Other spider like drones acted like synapse points and only inspected and managed items.

It almost looked like a robot scene from the Matrix, but the robots were far more lifelike and organic looking.

There was a "synthetic ecosystem" that did the manufacturing. Many of the bugs even had personalities and enjoyed being poked. Some of them even played with Crookshanks after recharging. A rather complex question reared its head – how sentient could magic become? This argument was also discussed heavily, in reference to Invictus being a portrait and the Hogwarts Sorting Hat. And then, Hermione had not failed to mention that the world tree itself had a certain type of intelligence.

But why did the group need to manufacture new devices? Surely the data slates were sufficient?

As the data slate system had grown, the speed of the data slate RuneOs had slowed down. Morgana's runic reflection system was getting saturated. The system had never been implemented with three million concurrent instances. Part of the joys of discovery was also dealing with limitations. It has been an ongoing problem, and the initial plan was to manufacture more master plates. The large volume of public devices would be decoupled into groups. Then the holidays had occurred, and new tools became available to solve the problems.

To fix the issue, the runic and arithmantic etchings were manufactured at a microscopic level into the devices themselves. The main Operating System was stored on a small piece of glass with liquid crystal layers. People would be able to swap modules to carry out the operating system upgrades, at an authorised partner. The runic engravings on the 'processing matrix' had been arranged by the 'adaptive algorithm' in a three dimensional structure that allowed maximum interconnectivity, within such a small space. The transparent piece of hardened acrylic that made up the rest of the device, was quite a sight. As the magic flared in the nanoscopic runic traces, they gave off quite a lightshow. The new device looked like something that was centuries ahead of current technology.

It could easily pass as a functioning prop on an episode of Star-Trek.

Unlike the data slate, the Hand Terminal did not skimp on performance or advanced features. Rather it openly embraced the cutting edge complexity of everything Harry and Hermione could offer. The system had become too complex for a single wizard to unravel. Even cutting edge laboratories and Universities that did research into semi-conductors would be amazed at the precision of the device.

Many new lessons were learned during the manufacture of the devices. New devices and vehicles would carry their own runic engravings in a liquid crystal matrix, instead of being reflected from runic plates. Operating System runtimes would exist locally on everything, and would communicate with other nearby devices if necessary. The muscle weave would be optimised with piezoelectric layers, to also act as power storage. Spell emitters that were already using neuron like carbon nanotubes, would be embedded into synthetic ruby cores. Even the magical combat amplifiers would be reworked to facilitate the innovations.

Once again, harmless product innovations filtered into military gear. While the rumours about the launch of the new items continued, there were other types of rumours that were occurring between various friend groups in Hogwarts.

---

"Night Terry and Anthony. Boy, do we have some news for you," Ernie explained as he sat down on their favourite bench.

"I hope it is important news. Even with the warming charms, it feels cold out here. What has you all riled up?" Terry asked.

"While the discussions aren't occurring with our fathers present, consider this to be business between House McMillian and House Boot. As for you Anthony, consider yourself sympathetic to your friend's interests. Allied with house Boot, basically." Ernie replied.

"House business? Are you serious?" Terry asked.

"What is going on?" Anthony asked.

"Let Terry explain the finer details to you, later. Anyway, you will notice we have Cedric, Hannah and Susan here. I will do most of the talking, but consider all of us involved. I have no idea how to say this, so here it goes. He-who-must-not-be-named is…"

Ernie told the entire story. Susan and the rest of Hufflepuffs stood silently as they lent their support. Having Cedric Diggory standing in their presence, also helped to solidify the claims. The tale was long but Ernie continued, as he provided his evidence. On his person was a copy of the letter Harry had sent to Susan. While many Ravenclaws were known to be rather bookish type intellectuals, both boys began to see the links, quite clearly. Cedric had considered the situation of such importance that he had asked Professor Sprout to send him home for a couple of hours via floo, to take care of 'dire family business'. From the copies of the memories he had viewed, he explained that whatever Ernie had said was vouched for, by him. The group had decided to leave out the parts of the story that included Susan and Hannah's personal experiences.

"This is fucking nuts. Absolute fucking nuts!" Terry complained, as his face went pale. For a moment, he was terrified, as he remembered the deaths of his distant uncles and aunts who had died in the last Death Eater attacks. Ernie too was scared, as he had lost cousins and uncles in the last Wizarding war. One look was all that it took, and the boys immediately understood each other.

"I thought this was a prank at first. I don't know much about this Dark Lord, as a muggleborn, but he sounds like a psychopath." Anthony replied.

"He is far worse than that. He and his followers killed so many, that we call him He-who-must-not-be-named. As I said, we have pensieve memories that we can copy. But don't think you will watch them and be the same. Seeing people getting killed from a first person perspective is terrible….yes they were Death Eaters, but I have been having nightmares." Ernie explained.

"The memories were bloody, weren't they?" Terry asked.

"Bloody is an understatement." Ernie explained, as Hannah and Susan shook their heads in severe affirmation.

"How does this memory business work?" Anthony asked.

"The object is called a Pensieve, and it allows you to rewatch a person's memory. Terry can tell you more about that, Anthony. After watching the memories, I vomited. I have never seen such violence in my life. All I know is that the Rune-Priestess or whatever she is called goes by the nickname of 'Mione'.

I have never seen or heard about that type of magic they use. Seeing through each other's eyes? And being able to coordinate a battle mentally? I don't know anything much about the helmets work, but I think they are impressive from what I saw," Cedric replied.

"So we have at least seven people being trained directly by…them. That is why Neville can fight so well. I was there when he and Ronald beat the snot out of Draco. Never in my life was I satisfied about being a half-blood. No offence Terry, but Wizards can't fight for shit without a wand," Anthony replied.

"No offense taken. I honestly would like to learn to fight like that, from Neville. I think it is pretty cool, even as a pureblood. When Daphne and Tracey were done with Derrick, they could not even walk. I want to see Ravenclaw get some action. I want to see Luna fight," Terry laughed.

"Do not be deceived. She is not harmless. If we could take classes from them, that would be great." Anthony suggested.

"As terrible as all of this is, just imagine he had come back and we knew nothing. Knowing is half of the battle. The question becomes what arrangements will be made for Gryffindor and Slytherin?" Ernie asked.

"With the number of Weasleys in Gryffindor, that won't be much of an issue. As for the Slytherins, I have no idea how their business works. But I am sure Daphne and Tracey could handle it," Terry suggested. Cedric and the rest had been silent up to this point, but he decided to say something.

"I think we can assume that the entire Weasley family is involved. Not just Ronald. Percy and Penny always seem busy. She might know too. It is a high possibility. I will speak to some of the Slytherins and Gryffindors that I know. In the meanwhile, the idea is to get as many people as possible enrolled in their Defence club. This is our operation." Cedric suggested, forcefully.

"Having a lot of people who can fix simple injuries would be useful. We can approach Parvati and Padma, and ask them to show us the basics. Anthony and Justin, don't both of you know a lot about the muggle world? Would you like to help us figure out how their things work?" Susan asked.

"Maybe we can start a little project. The hols might be a good time?" Anthony suggested.

"Is Padma is involved in all this? She has always been quiet." Terry asked.

"She and Luna are neck deep. But I want to suspect Padma is recent. She has this look on her face. She knows he is coming back since school started. And that explains why Parvati fell out with Romilda. She probably started to double down and get serious. That would have upset the queen bee." Susan answered.

"We will have to try to find some way to make friends with them," Justin suggested.

"Once again ladies and gentlemen, we need to get people into action. We can make the excuse that we are worried about the Death Eater Attacks, and we want to be able to defend ourselves. That is a reasonable claim." Cedric insisted.

"You know I just remembered something. The Storm Lord wants Neville to assemble an army!" Susan replied, as she laughed.

"What did you remember?" Hannah asked.

"When they dragged me out of bed, I asked them if they could teach me to fight. The Storm-Lord suggested that I approach Ronald. He said that he was hard to impress, but Neville and his group were excellent by his standards. He also said that one day, they would reveal themselves and they would pass judgement on the Death Eaters. He gave me his word that he would behead Draco's father, himself. And I promised him to work as hard as I possibly can." Susan replied.

Terry and Anthony were confused, until they clarified the situation. Then they found out that Susan had sat down and spoken to the pair of elusive magicals personally, after being responsible for unleashing a basilisk that petrified Ms. Norris.

"He likes to play games, then. He knew exactly what he was doing. Fine, why don't we as badgers put the work in then? We can play along to the Storm-Lord's plan." Cedric considered.

---

Horace Slughorn had spent many evenings discussing the behaviour of the trio with Albus Dumbledore. The information about Regulus Black was surprising. Albus became worried – was Augusta and Lord Black influencing Neville to be combative? The reactions of Ronald too had been unusual. Horace was upset about losing access to the budding magical superstars. He would rather they stay in his inner circle.

"Not to worry Horace. I will speak to Neville Longbottom and appeal to his sense of nobility. He loves his grandmother, and she is a big influence on his behaviour. If his grandmother has instructed him to be confrontational, what else is he to do?" Albus suggested.

"Sometimes Albus I am not sure about how to feel. While the boy made me uncomfortable, he has a point. And the group happen to have excellent relationships with my two top snakes. They also have good relationships with many people from my house. But anyone who might be associated with Death Eaters? The group displays outright hatred." Horace answered.

"What do you think is responsible for the sudden swing in behaviour?" Albus asked Horace.

"Neville did mention that the Dark Mark is willingly taken. He even mentioned that it is an adaptation to a protean based charm. To take the mark you must….rape or kill a muggle on the Dark Lord's order. Neville suggested that the claims of being imperiused are false," Horace replied uneasily.

"That sadly is partially correct. The Dark Mark has two types. The first one has a single coil. It is given to those Voldemort considers to be cannon fodder. The second type of mark has the snake coiling in two loops. The coiling of the loops are supposed to represent infinite darkness. This mark is given only to his senior followers. They are required to pass an initiation test. And yes, they must do those foul things," Albus remarked.

"Good golly Albus, that is dark. Now that I know, I feel a sense of revulsion, myself" Horace explained.

"If we were to blanket terminate everyone who is marked, magical England's population will collapse. The replacement rate was low after the war. The night the Dark Lord was killed, many people conceived children. It pleases me that we have at least 1000 students at Hogwarts for the first time in many years. The Storm Lord and his accomplices will destroy wizarding society in the long term, by killing everyone with advanced weapons." Albus explained.

"That is quite a doozy," Horace replied.

"Perhaps it would be prudent to keep Mr. Malfoy away from the group. I was surprised at how Ms. Davis and Ms. Greengrass fought, recently. Many people are becoming interested in Muggle fighting," Albus explained.

"Should we encourage this?" Horace asked.

"We will. Silently. We will not advertise this at the school. The darker houses in the Wizengamot will complain if the news caught their attention." Albus countered.

"But Lord Malfoy is not on the board of Governors for Hogwarts. Besides the complaints, none of them have the power to challenge Lord Black?" Horace wondered.

"Correct. But the Ministry of Magic is mostly staffed by purebloods in senior positions. They could make things difficult for us in the future. I want to ensure that our other students who are Muggleborn will not suffer from punitive measures. He will return, and he will use the power and influence of the old families to enact his reach of darkness. Oh, purebloods will come looking for revenge, for being slighted. How will we assure the safety of so many? I am trying to lessen the foreseeable impact," Albus considered.

"That is a wise choice Albus," Horace replied.

"By your leave Horace. I am going to speak to Mr. Longbottom, and see what is the cause of his outbursts. I do know that his ability with wandless magic was encouraged by some magical lore that was passed along by the Storm-Lord. I am working towards establishing what else could be going on," Albus replied.

Horace alighted from his chair, and exited the office as Albus sent a summons for Neville, Ronald and Luna.

Albus once again was not aware that he was being spied on. As he sent the message via handwritten note, the group was already prepared for the interrogation. Alistair the Hogwarts Sorting Hat, looked on with a small grin on his face. Maybe it might be time to ask Ginny and Astoria to carry him on an outing. Time to get his yearly update.

"Good afternoon, Neville, Luna and Ronald," Albus said in his signature grandfatherly tone.

"Same to you sir," Neville replied, as Ronald and Luna took up seats next to him.

"I wanted to commend you on the excellent job in the hall. Professor Moody is a skilled Auror and you managed to keep him off-balanced. And Luna dear, your wit and humour were appreciated. I also was impressed by how easily your students could conjure the Patronus, Neville. What method did you use to teach your students?"

"Well professor, I reasoned that…" Neville began as he continued to explain Harry's method for conjuring the Patronus charm. After a short explanation, Albus asked about the Celtic Torc that was present on his neck.

"Fascinating piece of jewellery. Where did it come from?"

"Well headmaster, do I have a tale for you. Perhaps we can tell you what we did throughout our holidays?" Neville suggested, as he threw out the bait to catch Albus' attention.

"Oh, I would love to know more, my boy!" Albus replied, as his eyes twinkled.

Neville explained his holiday adventure, in excruciating detail. All he had to do, was to omit how he got around. Neville explained that his holiday with Luna, had occurred with public transportation. It had spanned many disjointed nights across various hotels. Neville informed Albus that the Longbottom's had Celtic lineage, and Percy Weasley had been translating the Gaulish records into modern English. Percy was a linguistic genius, and he had gotten fascinated by 'Magical Language Studies' from the available books on the data slate store. Neville spoke about his pilgrimage with Luna and he had gotten access to a ritual that had gifted him with the ability to shape plants. Luna on the other hand could see objects 'between the veil'.

"You can shape plants with magic?" Albus asked.

"Yes. That is the ancient magic of my line. It is part of my family's grimoire. I would like to believe that the language barrier had prevented the Longbottoms from observing the practice." Neville replied.

"Perhaps a demonstration?" Albus asked with fascination.

Neville nerded out after he grabbed a few of Albus' potted plants and took the old man through some of the modifications he could engineer. Professor Sprout was summoned soon after, and the woman almost fainted from witnessing Neville's capability. Neville even explained that his sensitivity to magic had increased, and he freely showed the Headmaster his magical energy flow trick for optimised, fast firing stunners. Albus considered that the Longbottoms had a history with Herbology and possessed greenhouses across the centuries. So far, it did not seem like Neville's recent excellent had anything to do with the Storm-Lord. However, he doubled checked the information with an occlumentic probe into Neville's mind.

Pomona Sprout asked the rather obvious question:

"Mr. Longbottom, please tell me you are going to do the Mastery in Herbology?"

"Indeed. And I am going to simultaneously do an Agriculture degree from a recognised mundane University. I say, let everyone's table be bountiful." Neville replied.

That had brought a great smile to the face of Albus Dumbledore. The Anti Legillimency Bracelet or the A.L.B, had provided Albus' mental attempt with some recollections of his 'bicycle' trips around the henges with Luna, and incessant evenings of discussion with Percy in the old Weasley kitchen. Included was a small recollection of Caturix asking Neville to keep the location secretly. Albus then retreated, as he considered what Neville had discovered, ought to be respected.

Albus had to clarify what was Luna's involvement. She was happy to explain that she could see magical creatures that lived in a purely magical dimension. Luna dug into her backpack and displayed her sketches. She also explained that the random blank stares that she often had, were because of the special creatures she could see. Minerva had dropped in the office, and Luna decided that her memories in the pensieve would solidify the story.

Albus, Minerva and Pomona had a wild trip as they watched her memories of the random critters that frequented Hogwarts. Minerva was quite shocked to know that a huge magical whale sometimes liked to watch Gryffindor, when their house played Quidditch. Some days were filled with Luna being surrounded by veil butterflies and moths. And they understood English very well. There was even a memory with a follow-up conversation with 'Steven the Caterpillar' who passed through Hogwarts every couple of months to recharge his energy.

Eventually, Albus asked Ronald about his holiday. He explained that he went to Norway, because he wanted a break from Quidditch practice. As he flew around and enjoyed the forests he eventually ran into a magical village close to the fjords. He made friends with the locals and took oaths to protect their secrets. He spent much of his time tending to animals and working hard in the frigid cold. As Albus probed Ronald, he got a glimpse of the Sea Serpent that often relaxed with Ronald at the lake within the reserve. He even saw many of the meditation exercises and his work with the creatures, that were not dragons. Included were many 'magical wolves' that roamed around the area. Albus reasoned that Ronald had found a place where a person like Hagrid would be welcome.

The headmaster was pretty pleased with the conversation. He decided that he would broach the conversation that occurred within Horace's compartment, on another day. What Albus had seen even saddened the man. Neville and his friends were remarkable young people.

"I had been debating this for a long time. When you are all finished with your NEWTs, I want to offer all of you the position of Assistant Professors. Professor Fillius has explained that he would love to have you, Luna. Hagrid has been beaming about Ronald's talent with the various creatures. I can see that your holidays were beneficial.

You Neville, can perhaps share yourself between the Greenhouse and the Defence Against the Dark Arts class?" Albus asked, hopefully.

The boys seemed to be deep in thought, as Luna replied, "I don't mind. If you ever need anything from us, just call and we will be there!"

When Neville and Ronald nodded, Albus eventually dismissed the group, and began to chit-chat with Minerva. When the three friends arrived at the apartment much later, Neville told Harry about throwing some bait out into the water, to keep Albus off-kilter. Neville suspected that the Headmaster would want to link his talent with the Moody incident directly to Harry's interference, through Lord Black.

Harry explained that it had been a good move, because the next set of innovations on the way were so tremendous that it would force Albus to focus on 'The Guild' once again. Then, Harry sent the new Hand Terminals to test, and everyone in Harry's circle at Hogwarts was impressed.

"This thing is fecking sorcery!" Neville replied, as he scrolled through the new interface.

"We have to tank Daffy for helping extensively. She maintains all the code and features, and I just manage now. We will give you a tour of the new manufacturing ecosystem. It is a bit unnerving, but basically, we have bugs building our products across the board," Hermione explained.

"Like the tank, right?" Ronald asked.

"Yes, but we made several advancements. We have a special project too that is coming soon. We will keep you in the loop," Hermione replied.

---

Bellatrix Lestrange had been looking for old foreign supporters of the Dark Lord. Now that she had returned to England, she visited Parkinson Manor. She wanted to know if Ajax Parkinson had managed to uncover anything new Storm-Lord and Rune-Priestess.

"Welcome Bellatrix. It has been a very long time, since I have seen you. You look better than the prophet headlines, suggested?" Parkinson stated.

"Oh, thank you for being a gentleman and noticing. I have been busy doing our Master's work. I do not believe he has completely perished. The Dark Mark is tied to his essence. And it is still alive. He is therefore, still alive." Bellatrix insisted.

"Perhaps I was lax in not looking for our Lord. With your advice, this can be…rectified. I had honestly…lost hope," Parkinson explained.

"As long as we serve him faithfully, such a small lapse can be forgiven. What do you know of the Storm-Lord and the Rune-Priestess?" Bellatrix asked.

"Nothing. All I have managed to find out was that Rowena Ravenclaw was a Rune-Priestess in her time. So the title does have magical heritage associated with it. Malfada and all my other contacts have nothing new to offer. We have no idea how their contaminated Muggle weapons work either. I managed to slip into Cassius Manor, after he was murdered by the rabid animal. I do not think he is more powerful than the Dark Lord but he could be of great harm to us. My altercation with him, resulted with him putting me on the floor, and that displeases me greatly," Parkinson answered.

"They are powerful. I would like you to know that somehow these traitors have provided Amelia Bones and her cohorts with similar weapons. They have also provided Lord Black with weapons too. They have also designed some type of ward that protects muggles. And the ward is cued only to people who are former Death Eaters. The Ministry Unspeakables had no idea how this was done. He has killed Dementors too. Only four dementors exist. Our Lord will not be pleased by such news, when he returns," Bellatrix explained.

"He has killed….Dementors? Is he also a dark Lord?" Ajax asked.

"Indeed, Ajax, if the rat is to be believed. He is powerful, and our job is to draw him out with secondary methods." Lucius replied.

"Cassius before he was slaughtered by that animal, was looking for an artefact that belonged to Ekrizdis himself. It was supposedly a dagger that he owned. It was the dagger, that created the Dementors in the first place." Ajax replied.

"Such a thing would be a powerful tool for the Dark Lord. We would gain much favour by presenting this to him, when he returns. He would be able to replenish his ranks of dark creatures," Bellatrix insisted, feverishly.

"Perhaps we can ask Jugson to offer to purchase the artefact. It will cost much, but we could dig into our savings and distribute the expense. I will fund most of it. As for the Storm-Lord and his co-conspirators, once again, they must be drawn out and killed indirectly. That after all, is the Slytherin way," Lucius replied.

"What other plans are being put in place to facilitate the return of our Lord?" Parkinson asked.

"The rat, Peter Pettigrew is searching for our Lord. I have been looking to get an audience with Fenrir Greyback. We will use the werewolves to bolster our numbers. People often forgot that the Knights of Walpurgis started with small, isolated attacks before the last Wizarding War arrived in earnest. We shall simply resume the tried and tested methods," Bellatrix insisted.

"I have been hearing rumours about the Longbottom boy and his friends. They are to be monitored. I also have noticed that Greengrass and Davis are controlling the neutral block. I have asked my daughter to put pressure on the Greengrass girl, but Pansy is considered a nuisance by most. I was most disappointed by her inability to do anything at all," Parkinson explained.

"The Wizarding public respect them for their stellar academic performance. By the end of next year, they will possess more NEWTs than most students. They are talented. That is why they must be arrested as soon as the opportunity presents itself. I saw the item that was sent on my slate. Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis managed to assault several boys without wands and incapacitate them," Lucius frowned.

"Perhaps a bigger group is necessary. They can't fight off fully grown men. And certainly not twenty or thirty people at the same time. We will win with numbers. We always have won with that method. As long as the weapons are outlawed, we will have no problem," Bellatrix replied.

"That may not be necessary. They are migrating soon enough. Foreign marriage offer. As long as they do not interfere with our long term plans, let them go. Draco was once interested in Astoria Greengrass. I am glad Pansy has been promised to Draco. I always had a feeling that Cyrus would falter in his duty. Reginald and his family have always been traitors, no surprise there," Lucius idly commented.

As the group continued with their discussions,Invictus laughed.

"You poor deluded fools. Let the games continue. "

---

Part II: The Airmen

"So Granger, since when do you live in a castle?" Grant asked.

"Since my daughter inherited one," William Granger replied.

"Please don't tell me you are selling narcotics now Although, nice piece of kit you got here, this place. I like the pool table!" Mark joked.

"Captain has been straight as a needle, as long as we have known him. It gets worse, doesn't it?" Andrew asked.

"It does, actually. This castle or correctly, Granger Manor was inherited by my daughter. And it was inherited by my daughter, because she happens to be a witch," William replied.

William's squamates had a hearty laugh. However, when William continued to keep a serious face, suddenly the laughter died down.

"Wait….what type of….is this sport and games?" Grant asked.

"Technically under the agreement laid out by her majesty, yes. But I won't go the hocus-pocus route. I rather explain it the scientific way I suppose," William replied.

"Didn't we agree that we were all retiring early next year?" Mark asked.

"And we are. This operation that I am running is my personal thing. And is it illegal? No. Are we doing some sneaky things? Yes, we will. I would argue when you hear what I have been up to, you are going to ask who has replaced this munter with a body double," William replied.

"Well…how about if you start with the agreement? The one that involves the queenie?" Grant asked.

"So a natural consequence of evolution is that some humans will eventually develop useful traits. And if the traits favour survival, better adapted organisms will survive selection pressure. Standard secondary school biology. What would an advanced human look like?" William asked.

"Stronger, faster reflexes. Faster thinking. Lord knows how many times we wished we could give more of ourselves out there in the field. That episode in Columbia with the civies was total shite. If we had gotten deployed earlier, we could have saved all of them. Are we talking about super soldier business?" Grant replied.

"Not quite. There is a small group of humans who are genetically advanced, merely as a result of nature. No external fiddling. They are the basis for the stories of Merlin and Morgaine, and that type of business. And they have always lived among us. Those Knights of the Round Table stories? All real. Magicals can manipulate matter with their minds. However, nobody knows the biological mechanisms of how it works." William replied.

"Is this the….campfire story that the S.A.S has? The one you asked me to look into?" Andrew asked.

"Indeed. Almost 1100 years ago, Alfred the Great pushed the Vikings out of England, with the aid of four powerful magicals. We do not know their real names but they eventually took on pseudonyms. Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin. These four magicals petition to Alfred and Ealhswith to form their own magical nation, that would live inside non-magical England in return for their help," William explained.

"Let me clarify, these magicals do exist. They are just gifted humans. You are saying that they can cast magic? Sounds like the game my nephew plays. Warcraft?" Mark asked.

"Yes, they can. And because they can cast spells, alter memories or create illusions, people like us don't know about them. Even more fascinating is that every nation has them. It isn't unique to England. Anyway, these four people started a school called Hogwarts. Hogwarts would act as the epicentre for teaching magicals about magic, within England. Magicals require a different type of education, with them being able to bend reality,"

"I think what we want to know, is how did you find out about them?" Mark asked.

"Hermione checked out as one. She is a Witch. And when I began to figure out the entire scope of the issues, it got hairy real fast. Some of my wife's lineage were apparently, powerful witches. And then my family had magical ancestry. I am saying that I can provide you with physical evidence, maps, intel, and a lot of other things to back my preposterous claims," William answered.

"Little Hermione is a….witch?" Mark asked.

"She is. And the magical world isn't just full of humans. The bankers are actual goblins. We have elves who look after most of the manor. I have seen things that if I told you without a brief and evidence, would force others to send me straight to a psych eval. Dragons are real, and I have seen a unicorn up close. Do you think you are prepared to see the elves that came with the manor?" Granger asked.

"Might as well. What have you gotten yourself involved in?" Grant asked.

"Whootsy and Bootsy? You can come out now." William replied, as the diminutive creatures made themselves visible.

"Your friends seem to be taking this rather well. No mass panic yet," Whootsy joked.

"These three are hard to spook. But this is quite a surprise for them," William replied, as the three men stared. While most people would be dumbfounded, they quickly composed themselves and considered that this event like the rest of their experiences was just another mission.

"Well, hello I suppose. You have very odd names. So you are elves?" Andrew asked.

"We certainly are. It is believed that we are distantly related to humans. We became our own subspecies many thousands of years ago. The magic that you have been hearing about? We need magic for nourishment. We evolved to look after magical swellings and other places, in return for being granted magic from magicals. So, we are the butlers around here. Think about Alfred from Batman," Bootsy joked.

"That is fascinating. You look just the same way I would expect a Christmas elf would look," Grant explained.

"Many magical fairy tales are long lost stories about how magicals and non-magicals interacted before our societies became separate. We could exactly those individuals, but many of the details have been lost to time. The real question is what do want to eat. Let us know?" Whootsy explained, as she handed out the laminated menu.

"Wait, you have an in-house chef? And you didn't invite us earlier? Granger, you have been holding out on us!" Mark joked.

"Oh we have many comforts around here. I have files, and complete briefs for us to look at. This story, I have to tell slowly. Our little friends will keep the beer coming. Although if you want some of the expensive shite, yeah we can do that too." William explained.

"Lot of variety on this menu. Can I get a Fish and Chips, even though it isn't on the men?" Mark asked.

"Haddock, Cod or Monkfish?" Whootsy asked.

The other three men laughed, as Andrew took a hot Vindaloo, and Grant took a some roast lamb with green beans and mint sauce.

Six hours later, now William's squad mates had the complete picture. William had been exhaustive. It also included tours of Hermione's lab. Grace had hopped over, to provide a demonstration as William fed her from his plate.

"Jesus fookin christ mate, this evening has been a hit for bloody six. Harry seems to be a good lad. Rough start, but very disciplined. He is a hell of a soldier. If he went out there and rescued people, he is one of us. You always remember your first kill. But to kill at such a young age? How has he been holding up?" Grant replied.

"Building Tanks and Bombers. As I said, the magical world is stuck in Victorian England. And Harry and Hermione began to push for a full integration of cutting edge technology, along with magic. Both of them attend Imperial by the way. Hermione is planning for a doctorate in Molecular Genetics and Harry is doing Aerospace Engineering." William replied.

"Are we going to see the fancy kit they are running? I have to admit, energy shielding? plasma rifles? Fecking teleporters? I wonder if you got replaced with a body double!" Andrew joked.

"Yes, we do have a tour lined up," William replied.

"The salary you are offering is many times more than military benefits. However, I think for the three of us, we would have worked for free. Once a soldier, always a soldier. So you want us to consult and help run the intelligence?" Grant asked.

"More or less. But we could do a couple of field ops." William replied as he noticed a call coming in from Hermione on the Hand terminal. As he placed the device on the table the rest were surprised as the clear plastic glinted, as it summoned a holographic interface. As he answered, the rest heard Hermione's voice.

"Hi daddy. So how did it go?" Hermione asked.

"Uncle Andrew, Grant and Mark are all in. Told you they were dependable. We all agreed to put in early resignation papers. They haven't seen you since the before Diagon Alley debacle," William explained.

"Well, we might as well show them the sights and sounds. I am landing in the backyard," Hermione replied.

"Excellent. See you soon, sweetie!" William replied.

"Landing? Wait, is she a pilot?" Andrew asked.

"Sure. Taught herself. And she also built the bomber that we have. Did the runes and the arithmancy. Their version of software. We are going over to the workshop for you to see the other things. Let us take a walk to the backyard," William replied.

The other three men were quite excited. They had seen files and pictures of some of the things William had spoken about. However, seeing something for real was something else. As the men waited, they could hear a strange howl as the craft approached. Suddenly four blinking lights became visible, as the Thunderbolt-II decloaked and became visible. As the craft approached, now the men could see the detached cockpit pod, the floating wing pylons and the glinting gold steel. As the engines positioned themselves and the landing gear was dropped, the men were flabbergasted at the construction of the craft. They had viewed several pictures of flying magical carriages and pictures of Diagon Alley.

They soon understood Harry and Hermione as 'mundane-educated' wizards had different ideas.

"Hells bells, you have better shit than the R.A.F!" Andrew explained.

"We do actually. Hermione made 4500 kph in the atmosphere, completely cloaked from radar, infrared and visible light. We have full stealth capability. Thunderbolt-II is a silent predator," William laughed.

"What does that thing run on? Pixie dust? We have really gotten into a kerfuffle with you today," Grant replied, as the coolant was vented and the back hatch was vented. Hermione then walked out of the aircraft, with a big smile on her face. The men were shocked by the tattoos and the maturity of the girl.

"You did say she was a witch. She looks like it. I understand now. But she still is our Hermione isn't she?" Grant grinned.

"I just have icing on the cake now. We are actually using ion-thrusters. Not pixie dust. Super heavy neutrons, assisted by Hydrogen plasma harvested from atmospheric water," Hermione laughed as she walked up to the three men and gave them polite hugs.

"We haven't seen you in a very long while. Look at how big you have gotten. Heard you have been doing some good out there!" Grant stated.

"I like my father, try my best. Come on, let us get seated. And when we arrive at Bighead's place we can take you through the weapons," Hermione replied.

As the men got seated in the bomber, the construction and the internals did not go unnoticed. The Thunderbolt-II had gotten some new updates, and the illusions along with the new onboard flight control data core systems had squeezed even more performance out of the craft.

"This thing looks almost…alien. Absolute bonkers, this thing," Mark commented.

"Why thank you. Before I give you some first had demonstrations of the performance, let me explain why things are so odd in here. There is a field of magic called transfiguration. You can change one object to another."

Hermione then took the Deathstar Plushie, disconnected it from the roof and made it into a rubber duck. Andrew's eyes flashed with recognition, as Hermione reverted the object.

"So magicals generally transfigure one object into another to get buy. Allows you to summon what you need. As you can imagine you would not need to buy much things. But Harry wasn't satisfied with that. Eventually, Harry learnt how to fabricate nano-composites. From there, then we moved away from plate steel and began emulating biological structures, for construction. Like how your bones are formed.

The white bits are artificial muscles. No hydraulics. They are piezoelectric fibres that actuate with magic. The red things are ruby crystals. They store magical power. The pedestal is a magical fission reactor. The instrumentation is based on illusions. All the shapes are organic. Very light, and very strong. A lot of science fiction-ey type things really. The ion-thrusters used to run on JP-7 but we recently eliminated the fuel." Hermione explained.

"Blimey. But it makes sense. Well young lady, your father has insisted you are pilot material. She is a beautiful kite. Take her out?" Andrew asked.

---

Fifteen minutes later three fully grown men were screaming as Hermione executed every known air manoeuvre that you would see at an air show. She also executed on many of the space compatible multi-axis rotational tricks, that highlighted the manoeuvrability of the aircraft. She also gradually diverted and took the men for an extended journey over English waters, as she pushed the speed to 3500 kph. That was faster than a MiG-25, and Hermione laughed at how just software updates could squeeze out so much performance from an existing piece of hardware. Eventually, she slowed down and she began to approach Peverell Manor. Hermione then opened the hangar

"Right gentlemen, we are almost at Harry's place," Hermione replied as the group looked on at the massive castle. They had just passed the ward, and the men were looking through the various windows.

"You inherited all of your father's genetics and your mother's brains. Time to meet the other one then?" Andrew replied.

"Do all magicals live in a castle?" Mark asked.

"No. We inherited things from distant ancestors. The magical world is big on Edwardian politics, and autocratic structures. Being able to flex power, and that type of non-sense. We are unusually wealthy by everyone's standards," Hermione explained.

"You do have a limited form of royalty in the magical world then. Your father used to call you princess when you were half of your current size," Grant clarified.

"Yes. But our royalty isn't true royalty with peerage. It is just made up. But then Royalty itself is a concept that was invented too. So it is a difficult conversation. Harry and I see ourselves as middle class blokes who won the genetic and the lucky jackpot. But we have the snobby qualifications, if that is what you are asking," Hermione replied.

She extended the landing gear and parked in the hangar. As the men emptied out of the aircraft, they observed the other trainers, the vehicles and the motorcycles. Soon enough the flapping of large wings was heard.

"Right, don't get alarmed. That is Daffodil my dragon. No, she doesn't eat people, and is quite nice. Relax," Hermione replied, as the other three men looked on.

"Granger you are having us on. You didn't tell us that Hermione had a dragon. You wanted to get a laugh out of us," Grant explained.

"We have three dragons. The other two and their owners recently arrived from Norway. They are staying with us," William replied, as Daffodil alighted a distance off, and walked very slowly towards the group of men. Hermione gave her other half a characteristic hug before William scratched Daffodil's chin.

"Daffodil can draw upon my memories, and she can speak English. She says it is nice to meet you," Hermione replied as the dragon raised one of her feet and gave a polite wave. The three men waved back uneasily, as Grant decided to be brave. He walked up and scratched the creature's snout. Daffodil gave a small draconic grin, before she defaulted to behaving like a giant cat.

"You know, I am beginning to like this. Now I want to see a unicorn for real!" Mark laughed.

"Hermione outran a centaur. That is another wild story, for another time. I heard they want a rematch," William joked as Sirius stuck his head into the hanger.

"Hello Will. These three are the rest of them?" Sirius asked.

"They are. Let us get settled in the workshop, and you can explain the details?" William suggested.

There was a nod from Sirius as they walked towards the workshop.

"Well gents, here we have Granger and Peverell Research and Development," William joked, as they opened the door and walked into the manufacturing corner. There were several CNC machines, and the weapons on the wall did not go unnoticed. Also was the tank chassis that was completed and empty. The men also looked at the development of the magical weapons, which included the original prototype wooden rifle from the Gringotts cave, and the new organic looking rifles that Daphne had recently fabricated. The men were also looking at the honeycomb shaped manufacturing bay as a blond haired girl seemed to be looking at a set of bugs.

"Are those things….magical bugs?" Mark asked.

"They are, but they aren't organic. They are manufacturing drones. They spray materials into shape to make things for us. And here is my bestie, Daphne Greengrass. She is a magical and knew nothing about the non-magical world until two years ago. Of course, now she is one of us now. Our top computer programmer, believe it or not!" Hermione explained as Daphne shook the hand of the men.

"Anyway, here we have…."

ZAP!

Harry had apparated into the building, and was now looking at William and the three new visitors. He walked up to the men and introduced himself.

"Hello. Harry Potter. And you must be that fantastic squad Uncle William always talks about?" Harry asked.

"And you are the weapons manufacturer? I like your kit. Have a place where can plonk at some targets?" Andrew asked.

"Oh we can do better than that," Harry replied as he wandlessly pulled some rifles off the weapon racks and led the men to the shooting range.

---

The rest of the evening was filled with laughter as Grant, Mark and Andrew had a good laugh as they tried out the pulse pistols, the demolition cannon and even a prototype beam sniper rifle. Later, Harry and William took the three visitors through the power armour systems, and the video footage from their firefights. The evening was also full of a primer about spells, wands, non-verbal magic and systems for magical combat. Víðarr and Týr eventually arrived, and they introduced themselves. Priya had stopped by late into the night. She explained the rough start that she and Harry had experienced. It had been quite a journey before they could protect themselves. The group also met Cyrus and Augusta as they hopped across to explain the magical world, as their misconceptions were been clarified.

Invictus was introduced as the madman who had started all of this, many centuries ago. Sure, Invictus had died, but the very shadow of his consciousness was still causing seven different types of hell in the magical world. Hermione had been too proud to show off the original rune systems that Morgana had developed, herself. There was a discussion about the unforgivables and Harry's new shielding solution which was not common knowledge.

"With a little common sense, Magicals could rule the world. I can't understand why there is a lack of tactics? A wand is a dangerous tool! And the Imperius? That is….fecking scary?" Grant asked.

"The same magic that provided them gifts and capabilities also prevented them from further pushing the barrier. Most magicals are fecking daft. With the wand shunts, we could win right now. However, the issue is that I don't think the system can be rescued. The entire existing laws and intuitions need to be trashed. You can say we are taking after the French Revolution," Hermione replied.

"Bloody hell. The idea that magicals can kill and alter memories as they please is concerning. I think if there is a group of people who can keep this lot of munters in check, it will be us. Where is the next deployment for the four of you?" Grant asked.

"January, unless otherwise instructed. Italian Mob types. 'Ndrangheta to be exact, but the magical branch. However, our ability to be deployed depends on getting the diplomatic business dealt with first. The Italian government, doesn't like to mess with the mobs. They might even change their minds." Harry replied.

"We will get our business sorted out, and we will continue to drill you as necessary. Are we getting magical guns? I like those ray guns that you have?" Grant asked.

"Whatever you want. Metal detectors can't detect them, and they have illusionary pockets that hide them. We have a new generation of transporters coming off the line, very soon. We also have a couple of items that we use that allow non-magicals to interact with the magical world. Whatever you need, let us know," Harry replied.

---

Later after Harry and rest had left, Grant and the rest continued to drink their beer, as they discussed future plans.

"Had an entertaining evening?" William asked.

"Considering you are the original hard ass, it is funny that we have luxurious comforts. Your girl is quite classy. Maybe she is one of those posh Ladies of a Noble House indeed. Is there any assignments that you want us to handle?" Mark asked.

"For now, just the training. Invictus had collated some information so if we can work through that, and put it together. We won't be doing much shooting now, I guess we are all spooks," William commented.

"True, but we can do a lot of good. All of us have had a good twenty years of solid service as Airmen, but we made sacrifices. Military life has always been hard on our families. We are lucky we have great wives. Other blokes ended up divorced, and were given marching orders," Andrew explained.

"True eh. I do think we should meet the French Minister of Magic, and the other important people. Amelia Bones from the description seems to be a hard ass. Working within the bullshit, but doing her best," Mark commented.

"She is trying to deal with the nonsense. Anyway, let us call this a night. We haven't spoken about the Centaurs, Animagi, and a whole other slew of impossible things. Remus can transform into a full blown prehistoric wolf at will. Werewolves and vampires are real, and…look it is a bit of a circus freak show until it becomes familiar," William explained.

"As long as guns work, we will manage. Should we tell the missuses at home?" Grant asked.

"You should. But break it slowly. I will give you items to protect your minds, and theirs also. Some magicals can read minds, but it isn't a transparent process. It takes a lot of focus and effort. Eye contact is necessary," William replied.

The other three men nodded seriously, as they strapped on the new transporters. William took them through the functions on the holographic interface. The three men were given six differently coloured wristbands, that looked like harmless costume jewellery. However, they were running a direct copy of Morgana's charms and they would eliminate interference from Albus or anyone who was attempting Legillimency.

"Well here it goes…." Grant replied, as he and the rest activated the item.

ZAP!

---

Grant was now in his backyard, and completely cloaked. As he uncloaked, he yelled, "Lovie, I am home. How about you start a cuppa, and let me tell about why unicorns are real?"

"I thought I wasn't supposed to know about Airman business?" Abigail replied loudly from the kitchen.

"Oh this one is way worse. Involves Granger and a dragon," Grant replied.

"This one is going to be good then!" Abigail laughed, as she had no idea that her husband had discovered her world.

Later that night both Grant and Abigail both lost their minds. Then, Grant had to call William and explain the surprise, before there was a bout of hearty laughter. Abigail immediately slapped on the wristband and had an extended conversation with William about pretty much everything.

---

Part III: The Lemon Drop Communist

November was here. Albus had not let his little troupe of star students off for their yearly Divali functions, just out of the goodness of his heart. Plans in year one had already been afoot. He had always planned to show up at the celebration and work his way backwards. This year's celebration was occurring at the same place, and even Penny and Percy were surprised when they were excused from their duties.

"Ah Mr. Weasley and Ms. Clearwater, good afternoon!"

"Good afternoon Headmaster," Percy replied.

"I was wondering if you plan to attend this year's celebration, next week? Neville and the rest have already asked," Albus clarified.

"We did not think that it was a good example for the Headboy and Headgirl to go missing from Hogwarts," Penny replied.

"I will ask for others to cover your duties. Ms. Harper and Mr. Mirfield as your mirror pairs from your houses, will patrol until you get back. I understand that the rest of your family will be attending, and I rather not separate you. And of course, I do know that both of you are a romantic pair. Ms. Clearwater, you will have to accompany Mr. Weasley won't you?" Albus stated, kindly.

"Sure. I hope to make the others envy Mr. Weasley," Penny replied with a characteristic giggle.

"Indeed. So yes, I am hoping that both of you will attend then?" Albus asked hopefully.

"That would be appreciated. Penny and I usually attend because it is a nice break from our studies. I am writing twelve NEWTs and that is stressful," Percy replied.

"I will make the necessary arrangements. Yes, you do have quite the workload. I understand that you specialise in Gaulish? I was speaking to Neville lately about his pilgrimage. The lore that he has uncovered is important. And that was facilitated by your expertise in languages," Albus stated.

"Ah, he spoke to me too. You might be happy to know that they are willing to occasionally visit Hogwarts to work on special research projects, after they graduate. It is being discussed among our little friend group. I understand that Lord Black is insisting on funding their possible research projects. He is organising Ministry clearance. From what Neville told me, Lord Black believes that young people have great ideas and the constant underfunding for Hogwarts at the Ministry level is stagnating the research," Percy replied.

"Lord Black and I have had several disagreements, Ms. Clearwater and Mr. Weasley. But about this, I do admit he is correct. I would like to believe that he cares in his own way. He has been quite generous with his galleons. Lord Greengrass and Lord Davis did explain that he left the policy making up to them, and they have been quite supportive of the teacher's positions," Albus replied.

"I can't say I understand all the politics, but I think that is good.

But about the languages Headmaster? Yes, I can translate several ancient languages. I have been studying on my own. I have even come up with some good theories as to how our spells work. The Latin of the day ten centuries ago became its own sub-dialect and our spells are linguistically traceable. Penny has helped me with a lot of the work. I have a list of hypothetical modifiers that should work to safely modify standard spells, with no explosions." Percy replied.

"Most fascinating. I do think we will need to discuss this. Perhaps I can invite Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick?" Albus asked.

"That headmaster, would be fantastic!" Percy replied.

"Excellent. Until next time, and you will bring Ms. Clearwater too for that presentation. Please prefects, resume your duties." Albus instructed.

"Thank you as always. I will ask Ronald to organise a little care package for you," Percy explained before he grinned.

"Ah, I have grown fond of the food, Mr. Weasley. I travelled the world as a young man to satisfy my curiosity. My time in India was fascinating," Albus replied as his eyes suddenly glazed over from ancient memories.

Percy observed the reaction of the Headmaster, and reasoned that he too had gone to India to look for old magic. Percy and Penny nodded, as they left the office. Albus was now alone, as he twirled his ring on his finger. This year, he would ask Fawkes to track Neville down, and he would investigate the place himself. He was assured that he could find at least some clues about the Storm-Lord and the Rune-Priestess, as they were the ringleaders behind the kitchen.

They were working with Lord Black.

---

"Knock knock you miscreants!" Harry stated, as he group called everyone.

"Hello! Something wrong?" Neville asked, as everyone gradually joined the call.

"Quite the contrary. I would argue our local caffeine junkie is doing many great things, actually. And we acknowledge that our new Ravenclaw aided her," Hermione explained.

"Tell us some more. We like to hear when our snake and eaglefoot healer is crushing everything in the lab." Luna replied, as she hugged Padma. The Indian girl blushed at Luna's antics, as she continued to read Priya's notes.

"Daphne designed an algorithm which can use magic to automatically build sophisticated structures. She just needs to specify general dimensions and some words, and magic takes care of the rest. Everything has gotten a facelift, and is far more efficient," Harry explained.

"Everything?" Ronald asked.

"Transporters, the marauder bracelets, even the weapons, the shields, everything. It is a massive piece of work she did. Ensure Percy and company are all running the new stuff," Hermione replied, as a box materialised in the apartment.

"Right. Will do. Is that all?" Neville asked.

"Oh right. So Uncle William's SAS squaddies are joining the operation. We had a discussion with them, some days ago. They will meet everyone for the Divali bash," Harry explained.

"Ah, right then. Well good to know. We need all the help we can get," Neville replied as Harry terminated the call.

Percy and Penny appeared followed by the Weasley twins and Tonks. Everyone took off their pistols, transporters and energy weapons and traded them for the more ergonomically designed replacements. As Fred and George summoned the new display on the Marauder's bracelet, they both let off a simultaneous whistle. The illusions were almost like a miniature diorama, and the interface was far more intuitive. Neville was looking at the new hand terminal, as he browsed through the new holographic interface.

"Damn, the illusions are almost real. Hermione has improved by quite a bit on her mystical holiday in Norway?" Neville asked.

"You ain't see anything yet. These are the small leagues. We have a surprise coming soon," Daphne laughed, as she continued to work on a special project.

"That might be worth seeing then!" Neville replied as he set up his favourite themes and profiles on his device.

Daphne was looking at the arithmantic code that had been captured from the Ministry artefact, and she had a suspicion she could eventually crack the problem. If she figured out this problem, she would be able to run more than one evolutionary program at a time. As of right now, she could only run a single instance at a time, and it was somewhat frustrating.

---

Part IV: Divali Bash

During the next couple of days, the necessary arrangements were made.

This year's Divali celebration would be somewhat like last year. The Hogwarts group would attend the celebrations at the Mandir in London. Then, Priya would perform her dance item, as she had obtained an early slot in the program. The group would participate in some souvenir shopping, as other visitors would be given a tour. Then the students would use the provided portkey, and return to Hogwarts. After returning to the apartment, the group would be transported to Peverell Manor.

That was where the real celebrations and the extravagant dinner would occur.

Priya had invited some of her friends from the I.C.U, to celebrate Divali at her home. She felt like many auspicious things had occurred recently, and she wanted to appreciate her blessings. Then Harry, Hermione and Sirius had gotten involved, and suddenly the newly built Black Manor along with the Singh Flat and Peverell Manor was going all out on the celebrations. That meant that Harry's immediate social group in England along with the Delacours were the expected visitors. However, last minute additions included some of the friends that the group had met on their recent holidays. The 'everyone' for this year now included Ylva, Bjark and Thorsten who had promised to visit Remus. Freyja and Njal were also coming to see Hermione and Ronald. Víðarr and Týr were also excited, as their mothers were attending. Pranusha as Harry's crafting mentor, was coming to see Harry and Priya. William had even invited his SAS squad members and their wives, as they were now involved.

Divali was celebrated in different ways, depending on the temperament of the Hindu in question. The main celebration that was better known to non-Hindus occurred in the middle of a five day period. This was the day that was filled with the lighting of the deyas or the earthen lamps – this was the day that the observance in India could be seen from orbit by satellites, as the entire of India was lit on a planetary scale.

On this day, some homes preferred a more festive approach. It was a day of feasting and drinking. Non-vegetarian meals were not a big deal, and rather liberal people even had beer and other alcoholic beverages. Some people surely frowned on these practices, while others argued that nothing was wrong, either. Fireworks and enchanting flames of the Deyas normally made everyone happy enough to not bother much about anything. Other conservative Hindus preferred vegetarian meals, non-alcoholic drinks and to perform religious rituals. For Priya, this was the preferred outcome for her, after taking her oaths at the Ashram. Mr. Patil had offered to conduct the religious rites on the day, as he was qualified to do so. Truthfully, Harry preferred it this way as it gave him comfort. He knew when the festivities arrived, he would lose himself in the celebrations and he would stop dwelling on things. As the preparations were made, both Harry and Hermione had no idea of the drama that would unfold this year at the Mandir in London.

And the grand day had arrived.

Víðarr and Týr were looking at themselves in the mirror, after some shopping. The Viking boys had little idea about life outside the Dragon Reserve, and they had to do some reading to get acquainted with the different religions of the world. The conversation that followed in old Norse was quite hilarious, as Ronald had silently slipped out of Hogwarts to help the pair. Now the both boys were in kurtas.

"It's like a Viking tunic, but the cut is slightly different!" Víðarr laughed.

"Lots of curly bits, and sequins. I do like it. Do we look the part, Ronald?" Týr asked.

"Yes, you do. Just missing the shawl, there let me fix both of you." Ronald replied before a call occurred on his hand terminal. After Ronald draped both of their shawls around their necks, Harry's voice came through on the speaker.

"You gents ready?" Harry asked.

"They are. I am going back to Hogwarts to pretend that I came from the Hufflepuff common room. It is almost time," Ronald replied.

"Good. I can't wait for later. It was time we did something proper at our homes," Harry replied, before he hung up.

After ensuring that the boys were all spick and span, Ronald teleported into the Hufflepuff boys washroom and prepared to make his way to the Gryffindor Common room entrance. He immediately became conspicuous as he walked through the Hufflepuff common room. Many of the girls began to giggle and there was pointing and whispers. It also did not help that Ronald was huge and he filled out most of the outfit.

"Evening Ronald. You look good. Curiously, why are you not in uniform?" Cedric asked, with a smile on his face. Now all the older girls were listening quite intently. Many of the neutrals and purebloods mistakenly thought that Ronald was wearing some new type of robe, as they were not familiar with Indian clothing.

"Ah Ced. Evening to you too. I have been invited to attend a religious function, so here I am. A family affair, basically. I will be gone for a couple of hours, you will see me tomorrow morning as usual." Ronald replied.

"Any chance it's a Divali celebration? That is what usually happens at this time of the year?" Justin asked.

"Indeed. Wait, how do you know? Oh right….you went to primary school," Ronald commented.

"Sure. I live in a neighbourhood with a lot of successful Sikhs and Hindus. They make up the bulk of the IT companies and groceries. Lots of small private dental practices, pharmacies and doctor offices. Some legal firms here and there," Justin laughed.

Hannah and Susan were looking on, behind Ronald's back.

"Actually….Ms. Amba Singh who is part owner of the kitchen with my mother, is Priya Singh's mother. Priya usually performs at a Mandir in London. She does Classical Indian dance. The family invites have become a yearly thing. I imagine the Gryffindor common room is swimming in red and gold. The rest of my family also attend," Ronald joked.

"Gosh I want to go and see! She dances? What is Indian dance like?" a random Hufflepuff asked, as they looked at her picture on the Hufflepuff wall of fame.

"For the classical style? Intricate. Complex. Theatre, drama and skill. Fantastic clothes too. I will record a vid, and will bring it back for your viewing pleasure. If you haven't been exposed to it, quite an experience. Neville is also attending and when you consider that we have psychopaths on the loose, a Ministry Auror is accompanying us. I am waiting for that person." Ronald explained.

"So where is my invite? I want to see her dance too you know?" Clara asked, crossly. There was a smile on her face – nobody knew that they were both in a band. However, the girl was serious. She wanted to give the fellow Hufflepuff rockstar healer some support.

"Lost in the mail?" Ronald replied uneasily, as he scratched his head. Hannah looked at the girl who was a year two student, and realised that she knew Ronald. They seemed to be friends. Clara resumed her reading, but there was a smug look on her face. She was quite feisty for a Hufflepuff.

"Have fun then," Cedric replied as the Hufflepuff common room entrance opened, and Tonks strolled into the area.

Most of the older Hufflepuffs were not prepared to see their former prefect. She had chosen to go the practical route.

She was wearing a black jeans, a long yellow kurti that hovered a little above the knees, complimented by a black converse shoes with yellow laces. It was the right pairing of clothes to ensure that she could move around if necessary, while still managing to be festive. It was somehow half-traditional and half-metro. She had even coloured some of her hair with yellow streaks via her metamorphagus ability.

"Tonks, you are the Ministry Auror? You look very…Hufflepuff! Nice!" Cedric asked.

"Wotcher! Thanks Ced, I have been at Hogwarts since the term opened. I have been assigned close to the Gryffindor wing actually," Tonks replied.

"But how are you an Auror already?" Cedric asked.

"I completed the program early. Maybe I want to be on our wall of fame, I might look nice on it," Tonks joked. Susan was now looking at Hannah with a very subtle stare.

"Ced, don't know if you have decided on what you want to do. I think you would be a great Auror. We don't have much of them anymore," Tonks suggested.

"I am quite interested in becoming an Auror, actually. I know Susan's aunt fairly well a she works with my father, sometimes. We will have a chat about that, and maybe you can tell me more about what is…required?" Cedric suggested.

"Excellent. Come on Ron, let's go and collect the rest of the stragglers," Tonks replied.

As the pair left the Hufflepuff common room, there was scribbling on a shared clipboard between the group of year three Hufflepuff friends and Cedric.

"Tonks is involved," Cedric scribbled at the table, on the piece of parchment.

"Maybe you can talk to her?" Susan replied.

There was a collective nod among the group members, as Cedric opened a notepad and added some notes to his investigation. He noted that their two elusive wizards could train people quickly, and that Tonks was a recipient. Perhaps it had happened after that particular Christmas holiday. Normies did not simply finish the intensive three year Auror program, which was the most difficult career choices, in one year.

---

As Víðarr and Týr walked downstairs at Peverell Manor, they were surprised to find some familiar faces. Njal and Freya were all decked out in Indian wear. Apparently, Hermione and Lorna had a good time dressing the visitors and the results were visible. Most surprising was that the mothers of the pair of boys had arrived, and they too were traditionally dressed. Before the boys could comment, Ylva, Bjark and Thorsten then appeared with Remus. Then Pranusha appeared not too long after, in her customary orange robes. There were some introductions as Priya, Harry and Hermione took some time to acquaint everyone. To the surprise of everyone, Alice, Frank and Augusta had teleported in – the pair of parents generally preferred to take it easy at home, as they were still healing from their ordeal. They had decided that they would stay at Peverell Manor, while Augusta would accompany Neville and the rest to the function.

Víðarr was rather surprised when Freyja engaged him in some small talk.

"Hello. I see that you are dressed up?" Freyja asked.

"I am. The same can be said about you," Víðarr replied.

"I could not deny Hermione her fun. I had fun too. How has it been so far?" Freyja asked, cautiously.

She wondered what type of reply she would get. It was their first conversation outside of the reserve, and according to Hermione the boys had changed. She looked on as the boy seemed to collect his thoughts for a moment.

"I have concluded that I like the non-magical world very much. Glad I came, actually. The circumstances were not ideal, but lemonade from lemons and all that," Víðarr replied.

"Fascinating. Humour me. What do you like about my world?" Freyja asked.

"Cartoons. Movies. Fast Food Trucks. Motorcycles. Viking Metal Music. Videogames. Call me an immature teenager if you wish. These things which others grew up with, are foreign to me. I also like to read in my spare time. I like Shakespeare, but it took a little time to understand the old English. I even spend time in the machine shop, I like working with Remus over there. I can weld fairly okay with all the crazy tools that one over there makes," Víðarr replied, as he pointed to Harry.

"You like…cartoons?" Freyja asked, incredulously.

"Yes. Adventure Time is my favourite. SpongeBob is pretty cool. What is the saying? Right. Squidward is my spirit animal," Víðarr joked uneasily, expecting Freyja to embarrass him. Freyja laughed in genuine amusement. Now her face was red, as she began to cackle. The idea that Víðarr, the purest of the Viking lineage with 16 centuries of continuity was watching SpongeBob and Adventure Time, was just too much. Her next comment came in gasping breaths. Even Víðarr's mother was properly confused.

"I can't believe this. The self-proclaimed best Dragon Rider in the Reserve….is watching SpongeBob and Adventure Time! I can't believe this. Do you have any ideas how undignified that sounds! Oh, what would your father say?" Freyja continued, as she teased

"Super Morons more like it," Víðarr replied, in a perfect imitation of Squidward's voice.

It was one of the iconic comments that Squidward had made in an episode. Freyja immediately placed the comment, from the episode and had to grasp Víðarr's shoulder for a moment, as she collected herself. There was a second round of laughter, as the girl could not believe her ears. Týr could see the pink blush on his friend's face and decided on a sudden rescue. His friend was properly unprepared to have a casual conversation with Freyja who found his honest admissions, amusing. Víðarr had never gotten this far in four years of talking to the girl.

"Wait till you hear what I watching. I am looking at Mighty Morphing Power Rangers on Netflix. Metalocalypse on Adult Swim is pretty good. Sometimes both of us are exactly like Skwisgaar and Toki, in the grocery. We sometimes panic," Týr replied.

"Metalocalypse?" Freyja asked.

"It's a fictional cartoon about a metal band called Dethklok. The metal band exists but they made an animated cartoon about the band just struggling to get average things done. The characters are all extremely stupid, animated and fictional. You can see why we…..like it? The grocery was actually a bit confusing when Ronald carried us the first time?" Týr replied.

"Too bad we could not make a YouTube Series about this. Magical Vikings go shopping. You can pretend to be extra dense. I would watch that!" Hermione replied.

"Maybe we should make it. Teach wizards to shop at the grocery. Might be educational? I think a lot of us could use the help. If we eventually have to leave the reserve to work on behalf of the dragons…why not?" Víðarr suggested.

Bodil and Kari were looking at their sons, and they felt proud. While the boys were adults, they had always been sheltered from the mundane world by the wishes of their fathers. But now, it seemed that they were learning.

"So the grocery is this mythical place of adventure. Where else did both of you go, that you found interesting?" Freyja asked.

"We like toy stores too. Víðarr bought a super soaker, and he asked Harry to modify it. We could water the crops back home with it now. I just bought my first set of Warhammer 40K miniatures. I bought Space Wolves!" Týr replied, excitedly.

"It is funny to see you adjust to non-magical life. Maybe Hermione and Harry will make you a bunch of giant nerds out of both of you, in the process. What are the Dragons doing tonight?" Freyja asked.

Hermione was passing by, and she answered after checking in on the Gryffindors in the common room, via a voice note

"We have a couple blocks of a protein complex that we developed. That is Neville's project. You will meet him soon. So we are not leaving them out. Our dragons will be looking on through spinal links tonight at the programme in London. When we get back, they can lounge outside. I will show you the dragon bay, later. And oh, Daphne did a ridiculously genius piece of work, it still has me proud!" Hermione replied.

"Well, I would love to see everything," Freyja replied.

Everyone in Peverell Manor assembled into small groups and began apparating to a small room where Priya was waiting to receive them. They spread out their arrival a few minutes apart, so as not to cause any suspicion.

---

Neville had appeared in the Gryffindor common room. People were looking at his strange clothes, and they were asking questions.

"What are you wearing?" Lavender asked.

"Called a Kurta. It's a traditional piece of Indian wear. I have been invited to attend a religious function. Yes, I am leaving Hogwarts for a little bit. Family business." Neville explained.

"You look really good in it!" Romilda replied as she smiled and tucked her hair behind her ears.

While she tried to get Neville's attention, the Weasleys eventually appeared. Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson were suddenly eyeing up George and Fred respectively. Most Indians, would wonder if the twins were getting married. They had chosen to go all gaudy, complete with the traditional footwear or chappals. Unlike the others, Katie and Angelina were half-bloods and they were able to figure out everything quickly. However, they were still curious as to where was this Divali celebration. Percy eventually joined the group, and he has chosen the exact shade of Gryffindor red and gold for his plain kurta top and shawl. However Percy had bulked up, and the other Gryffindor girls were inspecting the goods.

"What is going on?" Alicia Spinnet asked.

"We have been invited to attend a function. Master Healer Priya Singh is a family friend. Today is an important religious celebration for…."

"H'endus. Don't understand de religious bits, but dere is alot av fire and firewhrks. Definitely my t'eng. Do Wizards have primary school? You guys don't know?" Seamus explained.

"Wait, you know about it? Where they are going to?" Lavender Brown asked.

"I'm half-and-half. Me dad's a Muggle. Mum didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. I went to a muggle primary school, and I learnt Math and Englesh and all de nhrmal t'engs, alright?" Seamus explained.

"To answer you Mr. Finnigan, no magicals do not have primary school. But I got up to speed with the necessary reading. Anyone can?" Percy suggested.

"Write a book er some-teng. Magicals needwan," Seamus replied in his characteristic charming Irish accent.

Percy suddenly had a confused look on his face, before he decided that he could definitely offer such a publication on the magical bookstore. Seamus then walked up to Neville and whispered, "Neville, yer gettin' de indian sweets tonite? If yer are, brin' sum. I had an Indian mucker in primary school who used ter brin' for me, I kinda miss it," Seamus explained.

"I got you covered," Neville smiled, before the Gryffindor girls showed up.

Ginny and Astoria were dressed in exactly the same outfit. They had chosen traditional red and gold Anarkali Suits. They were flowing gold flowers and petals that were embroidered throughout the fabric. Finally, where their shawls which were draped around their neck and arms. Their choice of designs looked decadent and royal, as the skirts were very long. All that could be seen on the ground was flowing cloth that fanned out at the feet. Ginny also had many of her custom pieces of jewellery on display between her and Astoria. The pair had gone wild with the Henna. Alicia and the rest of the Quidditch girls came over to adore Ginny and Astoria, as they examined their hands.

"What is this? I love this!" Alicia explained.

"Henna. Just decoration. Master Healer Priya Singh did this for us, actually. She usually wears it when she has to dance!" Ginny explained.

Suddenly there was an influx of girls who were asking all sorts of questions, and the pair of girls were already getting frustrated. The magicals had no idea about anything that was external to British wizarding culture. Ginny ruefully considered that Harry and Hermione had exposed them to the world at large. While the commotion continued, there was a faint clinking that occurred as somebody came down the Gryffindor Girl's tower.

And then everybody had to stop. The room became silent, as Parvati Patil arrived.

She was in a fully accessorised Nauvari styled saree, with every piece of known jewellery that an Indian woman could wear, on her person. And even with how ethereal she looked, there was the little bicep budge that peeked out under the brown bodice. The intricate gold patterns on the bright red cloth complimented the various pleats. The nose ring, gold bangles, necklaces and waistband made her look like a princess from a fairy tale. Parvati became instantly picture worthy, as a lot of the other girls snapped pictures. Many of the older Gryffindor boys looked on with interest. Now Parvati was being swarmed with compliments and questions.

"Parvati, oh my! You look just like Master Healer Singh! I always thought her picture in the Hospital wing was so nice! Now I want clothes like that too!" the year five Gryffindor prefect giggled.

"Thanks Eevie. Anyway, we need to get going people," Parvati insisted, as Percy opened the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. The rest of the Gryffindors heard the conversation that the Fat Lady was having with the visitors, outside.

"You lot look dashing! Have fun!" the Fat Lady replied, before she caught her an eyeful own Gryffindors. Now there was a small crowd who were looking out of the common room. The rest of the Gryffindors got a glimpse of three people in blue and the two people in yellow.

Penny had chosen a sharara, which complimented her very slim frame. That was paired with silver jewellery, and a sky coloured shawl that had been draped over her shoulders. There was a flair at the bottom of the silvery trousers. Penny looked very sophisticated, as she trotted next to her other Ravenclaws. She had chosen to style her hair in a chignon, and she looked almost like a librarian who had a glow up – she looked clever and elegant.

Padma had chosen a deep blue navy cloth, and she had draped her sari in the same style as her sister. She had chosen silvery and black highlights in her shawl and jewellery. She had chosen to swap the Indian style single plait with a French styled fishtail braid. Embedded in the braid was a long trailing silver chain that was studded with deep blue sapphires.

Luna had chosen a glittering sky blue sari, that gradually changed its colour into a navy blue colour on the edges. That had been paired with a contrasting bronze coloured blouse, and tasteful pieces of silver jewellery. Many of them were in the shape of butterflies. There was also a set of thin silvery bangles that decorated her arms.

"And look at this. My Gryffindors came prepared to charm everyone. The red and gold looks splendid!" the Fat Lady replied, as everyone stared. Many of the Quidditch girls were complimenting the other girls, and some of them even looked at Ronald too. Percy was now making a small rain check, as he looked around.

The final two people were surprising because of their choice of colour. Ronald was wearing the exact outfit as Neville, but was completely in yellow. The outfit was paired with a black shawl and a jet black dress pants. On his feet were a pair of nondescript black canvas shoes. The unexpected other Hufflepuff was Tonks. Her yellow knee length outfit and the shoe laces were quite noticeable. Tonks always loved the grunge-goth look and it had manifested in her choice of clothes.

Both of the badgers looked like a pocketful of sunshine, who was ready to spread happiness all over Hogwarts.

As the group walked towards the Headmaster's office, there was much pointing and whispers from the other students. For the mundane born students, many of them wondered if the group were walking off to a movie shoot. Some people even took pictures of the group. As Tonks provided the password and opened the door to the office of Albus Dumbledore, Daphne and Tracey were already waiting.

Daphne had chosen a banarasi styled green sari. It featured silver green paisleys, with grey and black accents throughout the borders of the cloth. In her hand was a fashionable pearl studded purse. The main bulk of the cloth widely hugged her body and was draped over her shoulder with a small snake brooch pin. Her hair was styled with a topsy ponytail, and her fingers were filled with small pieces of silver jewellery. She certainly looked like a quintessential snake, but the face sported an excited look.

It was the other person who had surprised everyone.

Tracey was wearing a high contrast pink and black sari. She was not dressed in her house colours. However the contrast between the black boyish costume jewellery and the cloth that she had chosen made the entire thing pop out against the backdrop of all the other colours in the office. Her sleeves in her blouse were non-existent as it was an armhole piece. Tracey's significantly muscular arms were on display. Somehow Tracey's outfit screamed, "Hello, I like lurid pink and I love to go to the gym," and still managed to be soft, feminine and beautiful. Even Albus was quite amused.

"Ah, here we all are. All fourteen of you. All of you look elegant. I was telling Ms. Davis that I appreciate her choice of colours. I might have to try the colour scheme. Pink robes with black accents….a most fascinating choice," Albus smiled

"I think you could pull it off. Surprise us one morning?" Neville joked.

"Indeed my boy. The portkey will be ready in one minute. I am leaving to have a night time gaze, upstairs. Do have an enjoyable night!" Albus replied, as he left the office, and ascended the stairs.

The group waited for the portkey and made small talk that suggested that they were just normal Hogwarts students. Percy was excited about the new device from the Guild, and Neville admitted that he was conflicted about their first Quidditch match. He was happy for Tracey, but wanted Ginny to trounce Slytherin. Tracey insisted that the spunky redhead would not know what hit her. Ginny smiled as she reminded Tracey that she would not make the same mistakes, like the last time. While the conversations bounced around, Albus kept his ears open from upstairs. There was a whooshing noise as the portkey activated and carried the group directly to an alleyway in London. Ronald buzzed the rest of his family on the comms device.

"Everybody else ready?" Ronald asked.

"Yes, I am in the room and I am already changed. Everybody is here," Priya replied.

There was a characteristic ZAP as the entire group transported into the empty room. Now the fourteen students were looking at Priya in her mostly saffron yellow outfit. The entire outfit incorporated many other minor colours that could come from all the Hogwarts Houses. However, the choice of the colours was related to the religious and thematic significance of the dance. However, for people with preconceptions of Hogwarts, she looked like the Hufflepuff.

Harry had chosen to go all black with a simple plain kurta which sported gold and silver highlights. He too had chosen a dress pants but had paired it with a silver cloth jutti, which was the traditional style of Punjabi shoes. Hermione had chosen a brilliant pearl white sari, that was full of silver sequins and beads. Her outfit was absolutely plain, but her height and her body dimensions made everything look sophisticated. Her philosophy was that if the cloth itself was luxurious itself, and she would need nothing else. Hermione had on very little jewellery, and was only sporting lip gloss.

Daphne who was privy to the finer details, realised that the pair had chosen colour schemes that reflected their experiences on their recent holiday.

The Hogwarts group filtered out of the room, as Sirius led the students to meet everyone else. This year the group was rather large. It included the parents of the Hogwarts students, along with Charlie and Bill. Even Andromeda and Ted were there. Then, were the French visitors which included Fleur, Gabrielle, Esmé and Aliénor.

Esmé was the new person within the group, and Aliénor had used her influence to get Esmé out of Beauxbatons. In any case, she was a senior and she ran the Beauxbatons school paper. Esmé was here to get pictures and videos of Priya V. Singh's performance. It was also nice that Charlie was here – he would often travel to France for the holidays, and the pair were dating. The news that Esmé was dating the English seeker had not gone public yet, but it was only a matter of time.

Gabrielle paired up with Ginny and Astoria, while the two remaining French girls looked for their significant others. Aliénor eventually found Týr, and he introduced the French girl to his mother as a recent friend. Kari found herself amused, as she could see that her son was smitten with the girl. Víðarr stayed next to Freyja, but did not harass or make any comments at all. Freyja would have usually stayed close to Hermione, but she was too busy talking to Ronald. Njal decided to converse with Víðarr so as not to make the situation awkward. Pranusha was talking Amba and Ved about their daughter and their grandson.

"I have never seen Priya dance. First time. But if some of the talent that I have seen carries over, I think we will be in a treat," Pranusha replied.

"I always told her that when you become a parent, that is when a person's talent will manifest. Her desire to help Harry started all of this," Amba replied.

"She is a blessed child. She might have been born outside the land of her ancestors, but she is connected to our lineage now. It is unquestionable. She is, what she is supposed to be. She knows some of the most ancient magical knowledge that we have," Pranusha replied.

"Did our favourite rascal give you any trouble?" Ved asked.

"While he was there with us? No, he is a good boy. Tries his best. He does like dangerous experiments. I had a talk with him about that and…"

While that conversation droned on inside of a privacy ward, Ylva, Bjark and Thorsten were looking around. They had not dressed up in anything gaudy. Nor did Remus, as he opted for elegantly casual clothes. Remus slowly pointed at everyone, as he identified the many individuals the group had seen in his memory. Remus had planned to make the introductions later at the manor, and the group of wolves were excited to meet everyone. They were also aware that dragons were at the manor, and that too was quite a promising event.

The conversation between Abigail and Grant was a different one.

Abigail had to sit down and explain the magical world to Elizabeth and Josie in an 'extended brunch' conversation. They too were shocked to find out that their girlfriend was a full-on witch. After demonstrating some spells Elizabeth and Josie now understood what was possible. They had promised to always wear their wristbands and to keep 'their' little secret. Now some things made sense – Abigail would often offer to take care of the dishes at their house, and for many years the group always wondered why the rest of the house had been automatically put away, after having tea. Elizabeth and Josie had been promised wand emitters to make their lives easy. Abigail could be quite sneaky even for a Hufflepuff herself. She looked on and realised that two of the most enigmatic figures in recent Wizarding History, were just having fun this evening.

"So the saviour of the wizarding world is alive and well. Right in front of my eyes. And Granger's daughter was involved. The Storm-Lord and the Rune-Priestess just having a lovely evening. Honey, you always get yourself into all types of trouble," Abigail laughed.

"I guess so. I apparently I married to an honest to God, witch?" Grant joked.

"My wand is what makes those fantastic dinners and keep the house clean. And I still practice my magic in the back shed, and that kept me occupied when you are deployed. So that is Master Healer Priya Singh. Oh, she has been a hero for all the muggleborn witches like us. As I explained, I too came from that same house. A badger through and through. Anytime she comes up in the Quibbler, we all feel like she is giving us representation," Abigail replied.

"I know. Granger told us about the political situation. I am happy you didn't stay in the magical world. But if that psychopath is coming back? He sounds like a piece of work. The magic that he did gives him a temporary type of immortality and it is so dark, that we agreed with Granger that we don't want to know how it works," Grant replied.

"Then I trust my husband to work with his team to get it sorted out. Understand this love, muggleborns are not taking any nonsense this time. And that boy and girl right there have mobilized an entire nation," Abigail replied.

"Captain did explain that his child was a chronic overachiever," Grant replied, as everyone took their seats.

"They in one morning put down some of the most horrid people that we would only whisper about. I am glad they upgraded the wards. I had put up some around our home, but you never know," Abigail replied.

"Could our child be magical? I know we had both decided that we didn't want children, but is it possible?" Grant asked.

"Quite possible. I always wanted children but I didn't want them to face the kind of issues I faced. But if you and Granger clean up the mess that is magical England, I could be very interested," Abigail whispered.

"Right then. So for the missus, one magical terrorist bloke and his followers, killed since yesterday," Grant suggested.

"Mmmmhmmm, that is more like it. Many witches were raped in the last war. We all heard the rumours. And we must not forget that the Potters sacrificed their lives so that we could get freedom. That boy deserves all the help he can get from you," Abigail explained.

"Suddenly I do understand why Harry and company just kill them on sight. I really do. They have things that would scare the bejesus out of most Airmen. But Granger runs them quite good, so I am okay with that," Grant replied.

---

"Harry? Any chance we can get a recording of your mum? I want it for the Hufflepuffs," Ronald asked.

"Gramps?" Harry queried.

"Hmm?" Invictus asked.

"Full drone coverage, please. On mum?" Harry requested.

"Done." Invictus replied.

Eventually the crowd settled, and the program was opened with the appropriate prayer. The Master of Ceremonies then introduced Priya as one of the program regulars. She was slotted in early tonight, as she had other commitments elsewhere. As she settled herself into the main stage, many of the people in the chairs sat up, as other people continued to buzz around in the periphery.

Priya began to dance, and only twenty seconds into the item, Harry felt a ping that he knew all too well.

---

Part V: Dubious Divali Debacle

Albus had outlined the extra shift that the other prefects were required to undertake. Then, he informed Minerva that he had some personal urgent business to attend to, immediately. The severe Gryffindor Head of House asked no questions as Albus made his way to his office. After ascending the step to his quarters, he disguised himself appropriately, to fit in with the crowd. He transfigured his clothes into a facsimile of a muggle business suit. He then drank a de-aging potion, and cast a glamour over his face. Albus looked quite different with his thick greying strawberry blond beard, along with his suit. He had even become temporarily shorter too. Albus looked at himself, and was pleased with his deception. For most non-magicals they would argue he looked like a much older version of Jude Law. Albus after all was a handsome devil, back in his day.

"Ah. To be young again. Fawkes? Find a safe, unnoticeable place. Then come back, and take me to somewhere near to my boy, Neville?" Albus asked. Fawkes gave a trill, before he disappeared in a storm of flames. There was a two minute pause, as Fawkes returned. The bird was quite pleased with himself, as he silently alighted on Albus' shoulder and waited for the command.

"Now Fawkes," Albus requested, before a pillar of glowing flames took the headmaster into a distant carpark in London. Albus looked around and saw the hundreds of people in the environment. Albus actually liked what he saw – the contrasting plethora of colours had already given him ideas about colour combinations for his robes.

"Excellent Fawkes. You may wait at Hogwarts for me. Thank you, old friend," Albus replied as Fawkes disappeared. Albus put his hand into his pocket and took out the elder wand.

"You must be here, or perhaps not. We shall see," Albus whispered, as he projected his magic, and quested for other magicals like himself. He found an unusually large group of magicals, and wondered if his prey could be found tonight. Albus held the wand out as he cast powerful notice-me-not charms and began to approach the Mandir, which was some distance from the car park.

"Everyone? Emergency broadcast. The bearded menace is here!" Harry whispered, as he pinged the entire Hogwarts group.

"Are you kidding me?" Neville asked.

"No, I can feel the Peverell magic. He used the wand. He is some distance away. What do we do?" Harry asked.

"I have it handled. Freyja and I will work up something. She knows how to hide magic very well. What we need are cover identities," Hermione whispered.

"Hey Harry, what about if you became my cousin. Hari Patil, the man who is betrothed to Daphne Greengrass?" Padma suggested, with an evil smile on her face. Daphne's mouth hung open for a moment, in pure surprise. Padma then elbowed Daphne gently, as she girl winked at the snake. Daphne held her breath, as she waited for the reply.

"That is brilliant, actually. We are doing that. What about you, Hermione?" Harry asked, as he wanted to encourage the idea.

"She can become some type of Spanish woman, who is my date tonight?" Ronald suggested a little too smoothly. There was a laugh from the others in Hogwarts group, as they felt like Ronald was being a sly dog. Truthfully, Ronald and Hermione were being entertained by the adventure, and the combined ignorance of the group.

"Actually, why don't I go Mexican. Herminia Grimaldo sounds troll-ish enough. And I need to be over the top stereotypically crazy. Yeah, that should do it," Hermione replied before there was mass sniggering among the entire group.

Daphne quickly started a new call, as she explained the situation to her father. She also made a check of who had items that would prevent Albus from pilfering any information. Everyone including the non-magicals were covered. In the case of the Nordic visitors, they possessed their own mental defences and personal runestones. Sirius conjured his facial disguise for Lord Aurelian Black from his necklace, and Remus decided that he would stay exactly as he was.

"Remus sure you don't want to change?" Harry asked.

"No, I want to look Albus in the eye tonight. He cannot see into my mind. I want him to know that I am not his to command. I have sacrificed too much. You have sacrificed too much." Remus replied firmly.

"You know what? I think that is fair enough. Keep the mental defences up and let us see what he will say. Ask him why he didn't allow you to see me," Harry replied, as Remus nodded.

Hermione whispered to Freyja about the situation, and the redheaded girl placed her hand off to the side as she conjured complex wandless magic. She hid Harry's and Hermione's original magical signature. As that occurred, Hermione conjured illusions to change their appearance, after executing notice-me-not charms. Harry's skin had been changed to exactly Priya's earthen colour, and his eyes were now hazel brown. He now had a beard which mirrored Ashok Patil's signature look. Then she added a jawline that belonged to Ved, and a nose that belonged to Amba. Harry looked exactly like the son of Priya Singh, and Harry took pictures of himself as he wanted to continue to use this illusion, in the future.

"Mione, this is the best disguise you have ever done. I feel like Hadrian Singh to be honest?" Harry explained, as Hermione giggled. Then the girl then adjusted herself and her parents. She altered her parents skin to much darker skin tones, and changed their facial features to made them look much rounder. Finally, she changed herself, and made her hair puffy. Freyja then cleaned up the last bit of the residual spell traces from the illusionary work.

Parvati and Padma leaned over to observe Harry. The funny thing was he looked quite dashing.

"Hey Daph, like the goods? Somebody is out to cheat tonight!" Padma whispered to Daphne.

"That is actually kind of hot. Cheating on Harry….with Hari." Daphne replied, as the snake giggled.

"And they say Slytherins don't have feelings and are cold. What rubbish," Padma replied as Parvati buzzed the group comms channel.

"Mr. Potter, you do look like our cousin. A mighty fine Indian you make indeed!" Parvati replied.

"Why thanks Parv! I might be pasty white, but I am an honorary brown guy thanks to mum. Daphne, you ready to curl up around me like a real snake?" Harry teased. Suddenly the entire Hogwarts group were egging the entire situation on, as they stared intently.

This was just too much drama already.

"Oh definitely," Daphne grinned, with an expression that was a little too excited. Neville, Ronald and the rest were now teasing the snake with subtle thumbs up expressions.

Tracey whispered, "Don't forget to be all touchy feely. Don't be shy, let Albus see you claim your property."

"You know what Tracey? Excellent suggestion. Let us see how much Harry will allow," Daphne replied with a grin.

Meanwhile, Freyja had mentally buzzed Bodil and Kari, as she explained that 'the manipulator' was coming to nose around in their business. The only person who was not aware of the deeper implications was Esmé, and she was too busy taking pictures. She did not notice anything as Charlie looked around, fully alert of the games that were being played. Hermione encouraged her parents to check their new appearances. Jean's pocket mirror was flipped open, as both Jean and William had a laugh.

"Tell Uncle Grant and the rest of the nonsense we are getting up to?" Hermione asked.

There was a short nod, as William buzzed the three other couples and explained the situation. Albus Dumbledore the man who had left Harry unsupervised and alone, was coming to snoop around. The man who dared to sacrifice a child, via manipulation. Meanwhile Cyrus and Ophelia were speaking to Augusta.

"Well so much for seeing the dance, uninterrupted. Albus has thoroughly ruined our evening," Ophelia complained.

"He tends to do that often. This is a family gathering, what business does he have here!" Augusta whispered.

"Let us enjoy the rest of the items. We have about fifty minutes before dinner begins, and everybody will begin to move around," Cyrus commented.

"Now I am wondering if Albus let our children off in year one, because he had always planned to show up," Reginald wondered.

"Most likely. Let us not speak of him for now. Our children are adequately prepared. At least we got good recordings," Xeno replied, as he looked at Luna and Neville sharing a snuggle.

---

"So gentlemen, the geezer showed up. Asshole Dumbleduck." William explained to his specially invited visitors.

"That the crap-hat bloke with the long scraggly-arsed beard right? Seems like a proper git, that one." Mark replied.

"How are we dealing with this?" Abigail asked - for her this was a strange turn of events. Albus Dumbledore had always been the hero of the Magical world, until Grant had explained the recordings he had heard. The idea that Harry Potter was being groomed for sacrifice had upset the woman. Grant also had to explain Harry's initial abuse and malnourishment, and that too had cemented her views of the old man. Now, she was looking on, and she wondered what Albus Dumbledore was doing in the middle of London, as she listened to the fiasco.

"Hermione just cast some magic to change our faces. Hermione is pretending to be a Mexican. Harry looks like a miniature Ved," William replied.

"All this magic stuff is new to us. Send a picture on WhatsApp, Elizabeth wants to see the new look!" Andrew replied.

"Didn't this bollock-brain quack show up, some umpteen years ago. And you did throw a spanner in the works, didn't you?" Mark asked William.

"More like every tool we could find in the shop. And we have a lot of those. Anyway, let me send a picture of the new look. For Elizabeth and Josie, this is going to be quite a surprise," William replied.

There was a short pause as smartphones came out, and the pictures were sent across the various group chats. Víðarr and Týr as they looked at their phones, began to snigger. They honestly loved the entertainment. Even Njal and Pranusha were pretty amused, as they were nearby and hot gotten wind of the shenanigans.

Pranusha examined the area, and found Freyja's work to be excellent. She however, made a secondary pass as she very subtly cleaned the last trace of Harry and Hermione's magic out of the area. While she did not know exactly who Albus Dumbledore was, she knew enough to tell that he was not well liked, and he was an intruder. She did trust the intuitions of Amba, after all. The rest of William's visitors were looking at the new appearances of Jean and her husband, and they continued to discuss the issue over the communicators. William thought about how he could delay the bearded menace.

"Invictus? Get multiple combat drones and send me a map of the area. I will position them, and we will use the parabolic reflector. Let us see if he understands how to track targets or if he just plans to follow the cheese. We want Harry's signature bleeding through the dish," William replied.

"A most excellent solution. I am organising to have Fumblecock's socks and shoes tagged. He has decided to be very bold, and I will be very bold, also!" Invictus replied.

As Harry listened to everything, he suddenly had a new idea.

"You know what Sirius? Why don't you play the nice route. Meet Albus cordially and drag him over? I can be some type of Guild apprentice and Hermione is the I.C.W Potioneering Guild big wig?" Harry suggested. Sirius thought about it and decided that it was a good prank, as long as they could upkeep the disguises.

"You sure he won't detect you?" Sirius asked.

"Freyja is sure. She has her talents at these types of things," Hermione replied.

"Harry, I am going to send Albus off on a little mini-game. I will send magical pings off from inside empty rooms and through opposing walls. I will use the parabolic reflector. Let the bearded menace walk off some of his energy this afternoon. Coming to my damned house was already enough," William suggested.

"Time for some cat and mouse then," Harry replied, as he considered that Albus did not understand that he was not tracking an average wizard. Tonight he would get an unknown demonstration of magical drones.

---

"You three, over here please?" Lilly Potter asked as she looked from beyond the Veil.

"What is he doing?" James asked as he materialised.

"Nothing bad. Today he was supposed to be celebrating Divali. Went to see Priya perform with the rest of them. Then Albus showed up," Lilly explained.

"I am really getting to hate this man in the afterlife. So what did they do?" James asked, as Glaucon and Invictus the 1st materialised.

"Oh, he is going to use his wits tonight. All the magic that has been cast is wandless. Their magical signatures and appearances have been altered. The residual magic has been cleaned form the area. As soon as Albus cast the first spell this evening, Harry knew. Now they are sending him on a wild goose chase. Multiple drones are positioned in far off places, they are just emulating his magical signature." Lilly explained.

"The Peverell Magic is still part of the Elder wand. And Harry and the rest have the combat amps built into their arms. It is the most powerful magical foci on the planet because of its intimate integration into their biology. Now the Elder wand will only behave like an inferior second grade Peverell wand. Powerful, but submissive to the combat amp. Albus is the master of an old, outdated wand." Glaucon replied, proudly.

"Why does Harry seem rather ticked off this evening," Invictus the 1st wondered.

"He was hoping to see Priya dance. He usually pays attention, and he looks at her feet and her movements and checks if it is in time with the drumming. He also pays attention to fingers to see her hand expressions. He also looks at her facial expressions and considers the story being told. He likes to take the performance apart, very carefully. So he does feel cheated on, by missing that this evening. Pri improved with her classes in India, and Harry and Hermione were busy covering their tracks, instead of enjoying the performance." Lilly replied.

"You make it sound like you carefully watch what he does too, during these performances!" James laughed.

"I do watch. And I watch the both of them, which is why I called the lot of you. Anyway, the program intermission is coming soon. Everybody generally gets dinner and then they visit the stalls, while the singing continues in the background. I would argue the real fun is at Peverell Manor this year. Even Alice and Frank are out this evening," Lilly replied affectionately.

"Ah. Well, perhaps we can look over our old friends. It makes me happy to see them. Harry going toe-to-toe with Albus is something that makes me proud. I regret we didn't get guns when you insisted. We should have shot the Death Eaters." James replied.

"Harry isn't short on guns. I wonder what they built recently?" Lilly asked as they looked on, expectantly at the Peverell men.

"Oh, we have permission then, granddaughter?" Glaucon asked.

"Sure. Barricading the solar system is hard work. We have all been very busy. So yes, an update please?" Lilly asked.

Say no more!" Glaucon replied, as he and Invictus summoned a scrying portal. Then they began to look through the recent portfolios, as James and Lilly waited for an explanation. What she heard surprised her and even James.

"Good golly. He figured it out. Total immunity to the unforgivables. Cyclonic shields!" Glaucon exclaimed, as he jumped for joy.

"He what?" James asked.

"Built a new type of shield to block unforgivables. It cycles subatomic particles into the path of the spell, and reduces the energy to harmless neutrons. The intent is knocked out of the spell with pure brute force application of particles. Any spell at all that uses subatomic particles in a similar manner can also be blocked. And that is stacked at the top of his standard shields which have been massively improved," Glaucon explained.

"I guess he doesn't plan to give Moldypants and the Death Munchers a chance. Magical England will have no idea what hit them?" Lilly asked curiously.

"Looks like complete slaughter is eventually on the way. And then the lad put everything in a cloth sari for Priya. It might be the most protected outfit on the entire planet. He also developed High Entropy Alloys too. A seven metal mix called Auramite. Harder than diamond, far more magically resistant than titanium. Hard enough to keep mono-molecular blades sharp, after they clang on objects." Invictus replied.

"What about my dear Hermione? She seems to be having fun, after that last ordeal." Lilly asked.

"She learnt a lot of new runes. Her elemental control of water and her ability to conjure illusions is probably ahead of Rowena Ravenclaw. She truly suffered on that mountain to awaken her magic. Such a precious, brave girl to suffer for Harry's safety," Glaucon whispered sadly.

"Two peas in a pod, that lot. She is an honorary Peverell. But then our boy was adopted by the Grangers too. They do share them up.

I am looking at their two latest projects. Have you seen what the Daphne built? That algorithm is a more traditional direction for magic, but it is brilliant. Letting the magic do the work, but allowing it to be guided by scientific constraints. That is a serious piece of hardware in the Goblin cave," Invictus replied, as he materialised the Raven-II. Everyone looked at the curved sweeping lines and even the cannons and the illusionary cockpit. They even took a tour of the proposed areas. Lilly approved of the fish tank.

"She is beautiful. Sleek. She will serve Harry and the rest, well. I see the wing and engine pods are missing. What do they plan to do for that?" Lilly asked.

"Er, let me check that particular corner of the workshop. So let's see, a new hypothetical tungsten beam weapon, a plasma mortar, a shotgun styled rail cannon, wait they built a ten foot mech, self-tracking grenades, plant grenades for Neville, a war mace for Ronald, oh wait those weapons are for a tank and….."

Invictus continued to list off more doomsday weapons, as the group laughed. Eventually, he arrived at a small football sized apparatus, and something that looked like a gyroscope.

"There it is. This is a small prototype muon-catalysed fusion reactor. It already works, but it isn't as good as the FiendFyre decomposition reactor. They are just looking to scale it up to counter the inefficiency. He needs to make a small alteration, and he can build this as big as he wants, with obscene amounts of power.

I am seeing a possible gravity generator, if they can get those arithmantic points moving. That static design won't do the job. But they are almost there. Even in such an inefficient form, they will be miles ahead of propulsion designs that require exhaust mass," Invictus commented, as he looked at a small communicator that had many small physical shapes hovering over it.

"Er, Invictus is that what I think it is?" Glaucon asked, as Invictus began to examine the floating blob. The blob came into being and it was magnified. The pair of men saw the smaller particles as they were locked by small superconducting fields.

"This is…oh my. This is programmable matter. The particles are huge, but he could miniaturise this eventually. And it is being manufactured by….oh dear that makes sense. Set it and forget it." Invictus replied.

"Programmable matter?" Lilly asked.

"Think about multipurpose sand that can build any type of design almost instantly. His particles are quite huge. But eventually, he will be able to fabricate anything, anywhere. It looks like it is being developed for their armour systems. They are trying to build the muscle weave first, automatically." Invictus replied.

"It's a shame that it takes so long to manufacture. The existing solution can only generate a small amount of it. They need more processing power. Let us see what Daphne will come up with, as she maintains most of the code now. We can place some bets!" Glaucon laughed, as Lilly smirked.

She felt proud – her son and his little gang of friends were pushing magical research within England to its absolute peak. And she was getting the magical soap opera of her dreams.

Harry had achieved more than everything Lilly had ever wanted for him.

---

The dinner at the Mandir had arrived.

Because of the large crowd, the Mandir usually opted to serve meals early. Dinner after the program was completed, caused the night to run much too late. The unique arrangement of continuous feeding was a good compromise, as it gave the kitchen staff and the attendees flexibility. People were not obligated to stay the entire night. Some people came for a while, ate and left. Others came to meet their family and friends, and would eat at home after leaving. Some chose to celebrate completely at the Mandir. People were free to do as they wished, and it was a relaxed informal environment. The kitchens were a well-oiled machine that understood how to handle the chaos easily. The large crowd was broken into small groups, and each of them were given food in a caterer-style manner on a tray. There were multiple stations, and there was always small groups of individuals coming in and out of the kitchen. People would sit at long communal tables that had been specially prepared to house the public, which were at the back of the building.

In the case of the Hogwarts group, they usually dined in a separate smaller hall, closer to the kitchen. However, the entire Hogwarts group did not run off to get dinner this year. Instead, during the small intermission, Ophelia, Amy and Jean took all of the other women around for a trip. Bodil, Kari and even Freyja had bought some things that they found interesting. It included incense, jewellery and other small pieces of clothing. Freyja was curious about something that she had seen in the kitchen, and she was now eating the dessert out of a small Styrofoam cup.

"This rice dish is fantastic. What is it called?" Freyja asked Hermione.

"Kheer. It is a wet rice pudding. But I think grandma has a better recipe. We do have a lot of it home. We tend to stuff our faces full of this, long after Divali has passed. She makes it at our request, at random times during the year too!" Hermione explained.

"Oh I hope I can get some to carry back. Do you know the recipe?" Freyja asked.

"No. That is absolutely…classified. Without Exception." Hermione replied, as both girls had a bout of laughter.

Freyja realised that the family recipe for this dish, had to be some type of long held secret. That was not an unreasonable thing, as Grandmothers were possessive of their trade secrets.

Njal was touring the stalls, as Ronald carried Víðarr around as he offered explanations. Týr was having a walk with Aliénor, while Esmé and Charlie were holding hands and having a discreet snogging session. Fleur and Bill were looking for some of the more unusual snacks. Their goal was to try something new, every year.

"Having fun?" Ronald asked Víðarr.

"Yes. Hilmir back home enjoying the view and sensations too. It makes me feel happy that the ancient ways are still alive, even in the depths of all the modernisation," Víðarr replied.

"Many of the purebloods observe the Anglo-Saxon practices. And those are an offshoot of the Nordic form of worship that arrived here. I suppose I share Hermione's opinion. I don't know whose God is the real one, but I am grateful to nature. She blesses us, and looks upon us. And I think my time at your place helped me to connect to the earth and the creatures that live on it," Ronald replied.

"I am happy I came here tonight. Hilmir and I will travel and see more of the world, eventually. I suppose I have had my curiosity awakened. Now I want to know about what every culture does for its celebrations. On certain auspicious days back home, there is the Blót. We offer our produce and our blood, imbued with magic. I saw similar things here tonight," Víðarr replied.

"Percy came to that conclusion too. But you don't have to wait. Put aside some time, pick a place and go with the transporter. Do it as regularly as your heart desires. Carry Hilmir too, take a fly and clear your head. Immerse yourself in the language and ask around. Eat the food too, that one is my favourite. Percy visits magical Rome and the Italian countryside on a regular basis. Magical France is an option too," Ronald suggested.

"I think I will do that. Maybe a good fly with Hilmir will be enjoyable," Víðarr considered.

"I see that Freyja talked to you, and you made her laugh. I thought that was welcome," Ronald inquired.

"Yes, but I believe she was merely amused, by which she always took for granted. I still feel like a child in a new world even with my mother visiting me," Víðarr replied.

"I felt that way for a while. I would argue I still felt like a stranger to the non-magical world up until I embarked for your place. Give it time. Knowing Harry and Hermione demands that you get acquainted with everything. You better believe that you are an excellent shot with a rifle. Uncle William says you are far better than the SAS recruit material. And that is saying something, as those types are already hard asses" Ronald replied.

"Thanks. Everyone is good at something. I don't want to find myself lacking. I can remember the night Sten was healed. Harry's mother never faltered. And yet she can dance like that. My mother said that she never saw footwork like that, in her life," Víðarr admitted.

"I used to say the same exact thing. I thought I was no good at anything. Harry encouraged Neville and Luna, and those two encouraged me. And Harry and Hermione will help you every step of the way, in any case. And I don't think Uncle William has forgotten both of you. He can forge people into excellence. That is what he did for Harry. And he will do that for both of you. But most importantly, I will do for you and Týr, what they all did for me," Ronald replied as he patted the boy's shoulder.

Víðarr with his chiselled jaw, steel grey eyes and his pitch black hair, was known for his brooding or his smug facial expression. However, he suddenly smiled and hugged Ronald. On his face was pure happiness.

"The All-Father sent you. He had to!" Víðarr replied in Old Norse, as there was a solitary tear in his eye.

"Let his will be done, then." Ronald replied in the Old Norse.

Freyja had not missed the exchange between the two boys. They were pretty far away, but both of the girls had noticed the rather tender moment. Víðarr looked like a lost lamb, in the middle of an empty field. Hermione caught the girl looking on and asked:

"Surprised?"

"Yes. He is confusing now. I had expected at least ten badly structured attempts to woo me. The lines were supposed to be very corny, and he is also supposed to make jokes about non-magicals too," Freyja replied.

"Ah. Well, he didn't know better. He always saw you as a person who came into his world. He sat down one evening and asked how marriage and dating worked in our world. I felt sorry for him, because he was immediately mortified. He though the rest of the world did arranged marriages. And some places do it still, but the point was that it was foreign to you."

"That…explains a lot of things. He seems very nervous. The smug walk has gone missing," Freyja replied.

"He is hitting the obstacle course, and he often gets thrown down on the floor regularly with the combat mannequins. Harry and I are not forgiving on them either. They get really bad beat downs, and Parvati and Padma will usually heal them and then they go for another round. Týr will often take a break when he is truly overextended, but Víðarr will keep going until he is unconscious. He also reads a lot, if he isn't watching cartoons. Ronald has been teaching him how to cook, and he likes that very much," Hermione replied.

"He likes to cook now? You upset everything where you go. Now I don't know who he is," Freyja remarked.

"I don't even think he knows who he is. He knows who is father mandated him to be. But he is figuring him out. And that for now, is good enough. I say that learning comes from curiosity. And he is very curious. A good trait to have, one that has served both of us well," Hermione replied.

"What do you think changed his attitude, as of recently? The idea of him pushing himself to complete exhaustion is a complete opposite to what he usually does?" Freyja asked.

"Our memories. He asked to see the I.C.W files of the things we have investigated. He often rewatches our combat in the forest. He always thought fighting was about valour and lineage. The idea that the fight could be just to save a vulnerable person? We had never shown him the confrontations in the huts. And we had not shown him how filthy it was inside the container, back in Norway. He cried long tears when he saw everything without any filters," Hermione replied, sadly.

"Well, now I understand why. It makes sense. I used to tell him he was a spoiled brat. My entertainment is gone," Freyja responded, almost regretfully.

Hermione suddenly frowned, as Harry mentally buzzed her.

"Ah, Fumbleduck has found himself in the stalls. Sirius is approaching. Time to play along," Hermione replied, as she left Freyja. The redhead looked on, as she was planning to share the events of the night with Master Skallagrimson. Hermione picked up Daphne nearby, and asked everyone to congregate into a group, over the comms device.

---

Albus had spent the entire night walking around to random locations. He could often feel a strong trace of the Storm-Lord's presence. As the night passed, he wondered if it was sensible to continue. As he tried to track the source of the magic, it blinked from one spot to another in random patterns. Albus soon realised that he was being toyed with, and he let off the chase. He decided to investigate the surroundings out of his curiosity.

Better not to give the Storm Lord any more satisfaction.

He also was curious to find out what about this event excited his students this much – He had only toured mountains and remote areas, when he had visited India almost eighty years ago. He began to purchase some of the sweets from the stalls. Finally, he had settled on his new favourite. The dessert could be described as almost bordering on sickly sweet. However if well made, the dessert could be quite crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Many people liked it for that textural contrast. Fried flour and sugary syrup were a dependable snack across many cultures.

"Ah this item is indeed wonderful," Albus remarked as he munched on the last bit of a jalebi. Sirius was already next to Albus, and he decided to respond casually like a random old man looking to make small talk.

"It is. But I like to call it diabetes in a portable package. Eat enough and you could go into a sugar coma," Sirius explained, as he stood next to Albus.

The headmaster immediately sensed the passive magic of the man and turned his head. He was surprised to find Aurelian Black speaking with him. However, Aurelian did not seem to be the least bit concerned for now. There was also a vibe about the grey steel-haired man that suggested that mischief was afoot. Somehow the body language seemed familiar to Albus, but he could not place it.

"Me, personally I am partial to the Barfi. I do like the milk sweets. The nutty ones are my favourite. The Pista Barfi has pistachios in them," Sirius explained as he signalled the vendor to bag eight pieces. Sirius had a wide smile on his face, as he looked at Albus directly. Albus smiled and pretended to be a random passerby. Then, there was a small curious frown that Sirius deliberately placed on his face. He stretched out his hand and pinged Albus with his combat amp.

Albus was now confused, as he had never felt such a magical signature before. The wandless magic was far more concentrated than a wand, but far more fluid. It was also very powerful, and yet Lord Black seemed to hardly put out any effort. Albus began to wonder how much power Aurelian Black possessed. Based on what he had broadcasted into the environment, the power of his wandless magic was far above most wand wielding magicals. He certainly was not a pushover.

"I certainly did not expect you to be here Albus. Namaste and Happy Divali. Keeping an eye on your charges?" Sirius asked jovially.

Albus was confused for a moment, as there was no venom in his voice. Sirius began to walk away from the stall, as he beckoned Albus to follow him.

"I certainly am. How did you know it was me?" Albus asked.

"I have a fair amount of wandless capability. The Black magic was wandless in the old days of yore. We began to use wands after they became popular in the 10th century. And they were not as refined as they are now. Why do you think I funded Percy's research? I wanted to get some tomes translated. Most of the exercises that strengthen the mind for Occulumency, can be applied a little differently to assist with wandless magic. I told Percy whatever else he discovered, was rightfully his lore to keep," Sirius replied.

"That certainly makes sense. Was it by chance you, who provided the information about wandless magic to young Neville and his friends?" Albus asked.

"Even if I said yes, you would still try to independently verify the claim. But I will say that yes, I did. However our elusive friend contributed the part that is associated with breakneck exercise. Have you noticed the spectacular maturation of those students of yours?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, it has been noted by the staff. They often think that our little group of them naturally belong to the NEWT classes, based on their appearance. I have noticed that even you are quite well built for an older man," Albus joked.

"That is deliberate Albus. I am what the mundanes call a gym rat – a person who spends a lot of time exercising. I often debated funding a gym for Hogwarts. Oh Ronald would love that. I would have eventually caught on without probing you wandlessly. The eyes are the trick. Your eyes twinkle from your magical power. And they still twinkle, even right now. But good disguise. You had me for a moment," Sirius replied.

"I will take that as a compliment then. You seem to be in a good mood?" Albus asked.

"Once again Albus you misunderstand me. Our battles in the Wizengamot are for political reforms. The fundamentalist purebloods are too entrenched in the system. I merely decided to give them a taste of the heavy handed behaviour that they give mundane born magicals. And I am within my right to make my demands. If I see changes, I will lighten up.

Also consider that Ms. Singh has been responsible for keeping me in prime health. Her dancing gave her comfort for a long time when no magicals could help her, or listen to her. She deserves to be supported, and magical England could use an introduction to mundane Social Studies. It is a crime that they know little about the world at large," Sirius explained, as he gestured to the surroundings with his hands.

"I don't find myself disagreeing with the idea of magicals knowing more about the world. But the magical world is slow to change. I have tried to get the Muggle Studies Curriculum reformed, but I have had no progress. I have noticed that Padma and Parvati Patil have become close to Ms. Singh. We do need more healers, as we have a shortage. I am happy about her involvement. She could have chosen to abandon Hogwarts. Many other young women are following in her footsteps," Albus replied.

"True. She is a Hogwarts stalwart, and she is loyal to the place. Magical England does not deserve that woman, honestly. But let us not talk about politics tonight. We can resume our usual disagreements in the next Wizengamot session. Come Albus let me introduce you to two friends of mine," Sirius replied smoothly.

"After you," Albus replied as he made his way over to the small group that had conveniently huddled together.

Daphne had suddenly snaked her hand around Harry's waist as she waited for the reaction. She was quite surprised when Harry wrapped his hand possessively around her waist. While it was not sexually suggestive, it definitely gave off the 'this person is mine' vibe all too well. Daphne rubbed her fingers in little swirls around Harry's love handles, and Harry reciprocated without hesitation. He even dared to play with her hands and her fingers, and to tighten the hugs to the point where they were bordering on intimate.

"Very cheeky Ms. Greengrass. You will find that I will not be tempted by your devilish charms," Harry replied cantankerously. Harry appeared calm, and his magic was also calm. However, nobody else knew that he was quite excited about what was going on.

"As long as he buys into the story, mission accomplished," Daphne answered neutrally, as she tried her best to not kiss Harry silly on the spot. Harry on cue, started to play with her hair, and cuddle the girl. Daphne's cheeks became red, as she just gave in and became goo in Harry's hands.

"That is disappointing. You capitulated in under a minute," Harry whispered.

"I am going to call for my two hundred and sixty pounds of flesh one day. You are excused on the basis that I will get back at you tenfold. Have your fun, Mr. Patil." Daphne replied impishly, with an evil grin on her face. Harry did not reply, because he was the original drama queen after all. He also liked the physical attention. Hermione had caught an eyeful and snuggled up around Ronald. There was a wink between Hermione and Harry that more or less said:

This is a competition.

The redhead Hufflepuff behaved normally, and everyone else admired how perfect they looked. People had not considered that they had been cuddling for a while. Harry switched on his mage sight for only three seconds before he observed something profound, and immediately stopped. There was a small grin on his face for a fleeting moment before his eyes refocused on Albus Dumbledore. Neville and Luna then followed suit with public displays of affection, before Percy and Penny decided they might as well show off.

Tracey was now fuming mad.

"Do you people realise that I am the 9th wheel tonight? I am like that front wheel that nobody wants on the tricycle, complete with the bloody trailer!" Tracey complained before everyone laughed. Parvati and Padma appeared out of the crowd, and suddenly hugged Tracey on both sides in a sisterly fashion.

"Now this is a Slytherin flavoured sandwich that I approve of! Sadly we have no Hufflepuff to contribute the cheese and…" Tracey joked, before Tonks joined the group of girls unexpectedly and yelled loudly, "Wotcher! Group Hug!"

Tonks had hugged the trio of the girls from the back and there was sudden giggling because of the random but affectionate assault. Albus arrived to a giggling crowd, and two new faces he had never seen. Hermione and Harry left their mental barriers exposed, as Morgana's items began to gather the necessary deceptive memories. Sirius began with the introductions.

"My lovelies, this is believe it or not…Professor Dum bledore," Sirius replied casually. There was a nod, as the look of recognition occurred. There were some confused expressions before Ronald replied, "De-aging potion. That is pretty neat!"

"Quite observant Mr. Weasley. Ten points to Hufflepuff, as soon as I get back!" Albus replied.

"Good to have you here, headmaster. Did you enjoy the program?" Neville asked.

"I enjoyed what I did manage to see. I did miss Ms. Singh's dance. I decided to come along just to ensure that my students were safe. I was curious about the festivities myself. I did get acquainted with the sweets and the delicacy vendors. They were fantastic." Albus replied.

"I like the disguise. So you were strawberry blonde back in the day? We would never think that. Enjoying the night so far?" Luna asked.

"Not as much as you. I could not help but notice the laughter and the hugging. It brightens my soul, very much. If there were no repercussions, I would have this picture published for everyone to see that there is hope for all of us," Albus replied.

"One day Albus. Tonight is a night of celebration, I say better to laugh. The two new people who you do not know are over here. Hari Patil was the winner of the French Artificing Guild Runes competition. This is the young mystery man who made Ms. Greengrass the offer, on the Guild's conditions. The young mystery man all the ladies whisper about at Hogwarts. And coincidentally, the cousin of these two ladies right here," Sirius replied.

Albus then stretched out his hand to greet the boy, but Harry put his hands together in a fluid and practiced manner. He also stared at Albus, and smiled widely as he relaxed his eyes.

"Namaste! You must be Daphne's principal? She has told me all about you!" Harry replied, in the thickest Indian accent you could ever imagine out of someone's mouth. It was full of Amba's intonation, and the subtle left to right shifting of his head only added authenticity. The rest of the assembled crowd looked on in shock, as Harry said:

"Why are the rest of you looking at me like that? That is how I always speak!" Harry replied.

"I suppose they expected you to shake his hand?" Hermione replied, in an accent that was indistinguishable from a crazed Latina woman. It was sharp and seemed to be on the edge of wanting to be erotic and assaulting a person with reckless abandon. Everyone was laughing as Hermione was equally absurd now.

"Ah Professor, this is Herminia Grimaldo. This young woman is Ronald's girlfriend. More importantly she is the researcher who worked on the Skaði. Incidentally, she is Gris Arbanoz's apprentice and Ronald's potions teacher during the holidays," Sirius replied smoothly.

"Ah. A pleasure then!" Albus replied as Hermione gave the headmaster a cordial handshake.

"Mr. Dumbledore. Your reputation precedes you. I have heard Ronald say only fantastic things about you. I know that you have been quite accommodating of his Quidditch practice, and very flexible of his educational choices. I admire you for that!" Hermione replied, as Sirius walked away.

"I would like to see England represented at the World Cup, Ms. Grimaldo. I believe it to be a worthwhile endeavour. Will you continue to be in England for a while? I would like to speak to you about the development of the Skaði. It is truly a revolutionary thing," Albus explained, as he looked briefly into her mind.

All he managed to see was that Hermione had used a fair amount of her own innovations and even Mundane chemistry to solve the problem. However, she was just merely a potioneer, and not anything else. It had taken a lot of screaming, hair pulling, and loud cursing over the 'smartphone' with Ronald Weasley. Her magic also felt mild, and more suited to understanding reagents. It even felt similar to Severus Snape. Albus was now listening to last few sentences of Hermione's reply, as he considered that the Werewolves were now being re-integrated into Wizarding Society. It was all because of this young lady.

"I sadly will be returning to France via Portkey with Ms. Singh tonight. But perhaps we can communicate remotely. I will send my instant messaging address. And I do not mind talking about my methods. I should warn you. I prefer text messaging. Not a people person," Hermione suggested. Albus mused that the girl was probably a carbon copy of Severus, but somewhat more sociable.

"That would be appreciated. And you young Mr. Patil, will you be staying with Ms. Greengrass for a while longer? You are indeed a beautiful couple. I would not mind if you wanted to visit Hogwarts and see where your cousins and Daphne attend?" Albus asked. Harry carefully placed an excited look on his face, before he displayed a frustrated look.

"I cannot say if I will be able to facilitate a meeting with you. I will have to ask my master for permission first. And he denies the request, so it will be. The Guild asked me to swear to keep their secrets, and magic demands sacrifice. As to what I do at the Guild well….I can share something actually. My master has allowed me this one detail."

Albus paused as he listened carefully.

"What I can tell you freely, was that I worked on the new replacement for the data slate that is coming soon. Take a look at the at the glass body and shine a light through it. Try to cast some shadows, and you will see my crowning achievement. I managed to replicate a scientific structure, that is all I will say?" Harry replied proudly.

Albus had already looked into the boys mind, and was surprised when the Guild preferred to work in darkened rooms. The instructor stayed behind a one-way glass mirror, and taught via muggle technology. Albus saw that the boy was an excellent 'computer programmer' and that he had taught Daphne many of her recent winning tricks. The boy was traditionally educated in the muggle system, and was fairly good at Mathematics. He had taught Daphne her equations. He also spent a lot of time doing wandless magic by crafting wooden objects. It was a common thing in his community, after all.

He had been taught his magic by his mother, who somewhat resembled Ms. Priya Singh. His deepest desire was wanting to leave his comfortable little village in a place called Maharashtra, and to see the world. There were other small memories of the boy frequenting fast food stalls with both of the Patil twins. He often asked about Hogwarts and wondered what it would be like to sit in a class, and learn magic. He had learnt all of his magic with practical activities purely by himself. He also hated brooms and flying. He honestly preferred his bicycle.

Albus quickly withdrew from the boy's mind and realised that there were Artificing Guilds, and perhaps Severus had missed the details. After all, he too was part of a Transfiguration Guild. He even considered using Muggle technology would offer advantages that would throw curious magical investigators, off track. How would Severus be capable of tracking the e-mails and other muggle things? Albus even considered the idea of a sophisticated pureblood like Daphne liking a poor boy from the countryside, romantic.

Perhaps opposites attracted.

"Very well. I hope your master will give me a favourable reply. I look forward to examining your achievement," Albus replied, as Harry pressed a button in his pocket. A drone that was at least two hundred metres off, flared as an entire ten power crystals of energy was bled through a parabolic reflector. Albus' expression changed, as he suddenly felt like he should be somewhere else. Perhaps he could make one last attempt at confronting the Storm-Lord. He was still watching.

"This has been lovely my dear students. Take the rest of the night off. You can arrive tomorrow morning with your parents. Ten points to everyone for building good positive relationships with each other. Hari and Herminia, I hope that we will casually meet again, sometime," Albus replied. Harry and Hermione waved as Albus left the celebration. Freyja was quite a distance away from Bodil and Kari, and her grin could be seen. When Albus was out of the building, Harry broadcast to the group privately:

"Well, that was entertaining. Right under his beaky sized nose then?" Harry asked, before everyone laughed.

Albus was on his way out of the main hall of the Mandir, when he noticed a face that he knew all too well. He was quite surprised, as he decided to greet the former student. Why was Remus Lupin here? Something about the man's countenance was off. He was even bigger and stronger, and he looked perfectly healthy and content. There was a faint trace of his magic in the environment and it felt ancient and pure. Remus was feeling combative this evening.

Perhaps he now worked for Lord Black? That could complicate things, as Remus had been indispensable to the Order of the Phoenix. Had he changed his mind about working for the greater good? Would he be able to call upon his assistance again? What if Remus was unpleased about what had happened with Harry? Albus also noticed that Remus was flanked by a group of three other people. Albus wondered if they all suffered from Lycanthropy. In any case, with the Skaði it would not matter. Albus approached the man.

"Hello Headmaster, it is good to see you," Remus replied, as he shook Albus' hand cordially.

"Remus my boy. Good to see you. I suppose Lord Black told you I was here?" Albus asked.

"He did," Remus answered nonchalantly.

"How have you been Remus?" Albus asked.

"Since the invention of the Skaði? Quite well. However the same cannot be said about Sirius. And I was only referring to my physical health in any case," Remus replied calmly.

"How is he?" Albus asked quietly, as he considered what would happen next. Things were not going well, at all. Albus felt exposed under the man's piercing gaze, and he found Remus' mind was hardened like an iron wall.

"Well he is a full-on alcoholic. He is upset about Harry's death. As am I," Remus replied firmly.

"I am sorry Remus. I placed the boy in the Muggle world because I wanted him to have a normal childhood. I had no idea that the boy would fall ill," Albus replied, as the drone continued to send off large amounts of energy. However, Albus could not leave this conversation, as Remus's eyes became utterly golden in retaliation. Remus was also aware that Albus wanted to escape to track the energy signature, and he deliberately delayed Albus via the conversation.

"So you are telling me that the boy had no medical check-ups? Not even muggle ones? The boy had been suffering with the condition for a while. And nobody was alerted? Did you honestly think Petunia would do a good job of taking care of Harry?" Remus asked softly and dangerously.

"Arabella Figg was his neighbourhood next door. And she…"

"Albus, that batty old woman cannot know his living conditions. She would not know. She could only see his public appearance. She can't cast any spells either. You have no idea if Harry could have been taking care of himself. Lilly was very resourceful, and I can be sure that he inherited that trait. Your negligence is utterly astounding. I had asked many times to see him. You told me no. I could have caught the issue. I offered to teach him magic, early on. He could have been here tonight, with his godbrother. Happy, healthy, and prepared to handle anything. He would have been unstoppable." Remus replied.

"Remus I…..I should have let you see him. I was concerned that he wasn't ready. Ready for being the boy-who-lived. Petunia did a fairly good job, the boy was an excellent student. He was quite big and strong for his age. I am truly sorry, Remus." Albus replied, as his face genuinely saddened. Suddenly Albus' guilt weighed down on him, but Remus could see Albus' eyes clearly. He saw a hint of a calculating stare in the headmaster's visage. The Fenrir in him could detect the tinge of the predator in Albus Dumbledore. Remus considered every scrap of the facial expressions on display, by Albus.

So he did feel genuinely sorry for Harry, but he still considered everything to be completely necessary.

"I am glad you decided to come Albus. Sirius is right. We will have nothing to do with you and Hogwarts, any more. I could remember when Minerva wrote to me, but the pain was too fresh. And it still is. I am starting to believe those unknown wizards, the Storm-Lord and the Rune-Priestess are right. We continue to lose good people, and nothing changes," Remus replied.

"Many people think so. I cannot see how such violence will create a functioning society…" Albus replied, before Remus stepped into his personal space. Remus towered over Albus Dumbledore.

"I have sacrificed everything to support you. Now I have sacrificed Harry too. Best regards, headmaster. That is the end of our relationship I am afraid. And that includes Sirius who is sick and in a mess. Everything you touch, falls apart. I had always heard that you were a man of many secrets and you could not be trusted. And now I am starting to believe them. And yes, you will have to try harder with your wandless mental probe into my mind. That you would dare to pilfer my personal secrets? I do suppose I owe Lord Black one thousand quid. I backed the wrong side, once again." Remus replied, with finality in his voice. He stepped back and walked off.

Albus sighed as he walked off from the dense crowd, and made his way towards the car park. So Lord Black had still thrown a jab at him and won. Lord Black had told Remus of his ability to perform wandless legilimency probes, and the man had prepared himself appropriately. Remus would never trust him now, and that meant that Sirius would automatically follow.

"I should have expected this. If only all of you could understand the sacrifices, I must make for the greater good. I miss Harry too. But the prophecy is ironclad. Perhaps I will leave Neville to enjoy himself without intrusion from next year. Neville Longbottom is the boy of prophecy, and he will have to fight the Dark Lord. And both will have to perish," Albus whispered, as a nearby drone recorded his comments.

Albus walked for the next ten minutes as he continuously searched for the energy signature. Harry who was monitoring the situation from Priya's changing room, deployed a drone high up in the air. He sent out a magical pulse, before the drone uncloaked and began to charge a stunning shot. As Albus zoned into the magic he looked at the far o,ff object in the complete darkness. He witnessed a characteristic blue glow before it faded into nothing. Harry had done this to demonstrate that he had been flying. Also the other implication for Albus, was that weapons had been pointed at him. As the drone apparated away, Albus saw the small flash of lightning and made his conclusions.

He now believed that the Storm Lord had been flying with his armour and he had been hovering over the building. Aerial capability on demand had won the day again.

"So you were here tonight. Very well you win this round," Albus remarked, as Harry listened on via the parabolic microphone.

"I was right in front of your face, you moron. But thank you for your compliments," Harry whispered to himself, as the Headmaster disappeared in a flash of flames.

---

Part VI: An end to the drama

Everybody eventually teleported to Peverell Manor, after Albus was confirmed present at Hogwarts.

Every single piece of his clothing had been tagged with their best accelerometer tracking charm. Invictus did not even care if Albus had discovered the deception. This was a case of tit-for-tat against the headmaster. However, the portrait wondered if Albus would figure out the tracking charm. Or would he bask in the idea that he was untouchable? Invictus continued to ponder this train of thought, as the groups of people transported into Peverell Manor.

Priya arrived at her flat to find Camilla, Gris, Otto and the other staff regulars waiting for her. There were many hugs as small gifts were traded. Eventually, Fleur, Gabrielle and Aliénor arrived at the Manor, somewhat later with Clementine in tow. Clementine had not seen Harry and Hermione for a while, and she doted over the two of them.

Amba had asked the elves to get busy with lighting the deyas while they were at the Mandir. Now the entire Peverell complex (which included the three houses) was completely illuminated by the flickering flames. Magic had made the process pretty painless. Ronald immediately pulled the drone footage and Priya's performance broadcast on the illusionary movie theatre screen.

"There, now we can look at her with no interruptions!" Ronald replied, as Harry nodded. Fred and George then apparated to the apartment, and quickly arrived with thee boxes of custom made fireworks. There was an evil smile, as the twins rubbed their hands.

"I am going to enjoy this, am I?" Harry asked.

"Indeed Warlord Peverell. You tell us when we can let loose. I think we all want to eat first though. The aroma of the place did work up our appetite," Fred replied.

"Well, the usual suspects have hustled off to the kitchen. You might as well sit, and relax. Service is on us. Actually, let me go and help them," Harry replied as he briskly walked off to the hovering food karts.

Everyone walked out of the workshop area and went into a hall area that was the usual place for large dinners. After everyone was seated, the table was piled high with a plethora of dishes. There was much fussing as the people who lived or visited Peverell Manor, insisted on serving the others. After everyone including the elves had been served, the small serving group helped themselves.

Then, Hermione, Víðarr and Týr visited the Dragons and fed them some of the appropriate meat substitutes that Neville currently had under development. Hilmir and Fáfnir were pleased about no bones being in the way. They all found the new 'protein complex' to be nourishing, and Daphne and Hermione had to give each other a high-five. Then, they returned to the dining room to ensure that everyone else was taken care of.

The Greengrass family looked on in contentment at the rather unusual interactions. Daphne and Harry knew each other well enough to pass pots and spoons without even needing to utter a word. They also seemed to know each other's food preferences without being told anything. The same behaviour was seen between Ronald and Hermione and Ophelia asked Molly the obvious question.

"Molly, are they together?" Ophelia whispered under a privacy ward.

"Yes, they are! But they are keeping it secret as a prank. Hermione often says she won against Harry this round," Molly laughed.

"Perhaps. I saw some hands in interesting places with Harry and Daphne. They apparently have to do a covert dance around each other, before they figure it out. But I as a mother, can hope. I hope Lilly is pleased," Ophelia smiled.

"I am sure she is pleased. Her son has done right by everyone," Molly replied solemnly, as she looked at Frank and Alice. Ophelia cancelled the ward, and began to chit chat with the two people they had not seen for a while.

"Frank and Alice, it pleases me to see you up and about. How have you been going?" Ophelia asked.

"Besides the daily check-ins via messages and calls, we have been recovering slowly. If we do not use our magic, we get by just fine. Drawing on our magic is still painful, but Priya is working on something for us. The memory reconstruction is an important part of having a healthy occlumentic presence. And that will eventually help us to return to what we used to be," Alice replied.

"And that has been…?" Molly asked.

"Going well enough Molly. Harry and Hermione, and even Priya have done everything that they can to facilitate the process. However those sweethearts can do no more. We actually replay the memories in the Pensieve, as we reabsorb them into our mindscapes," Frank replied.

"So you have to effectively relive some parts of your life to reintegrate the memories?" Ophelia asked.

"Yes. But the memories occur quite a bit faster than our standard perception of time. We will be finished by next year we think. We only have the upper torso assisted externally," Alice replied. We have been healing."

"That is excellent. We had wondered why we weren't seeing you for a while. But those explanations are reasonable. I hope for a full recovery in the future," Cyrus replied.

"I hope so too Cyrus. Alice and I have been discussing what our new roles will be. Priya has explained that even if we heal, we might not be able to fight. While she has magical hands, there is so much even magic can fix. We visited the place where she went to, receive her training. Even they were flabbergasted by the kind of cruelty we were exposed to," Frank replied.

"Yeah, we do have some inbred genetics in the family. Heard she is collecting werewolves. Remus and his group over here will deal with that set of morons," Sirius replied, as Remus and the rest nodded in affirmation.

"Anyway, we are happy we attended tonight. Neville and Luna visit us at all random hours of the day. We spend time talking to each other, because there is so much that occurred over all of these years. It isn't like a relationship was already there to resume with our son. We know him a bit better now, but a lot to do yet." Frank replied.

"Maybe pops. But I love my parents all the same. I am going to have to drag both of you out of that house more often," Neville grinned.

"Ordering us around now, are you? Bold you are!" Alice teased.

"Have you seen the people in my immediate social circle, mum? Look at him over there. All his fault." Neville replied, before Harry put his hands up in the air in a self-congratulatory expression.

"Rascal he is, and a rascal he will always be," Daphne shouted before everyone laughed. Daphne had adopted the word from Ved, and it was rather appropriate.

After the dinner was done, the gift giving commenced. It was a complicated process, as there was no order to the entire spectacle. And with one person sometimes receiving gifts from multiple persons, it eventually became a game of piling things in small heaps.

Then Harry assembled the visitors, and carried them to the workshop. From there, he and Hermione stared the tour.

Harry and Hermione had become quite practiced at giving the 'workshop tour'. Harry and Hermione were easily able to explain even their recent adventures without breaking a single oath. The idea at large was that the magic that could be found in England, existed elsewhere. All one had to do was travel, and eventually you would bump into extraordinary things. He also explained the significance of the wand in Europe, and they had moved away from them. He also explained that plenty of places did wandless magic, but it was terribly difficult and not suited for combat.

Elizabeth, Josie and even Abigail were not prepared to see the three dragons that were casually lounging in the backyard. Bodil and Kari offered to give basic explanations about their Viking society, and how they had to make compromises to keep the dragons alive. Grace also made herself known, as she hopped around everybody's shoulder for cuddles. As the tour occurred, Freyja had a chance to examine Daphne's work. She found herself impressed by what the girl had achieved. Njal, Kari and Bodil had an opportunity to see the extended projects. The ten foot monster mech was not known to the Davis family, until Tracy took the thing for a walk.

"She really has a talent for operating that thing!" Reginald replied.

"We suspect that her magic is good at bearing high amounts of neural loads. Only she can walk the mech like that. There are at least twenty times more muscle polymers than our Thunderbolt-II, and she manages to move it in such a fluid manner. Even I stutter with it….." Harry explained.

"You know that thing represents my daughter. Loud and rowdy when people aren't around. Just like her drum kit," Amy replied.

"Wait till you hear the colour scheme she suggested for the thing. She calls it…Umbitch Pink," Hermione stated, as the parents laughed.

Eventually, the manufacturing bay was on display, and Harry introduced the new Hand Terminal V1 replacement. The bug like drones went about their business as they continued to construct devices tirelessly. Many of the drones had evolved gold nanowire nervous systems, and new levitation manipulators, and could even understand language. They had even picked out their own names, in binary.

"Are they going to take over the world?" Abigail asked.

"They don't have to take over anything. They are intrinsically already part of the world. They depend on the planet being a nexus point of magical energy to work. Their intelligence comes from Mother Nature actually," Harry explained before a caterpillar like drone crawled over and stood up. Then it made a clapping motion, while it tipped a floating lens actuator, almost like it was a monocle.

"Thank you, Number 42. You understand the meaning of life. Off you go," Harry explained as the drone slid off and went about its business.

"They have personalities?" Abigail asked.

"Just like the Sorting Hat actually? And he actually talks?" Harry asked.

"Oh right. I forgot about him. Silly me," Abigail replied ruefully, before the rest of the magicals had a laugh.

Eventually the group arrived at the hangar. Sirius had no problem showing the mothers of the boys 'their' favourite motorcycles. The six Thunderbolts were also on display, along with various SUVs. There were also a few jet cycles, and other discarded Warthog prototypes. Ginny and Astoria had their own corner, filled with Go-Karts and dune buggies.

Finally, everyone went out into the lawn.

For Abigail, Elizabeth and Josie, meeting the dragons and having a conversation with them through their riders was something else. For their husbands, it had already become normality. Ylva, Bjark and Thorsten were not strangers to magic, and even they were somewhat surprised too. However the dragons were quite pleased to meet everyone, and Daffodil even cracked jokes. Gris, Otto and the rest were not taken aback by anything, as they considered that Peverell Manor was a hotspot for impossible things.

Finally, the night ended with the spectacular fireworks that Fred and George had designed. They had somehow managed to shape the firework explosions into many of the images and stories from Hindu mythology. Some of them were just decorations and the others were filled with animated text and animals.

"That gentlemen, is bloody brilliant. I think your products have improved leaps and bounds. I am proud of these, I love them!" Harry replied as he hugged the Weasley twins.

"We know. These will sell out in India. And we know Christmas is the next big bash. We have you covered for Christmas Eve too!" George laughed, as Fred nodded.

"The one that bounces around, is that a prank?" Harry asked.

"Sure. That one has to be for a very special situation. We call it the Weasley-Whizz-Whanger. The triple-W-wonder," Fred replied.

"Something about that fireworks is buzzing me. I don't understand what it is. Like I should remember something, but I can't. Anyway getting the particles to bounce around is ingenious. You ready to open the store on Hogsmeade?" Harry asked.

"Nah, not yet. We want to have the best prank shop in the world. sow e are still refining things. And we are getting there. Ronald and Daphne have been of great help with that. We will leave you and Hermione to manufacture weapons of mass destruction, and consult with them instead." Fred laughed.

"Guilty as charged," Harry acknowledged, as they continued to look at the fireworks.

Eventually, containers of food were packed for the visitors. Harry even sent some of the new transporters, pistols, assault rifles and other assorted hardware for Nakula. Pranusha explained that the Ashrama usually maintained their own Divali functions, but people could go to other places if they pleased. Pranusha eventually disappeared, but not before hugging Harry, Hermione, Priya, Amba and Ved. There was another gentle hug that Pranusha gave the Indian twins, as she had explained:

"When you know enough, I want to see you making the climb. You will apprentice under Priya and when you are ready you will come," Pranusha explained.

The girls decided that they would continue to push as hard as possible, because they were excited about learning about the practices of their ancestors.

Camilla and the senior I.C.U. personnel, returned to France. The Delacours then left along with Aliénor, who was convinced that her both parents should attend next year. Aliénor and Týr had shared a polite kiss before the girl left, and Fáfnir had teased his rider consistently for the rest of the night. Kari had seen the chaste peck, and she had a laugh – her son was genuinely smitten with this girl, even if he had not known her for too long. Another surprise was the news that Lorna was dating Antônio. However, everyone considered the pair to be quite cute. Amba had finally joked that Lorna was making progress on getting married, and she had blushed.

The Nordic visitors were the last to go. Ylva, Bjark and Thorsten were happy to meet other people from Norway, and Freyja promised for more discussions to occur between their communities. There had been visits between the elders and Master Skallagrimson, but nothing more than that for now. The three werewolves were pretty happy to meet Harry, Hermione and Priya, in particular. Bjark and Thorsten had taken easily to William, Grant, Mark and Andrew as they were all military men. Percy and Ylva became instant friends as she was a genuine linguist, after all. After the wolves had returned to their village, it was only the Dragon Reserve individuals were present.

"How is father?" Víðarr asked in Old Norse, as he held his mother's hand.

"Dear son, he misses you but he won't admit it. But I will tell him that on my magic that I saw you this evening, and that you have grown much in such a short time. I am so proud. Continue to work hard," Bodil replied softly.

"Thank you, mother. I miss him. Tell him I said so. But I need to do this. While your food, sentimental items and your voice is never far away, I missed seeing you in person," Víðarr replied.

"You are from my blood too. I say be your mother's child. Be curious. Explore. Ask questions. And when the time comes, fight for that which is right. When you are visiting one weekend, you will cook for me won't you?" Bodil replied, with a smile on her face.

"I would love to!" Víðarr replied, before Bodil turned to Ronald who was smiling from ear to ear.

"And you, Jorufægir Ronald will continue to look after him, won't you?" Bodil asked humorously.

"Both of them. But 'that Frenchwoman' isn't planning to leave any of Týr for me," Ronald countered, as both of the women laughed.

Eventually, the women had a small conversation with all the dragons. After they returned from the chat that occurred on the lawn, Njal asked if he could bring some of his friends from the security outpost, next year.

"You know mum, we just need to run our own thing. You, some talented musicians and we can do something fantastic. And you can dance as much as you want. And we can always invite any of the magicals who want to come. Invite the Dragons from the reserve too. Invite the Goblins, the Centaurs. Hell, if the Acromantulas want to come, fine by me?" Harry suggested.

"The Acromantulas?" Hermione asked.

"Aragog sent a message through Firenze, this evening. I forgot to mention it. The news is that they are composing oral poetry and weaving, as they have spare time on their hands. Some of them are painting now," Harry replied. Hermione had a moment of utter confusion until she remembered that Acromantulas possessed the ability to speak, and they could eventually evolve culture. While that academic argument raced in her head, Priya prepared to send the last of the foreign visitors away.

"Kari, Bodil, Freya and Njal, tonight was wonderful. And yes, I will come to the Reserve for a tour as long as the arrangements are made. I would like to learn more about the Dragons indeed. Anything I can do to contribute to their health, I don't mind," Priya insisted.

Eventually, there was a final exchange of greetings and goodbyes. Then the final group left via transporters. Harry, Hermione and Priya then all collapsed into a nearby couch.

"Phew. That was fulfilling but a lot of work," Priya replied.

"Yes, it was. But I had fun. When are you out to work again?" Harry asked.

"Shift starts tomorrow evening," Priya replied as the Hogwarts group assembled themselves.

"Had fun you lot?" Hermione asked.

"Sure. We hoodwinked Albus for the second time. I almost want to feel sorry for him. Anyway, this evening was great," Neville replied before there was a muddled set of goodbyes and waves.

A mass teleportation of the entire group, followed. Now only the parents were left, and they gradually gave their goodbyes after being prepared with enough takeaway containers. The small talk had eventually extended into longer conversations as Ophelia, Molly, Augusta and the rest enjoyed the banter, later into the night.

There were a final set of reluctant goodbyes, as the last of the visiting adults left. Víðarr and Týr then went off to bed. Priya apparated to Black Manor, which she shared with Sirius. Amba and Ved went back to Priya's flat, as they settled in. Finally, Hermione, her parents and Daffodil were transported to Granger Manor soon after. It was 1 p.m. and Peverell Manor was completely empty, except for the elves who were busy but silent in the background.

---

Daffodil was snuggled into her replica of the dragon bay at her home. It was right next to Hermione's room on an elevated platform. There was a Protego based partition that allowed the Dragon to observe Hermione, while keeping the sound and the air separate. Hermione took a late night shower and changed into her pyjamas, while she talked with the dragon.

"I am glad you were nearby and you were involved. I didn't like leaving you at home last year," Hermione explained to Daffodil.

"Sure mum, but I can't just show up in public. That isn't fair to you. Besides I am happy if you are happy, I don't require much. The compressed tofu block was just like meat. How did you manage that?" Daffodil asked.

"I hid that one from you mentally, for a surprise. I got Daphne to make an algorithm to evolve a certain strain of magical bacteria. It coagulates the curds in a structure that resembles meat fibres. The evolution of the bacteria occurred under stressful conditions. We had to incinerate over three hundred failed samples. We did that project the next day after the Raven-II reveal. Everything tonight on that table came from Neville's modified crops," Hermione beamed.

"He is the most important person, after the stupid war is won. What next mum? Even Fáfnir and Hilmir were surprised. They also mentioned that they felt quite full," Daffodil queried.

"Well, the protein block meets every bit of your nutritional requirements. Even the cellulose fibre too is balanced. There are even trace amounts of titanium and heme. The heme took some fiddling. And then we got the fat out of coconut oil and some other plant based sources. See, I don't think you should be denied what you naturally are. And dragons should eat meat. I decided the challenge was to make it meaty enough for you to enjoy and have no complaints." Hermione explained.

"Hilmir liked that it was flavoured throughout the entire slab. Says he hates organs but he knows it is good for him. The tofu block was close enough. How did you get the seasoning inside everywhere?" Daffodil asked.

"We also cooked the entire protein block as individual sheets. Ronald and Aunty Molly handled that. No way I was giving you the middle of the thing unseasoned. We ate the same protein complex in many of the dishes tonight. We have a marketable meat replacement product, and I am thinking about offering it at least in magical England."

"Well mum, with the right sauce and preservatives, a lot of people would eat that. I would eat that with noodles, if you could make something dragon sized," Daffodil commented.

"I will see what we can do about that. We could supply the reserve with that," Hermione replied before she swiped across her terminal. Ronald had called her.

"Hello gorgeous!"

"Hello handsome!"

"Come over in….?"

"Five minutes."

"Gotcha!"

The call terminated as Hermione related the low key flirting between Daphne and Harry, to Daffodil. The dragon pitched in and explained that even Fáfnir and Hilmir were amused by what they had managed to see from their rider's eyes.

---

Meanwhile, Harry took off his kurta and leaned back on the infamous workshop couch. He continued to think about the muon shortage problem in his fusion reactor. He suddenly got a crazy bout of inspiration from something he had seen in one of Fred's fireworks. He immediately showered, fetched another snack from the kitchen and got to work.

The rather special firework from earlier, was a large shower of individual sparks that could bounce around objects and corners. After a successive number of bounces, the particles would explode. Each particle had a different 'lifetime' before it became a blinding and explosive blot of light and smoky fumes. Somehow the firework particles as they bounced around, made Harry think about his muon problem. While the particles in the atom were actually fields, sometimes the simpler abstraction helped Harry fine tune his House Magic. After all, Harry had no idea of how to conceptualise a field. He summoned the Peverell Atom and began his reasoning.

"Buzz...a question. The stabilisation of the super heavy particles that usually decay…does my magic do that job directly? I was thinking about what I saw tonight. Something else has been bouncing around in these reactions?" Harry asked.

"I think so, but I am not sure. I can only tell what is on the periphery," the Peverell atom replied.

"Then, it is possible that our magic is grabbing another unknown particle to do that job. A particle that probably is undiscovered. A magical particle that stabilizes the heavier particles that would usually decay. I need to generate the particle by itself, and inject it deliberately instead of trying to stabilize an entire field of muons from a pion decomposition?" Harry asked.

"Providing that the assumption is correct? Yes. But we must confirm that these particles exist." the Peverell atom suggested.

Harry spent the next hour playing with marbles, as he remapped the reactions. There was a third particle that was bouncing around, even if it could not be seen. Now he considered how to go forward:

"Okay so if we find them, then we let the stabilisation particles do the work. And I will have enough Muons to catalyse the fusion reaction. Let the er..….Stabillions…do the job. Stabillions. So, this is how they arrive at ridiculous names, eh?" Harry wondered to himself, as he got to work.

"Sure. An idiot name for an important elementary particle, confirmed. I would like to believe that the stabillion is a particle that can both interact with magical and non-magical fields. A go between. So, by utilising this particle correctly, we should be able to get the magical energy directly"

"Right, I was thinking about that. This is like a small reaction to catalyse a much bigger but different reaction. As long as we get the reaction to hold, it will self sustain. It's like we are opening the gate if you want to think about it like that."

"More like using some dynamite to breach the wall of a dam. Have we ever done a reactor with an organic design?" the Peverell Atom asked.

"Nope, but we can try. I am going to check the smaller reactor and take a closer look." Harry replied.

Harry fell into a trance and examined the smaller reactor, for at least an hour. He eventually found his prey after a deep meditative phase, as his mind began to visualise the new particle. Harry was now drenched in sweat, but he did not let off the mental strain.

"Excellent. We have it!" the Peverell atom replied.

"Thanks for the help, buddy. Lots of improvements to make, but we should have a working prototype by the morning. I am going to store this magic into an arithmantic emitter. Should we build it Raven sized and get the power systems up and running?" Harry asked his house magic.

"Why not? We could always swap it out, in any case?" The Peverell Atom suggested mentally.

"Time to wrench then," Harry replied as he fired up Daphne's software and began putting in his constraints. He also included an optimised jump drive and fuel tanks for Hydrogen storage.

"Well, it is a holy night indeed. No better time to get the atom rolling…." the Peverell joked through his signature set of mental gestures.

---

Ronald had arrived at Granger Manor for some time. He had made himself comfortable on Hermione's bed as he checked his Quidditch training schedule for the next day. He would be back sometime in the late afternoon. The Hufflepuffs were already asking him to send the video of Priya. An idea came to him, and he considered that the common room 'flatscreen' could be put to use. These items had been installed in year one with the advent of Quidditch Broadcasting.

"Did you see it tonight?" Hermione asked Ronald, as she got into the bed.

"I did. It was hilarious. Why don't they just get hitched?" Ronald asked.

"You are aware that they are saying the same thing about us?" Hermione asked.

"Joke is on them little spoon," Ronald replied as his massive arm wrapped around Hermione. Casual talk about random things followed, as Crookshanks came through the cat flap and settled himself between the pair.

"Night Ron."

"Night Mione."

"Meeerrrrrooow!"

"Night Crookshanks!" both of them replied in stereo, as the ginger cat began to purr like a tractor engine.