Harry potter and the Time of Retirement

Everything related to Harry Potter belongs to JKR

Chapter 67 – Year 4

"An elephant?" asked Hannah, stunned.

"First thing we saw at the campsite, yes. And not the weirdest either" added Harry, smugly.

"Woooow" was her comment, downcast. It was, quite literally, the afternoon before the start of the new term at Hogwarts and Hannah, baggage ready and chest packed, had been allowed to tour the village one last time to say hi to everyone. Which, to be honest, consisted mostly of a quick visit to some way too young muggle and wizardly girls that occasionally tagged her around, and Harry.

"Mind you, I heard crazy stories from some of the others, too" spoke on Hannah, while munching on the unavoidable transfigured cookies that Harry had offered her when she showed up, unannounced once again. "Zach in particular has been a little annoying. Half of his tales are based on how his tent was better than those of his neighbours."

"That seems like him" commented Harry, snorting lightly. He had not forgotten his meeting with the boy and, more importantly, his dad. "I think he takes that side of him from his father. I met his family there, you know? His mother was quite ok."

"Yes, he wrote that they found you wandering around the tents" confirmed Hannah with a nod. "Nevermind. What did you do afterwards?"

"Let me remember… we went to the auror's headquarter, but that wasn't as fun as you might think. Just a lot of angry people shouting and complaining, aurors included" said Harry, frowning lightly, while taking a sip of tea. "After that I started my own tour of the campsite and, again, it was pretty nice. Almost like a competition on who had the weirdest setup."

"I saw some photos on the Prophet" said Hannah, now grumbling a little. "I wonder if someone at school will bring its own. Like that weird younger year that always has a camera with him. Colin Creepy?" she concluded with a smirk.

"Creevey, Hannah" said Harry, with a roll of his eyes. "Very annoying, sure, but not a bad kid. And yeah, he might have taken some if he went there. Except he probably didn't, being muggleborn and all."

"I guess. Anyway, move on to the juicy parts. How was it inside the backstage of the stadium?" asked Hannah, perking up.

"That was great" admitted Harry, smiling. "We got a close look at some players, and more importantly the mascots for the teams. I didn't mind the Veelas for sure."

"Eeeww, Harry" said Hannah, fake disgust on her face. "I heard horrible stories on how half the stadium went crazy over them. The stupid half, of course."

"You can't blame guys for acting out when placed under a charm, girl" said Harry, slightly offended. "And they were also very pretty women, too. With skimpy clothes."

"Stop right there, please" said Hannah, while still giggling – even if she now sported a small blush on her cheeks. "What about the Leprechauns?"

"Very Irish, very green" answered Harry, somehow with less enthusiasm. "A lot of children are going to be disappointed by the fake gold they were throwing around."

"Still makes for a nice souvenir" said Hannah with a smile. "Anything else?"

"There were a lot of important people too, if you care for that" said Harry, picking up a cookie himself. "Both our minister and maybe those from Ireland and Bulgary. Or other bigshots, who cares. And we got to chat with director Bones, too."

"Susan's aunt" almost murmured Hannah, before showing a sly grin. "I might have my own gossip about her, by the way. Wanna know it?"

"Not as much as it seems like you want to share it" countered Harry, smiling. "Let me finish my story. After all, everything was just preparations for the match."

"Oh, that" said Hannah, dismissively. "Just more quidditch. Susan and Megan were enthusiastic over some kind of feint or something?"

"Yes, the Wronski feint, made by a Romanian seeker. Viktor Krum" said Harry, with a sigh. "You don't seem interested but i is a complex manouver to pull off. At his age it was impressive."

"At his age" repeated Hannah with a mocking tone. "You always spout these weird comments, grandpa Harry. Maybe we should start calling you that, by the way."

"Maybe not" said Harry, immediately and sternly. "The point is, anyway, that it was an excellent match if you like Quidditch. I certainly loved it. I even bet on the result."

"You did?" asked Hannah, surprised. "Did you win?"

"I most certainly did" answered Harry, smug once again. "That was the kind of souvenir I like, by the way. Galleons that do NOT disappear."

"I am lucky when my mom gives me a couple sickles, and you get galleons" complained Hannah, unhappily. "And you don't even spend them!"

"I don't?" asked Harry, surprised. "What about my new broom? Top of the line!"

"What line, that for the trashcans?" giggled Hannah. "Oh, grandpa Harry. You even have the tastes of an old guy. Maybe instead of cookies you should give me candies, like my grandma."

"Or maybe I can give you nothing" said Harry, grumpily, before smiling as to show he wasn't really offended. "And I really won't if I heard anyone else ever call me that after today. Anyway, that was my story. What about you?"

"Me me, not much" said Hannah, shrugging. "I am ready to go back to Hogwarts, I have the new books and stuff and that's it. I still don't have a new dress… by the way, that's my big secret!"

"That you are planning to buy a dress?" asked Harry, skeptical. "Good for you?"

"Shut up" said Hannah, snorting. "It's not the dress, it's Susan. Her aunt, I mean. This is a secret, ok? Don't tell it to anyone."

"So you can spread the gossip yourself, I am sure" commented Harry, amused. "And only if Susan didn't precede you already, since the news come from her."

"True" admitted Hannah, downcast, before recovering. "Well, you don't know yet. Susan, as usual, was snooping a little around her aunt and her papers and she found something special. Security plans for a new, big event at Hogwarts!"

"Mmmhhh" mumbled Harry, with more resignation than surprise. "What event?"

"We are not sure yet" said Hannah "but the special part is that they are making preparations for foreign students to stay with us at the castle! Maybe it is the start of some exchange program, like those Justin brags about?"

"Maybe" commented Harry, evenly. "What has that to do with your new dress, anyway?"

"That there is going to be some kind of dance involved!" stated Hannah with enthusiasm. "One of the papers was her aunt saying she would not participate in it. A dance! I wonder who will invite me..." she concluded, with another small blush.

"Good question. Who would you like to ask you there, anyway?" asked Harry, amused.

"Mmmhhh…" mumbled Hannah, unsure. "I don't have anyone in mind. Any of our year would work, I imagine, but they just don't seem the type. Maybe some handsome older boy? Up to 6th is ok, not 7th, that's too old."

"Don't discard your classmates yet" said Harry with a smile. "They are going to feel the pressure too. And a friendly female classmate is much easier to ask out than any other random girl."

"Maybe, maybe" said Hannah, nodding, before showing a big smile. "Ooohh, some new couples might form! Who could those be? Do you think…" she continued, before being stopped by Harry.

"Ok, that seems like the kind of topic you should have with the other girls, not me" he said, almost laughing. "But I will look forward to our next St. Valentine, it should be interesting."

"Just you wait" said Hannah, before her smile turned down and she became serious. "Aren't you coming back this year either, Harry? Sally would he really happy if you invited her at the dance."

"I already made my decision" said Harry with a shrug. "And I hope Sally-Anne will be asked out by some nice boy at school and get over me. I really do."

Hannah said nothing, just giving him a skeptical side glance, as if she wanted to say more. Eventually, she shrugged too. "I won't insist. Harry, it is getting a little late."

"Say hi to your parents from me, Hannah" said Harry, standing up. "And I'll see you all at Hogsmeade, I guess. Not this Sunday, but maybe in a couple weeks from now."

"You are always welcome, Harry" said Hannah, standing up herself and hugging him. "We all miss you. No matter what, you are an Hufflepuff."

"Aren't we all?" countered Harry. "I'll come and visit. And if this big event is public I promise I'll show up for that, too."

Hannah let him go, with a huge smile. Soon after, she had left. Harry, a bit sad, closed the door behind her.

A handful of days later, mid afternoon, Harry was quietly sipping a pumpkin juice back in Diagon Alley. Lazily, he looked around his table.

It was a nice, absolutely normal afternoon of an absolutely normal day – for him, at least. He had spent the morning reading, walking, dealing with a couple muggles back in Godric's Hollow and working a little in his greenhouse. His only appointment for the day was meeting with Black, as he had been asked to; only, instead of joining him directly at either of their houses, he had proposed to wait for him in the Alley after Black finished his shift.

And so there was Harry, waiting. He was still quite full from his home made lunch, and he wanted nothing more than to keep relaxing at Fortesque's.

Distractedly he picked up again the copy of the Prophet available for customers. The surprise of the announcement for the Triwizard tournament had not subsided completely so the newspaper was still quite busy arguing over the decision of the ministry to restart such a dangerous event, while trying to guess how would be the trials. In one corner a piece by Skeeter argued quite venomously how Dumbledore was too old to properly represent England at the event, especially one aimed at such a young crowd.

Scoffing with disdain Harry set the paper aside. Even so, he couldn't deny how his own memories from the tournament weren't pleasant: the whole year had been horrid in the extreme, with three quarters of the school AND Ron turning against him. The constant sense of danger, and the sad finale with Cedric, soured even his "victory" of which the prize money going to the Weasley twins was the only positive fruit. No, Harry was more than happy to avoid all that madness once again. If he could avoid it in the first place, of course.

'Maybe I should give Black a hint about Moody' he considered. 'Just a hint, enough to have them check if Crouch Jr is at it again or not. Probably not' he concluded mentally. After all during the finals for the world cup no Dark Mark appeared in the sky so events must have changed already, and quite significantly.

Shrugging, Harry sipped more of his pumpkin juice. 'Things are different now, there's no denying it. Maybe I should really let Dumbledore and Bones do all the work. Just like it should have been when I was only a boy, to be honest.' At this possibility, he smiled a little. There was something fair in forcing them to settle their dark lord mess; too much of his past was poisoned by how he had been forced to face a murderous madman since before his own puberty.

"Hello, Harry. Seems like you are in a happy mood" said a voice on his side. Turning his head, Harry welcomed Black with a nod. "Sirius, welcome. Done with work?"

"Not really, there is still you" he quipped with a smirk. "But, yes, I am done. Nothing special today, just paperwork."

"That's work too. Sit down, order something" said Harry, pushing the chair on the other side of the table away with his feet.

"Sure, why not?" said Black with no hesitation, sitting down. "Been a while since I had ice cream."

"And it is already getting colder around here" added Harry. "Soon, it will be time for hot chocolate once again."

The following five minutes were busy with Black ordering two cups of ice cream, one for himself and one for Harry – over Harry's shallow complaint that he was full already. "Well, thanks Sirius. Honestly, I much prefer this one than the muggle ice creams back home" he said eventually, once he had his own cup on the table.

"That stuff you offered me last time, wrapped in that shiny rigid paper? You bet" commented Sirius, with a smirk. "Looked fancy, mind you, but the taste was a bit off."

"Plastic, Sirius. And yeah, you can always tell when it is not hand made ice cream" said Harry, taking a bite. "Nevermind. So, what is this going to be about? What are Bones'… intentions, I guess?"

"I'll tell you all, just not here" said Sirius. "Better do that at my place, or yours. Let's enjoy our break, for now."

"I am all for it" answered Harry with a smile. Gossiping about all and nothing they kept enjoying their food until, cups empty, Sirius simply offered Harry his arm and apparated away.

Back in Grimmauld's Place, Harry and Sirius were making themselves comfortable in the living room. Sitting down, Harry admired the completely dust-free place.

"You finally convinced Kreacher to take his work seriously, eh? About time" he commented.

"I wish" countered Black with a grimace. "He is still as useless as ever. No, this is all Anne's work. We are spending a lot more time indoor lately, and she decided to clean things up."

"With no second intentions, I am sure" said Harry, evenly. "Still, is she afraid to go out now? She didn't seem that easy to scare."

"That is not a nice thing to say, Harry" commented Sirius, slightly irritated. "Being kidnapped is more than enough to scare anyone. Anyone normal, of course" he concluded, sending him a small glare.

"Sure, sure. Sorry, I take that back" said Harry, raising his open hand. "Let me know if I can help with her in any way."

"Time and no more crazy events is all she needs" said Sirius, before sighing. "Of course, our topic today shows exactly how likely that is."

"If we all do our homeworks correctly no one should ever notice something is amiss" said Harry, quietly. "Not until the Prophet celebrates you aurors for killing you-know-who a second time."

"It still spooks me how easily you talk of killing, Harry" commented Sirius. "Hopefully this is just you being a wannabe tough teenager."

Harry grimaced a little at this, then sighed. "Nevermind. Let's skip all the chitchat, will you? What are you and your boss doing these days?"

Sirius didn't seem impressed by the sudden change of topic, but didn't linger on it. "Well, Bones created a group of us at work that she finds trustworthy. All of us have personal reasons to really, really hate Riddle and his lackeys so there should be no leaks of information. Four aurors on top of me and her, plus a couple of her contacts from the rest of the ministry. I am trying to get Remus included, too, but Bones refused so far."

"A good start" commented Harry. "What is the goal of the group, anyway?"

"It's three fold. One, get more eyes and ears around, searching for any hint we can find" answered Sirius. "All we need is a solid lead on where the new Death Eaters are gathering. And if we organize a raid there, being only us would help too."

"That kind of thing can be done only once, though, so you better be sure. Do that twice and everyone will have a list of your members of this new unit" said Harry, skeptical. Sirius grimaced.

"You have a point there… I'll relay that to Bones. Anyway, that was only goal one. Goal two, researching how to capture or destroy shades and ghosts. I think she is dealing with her contacts at the department of Mysteries, for that."

Harry nodded silently, so Sirius continued. "The final objective is being ready to intervene if you, well, are attacked again. Hopefully we can react quick enough to capture whoever is after you and move on from there. Nip all this in the bud."

"That would be the best outcome" said Harry, unhappily. "Chances of it really happening, though?"

"Not zero, so it's worth trying it" stated Sirius, with conviction. "I most certainly do not want to go with out backup plan, you somehow leading us to Riddle after they kidnapped you."

"It would be easier and faster" said Harry with a shrug. Sirius frowned instantly.

"If you are planning anything stupid like having them capture you, Harry, forget it. We aurors can deal with this foolishness without placing school kids in danger, thank you very much."

"I am not saying that" said Harry, immediately. "I am not planning to sacrifice myself, especially not for the ministry. I just… well, like the idea of getting this done with quickly."

"Even then, let's try the slow and safer path, eh?" said Sirius with a roll of his eyes. "Of course, and strictly just in case, we should plan for the worse. And I might have the right plan for that, too."

"Do you?" asked Harry, impressed. "That was fast. What is it?"

"One of my school years' mementos. The two-way mirrors" said Sirius, proudly, as he stood up and moved to a nearby cabinet. "Me and your dad used it quite often, you know? Great for organizing pranks, too."

"I see" said Harry, recognizing it the moment Sirius took them out of the drawers. He still questioned Black on it. "How do they work, anyway?"

"Simple" said Sirius, with a smile full of nostalgia. "You get one, I keep the other. When you say my name into yours, you will appear into mine and we can talk."

"That could help. But is it going to be enough?" asked Harry, skeptical.

"What do you mean?" asked Sirius, as he sat down once again and gave one to Harry.

"If I can use it, it's great. But if I can chances are I am not under watch, or bound, or whatever. What if I am, what if they took it away?" argued on Harry, with a small frown. A frown that moved on to Sirius' face, too.

"I know, I know. It's not perfect" admitted Sirius, turning his in his hands. "But it is a start and you should take it anyway" he concluded.

"Sure, sure" said Harry. "It seems plenty useful, and it beats owls or chimneys. I wonder why it isn't more common."

"Oh, well" started Sirius, puffing up "Not many are able to craft these mirrors, and those who do asks a pretty galleon for a set. This one has been in my family for a couple generations, and I didn't see many others around."

"I'll borrow it only for a while, then" said Harry, tapping the one in front of him. "Thank you, Sirius. But we need something more."

"To be honest, Harry" said Sirius, with a grimace. "I thought about that, too, but I gave up on it. If you can't even use that mirror, what can you do?"

"I am not saying I am a master or anything, but I know some basic wandless magic" said Harry, still focusing on the mirror in his hands. "Maybe we can find, or craft, more suitable items. Something that I can activate no matter what situation I am in."

"Saying it is easy" countered Sirius "but actually creating something like that is not. And what are you thinking about anyway?"

"I am not sure. Anything that can send a message sneakily would work" said Harry, unconvinced.

"This mirror can, Harry. So long as we make a point to keep it on us at all times, no matter what" insisted Sirius.

"Can we improve it, at least? Make mine invisible, or smaller" asked Harry. Sirius shook his head.

"Enchanted items really don't like extra charms placed on them" he said. "Think of brooms. You must plan them from the start with their correct charms, or the results are bad. Your almost-muggle broom kind of bad."

"That bad, eh?" said Harry with a smile, as Sirius snorted and wisely nodded his head. "Still… I can't carry this around every day, every second of the day. It's just not realistic."

"You have to, Harry" said Sirius with an encouraging smile. "That's the whole point. Take this matter siriusly and do it. I will, no matter what."

"Except when you are under the shower. Or sleeping. Or in bed with Anne. Or…" went on Harry, only to being stopped by a groan of protest from Sirius.

"Stop it, kid. And stop complaining, too, unless you have a better idea. Do you?" asked Sirius, almost sarcastically.

"No. Not really, not without crafting from zero something like these, only better" admitted Harry, slowly.

"And good luck with that. These mirrors, and as they are right now, are rare for a reason. Listen, Harry…" went on Sirius, patiently. "I am not saying it is going to be fun, and hopefully we will not need to use them. But this is so important that you must do it no matter what. Promise me, and actually do it. No childish ok, ok only to abandon it in some corner. You hear me?"

Sighing, Harry nodded. "I'll keep thinking of alternatives. But… yes. If this is the best we can do, I swear I'll keep it on me. Always."

"Great" said Sirius, relaxing on his chair. "As for our privacy, let's say that unless it's an emergency, we only call at one set hour. I don't know, seven pm?"

"We don't need to use it that often" said Harry, puzzled, only for Sirius to shake his head and speak up. "I will not call on you daily, but we must get used to them. I am planning to use it, no matter where I am."

"That is probably a bad idea, though" countered Harry. "If it starts being known that we use these things, they are the first thing they will search for and take away should I ever be taken away."

"...good point, I guess" admitted Sirius. "Ok, no using it needlessly. Just carry it with you at all times."

"It's decided" confirmed Harry. "Let's move on. I have a favor to ask you. An important one."

"Really?" said Sirius. "How unusual. No promises, not knowing you, but if I can help I will. Tell me."

"The best case is you aurors reaching Riddle either as a shade or in a weak half body, and crush him like a bug" started Harry. "The worst one is him being back to full power. In that case, I have a secret trump card to play. But I need your help with it."

"What kind of secret trick could take down such a monster like him?" asked Sirius, unconvinced. "Anyway, I am listening. Anything helps, after all."

With some hesitation, Harry started talking again.