Compilation of Hinny Works

by LegendDairy

I've got too many Hinny one-shots, and there are more coming. So they are all going to be posted here instead of individual stories. And Harry/Ginny pairings only, no others. Will be updated sporadically.

96. Cloak and Dagger- Part II

()()()

"Your surname. I never learned what it is. It needs to be recorded, and it is Ginevra's surname now as well."

"Oh, uh. Potter."

"Potter?" Ron and Ginny exchanged a look then before they both turned to look at him once more. "Your full name is Harry Potter?"

"Harry James Potter if you want to be thorough," he said jokingly.

"Wait a moment," Hermione stepped between Ron and Ginny to stand right before Harry, staring up at him with intense eyes. "You say you are orphaned? Never met your parents?"

"Er, yeah."

"You grew up in a home with other orphans and have no recollection of your parents at all?"

"Yes."

She then reached up and brushed his hair aside, staring at the faint scar that he had on his forehead, then gasped and held her hands over her mouth. "My word! I didn't think my magic would be so strong as to find you!"

"Is this going to be a problem?" Ginny asked, now sounding more panicked than he'd ever heard from her, which was causing his stomach to begin twisting.

"What is it? What's going on?"

Ron was the one that explained. "There was a Harry James Potter that was sent into hiding when he was just a child, not yet two years old. Story has it that Voldemort was hell bent on killing him. It was the reason that the last war ended, him being sent away. The Potter's have been searching for him since then, but… but they've had no luck."

"Wait, wait, are you saying that I'm not actually from my world, that I'm from this one?!"

Ginny's eyes grew wide then. "I'm married into the Potter family?" She sounded completely awestruck. "And I'm happy about it," she whispered, more to herself than anyone else.

()()()

Cloak and Dagger- Part 2

()()()

Harry couldn't believe this. He'd been pulled into another world, not out of one he didn't belong in.

Ron turned back to the paper on the table and scrolled through the list of names. "They're here! Both of them!"

"Both of who?" Harry asked in a panic, trying not to draw the obvious conclusion of who Ron meant.

"Come on." Ron didn't wait for Harry to give his okay, he just grabbed him by the shoulder and guided him through people until they were near the center of the tent. There was a table in the middle of everyone and seated around it were several men and women, all of whom had some kind of insignia on their tunics, likely to represent their status as leaders. "Lord Potter," Ron called out.

Harry inhaled a sharp breath. Ron couldn't possibly think that this was the time and place?! In front of all these people? It wasn't going to turn out being true!

A man seated with his back towards them turned around in his seat and Harry felt like he was looking at his future self, and he had aged quite nicely. The woman beside him turned as well, she had long red hair, not quite the same shade as Ginny's, and vibrant, almond shaped, green eyes, just like his own.

Harry stared at the two of them in shock.

Here he was meeting his parents for the first time and all he wanted to do was throw up and pass out.

That was the least hero-like thing he could possibly do.

"Who is this?" asked another man at the table.

The woman stared at him as she stood up and took a step towards him. Harry was frozen to the spot. Her hand reached out and gentle fingers traced along his cheek, then up to his hair where she too lifted his fringe out of the way.

"You came back to us a man," she smiled, her eyes glinting with fresh unshed tears. The room went completely silent and everyone was staring at him and the woman that was supposedly his mother. "We didn't want to send you away," she told him desperately. "We just felt it was the only way to keep you safe from him."

Harry felt the urge to swallow, to make some movement with his mouth that would allow words to start coming out, but his mouth was too dry.

"He is the hero we called forth from another world," Ron explained. "We did not know until now who he truly was." Ron bowed his head then. "My apologies."

The man that was supposed to be Harry's father stood up and came forward as well. "Why do you apologize? We have missed him since the day he was sent away." The man pulled Harry in for a hug then, and the woman followed his lead and engulfed the pair of them in her arms.

All his life had wondered what it might be like to find his parents, every kid he grew up with wondered that. Finding them together and married was a fantasy though. The most likely reason that kids wound up in the system was because their parents were too young when they had them, or they'd passed away or were hooked on drugs or something.

He didn't ever think that if he did find them that A- they would be happy to see him, and B- that he would be too shocked to react. As it was, he could do no more than simply stand there and let them hug him.

When they pulled back both of them were grabbing his arm or touching his face. It was all a bit unsettling.

"You called him back from the other world, you said?" his 'mother' asked Ron.

"Yes, ma'am."

She turned back to Harry then. "Were they good to you? In this other world? Were you safe there?"

"Er… sure. Yeah, I was… safe." It hadn't been entirely pleasant, but he hadn't been injured or tortured or anything, just ignored.

"And now as a man you come back to us," his 'father' grinned. He put his arm around Harry's shoulder and turned his attention back on everyone that had stopped what they were doing to watch. "Let us introduce to you all, our son, Harry Potter!"

Someone started clapping and then the whole lot of them joined in and a few gave a cheer.

Harry turned his head back to find Ginny, his expression pleading with her to shed some more light on this situation.

"We're so happy to have you home with us!" his mother said as she hugged him once more.

"This is quite a lot for me to take in," Harry said as he tried to detangle himself from their embrace. "Perhaps you should continue with your meeting and we can talk after?"

The two of them exchanged a worried look with each other. Harry saw that they knew he was now looking to distance himself from them, and they must have been uncomfortable with that. "Yes, you must have many questions," his father nodded.

Ginny took Harry's hand again and he felt a bit better.

His father saw this and looked down at their joined hands. "And I suppose we have a few questions for you as well."

He couldn't fight his blush.

Three days ago he didn't have any family, now he two parents and a wife that had several brothers, half brothers anyhow, but still, blood relations.

"Do you want to leave?" Ginny whispered in his ear. "Leave the tent," she clarified. "This area is just supposed to be for the Knights."

He nodded and let her guide him out of the tent. Hermione followed along with them, Ron stayed behind.

The three of them wandered through the maze of tents set up. Ginny was taking the lead and stopped in an area that had just enough space for them to set up their own tents. She got to work with that while he could do no more than stare across the sea of canvass back towards the tallest structure that his parents were now sitting in; coming up with a way for them to win this fight looming before them all.

He stood oblivious to what was going on around him for a moment before realizing that Hermione was standing beside him and not looking too pleased with this situation herself.

"Why the expression?" he asked her.

She glanced up at him and worried her lip, then looked back to the large tent once more and gave a sigh. "I can't help but wonder if the only reason I was able to call you here was because you were already linked to our world."

Harry frowned at her. "You're upset that it was me that you called here?"

That admission proved to only annoy him. He hadn't asked to be called away from where he was. He could have stayed there, aged out of the system, maybe manage to get a job, and another job on top of that one, and possibly make something of himself back there. Now he didn't even know if he was going to get sent back or not.

That hadn't been something he'd asked. What was supposed to happen to all the people that had been summoned here?

"What happens to all these other Heros if we win this fight? Are they stuck here?"

Hermione shook her head. "We elves would use our combined magic to send them back to where they came from."

Harry turned sharply to look behind him at Ginny. "But… but I only just met her. What would that mean for Ginny? We're married, according to you lot anyhow. She wouldn't be turned back into a servant, would she?"

"No. Once freed from servitude there is no going back." Hermione then turned as well and frowned at Ginny, then spotted another wearing the cloak of a servant. "If it were up to me I would find a way to free all of them. It isn't right. You know they were all abandoned children? They weren't given the choice." She gave a loud tisk. "The way human's operate just baffles me sometimes. The only reason I was okay with Ron procuring a servant for us was because he explained the situation."

"That his father had an affair?"

"What?" she blinked at him.

"Isn't that the story? His father had an affair and she was the love child?"

"No! It is because she is female."

"Excuse me?"

"Had she been born a boy then she would have been kept. Because she is female she would have been forced to marry as soon as she was old enough. This was around the time that Voldemort last tried to take power, except last time it was in the South. Ron's father and his new wife worried that she would be taken by Voldemort's followers, they were stealing women from higher ranking homes. If it had been acknowledged that she was born and recorded as a Weasley child then she might have been taken as well. That is why they sent her to live as a servant."

"They couldn't have simply not recorded her birth and kept her with them in their home?" To him, that sounded worse than the mistress story. To have a baby given up like that just because of gender, that was so wrong! Even if they were worried she might be kidnapped.

Hermione shook her head. "Too many people pass through the family home. It wouldn't have worked."

Harry toed the ground and looked down at his worn sneakers. "Well, the forced marriage happened anyhow," he said miserably.

"Except she doesn't mind, and she told you that," Ginny said, coming to join them.

He took her hand again as she stepped up beside him. "But what if I get sent back? You might mind then."

"Well, husband, as it turns out, you weren't from there to begin with, so I think that is something we don't need to worry about."

That was the first time she'd called him husband. He felt like he should have been freaking out, never even having the title of boyfriend, or probably 'gentleman caller' in this world, and to be going straight to husband. But, he wasn't freaked out about that; he realized he wasn't even freaked out anymore about how he now had parents and extended family.

The only thing he had the head space to be concerned about now was this fight they were supposed to be involved in shortly.

"So, the knights are going to come out and then Ron will tell us what we are supposed to be doing?" he asked them.

"That is how these situations work, yes," Ginny told him.

"Which might take a while I suppose." Neither Ginny nor Hermione responded to that. "Well, if they're going to take a while, I guess I can go in the tent and lay down?" They hadn't even put in a full day of travelling today, and yet he was now feeling completely exhausted.

"I'll come with you," Ginny said and made for their tent.

"I'll stay out here and watch for Ron," said Hermione.

Harry climbed into the tent after Ginny. It looked smaller in the daytime then it did at night. With Ginny already stretched out, there was only a limited space for him to get comfortable in. Once she was cuddled up against him he was plenty comfortable though.

"You met your parents today," she said quietly.

"On the same day that you met your in-laws."

"I've still to meet my own parents officially."

Harry turned on his side so he could look at her. He hadn't had much of an opportunity to properly look at her; for the first few days she had been completely covered, then he'd been trailing behind her or walking beside her as they travelled, and when they were in this tent together it was usually dark.

Her brown eyes were lovely, and her nose, lips, even her jaw line and her ears. And he really liked her hair; it was so red and soft.

He brushed his hand over her hair now and it helped soothe him and quiet his mind.

"It's just one thing after another here, isn't it?" he said quietly.

"I would imagine being pulled from another world would be disorienting enough, but now to find out that you belonged here in the first place. You must feel a weight from that."

"There are a lot of things that I'm avoiding thinking too hard about right now. I don't know how I feel about knowing I have parents and that I'm from here; I supposed I want to get to know them more before I make up my mind about whether this is a good thing or not."

"And the battle tomorrow?"

He let out a scoff. "Again, I need to know what the hell I'm supposed to be doing before I think too hard about what that means, otherwise I'll wonder if I'm going to be killed, or expected to kill."

"Not feeling tormented about killing is something I was taught. An enemy should simply be thought of as a fly. You have no issues about killing a fly, do you?"

"A person is not a fly," he pointed out, rejecting her comparison. "What if they have children? What if they didn't want to be there in the first place? And I'm just taking your word for it that this Voldemort guy is bad; I've never met him, and I've never met King Albus."

"You think we might be lying?" Her hand gave a pause for a moment before continuing to trace the circles on his chest once more.

"I didn't say that. And you told me that the people in the South are all happy with the way their country is run. We've passed more than a few burned homes around here, and those bandits we came across on the trail? It doesn't eat me up inside that I was partly responsible for killing one of them. I just think that it would be best for everyone if we somehow snuck into the fortress and captured this Voldemort guy and, I dunno, put him in the stocks for people to throw eggs and rotten tomatoes at him."

She chuckled at that idea. "It would be cathartic. Then you would be able to see how the people of the North truly feel about him and his ability to rule. He will have to be killed though. Men like him don't give up."

"And what about this Princess with Stockholm Syndrome?"

"What is that?"

"Oh, er, it's when a prisoner starts to follow the ideals of their captor. You know, how she now believes that Voldemort is the one seeing things clearly. She won't just leave the fortress willingly, and she's the princess, so the King isn't going to want her killed to, will he?"

"From what I overheard, the King will want her brought back South unharmed, however if there is no choice then the Knights and servants are to do what they must."

"And there won't be any punishment for whoever might kill her?" he asked skeptically.

"Being in the battle is punishment enough, is it not?"

"That's true." He rolled onto his back again and she once more curled up to his side with her head resting on his chest.

Harry thought about all the wars that he had to study and tried to recall all the details he could about the battles. In each one it seemed to him like either side made a big show about announcing where they were. If both sides approached it that way, then that was one thing, but why not operate with a bit more stealth? If all they needed was one man and after that the rest of the opponents fell, like capturing the King in chess, then why not just sneak into the fortress and get him?

Ginny continued tracing patterns on his chest as he thought over what he remembered of World War I and World War II, then he drifted off to sleep.

He awoke some time later to hear a hushed conversation taking place just outside the tent.

"Married already," a man chuckled. "He didn't waste any time. Then again, neither did I when I first saw you."

"No, you certainly did not," replied a woman sounding exasperated. "It was almost embarrassing. He saw me in the market one day and introduced himself. Well, I being the lady I was, simply rebuffed his advances politely, but then he followed me home! He returned daily with a new bouquet of flowers and would sing these horrible ballads toward my window."

Harry heard a few people chuckling.

"It worked!" the man defended proudly. "You finally invited me in for tea and then we were married a month later."

"And the pregnancy fell at unfortunate timing. I thought we'd never see him again. Our elf tried time and again to at least give us an image of how he was fairing but it is difficult magic and he kept pulling up a world different from the one we had sent him to. So, thank you, truly."

"He had difficulties?!" it was Hermione's voice, and she sounded pleased with this information. "I mean, it was difficult for me as well to bring him here," she said in assurance to who Harry assumed was his parent's elf. "I was pleased to have been able to call up a hero at all. Now to find out that he belongs to this world, well, I wondered if that was the only reason I had been able to!"

Harry traced his thumb over Ginny's back, she responded in kind by tracing a circle with her finger over his hip, which meant that she was awake and listening in on this conversation as well.

"I suppose we should go out and meet them properly," he whispered.

"Sounds like they already know we're married." Ginny sat up and began tying back her hair. "Do I look presentable?"

Harry felt a little dopey and lovesick as he looked at her after she asked that question. She looked the picture of comfort and he just wanted to lay back down with her and forget that there was work to be done. "You look wonderful."

Her eyes sparkled then and she leaned over to give him a kiss before exiting the tent.

When Harry stepped out, he saw there were six people there; Ron, Hermione, his parents and two others who he assumed was their elf and their 'hero'. He couldn't tell which man was the elf since they both had longer hair that covered their ears and neither of them looked like they had large eyes like Hermione did.

He supposed that could have been something that was specific to her, not just an identifying feature of all elves.

"Harry!" his mother greeted. "And Ginevra." She rose and came towards them, taking each of them by the hand. "I am so overwhelmed with happiness to see you both here." She then pulled them in for another hug.

It appeared this was something Harry was going to need to get used to. Being alone with Ginny was one thing, but having people hug him in public wasn't something he had experience with.

When she pulled away, still holding their hands, he gave her a small smile in greeting. "Er, good to see you again too." He saw his father stand up and come over to them as well. "Erm, what are you names?"

His fathers expression of happiness fell at that question and his mother took a step back, letting go of their hands to wrap one arm around her husbands waist, as though to give her strength.

"I am James," his father told him, wrapping an arm around his wife, "and this is Lily."

"Oh, so I'm named after you," Harry nodded at his father.

"I suppose this will be a bit strange for you," his mother said.

Harry felt the overwhelming urge to laugh and cringe at the same time at that. "Yeah, there's a lot of strange that's been going on for me lately."

The man sitting by Ron let out a laugh at that. "No kidding, kid! I thought I was tripping balls when I was pulled into this mess."

Harry did let out a laugh at that expression. "I'll guess you are the Hero?"

"Yep. Never had that title before." He came over and extended his hand. "My names Sirius Black. Weird name, I know, I hear it all the time."

He sounded like he had a London accent.

"Where are you from exactly?" Harry asked him.

"Lundenburh. What about you?"

"London."

"Oh! That's what the Celtic's call it! Are you Celtic?"

"You mean Irish? No, I was raised in England."

Sirius' brow furrowed with confusion and Harry's own followed suit.

"I believe the two of you were pulled from worlds with similar history," the other elf offered.

"Oh!" they nodded in understanding.

"That was part of the issue with us trying to find you again once Voldemort had fallen the last time," Lily explained. "After several failed attempts to call you back to us we decided the pain was too great to try more than once a year."

"I was in quite the hurry when I sent you to the orphanage in the other world. We were almost out of time, we could see Voldemort and his men getting closer to the village. I only just got back in time to see the battle begin," the elf said. "I am Remus." He stood then and came to shake Harry's hand.

"Harry," he nodded. "And the orphanage you sent me to wasn't a bad one, so, thank you." He looked around at all the people staring at him now.

"I've a question for the group," Sirius pipped up. "If you've got access to the other worlds, why don't you have some of the technology that we do? I mean, cars and radar would come in handy here, wouldn't they?"

"I can answer this one," Hermione stated happily and took a step forward. "We elves have been able to see into your worlds and others since first discovering our magic and the other worlds, we have watched the changes that have occurred in these worlds and how these discoveries your people made have unfolded, how each new invention was turned from something good into something bad. There may be flying transportation and some kind of projected image thing that is stared at for most of your days in your world and others, but it is hardly a productive way to spend your time."

Harry couldn't fault the reasoning there.

"Well, what about the inventions that would make things like harvesting easier?" Sirius challenged.

"Yes," Remus nodded, "that would make the workers days easier, however it would also lead to them having the free time to think up other inventions that lead to all the other issues we see in the other worlds. It is part of our burden to try to prevent our world from turning into one of laziness and chaos that we see in the others."

"We're here to enter into a battle," Harry pointed out. "Isn't that chaos?"

"Every world has their issues," Hermione told him. "Ours is no different. We simply deal with it differently and at a slower pace. It allows us time to think things through."

"And what is the thought process to be for the battle?" Ginny asked, putting them all back on task.

"We are to charge the castle at daybreak tomorrow," James announced. "In three waves by land." He pointed behind them to a pole that had a red flag on it. "The color of the flag closest to your campsite tells which wave you are in. Green is first, blue will leave twenty minutes after, then red is the last."

"The knights and servants are to take up the lead of each wave, elves and hero's at the back. Each wave will fan out to surround any possible ground escape."

"And what is the purple flag for?" Ginny asked, pointing off in the distance.

Harry squinted and saw that there were two poles erected that had purple flags on top of them. They were at the far side of the encampment and looked like they were supposed to be a gateway.

"For those with ships," Lily announced. "Like us. We will take up our position surrounding the fortress by sea, setting sail out of the cove we have hidden our ships at through the night so that they will see us blocking them from an escape by water when the sun rises."

It was what Harry figured would happen.

And it sounded like a good way to get a lot of people senselessly killed.

"Any of that sound stupid to you?" Sirius whispered to him.

"Nearly all of it," Harry whispered back.

"No stealth here, have they?"

Harry glanced over at his parents again. With this battle taking place only the next morning he didn't feel like he had ample time to sit down and have a nice chat with them about his childhood and what they'd been up to since sending him away, let alone to give them a history lesson from his world.

He didn't know if he had any siblings yet either, and he didn't feel he had time to get into that discussion.

He jumped slightly as he felt Ginny slide her hand into his. "I like your plan better," she whispered.

"What plan was that?" Sirius asked them.

"To head over there during the night. To have only a few people trying to sneak in and get this Voldemort guy instead of marching over to him en-mass and announcing our presence."

"And what about this Princess they've captured?"

"We were told that if she wouldn't come willingly then we were to do what we must with her," Ginny told him.

"Why the whispering?" Remus asked, also lowering his voice as though a part of the conversation.

The three of them looked up. Now the entire group was looking at them. Harry felt a bit guilty for not at least including Ron and Hermione in on this before discussing it with this man from another world he had somehow come to trust immediately.

"We think that plan is stupid," Sirius told them bluntly. "Why announce to everyone in the fortress that we're going to attack when we could just try and sneak a few people in and get Voldemort out and back here unconscious or something?"

"We had considered that," James said. "But if even one person were to be caught sneaking in then it would alert the entire fortress immediately and they would be even more at the ready."

"You mean even more at the ready than they would be in the twenty or so minutes between when it takes for them to notice a bunch of people marching on the castle to being right at the gates?" Harry questioned.

"What if it weren't just a few people trying to sneak in? What if it were just a few groups all going in together at different entry points?" Sirius asked.

"Where is your servant?" Ginny asked suddenly.

"He died." James answered bluntly. "Where is yours?"

"I was the servant," Ginny told him dismissively. "How did your servant die?"

If Harry didn't know any better he would think she was asking because she distrusted them.

"She was the servant?" Sirius muttered to him. "Damn, nice choice for a bride. And wow, you move quick."

Harry fought the urge to elbow Sirius in the ribs as he kept his eyes on the shifty looks that Lily and James were giving each other.

"He betrayed us," Lily told Ginny finally.

"How is that possible?" Ginny asked. "A servant does what they are told. Did he not have his necklace?"

Harry knew that the necklace Ginny had worn was a sign of servitude, he didn't realize it also forced them to be loyal and do what only what they were told as well.

"It broke," Remus answered for Harry's parents. He looked miserable about having to tell the tale. "We were caught in several large waves as we were on our way here, in the course of the rocking of the ship our servant fell against the metal torch post and the necklace hit at just the right spot for it to come undone."

"We didn't realize before that he did not agree with our ways," Lily frowned. "He waited until the sea was calm again and then tried to revolt. He came charging at James."

"It was lucky for us that he had become soft in his later years, otherwise he would have killed us all," James told them. "We found notebooks in his cabin after he was disposed of overboard that told tale of how he wished to be free and in the graces of Voldemort instead."

Harry's traveling companions all looked shocked by this.

"He… he didn't just want freedom? He wanted to fight for someone else?" Ginny asked. "But why?"

"Money and power," Sirius answered for them. "I saw the notebooks too," he explained. "Looks like he had been jealous of his, er, owners?" he guessed at the terminology. "Yeah, owners, for several years. May have even been the one to tip off Voldemort about where the 'baby' was. He mentioned something about 'the letter' and 'vengeance'."

"Then your servant was the reason you had to send your son away?" Ron asked them.

"It appears so," Lily frowned. "And we can talk about this more later," she told Harry specifically, "show you the notebooks too if you would like to see them for yourself. Maybe it will help you understand and come to terms with why we had to send you away."

"Yes, we would like to spend as much time with you as possible as soon as the battle is over," James said.

"You mean if we all survive it," Harry pointed out. "It's a battle after all."

"You are in the last wave," Lily assured him, sounding like she was assuring herself as well as him. "There is a chance you won't even see the battle."

"And once it is won, we would love for you, and your wife, to come home with us," James told him. "We have a large home with several rooms that you could choose from. You can learn all about your family history. We can help get you settled here properly."

He had wondered what would happen to him after the battle, and here it was; family and an actual home to go to, with his parents and his wife.

And it was too much for him to take in and focus on right now. There was a swirling sensation of anxiety and a light headedness that hit him with this information.

"Okay," he croaked out and gripped Ginny's hand harder as he attempted not to sway on the spot.

"Wonderful!" Lily nearly cried out with joy, her eyes shining with unshed tears of happiness. "Would it be alright if I hugged you again?"

He blinked at her a few times before nodding.

Her hug was followed by a hug from his father, then they had to bid him a farewell since the sun would be nearly set by the time they got back to their ship.

"Hey look, kid, I'm in for your idea over theirs," Sirius told he and Ginny as he hung back. Ron and Hermione had gone off to gather dinner for the four of them. "Truth be told, I don't have much going for me back in my world and have waited my whole life for something as thrilling as this adventure to happen. And let me tell you, I've tried looking for adventure; I've been everywhere and seen nearly all there is to see in my world. Whether you two are game for this or not, I'm going to be sneaking into that castle there and figuring out what's what tonight."

Harry exchanged a look with Ginny. She looked ready to take this on.

"We're in," Harry grinned. He was nervous about it but realized that he too had been waiting his whole life for something like this to happen to him. He wasn't interested in being a hero, but he was interested in belonging in this new world he was in. If they could find some way to allow for less casualties by going about their attack this way than the way the knights had planned it, then it was worth a try.

"I'll meet you outside the barrier by the purple flags then, one hour after sundown." Sirius gave him a cuff on his shoulder before leaving that sealed the plan.

When it was just the two of them standing there in front of their tent they turned to each other.

"Do we tell Ron and Hermione?" Harry asked her. "You've known them for longer, how do you think they will feel about this?"

Ginny took a moment to think over her answer. "They are both strong believers in doing things the way they have always been done. I can see them going against the grain in situations of crisis only. This isn't a situation of crisis though. There is a plan for the battle tomorrow, so I believe they would only try to convince us not to do this."

"So, we won't tell them then?"

"No, we won't tell them," she agreed.

He felt comfortable with that decision. Harry looked over towards the purple flags, parents would be passing through right about now. "I guess that answers my question of what I'm going to be doing once the battle is over."

"I guess I married far above my status," Ginny smirked.

He knew she was hoping for a laugh from him at that, but he didn't have it in him.

"Come then, let's see what is in the satchel that might aide us tonight." Ginny went back to the tent and Harry was happy for the suggestion of a task as a distraction.

Several hours later he was very glad that he and Ginny had managed that nap when they had; everyone else had seemed to fall immediately to sleep once the sun went down. The two of them had feigned going to sleep as well and instead lay in their tent for about ten minutes before slipping out of the tent once more and weaving through the other tents with just Harry's backpack, which had the medical kit and a flashlight as well as the map of the fortress that Ron had brought back with him from the main tent earlier. Ginny had taken a few daggers out of the satchel and tucked them away on a belt she wore that was designed to hold several of them.

Harry took her hand as they stepped between the two posts sporting the purple flags and passed through the barrier to the other side where it was suddenly much quieter and darker.

He turned around to look at the encampment and saw only an open paddock that was gated off.

When he turned again back to look towards the village he made out that there were several people standing only meters away from them in the grass.

He ducked down quickly and pulled Ginny down with him.

"Do you think they are keeping an eye on anyone approaching the encampment?" he asked her.

"I don't think so. I can't make them out properly but they all appear to not be wearing the clothing of a knight or servant. Let me take a closer look." With that she slipped off into the darkness so quickly that he wasn't even sure which way she went, the grass was too high in front of him to tell.

Harry crept sideways to get closer to the people, squinting to see if any of them had the same build of Sirius.

"Harry," came a loud whisper from in front of him. "Come out."

Cautiously, he stood up and took a few steps forward, then Ginny was standing directly in front of him again. "They are all Heros," she explained and took his hand, pulling him towards them.

"Harry, Ginny, glad you got here early," Sirius greeted them. "Here are a few others that have the same idea as we do. I've been here a few days and met them before, figured it couldn't hurt to have a few extra hands. This here is Hagrid," he patted the large chest of an enormous man with a thick head of hair. "Here is Dung." Dung was a small man with a dodgy look to his eye. "This is Kingsley, Tonks and Neville. They all came from different worlds than me, but I figured if the elf magic pulled them all here like it did us, then they must be up for the challenge."

Sirius turned to the lot of them. "Harry is a 'Hero', but Ginny here was a 'Servant' until recently."

"She's from this world?" the pint-sized woman named Tonks asked. Harry thought she bore a closer resemblance to an elf than his parents elf, Remus, did.

"Technically I'm from this world too," Harry told her. "But that is too long a story to explain."

"Well, if it ain't a funny anecdote I ain't interested in listen'en right now," Dung told him. "Look 'ere, I been 'ere for days and I snuck out to get a look at the village. Just to see what was what, like? Got a good look at the castle. 'e looks to be sittin' pretty up there, let me tell you. Any 'ow, I got me a look at them guards 'e's got man'en the bridge; they isn't lookin' interested in be'in there. Bet we's could knock 'em out and take there place. Get their uniforms like and slip into the castle easy."

"What about other entrances?" Kingsley asked him. "There must be more than one way in."

"According to the map we have of it, there is an entrance by water," Ginny told him. "It isn't too far away from the shoreline. Are any of you strong swimmers?"

Harry didn't want to admit that he'd never learned to swim properly and kept his mouth closed.

"I am," Neville held up his hand.

"As am I," Tonks raised her hand as well.

"I'm a good climber," Hagrid announced. "If we can get across the bridge then I wouldn't need to go through the main door, the way the castle is built I can get to a window or a terrace and climb in that way."

"Excellent idea," Ginny agreed. "I can climb as well."

Harry felt some of the air leave his lungs then. He couldn't swim or climb, and he really didn't want to be separated from Ginny for this, but it didn't sound like he was going to have a choice.

Sirius nodded. "Perfect; Neville, Tonks, take a good look at the map, see how to go about sneaking into the entrance at water level. Hagrid, Ginny, once we're across the bridge, you two go in opposite directions along the side of the building. That leaves Dung, Kingsley, Harry and myself to go through the main entrance. We'll see how many guards there are at the entrance to the bridge first and knock them out and steal their uniforms."

"Just knock them out? Not kill them?" Ginny asked.

"We don't generally kill first and ask questions later where I come from," Sirius told her. "What about the rest of you?"

They all nodded in agreement.

Ginny shrugged and looked down at the village once more.

"Shall we go then?" Tonks asked them brightly.

"Let's shall," Sirius said and held his hand out in a gesture for her to take the lead. "We'll split up closer to the village."

The knot of anxiety that had been in his stomach wasn't lessening, but it was growing easier to deal with. They were actually doing something now. He wasn't sure exactly how helpful he was going to be, but at least he was one more person that was willing to give this a try.

Neville and Tonks broke off from the group as the first home on the outskirts of the village was reached and they headed toward the sea. The group broke into two again as they split directions to go around the houses.

The streets were dark, the only light was shining down from the stars above which lit up the ground before them just enough that he didn't knock over anything in his way. He could hear his footsteps and Sirius', who was part of their party, he couldn't hear Ginny's though; she had the grace of a ballet dancer gliding across the stage.

It took a while dodging their way around the houses and down the streets, only once running into the other party, then they were all gathered together again near the bridge where there were two guards standing post, lit up by the torches standing behind them.

"We should pretend to be drunk then, yeah?" Dung suggested.

"Just two of us, I think," Sirius agreed. "Kingsley? What do you say it be you and I? No offense meant, but he and I are both average sized and could be mistaken for other men in the village."

"None taken," Dung answered, sounding a little more relieved than Harry wanted to hear.

"Done," Kingsley nodded and stood up, holding his arm out to go around Sirius' shoulder. Together they started stumbling towards the castle. "So, she get's on me nag, nag, nagging," Kingsley slurred. "And I know I'm not supposed to, because 'you know who' just decided it wasn't okay anymore, but I had some stashed away."

"Smart, that! If you didn't, you wouldn't've had any to share!" Sirius chimed in with his own slurred response. "Forget about rules. Rules are just there to be annoying!"

"There are two more headed for the end of the bridge," Ginny announced in a hush, pointing towards the great front door of the castle. "They must be about to change shift."

"I don't know if they can take on all four of them!" Harry worried. "When they get closer, Ginny, you and I will go out and pretend to be collecting them to bring home."

The guards stopped Kingsley and Sirius when they were close to the bridge entrance and it was too far away to hear exactly what was being said. All Harry caught was something along the lines of 'bloody fault' from Sirius' mouth.

The two other guards were close enough now that if he and Ginny headed for them, they would all come together at the same time. He took her hand and they rushed over, both pretending to be very out of breath.

"Apologies," Ginny said to the guards. "We've been looking everywhere for them. They wandered off after having too much."

"They should be locked up for this," the one guard said. "It's indecent to be in public in this state. Get them home quick before anymore people see."

Leniency, Harry was happy to hear that from the guard.

"Now, if it was you being publicly indecent," the other guard started, not sounding at all as polite as the first one, "then we'd have to take you into the post for questioning." He pointed his thumb over at a little guard house.

"Tha's no way to talk to a lady," Kingsley scowled at him, still keeping up the pretense that he was drunk.

The other two guards had slowed down on their way to them and finally came to stand right beside the two others.

"What's this?"

"Two drunkards, some dandy boy and this here girl came to take them home."

"Actually," Ginny stepped towards the polite guard. "I wonder if you can help me."

Harry didn't like the tone of voice she was using there. It sounded flirty. She shouldn't be sounding flirty with the guard!

"What's that, miss?"

She was quick about it again. Her hands and feet were moving so fast that he didn't know which guard she got the weapon off of, but now she was holding a baton and had pushed the nice guard down before taking the baton to the other one's knee, the one that made the insinuations.

Harry jumped forward and held his hand over the guards mouth to muffle his sounds, then pulled at the guards shoulder sash to wrap it around the guards neck until he passed out.

It was unclear whether Kingsley or Sirius had anything to do with the other two passed out guards, but when he looked up again, Ginny was now crouched down in front of the first one, holding a finger over her lips to let him know he needed to remain silent.

Sirius came over to him and together they pulled the guard into the guard house, followed by the other two. Kingsley and Ginny were with the first, Kingsley holding the guards arms behind him.

"How many guards are in the castle?" she asked.

"Twelve stand watch over night, another twelve during the day, they are likely sleeping in our bunk room."

"Are they all loyal to Voldemort?" Harry asked him.

"No. Most of them are like me. I didn't have any other option. I couldn't afford the taxes and I've got a family to care for. I couldn't risk trying to take them south. Had to take the job."

"What about those three?" Harry inclined his head toward the three knocked out guards. He could hear Dung and Hagrid coming towards them now, but didn't take his eyes off the guard.

"Two of 'em are loyal, the other one, well, he just does what he's told. Doesn't talk much, so I dunno."

"We'll need you to draw up a map of the inside of the castle," Sirius told him. "And then we'll need your uniform."

He did as they asked. Sirius, Harry and Kingsley took the uniforms off of the other guards. The three of them the uniforms fit, but the last one was too big for Dung, too small for Hagrid and it would hang too loose on Ginny for climbing.

"Toss it over the bridge," Sirius suggested. "Maybe Neville or Tonks will come across it. It'll fit Neville."

They tied up the three guards as the other one was marking where Voldemort and the princess slept.

"And you are certain they share a bed?" Ginny asked him in surprise.

"Yes. I don't know why she agrees with him, but she does," he frowned in disappointment. Ginny directed him to move and sit on the ground against the wall. He did as he was told and gave Ginny a curious look. "You aren't just a lady, are you?"

She offered him a kind smile. "No. And you have our thanks and apologies for this."

He opened his mouth to say something else, then she clocked him with a closed fist across the face and he fell to the floor knocked out.

Harry's eyes widened.

That was a single powerful punch and she had knocked him out completely!

Sirius and Kingsley weren't nearly as affected; they tied him up too and they all left the guard house to cross the bridge, tossing the last uniform over in the hopes the it would find the two below.

He had taken a look at the map before they left the torch light. "I think once we get in the fortress we should go down first."

"Why?" Sirius asked.

"There is a way out down there. If we knock out and tie up as many guards as possible before heading up then we will know there won't be anyone coming up behind us."

"Tha's a fair idea," Hagrid agreed. "Corse, I dunno about Ginny there, bu I could climb ter the top and work me way down from the inside too."

"I agree," Ginny stated. "Hagrid and I will go up to the tallest towers. Everyone, do you best to muffle anyone you come upon. He said there were twelve guards on duty, the twelve that aren't may not be asleep."

"We should have questioned him more," Kingsley said.

"We don't have the time for that," said Sirius.

Standing just in front of the large wooden doors, Harry looked up at the stone above him that made up the outer wall. It didn't look so large up close as it did from far away.

Hagrid didn't waste any time and started climbing off the side of the bridge. Ginny made to do the same on the other side and Harry rushed over to her. "Hold on."

She looked back at him, like she was waiting for him to tell her another order, that wasn't what he wanted though. He cupped the back of her neck and brought his lips to hers, trying to tell her to be safe without words.

"For luck," he whispered to her when he pulled away. 'And just in case we never get to do that again,' he thought to himself. She kissed him once more before affixing herself to the side of the building and starting to climb away.

"Been in this world for on'y a few days and got yerself a woman?" Dung nodded in appreciation. "Fas' work tha'."

"She's my wife apparently too," Harry told him. He took in the door before them once more and it looked bigger now than it had a minute ago. "This world has strange rules."

They all nodded in agreement.

"Yet, here we are, willing to risk our lives for them," said Sirius.

Kingsley shrugged, "I wasn't doing anything important anyway."

"I was tryin' to get away from debt collectors," Dung admitted.

"I was drunk. Again," Sirius told them.

"I was stealing supplies from my school for the other kids in the orphanage and hiding out in a ventilation duct." The three of them turned to look at him then. He made eye contact with each of them in turn, the feeling of sheepishness taking over him more with each pair of eyes he met. Repeating those words to himself in his head, it did sound a bit like he was being some kind of Robin Hood. "Only because it was my turn!" he stated in an attempt to downplay it. "I was nearly shitting myself the whole time!"

They sniggered at him and all turned back to the door.

"Alright, two men going on shift, two men coming off. King and I will take the lead again," Sirius decided for them.

Harry listened at the door as Sirius and Kingsley went in, straining his ears to hear if someone greeted them or questioned their presence, anything like that. He heard nothing, so he went in behind them and stayed close to the door on the other side. It was just as dark on this side of the door than on the other. It looked, and smelled, like stables though.

Sirius and Kingsley were looking around. According to the map, the way down was off to the left. Since they couldn't see or hear anyone else, Harry followed them and Dung came behind him, taking up the rear.

He was halfway across the courtyard when he felt Dung push against him from behind abruptly and heard a gurgling sound. Harry stumbled forward and tried to turn around to see what happened, losing balance because of Dung's weight, then he felt a stinging sensation at his ear and heard something whoosh past his head.

It was a blade or something, and part of his ear had been cut by it!

"Guys!" he called to the other two. "We aren't alone!" Harry felt along Dung's back and found that he had been shot with an arrow, straight through his chest at his heart.

A torch was lit at the other side of the courtyard and it illuminated a servant that was standing opposite them with a bow and arrow.

"Shit!" Sirius and Kingsley both stepped forward and clutched Harry under the arms, pulling him around to the side of a stall.

With their guards uniform they each had a sword, Harry didn't know how he was supposed to use a sword to deflect an incoming arrow though. If they had a shield to go with it, sure.

"Wait for them to get closer and then all attack at once?" Sirius suggested.

"I've seen Ginny take out three men in one go," Harry disagreed, "these servants are serious business. We'd be better to try and light all the hay on fire and hope the whole place burns to the ground with everyone inside."

"Not a bad idea, except that we'd still have to get past the servant to get the only lit torch in here," Kingsley pointed out.

"Distraction then." Harry went over to the latch on the stable, reaching through the posts and opened it, then prodded the horse in the rear with his sword. The horse reared up with a loud neigh and galloped out, making its way in circles around the enclosed courtyard.

"He doesn't even look bothered by it," Sirius said as he peeked over the fence. "Oh bugger, now he's jumped on the horses back."

"Fuck!" Harry exclaimed and looked through the slats again to see if he could fit through them and let a few more horses free.

"Oh!" Kingsley stood up and tilted his head curiously. "Never mind, looks like the servant fell off and is… uh."

He didn't finish his sentence, he just looked towards the opposite direction of where the servant was.

"You're welcome," Ginny called out from the window Kingsley had been looking at. "Now make sure she's dead and get a move on!"

Harry grinned at Ginny with the feeling of immense relief. Sirius went over and calmed the horse while Kingsley went to the servant and Harry watched as he raised his foot and lowered it sharply, insuring that the dagger Ginny had thrown made it all the way through the servants chest. How Ginny had known the servant was a 'she', he didn't know.

He then looked back at Dung who was laying face down on the cobblestone with the arrow still protruding from his back.

That could have easily been him.

"Come on, kid," Sirius said, offering him a hand to help him up. "Don't think on it now. Let's keep working our way down."

Harry swallowed his fear and looked back to the window Ginny had been standing in, she was gone. Kingsley pulled Dung over to place him in the hay and got the horse back into its stall, then he too came over to the entrance to the stairs leading downward and the three of them took a breath before they began their descent.

They reached their first landing and there was a door to the right and one to the left.

Harry decided he needed to take more initiative and opened the door to the left quietly, finding himself looking into a room full of bunk beds and hammocks, several of which were filled with the sleeping forms of guards. He closed the door again and nodded for one of the others to check and see if there was an identical room on the other side.

Kingsley poked his head in that room and looked back at them. "Armory," he whispered.

"Perfect. Let's take some things to block the door," Harry whispered back and nodded down to the latch style doorknob that could easily be stopped. "The hinges are even on this side so they won't be able to pry them up."

"We should take their swords at least," Sirius suggested.

"If we blockade the door enough, the only good the swords will do them is to kill each other with them. We don't need to waste our time with that," Harry pointed out.

Sirius shrugged and went into the armory, coming out with a few swords and daggers, and wedged a dagger into the sliding pin of the door latch, then wedged a sword in behind that with its hilt right up against the stone doorway.

"Here," Kingsley came out of the room dragging what turned out to be a cannon rolling behind him. "We'll wedge this across as well to stop the door opening.

They got it in place, it fit nearly perfectly between the two closed doors, then Sirius and Kingsley tried to climb over the cannon to go back upwards.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked them. "What if there are more guards rooms that way?" he gestured behind them down the other stairs. "Or a dungeon? We need to get people free as well."

"Won't it be easier to free them once this Voldemort guy is no longer in charge?" Kingsley reasoned.

"No," Harry told him pointedly. "It could easily be something that gets lost in the confusion and celebration if we're successful."

Kingsley and Sirius gave each other a look before turning around and heading down the next flight of stairs.

"We might also run into Neville and Tonks," Harry pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah, kid, we got you," Sirius smirked at him.

The steps continued to lead down, down, down, to the point that Harry wondered if they were going to meet water before another landing would appear. Then he heard movement. They all heard it and came to an abrupt stop.

Sirius crouched down. "There's a landing here. Can't see anyone though."

There was a rattling noise then, it sounded like chains, then more whispers.

Harry squeezed through the two men and kept his back against the wall as he went down to the landing, then poked his head around the corner. He saw movement, but the people moving were going slowly and were crouched down as well. He squinted and saw a few more people emerging from a room at the end of the hall, only one of them standing upright with their arms around one of the crouched persons like they were helping them walk.

"Tonks?" he whispered.

The few people at the other end of the hall came to a halt.

"Harry?" Tonks called back.

Yet another surge of relief went through him. "Yeah, it's us. We've blocked off the guards room, but keep staying quiet."

"Oh, thank fuck it's you. I wound up having to drown a guard by the boat launch and Neville's got a few scrapes on him from fighting another one. There're prisoners down here; we're trying to get them into the boats."

Harry and the two others came around to assist. "Is this the bottom of the fortress?"

"Haven't seen any other doors or stairs leading down any further," Tonks told him. "There were about thirty people in the room over there, all tied up. Looks like they have all been starved and beaten."

An elderly man came out of the room next and clutched Harry by the front of his tunic. "James!" he wheezed. "They know! All the townspeople know. They aren't just villagers either. Guards are in each of the houses. They'll be watching for the first wave." That was all he said before shuffling off and following the others to the boat launch.

"Who's James?" Tonks asked.

"My father," Harry told her. "He must know him."

"I knew that stupid first/second/third wave idea wasn't going to work like they wanted. Clearly they try this every time," she said in vindication.

"How's Neville doing? You said he was all scraped up?"

"He'll be fine," she dismissed. "What about you lot?"

"There was a servant up there by the main entrance. She killed Dung, but Ginny got her. Ginny and Hagrid are making their way to the top of the castle from climbing the outside," Sirius told her.

Kingsley had gone into the dungeon all the prisoners were being held in and was coming out now with a woman in torn clothes. "This is the last one."

"You're sure? I didn't find any kids anywhere. Youngest one was maybe fifteen," Tonks told them.

"Ginny said that any kids would likely be taken to a facility and brainwashed or turned into a servant."

"Hmm, makes sense. You know, to a deranged person," Sirius nodded.

The four of them followed along behind the last captive and Harry saw there were four boats that would each hold about ten people, three of them were full.

"That's all of them," Tonks told Neville.

"Alright. Glad to see you lot are okay," Neville told them. He had a split lip and his one eye was swollen. He was standing tall and looking proud though. "I've hidden the oars for the last boat, so it'll be useless to anyone that doesn't know where to look." As he said it he untied the boats that were full and gave a good kick to the bow of them so they would slip backwards into the water, the persons seated in the middle started to use the oars to turn the boat around and began rowing.

Then it was just the five of them.

"Upwards we go then," Sirius said.

Before they turned around there was a large splash just past the cove they were in and they saw it was one of the guards who had likely been pushed off the tallest tower.

"Bet's on whether that was Ginny or Hagrid?" Sirius quipped. Harry gathered that making light of everything was simply how Sirius coped with things.

Harry didn't answer, he just watched as the second boat went up to the quickly sinking guard and someone from the boat pulled the guards sword and baton out of his belt, then the boat continued on.

"Up we go then?" Harry asked them.

"Up we go," Kingsley nodded.

Around and around they went back up the staircase, then climbed over and under the cannon. Harry paused to listen for any sounds coming from inside the guard dormitory room, but there was nothing. They passed through the courtyard and went carefully up the stairs.

It was a weight off knowing that there was so little chance of anyone coming up behind them, but since there had been one servant there already, he knew there was a chance that another was hidden around the fortress somewhere, and there were plenty of alcoves for them to choose from.

They made it to the third floor hallway that showed on the map that it came to a 'T' intersection, Voldemort's bedroom would be around the corner from them now, down the passageway that was suspiciously well lit.

As they all crept closer toward it, Harry saw Ginny and Hagrid coming from the opposite direction, also pausing before the next hallway between them. Ginny grinned when she saw him. She looked exhilarated and exhausted all at the same time; something that described his own feelings at the moment too.

She then held up her hand, four fingers raised.

Harry returned the gesture by holding up two fingers, the number of guards that had been at the boat launch in the cove.

Including the four that had been at the bridge, that meant there were possibly only two guards at the end of the hall if their information was correct; twelve guards total on duty.

Tonks was the one to take the chance and nearly lay on the ground to look around the corner. At the same time that she did that, Ginny tossed a small rock against the wall beside her to attempt and distract attention away from Tonks.

Tonks stood up again and raised three fingers. She then pointed to herself and Ginny and made a walking gesture with her downturned fingers.

Harry didn't like that plan at all! She and Ginny simply walking up to the guards? Yes, they were women, but that didn't mean they were invincible! He would rather they all simply rushed the three guards and took their chances.

Hagrid had the same opinion it seemed, because he simply stepped around Ginny and into the full view of the guards.

"Who are you?!" came a mans voice from the end of the hall.

"Jus' lookin' for the latrine," Hagrid lied and kept walking towards them.

Sirius went around the corner then too. "Yeah, the latrine, where's it at?"

Harry followed suit. The three guards there were looking completely flummoxed about what was going on. "I like to call it a bathroom, but whatever you've got available so I can take a wee will do."

"I'm not as alright with tree's or buckets as you gents might be, I'd prefer a proper toilet," Tonks joined them.

Kingsley joined them next. "I've always been partial to watering trees."

"I'm good, had a wee in the water on the way here," Neville stated.

"I'm actually fit to bust now that you've all mentioned it," Ginny said.

Now it was seven on three and the guards were mostly staring at Hagrid, because of his size.

"You didn't happen to hear all the ruckus we made downstairs, did you?" Sirius asked them. "Two guards and a servant, was it?" he asked the rest of them.

"Depends on if you're counting the one I threw off the tallest tower," Hagrid shrugged. "Must have made a noise when his body hit the water."

"Now's the time, gents," Harry told them. "You can stay and fight us, or you can go calmly into the nearest broom closet and be locked in, like all your buddies downstairs that are still breathing." He didn't want to kill anyone and really hoped they'd opt for going into the closet.

One of them decided to charge forward, sword raised and letting out a battle cry. For whatever reason he decided to run straight at Hagrid though, who merely grabbed the mans hand and lifted him up like he was a tiny doll.

"I've done my fair share of taming wild beasts, you are easily the dumbest one I've come across though," Hagrid told him, then took the mans sword with his other hand and gave it to Sirius before opening up the door closest to him. "This'll do nicely," then he tossed the man inside it. "Who's next?"

The second guard merely dropped his sword on the ground and went in willingly, but the third, he just stood there a moment before picking up the abandoned sword.

"I c-can't," he told them. "If it isn't you lot that kill me, my father will for giving up."

Hagrid closed the closet door and twisted the metal of the latch with his bare hand so it wouldn't come undone and turned back to the last guard.

"Last warning," Sirius gave him. "We've got a former Servant here."

The guard didn't answer though, because at that moment there was the sound of several footsteps thundering their way through the castle.

"They must have made it through the barricade!" Harry called to everyone.

Sirius rushed at the last guard in front of the door and Harry hurried past him, yanking open the door and going through it with Neville and Ginny right behind him. They rushed into the room and saw it was a bedroom, and the two occupants of the room were in the middle of getting dressed, likely having heard the yell from the guard warning them.

Harry was stuck staring at the two of them, his gaze going from one to the other and back again as they were standing on opposite sides of the king-sized bed.

This was the princess?

She was… old.

And Voldemort, he was… well, he looked exactly like that prince from the Snow-White cartoon, except in his late forties. He was dashing with defined features and a full head of hair, all dark, save for at the temples.

Why would he have wanted a woman in her sixties or seventies, even if she was a princess, for his bride or companion?

"It is bad manners to begin an invasion in the middle of the night," Voldemort told them.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Neville gave a mirthless laugh. "I'd say it's pretty bad manners to make the people you are forcing to be your subjects to pay over and above in taxes and then shackle them up in a dungeon."

"How dare you talk to him that way!" the princess scoffed. "He is doing all he can to make this land great. My brother the King could stand to learn a thing or two from him."

"Ohh!" Harry and Neville gave a long sound of understanding. She wasn't the daughter of the King, she was the sister.

"The people need a strong leader, not someone who will let them run around doing whatever they want, that is how rebellions start," Voldemort stated.

"Mate, take a listen outside your door. There's a rebellion going on right now," Harry told him. "We've been gathered together from all kinds of places in order to stop you." He turned to the princess then. "Are you telling me you weren't at all happy in the south?"

She crossed her arms and turned her nose up at him. "Men ignored me in the south. Then Morty found me. He rescued me from that place. And… and," she narrowed her eyes at Harry. "Who are you?" She turned to 'Morty'. "Doesn't he look familiar." The way she was blinking at 'Morty', it looked off to Harry, like she wasn't in her right mind.

There was a great deal of yelling going on in the hallway outside and a lot of crashing sounds followed by an incredibly loud roar that could have only come from Hagrid.

Harry caught Ginny shifting slowly around the room out of his peripherals.

"I'm Harry Potter," he told them in an effort to keep their attention on him.

Voldemort's eyes widened, and a sinister smile came to his face. "Harry Potter? Child of James and the dearest Lily?"

The princess gave 'Morty' a sharp look at that.

Voldemort took a step towards him. "The child that they sent to another world in order to hide him from me? You are back? How… wonderful." The evil glint in his eye froze Harry to the spot. "It has only taken you fifteen years to simply… show up."

"And why would you want him to show up?" The princess barked at Voldemort.

"So I can kill him, obviously," he spat back at her.

"I knew it!" The princess completely ignored the three of them then and went around the bed to stand in front of Voldemort. "You never cared for me, did you? You only wanted the status with being betrothed to a Dumbledore. Well, it will never happen now!" She rose her hand to slap him, but he hit her first and she fell to the bed clutching her face.

"It isn't as if I was going to get you pregnant, was I?" He scoffed at her, then turned his attention back on Harry. "Your mother, however, she is still of a child bearing age."

"Sh-she's already married," Harry stated in confusion. "What does killing me solve in this equation?"

"This world has some very fucked up rules," Neville muttered to him. "Are you trying to tell us that if you rape a woman and she gets pregnant, then you're automatically married to her? Even if she's already married?"

Voldemort cocked his head at Neville. "Clearly this means you are a Hero if you've no idea the rules of this world, so let me explain this to you; Lily Dumbledore was meant to be mine, then that blasted Potter came along and convinced her to marry him." He turned his eyes to Harry and sneered, "then they had you.

"And I will be a member of the Dumbledore family one way or another. I will be part of that legacy. They aren't exactly ripe with females for the choosing though. My options are Lily, or Ariana," he said over his shoulder, where the princess was now nearly curled up in a ball and crying. "Ariana is too old to have children and I will never get the blessing of a Dumbledore male now. So, on to plan two, yet again."

He pulled out his sword and held it up at the ready, facing Harry. "First, I'll kill you, then James Potter. Lily will be the next Dumbledore trapped in this fortress and she with birth me a child, securing the lineage I want."

"You only wanted me for my name," Ariana sobbed.

"You had to conquer half of this land for that?" Harry asked him. Ginny was nearly at the headboard of the bed now.

"It would be a trade. I don't care about running this land or caring its inhabitants, only profiting from them. Being part of the Dumbledore family though, that has several more great privileges than just money."

"The land for the title then?" Neville asked him. "It looks like you've lost the affections of the princess forever. How exactly do you expect Harry's mum to agree to come back here with you now? She'd likely do herself in first."

"Oh, you boys don't know what I've done in order to become who I am. You thought the guards were the only defenses I would have? I was a servant. I was a servant to the Dumbledore's in fact. And you three are merely children in my eyes."

He came at Harry first, his sword at the ready to slice at him. Harry's immediate reaction was to drop to the floor and swing himself around, attempting to knock Voldemort down by taking him out at the knees. He merely jumped over Harry's swinging feet and came forward, one of his feet landing hard on his shoulder and Harry heard a sound that his bones were not supposed to make along with a flash of excruciating pain.

He gripped Voldemort's foot with one hand and tried to pry it off of him, kicking upwards now and aiming to hit him between the legs, a failsafe way to insure maximum pain.

It was hard to make out what the other two were doing but he heard the sound of metal on metal and then Voldemort finally got off of him and Harry scrambled backwards and felt a wardrobe or dresser behind him. Looking up at it, he searched for anything that could be used as a weapon and spotted a lantern. Not a torch, but a lantern, with oil. Harry grabbed it and stood up.

Ginny was fighting against Voldemort, who had his sword, with only a dagger in each of her hands. Voldemort clearly had more skill than her because Ginny appeared to be struggling to keep up with him, only just catching his blade with her own several times. Neville was trying to grab at Voldemort and stop him but the man kept moving around with grace while he fought Ginny, making it look like he was simply ignoring Neville.

Harry held the lantern above his head.

"Ginny! Neville!" he yelled.

The three that were fighting gave him only a half-second glance before he threw the lantern as hard as he could at Voldemort.

The way Voldemort was standing between the two of them, there was no where that he could move to quickly enough that would stop the lantern from hitting him somewhere on his body. And sure enough, it did.

Voldemort tried to duck it by moving toward Neville but the lantern hit him hard in the shoulder and shattered, covering him with oil from the base and the flaming wick ricocheted off then caught on his shirt and began tumbling down the fabric, igniting all the cloth covered in oil that it touched.

He screamed in pain as the flames ingulfed him and dropped to the ground and began rolling around to try and extinguish the fire.

Neville rushed to the wall beside the exit and took a torch from its bracket. He then rushed over to Voldemort, who was now kneeling and trying to pull his clothes off, and bashed him across the head with the steel rod. Voldemort stopped screaming then and fell sideways, his clothes still alight.

Ginny then went to the bed and yanked the blanket off, sending Ariana, who was still wailing in misery, flipping sideways off the bed. Ginny covered Voldemort with the blanket and the flames were extinguished.

Harry just stood there, his heart beating incredibly fast in his chest, and stared at the unmoving figure under the blanket in the middle of the room.

"I didn't know he'd been a servant," Ginny gasped as she recovered from her spar with him.

Harry turned to look at her and noticed the blood that was running down her face and on her arms.

"You're hurt!" He rushed to her immediately and looked her over. The cuts weren't too bad, they were superficial, but the fact that she was trying to catch her breath alone made him worry. She had seemed indestructible to him. Indestructible and innocent; they were a strange combination.

"I'll be fine," she assured him.

"Guys, we aren't through here," Neville pointed out. "We've still got to get out of this castle and take these two back to the encampment. Plus, I can still hear fighting in the hall, so there's that to deal with."

"We've got to chain him up or something," Harry told them. "There's a chance he's not dead. I hope he'll be knocked out for a while from the pain at least." He was currently doing all he could to ignore his own pain.

Neville gave the body under the blanket a kick and there was no response of pain from it. He gave them a shrug. "I'm not really keen on the idea of pulling the blanket back. His skin was starting to burn, and his hair was half gone before."

"I'll do it," Harry offered and tentatively bent down to pull at the corner of the blanket, lifting it up as delicately as possible with his good arm.

Before he was done pulling it back the door to the bedroom burst open and Sirius charged through it with Tonks on his tail, both looking ready for another fight. From the momentum Harry already had on his task, the blanket had been pulled up completely now, but he was stuck looking the doorway instead of the charred man at his feet.

Sirius and Tonks both froze and stared at Voldemort, making grotesque faces at it. Harry looked down then and felt their horror. Half of his face and body had been burned away.

He was most certainly unconscious, not dead, as there was a horribly burned part on his arm that kept oozing blood in rhythm with a heart beat.

"What's up with her?" Sirius asked, inclining his head at Ariana.

"She thought he was Prince Charming," Harry told him.

"Guessing he looked better before then."

The three of them only hummed in response.

"How are things out there?" Ginny asked him.

"Oh fine," Tonks told her. "We started fighting back, mostly Hagrid just swinging his arms around, and that scared half of the guards away. The other half are being locked up in a room by Kingsley and Hagrid now. They put up a good fight though."

"So… that's it then?" Neville asked skeptically. "The guards in the castle are gone, we've got Voldemort now, and the Princess, once she stops crying, will be going back to the castle in the south?"

They all turned to Ginny, the only person in the room, not crying, that had grown up in this land.

"That was the task," she confirmed.

Hagrid and Kingsley came into the room, took a look around, then Hagrid picked up Voldemort's body, putting it over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and began carrying it down the stairs.

They didn't exit out of the main gate though, they went down to the boat. If there were guards stationed in different houses around the village then the boat was the better option.

Sirius had been the only Hero that arrived to the encampment via the sea and directed them to the Potter's ship where they all climbed aboard.

"What is this?"

Harry had been the last to climb the ladder, struggling to get up it with only one good arm, and get onto the ship when the question was called out.

The dawn was just breaking over the horizon and he saw it was his father, dressed and ready to do battle. His mother came out of the cabin behind him and looked bewildered.

"Aunt Ariana?" she asked.

Ariana had been beside herself in tears the entire way out of the castle and on the boat. She simply howled with grief even harder now.

"Harry!" his mother shouted his name. "What on earth have you done? And you!" she rounded on Sirius. "What did you get our child into? We've only just got him back and you decided to storm the fortress with him?"

"We were successful," Sirius shrugged and pointed to the body that Hagrid still had over his shoulder.

"Oh, right we are," Hagrid said and essentially dropped Voldemort down on the ground before them. "'E's a little worse for the wear, then again, guess that ain't such a bad thing."

"You were meant to be in the last wave," Harry's father said to him specifically.

Their concern was touching, but shouldn't they have just been glad they didn't have to fight anymore?

"Well, we all kind of thought your first, second, third wave thing was a bit… obvious," Harry reasoned. "We lost one man, but there could have been so many more the way you all were going to be going about it."

"One of your group died?!" his mother yelled. "That could have been you!"

"Apparently that's what he was hoping for," Harry gestured at Voldemort. "And it sounds like I've a bit more family history I need to hear." He then started swaying on the spot, more than he should have been from the waves hitting the boat alone.

"Harry?" Ginny held onto his good arm. "Harry, are you okay?"

"What's wrong with him? Is he bleeding?" his mother rushed forward.

"His arm has been broken at the shoulder."

"Could just be dislocated. I can fix tha'."

Harry knew that was Hagrid's voice, but now his eyes were closed, and he couldn't seem to open them.

He did feel someone pick him up and force his arm a certain way and heard a 'pop' that preceded more excruciating pain.

That was when he passed out.

()()()

Harry woke up to the sensation that he was about to fall out of bed and quickly jerked to the side, his eyes shooting open wide. The jerk that he gave caused a shooting pain in his shoulder and he quickly stilled, swallowing a groan.

"You'll be okay soon enough," came Ginny's voice from close by.

"Ginny?" He kept his eyes closed while he breathed through the pain.

"You overexerted yourself on that mission. Between the sleep deprivation and adrenaline followed by the injury to your shoulder, well, Lily claims it was simply you being stubborn like your father and trying to prove you can do anything." There was a smile behind her words.

Sure enough, when he cracked his eyes open he saw her smiling at him from the corner of the bed.

He opened his eyes wider and saw that it was a queen-sized bed he was laying in, one with four posters and curtains that were tied up around the posts. The room was not just a room either, it was a cabin. He knew this because the windows were round, like port holes.

"Are we still on a boat?"

"Yes. We're on your parent's ship, sailing back to the southern point of the isle and bringing Voldemort back with us. Ariana is being kept captive in another boat sailing along beside us. She was still crying when I last saw her, but not wailing anymore."

"What about Ron and Hermione? And where's Sirius? How long have I been out?"

"Don't worry," she put an assuring hand on his good shoulder and ran her fingers through his hair. "Everyone is either with us on the boat or heading back south by foot after taking care of things in the village with the other guards. None of the heroes have been sent back to their world yet. We all need to celebrate together first."

"Celebrate? I don't think I'm up for much celebrating right now." He could barely move.

"Such a big baby," she scoffed teasingly. "You'll be fine in a day or two, and that's how long it will be before we get where we're going. Now that you are up though I'll go and get you some food and drink. You've been asleep for half a day, you must be hungry."

He wasn't, he was actually just tired, but he wasn't going to stop her. Being taken care of sounded really nice.

Ginny left through the cabin door and he took in his surroundings a bit more. There wasn't much in the way of furniture or decorations on the walls or anything. It was just the bed, a wardrobe and a desk. The mattress was really comfortable though, and the pillows were the right mixture of hard and soft. From what he could see out the window it was a sunny day outside and he could just make out some land through the porthole to his left.

Part of him still wondered if this was all a dream. This would have been the part where the video game would end; villain slayed, princess rescued, happily ever after and all that. Shouldn't he have been waking up in the vent in the library any moment now?

It was all convincing though. There may have been strange rules and titles here, but Ginny seemed so real.

Hell, his blisters on his feet felt so real. And his shoulder certainly felt real with the pain that came from every slight movement he made while adjusting his position in the bed.

The door opened again and Ginny came through it with two others in tow, his parents.

"The coloring is back in your cheeks," his mother said happily. "I am sorry for yelling at you earlier, you just gave us a fright."

"We may have purposefully arranged for you to be in the third wave," his father admitted. "Wanted there to be as little chance as possible that you would have to fight."

Harry kept looking back and forth between the two of them while Ginny set down a bowl and a cup on the table by the bed, taking up in her seat beside him. His mother had the same color of eyes that he did, and his father had the same build, same hair and same overall facial features that Harry saw when he looked in the mirror.

It was so strange.

"You're a princess?" Harry asked his mother.

She nodded, "sort of. My father is King Albus' brother, Aberforth. He and my mother were lovers while he was still married to another, and I am what became of that. I was raised by my mother and thought of Aberforth more like an uncle because he wasn't permitted to be my father. I do still hold a title though, mostly because there are so few females born in the Dumbledore line."

"I was told that; just you and Ariana." Harry's stomach turned as he recalled what Voldemort said about forcing her to have his child. "Why did Voldemort say that simply being part of the Dumbledore line would grant him privileges? Even if you two weren't married, but you gave him a child?"

"Money and Power," his father sighed. "The Dumbledore's are the wealthiest family in our land and even in the far-reaching land, anything that could tie you to the Dumbledore family would open doors. If we wanted to sail to a far away kingdom and visit another King or Tsar then they would open their home to us and treat us like royalty."

"There is also land granted to any Dumbledore," his mother said. "Technically, we are the land holders of the North."

"We?" Harry asked.

"You are a Dumbledore as well, by blood. And now Ginny is by marriage. Though, your surname does remain Potter."

Ginny didn't seem at all affected by this information.

"And when we go south, what am I supposed to be doing with my life? I'm only sixteen, I wasn't raised in this world and a lot of it is still so confusing. And I'm married, where I grew up people don't get married this young."

His parents smiled at him and chuckled. "And we look forward to learning all about the world you were raised in, and teaching you all about this one," his father told him. "As for the marriage, are you happy with Ginny?"

"Yes," Harry answered immediately.

"Then good. We'll take this all one step at a time," his mother told him.

"We won't be expected to have a kid right away, are we?" Harry asked, looking for assurances. "There isn't some kind of law about that?"

"No," his father grinned. "Although your little brother or sister might like having a playmate." He grinned wider then and wrapped his arm around his wife, his other hand going to her belly."

Harry looked at Ginny then. "Er, congratulations to you two, but I think I'll just focus on food and sleep for now."

"We'll leave you two be then," his mum said and came around the bed to give him a kiss on the forehead before leaving with his father.

Ginny brought the soup bowl to him and gave him a few sips of it. "It's strange, isn't it? I remember how odd it was for me to be a servant for Ron and being brought to our fathers home for family dinners. Except I wasn't acknowledged as part of the family then, I simply stood back against the wall in the room and watched them all sitting and enjoying their meal."

"That must have been really strange for you."

"Yes. The hardest bit was when I would catch my father and mother giving me looks when no one else was paying attention with this regretful expression on their faces."

Harry took in her face then and looked down at her arms. All the blood had been washed off her and the cuts were all healing or covered. "And now we both have family."

Her cheeks turned red then. "I kind of really like it," she admitted. "Lily, your mum, was the one to help clean me up. She asked me all sorts of questions about you and she was also so gentle with me. Her nature reminds me of what you are like when we're alone together in the tent; so tender and soft. Just lovely."

"You think I'm lovely?" he grinned.

She rolled her eyes at him and fed him more soup. "I think you'll finish this bowl and go back to sleep."

By the time they made port at the southern part of the isle, Ginny was right, he had felt almost at 100% and had spent the last full day at sea with his father, Sirius and Ron; they had played chess, talked, and his father had shown him how to sail and steer.

Harry wanted to stay at sea forever if they could, but stepping off the ship to the cheers and applause of everyone that had come out to greet them, and the other four returning ships, had been something as well. Voldemort had not died on the journey but he was not strong enough to walk through the streets by himself, so he was carried on a stretcher, uncovered so that all the citizens were able to see what he now looked like.

They were paraded through the streets and all the way up to the castle where the King was waiting for them. He came forward and embraced Harry's mum first before greeting the others and thanking them. He gave his sister a hug as well and sent her off with a few women, Harry's dad whispered in his ear that Ariana was going to be kept in her own tower for quite some time and that Voldemort would be imprisoned in the dungeon until he could be moved elsewhere to stay locked up for the rest of his life.

After the greeting there was a feast and music, it was all one big party. Harry suspected there was something a little extra in his drink because he felt invincible as the day turned to night.

"Are we going back to sleep in the ship?" he asked his mum eventually.

"No, we will stay in the castle tonight. Are you tired? You can't go yet! The elves will be calling up their magic to send the Heros home soon."

Harry frowned and searched the crowd then for Sirius and saw him chatting with Tonks, Ron, Kingsley and Hermione on the other side of the room. "I don't want them to go!" he protested.

"They don't belong here," she told him sadly. "We never quite know what to expect out of the Heros we are sent, but I think this batch is the best yet called forth for a battle."

"I still don't understand," he slurred a bit. "If you've got knights, you've got elves, you've got your ninja-assassin-servant people, why do you need a Hero as well?"

"Look at what you all just accomplished, think it over, and see if you can figure out why."

Harry squinted at her and tried to think, but the only thing that came to mind was how they had the exact same eye color.

"I'm so glad we don't need glasses," he said.

That sent her into peals of giggles and he started laughing too, not quite sure what he was laughing about.

He stopped drinking after that so he could try to stay awake and see the Heros off, and to see what this portal/vortex thing looked like that he'd been sent through twice.

"What I don't understand," he said to Ginny as the elves were all standing around and summoning their magic, "is how they can send these Heroes back, but they couldn't find me."

"Supposedly it is easier to find the correct world when you already have something from it. They didn't have anything from the world they left you in."

"Does that mean that if we didn't find out that I was from here, I might have been sent back to the wrong world?"

They stared at each other then. He could see a glassiness from drink in her eyes. "I have no idea," she admitted.

It took a while, but eventually a large sort of door appeared in the middle of the courtyard. It was black and had this wavy sheen to it like a screen meant to keep out bugs, except it moved like a curtain in the breeze.

One by one the Hero's started stepping forward with their Knight's and gave a farewell to them before going through the doorway.

Hagrid was the first Hero Harry knew that was leaving. The giant man grew emotional and bid everyone a teary farewell before disappearing. Kingsley was the next to go, then Tonks followed by Neville.

Sirius came over to Harry and his parents. He gave them each a hug, then turned and hugged Harry and Ginny to him at the same time.

"This has been the most incredible experience of my life," he told them. "I don't see how I'm going to go back home and just pick up where I left off. And you know what? I don't think I will pick up where I left off. I think I'm going to try sorting my shit out, you know? See if there might be some people that would miss me if I disappeared."

"I know I'll miss you," Harry told him truthfully. "Maybe there's a way that you could stay here?"

"Nah. Nice of you to say, but I don't belong here. I'll go back to my own world and make something of myself. Prove everyone who knew me wrong."

"I hope you do," Ginny told him.

Sirius was the last Hero to leave, then the elves closed the door and moved back to be with their people, Hermione and Ron came over to stand with Harry and Ginny.

"I'm knackered," Ron told them.

"Could that have something to do with all the food and drink?" Hermione asked him teasingly.

"Don't know what you're talking about," he grinned at her. "Anyhow, we're headed off to find some place to sleep." He turned to Ginny, "I'll see you in the morning? Princess," he added teasingly.

"I can kill you with my pinky finger," she said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I've no doubt," he grinned at her.

They watched the other two walk away and turned back to his parents who then showed them where they would be spending the night.

Harry said a goodnight to his parents and hardly glanced at the room they were in other than to take note of where the bed was. Forgoing any propriety he just stripped off his clothes down to his boxers and climbed under the sheets, Ginny did the same, except she took off all of her clothes.

He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, loving the feel of her skin against him and the softness of the pillow his head was resting on.

"How tired are you exactly?" Ginny asked him.

Harry grinned against her shoulder and gave her a kiss there. "Go to sleep, I'll take care of you in the morning."

()()()

AN- Sorry, no smut in this chapter.

Also, It will be a few weeks before I post again. Going on holiday, limited internet access.