Chapter Thirteen - Consequences

Daphne put down her butterbeer and sat back on the deckchair. Today was exactly the same as yesterday, absolutely roasting, so Tracey and Daphne's plan to have afternoon tea had turned into a catch-up over a few butterbeers.

"So, you asked him to be your boyfriend? Tracey asked, "Not the other way around?"

"Yeah." Daphne, replied, matter-of-factly.

"Wow, I always thought it would be the other way round."

"So did I, but I just thought that with him completely denying asking to marry me that maybe he wouldn't make a move at all unless I asked him first. Or at least move quick enough at least."

"That's fair enough. So what happened after Neville and I left?" Tracey asked.

Daphne didn't say anything, she just went bright red.

"Daphne, what happened?" Tracey asked again, sitting up and swivelling off the deckchair so her legs were on the floor and she was completely facing her friend.

"Nothing!" was Daphne's emphatic reply, but both of them knew she was lying.

"Yeah, right. You've just got your first boyfriend, who displayed a huge amount of intelligence and power which I know gets you hot, and you're alone with him in the hot tub, what happened?"

"Well," Daphne said, not looking directly at her friend with her embarrassment, "He pulled me onto his lap and we just fooled around a bit that's all."

"Okay, now you have to spill," Tracey said, taking a swig of her butterbeer and leaning forward.

"Well, okay. We were snogging and it was really good and then..." Daphne said, trailing off.

"What?" Tracey asked, gesturing with her hands.

Daphne put a fist to her nose and looked away again from her friend, "Then I got him to touch my boob."

"Daphne!" Tracey chided, grinning.

"What?! He's just fucking hot and I just felt so connected with him," replied Daphne, almost shrugging.

"Hey, I'm not condemning you, I just thought you weren't ready for that kinda stuff yet," said Tracey

"Neither did I but…if Mitsy hadn't come, well…I wanted to go further."

"How much further?" asked Tracey, wide-eyed. She'd never seen her friend get like this over a boy.

"I dunno, until I got uncomfortable I guess," Daphne shrugged. "I just really like him okay? And I think he really likes me. Did you know he said he had the best day of his life yesterday?"

"Did he?" Tracey said with a sympathetic smile. "That's sweet."

"Thing is, I told him it was the best day of mine too. He just makes me feel…I dunno, like I can deal with it all, you know."

Tracey opened her mouth to speak when Ellanore came sprinting out of the house towards them in a panic.

"Daphne, come quick. It's your Dad, he's in the hospital," she said, in a breathless panic.

Daphne went white. Harry had warned her. What on earth had happened?


Harry had just gotten back home with Sirius to Grimmauld Place when he heard the door open. Amelia had insisted that both he and Sirius were checked over by emergency healers before they could leave, but thankfully they'd gotten away with only a few scratches and bruises. They'd just about given those who were currently at home Arthur, Molly, Fred, George, Ron and Hermione a brief overview of what had happened. Ginny hadn't spoken to him since yesterday and was nowhere to be seen.

Harry could feel Dumbledore's magic before he even burst into the sitting room, but the door swung open at speed, the handle banging loudly against the wall.

The moment the Headmaster's eyes locked eyes with Harry's, he bellowed, "How dare you!? How dare you plot to confirm the existence of Voldemort without consulting me!? Did you never stop to think why I hadn't done it myself!? Do you think that I don't have plans!? Do you know how difficult it will be to recruit new members!? People will be scared to leave their homes! We will never be able to get the support we need and it's all thanks to you! Did you not think that you would terrify them? That you will cause a panic? That shops will close, that families previously sentimental to his cause might flock to him?"

Harry fumed. He knew he should have expected something like this, but he wasn't having it. He was still full of adrenaline and was determined to give as good as he got.

"What?!" Harry shouted back, "And leave them completely in the dark when you and I both know people have already started going missing across the country?! Are you seriously telling me that it being easier to recruit new members to the Order is more important than letting families be aware that they may need to defend themself, to protect their families at a moment's notice?

The other inhabitants of the room were silent. No one had ever seen Dumbledore this angry, nor expected Harry to respond at the same level.

"That's not the point, Harry."

"That's exactly the point, Albus," added Sirius, but Harry held his hand up to stifle Sirius's interruption. This was his fight.

"You didn't answer the question," Harry retorted, "Let's try it the other way. What do you think is worse, it being difficult to recruit new Order members, or having families of men, women and children have Death Eaters, wearing masks that have haunted the collective psyche for a generation, ambush them in their own homes, with no wartime wards in place and watch their loved ones murdered before them before being eviscerated."

Dumbledore sputtered, some of the wind taken out of his sails, he said, "You're right, Harry of course, but you went completely the wrong way about it. If you had come to me we could've discussed it. Do you know how many people died today, not including Death Eaters? Four. Four innocent people died because you couldn't come up with a way to achieve your aims without doing something as stupid and as bullheaded as this. One of them has a child who is a first-year Ravenclaw. That's not to mention the number of people that were injured in the crush. Thankfully, they will be completely fine but what are you going to say to the families of the others who died? It was the most unSlytherin, childish and dangerous plan I've ever seen concocted."

"Amelia knew about it in advance," Harry said, defensively, folding his arms, but in truth, he was shaken by the thought that his actions had inadvertently made a child lose their parent.

"And did you tell Amelia that you would be revealing the identities of several Death Eaters in a locked room with over a hundred other people? No. No, you didn't. I agree your aims were well-intentioned, but the road to hell is paved with them." Albus said.

"People die in war, Albus," argued Sirius, glancing at Harry and seeing him staring blankly into space. He knew he was struggling to process the death of the innocents which meant Sirius felt he needed to step in here, "I knew about the plan as well, in full. Yes, it's regrettable that people were hurt, but how many more would've been killed by the inner circle Death Eater members or their subordinates if we hadn't taken them out of the game early? We revealed Voldemort and took out many of his top generals all in one day!"

"That doesn't entitle you to put so many people in danger. I'm disappointed in both of you. I now know you've been training Harry to kill, Sirius. Just because you were a hit wizard once, doesn't mean you need to turn your Godson into one." Albus said.

"I'm turning my Godson into someone who will win us this war." Sirius snapped, clenching his fists so hard his fingernails were making red crescent moons on his palms.

"None of the spells I cast were killing spells, Professor." Harry interjected, frowning, trying to blink away what Albus had said, "Stunning them hadn't worked, Avery had just gotten right back up. The spells I cast that caused death were depulso, alarte ascendare, and a family parseltongue healing charm used to fracture bones before resetting them. The new spells I've been focusing on learning have been spells for healing, not for killing. I needed to stop them hard and fast. It was kill or be killed."

"It didn't need to be," Albus retorted, "You put yourselves and everyone else in that situation. If we kill them then we are no better than they are."

"I disagree, Professor," said Harry.

"You killed three people, Harry. Merlin, I don't know how a bone-fracturing spell could explode someone's head like that. At most, their head would still be intact."

Everyone apart from Sirius, Harry and Albus in the room gasped.

"You exploded a Death Eater's head?!" Molly asked, eyes wide with terror.

"Wicked." Fred and George said together.

"Killing is not wicked, boys," chided Arthur, "Harry was in a life or death situation."

"You must've put a bit of power in that one," said Ron, amazed.

"Well he was glowing," added Sirius.

"That is cool," said Ron.

"It's an indicator of immense power that could be unbelievably dangerous if it is allowed to go unchecked. I've got half a mind to stop you from training, or expel you from school altogether!" said Albus, "You are already deadly enough."

"No you couldn't, and he is not," said Sirius, stepping next to his Godson and protectively placing a hand on his shoulder, "He has amazing reflexes and a lot of power but he needs a lot of practice to be able to face more than one Death Eater at a time on his own. They will come for him and Harry's an adult now. Expulsion or not, he could drop out of school and do his OWLs independently and I will still train him."

"Plus, you couldn't stop me even if you expelled me," Harry added, "The Chamber of Secrets is not within Hogwarts Wards, only I and those I choose have access to it."

"You would dare disobey Dumbledore's orders?" asked Molly, shocked.

"I am not part of the Order, Mrs Weasley, you and the Headmaster have made that abundantly clear. Like I said, I'm not a Dark Wizard. I won't ever practise the dark arts, I'm just willing to do what it takes. I'm sorry for not thinking it completely through properly and there might've been a better way to do it, I just…he's right, I didn't think about other people who might get killed or be put in danger, whether it was justified or not." Harry replied, wiping a tear from his eye, the adrenaline of the battle beginning to drain from him now.

Harry's words gave Dumbledore hope. As much as he abhorred the display Harry had put on today, to see Harry displaying remorse showed him that Albus knew he wasn't taking what happened lightly. It hugely reduced any doubts he'd had about Harry going dark, especially with how concerned he was about Harry being able to study such a vast array of archaic magics without supervision.

There was silence for a little while as everyone processed the conversation.

Dumbledore collapsed into a chair and Molly brought him a glass of firewhiskey. Hermione was staring at Harry with pity, thinking through what had been said before she realised she had to speak up. Her best friend had the whole world on his shoulders, and she'd known since first year when they'd found Voldemort was still alive that things were eventually going to get ugly. She'd vowed that she would stick by him through thick and thin, and she had. Since she'd arrived at Grimmauld Place she'd been psyching herself up for months, thinking about Cedric's death, imagining if it could've been her, thinking about her family and how long it would be before the Death Eaters came after her mum and dad. It made her both scared and angry. Trapped in here, in what was essentially a safehouse apart from one trip with Tonks to buy a dictionary meant she'd been locked away from the outside world with every chunk of information she'd received being centred around the Ministry's calling his best friend a liar and their utter denial of the chaos that was to come. The situation brought up everything she'd learned in her history books, of the conversations she'd had with her Great-Grandpa about the war. It'd been exactly how it started, misinformation, fear, and the allies being utterly unprepared for what was to come. By the time the bravery of the allied nations stood united as one and finally completed what needed to be done, so many lives across Europe had already been lost. Now, with Harry becoming the Lord of Houses Slytherin and Potter and his sudden growth into what she had to admit was a very attractive, physically strong young man, she felt that her long-standing faith was not misplaced. Now, she would double down on it.

"Professor, I assume you know who Adolf Hitler was?" asked Hermione.

"Of course, Miss Granger," Albus said, taking a sip of firewhiskey and offering a kind smile.

"If the allies just said, let's not kill the Germans, the allies would have lost the Battle of Britain, England would've been invaded and there would've been no D-Day and Hitler would have succeeded in his mission. War is death, Professor. There's no way around it. My Great-Grandpa Ivan fought and some of his friends died so that my grandparents could live. You can hate what Harry did today if you want, but to me, the ends justified the means. I, like you, don't completely agree with how he went about doing what he did, but he did what needed to be done. I'm struggling to think of another way to make the Ministry admit to Voldemort's resurrection so quickly and take out several of his most powerful or influential followers."

Harry looked at Hermione, surprised. He'd worried that Hermione would be completely horrified by him, she hated violence, but she'd never told him what happened to her family. He was glad she was on his side here, it meant a lot.

"I see your point, Miss Granger," Albus sighed. "But just because I see it doesn't mean that I completely agree with it."

"We will have to agree to disagree, Professor." said Harry, "But just because we have some different values, doesn't mean that we can't be allies."

"I agree, but you can't go off making war-changing decisions without including your allies," replied Dumbledore.

"I understand, and I'll try to include you more in my plans in future." Harry relented, "We can work with one another. Look, I'm not promising that I won't kill if I feel like I need to, but mostly not going to be attacking, only defending. I won't have Daphne think I'm a murderer."

"Ah yes, I had heard about you being invited to Miss Greengrass' party," Dumbledore said, with a twinkle in his eye.

"Oh yeah, you didn't tell us how the party went, Harry," pointed out Hermione, looking up from her parchment.

"It was brilliant, Hermione. We're dating now. She's brilliant. Smart as a button."

Harry said with a smile, though a feeling of dread falling into the pit of his stomach as to what Daphne's reaction would be to today's events.

Hermione frowned at that, but Harry wasn't sure why.

"What, that slimy snake is your girlfriend?" Ron asked with a sneer.

"Nice one, Harry," said Fred and George simultaneously.

"Thanks, guys," Harry said, "I'm the king of the slimy snakes now Ron, and Daphne is not who you think she is. They aren't all the same. And after yesterday, let's just say there's quite a few Slytherins you know who aren't as bad as you think they are."

Ron huffed, "I'll believe it when I see it."

Harry's words filled Albus with hope and gave him an inclination that with Harry all was not lost. He clearly had a great capacity for love and if he were to grow to love Daphne, then maybe Harry could start to see things his way, he thought. It might even help him defeat Voldemort. "After all," Albus thought, "Love is the power that Tom knows not."

"Well I like her a lot," Harry said, "And when you see her I'd appreciate it if you kept that in mind."

"Love is the most important magic we have, Harry, you need to nurture it," Albus advised, before letting out a big sigh, the stress of the day beginning to drain away, "I'm not angry at you, but you massively threw me off guard and my plans, awry. I understand your reasoning. It's good to hear that you are dating Daphne and I believe you may have an even stronger relationship now that you have saved Cyrus' life. That's not to mention having those in the House of Greengrass as your allies, them being of a Most Ancient and Noble house could be invaluable in future. You will owe them a life debt you know, you could ask for Daphne's hand in marriage."

"Yes," Albus thought, pleased at the words he'd used and offering Harry an encouraging smile. "Maybe", he thought, "Putting him and Daphne in close proximity might foster the much-needed love that Harry needs."

"I would sir, but I'm not a fan of forcing people to marry me, girlfriend or not. Besides, it's a bit early to call it love."

"I see," Albus said, a bit disheartened by the response but happy with the morality the boy was showing. Maybe there was something else he could do to encourage Harry and Daphne, keep them close somehow?

"You know," said Hermione, "There might be a way we can use this to the Order's advantage, Professor. We could publicise what happened at the trial as a complete victory for the Wizengamot, with how many Death Eaters were captured or killed. I have, let's say, a good bit of influence on Rita Skeeter."

Albus raised his eyebrows at that, Miss Granger had been a target of quite a few of Rita's more sensational articles last year. She must have some dirt on her that she's not going to be forthcoming with, Albus thought. Either way, Miss Granger was a girl with some brains, it would be worth it to hear her idea.

"That's interesting," Albus said, slowly, "What do you propose we do with it?"

"We could see if she can get Harry a couple of guest columns occasionally," she suggested.

"Hmm," Albus sounded, running a hand through his beard, "Rita might be able to pitch it, but her upper management might not go for it. They won't want to draw the ire of Voldemort."

"What if we could find some way to protect them? We could pay for goblin standard wards for the offices and all members of staff." Sirius suggested.

"Is it worth that?" Molly asked.

"After what happened today, someone his age being able to take down Death Eaters, he will have many people looking to believe that Harry is some sort of chosen one, that he might be able to beat him. We could foster and use that hope, encourage them to train themselves, be vigilant and maybe encourage some of them to join the Aurors. Tonks helps train the Auror Cadets for their concealment and disguise exams, doesn't she?" Hermione asked.

"She does yes," confirmed Dumbledore.

Hermione nodded, before finishing her thought, "We could use her to filter any new recruits into the order, and because they'll be undergoing training, we'll know they'll be capable of putting up a fight."

"It's a good idea, Hermione but do you know how much the wards you're talking about cost?" Arthur said, "You're talking a thousand galleons per home, probably two thousand for the offices to compensate for the ambient magic. Plus, the Prophet has nearly a hundred staff. That's up to about a hundred thousand galleons. That's like 10 years of my wages."

Harry's eyes widened. Arthur's admission of his wages brought a new perspective to how much he'd spent on Daphne's present, but inwardly he shrugged. Daphne, and Astoria's life, was worth it.

"No one said it had to be wards," Sirius said, "There might be a better idea."

"I'll help cover some of it," Harry said, "If I have enough money."

Dumbledore snorted.

"If you have enough money?" the Headmaster said, "Harry you haven't had any contact with Gringotts since you ascended, have you?"

"No, why?"

"Well, my boy, let me put it to you this way. Since Hogwarts was founded, the admission fee of five hundred Galleons per term has not wavered. Support programs exist, the governors hold a fund for some of the poorer families that are not from noble houses to go to school, but out of every student's fees, since the school's inception, twenty-five galleons apiece have been taken out every term and deposited into the Hogwarts families' vaults. The school has been open since the year 981 and the school has had at least 72 students at any one time, in some years, we've had over eight hundred. Now do you think you can afford it?"

Harry sat there in shock, his jaw had dropped. Hermione started scribbling furiously on a bit of parchment, tongue sticking out in concentration.

"Merlin Harry, you're loaded!" said Ron.

"Did I ever tell you I'm your best friend?" said George.

"Well I'm his bester friend," said Fred

"Ah but are you his besterer friend?" asked George

"I am actually, well sucks for you because I'm his bestesterer -

"Merlin, will you both shut up!" snapped Sirius. His own adrenaline was dropping now and he was quickly getting a blinding headache.

"We can be bestesterer friends with you if you want Sirius."

That earned them a glare.

"Just need to carry the five, and then..." Hermione muttered before looking up in wonder and said "Harry, if every year was the 72 student year, without interest that's 5475600. In muggle money that's £27256487!"

"Woah!" Ron said, "That's richer than the Malfoys!"

Harry was busy thinking about what Arthur had said about his wages. Every single year his House had taken money from them. He felt incredibly guilty. He got up and walked over to Hermione and crouched by the table she was sitting at.

"Hermione, can you work something else out for me?" he asked, nabbing her quill and then jotting something down on her parchment.

Hermione beamed and replied, "Sure."

A few minutes later she gave him a figure on a torn-off bit of her parchment.

"Sirius?" Harry then asked, "Can any house elf get into a family vault? No, just one that's part of the family magic, like Kreacher is the black elf and Dobby was the Malfoy one."

Just the mention of the maniacal little rascal that haunted Harry's second year gave him an idea.

"That's perfect!" He said, "I could probably do with my own house elf anyway. Dobby!"

A couple of seconds later there was a pop, and Dobby appeared in the room with them.

"Harry Slytherin-Potter calls for Dobby, sir? It's so good to see you!"

"It's nice to see you too, Dobby. I just wanted to ask what you were doing with yourself these days?"

"It's so good of you to ask, mister Harry Potter, sir. Dobby has been working at Hogwarts, sir."

"How do you feel about becoming my family house elf, Dobby?"

"Harry!" Hermione shouted in alarm, "You can't do that!? It's slavery!"

But Dobby's bulging eyes nearly burst from his head in excitement.

"Oh yes Mister Harry Slytherin-Potter, sir, Dobby would be the bestest elf you could ever possibly have, sir, Dobby would make sure of it."

"Okay Dobby, let's do it. How do you join my family?"

"You just need to hold your wand while you hold Dobby's hand and say "I…and then your name… vow to share my magic with the House of Elf known as Dobby, to give him life in service to my House's needs, and then so mote it be." like a normal vow," said Sirius.

"Stop! Hermione said, "It's wrong"

"How is it?" said Dumbledore, "House Elves need to be bonded with a House or be bonded to an institution among ambient magic, they can be extremely unwell or even die if they don't. That's why so many of them work for us at Hogwarts."

Dobby nodded vigorously.

"I…I didn't know that." Hermione said, a blush rising to her cheeks before she stared down at her parchment.

Harry and Ron gave each other a sideways look, clearly both thinking about "S.P.E.W." but not saying anything.

Harry brought out his wand and reached out his hand for Dobby to take. Dobby was hopping up and down on the floor in excitement so much that Harry could barely keep still while holding his hand, but Harry somehow managed it, raised his wand and said:

"I, Harry James Slytherin-Potter, vow to share my magic with the House of Elf known as Dobby, to give him life in service to my House's needs, and then so mote it be."

His wand flashed and Dobby let out an obvious shiver, his pupils dilating as he was brought into the family and its magics.

"Such powerful family Magic, Master Harry Slytherin-Potter has, Master Harry Slytherin-Potter sir, it makes Dobby feel wonderful."

"Just call me Harry, Dobby," Harry asked.

"Dobby will struggle, how about Master Harry?" Dobby asked.

"Okay," Harry said with a smile.

"Is there anything Dobby can do now for Master Harry, sir? Dobby is eager to get started."

"Can you go to Gringotts for me? I need you to extract some gold and ask for an appointment for me to meet with them about my accounts. Here's what I want you to get out." Harry asked, handing Dobby the scrap of parchment Hermione had given him.

"Of course, Dobby will go now Master Harry, sir. Dobby should be back when the big hand goes the other way."

With a click of his fingers, Dobby was gone.

"Well," Dumbledore said, getting to his feet and stretching, "I must be going, sorry for my furious entrance everyone."

"It's understandable Albus," said Molly, "It's been a tough day."

"That is has. Miss Granger, please send a letter to Rita Skeeter as we discussed. Let's see what kind of response she has."

"Will do, Professor," Hermione replied.

"Farewell everyone," Dumbledore called, turning towards the door.

He heard a chorus of "goodbyes" as he left.

Just over half an hour later, Dobby returned with another pop.

"Here you go, Master Harry," Dobby said excitedly, passing Harry a large bag of gold, "The goblinses weren't happy that Master Harry sent his elf, sir and wouldn't let me take it out of the Slytherin Vault as it not having beens opened in a long time. They said you can come whenever you like, you don't need an appointment but they made Dobby tell you that you need to go before you go back to school, Master Harry, sir."

"Okay, thank you, Dobby, I'll be sure to do that," Harry said, smiling at his bat-eared friend.

"Can Dobby do anything else, Master?" Dobby asked, still almost jittery with excitement.

"Yes," Harry said, "Dobby, I want you to do a few things."

"Dobby is all ears, Master Harry, all ears."

"I want you to look at the seal on this letter and get yourself some nice uniforms. I won't have my house elf wearing a pillowcase. You're also to work with Kreacher on maintaining the Black household until I go back to Hogwarts. If you have any problems, come to me, or Sirius if I'm unavailable."

"Dobby can do all that sir, anything else?"

"One last thing, Dobby. Buy a hamper from somewhere in Diagon Alley and take it to St Mungo's Hospital for Lord Greengrass, oh and get a tub of the finest Strawberry Ice Cream for Daphne."

"Dobby will do this, sir. He will be going now."

Dobby popped away again. Harry then got up and went to find Mr Weasley, who was sitting at the kitchen table reading a muggle car magazine while Molly bustled around the kitchen. Harry dropped the bag on the kitchen table in front of him.

"Nine thousand, two hundred and sixty-three galleons, sixteen sickles and twenty-eight knuts. That's all the money that your family has paid into the House of Slytherin, with the standard interest rate of 2 percent as if all the money entered my vault on the day you yourself entered Hogwarts."

Molly stopped what she was doing and turned on the spot, while Arthur snapped his head up towards him.

"Harry, dear, this is a lovely gesture, but we can't accept this," Molly said.

"She's right, Harry," Arthur added.

"Neither can I accept having it in my vault. You've treated me like family, Mr and Mrs Weasley, given me a roof when things with my relatives were awful and fed me the food from your table."

"No, Harry, it's too much money," Molly said.

"I'm not taking no for an answer, Mrs Weasley, You know how much money I've got. This is nothing. It's like you giving me a sickle from your wages. Put it towards a holiday, some wards for the Burrow, some new robes for you, Molly, or some muggle tools for you, Arthur."

"I have always wanted a Janes Oar," Arthur said, "Though I don't know who Jane was or what they have to do with boats."

Harry laughed, "It's a chainsaw, Mr Weasley, and they're very sharp and used for chopping down trees."

"You're not getting one," Molly said immediately, which earned her an "Awww," and a glum look from her husband.

"Well, thank you, Harry, you have no idea what this will do for our family."

Later that night, Harry lay in bed. Sirius was busy snoring like a Janes Oar, but Harry struggled to reach sleep himself. He'd managed it for half an hour, but he'd just been flung head first into the recurring dream of the door at the Ministry, wherever it was in that huge place, and if in the dream he ended up going into the white light, he'd always wake up with a start. Now, unhappily awake, he was tossing and turning and he couldn't help but think about what Dumbledore and Sirius had said. Was today worth it? How many of those who died today had children? How many lives had he ruined, and could that make up for how many lives would be saved by what he'd done? He would never know, but he did know one thing, he didn't want to know which Ravenclaw's mum or dad he'd inadvertently gotten killed. He didn't know how he could look at them.


"My Lord, they took us completely by surprise, Lord Slytherin-Potter, he just..." stuttered Lord Selwyn, tiptoeing around the corpse of some new follower he'd never met before who'd been immediately killed by his Lord's rage once he'd revealed that the boy had played a memory of the resurrection.

"He is just Potter!" Voldemort spat, stifling magic coming off him in waves, "He is not Slytherin. I am the heir of Slytherin. Slytherin is in my blood. I am Slytherin."

"P-p-Potter, My Lord," Selwyn stuttered, "No one was prepared, not even

Dumbledore. He used the device, this Locus thing and everyone whose mask you removed at the graveyard was revealed."

"And those that weren't?" he asked, trying to calm himself down so he could absorb as much information as possible.

"They kept quiet, apart from Yaxley, my Lord," Selwyn replied. He wanted to get out, even though the Dark Lord was speaking calmly, he could still palpably feel his rage. In this cold gothic room of Malfoy Manor, he felt like he was trapped with a wild animal.

"And where are they now?" Voldemort asked.

"M-m-Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Macnair were captured, but p-p-Potter, he -"

Lord Selwyn was positively shaking now and jumped at Voldemort's interruption.

"He what?" Voldemort snapped, getting impatient with Lord Selwyn's stuttering.

"He killed Avery, Yaxley and Nott."

"Impossible, Potter is nowhere near powerful enough." Voldemort sneered.

"His eyes were glowing, and he had help, my Lord. Sirius Black, Dumbledore, Lord Greengrass, Amelia Bones..."

"Greengrass? So they've finally chosen a side. Good. At least we know where the vermin stands. We shall have to make a plan for them." sneered Voldemort. He'd always thought Cyrus was a cowardly worm.

"I agree, My Lord, but he did receive some comeuppance. Avery managed to remove his wand arm, but then Potter managed to heal him somehow."

Voldemort waved his hand and rolled his eyes at Selwyn. Of course, he agreed with him, he was his master. In truth, Greengrass didn't matter, at least for now and he'd clearly had enough of an ordeal that he didn't need any further punishment yet. Besides, he was always at the Ministry, at his Manor, or at one of his many properties, all of which were highly warded and there was no way he would venture outside now. He'd be at St Mungo's currently, but likely would be surrounded by his family, and blood loss is something that can be sorted in hours so he would be soon. Security everywhere would be massively tightened. He tightened his grip on his wand, pacing.

Potter was already a massive thorn in his side, the only silver lining being that he was right to pick him and not Longbottom when he'd heard the prophecy. Now, Potter had ruined his plans completely, outed his resurrection and taken out three of his finest in one fell swoop. The others were likely in Azkaban.

Potter's eyes glowing and his being able to reattach someone's arm who was very likely at Death's door was the most unwelcome news. It was concerning. He could not allow Potter to become powerful. He needed more followers. He needed his inner circle, and maybe to raise a few more through his ranks, but how to do it? Also, he needed to keep an eye on Potter somehow. And Dumbledore. He needed eyes at Hogwarts. He thought of young Draco, Lucius had said he'd been brought up sympathetic to their cause, but still, he was a child. He thought of the behaviour of his peers Draco's age when he was at Hogwarts. No, Draco would be too immature, but still...how could he get the information he needed? He had an idea.

"Selwyn, fetch Narcissa," Voldemort ordered.

"Yes, my Lord." Lord Selwyn replied eagerly, though admittedly more happy to get out of the room rather than please his master.

Five minutes later, Narcissa returned, looking at him warily. He'd never been sure about her. She'd never been marked, never swore fealty to him, but Lucius swore she was loyal to the cause. Well, this would do as a demonstration of her loyalty at least.

"You called, My Lord," Narcissa said, trying to project confidence in herself with her head high and her shoulders back.

"You have become needed, Lady Malfoy. As I'm sure you are aware, your husband is likely in Azkaban by now at Potter's hand. I need eyes on him."

"What would you like me to do, my Lord?" Narcissa asked obediently.

"I want you to apply for the Defence Against The Dark Arts position. Do you hold a NEWT?"

"An "O", my Lord, but I must say, with my husband in Azkaban I doubt that Dumbledore will hire me, and my husband will no longer have his position as Governor."

Voldemort inclined his head, conceding the point, "Well, we will just have to influence the rest of the board, won't we? Go to Rookwood and Rowle and get them to draw up profiles on each of the governors. I'm sure a few little visits from our friends will help them decide in our favour."

"Yes, my Lord."

"Dismissed."

"Yes," Voldemort thought, sitting on the large chair at the head of the dark Malfoy dinner table. "That's a good start. Now to figure out a way to get my generals out of Azkaban with their souls intact."


Harry was on his knees, sweat dripping from places he didn't know existed. They'd been training for nearly six weeks, and when they were in the Chamber of Secrets, Sirius frequently flip-flopped from being his best friend to being a gruelling taskmaster who Harry wanted to slap upside the head. He'd hoped he'd at least have had another Wizengamot session to break the training up a bit, but as Lord Shacklebolt was still in hospital and several proxy members were having to be found for deceased members, the next session wasn't set until the weekend before term began.

For the last week, Harry had been working on improving his access to the incredible pool of magic power he had inside him. That meant, Sirius said, firing the most draining spells, repeatedly, until he felt dizzy. Apparently, the more he accessed higher levels of power the easier he would have access to it. He'd agreed after the first two days that he'd found it easier, but that just meant Sirius turned up the heat again and again. They went from Sirius making him float a desk in the air for as long as he could while Sirius read whatever he liked, to Harry constantly channelling an aguamenti into a pot which was charmed to make the water vanish on impact, to having him hold up as big a protego as he could while Sirius threw high impact spells at him again and again and again.

Sirius wasn't his favourite person in the world right now. He'd told Harry himself that he didn't give a shit that it was his birthday, in fact, that just meant that he had to train harder.

Harry sighed, rubbing his tired eyes. He'd not heard from Daphne since the party. It must be over between them, Harry thought. He'd put her father in danger with just a "spells might fly tomorrow" as a warning. He could almost punch himself and prayed that he would get a chance to talk to her once he got back to Hogwarts.

Sirius checked his watch, looking at the time. "That's it for the day, Birthday Boy," he called, earning himself a well-deserved glare from his Godson, "Let's go home and hit the showers."

Harry nodded and steadily got to his feet, accepting a much-needed Exhaustion Elixir that Sirius offered and downing it in one go with no hesitation, regardless of the fact it tasted like dirt. It made him feel better. He felt newly energised but they never trained harder once he'd had one. He was only allowed one a day as more than that could do damage to the magical core.

He took Sirius by the arm, and they portkeyed into their bedroom. Harry felt disgusting and pretty much ran to the shower. He heard Sirius get in the stall next to him - something his Godfather had added to the ensuite once he knew Harry would be rooming with him - and start singing, badly.

"Oh, but it don't matter dear, you've got me under your spell, you know I'll always be here…" Sirius sang in his tone-deaf caterwaul.

"You've been singing that all day," Harry said, annoyed from the other side of the cubicle.

"Ooh, touchy," said Sirius, "Don't be such a grouch. I've put some clothes out for you. Try and do your hair, I think Molly will have done you a cake and she's made us all a nice dinner so she's asked us to dress up nice for your birthday."

"Okay," Harry said, tilting his head back to rinse the conditioner out of his hair. All done, he got out, grabbed a towel and padded back into the bedroom. Sirius had put out a plain white muggle shirt, Harry's favourite black jeans and a pair of oxfords. Harry put them on quickly and then went back into the bathroom to do his hair. Sirius, walking past him in a towel, asked him to wait until he too was ready before they went downstairs. Harry briefly wondered why Sirius had said that while he tried for what must've been the ten-thousandth time to tame his hair but then by the time he'd gone back into the bedroom to put his shoes on, he'd shrugged it off. Sirius was weird anyway. He was too busy thinking about how he'd completely and utterly fucked things up with Daphne and that stuffing his face with no amount of chocolate cake or treacle tart would make it any better.

Sirius came out of the bathroom in his boxers and then quickly put on a slightly fancier-than-normal set of black robes and shoes.

"Ready to go pup?" Sirius asked before casting a drying charm on his hair.

"Yeah," Harry said with a nod and they left the room and went down the stairs. The first thing Harry noticed that was odd was that the kitchen door was closed. As far as he was aware, there was no Order meeting tonight. He turned to look at Sirius, who just had a neutral expression on his face.

Harry turned the doorknob and opened the kitchen door.

"SURPRISE!" shouted a chorus from the packed kitchen. He jumped at first but then smiled as he took in all the people that were there. Of course, all the Weasleys were there, but also Remus, Tonks, and Dumbledore. That didn't matter though, because the person who he saw at the other end of the kitchen, the one standing right in front of a huge red-velvet cake, looking beautiful in a pleated black knee-length skirt and a pretty pearlescent white vest top, was Daphne.