Disclaimer: Torturing one of your Professors may get you expelled.

Total Resistance

Harry thoughts were spinning, he was walking down the steps leading to the Headmaster's office when someone cleared their throat.

"Did he tell you the bloody prophecy?"

"Who . . . Moody?"

"The same, well?"

"He did," Harry confirmed. "Why? Do you know it too?"

"No, but I can guess what it says." Moody said with a shrug. "Listen here, there is no fate but that which we make for ourselves. Prophecies are rarely clear unitl after they've been carried out and worrying about them is just the sort of idiotic thing that you shouldn't do."

"Oh . . . thanks."

"No problem lad," Moody replied. "Just thought you should get a more balanced idea of how things are. Prophecy can be useful, but most of the time it's not worth sparing the time to hear." With that, Moody turned and began walking away.

"Wait."

"What is it?"

"I just need to know one more thing," Harry said.

"Well?"

"How'd you stay alive for so long with so many people wanting you dead?"

"Ah, well . . . wouldn't tell this to most people. But I suppose you need this information as much as I do. Always have a place to run and always have another way out."

"That's it?"

"That's it," Moody confirmed. "Set up a signal to let anyone important know that you've been made and disappear. If you get captured then try to keep your mouth shut for two days, giving your people more time to run is the gentlemanly thing to do. One more thing."

"Yeah?"

"Emotions are tools and they can be useful," Moody said firmly. "But you have to remember one thing. You are the master of your emotions, your emotions are not the master of you."

"Thanks Moody."

"No problem lad," Moody said with a horrific smile. "No problem at all."

Harry was lost in thought as he wandered back towards his dormitory.

"Harry, there you are." Hermione almost cried in relief. "Where have you been?"

"Hermione, I've got a question for you."

"What is it Harry?" Hermione asked slowly. She was a bit worried by the unnatural calm facade that her best friend had been showing the world, after Sirius's death and with everything that had happened the year before . . .

"How do post owls know where to go? Is there some sort of charm or something?"

"I'm not sure," Hermione replied. "Can I get back to you?"

"Sure thing," Harry agreed. "And make sure the DA knows we're going to have another meeting before the end of the year, I've got something I need to say."

"Ok Harry."

"And I'll need to have a quick meeting with you beforehand," Harry added as he began walking away.

"I'll be sure to arrange things then," Hermione agreed. She was sure of it now, that eerie calm couldn't be natural.

"Thanks Hermione," Harry said as he began walking away. He changed his direction to go towards the owlery.

"Hedwig," he called out. "Got a letter for you to deliver."

"Hoot."

"Take this to Bill girl," Harry said fondly. "And wait for a reply, I'd like this as soon as you can comfortably manage please."

Hedwig hooted in agreement and took off to deliver his letter.

Harry left the owlery and went off in search of his friend, he found her in the library.

"How are you doing?"

"I found the charms they use on post owls," Hermione said in excitement. "At least the major ones."

"Will it work on other birds?"

"Not well," Hermione replied. "At least the ones I found won't, why?"

"Later," Harry said. "For now I need you to work on modifying the Galleons we used to call meetings."

IIIIIIIIII

"I've learned something," Harry said to the group. "I've learned that the only people I can trust are in this room." Harry looked around at all the faces. "Many of us will be vulnerable during the summer holiday. Because of that, I've asked Hermione to do a quick modification on the galleons, Hermione."

"Tap it three times on heads and once on tails against any hard surface," Hermione said. "It'll turn yellow and vibrate. That is your signal to the rest of the group that you've been spotted or attacked by Death Eaters. It will turn every other Galleon yellow and it will vibrate and heat them up."

"If you see this happen, get rid of your Galleon and go to ground." Harry said firmly. "Run, find a place to hide. If they get one of us then it stands to reason that they'll go after the rest. If you're captured . . . if you're captured, try to hold out for two days. Those two days could mean life or death to your friends, try to keep your mouth shut that long."

The students looked around at each other nervously. "You serious mate?" Ron asked finally.

"I wish I wasn't," Harry said sickly. "I wish this were all a joke."

"Can I add something?" Susan asked.

"Go ahead."

"I suggest that we all divide ourselves into groups of three," Susan said. "Each person in the group will know a place to drop messages to the rest of the group, or several places. We can communicate with other groups by letting each person have another way of contacting one other person from a different group. It'll be slow, but . . ."

"Hard to trace," Harry said with a nod. "I also had Hermione look into the charms they put on post owls and she tells me that it can be put on any bird."

"You think we should all cast it on something before we go home?"

"Owls mean mail, ravens, pigeons, and sparrows . . ."

"Mean ravens, pigeons, and sparrows," Hermione said with a smile of understanding. "Excellent idea Harry. But the spell will only last for a few months when you take account the fact that it was designed for owls. I could modify it but . . ."

"Later," Harry interrupted. "All we need is for it to last until we all come back."

"Ok."

"Guess what we need to do now is split up into our groups," Harry sighed. "Groups of three, any ideas?"

"We can still contact people in other groups can't we?" One of the young Ravenclaws asked.

"Yes," Harry said quickly. "The group of three is just a back up if we have to go to ground. If we do have to go to ground then we'll look at things later."

"Hanna and I are together," Susan said firmly. "And we want you with us."

"I'd sort of planned on being with Ron and Hermione," Harry said weakly.

"Hermione can be your secondary contact," Susan said firmly. "She's comfortable in the muggle world, Ron's not."

"But you're both purebloods, so it would make sense that . . ."

"What would make sense is for our leader to have a back channel to the Head of the DMLE," Susan interrupted. "And Hanna's step mum is muggle born. So that objection doesn't hold water."

"It doesn't make sense to have all our eggs in one basket," Hanna added with a blush. "We need to be sure that the three of you can't all be rolled up at the same time."

"Agree Harry," Hermione whispered to him.

"Why?"

"It's not worth fighting over and they do have some valad points," Hermione whispered. "I'll join up with Ron and Ginny and like they said, you and I can be each other's secondary contacts."

They spent the rest of the meeting working out the details and it was long past curfew when they decided that they had worked out enough to make things work.

"I've thought of this," Harry said loudly. "There aren't any Professors near the common routes and even if there were, I've got a little distraction for them in the Slytherin Dungeons that's about to go off. Remember, we can't say a word about what we decided here . . . goodbye, and good luck."

The meeting broke up and Harry was both surprised and pleased to find Hedwig waiting for him when he got back to his bed. "What have you got for me girl?" She extended her leg and a smile blossomed on his face when he finished the note. Things were looking up.

IIIIIIIIII

None of the students did anything that would draw any notice until they got off the train at the end of the year. Even then, the confined themselves to a few knowing looks and a few whispered instructions.

The first thing Harry did when he arrived back at his relatives house, indeed the first thing any of the DA did was make up a small pack to be grabbed on the way out the door in case of an attack. It wasn't much, but it was one of the easiest and for some only thing they could do to prepare for what might be coming.

IIIIIIIIII

"God damn it," Harry said in shock. "God bloody damn it." Looking out his window, he could see a small group of Death Eaters surrounding his old his old babysitter. "Why me?" Harry pulled out his DA Galleon and activated it to warn his comrades. After grabbing the pack that he'd made up for the occasion and letting Hedwig out of her cage, he took a moment to consider his next move.

Harry knew he had a choice to make. He could either run and take his chances, or he could try to rescue the old woman . . . Harry sighed, no one ever accused him of doing the smart thing."

He saw Vernon's wallet on the way out of the house and emptied it into his pocket after a second of thought. Harry he decided that the two hundred pounds he found in it could be considered his severance pay. He didn't even entertain the thought of warning his relatives, it wasn't like he cared and the few minutes wasted on that could mean life or death later.

IIIIIIIIII

Hermione looked at the yellow Galleon in horrified shock before her brain restarted. "MUM, DAD." She screamed. "We gotta get out of here now."

"What is is darling?" Her mother asked seriously.

"Someone just got attacked," Hermione replied. "Hurry up, we gotta get out of here now. We could be next."

"I'll throw some clothes in a bag," her father suggested. "It'll all be find darling."

"No it won't," Hermione disagreed with a glance at the coin. "I don't think it'll ever be fine ever again."

IIIIIIIIII

"Where's Potter?" Lucius demanded harshly. "Crucio, tell me you stupid bitch."

"N . . . no," Fig groaned. Her throat was raw from all the screaming.

"CRUCIO," he growled. "Talk."

"N . . . never," she whispered. "I won't talk . . . I won't talk."

"Guess we'll have to continue then," Lucius sneered. He kicked the old Squib in the ribs a few times. "Crucio, you'll talk you filthy bitch. I pr . . ."

Harry stood behind the fallen Death Eater holding a rock in a sock. Taking a few seconds to admire his work, he raised his arm and brought his impromptu weapon down again and again, ruining the man's face and once perfect smile.

"Gotta get you outta here," Harry muttered to himself as he looked over the old woman. "Maybe . . . Ms. Fig, can you hear me?"

"H'ry?"

"That's right," he agreed. "It's Harry, I'm gonna put you somewhere and then I'm gonna try to lead them off."

"R'n H'ry," the old woman gasped. "R'n."

"As soon as I get you hidden," Harry agreed. After dragging the old woman under a privacy hedge, he took the time to rob Lucius of anything that might be even remotely useful.

"Reducto." He hit one of the Death Eaters in the chest with a spell from Lucius's wand. "Reducto." Harry dodged the return spells and took off running. It was ironic that he had the Dudley to thank for the fact that he was doing so well in this fight, Harry almost laughed at the thought as he dove behind a tree to avoid another curse. Who'd have thought that all those years of running from Dudley, all those years of learning every escape rout and hiding place within three miles of the house would come in handy.

IIIIIIIIII

Safe in her hotel room, Hermione wrote two numbers on a piece of parchment before attaching it to her messenger bird's leg.

"What are you doing darling?"

"Letting people know I'm still alive," Hermione replied. "The numbers don't mean anything unless they go to my two contacts. They'll add me to the list they've got and send it along to everyone. If they can reply, the person that started the alarm will include a detailed note explaining what happened. With any luck, we'll find out that someone was playing around with their coin and everything we did was for nothing."

Her parents watched as she spent the remainder of the night and a good part of the next day writing a list of names. And their worry grew as she became paler and paler as the time passed.

"Well . . . do you know what happened?"

"It wasn't an accident," Hermione said in a small voice. "Least I don't think it was. One person hasn't reported in."

"Anyone we know?"

"Harry," Hermione sobbed.

IIIIIIIIII

Mr. Grimwald,

Enclosed is a list of properties that meet your criteria.

Bagers and Spudd Realestate

Harry glanced over the list and was pleased to find a property that seemed to fit his needs. It was an old abandoned lighthouse that someone had attempted to turn into a tower. The problem was that they'd gone a bit overboard when they'd applied the wards and it could only be accessed at high or low tide. Had Moody been there, he'd have no doubt explained the value of a back door and that it was never a good idea to limit your mobility so much. As it was, Harry had no one to counsel him against it and he purchased the lonely structure. One could only hope that the mistake wouldn't prove to be too costly.

IIIIIIIIII

Susan's heart was pounding as she checked the dead drop she and Hanna had set up with Harry. It had been two weeks since the boy had disappeared and they were all beginning to fear the worst.

"All you had to do was give us two days," Susan whispered to herself. "Then you could have told them everything they wanted to know." Hanna had begged her not to check the message box, had said that not even Harry could keep that back for two weeks. Susan agreed, but she knew one thing that her friend didn't. So long as the drop was clear, Harry hadn't talked and there was a chance . . . there was a chance that the boy was still alive.

"Harry you dummy," she muttered again. "You stupid stupid boy."

"Glad to know I was missed," Harry's dry voice shocked her out of her day dream. "It's good to see you too Susan."

"Harry?" She gasped. "Oh Harry you're alive."

"For now," he agreed.

"Aunty told me what happened at your house," Susan babbled. "They found the old lady and what's left of Malfoy's dad but they didn't find anyone else. She said it looked like they got you and we were all so worried."

"Is that why you've been checking this thing?" Harry demanded. "Susan, you know the rules."

"If someone gets burned, they're out." Susan said in a monotone. "We had to be sure, Hanna is watching from somewhere."

"Then she should have stopped you," Harry said firmly. "Damn it Susan, if they had gotten me then this little stunt of yours would have let them take you too . . . might have even gotten Hanna."

"Well they didn't," Susan maintained. "It's good to see you Harry."

"Good to see you too," Harry agreed. "Let's go meet up with Hanna, I'll treat you two to coffee and we can catch up on old times."

"Ok," she agreed.

"Do either of you need to be anywhere in the next few hours?" Harry asked as they went to rejoin their friend.

"No why?"

"Hermione's drop had a request for a face to face in a park not far from here," Harry explained. "I agreed. The meet is in two hours, and I was hoping . . ."

"Sure," Susan agreed. "I'd love to see Hermione."

"Assuming it's her," Harry said firmly.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Susan asked. "She wasn't captured was she?"

"No," Harry replied. "But Death Eaters aren't the only ones that want me, can't be too careful."

IIIIIIIIII

"I didn't see Hermione," Susan whispered. "But I did see Snape, think it's a trap?"

"I think it's unlikely that Snape decided to take a walk through this park an hour before Hermione asked me to meet her," Harry agreed.

"Death Eater?"

"He is, Order too."

"What do you want to do?"

"I want to take him if possible," Harry replied. "We'll decide what else to do based on what he says."

They circled around behind the man and he motioned for his companions to circle around to flank their most hated Professor.

Harry dropped to the ground and did his best impression of a green snake, trying to avoid being spotted as he crept up on the potions master. Using Lucius's wand, he hit the man with a quick stunning charm.

"Grab his legs," Susan said to Hanna. "Let's get him into that shead.

IIIIIIIIII

"You sure this will work Professor?" Remus asked.

"Someone replied to that message," Dumbledore agreed. "Either Harry or Voldemort. I think we have a good chance of either bringing Harry home or avenging him."

"How much time do we have?"

"Half an hour until anyone is supposed to show up," Dumbledore replied. "Plenty of time to get ready."

IIIIIIIIII

"Hello Snape."

"Potter," Snape hissed. "I demand that you let me go right now."

"Why were you in the park?" Harry asked calmly.

"Let me go Potter," Snape screamed. "You bloody arrogant fool."

"Ever heard of the shatter bone hex?" Harry said as he placed the tip of his wand against Snape's knee. "I'm told that it was invented in America so I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't. The Ministry does its best to keep spells with non latin incantations out. They even went so far as to appoint a Deputy Minister of Incantation Purity to insure that publishers are made aware of that putting the 'wrong sort' of spell in their books would be a bad idea."

"I'm well aware of all that Potter," Snape growled. "Now release me."

"So you know about the hex then? Good, now here's what I'm going to do. I am going to ask you a few questions, if you refuse to answer . . . well, you'll walk with a limp for the rest of your life. If I find out you lied to me, you'll have a very short life. Understand?"

"You can't do this Potter," Snape said in shock.

"Now, why were you in the park?"

"You don't have the guts," Snape said with false calm.

"One more chance, why were you in the park?"

"Go ahead Potter," Snape sneered. "Show me what a big tough wizard you are. Now let me go and I won't punish you too much for your impudence."

"Shatterbone," Harry cast the spell and destroyed one of Snape's joints. "Want to try again?"

"Blast you Potter," Snape screamed. "I'll see you in Azkaban for that."

"Why were you in the park?" Harry persisted.

"Looking for you, you bloody fool."

"Why?"

"The Headmaster wants you back with your relatives," Snape said through clenched teeth.

"How did you learn about my dead drop?" After a few minutes Harry dug the tip of his wand into the man's knee. "I asked you a question Professor."

"I'm a Master Legilimens," Snape replied weakly. "Even a dunder head like you should be able to figure out what happened."

"Thank you," Harry said. "Stupefy, Petrificus Totalus, Incarcerous."

"What do you want to do now Harry?" Susan asked sickly.

"Do you know any medical charms?"

"A few."

"Stop the bleeding and do what you can to stabilise him," Harry said. "We need to figure out a way to extract everyone from the Order's clutches."

"I could ask if they want to go shopping?" Hanna suggested weakly. "We stun the guards and disappear."

"Contact your secondaries and tell them to do the same," Harry said firmly. "Gather as many people together as you can. I want us to have the edge on numbers when we do this." The girls agreed and left to carry out their instructions. "What the hell is happening to me?" Harry asked himself.

IIIIIIIIII

"Hello Hermione."

"Hello Luna," Hermione said to the face in the fireplace. "How'd you get this floo address?"

"Father does some work for the Order," Luna explained. "I was wondering if you'd like to go shopping?"

"I don't know Luna."

"Please," Luna begged. "It'd be fun for all of us, you, Ronald, Ginny, and myself."

"Well . . ."

"With Harry missing we all need to find some way to keep our minds off what could be happening," Luna said firmly.

"Alright Luna," Hermione agreed. "I'll call you back to arrange everything."

"I'll be waiting."

IIIIIIIIII

"Response time is four minutes if we're lucky," Susan said to the assembled group. "Three if we're not."

"How many do you think will show up?"

"One team of three to start with," Susan replied. "More will trickle in as they can."

"Ok," Harry sighed. "I think this is still doable, here's how I see this happening . . ."

IIIIIIIIII

"Girls go shopping, boys don't." Ron said firmly.

"Oh grow up," Hermione growled.

"You have an excuse," Ron said. "Books, you might also want to talk about homework. Can you really see me agreeing to join a group of girls on a shopping trip?"

"Oh," Hermione said in a small voice. "Now what?"

"Now we all put on smiles and avoid everyone's eyes while we go out," Ginny offered. "Now we escape to think of a way to free Ron."

"Good luck," Ron said as he turned away. "Tell Harry hi for me." He was a bit disappointed that they'd accepted his reason so easily, but that was Hermione. She never seemed to notice the small things, the details like why the best chest player in their house got some of the worst grades. Ah well, Ron smiled to himself. It was best to let her keep her illusions, he'd rejoin them as soon as his job was completed. Harry needed to know what the Order's plans were, and the best way to keep him informed was the bugs that Ron has so meticulously spread through most of the house. "Few more rooms and a way to keep the pipe open and I'm all set," he muttered to himself.

IIIIIIIIII

"How ya' doing Ron?"

"Good Professor," Ron replied. "Wish there wasn't so much cleaning to do . . . kinda wish I went shopping with the girls. It'd have to be better then this." He palmed the bug he was going to plant in the baseboard, still not confident enough in his skills to do it under an Order member's nose.

"I'm actually sort of surprised that Hermione went along with them," Remus said thoughtfully.

"Don't say that to her when she gets back," Ron said quickly.

"Why not?"

"It's just . . . don't tell her I said this, but she's finally figured out that she's a girl. I think she wanted to . . . you know, talk with other girls about . . . stuff?"

"I see," Remus said with a smile. He'd have to tell the others that their concerns were unfounded. "Well, they get like that when they get to that age."

"If you say so."

"Still no word from Harry?"

"Nope," Ron agreed. "We're all getting really worried about him, you sure he wasn't captured?"

"We're fairly sure," Remus confirmed. "It's like he just . . . disappeared."

IIIIIIIIII

Warned by instincts sharpened by years of paranoia, Moody's wand was half way out of its holster before the first stunner hit him.

"Ten seconds," Susan called loudly. The air around her was filled with stunners.

"Hurry up," Harry said loudly. "Check their arms and tie up anyone that has a mark."

"Thirty seconds," Susan called out.

"I've got one," Hanna said. "Should we rob them too?"

"Do it," Harry agreed. "How long?."

"One minute," Susan replied loudly.

They went through the rest of the fallen, finding and binding two more Death Eaters.

"Everyone that's staying needs to go back to where they were when this started now," Harry said firmly. "Stun them."

"TIME," Susan called out. "TWO MINUTES, WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW."

"Let's go," Harry ordered. "Into London, GO GO GO."

The Aurors arrived as the last student made it out the door of the Leaky Cauldron. "What in the hell happened here?" One of them whispered in shock. "My god, they even got Moody."

"They're just stunned," another added with a relieved smile. "Cept for these three."

"Look at their arms."

"Arrest them and wake everyone else up, we need to find out what happened here."

AN: Thanks go to dogbertcarroll for a bit of help with this. As this story is, it's half outline and half writing. I'd need to fill a lot of gaps before making this a story, at a guess it's about ten to fifteen chapters condensed into one right now. As with the majority of of the fics and fragments in Odd Ideas, this is open to any who might want it. The title of this fic was stolen from a book written by a Swiss officer about fifty years ago, it's good if a bit dated.

OMAKE: Disappeared

"Professor Granger?"

"What is it Ms. Harper?"

"You knew Harry Potter didn't you?"

"I did yes," Hermione replied with a nostalgic smile. "Quite well too."

"What was he like?"

"Harry was a sweet boy that seemed so innocent until you saw him in a crisis," Hermione replied. "Give him a problem and you'll see why he became a legend . . . he would have hated to hear me say that about him, all he ever wanted was a nice quiet life."

"Did he get it?"

"No one knows," she said sadly. "He just disappeared."

"Do you think he's still alive?"

"I like to think he found what he was looking for."

OMAKE: Happy Birthday

"Happy birthday Harry," the common room cheered as he walked down the steps.

"You do know it was a month ago don't you?" Harry asked.

"We thought it would be a good idea to have a party," Lavender explained.

"And that was as good an excuse as we could think of," Parvati agreed. "We'll have Neville's in a few weeks and so on."

"Everyone that had their birthday over the summer."

"Oh . . . ok."

"And after a little thought," Parvati began with a smile. "We've found a way of getting you what you've always dreamed of having."

"Really?" Harry said in delight. "Let's go find your sister, I want to get started enjoying my present as soon as I can."

"What?" Lavender asked in confusion. "Your presant doesn't have anything to do with Parvati."

"But the only other set of identical twins is . . ." Harry looked at Fred and George in horrified shock. "Now listen guys, you're my friends but that's all you are . . . friends. Got it?"

"Doesn't have anything to do with us mate," Fred said quickly.

"Oh . . . that's a relief," Harry sighed. "So what is it girls?"

"Your very own grooming kit," Lavender said with a pleased smile. "Go ahead and try it."

"Uh . . . thanks."

"Harry," Parvati whispered into his ear. "We'll go find my sister as soon as the party gets going well enough that they won't notice us leave."

"Thanks Parvati," Harry said with tears flowing down his face. "This is the best birthday ever."