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Chapter 70

Everyone was still stuck in the common rooms the morning after they had been confined there. A few people had tried to go down to breakfast, but the Fat Lady refused to open the portrait and told them the house was under lockdown until further notice.

Nobody was happy with that, and practically everyone demanded answers. Unfortunately, the only 'people' they had to demand answers from were the portraits. They, of course, knew nothing, or more accurately they knew lots of things, most of which were impossible and almost everything that wasn't impossible was contradictory to something one of the others said. It was impossible to sift fact from fiction.

Breakfast arrived as a buffet. People were sitting down eating when the mail arrived. It didn't take long for someone who had received a copy of the Daily Prophet to shout out. "You Know Who has taken over the Ministry!" Naturally, breakfast was forgotten in favour of crowding around the students who had received the paper. Harry and Ron, along with a few others, crowded around Hermione and her copy.

Shocking news!

Ministry falls

Grave news was received by this paper from the Minister of Magic last night. According to reports, he-whose-name-shall-not-be-written-here along with his death eaters, the escaped convicts of Azkaban, and a truly staggering horde of Inferi, took control of the Ministry of Magic building last night. Reports are conflicting, but the loss of life was surprisingly low, with only three confirmed deaths and two more suspected. This is apparently because of a combination of factors.

First, it was late in the evening and most people had already gone home for the day. Being the first day off after valentine's day had most of the employees leaving work as soon as possible. The majority of people left were employed in the department of magical law enforcement and magical catastrophe reversal.

Second, the brave men and women of the Auror force held off the horde long enough for all ministry employees who couldn't fight to be evacuated though the D.M.L.E and Disaster Response, emergency response transportation facilities.

Third, Aurors Proudfoot, Thompson, and Hardbroom all refused the opportunity to evacuate in order to hold off the hordes long enough for everyone else to escape and to destroy sensitive Ministry equipment to prevent it falling into the hands of he-who-shall-not-be-named.

One system confirmed destroyed is the under age magic detection system. Given that it would have allowed You Know Who and his followers to detect pre-Hogwarts age muggleborns when they let off accidental magic, that act alone has probably saved a lot of lives. This reporter would like to personally honour those who gave their lives to prevent the murder of children.

Barnabas Cuff, Chief Editor.

Warnings from the Ministry departments filled the next few pages. The Ministry warned people not to use Floo powder because the Death Eaters were likely to seize anyone traveling by Floo, even for a simple Floo call.

No Ministry employees were to go into work, obviously. Their chain of command would contact all employees about returning to work as soon as possible.

Nobody was to go to any appointments they may have had at the Ministry. This included any scheduled trials or tests. They extended any time limits, such as the one-month registration period after becoming an Animagus, indefinitely until further notice.

Lastly, there was a warning from Amelia Bones. "With the Ministry building now under the control of the Deatheaters, we believe that very shortly the taboo on You Know Who's name will be active again. The resources to accomplish the whole strategy are already active in the building. I know for a fact a number of people in our society have become comfortable using his name, and it is the official warning from the D.M.L.E that you should use other phrases to reference he-who-must-not-be-named."

"Hey Ron, tell me again what used to happen when people said his name?" Harry asked. He was having an idea and wanted to check.

Ron and Hermione both looked at him with a cautious expression on their faces. They had obviously recognised Harry's 'I have a plan' mode. "First you can say Voldemort here at Hogwarts Harry. A taboo is powerful magic, but properly anchored wards are strong enough to beat it. Hell, even the wards at the Burrow are strong enough to beat it. One of the advantages of having a curse breaker for a brother. As to what would happen whenever someone says the name, any protection spells around them would fail, an anti-disapparition ward would pop up and an attack squad of death eaters would Apparate or Portkey in and murder you and anyone you were with."

Hardy nodded. It was as he remembered it being told to him before. "So if we can work out a way to get the person who says the name away safely, then you would have a situation where you would know where a number of death eaters would be. It would be the perfect opportunity to turn their trap on them."

"Harry, do you really think uncle Charlus would let you be involved with something like that? You think I want you involved with something like that? Stop trying to get yourself killed." Hermione was angry and was right in his face by the time she finished.

Harry saw that Hermione was worried, using her anger to mask her fear. Knowing this fear stemmed from her terror of losing him, he didn't feel the need to be defensive. He wrapped his arms around her and while she protested a little out of wanting to be angry with him. She soon leaned into his chest, Harry rested his cheek on top of her bushy hair and said in a calm, soothing voice. "It's just a plan. Just because I make a plan doesn't mean I need to be the one to do it. Hell, if we can come up with a solid enough plan, I'm sure we can just give it to Sirius and he will find people who would volunteer to do it."

As Hermione let it sink in that Harry wasn't planning on using himself as bait, she let herself relax against him. Ron muttered something about the two of them being "mushy," but they ignored it.

Hermione was still cuddling up to Harry when the portrait hole opened and Professor McGonagall and Headmaster Greengrass walked in. Professor McGonagall called for everyone's attention, but she really needn't have bothered, as she and the headmaster had all of it just by walking in. The house was desperate for answers.

Headmaster Greengrass addressed them all. "First, I apologise for being later than the paper delivering the news for the Ministry. I was telling the Ravenclaws when the papers arrived. I know how anxious you were waiting for news, but we had to work quickly."

"Many of you were there when I received notice last night that the Ministry had fallen. I had a lot less information than you do now. I had to work under the assumption that the school was a possible next target. Your professors and I have spent the entire night disconnecting the school from the Floo network, as well as doing other things to prepare for the possibility of an attack. We only received word this morning that for now, You Know Who and his forces seem content to just hold the Ministry building."

"As much as we can be, we are now certain that the school is safe. But I'm sure you understand: we professors are exhausted because of a sleepless night. So here is what's going to happen. You will remain in your common room until lunchtime. This is to give the professors a chance to get a few hours of sleep. All homework due this week is now due on the same day next week because you have lost access to the library and I know most of you didn't exactly spend yesterday doing homework. Understandably, given the dance last night."

"I know this is frustrating. It is for us as well. We will try to get everything up and running as normal again by tomorrow. If you can cooperate with us until then, I will be incredibly grateful. Oh, and I apologise that the valentine's dance was cut short. Now I need to go inform the Hufflepuffs and the Slytherins as to what is happening." And the headmaster walked out, leaving Professor McGonagall to answer questions anyone had.

Most of the questions like 'can we go practice for Quidditch' got an obvious answer of "No" and many questions about what was happening with the Ministry the professor had no way of answering. Soon the questions ran out and Professor McGonagall gave them all a warning to behave before she too left, probably in search of a few hours of sleep.

-ϟϟϟ-

"So Harry, before Christmas, you said you would help train me to defend myself. It's been ages and you haven't followed through on that. Given what happened last night, that is going to need to change." Hermione said. The two of them were cuddled up together in one corner of the common room, waiting for the curfew to be lifted for lunch. Ron was off doing a bit of homework that Hermione had bullied Harry into having done already.

Harry had been thinking along the same lines. He had had some vague thoughts about it for a while. Hermione was right, there was a good chance that no matter how hard his grandfather tried there was going to be another fight. Hermione was both almost always by his side and the perfect bait to lure him somewhere. "Yeah, I know. It's just I was putting it off until Christmas, then it was Christmas with your family and that was amazing. And then we had everything with Dumbledore. I forgot to order the expanded trunk until we were back at school. I messed up, I'm sorry. On the bright side, it should be arriving any day now."

Hermione was a little surprised. She had expected to need to corner Harry over this issue. It wasn't like she didn't understand. Purposely trying to hurt someone you care about, even for their own good, wasn't something that was easy. But sometimes what they wanted and what they needed were different things. "I'm a little disappointed that you put off ordering the trunk for so long, but I understand. I'm not exactly looking forward to trying to curse you either, and I know I have it easier than you. How will the trunk be delivered?"

Harry smiled in relief. He had worried Hermione would be more upset. "It's being delivered to grandfather as it's a bit weird for a student to be getting a trunk with a large reinforced room inside it. If anybody asks Grandfather about it, he can just claim it's for extra security for brewing delicate potions."

"Makes sense. We should speak to him later and see if he has any advice. Then maybe you and I can find a space where we can do some basic stuff?"

"Sure. We can go see Grandfather later. Who knows, maybe the trunk has been delivered and in all the excitement he forgot about it. The first thing we can work on is tuck and roll. Maybe you can avoid a concussion next time." Harry snarked, leading to Hermione bashing him in the head with a cushion until they both collapsed together from laughter

-ϟϟϟ-

They spoke to Charlus later that day and he refused to let them do any training that day like they planned. Instead, he made Harry tell him about everything he planned to do in the training. Over a cup of tea, Harry explained his plan was just to use stinging hexes to practise dodging and some tumbling drills to get Hermione used to falling the right way.

Charlus agreed that the risk was low enough to let them continue with their plan, but he had rules he expected them to follow. "First, I want you to have at least one person not participating with you at all times. It's not likely, but if the two of you both end up hurt, someone who isn't hurt there to help you is a good idea. Second, I want to see the first aid kit you plan to have with you."

Of course, Harry hadn't even considered a first aid kit. That led Charlus to drag both teens to his classroom, where he had them brewing the potions that he said they needed to keep on standby. Bruise paste, burn salve, concussion solution, basic pain relief, a soothing balm for aching muscles and skele-gro. The two teens thought he was going a little farther with the skele-gro but diligently brewed the potions. And took lots of notes for the potions they had never brewed before.

At the end, when they were bottling and jarring the potions that they had just made, Charlus gave them a bag to keep everything in. Unfortunately, it was too close to curfew for them to go looking for anywhere they could practise at that point. They had prefect rounds to do.

-ϟϟϟ-

There was more news about the Ministry building on Monday. Apparently the Aurors had tried to take the building back but someone had erected lock-down wards and with the Ministry being underground, a sustained assault on the wards to bring them down just wasn't possible. At least not without digging up a large section of historic London and creating a big hole in the London underground system. The muggles would definitely notice if they did that. It looked like until someone worked out a way to get around the lock down wards, Voldemort and his followers had the perfect little hiding hole.

Lessons got back to normal surprisingly quickly, though a lot of students were worried about their families as quite a few of them had parents who worked in the Ministry and there weren't enough available jobs outside of the Ministry to support all the people who were suddenly without work. Worse, some Ravenclaws said this would have a knock on effect on other businesses who would have less customers. If something wasn't done soon, magical Britain could be looking at a major economic depression.

The new trunk was finally delivered to Charlus on Monday afternoon. It had apparently been delivered a few days prior, but the Aurors who were responsible for the castle security had wanted to do a thorough inspection checking to make sure there were no secret compartments where dangerous things could be smuggled into the castle.

That evening Harry and Hermione set up the trunk and did some basic practice. It was more about Harry getting over his aversion to firing a stinging hex at Hermione than actually helping her learn to dodge. The drill was simple. Harry would stand at one end of the room while Hermione was at the extreme other and Harry would count down, "Three. Two. One. Aculeatum" Hermione had plenty of opportunity to move out of the way and easily sidestepped the first few until she noticed Harry was purposely aiming to miss her. Sure it was a close shot, so it didn't look like he was trying to miss, so Hermione did something Harry didn't expect she purposely stepped into the path of the hex taking the hit.

"Thhhh… that hurt." Hermione said, holding her arm where she was hit.

"Well, you're supposed to dodge them." Harry said, concern in his voice.

"You can't dodge something that was never going to hit you. Every time I catch you purposely missing, I will step into it. Look, I understand this is hard for you to do, but you need to know half arising this will hurt me more in the long run. So I will make you see it hurt me in the short term. Harry, I'm not made of glass and they are just stinging hexes. Hell, you've heard Ron, his mother used to use them instead of a smack when he was naughty as a child. If you think I can't take that, we need to take you to Madam Pomfrey and see what's making your brain go soft. Now do it properly."

Harry rightly felt chastised. He knew why Hermione wanted this and she wasn't wrong. At least knowing that Hermione would step into them on purpose let him actually aim at her for the rest of the time they spent that evening. He was still stacking the odds heavily in Hermione's favour, but it was enough to get past the mental block he had. His heart still wasn't in it, but at least he could help her train now.

-ϟϟϟ-

More news trickled in over the next few days, people being attacked for saying Voldemort's name, people who tried to use their Floo fires being abducted mid transit and although none had reached the school Voldemort's people had sent out Ministry headed letters to everyone claiming to be the new Ministry with a list of new rather disgusting laws they were trying to enforce.

Laws that basically boiled down to purebloods could do what they liked to muggleborns and, as long as it didn't kill or permanently injure a half-blood, they could do what they wanted there as well.

Of course, the legitimate ministry wasn't just sitting idle. They had set up core functions somewhere secretly, and were fighting back. They had, of course, sent out letters to everyone stating that the Aurors and regular law enforcement would still be enforcing the legitimate laws. That any pure blood caught abusing anyone, regardless of the victim's blood status, would be punished to the full extent of the law.

However, some functions of the Ministry had been suspended. International Portkeys were no longer available in or out of the country. Even if either of the groups wanted to, the other countries had all blocked international Portkeys from Britain. They had also cut off any diplomatic connections until such time as Britain got their shit together. The last message the British ministries had received from overseas was apparently that Britain needed to sort itself out, but if any of the fighting spilled over into other countries, or the statute of Secrecy fell, they would come in and sort it out themselves.

It was a tense situation, one that was even worse for Harry, the people he considered family and the curse breakers. They were the ones who knew just how messed up the situation was because they were the ones who knew about the Horcruxes, and that Voldemort couldn't be permanently defeated before they were all destroyed.

Worse, the news on that front wasn't exactly encouraging. The piles of lost junk and occasional hidden treasures the curse breakers were sorting through were huge, and they still hadn't found the Horcrux they were looking for. Though they had at least found enough quills, ink and rolls of parchment that students wouldn't need to buy any for the next one to four years.

-ϟϟϟ-

It was Friday that same week when Harry, Ron, Hermione, Susan, Hannah, and surprisingly Neville were all sitting together in the library, just having finished their homework for the week. Harry was determined to reclaim his position as Gryffindor seeker with his shoulder finally healed enough to start training again and he wanted the whole weekend to train. He had asked Hermione to help him get his homework done on Friday evening to give him the time. Ron wanted to help Harry, and his love of Quidditch had overridden his aversion to homework.

The conversation now had turned to the taboo and Harry's insistence there had to be a way to flip it into a trap for the death eaters. "I'm telling you it can't be done, mate. I would love it if it could be done, but if it was possible, someone would have done it last time." Ron said.

Harry shook his head. "That's just lazy thinking." It seemed Hermione was rubbing off on him. "Just because something hasn't been done yet doesn't mean that it's impossible. Nobody had ever been to the moon before until someone did it…"

"I still don't know if I believe that," Interrupted Ron.

Harry sighed. "Not the point. Everything was never done before until the first time someone did it."

"But the only way to escape is to break the wards and Disapparate. To do that before the death eaters turn up means overpowering the wards. That means it's impossible without a really strong wizard or bit of magic." Said Susan.

"Why is Disapparating the only way out?" Asked Hermione. "Couldn't you just fly away on a broom?"

Ron, the self proclaimed expert on all things Quidditch related, answered. "Brooms aren't fast enough. By the time you get on one and kick off, you already have half a dozen people trying to kill you. And you still have the problem of taking down the wards first. They stop brooms from working."

"What if you were already flying? Could they clear the wards and fly off before you crashed? Especially if you were flying at top speed on a Firebolt?" Harry asked, trying to picture it in his head.

"I wouldn't try it. If you were too low, you'd be crashing at insane speed. And if you were high enough not to crash, it could look like a trap." Hannah warned.

"What about what Pettigrew did?" Asked Neville. "Just get small and hide in a hole in the ground." How Pettigrew had escaped Sirius all those years ago was public knowledge since Sirius's trial.

Hermione pointed out why that wouldn't work. "Well, the only way to shrink down that much is to be an Animagus. There are only about nine in the country. Sirius's form is too big, Pettigrew is on the other side, Professor McGonagall is the right size but probably wouldn't do it, wanting to stay at Hogwarts. And it would take at least months for anyone else to learn it and with no guarantee of a form that would fit our purpose."

"There has to be a way." Harry insisted, trying to think.

"Harry, it's a trap designed to stop the person who spoke the name from escaping. It was literally made to stop people from doing what you want. The only way to flip it is to risk whoever volunteers as bait being killed before the death eaters can be stopped."

In his frustration, Harry flippantly said. "We should just imperius their own kids to say the bloody name." Ron laughed, but everyone else looked at Harry like he had gone insane. He waved a hand at them. "I'd never do it. It's just frustrating that it's only our side that needs to play by the rules."

"But why their kids?" Asked Hannah.

"Because they probably wouldn't attack them. Like if you used Parkinson once they saw her, they would probably think that she had a message to pass on. Not that she needed to be murdered for saying Voldemort's fake name."

Hermione reached out and flicked Harry's ear. "Ouch. Damn it." It was something Harry had asked her to do every time he said Voldemort's name. It didn't matter here at Hogwarts, but Harry was way too comfortable using the name compared to everyone else that he couldn't count on himself not to slip up when it did matter.

It was working. He was using the name less. He, Ron, and Hermione had even worked out some alternative names, so they didn't fall into fearing him more because they were afraid of the name. Mouldy-wart, Mouldy-shorts, Morty, noseless wonder and more. Some people didn't like that Harry was being so flippant about Voldemort, but nobody called him on it. As far as Harry was concerned, he had fought Voldemort to a draw enough times that he had earned the right to be a little flippant about him.

"You know, that's not a completely terrible idea. If you used something like Polyjuice to look like someone they wouldn't attack, you could use anyone as bait." Neville said, looking pensive.

It was Harry who shot that down. "Nah, I thought of that before. While it would probably work most of the time, you never know who is going to turn up in the attack so you can't plan for who they know. If you get the wrong person, they are just as dead as if there was no disguise."

"What about a car? Could that keep going when the wards go up?" Asked Ron.

Hermione shook her head. "No cars use electricity and that goes weird that close to active magic. A dozen death eaters Apparating in would fry any circuitry that was in use at the time. We had to replace a few things in my home over the summer because of the Inferi attack and the Aurors who sorted it out. Luckily, most things were turned off at the time"

"What happens if a transfigured human says the name? Not like with Polyjuice, where one person pretends to be another, but what if someone transfigured a rat into a human and spelled them to say the name?" Harry asked, looking at Hermione. She was the one most likely to know if something like this would work.

"Maybe. You'd need to use a magical rat at minimum. Morty isn't the first person to use a taboo and the words they have tabooed have been a lot more common than Morty's name. Common to the point that muggles must have said them. So whoever says the word must need to be magical. And transfiguring a magical rat into a human form even temporarily sounds like it would be difficult. I have never heard of something being turned into a human before."

"It's possible." Said Neville. "St Mungo's uses them sometimes if they need to check how something will specifically affect people. They are creepy as hell. They look human but don't act human. But they can be made."

"Well, that's a plan. I'll talk with Grandfather and Sirius about it and we can see what they think. If it works, maybe we can thin out their numbers a little." Harry said standing up there was, after all, no time like the present.

A/N

While I don't personally advocate for smacking children and I am glad that it is now illegal in at least my part of the UK (Don't remember if it's all) this is set in the 90s and they would have been children in the 80s. Giving a naughty child a smack, or the magical equivalent of a stinging hex on the backside, would have been normal and wouldn't have alarmed anyone. Even if you didn't agree with it, then it was just the way things were. That is why Hermione talks about it this way in the chapter.