"As if it wasn't crowded enough, we have this thing here now," grumbled Hermione as she made her way to the the dining table around the Vanishing Cabinet.
"Yeah, we'll have to deal with the inconvenience for now. I think Daphne's idea of setting up the tent is a good idea – the Cabinet not going anywhere for some time, not until we get it working right."
"You still haven't told me why we need a working Vanishing Cabinet," Daphne asked.
"We don't need a working one. We need one that is broken in a very specific way," Harry answered.
Seeing that Harry was going to share their plans with the other woman anyways, Hermione explained, "we want it to vanish whoever enters, but not have them come out on the other side. Then we get Voldemort inside and poof, he's gone."
"Why not just kill him?" Daphne asked.
"That's been tried, remember? It didn't take." Harry replied, coasting blithely by the reason why.
Daphne nodded introspectively, "Sorry, I don't know any artificers who could help."
"We're planning to ask McGonagall for help."
"We are? I thought we were just going to sneak into Hogwarts to use the library." Harry looked up in surprise.
"Harry, McGonagall is trustworthy, and we'll make faster progress if we have help."
"She's right," Daphne added, "I know that as Slytherins we didn't interact much with her, but she was always 100% honest and upfront. And most importantly, she believes in Dumbledore. If we have his endorsement, she will help us."
"She's going to be watched. She won't be able to come here," Harry replied. As Hermione opened her mouth to argue some more, he held up a finger, "though I may have a solution. But first thing, we need to get into Hogwarts. I know one secret way, but it lets out on the grounds."
Daphne nodded, agreeing that it was a problem. "That castle's walls have so many wards that if we don't come out inside, we liable to be detected when we cross through." She paused, "I never really explored the castle, but I can write Tracy – she would sometimes go wandering."
"So what did you do all the time, if you weren't sneaking around? You would disappear from the common room by 8 o'clock every night, and nobody would see you until the following day."
Daphne rolled her eyes, "None of the boys would see me. I preferred to study up in my dorms."
Hermione was fascinated to see the interaction between the two Slytherins. She had assumed that having lived together for 7 years (and clearly having had some sort of relationship recently) that they would know everything about each other. Especially basic stuff like this. "I am surprised that you were so.. academic back then. What changed?"
Daphne gave Hermione a cold look, "Nothing changed. My family had expectations of me back then, and if I wanted to survive, I had to meet them." Though her family continued to have expectations, and she most definitely wasn't living up to them anymore, 'Well, if dad wants a LeStrange in the family so badly, HE can go marry Alex.'
"If you thought my family was bad, you should know that her father betrothed her to LeStrange when she was ten. And it was an old-fashioned betrothal contract - if she didn't come to the wedding bed… pure.. she would have died screaming."
Hermione blanched, "That's awful! That's why you were always so…" Hermione left the statement unfinished. There was no good way to say 'cold and emotionless.' Instead, she enveloped the other woman in hug.
Daphne stood awkwardly for a moment, not certain how to respond before melting into it. "And dear old dad never explained what 'Pure' meant, so I was terrified of even talking to boys until I was fifteen." She added. She sniffled once, careful to not let anybody hear before adding "And I don't even LIKE studying!"
Hermione stepped back, "Oh, it isn't so bad, once you get used to it."
"Or at least, it's fun if you are studying things that interest you." Harry added.
"That's right – you were always reading weird books that had nothing to do with the actual course work." Hermione smiled at her boyfriend, remembering the times shared in the library, before glancing at Daphne, 'Its sad that not everybody had a good experience in school.'
"Well, I am now going to be putting some of that esoteric knowledge to work, because I know which books we need, or at least which part of the restricted section they are going to be in. We just need to get inside the castle."
"We should ask the Weasley twins – they were pranksters, and they seemed to know more about the castle than even the professors." Hermione replied, thinking back to her student years.
Harry's face lit up as he heard that, "Bingo!"
*UHD*
The following morning, Harry walked up to the front of the WWW store, holding two Wailing Mimi dolls (careful not to set them off) and a package of Fly paper. For once, there were other people in the store so he had to wait until he got to the front of the line, "Hey, George. Do you know of any way to get into Hogwarts without being seen?" He asked quietly as the twin rang up his purchases.
"Oh, that's too big – we keep it in the back of the store," George announced loudly before ringing the bell, summoning Fred, "Can you show this gentleman the Instant Swamp?"
"This, way," Fred led the way into the back. "So, what do you need, Harry?"
"I need to get into Hogwarts without anybody knowing it."
Fred eyed Harry speculatively, "I guess there is no point in keeping it a secret anymore." He threaded his way through the crowded stock room over to an unused desk pushed off to one side. "Here – I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he pronounced, holding up a parchment for Harry to see. "This is a map of Hogwarts that shows all the secret passages we know about, as well as the locations of every student."
Harry examined it, "this is pretty good." And so were the Hogwarts wards - he assumed that the way the map worked was that it tied into the existing monitoring wards that kept track of castle population for the headmaster (he didn't know for a fact that there were such wards, but he had always suspected that something like them existed – you would have to be insane to have a bunch of teenagers running around unsupervised without having SOME way to spy on them at all times. Even if the other Founders thought it would be an invasion of privacy, Salazar Slytherin would have had enough sense to sneak something like this in when they weren't looking).
Harry pored over the map for several minutes, "Yes, that will do. Thank you, this will make a big difference."
"Big enough that you'll buy a Portable Swamp?" Fred gave Harry his best shit-eating grin.
"Sorry, it's out of my price range," Harry quickly walked out of the store before Fred could corner him and pressure him into buying more crap. He felt like he was already their best customer this year.
*UHD*
They waited for the weekend to go, on the assumption that McGonagall would have more time available then. They trundled the Vanishing Cabinet back out of Harry's apartment and carried it down the stairs. Even with lightening charms, it was not a fun job and hands got pinched against walls and doorjambs several times as they maneuvered it around corners. Once outside, Hermione attached a portkey to the cabinet and they all held tight on to it as it flew to the outskirts of Hogsmeade.
"This way," Harry let the group to the Shrieking Shack. They were all disillusioned, and the cabinet had Harry's cloak draped over it. Once inside, Daphne pulled out a book and sat down to keep watch over the Cabinet while the other two went back out and two blocks over to the manhole that led through to a secret passage that let out behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy. "Ok. The map shows that the passage is clear." Harry gave the Marauders map to Hermione so she could go make her way to the Headmistress's office while he draped the invisibility cloak over himself and headed for the library.
As soon as the other two were gone, Daphne put the book away and pulled out the muggle fashion magazine that she had picked up along the way and hidden in her pocket. What muggles wore was very risque, but it wasn't necessarily bad. Daphne tried to visualize what she would look like in something that bared her midriff. 'I can make it work'.
When Harry returned, she didn't bother hiding the magazine, instead leaving it open on a fashion spread where it would catch his gaze. Harry came back carrying a pair of books borrowed from the Restricted Section and began setting up a work space around the cabinet. When his eye caught on the magazine, he gave an amused snort. "Is this yours?" He asked holding it out to Daphne.
"Do you think I would look good in something like that?" Daphne asked.
"Daph, you look good in anything," Harry replied absently as he finished drawing the chalk diagram. He immediately regretted it. 'I should probably avoid complimenting her when I'm dating somebody else.'
Before either one could think of anything else to say, Hermione returned as well, leading McGonagall and Flitwick. When Harry heard multiple sets of feet approaching the house, he immediately drew his wand.
"It's ok – I am here to help," McGonagall held up her hand. "Hermione explained your situation, and I asked Filius to come as well. He knows more about Enchantment than I do."
The short professor's eyes gleamed as he took in the cabinet. He made a perfunctory nod to Harry as he immediately set to examining the device, "Do you have a containment ward up already?" At Harry's 'yes', he swung open the doors and started tracing the tip of his wand over the inside, getting straight to work as his goblin heritage came to the fore.
"Your ward-ward is too basic," Filius starts calling out additions without looking up from his analysis of the Cabinet.
Harry quickly added sets of runes to the warding diagram on the floor. As he did, Hermione pulled out a notepad. She carefully stayed outside the warding circle as she took notes on everything that Flitwick and Harry did.
"I wish I could be of more use," Daphne bemoaned as she stood to one side of the intense bustle.
"Enchantment is a specialized skill," Minerva replied, herself standing to one side as she watched, "There is not much I can do either. Filius is something of an expert – his uncle was a goblin artificer, and he worked in his shop when he was a teenager." Having worked together for decades, the staff all knew each others' histories. "I heard about what happened, with Alex. How are you holding up? I know when my marriage ended I spent several years blaming myself, agonizing over what I could have done differently, before I accepted that we were just different people and that there was no way it could have worked out."
"Thank you, but I don't blame myself."
"Don't you?" McGonagall asked skeptically.
"No, I blame Voldemort."
Minerva nodded. That was a healthier approach than many teen girls managed, 'Though I guess Daphne is no longer a teenager.'
"Hold the door steady while I inscribe the runes," Flitwik pronounced. Harry braced the door with his body, not wanting to cast any magic next to the delicate work that the charms professor was doing. The feverish intensity with which he worked spoke to Flitwick's need to do something to stop the sweeping tide of bigotry that he saw rising throughout Wizarding society.
"How are things in the castle?" Hermione asked, half her attention still on the runic array that Filius was inscribing.
"The atmosphere is very tense, but so far we have been allowed to operate as normal," McGonagall looked more careworn than when Hermuone last saw her, just a few weeks ago. "I don't know how much longer that will continue, though. The two moderate members of the school board were just replaced with men loyal to Lucius Malfoy, who has been the loudest voice for making the school Pureblood only. I fear that come the next board meeting, there will be some deeply regrettable changes."
"When's that?" Daphne asked.
But before Minerva could reply, there was a flash of light from the cabinet, and a greenish phosphorescence extended out, like a tentacle, searching blindly.
"Fiddlesticks!"
McGonagall quickly cast spells to contain the whatever-it-was without damaging anything.
"Hermione, draw a second ward – it's poked a hole!" Harry called out as he scribbled more runes furiously on the floor.
Hermione looked around, finding a package of chalk on the floor, and quickly began a second circle.
The work continued in this fashion all afternoon. Daphne kept watch, but nobody approached the decrepit building. Around noon, she cast a hair changing charm and transfigured her clothes to match what she had seen in her magazine and went out to the Three Broomsticks to pick up lunch for the group.
Finally, by late afternoon, Filius sat down on the floor and took his (now cold) cup of tea. "I think it's done. It should vanish things into the aether now."
Harry took a half-eaten ham sandwich and tossed it into the cabinet, shutting the door after. He exchanged a look with Hermione, before opening it up again. The cabinet was empty.
"The wards didn't detect anything crossing them!" Hermione leaped to give Harry a hug, "We did it!" She kissed him.
"Uh hum, I may not be your professor any more, but I am still here in the room," McGonagall interrupted primly. She didn't say anything when Daphne hadn't ended the transfiguration on her clothes after she came back with their food, but this sort of behavior was too much. Kids these days!
"Oh, I don't mind. Young people should be happy," Filius replied, causing his coworker to roll her eyes. "This was kind of fun, actually. I haven't done something like this in years - I used to teach an elective class on enchantment, but there wasn't enough interest: it was seen as more of a 'trade school' sort of class." Flitwick's face fell, as he remembered that in a few more months, he might never be allowed to teach again.
"We should get back – it will be dinnertime soon, and people will be concerned if we miss two meals." McGonagall turned to Harry, "Good luck. I don't know how you plan to make use of this, but at least you are doing something. Albus would have been very proud of you." She turned to the two women, "Of all of you. It takes uncommon bravery to stand up to evil. You make Gryffindor proud, even those of you who were sorted into different houses." She followed Flitwick back up the tunnel to the castle.
"Ok, so now that we have a 'non-working' working vanishing cabinet, how do we get Voldemort into it? He isn't going to obligingly step inside." Daphne asked, "It's not like we can leave it out someplace conspicuous and invite him to play hide and seek."
Hermione giggled in amusement, before sobering up as she considered what the next step was."Harry was thinking he could challenge him to a dual."
As Daphne glanced incredulously at him, Harry added, "Voldemort is still obsessed with the prophecy. The one that made him go kill the Potters. He will come if he's challenged by Harry Potter."
Daphne looked skeptical. This was the first time she was hearing the full plan, and it sounded even more far fetched than before. 'I thought they had an actual plan,' "What if he doesn't believe you? Harry Potter hasn't been seen in 20 years.".
"Actually, about that - I'm standing right here."
"You're Harry Potter?" Daphne asked incredulously. "And I'm the queen of Spain…" She looked at Hermione's face. "Wait, you aren't joking? And you never told me while we were… dating?" She demanded. Dating wasn't the correct word, but she wasn't comfortable calling their relationship what it was. "And you still haven't told me what you do for work. What else did you never tell me?" Daphne gave Harry a betrayed look before storming out of the building. She had thought that maybe Harry hadn't opened up to her because she hadn't expressed enough interest in his life, but no, he was just a closed off, uncaring asshole! She was better off without him. She dropped the transfiguration, letting her cloths ripple down into a normal robe.
There was silence, before Hermione asked quietly, "So, you and her…" She had already known, but to have it thrown in her face like that was still awkward.
"Yeah. But that's done, now." Harry glanced out the door after Daphne. "I should go after her."
"Can I have a hug?"
Harry took her into his arms, holding her. 'They may have dated, but he never opened up to her the way he has with me.' Hermione reassured herself.
They had just stepped apart when Daphne came back, slamming the door. "Don't worry, I hate Voldemort more than I hate you. But once he's gone, don't expect to see me again!"
*UHD*
That night, they walked back into the 'Resistance' camp, as Ginny was calling her rebel group. This time, she was there. "Harry, I'm glad to see you," Ginny shook hands with him before giving Hermione a hug and the drug dealer's trophy wife a cold glance, 'slut.'
"Ron said you came by when I was away. How is mom doing?" She hadn't been able to talk to her family before going into hiding, so she had only learned that Molly and Bill were in the Bahamas when Ron passed on Harry's news.
"She's good. Albus is there, helping organize any expatriates into a new Order of the Phoenix."
"I'm not certain what they can do from that far away."
"Oh, trust me, there's a lot," Harry replied thinking back to Alex's scattered international operations. Sometimes, having foreign support was useful. "Starting with fundraising."
"Hmm. Fair point. Why don't you come tell me what your planning over dinner, such as it is." Ginny awkwardly changed the topic. She knew Harry - 'he would only be here if he needs something – the man is a user'.
The whole encampment got together for dinner around a campfire, eating and drinking. The campground was unplottable, and there were enough muggle repelling wards to ensure that they wouldn't be discovered by accident, so the 30-40 people living here had no need to keep quiet. And with the somber mood in the outside word, they felt that they needed some joy.
"All they need are green tights and they could pass as a remake of Robin Hood & His Merry Men," Hermione muttered to Harry, who gave her an indulgent smile. As Harry went up to get another plate of fried fish, Ginny snagged Hermione's arm.
"Are you and Harry dating?" She asked quietly.
"Um, yeah," Hermione answered with a smile.
"You can't trust him - he was having an affair with Daphne until a couple of months ago. All while investigating her husband for drug smuggling. He's a piece of work – you can't trust him."
Hermione yanked her arm out of Ginny's grip. "I know about that. And yes, it bothers me, but Harry is a good person. He operates by a different sort code of honor than we Gryffindors do, but he always does what's right."
Ginny rolled her eyes, 'there's no talking to her - She's head over heels for him.' Why did good women always fall for the bad boys? If she was being completely honest, she would have to include herself in that number, but at least now she knew better.
"And don't take it out on Daphne, either. She's isn't a bad person, she was just stuck in a really rough situation." Hermione added before Ginny could say anything.
Harry returned holding two plates, one for him and the other he placed in front of Hermione, "So what are you talking about?" Harry asked as he settled to the ground.
"I was just asking what brought you here."
"Let's eat first. This is something I want your advice on. Yours and Ron's." They ate and watched the activity around the fire. One of the Ginny's band produced a guitar and started in on folk songs, and soon several others joined him, singing. Hermione grabbed Harry's hand, "Come on!" She pulled him up and started dancing. Soon several others joined them.
Ron sat down next to his sister a moment later, nodding politely to Daphne who was sitting a little ways off, watching the dancing. Ginny scootched over to sit next to the other woman, "So why did you swear an unbreakable vow to Harry?"
"Pardon me?" Daphne turned in surprise to the red head
"Ron says that that you swore an unbreakable vow to Harry to never betray him. And now you even came out here into the woods, and I'm guessing you were never one for roughing it."
Daphne nodded, "That's a fair question. I guess I had nowhere else to go, at least at first. But now," She paused and looked back towards where the dancers were swirling the through a traditional line dance by the fire. "Now I want revenge on the people who ruined my life - Alex, my parents and all the purebloods like them. And most especially on Voldemort, who is bringing out all of the worst behavior in them. Pureblood customs don't HAVE to be toxic. Look at your family." As she spoke, here eyes never left the dancers.
Ginny sighed in exasperation, 'She's just as bad Hermione. Idiots, the both of them.'
"Do you know what Harry is planning?"
"Some. Maybe most of it. But I will let him explain it."
*UHD*
Once the dancing was done, and all five of them were in the tent, Harry explained what he needed: "How do we challenge Voldemort to a dual?"
"Excuse me?" Ginny retorted, "you aren't taking any of my people on suicide mission!"
"Sorry, I meant how do we let him know that I want to challenge him to a dual?"
"Is he alright in the head?" Ron asked Hermione. Before she could reply, he swiveled back to Harry, "Mate, do you have a death wish? Most everybody in the country is trying to keep as far away from that loony as possible! He's bloody scary!"
"I'm not most people," Harry replied simply, "We have developed a trap that will take him out, and I think I can hold him long enough for us to spring it on him."
"Harry, you're a good dualist, but this is Voldemort we are talking about," Ginny retorted incredulously. "The only wizard strong enough to beat him is Dumbledore. And I've dueled with you. You're good, but you're no Dumbledore."
"That's because those were duals – I am at my best when it's a no-rules battle. I fought him in Albania, and I held my own."
As Ginny argued with Harry, Ron looked back over at Hermione, "Are you ok with this?"
Hermione bit her lip and nodded.
"Well, I'm not ok with it," Ginny slammed her hand onto the table, before pausing, "Wait, when did you dual him in Albania?"
"At the compound – remember the noseless freak? That's Voldemort."
"That couldn't be – you killed him."
"No, he's still alive. But I have his measure, now."
Ron and Ginny exchanged glances, uncertain. "What makes you think that if he does come, he will come alone?"
"Voldemort's power is based on a cult of personality. But the way he's been operating – staying in the shadows for years, until he was ready to strike, shows that he's cautious. So he can't NOT fight, but he won't want his followers to see him do so unless he knows he can win easily." Harry paused before adding, "And he's probably still not certain if he has regained his full strength, or exactly how strong I am."
"Do you know which pureblood families are supporting him?" Daphne asked, changing the subject. She wasn't certain if Harry wanted to reveal to the Weasleys that he was Harry Potter, but that was where the conversation was headed. And she wanted at least one secret that only she shared with Harry. "Maybe we can get one of them to deliver the challenge."
"The ones you would expect," Ginny ticked off her fingers, "Malfoy, Goyle, Crabbe, Nott and Yaxley are his most prominent supporters. There are others - like LeStrange and Carrow - that are not part of his inner circle but we think they are still influential. He also has some less affluent supporters like Dolohov and Rookwood. I could get you a complete list by this evening."
Daphne considered, "We will never get into Malfoy house – that mansion is too secure, but the Nott family is of more modest means. And I have been there when Alex went… I would have called it slumming, back then, but now… Yeah, slummy is still a good word for Nott. I can draw a map of the house. If you can get past the wards, you can get either Nott sr or Theo to deliver your challenge."
Hermione nodded. She was excited to be a central part of something so significant, while at the same time she was terrified of what could happen to Harry if they went through with this. 'This is who he is. He'll be fine. And if he can't help out as best he can guilt will gnaw away at him. I just wish that his 'best way of contributing' wasn't so dangerous.'
"Ok, lets try Nott. Do you two have any way to communicate with Bill? I would love to have his help getting past the wards."
Ron nodded, "Yeah, I think so - a couple of Sirius's smuggler friends turned a hiking shelter a few minutes from here into an international portkey terminal, and we were planning to send one of our guys to the Bahamas for supplies shortly." The smugglers had claimed that it shouldn't show up on the Ministry detection spells as long as they were careful and only sent one person through every so often, but Ron was still hesitant to use it.
"What kind of supplies?" Asked Hermione.
Ron looks down at his hands uncomfortably. Finally, Ginny blurted out, "Money. We're running low on cash. Its expensive running a group like this. We not only need food and stuff, but we also need potions in case somebody gets hurt and bribes for information."
"That's exactly what Dumbledore and the guys there are there for," Hermione reassured them, "You just keep doing what your doing."
*UHD*
A week later, Harry, Bill and Kingsley were in an upscale neighborhood on the edge of London. It was a popular spot with a segment of wizarding society – while the area was certainly upscale, it wasn't as exorbitantly expensive as the heart of London, and most of the homes were single family houses of modest size.
Though it wasn't quite as hidden as Diagon Alley, it still made extensive use of space expansion charms, so what looked like single suburban block on muggle street maps was actually a village of its own. And the dead-end street leading into it had layered muggle repelling wards.
The Nott residence was a large house, but not on the scale of the Malfoys. It was a typical mcmansion – it could have been stamped from the same mold as several of its neighbors. It was surrounded by a stockade style fence which the house wards were tied to, so the trio used brooms to fly over to the back side of the property where Bill could work on the wards without being seen by the neighbors. It was a strange experience: they were right on the edge of the space expansion bubble. Behind them was a muggle property, but it looked distorted, stretched out like a balloon about to pop.
Not that they could see much – they had waited for night time to start their adventure.
As Bill worked, Harry asked Kingsley, "Are you still keeping in touch with Tonks?"
"Yes, she's got her own group that she's operating in London. They are taking a more active approach, sabotage and the like." Both men were keeping watch so they didn't look at each other as they chatted quietly.
"Who? Aurors?' Harry envisioned an elite team of agents – it would be helpful to recruit them as back up, for when he needed to confront Voldemort's Death Eaters.
"No, they are mostly ne'er-do-wells that want to cause trouble. Most of the Aurors that are willing to fight are with Ginny." And that as not a large group, more than half of Ginny's group were her Hogwarts friends and other supporters.
"Oh," There went that plan. Harry grimaced 'I guess I can ask Ginny if I need extra wands.' Asking Ginny wouldn't be pleasant. She had developed some sort of grudge against him, which he didn't understand. It made talking to her uncomfortable.
"It's done." Bill pointed to a door in the back fence, which hadn't been there a moment ago. "This door will last about an hour, so don't dawdle. And go straight to the house – I cleared a path, but I don't know if there are any wards or traps off to the sides."
Harry nodded and went inside. Bill and Kingsley would wait for him in case he needed extraction. 'It's nice having back up.' Harry had almost never worked as part of a team when he was a DOM-OO operative, and it made life easier. He could concentrate on what he was best at and not have to struggle with the wards or worry about his escape route being compromised.
'It's nice having Hermione, too.' Because talking to her made his plans better. Actually, talking to her made everything better. It certainly wasn't the Slytherin way, but… 'Maybe that's why Snape always looks so sour. And Draco looks like he has chronic blue balls despite sleeping with a different trollop every night.'
Harry turned his attention to what he was doing. The backdoor posed no challenge to him and he followed the map that Daphne had provided to quickly approach the master bedroom. Here he paused – A quick check showed that there was indeed an alarm ward on the door. Harry wasn't certain how to dismantle it, but it was a standard off-the-shelf alarm, with the standard off-the-shelf flaws, so he simply cast a silencing charm on it and opened the door. Inside, Nott sr. was sprawled on the bed, snoring. 'I'm glad they follow the Pureblood practice of having a separate bedroom for the wife. This makes it easier.' Harry cast silencing charms on the other walls as well before walking up to the prone Death Eater and shoving him out of the bed with his foot.
"Wha.. where?" Nott started up from the floor.
"Shut is, Nott," Harry growled, letting the tip of his wand light up menacingly. "I have a message for your master."
"Who are you?"
"Me? I'm Harry Potter. And I am challenging your worm-turd of a master to a dual. Tomorrow at noon, behind the Hogs Head bar."
"What? Where?" The Death Eater asked groggily. It was clear that he had been drinking before bed and still wasn't completely sober.
"The Hogs Head. In Hogsmead." The area behind it was an overgrown lot, with abandoned construction supplies and other garbage that had been dumped there over the decades.
"Who are you?" Nott repeated.
Harry sighed in exasperation, "Imperio! You will go straight to Voldemort, first thing in the morning, and tell him that Harry Potter will be waiting for him behind the Hogs Head at noon tomorrow. Tell him to come alone, and that we will settle the prophecy once and for all. Oblivio!" Harry erased the memory of him placing Nott under the Imperious curse. He didn't really need to in this case, but it was habit for Harry – never let the target know that they had been Imperio-ed.
Five minutes later, he was back outside, "Ok, let's go."
"Do you think he will deliver the message?" Bill asked.
"Yeah, I think he will remember." Now Harry had to get himself ready for the fight of his life.
*UHD*
That next day, as the minutes ticked down to noon, Harry waited nervously 'I better not screw this up.' Too many lives depended on him. Hermione was hiding under Harry's cloak, next to an abandoned delivery truck in the overgrown lot behind the Hogshead. Tall grass and low bushes filled most of the space, but there was also a pile of dirt and rocks left over from some long-ago construction project. The Vanishing Cabinet was next to Hermione, shrunk to a quarter size (they dared not change it any more than that, for fear of damaging the enchantments on it).
Daphne meanwhile stood in the Hogshead stock room, looking out through the the small grime covered window. She had no active role to play in the dual, so Harry had insisted that she stay behind. She had refused and this was the compromise.
"I hope that boy knows what he's doing," Aberforth grumbled as he walked up to peer out the window next her. He had just walked in, ostensibly to grab another cask of beer for his customers. He was careful not to do anything unusual to give away that there was something more than a simple duel taking place, in case somebody was watching him.
"He'll be fine," Daphne replied in a monotone. He had to be! She realized that despite everything he had done that angered her, she couldn't envision a life without Harry. 'What a time to realize it. I can never manage to do anything right.'
Aberforth snorted. "If you say so." He grabbed the cask and walked out. He didn't like Voldemort or his Death Eaters, but this was as much as he was willing to get involved. He wasn't some white knight like Albus, tilting at windmills. Especially not at his age!
Harry was watching the proposed meeting spot from his broom, a good two hundred feet up, when he saw another flier approach, except this one wasn't using a broom or any visible device. It paused, a hundred yards away and seemed to examine him.
"Fortis Occularum," Harry pronounce. Yes, it was Voldemort. He wasn't making any aggressive moves. 'I imagine he's detected the anti apparition wards by now.' Harry began to sink slowly towards the ground. As he did, Voldemort copied his motion, with both touching down beyond range of accurate spell casting.
As they approached each other, like gunfighters in some old Western, Voldemort called out, "So you are Harry Potter. It is a pleasure to finally meet you,"
Harry finished silently transfiguring the abandoned sink behind Voldemort into a vorpal bunny and cast a blasting curse at the Dark lord as the rabbit sprang to attack.
Voldemort wandlessly levitated the rabbit into the path of the curse and retaliated with a dark curse that Harry had never seen before, forcing him to throw himself out of the way as he didn't know the counter. But when the curse hit the ground the dirt splashed up like a liquid, throwing droplets in all directions. Harry cast a shield just in case, and it was fortune that he did, as the droplets dissolved whatever they touched, like an acid.
"What? No self righteous diatribe or witty banter?" Voldemort quipped as he immediately cast a pair of reducto curses followed by another inky purple hex that Harry didn't recognize, forcing him onto the defensive again, "I have to say, I am pleasantly surprised. You're a man after my own heart."
Harry just had enough time to deflect the the purple hex, but it caromed off of his shield and came back towards him again. Harry swore. 'As is this spell!'
Harry cast banished the inky spell back towards Voldemort, using it to block the Dark Lords next attack, resulting in a explosion of light as the three spells collided. As they did, a strange beam of light connected the two wands for a moment before Harry yanked his out of the way and sent shards of obsidian flying at the dark wizard, but Voldemort intercepted them with a coil of Fiendfyre
'How the hell did he cast it so fast?' Maybe Dumbledore was right – he was out of his league. Harry was a strong wizard, and he was a faster spell caster, but Voldemort was casting spells that he didn't know, forcing him to spend much more time on defense. The only option left to him was casting attack spells in the few moments left between countering Voldemort's attacks. 'He must have been holding back, last time!'
Initially, Harry had been worried about making sure that his spells didn't accidentally kill his opponent, but unless Voldemort made a mistake, there was no way that any of Harry's haphazardly cast spells would manage to do him any harm.
Hermione watched from the shelter of the lorry as the two wizards fought. The spell casting was too quick for her to follow – they were both on a completely different level. The plan had been for Harry to incapacitate or immobile Voldemort, and she would levitate the Vanishing Cabinet over him, but she didn't see how they could do that now – everything was moving too fast!
Hermione clutched her wand tight to her chest, 'please don't die!'
*UHD*
Daphne glanced to the left and right as she stepped out of the back door of the Hogshead. She just couldn't wait inside, doing nothing, any more. She realized she was clutching her wand too tightly and tried to loosen her grip, 'you can't cast if your grip is too tight'. Harry had taught her that, back in third year.
She disillusioned herself and crept cautiously towards the battle, 'Please don't die!'
*UHD*
"Malum petra," Harry cast, forcing the ground to shoot a searpent of earth up to confront the Fiendfyre. The two malevelent elimantals surged at each others like sumo wrestlers slamming into one another. Harry struggled to control the monster of rock and dirt. It wasn't as powerful as fendfire, but it ws easier to control, and mostly immune to the flames.
Harry had a bare moments warning when Voldemort released control of the Fiendfire and sent an Avada Kedavera at him. 'He's not pulling any punches!' Harry levitated a broken paving block up to block the killing curse as he left his earth serpent to smother the Fyre. Harry had to do something, or it was only a matter of time before one of Voldemort's curses hit him.
*UHD*
Daphne crouched down behind a stunted bush. She knew that it would not provide any protection if Voldemort targeted her. She took a deep breath 'I'm only going to get once chance at this.' If her timing was off, or if Harry wasn't ready to to take advantage of the opening she provided, she was going to die from Voldemort's retaliatory spells.
Voldemort sent a series of dark curses at Harry, interspersed with simple blasting hexes.
Harry managed to cast one piercing curse as he threw himself to the side, but one of the blasting hexes landed right next to him, causing him to lose his footing. Harry cast a shield as he tripped but now he was on the ground and his shield was being bludgeoned by spells. He desperately cast about for a direction to dodge that would give him some cover.
Daphne took another deep breath. 'I can do this. I practiced my dueling.' She took another gulp of air and stood up, casting "Redu..
"Wingardium Leviosa!' Came the spell from the other side of the battlefield, sending the Vanishing Cabinet flying towards Voldemort's back.
'No, it's too early!' Harry desperately cast a flurry of bludgeoning and disarming spells at the Dark Lord to occupy his attention but Voldemort simply made a slashing motion, casting an overpowered cutting curse behind him.
The Vanishing Cabinet detonated with a flash as Voldemort's spell intersected it. But in that one brief respite, Harry had started one of his attack spell chains, casting so fast that he had no time for defense, instead relying on his furious attacks to prevent Voldemort from retaliating. If he was even a split second too slow, he would die.
The spells were so thick that it was blinding. Daphne squinted and stepped out from behind the bush "Reducto Bombarda Perfero!" She added her wand to the attack, forcing Voldemort to block in both directions.
The dark wizard managed to block most of Daphnes' spells wandlessly using his off hand, but as she started adding in the more destructive spells that she had learned from Sirius, he was forced to start using his wand as well.
As the battle dragged on, Harrys daily drills paid of, giving him greater stamina. Voldemort started to flag - one of Harry's Reductos slipped past his defense. Voldemort almost dodged it, but it clipped him in the shoulder, shattering it. "I have learned what I came to learn," Voldemort grinned like a death's head and shot into the sky, apparating when he was a hundred yards up.
Harry staggered to a stop before turning towards the abandoned lorry. "Hermione!" The truck that had been her hiding spot was cut in two by the spell Voldemort had used to destroy the cabinet. 'She must have dodged to the side. Where is she?' "Hermione!"
He saw her – she was laying in a pool of blood, one of her legs sheared off mid thigh. "Hermione! Harry cast a wound closing spell and a blood replenisher – those were pretty much the extent of his medical spells. He crouched down to pick her up.
"Harry.."
"Hurry, we need to get her to a mediwitch," Harry replied, turning towards Daphne.
"Harry, I'm sorry, she's gone." Daphne came and gently put an arm around Harry.
"No.. I.."
"We can't stay here. Voldemort will be back with reinforcement momentarily. Hold still so I can side along you."
"You can't side along two people," Harry retorted
"It's ok," Daphne replied gently. She apparated Harry and herself to just outside Ginny's encampment.
*UHD*
Daphne half led, half pushed Harry into the tent that Ron had loaned them. "Are you ok?" Ron asked.
"No, he's not ok, Hermione just died," Daphne glared at him as if he had said something offensive. "I think he's in shock." She added in a softer tone.
"What? How.. What happened?" Ron demanded.
"I said not now," Daphne interposed herself between Ron and Harry.
"I'm ok, I can take care of myself," Harry interrupted, as Daphne guided him inside the tent and away from the small crowd that was gathering.
"No, you're not ok. Sit down and I'll make you some soup." Daphne turned back to Ron who was still standing by the tent entrance, "Where would I find soup for Harry?"
The two left, leaving Harry to sit listlessly, and stare at his hands. If he hadn't been so arrogant… 'what made me think I could take Voldemort? Dumbledore warned me I was no match for him.' It was his fault that Hermione - bright, cheerful Hermione - was dead.
"Here, sit up and eat something." Daphne pulled him back up and guided him to the table. "That duel took a lot out of you. You put everything into it that you could." Daphne was rambling, trying to find some way to get Harry to focus. His vacant stare was scaring her.
Harry took the spoon, "thanks" he mumbled as he started desultorily scooping up the broth.
As he did, Daphne went out, returning a few minutes later with a mediwizard.
"He will need to take his clothes off, so please wait outside."
As Daphne did so, she was confronted with Ron. "What happened?"
"You know what happened – Harry dueled Voldemort, and we tried to spring a trap on him while he was distracted. We failed."
When Daphne didn't add anything more Ron scowled, prompting her to add, "That's it. That's all I'm going to say. It was nobody's fault. Harry had a good plan. Hermione thought so too. They put their lives on the line to stop that monster." She shrugged, "I know your angry, but blaming Harry won't help anybody."
Ron considered that and then nodded and sat down to wait with her.
The Mediwizard came out. "He's going to be ok, but he had some cracked ribs and assorted spell damage, including residue from a dark curse that I am not familiar with. I sealed up his wounds as best I could, and I gave him a potion for the ribs, but he should rest for a few days."
Once he was done, Daphne went back inside and led Harry to bed. Harry lay down and curled into a ball, facing the tent wall.
Daphne stood for a moment, at a loss what to do, and then with a shrug she joined him in bed, still fully clothed, and held him from behind.
Much like what she had once mocked Hermione for doing, back on Italy.