"We could use the veil in the DoM," Harry offered.
"And how will we get Voldemort to come down there? The only attraction for him in the Department of Mysteries was the prophecy, and you said that he already had the entire Prophecy Hall cleared out."
It was the morning after the contentious first Order meeting, and the two young mages were brainstorming ways to dispose of Voldemort without having to find his horcruxes, which seemed like a slightly less impossible task. "I have a list that I came up with last night, after you went to sleep. The top two options are: have him kissed by dementor, or get him to go into a misaligned vanishing cabinet." Hermione volunteered.
Hermine was laying crosswise to Harry, resting her head on his side. Harry was not certain if this was ok – he was finding it difficult to concentrate with so much intimate contact. "Do you always work late into the night?" He asked instead.
Hermione shrugged, which felt funny on top of Harry's torso. "I can't sleep if I am worrying about something, so it's easier to just get it done."
"That can't be good for you – you need to get a good night's sleep."
"Oh, you're one to talk. You almost didn't sleep at all when we were in Italy."
"But that was when I was working a case."
"I'll make you a deal – you can tell me when I'm not getting enough sleep if I can do the same for you."
Now it was Harry's turn to shrug. "Sure". It was nice having somebody worry about him. Odd, but very nice.
There was a knock on the door and Bill poked his head in. "I just went into town and I picked up the Daily Prophet. Take a look at this." He handed Hermione the newspaper, pointing out an article. The title screamed:
Lord Voldemort Heroically Saves School Girls From Maddened Muggle-Born Murder Mob
Underneath, there was a photo of Lord Voldemort posing menacingly (though maybe he thought it looked heroic). "If this keeps going on, he will eventually build up support for his regime."
"What do you want to bet that the 'mob' was under mind control. We need to neutralize his supply of loa pills." Harry sat up as he examined the picture of his nemesis. It was the first time he could get a good look at him.
Hermione added, "or we need to destroy the other loa wand. Didn't you say that Alex LeStrange has one?" At Harry's nod, Hermione added "I hate to say it, but we need Daphne – she's the only one who might know where they are storing them."
"Mom is still adamantly against working with her" Bill added.
Harry nodded,"That's ok – a small group will be better for an operation like this."
"I am going too." Hermione interrupted, "You were just about to say that you would go alone, weren't you? You need to stop trying to do everything by yourself. Besides, we may need to decipher wards, I've always been better at arithmancy than you."
Bill nods, "Ok, that makes it easier – Albus has me working on a secure messaging system that we can use across the Atlantic." There was only so far that an owl could fly, and they were fairly easy to intercept if you knew what you were doing. "I'll tell the others that you are out scouting."
"I'll go ask Sirius if he can get us some international portkeys from his smuggler friends." After their conversation last night, Harry really didn't want to go ask Daphne for help. He didn't want their relationship (whatever remained of it) to be just two people using each other.
"I'll go talk to Daphne" Hermione volunteered, seeing Harry hesitate.
Harry looks incredulously at her, "Ok".
*UHD*
Hermione knocked on Daphnes' door, feeling surreal. As she waited, she glanced around. The cottage was set back a bit from the street, behind an overgrown array of semi-tropical bushes. The street itself was busy, full of people going about their regular lives (though possibly at a slightly slower gait than their peers in London).
"Hello," Daphne opened her door. If she was surprised to see Hermione, she didn't show it. "Come in, would you like some tea?" She asked, emulating Hermione's mannerisms. If she couldn't be a pureblood lady anymore, she had to be someone, and Hermione was a good role model – she at least knew who she was.
The sitting room was tiny but cozy, with fluffy cushions on the couch and a tablecloth that matched the blue curtains draped over the small round table.
"Did you do this?" Hermione asked, looking around. She couldn't imagine Sirius caring about aesthetics. Not if his house, which was decorated in 'hobo chic', was anything to go by.
"Mmm. I transfigured a few things. When I got here, it was very spare," Which was an understatement. The only decoration had been a blanket abandoned on the couch, and the fridge was empty except for a stale loaf of bread and an expired carton of milk. Honestly, it was how she expected all men to live without a woman in their lives, though having tasted Harry's cooking, she wasn't so certain any more. "But I imagine you didn't come here to discussion my interior decorating skills."
"You're right. Sorry for dropping in like this, but we need your help, to find a certain something that we think Alex is using to to control muggles born. At the behest of Voldemort." She added, to explain the urgency.
"And I care about this why?"
Hermione had expected this question. Appealing to Daphne's better nature would be a waste of time, which is why she wanted to come instead of Harry. "Don't you hate Alex for what he did to you ? This will let you hurt him, by taking away something that he values more than he does you." She had thought through how she should make the argument on the way over.
Daphne laughed. "More than he values me? Sweetheart, Alex valued almost everything more than he did me. And yes I hate him. I am starting to realize that I have hated him for a long time now," Daphne took a sip of her tea to reign in her anger before she embarrassed herself. "Thank you for showing me how to use the teapot, incidentally."
"So you will help us?"
Daphne smiled. "You are such a gryffindor – so pure and simple. Just because I hate Alex doesn't make you my friend – my soul has plenty of room for hatred. There is room for my hatred of Alex, and hatred for my parents, who forced me to marry the bastard. And for my hatred of Zambini for being an obstinate pig, so that Alex was forced to use my body as a bargaining chip. And I hate Harry for ruining my marriage. And I hate you." Hermione was taken aback at he venomous rant. She almost didn't hear when Daphne added, more quietly, "Are you sleeping with him now?"
"Who? You mean Harry?" Hermione took a moment to collect herself, "We're dating." 'I guess…' They hadn't really discussed it.
"Do you know I have never been on a date? I hate that as well. I hate the way my whole life has been a single claustrophobic passageway, with only one way to go and no room to breath."
Hermione nodded, trying to think of what to say. She needed to find someway to get this women on their side, but what she really wanted was to ask what her relationship had been to Harry.
"Very well, I'll help you."
Hermione blinked as she processed Daphne's statement. "Thank you. You can't imagine how much this means. Not just to me and the rest of the Order of the Phoenix but to all of England."
Daphne snorted sardonically.
"We will come by with the portkey after lunch." As Hermione made her way out the door she paused and asked over her shoulder, "Did you sleep with Harry?"
Her only response was Daphne breaking down into a loud cackling laugh.
*UHD*
"So this is Calais," Hermione commented. Daphne and Harry were clearly very familiar with the city, but this was her first trip to the north of France (the only other time she had visited the country had been that vacation trip with her parents to the southern coast, and that had been totally different).
"My former home is just down that way," Daphne commented. They were all dressed in muggle cloths, and had used cosmetic charms to change hair color. She was pleasantly surprised to discover that muggle fashion wasn't as hideous as she had feared it would be. She could get used to them.
They walked in anxious silence up the street to the brownstone that was the LeStrange townhouse. The closer they got, the slower they walked until finally they came to a complete stop.
"The wards…" Daphne pronounced in confusion. "I'm no longer keyed to them!" She tried to take a step towards the house, but couldn't.
Hermione surreptitiously drew her wand and cast a diagnostic charm she had memorized just for such an occurrence. "That… is not a regular ward. Bill showed me how to overcome the typical commercial wards, but I don't know how to defeat this one, other than brute force."
"Yeah, that is probably not a good idea." At least not now.
Daphne canceled the charms changing her appearance and pronounced "Doily!"
After a protracted moment, there was a pop and the LeStrange house elf appeared in front of them, "What is miss Daphne calling for?"
"Doily, be a dear and let me through the wards," Daphne asked with her best simper. She wasn't certain if it would work on a House Elf, but it couldn't hurt to turn up the charm.
"Miss Daphne is not the mistress any more. Master has said that you have been struck off the family tapestry." She looked abashed as she added, "He said that you are not to be allowed inside the wards."
"That's ok, Doily," Daphne force out through a fake smile, "I expected as much. But as a favor, can you not tell Alex that I was here?"
Doily nodded so energetically that her ears flapped - glad that she was abler to do something for her former mistress – before disappearing again.
"Well, on to Plan B," Harry sighed. "I'll portkey us over into England and we can set up a base of operations there."
"I didn't know we had a plan B," Daphne looked up in surprise. 'Though coming all this way on the hope that I could get into the mansion, and then going home does seem kind of dumb, in retrospect.' Daphne mentally kicked herself, 'I need to wake up and get my head working right. Slytherins ALWAYS have a plan B.' But that was not as easily done - She still wanted nothing more than to hide under a blanket and dwell on all the way that her life had gone wrong in the past month. And the funny part was, she was starting to think that maybe it was all her fault. If she hadn't resisted Zambini's advances, None of this would have happened.
"Yeah, we'll scout out some of the other pureblood families and see if they are supporting Voldemort, and if they are, whether they have access to the Zombi wand."
"That's where you come in," Hermione added to Daphne, "You have connections to all of them - you can help us get in."
Despite being a Slytherin, Harry had been trying to avoid making it sound so transactional. "We're also going to make contact with some other like minded folks, and see if we can find a way to dispose of Voldemort."
Hermione pressed her lips together, not pleased that Harry was confiding so much to a woman of questionable loyalties. "Are you certain that the Ministry hasn't set up any wards to block all personal portkeys into England?" Hermione asked.
Harry shrugged. "You mean the war-wards? Maybe. But I know the back door." Learning how to get into England in a time of war had been one of the first things he was taught when he became an Operative. It was a sign of how incompetent the new government was that they clearly didn't even know about the DoM-OO.
Ten minutes later, they were inside the foyer of #12 Grimauld Place.
"What are you Mudbloods doing, trespassing in the noble house of Black?" Walburga Black shrieked from her portrait. "Help, Kreatcher! Dispose of them!"
Daphne whipped out her wand and with three practiced motions, the painting fell of the wall and face down onto the ground, immediately silencing it.
"Wait.. How did you do that? Sirius and I tried for hours to get that blasted thing off the wall." Harry looked incredulous.
"You just need to know the counter to the sticking charm that they used." Daphne preened before she glanced up to take in the rest of the foyer. "This place is a dump! Why did you bother with the painting when the rest of the house is uninhabitable!" The paint was peeling and there were spots of dry rot on several of the walls.
"The House is the way Mistress liked it," hissed a decrepit house elf that appeared from nowhere by Hermione's elbow, sending her 'eep'ing in surprise.
"Harry, I don't think we can stay here right now" Hermione volunteered.
Harry didn't want to admit it, but she was right. "We can try cleaning it. Kreature – can you make us a light supper?" He asked the scowling House Elf.
Kreature gave a desultory nod and disappeared.
Daphne peered into the dining room. "It's a little better over here." They propped up the portrait of Walberga against the far wall of the entryway as they got to work dusting and vanishing the dirt and detritus that had accumulate over the last decade. Kreature had managed to keep the floor clean, but anything that was above his shoulder height was untouched (probably because age prevented him from comfortably raising his arms that high).
They had made their way half way down the dining room when they hit their first nest of doxies.
"Yeaa!" Hermione screamed, batting at the cloud of noxious creatures as they swarmed in a cloud, biting at any exposed flesh.
"Aero Incindio," Daphne immediately pronounced, casting a wave of oven-hot air at the pests, forcing them to flee back into the over-stuffed chair that they had taken as their nest. Before they could come back out, Harry transfigured it into into a steel ball which shrank to the size of a marble.
"Thanks" Hermione nodded to Daphne.
"Yeah, we work pretty well as a team, don't we?" Daphne replied, eliciting a smile from Harry as he turned to apply soothing charms to Hermione's bites.
Daphne watched them act 'muggle' with each other, without the stiff formality that was the norm in pureblood society even between married couples. 'Is this what I was afraid of all those years?' In retrospect, it was kind of dumb. And seeing Harry and Hermione like this was kind of bittersweet. 'Harry looks happy'.
By dinner time, they had the dining room almost inhabitable. Along the way they had cleaned out two more doxie nests and a pack of Cornish pixies living in the drapes.
"Harry, Hermione is right. We can't stay here. Who knows what else is living upstairs. There could be a ghoul or worse."
"Yeah. You're right," Harry grumbled in acknowledgment. "I guess we can stay at my place. But it will be cramped." And it was also a mess. But unlike here, it was HIS mess, and he didn't want Daphne to see that.
"We can at least have dinner here – Kreature worked really hard, and it would be rude to have it all go to waste" Especially since the surly little guy was making an effort to make them welcome in what he must, after all this time, think of as HIS home.
"That's right – I remember you had a soft spot for House Elves back in Hogwarts as well." Daphne replied superciliously.
"And what is wrong with treating them with respect? They are thinking creatures, after all."
Daphne opened her mouth, but couldn't think of a response that would be appropriate for this particular group.
"It's ok – House Elves don't expect to be treated like people," Harry came to Daphne's defense. Hermione's mouth opened in outrage at what Harry had said, but before she could say anything, he continued, "But nevertheless you should treat them with respect, and provide them with a comfortable work environment."
Now it was Daphne's turn to look outraged, "I would never mistreat my elves!"
"But have you ever asked them what they actually want? Or do you just assume you know? You should try talking to them, sometimes," Hermione was quick to go on the offensive.
Daphne paused, her eyes darting towards Harry. 'Maybe not just the elves'.
But before the conversation could become any more uncomfortable, Kreature called out, "Dinner is served!"
The food was simple, but well prepared.
*UHD*
"Why do we have to walk to your place?" Daphne groused – in typical English fashion, it had started to rain. She had a charm to keep dry, but she was worried that the puddles would ruin her shoes. They were her favorites, which could change from elegant evening wear to house slippers or to running shoes. They would have cost an average witch a month's salary, and they were one of her last connections to her old life.
"Harry's apartment is unplottable," Hermione answered.
"Is this because of his mysterious job for the Department of Mysteries, which is clearly NOT being a forensic technician?" Daphne asked archly, to a resounding silence. "I thought so."
Harry shrugged, "I guess it will have to remain a mystery for now." He let them into the building and up to his apartment. "Uh, it's a little..."
"This is where you live?" Daphne looked around the one bedroom flat. From seeing Harry cook 5-star meals that wouldn't have been out of place at a top restaurant, she had expected something… less of a dump.
"Yeah, it's a dump," Hermione chimed in, "I don't understand how he tolerates it." The two women share a look.
"I'm never home, so it doesn't matter if it's a little small." Harry replied self consciously.
"Harry, there is nothing wrong with small," Daphne correct him, "this is unfurnished! You have a table, two chairs and a bed. That's it. No bureau, no sofa, no night stand, no pictures or anything on the walls. And heaven forbid you have a plant!"
Hermione tittered as Daphne tore into her boyfriend. She wasn't wrong.
Harry blushed, "I can transfigure something into a couch," he muttered. He would have to do something, or they wouldn't all have a place to sleep.
"No, we're going shopping," Daphne pronounced. Before Harry could protest that they would be spotted by Voldemort's people, he continued, "Don't muggles have stores for things like that as well?"
"Huh," Hermione was impressed with how much Daphne was contributing to their mission. She had been expecting her to be self absorbed and negative the whole time. 'She's trying really hard to prove her worth.'
"Yeah, we can do that." Harry paused, "I know a place near little Whining – that's where I grew up," he added as an aside to Daphne.
*UHD*
"Hello, Step-mother." Harry greeted Petunia as she opened the door to #4 Privet drive.
"What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?" It was 7:30 in the evening, "What if I had been entertaining guests!?"
"The car's not in the driveway and most of the house lights are off," Harry defended himself. "I figured that Vernon was working late and you weren't doing anything more pressing than watching the telly."
Daphne looked at Hermione in surprise, whispering, "is this normal?:
Hermione shook her head, "I don't know – I've never been here before either".
"And who are those girls behind you? Are they THOSE sort?" Petunia asked. She would not have those wizarding people in he house again!
"Stupefy," Daphne cast in exasperation, "just sit her on the couch and get what you are here for."
Seeing Hermione's shocked look, Harry interrupted, "No, it's ok – I was just 10 seconds away from stunning her myself. Petunia has never dealt well with surprises, and we don't have time for her nonsense."
"But she's your family."
"Sometimes, that just makes it worse," Daphne added darkly.
Harry cast a weak reducto onto the plastered-over fireplace. He pushed aside the shattered plaster and reached out several thick envelopes, slipping them into an inside coat pocket before reparo-ing the wall.
Meanwhile, Hermione examined the pictures on the piano. "Why are there no pictures of you? All I see are photos of your step parents and your cousin." Unless Harry was standing behind him – Dudley occupied enough space for two people.
Harry just shrugged as he poured a cup of ice tea from the fridge and set it on the end table next to Petunia's hand. "Enervate"
"What!?"
"We're just leaving. Here is some tea to calm your nerves." Harry turned and walked out the door,
"Why you ungrateful… we raised you as our own, and is this how you repay us, breaking into your own home!"
Hermione turned to Daphne as she slammed the door behind her, "Ok, I was wrong. She deserved much worse than just being stunned."
*UHD*
Two hours later, they were unshrinking the sleeper sofa and the dresser inside Harry's apartment, "It's going to be little tight, but we can make it work."
"Once we use some expansion charms, we should be ok," Daphne replied. Seeing Harry's look, her face fell. "No expansion charms?"
"No – the wards won't allow them."
She sighed in exasperation, "It's like you insist on doing everything the most difficult way possible."
Later that night, with Daphne on the sleeper sofa and the two of them in the bedroom, Hermione turned to Harry, "I'm sorry, I never knew how awful the Dursleys were"
"In your defense, I never told you."
"But I should have guessed!" She pulled Harry into a hug. It explained so much – from his lack of understanding of love, to his OCD to his obsessive need to be 'useful'.
As Hermione hugged Harry, he couldn't help thinking bout how surreal the whole situation was, with Daphne on the other side of the wall. He finally fell asleep, but it was awkward, and he didn't sleep well.
*UHD*
"Remember, walk casual," Harry reminded the two witches as they exited his apartment building the following morning.
"What does that even mean?" Groused Daphne. Sleeping on the sofa while Harry and Hermione were (presumably) having wild sex in his bedroom had fouled her already sour mood. She glanced sideways. Despite the situation, Harry… looked relaxed. Of course, if Hermione ever hurt Harry, she would kill the other woman.
"It means relax your shoulders. And Hermione, don't pull the hat so far down over your face." Daphne had picked out their clothes, and they were dressed in popular pureblood fashion, which to Hermione's eye looked like something out of a 1950's glamour magazine.
They made their way to Diagon Alley where they blended in with the sparse crowd. Harry had been planning to pretend to be window shopping, but nobody else was - everybody rushed to their final destination and darted in, like mice.
To match the flow they picked up their pace until they arrived at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, startling one of the twins who had been leaning, bored against the cash register.
"What can I do… Harry!"
"Hello George. Can we talk here?"
George looked around quickly – there was nobody else in the store. He cast a warning charm on the door, and a mufflatto at the walls. "I can't lock up – Voldemort has agent everywhere now, and if my shop is closed up in the middle of the day I'll get reported for something or other. Nobody can keep track of the new regulations."
"Did Bill contact you?" Harry asked.
George nodded, "All he said is that you needed to meet up with Ginny and Ron." Seeing Harry open his mouth to explain, George quickly held up his hand, "I don't want to know anything else. I don't even want to know who the two women with you are." Though the gleam in his eye showed that despite everything, he very much DID want to know. Not even a national emergency could stamp out the troublemaker in him. "Here. This is a portkey. The activation word is Ron's birth date. It only works on the weekends."
Harry looked lost, 'How am I supposed to remember that?' He racked his brain - Molly must have invited him to the Burrow for the most recent one.
"I've got this," Hermione interrupted, "Let's go."
"You need to buy something. For verisimilitude's sake."
Hermione rolled her eyes and purchased a pair of extensible ears and dummy wand before Harry could argue.
*UHD*
Walking through this strange new Diagon Alley, Hermione felt nervous the entire way back home, only relaxing once they were back inside Harry's apartment. "I am starting to appreciate having a home that is a fortress." She collapsed onto the couch. Harry brought a pitcher of water out for the two witches.
"What are we doing to do for the next two day?" Daphne asked. It was Thursday, and according to George, their portkey wouldn't activate until Saturday.
"We should feel out some purebloods and see how they feel about the coup. Is there anybody that you are close enough to visit without much notice?" Harry asked Daphne. "Maybe Pansy?"
"Oh, Merlin, no!" Daphne recoiled, "She's a complete horror! More than she was back in school."
"I know you don't like her.." Began Harry.
"It's not that I don't like her, it's that she is a manipulative, gossipy little bitch!" Hermione snorted at Daphne's protestations. She usually wasn't one for gossip, but the Slytherins had kept to themselves back at school, so it was fascinating to see that they had their own social dynamics. "Not that most of the Slytherin girls weren't manipulative, but we at least had friends we relied on. Pansy would sell out anybody – her enemies, her friends, her besties. She would probably even rat out her grandmother's dirty secrets if it would give her an advantage. Nobody liked her - the only reason she had a social circle to hang out with was because she had blackmail material on all of them, and she wasn't shy about letting them know. All the girls were terrified of her."
"I'm surprised she didn't marry Draco," Hermione quipped, recalling that the two had dated for a while.
Daphne 'hmmed' in bemusement, "She would have eaten him alive. His daddy forced her to back off."
Harry smirked, "Yeah, that sounds like Draco. Is there anybody else you can try instead?"
"I'll see if I can drop by Hestia's – I heard that she's still living in London, doing something for the Merlin Botanical Gardens. She might be chatty now that her sister's moved out."
"What happened to the sister?" Hermione asked. She vaguely remembered the Carrow twins – they were standoffish even by Slytherin standards.
"She got married last year to Roger Oakby - it was arranged their families. I heard about it because he works for the Ministry," Harry replied. Hopefully, it was working out better than Daphne's marriage. But probably not. "Ok, let try that," he added to Daphne.
That evening was just as awkward as the previous one. Even though Hermione cast sound dampening charms, Harry just went straight to sleep when they went to bed.
*UHD*
"Hestia! How are you?" Daphne coo-ed in her best upper-crust Pureblood voice. It felt fake – it surprised her how quickly she had gotten out of the habit.
"I'm doing wonderfully. Come in, I'll have my elf make some sandwiches," Hestia smiled. But the nervous glance she cast out the door as she held it open for Daphne showed that not everything was as fine as she made it out to be. She led the way up to her apartment – it was on the fourth floor, but to make up for that it was very airy, with liberal applications of space expansion charms and windows that let in plenty of sun. But every window was surrounded by a large cluster of plants, to the point that Hestia had to have the lights on in the middle of the day.
"Are you still working in the Gardens?"
Hestia just nodded. "And I brought some of my friends home as well," She gestured to the crowd of plants.
Daphne gave an artificial laugh, "I guess it's lonely now that Flora isn't here."
"No." Hestia was never one for many words.
Daphne waited to see if Hestia would add anything more. When she didn't Daphne asked, "How are the.. changes treating you? The new Minister isn't cutting your funding?"
"Oh, no. Everything is wonderful. I spend so much time among the plants that I haven't notice any changes. Everything is just like it has always been. Just like it should be." Hestia babbled as she desperately looked to see if her Elf was bringing out the sandwiches yet. "Let me go check to see what's taking that stupid elf so long."
"Sit, sit. I'm in no rush," Daphne quickly interjected as she got up, "I just came to chat." Daphne wracked her brain for what she usually talked about when she had her insipid Pureblood 'friends' over for tea and came up blank, 'I can't tell her what I've been doing with Harry. And I don't ever want to think about my life with Alex again.' "I have never been to the Gardens. What sort of plants do they have there?"
Hestia relaxed, giving her guest a detailed, step by step description of the exhibits. Daphne smiled and nodded. For the next hour, she tried to tease out tidbits of information, in between descriptions of how 'luscious' various plants looked.
*UHD*
"My face hurts! Do you have anything alcoholic?" Daphne burst out as she walked into Harry's apartment. "And my head feels like it's going to fall off of my shoulders!" She had spent the past hour smiling and nodding at Hestia's vapid conversation. 'Thank Merlin I'm not with Alex anymore, or that would be my life, for the rest of my life!'
Harry was in the other room, and Hermione had been working on some notes, so nobody saw Daphne start at the realization.
"We bought a couple of bottles of beer, if you drink that," Hermione replied as Harry came in fro the bedroom.
Instead, Daphne sat down at the kitchen table with a sight, "She is just so insipid." Though that could have described her just a few weeks ago. 'I wonder if she is hiding who she is as well? Does she even know that she's hiding herself?' After a moment, Daphne added, "Though I think it's because she's scared. She tried to hide it, but whenever I tried to change the subject to anything other than small talk, she would panic."
"That's a good sign. Not that I don't feel bad for her, but it sounds like Voldemort doesn't have the full support of all of the Purebloods".
Hermione nodded, "I'll put that in - I'm writing a report to send back to Albus. Good work, Daph."
Daphne started at Hermione's use of her nickname before nodding, 'She trying to make peace.' Daphne wasn't certain if she wanted that – her feeling about Hermione, Harry and the fact that the two of them were together were all mixed up. She wasn't certain if she was angry, happy or just plain jealous.
Finally, Saturday morning arrived. Harry cooked the two ladies a hearty breakfast and they headed out to meet the rebellion.
In the alley behind his apartment building, they all took hold of the spoon that George had given them. "Hold on. March 1, 1980," Hermione pronounced. They were scooped through the air and flew to the north west, landing in a forest. Sitting a few yards away was a witch with a wand pointed at them, "State your names."
*UHD*
"Oh, good! George said that you would be coming. I was starting to get worried. It's so good to see you!" Ron gave Harry a hug before following up with one for Hermione. He paused when he saw who the third of trio was and tentatively extended his hand for a shake.
Daphne raised an eyebrow, shaking his hand with a condescending sneer.
"Is this ok?" Ron asked, bobbing his head towards the Slytherin woman in what he thought was a subtle fashion.
"Yes, you can trust Daphne. That's why she's with us." Harry replied, "is Ginny here?"
"Not right now – she's out scouting. And I'm stuck running the camp. It's like she doesn't trust me." He grumbled before forcing himself out of the negative. "We have a bunch of folks who oppose Voldemort. Some are Aurors, others are simply muggle-born who don't want to be 'registered'."
"Do you have enough supplies?" Hermione asked as Ron led the way through the small encampment to his tent.
"Yeah, Dean had a sporting goods store, so he brought his entire inventory with him when he came. We have more space expanded tents than we know what to do with. Do you guys need one?
"No, thanks."
"Actually, we'll take one" Daphne countered. At Harry's questioning look, she added, "It will give us some options." She could set it up in Harry's apartment - it would more than double the mount of space they had.
Ron grabbed a tent from a pile behind their commissary and walked over to an empty spot. "Here, you trigger it like this." The tent grew to five feet tall and 6 feet on a side.
Inside it was four times as large, if not more. It even had a cot and a table. Ron brought out a warming plate and a teapot from the mess tent. "Here, sit" Ron poured them each a cuppa.
"How are things out here in the woods?" Hermone asked.
"It's surprisingly good, but I've always like camping out, as long as its with other people," Ron was very much an extrovert, and didn't do well when he was on his own. "I've been managing the logistics for the lot of them, making sure we have food and clothing and other necessities. It's not bad at all," Ron took a sip of his tea, "But we can't live like this forever. And if we want to go back to our old lives, we need to do something about Voldemort soon – he keeps staging these false-flag attacks using muggle born. The Ministry claims that there is no trace of the Imperio spell on them, but that's clearly a lie."
Hermione exchanges a look with Harry. "Yeah, we've read about those. I am surprised that people don't see how staged they are."
"People are dumb. They won't see things that make them uncomfortable," Daphne cut in.
The four of them chatted for a bit more before Harry finally turned to business. "Do you happen to know where we could find a Vanishing Cabinet? It doesn't have to be in perfect working order." After they were done with it, it certainly wouldn't be.
Ron tilted his head back in thought, "I remember dad talking about one, back when I was a kid. But who knows where it is now. Probably disassembled or something." Vanishing Cabinets had been banned since the start of the 20th century, so they were pretty rare, "What do you want one for anyways?"
"It's better if you don't know," Harry replied. "All I can say is that it is important."
Ron looked like he would get stubborn, but then nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense." He took a sip of his tea, "I seem to remember seeing one in a shop in Knockturn alley - Borgin and Burkes, I think – back in 6th year. I was following Malfoy because he was acting like a git, and I wanted to see what he was up to."
"I know Borgin and Burkes," Daphne added quietly, "That's exactly the sort of thing that they would be selling."
"That was 5 years ago – they probably sold it," Hermione countered.
"That's ok – I'll stop by and find out who they sold it to."
"Harry, how are you planning to get them to tell you something like that? They aren't going to share their customer information." Hermione asked incredulously.
"They will when I ask." Harry replied casually.
"And doesn't that sound menacing." Ron quipped, but when he looked up at Harry's face the smirk slid off his face, "er, yeah. Right. You do that." The same relaxed expression that made Harry look like an affable ministry drone when he came to dinner at the Burrow looked downright menacing when he was talking about breaking into a shop and doing Merlin-knows-what to the owner.
"We could break into the shop and steal their customer list." Hermione brainstormed.
"Ok, you do that while I talk to Mr. Borgin and Mr. Burkes," Harry replied breezily.
'He's talking about using the Unforgivables,' Daphne realized. Harry's combination of charm and menace sent a thrill through her, which was followed a moment later by disgust at herself for getting turned on. And then anger, also at herself, 'I really don't know Harry, do I?'
*UHD*
That evening, they snuck into Borgin and Burkes. Hermione used the notes provided by Bill to take down the ward, and then she and Harry went inside to reconnoiter. Daphne remained on guard outside, disillusioned.
"Oh, see, it's still here. You were worrying about nothing." Harry pointed to an ornately carved walk-in cabinet. It was dusty, but otherwise in good condition.
Hermione pursed her lips. "You would have used Imperio on them, wouldn't you?" She finally asked.
"Yes. And it wouldn't be the first time."
As Hermione recoiled, he added, "I serve the Crown, by any means necessary. Sometimes, I do things that are no better than what our enemies do. The only difference is I do them in defense of England."
"I bet that's the same reasoning that the Voldemort's supporters use."
"Yes, but they are wrong." Seeing her draw back, Harry sighed in frustration, "Hermione, I didn't want to do this now, but I also don't like lying to you," Which was actually a very odd thing for him. He paused and ran a hand over his face. "The difference between me and them is that I only act in support the duly elected Minister of Magic, not for my own self aggrandizement. I know that I sometimes do the wrong thing for the right reasons, but it needs to done. And I make sure I never do permanent harm to anybody except in self defense."
Hermione considered, "I guess I'll trust your judgment." She stepped in to give Harry a hug.
Which is when the door opened a crack and Daphne called in, "would you two hurry up! I see people coming!" They had cast repulsion charms on the door, but those would only prevent casual glances from noticing anything. If the people were actively searching , they would see that the door was propped open.
The other two leaped apart, draping Harry's invisibility cloak over the cabinet so they could float it out the front door without anybody seeing it. The moment they were outside, they portkeyed to Harry's street.
I am going to be away on vacation, so there won't be any update next week. Hopefully I will get back in the groove when I get back - post lots of reviews to motivate me ;)