PART 2
Safe Places
July to August 1997
It was a fine summer day. The sun was shining brightly, birds chirped in the trees – everything seemed peaceful. No one would have guessed there was a war being waged in the magical world of Britain.
Sitting in the shade of a tree, surrounded by graves, Harry was reading the latest article written about Albus Dumbledore in anticipation of Rita Skeeter's biography of the man.
There was so much Harry had never known about the late headmaster. He once thought he had been fairly close to the man – a trusted confidante, even. But of course not. He had only ever been yet another child under Dumbledore's tutelage.
Harry could take a good guess as to what some of the dirty secrets Skeeter kept teasing were, thinking back on the things Professor Totengräber had told him about Dumbledore's relationship with the former Dark Lord Gellert Grindelwald. He wasn't sure he wanted to know about the rest.
"Don't you look comfortable."
Harry looked up from his newspaper to find Rhea grinning at him. He never noticed her coming.
"Did you get thrown out again?"
Rhea shrugged, a lopsided smile on her lips. "It was Ai's fault this time."
Harry shuddered. Rhea's younger siblings were all menaces and Aidoneus was the worst of them.
"Mind if I join you?"
"Feel free. Where are the others?"
"Haven't you heard the news?" Rhea said brightly. "There has been a mass breakout from Azkaban."
It took a moment for the words to really register – Rhea had a way of making the most horrific things sound like good news.
"But there was nothing in the Daily Prophet."
Rhea huffed in amusement. "Of course not. The Ministry is so embarrassed, they're trying to quietly sweep it under the rug."
"But what does this –" Harry paused, dread pooling in his stomach. "Theo's father broke out."
"Lyn's too. Mother is playing escort while they run around, making sure everyone is aware and safe."
"I will have to write to Ron and Hermione – ah, but Ron's dad will probably know already. Do you think they will hold the wedding anyway? Should I still go?" Harry raked his fingers through his hair. "I know we have a plan and all, but I don't want to endanger them unnecessarily."
"Nonsense. How are the Death Eaters to know you decided not to go? They'll assume you're there regardless."
"Thanks, Rhea," Harry said dryly. "Very reassuring."
"You worry too much. Besides, Lyn and Theo will be there to protect you."
Harry was still of the opinion that Rhea should have been the obvious choice, being the most ruthless one out of them all, but Rhea 'didn't like weddings'. Harry was fairly sure those were not her true motives, but he had no way of finding out the truth.
Obviously, any older Lémure would have been the even more obvious choice, but the Lémures remained steadfastly neutral. Lynea was technically not officially a Lémure, so they had plausible deniability and Rhea … Rhea, Harry had long ago realised, took after the Totengräbers more than the Lémures. What this meant for her involvement in the war, Harry couldn't begin to guess.
"Oh, that's right!" Rhea clapped her hands – gloved even in summer – making Harry jump. "I almost forgot – Severus finally came back to us – no one noticed we sent a fake Harry Potter back to Privet Drive. Unless some idiot decides to attack before your birthday, we're all set. His own plan seems to be working out, as well."
"They really are planning to do something on my birthday, then?"
Rhea gave him that look that always made Harry feel stupid.
Right. Chosen One. Coming of age. Blood protection losing power and all.
Not that whatever the Order and the Death Eaters were planning to do on his birthday really mattered. Harry wouldn't be there. Which did not change the fact that the Order members would all be risking their lives for a Harry Potter they didn't know was fake, but …
It had been Harry's decision to tell no one but Ron and Hermione he was staying with the Lémures. After Dumbledore's funeral, he had just never left. Theodore only knew because he was living with Lynea, who was visiting the estate almost every day.
"And Draco?"
"Should be doing well, as always. Last I heard, the Dark Lord was still terrorising his parents with his continued stay as their guest, but it's not like that would bother Draco, anymore."
Harry released the breath he had been holding. "Right."
"Don't worry, we can still turn him into your personal Inferius anytime."
Harry didn't bother telling her that was not the point.
He looked over the cemetery, his gaze lingering on the tomb he knew Dumbledore was resting in.
"Beautiful day, isn't it?"
Rhea hummed, stretching like a cat. "Perfect day to hold a funeral."
"I was thinking of talking to some of the dead lingering around, actually."
For a cemetery that housed only dead that could never be brought back, there were quite a few ghosts and other spirits wandering about. Relatives and loved ones of those buried here, Harry had learned – people not buried in the cemetery coming to visit in the hopes of letting go of their regrets and saying goodbye, though not all of them looked at it that way and some took a bit of coaxing.
"Or to hunt down some scum deserving to die," Rhea mused.
"Maybe ask Lynea and Theo first, before you decide to go after their fathers."
"Pah, why bother if I know they will say yes in a heartbeat."
"Because that's common courtesy, Rhea."
"Well, if you say so."
o
The fallout of Harry's birthday was almost comical.
Apparently, the Order's plan had been to use Polyjuice and then depart in teams of two headed towards different safe houses. Having planted the idea in the head of one of the members, himself, Severus Snape had told the Dark Lord all about it and thus Death Eaters had ambushed the group. Fred had lost an ear. Professor Moody – no, Alastor Moody. The real one. Alastor Moody had lost his life.
While they had indeed managed to confuse the Death Eaters about the real Harry's identity in all of this, the fake decoy Harry had somehow outed himself as the 'real one' and been attacked by Voldemort himself and …
Well, it was a good thing there had been so many Harrys running around, because decoy Harry had not made it out of that ordeal intact and would have blown his cover. Hagrid, the fake Harry's assigned partner, had barely managed to survive and make it to safety.
The Order had been sent into a right panic, thinking Harry had died. How no one had noticed the corpse had been an Inferius all along was beyond Harry. Even Voldemort had realised and that had been in the heat of battle. (Thankfully, Voldemort had simply assumed it part of the Order's strategy and that the real Harry must have been one of the others.)
Harry almost wished they hadn't configured the decoy to deactivate upon taking too much damage just to see what kind of frenzy the subsequent 'revival' would have sent the Order into.
Of course, Ron and Hermione had cleared it all up once everyone had arrived at the Burrow.
Harry was rather glad no one could come to the Lémure estate uninvited, for the letters he had received that day had not been happy in the least.
But, honestly, could they blame him for taking care of his own safety without informing them when their oh-so-very secure plan had clearly been leaked somehow?
They hadn't even come up with their own plan, themselves!
And why hadn't they made Harry drink the Polyjuice as well?
Never mind that Harry owned an Invisibility Cloak and could have gotten out of the house unnoticed at any point. Not everyone had a special magical eye that could see through invisibility cloaks like Moody's did.
(Not that he would have wanted to – even without the constant reminder of Draco's death, Harry couldn't stomach wearing it anymore. Ever since he had been to Death's Realm, something about the Cloak made him recoil. The wand and the stone that he was keeping safe for Professor Totengräber were much the same, but Harry hadn't gotten around to investigating them properly yet and the Lémures were being frustratingly vague about it all.)
There were so many things wrong with the plan. Hermione and Theodore could have probably listed several dozen just between the two of them. And a better plan. Not that they needed one, seeing as Harry had already been safe.
Currently, Hermione, Theodore and Ron were furiously planning for all sorts of contingencies for Harry's very simple plan of not returning to Hogwarts for his seventh year. With Dumbledore gone, no one could tell how safe Hogwarts would be. Harry wouldn't risk it – neither himself nor the danger his presence would put the other students in.
Whether the prophecy truly declared it Harry's fate to defeat Voldemort or not, the Dark Lord and so many others definitely believed in it. And Harry and his friends were kind of the only people left who knew about the Horcruxes.
The Cup was still in a Gringotts vault. Harry didn't know whether Dumbledore had made any progress on acquiring it before his death, because Dumbledore had never told him anything. The fact remained that it was still in the vault. Nagini was, of course, usually with Voldemort. They had yet to locate the Locket, but only because Harry hadn't bothered to interrogate Mundungus, yet, who had stolen it from Kreacher shortly after – after Sirius' death.
So far, Voldemort was only aware of the Diary's destruction and hadn't shown any signs of creating a new Horcrux in its absence, but Draco, Snape and a couple of spirits were keeping an eye on him just in case. If he ever did split his soul again, they would know.
"I'm just not sure how much medicine to pack. And what about toiletries and sanitary products? I know there are spells, but I found they don't always work perfectly. Do you think we will be able to go to pharmacies without being found? It's just that I was planning only for myself – Ron and Harry don't need these things."
Harry broke out of his musings to stare at Hermione. "What?"
Hermione stared right back. "What?"
It was Lynea who answered instead, clearly understanding the cause of his confusion immediately, "I'm coming with you, I think. Me and Theo. And Rhea will look after the school for us."
Theodore nodded along with her.
Harry stared at them incredulously. "But what about your families?"
Hermione had already taken care of her parents (though Harry would definitely send spirits to look after them, because simply wiping their memories and sending them abroad did not erase their identities and past).
Ron had found a substitute all on his own, though Harry could have easily procured an Inferius for him – he still couldn't create one all by himself, but both Rhea and Lynea would never turn down the opportunity.
Yet neither Lynea nor Theodore had come up with a plan to cover their absence as far as Harry knew.
"They are their own people," Lynea answered.
"They already took great precautions when our fathers escaped from Azkaban," Theodore said.
Lynea turned back to Hermione. "Why would they look for us in random Muggle pharmacies across the country? And you did pack enough Polyjuice to last us for months if we ration it properly."
"And don't forget about the food," Theodore added. "There is only so much we can safely store in the bag."
"Yes, I've got the list right here," Hermione waved a small piece of paper. "We should probably test that these really don't work against the extension charms – preferably sooner rather than later." She looked down at the list and bit her lip. "Our finances will be the biggest concern."
"The Goblins wouldn't rat us out," Lynea said.
"Well, yes, but getting to Gringotts without being caught in the first place is the issue here."
"We also need to figure out how to get our hands on Hufflepuff's Cup while we're at it."
"Better to only make one trip," Hermione agreed.
Harry locked eyes with Ron.
"Thank Merlin we have these nerds." Ron grinned at him. "Without them, we would probably starve to death before You Know Who ever found us."
o
"The Minister isn't supposed to know I'm here."
"He'll die soon, anyway."
"That's not a good thing at all!" Harry hissed. "I swear, sometimes you're as bad as Rhea! What if he's going to die as a consequence of being tortured to death by Death Eaters trying to find out where I am?"
Lynea hummed. "Good point."
"There is nothing we can do about it now," Hermione interrupted. "Besides, isn't that what Lynea and Theodore are here for? To protect you? Now, can we get back to figuring out what Dumbledore's will actually means? Preferably before Molly hunts us down to help with more wedding preparations we already took care of."
o
Harry looked down at the two unconscious Death Eaters and wondered if he could stomach killing them. He knew Hermione wouldn't. Ron – Ron had suggested it, actually, but Harry wasn't sure his friend actually meant it.
He shook his head. "Too obvious. Reanimating them, too. Vol–"
"Harry!"
"Sorry, habit. He knows I learned necromancy. He knows what to look out for."
"We need to do something about that," Lynea said. "You will get us caught again at this rate."
"I know, I know."
"You have to admit though," Hermione said slowly, "that it is a genius idea."
"And very intricate magic, too," Lynea added.
Having felt the magic react to the name first-hand, Harry could only agree.
"We will come up with something," he said. "Back to the issue at hand – let's just wipe their memories and restore the café."
"And then we need to find a safe place to hide," Ron said.
"What about Grimmauld Place?"
"Not an option."
"Why not?"
Four sets of eyes turned to stare at him.
"Ah," Lynea looked up at the ceiling. "I forgot you weren't paying attention during that conversation."
"The Blacks were rather paranoid about necromancers," Theodore elaborated. He gave Lynea a sly look. "Ever since a necromancer turned one of their children into their personal Inferius."
"The sins of my ancestors," Lynea said solemnly. "Never mind that Perseus was about to be burned off that fancy tapestry of theirs anyway had he not died." She turned away from them and began to clean up the mess they had made.
"And what does that mean for us?" Harry asked.
"It means that Grimmauld Place is heavily warded against everything related to necromancers and necromancy," Theodore explained.
"Between the five of us," Lynea said over her shoulder, "we have no less than three actively practicing necromancers here. Going to Grimmauld place is just a disaster waiting to happen."
"Kreacher never said."
"He didn't know, did he?" Ron shrugged. "You never told him."
"I thought house-elves could sense such things," Theodore mused.
"Either way, we'll be fine," Hermione said, standing up from where she had been crouched next to the unconscious Death Eaters. "We can find another safe place, we've got everything we need packed. Personally, I rather like the idea of camping – I always wanted to do it with friends one day."
"I've never been," Harry said. "Except for that one time during the Quidditch World Cup."
"Me neither," Theodore said.
"Does staying in a forest at night for a ritual count?" Lynea asked.
"No."
They all turned to Ron.
"Same as Harry. Dad always wanted to go camping with us, but never got the chance before the World Cup."
"Or," Lynea said, "we could just return to the Lémure estate."
Hedwig was still there, safe. Lynea's familiar, too. Rhea was there. But Harry watched Hermione and Ron shudder simultaneously and knew they wouldn't feel comfortable going to the Lémures.
"I think camping might be fun to try?" Ron said in a weak voice. "Like Mione said, we can always find a different place if we don't like it."
Harry shrugged. "Camping it is, then."