...
Harry's birthday passed without a hitch. There had been many, many birthdays in the castle already and he refused to allow his to pass with any excessive fanfare.
The day after his birthday, however, he'd sent everyone on a week long trip to Disneyland.
"Actual bloody Disneyland," Rebecca Swann, Jason's sister, had cheered just before being scolded for her language.
The families with smaller children had been booked hotels. Others took long-distance portkeys which was one of the perks of the U.S. being part of the I.C.W. — they protected the rights of Lords to make portkeys with proper licensing which included into America.
Some families were less interested though almost everyone went. They'd snuck Ginny out of the Burrow through Ottery St. Catchpole three days in a row so that she could go too. The same thing happened for other DA members who were mostly inactive during the summer.
Harry had a rather memorable time with Sirius.
…
Sirius was wearing a too-large lime green hat with attached droopy ears. The stenciling said 'goofy.' The older man looked pleased as punch, face flushed from all the running and excitement.
"I chose Disneyland for all of the kids," Harry said dryly. "And somehow you're the most enthusiastic of the bunch."
"You definitely made the kids happy — already hear talks about chaperone scheduling for the next outing from the parents."
Harry looked out at the group of fifteen that he was with; there were about four families, three of which had children under the age of ten. All of them were having a blast in America.
"Want to get away for a minute?" Sirius asked, gesturing towards a slightly less busy street lit with fairy lights.
"Sure Padfoot," Harry agreed, sure that the man had seen another vendor selling flashing light sticks and other assorted toys.
They walked in companionable silence for a minute or so before Sirius pulled them into a dark corner.
"Detour!" he cried before side-along apparating Harry away.
When the nearly painful compression stopped and he could feel his feet on solid ground again, Harry restrained the urge to deck his godfather. They were in a dingy alley behind a dumpster.
"Where the bloody hell are we?"
"Welcome to Vegas, Prongslet."
He'd very nearly strangled his godfather. But, the five hours he'd allowed the man-child to drag him about while running amok in Sin City would certainly be treasured by him.
…
"Hey Mrs. Brown?" Harry called.
Kathleen, Lavender's mom, turned with a friendly smile.
"Yes, Harry?"
"Do you think you could look into hiring a real healer? Possibly two? We can't keep doing all of our own first aid."
"Of course dear," she agreed. "That's my job, after all." Kathleen and her husband Frederick ran a quite successful employment firm that helped connect graduates to people looking for apprenticeships or interns. "Fred and I would be happy to help. Any specifics?"
"They'd be required to sign pretty extensive contracts but they can live here full time with no rent, free food, and better pay than they'd get anywhere else."
"What pay range are you looking for?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well healing professionals can be quite expensive to employ and they only become pricier as their qualification level increases. Healers are responsible for broad spectrum general healing, especially first aid. However, not all healers have extra specializations and qualifications. If you look for one with more experience and a broader knowledge base, they get more expensive."
"The more experience, the better and if they have an apprentice, that'd be seen as a bonus."
"Flexible then. And pay?"
"Well if you find someone suitable, take whatever number they ask for and double it."
"Double it?"
"Call it hazard pay," he shrugged. "What with the Weasley twins around and all."
"Can't argue that, love," she said, tossing her wavy honey brown hair. "I'll get back to you if I find anyone."
…
It was a week later that Kathleen got back to him. She had referred Lanuaria Silva and her apprentice Audrey Kent. Their village was one of the first targeted by Voldemort and the clinic they had ran was burned to the ground.
Harry had immediately liked the white-haired healer and made sure she knew that she had unlimited funds to stock her infirmary. Her young blonde apprentice still looked a bit shell-shocked but both women had seemed pleased (if surprised) by the frankly luxurious accommodations and the amount of people simply happy to see another friendly face.
It was that same day that Harry got another obnoxious message from the Headmaster. Voldemort had stepped up his attacks and the volume of letters received by the Golden Trio had increased proportionally.
Harry,
As you may or may not know, Voldemort has been leading a series of raids around the country. Because of your failure to return to number 4 Privet Drive, the wards have fallen and the house fell victim to the Death Eaters.
I must insist that you return immediately. You are endangering the lives of both Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley. Their families are extremely worried.
We will be discussing your behavior upon your return. Reply post-haste and save everyone more undue worry.
Regards,
Albus Dumbledore
"I don't even know what to make of this — notice how he didn't even tell me that my relatives are okay?" Harry said angrily. "And there's not but four weeks of summer left anyhow."
"Because he can't find them either," Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Yeah but he can tell they weren't home when the home was attacked. He intentionally didn't say as much."
"It's just another attempt at manipulation. And trying to say my parents are worried? I know he hasn't even been able to contact them, they're out of the country."
"My mum hasn't let up with the howlers so I asked the elves for a bit of help; they send them all to Mr. Lovegood's printing press tower. Can barely hear her over the noise."
The trio, and an assortment of other DA members and their families, were sitting in the largest sitting room. The trio was closest to the fireplace in the three armchairs. Sally-Anne came in, looking flustered.
She drew the attention of some of the members; a fair few of them were wearing their battle robes. They'd taken a liking to them, especially now that they were adorned with the DA crest or various identifiers.
"Ron, I've been working with Susan and Colin all week. Leanne and Luna worked out a spell that lets us record Death Eater movements on the map so we can play it back and we've been looking at the locations they attacked in the day or hour before he attacks them."
Ron gave her his full attention, countenance immediately shifting into one of focused determination. The parents and family in the room all honed in on the conversation shamelessly. Rarely did they get to see what really went on — they'd pretty much only been told the name of the group.
"So, we found out that they send scouting teams of five approximately six hours before the attack. We also know they attack in groups of 15 or even less."
"They don't come in expecting resistance from muggles," Ron agreed. "What's going on?"
"We tracked five Death Eaters to St. Asaph — it's a real small town in Wales."
"So we're expecting an attack there in the next six hours?"
"Next four."
"Have Susan alert the Ministry," Harry interjected.
Sally-Anne hesitated.
"Well, a few of us were talking and…" she paused. "Well, why can't we handle it?"
"Our job is to defend, Sally-Anne," Harry told her. "The ministry has the aurors to handle this."
"Have you seen how they handled everything else?" she scoffed. "They show up in time to obliviate people, not actually help. And when they do fight, they don't have any sort of tactics. It's a free for all."
"And we would be defending people," Amanda spoke up. "Better yet, we'd be defending people who can't help themselves."
Harry looked around the room, noticing the parents beginning to look like they had things to say.
"I'll call a meeting then," he sighed.
…
"It would tip our hand far too soon," Ella Wilkins argued. "If a new group appears out of nowhere and smacks down 15 of his Death Eaters, the aurors and the Dark Lord will know something's up."
"It's not as if the media will publicize it; the aurors aren't going to admit to someone else doing their job," Michael hypothesized.
"But it will be known within the ministry that 15 Death Eaters were foiled by someone other than aurors," Ella argued. "And anything that the ministry deems a secret is, of course, known by everyone. Especially the Dark Lord."
"And even if not everyone, Dumbledore," Harper Lee spoke up. "In the long run, isn't he the one we really need to avoid being detected by?"
"Is tipping our hand marginally that big of a deal when compared to the lives it would save?" Sally-Anne argued. "You know what, look at this."
She flicked her wand briskly and a map of a muggle town sprung up. Fifteen black dots appeared up the main street and branched off into the nearest neighborhoods.
"This is what they do to most muggle towns. Because they expect no resistance and don't schedule the attacks more than six hours ahead of time due to a fear of leaks, they use line targeting," she explained. "They just line up and down the town, seal the houses, and burn them."
In front of the Death Eaters, a wave of simulated fire overtook the houses.
"Because it's magical fire, it spreads. They leave some houses unsealed and when the occupants rush out, they torture them."
Sally-Anne ended her wand simulation. She looked fired up while the rest of the room looked ill at ease. With another wave of her wand, another map filled the air; it was the town they were planning to attack tonight.
"We know approximately when they're going to be there," she continued. "We can trap the town, fire-proof the houses, and put up portkey and apparition wards that allow them in but not out."
Fred and George, who were seated on a plus sofa, were examining the map.
"We have our tar carpet," Fred said thoughtfully.
"They'll sink up to their thighs in tar…"
"…and they won't be able to move."
"It's a new prototype but if you want to get in and out without leaving a trace…"
"…you can just roll it up after you've taken them down and store it away."
"We could save innocent people," Neville said slowly.
"It could bolster the people's morale too," Daphne said just as slowly. "If they see the aurors catching Death Eaters and fighting back."
Harry looked around at the slowly hardening faces of his friends.
Sirius came in while certain people were still muttering amongst themselves.
"What's going on?" he asked. "Couldn't get out of you-know-where fast enough."
"We're pretty sure we know where the Death Eaters are going attack next, in four hours," Harry answered. "Some of us want to turn it over to the aurors, others think they'll botch it and want us to handle it."
Sirius looked immediately shocked by that before studying the map. At first he wanted to protest but he could already see the determination on some of their young faces.
"You sure there's only fifteen Death Eaters?" he asked after studying it.
"That's been the standard," Graham Pewsey agreed. "If we do this, I'll be able to definitely determine their numbers just as the attack starts. We'd have a backup team ready to follow whoever goes if needed."
"We'd need at least 20 people to cover this attack," Ron said, shaking his head. "I mean, we're ready for it. We've got the tactics and more than enough of the twins supply to trap the area to our advantage. We can blind them before they even realize what's happening."
"But we would be tipping our hand," Hermione sighed. "Everyone, stand back please."
Obeying, even whilst bickering amongst themselves, they stood back to the edges of the room to allow Hermione the space she needed.
With a few flicks of her wand, all of the sofas and armchairs marched to the center of the ballroom and created an inwards facing circle.
All of the tables followed, situating themselves in front of the seats. There was a place for everyone to sit and room for them to write.
Hermione finished by spelling a piece of parchment and quill into each place and then placed a subtle voice amplification charm to make sure everyone's voice carried.
After they all sat down, discussion resumed.
"I still say it tips our hand early," Ella Wilkins said.
"I think it's time we start thinking about when we're going to tip our hand at all," Hermione interjected. "Logically, it's going to be some time this year. Voldemort or the Ministry are going to make some move in Hogwarts and it's going to bring us to light."
"That's within Hogwarts, yes. But putting Voldemort on the lookout for resistance this early? He'll be expecting it from future attacks," Sophie Roper spoke up.
"If someone doesn't do something to show the dark that someone's going to stand up to them, they're going to recruit more people." Angelina spoke up. "That's how it always works. They'll see the dark as the winning side."
They all thought about that for a moment.
"She's right," Lavender Brown agreed. "I remember my cousin Archie talking about Voldemort trying to recruit my uncle during the first war. They'll just get more bold the more they win."
"We can do something to save innocent people," Sally-Anne opined. "Isn't that the point of the DA? Protecting ourselves and others?"
"It is, Sally-Anne, but we got the aurors ready for this for a reason," Harry tried again. "They're better equipped, aren't they?
"Their response time is still far too slow," Susan said, shaking her head. "My auntie's trying to change it but ministry regulations aren't making it easy."
"Response time isn't a problem though," he pressed. "We're giving them a four hour head start."
"If they even listen to the tip," Tracey Davis added.
"Why wouldn't they?" Harry asked
"They might see it as a trap or a trick or an exaggeration," Susan admitted. "It was a problem for auntie during the first war — people seeing a figure in a dark cloak, report an impending Death Eater attack."
"That really happened?" Hermione asked.
"People were afraid," the puff explained. "Spooked easy — it's happening now too. The ministry doesn't have a way to prioritize tips and you can't send anything directly to Amelia Bones that's anonymous. It'd take hours to sort."
"Really doesn't sound effective," Harry sighed.
"And are the aurors really better equipped than us?" Sally Smith spoke up from where she'd been studying plans and tactics. "We've got tear gas, stun bombs, tar carpet, and rope robes in excess from the twins. Those four things alone could take fifteen Death Eaters."
"We don't know how effective the stun bombs are yet; the twins can't test them on any friendlies because they're too volatile."
"Still, we know most of them work," Sally insisted.
"How many in favor of the DA getting involved? We'd only need a team of 20, plus a few to go ahead with the twins to trap the town." Hermione asked. "Mark yes or no on your sheets of parchment."
A minute later, the results were in.
"Looks like we're getting involved," Harry said, sighing.
He'd marked no, personally. He had to consider the safety of his friends before anything.
"First thing we need to decide is who's going."
"I most certainly will be," Sirius spoke up.
"Us three and the twins as well," Harry spoke up, gesturing between Ron and Hermione.
"Me, of course," Sally-Anne spoke up.
Neville, Luna, and Susan wordlessly raised their hands.
In the end, Anthony, Cho, Dean, Amanda, Hannah, Gillian Ossett, Fay, Michael, Terry, and Oliver Rivers were also selected to go as well.
"Fred, George, taken Megan and the Carrow twins to St. Asaph's." Harry directed. "I want tar carpet and stun bombs set to be detonated. How're you planning to fireproof the houses?"
"We've got pocket wards for the business but suppression charms will have to be added to houses just before the battle. If we add them early we'll trigger ministry sensors," George answered seriously; Fred was leaving to get more of their supply from the shop. "We could probably put a large majority of the houses to sleep too."
"We'll launch the tear gas at individual groups upon arrival. Then we'll trigger the stun bombs and tar carpet. We've got to stun and bind any of them that don't get hit or caught." Ron directed as he spread a map out on the central table. With a few well practiced spells Hermione charmed it to display Death Eaters, though there were none in the town.
"We've got two hours before we need to be laying low in the town," he continued. "I want five of you in the main town circle; the post office and main businesses are there. There need to be teams of three at the intersections here, here, and here. The remaining five I want on brooms circling the town. Your first objective is smothering any fires the Death Eaters start. Sirius, I want you in animagus form trotting up and down the main street."
Everyone listened to Ron's plan carefully.
"Gareth's gonna be in charge here; we'll all be in contact through the charmed earpieces. Wear your battle armor and make sure your hoods are fixed in place with the enchantment," he continued; the red haired teenager didn't have any problem taking charge and delivering orders. "We don't need anyone, especially Dumbledore, thinking Harry Potter and his missing best friends are involved."
"If we don't use Hogwarts spells, no one will suspect Hogwarts students," Terry Boot offered.
"Well we're only aiming to capture them, right?" Cho Chang asked nervously, tapping her wand against her palm.
"Correct — that doesn't mean we're shooting stunners," Harry told them. "Bone-breakers, concussion hexes, cutting curses; all of those are a go. Aim for the knees and wand arm. We don't want them getting back up. Non-verbal if you're comfortable. We're not trying to engage them directly. Remember, these aren't duels. If you see someone fighting one on one, make it two on one if you're not engaged. We expect them to be blinded, surprised, and unable to communicate between groups."
"Those of you on brooms," Hermione spoke up. "Talk to Morag before you leave and get a refresher on dark fire suppression spells. We don't know if they'll use dark magic or not."
"Alright, everyone got their ear bun thing?" Ron asked.
"Ear bud," Hermione corrected with an eye roll.
"Yeah yeah," he waved off. "Remember emergency portkey passwords and remember that no one can hear what you're saying under the hood. If your hood comes off, don't use anyones name over the ear thing."
"Let's go over this again…" Sally-Anne said, smoothing the edges of the map. "You want to stake them out from here, here, and here? Wouldn't it be better to…"
…
20 armor-clad witches and wizards appeared in a small wooded area. They landed in formation, appearing in unison. Immediately, they split into groups. Disillusionment spells were applied with silencing charms as well and five immediately took to their brooms. They'd be staking out on the roof of the post office since already closed this late in the evening.
Harry, Luna, and Gillian were one team of three. They were on their stomachs in the bushes across from the three-way intersection of a populated neighborhood.
They'd been there for thirty minutes when Gareth came on the comms.
"We've got movement," he announced. "Fifteen Death Eaters in a field five miles south of you."
"They're breaking into five groups of two and a group of five," he told them, sounding almost breathless.
"Air support; be prepared to aid in the town square," Ron directed.
"Incoming in three, two, one-"
Moderate pops rent the air.
"North eastern neighborhood, you're clear. Move west now," Graham ordered.
"We're got three groups of them pretty close together," Sirius raspy voice came in as he shifted out of his dog form. "Near the four way intersection and leading off into the neighborhood."
Two Death Eaters appeared directly in front of Harry, Luna, and Gillian.
"Hold fire," Ron whispered; the Death Eaters were waiting for some sort of signal. Sirius was getting into position a couple yards from Terry and Sally-Anne.
"Death Eaters in the circle are trying to start fires," Hermione reported quietly. "They've caught some trees on fire — it's dark magic."
"That must be the signal for the rest of them to start," Ron determined.
"Engage now. Twins, activate the traps," Gareth ordered in all of their ears.
Up and down the street, soft explosions rent the air. It sounded like a whooshing release of energy and tinkling glass — the stun bombs. Seconds later, thick white gas began billowing out of various bushes. It obscured the views of the Death Eaters but not the DA.
"Stun bombs ineffective," Susan reported grimly; they could hear the sound of spell fire. "They're more like smoke bombs. Tar carpet is keeping them in place, gas is blinding them. Hannah, reductos. Overwhelm their shields and put these bastards down."
In groups of two, the Death Eaters weren't prepared for their invisible adversaries. Even though they'd heard the sounds of spell fire from the center, very few of them utilized the heads up.
Apparently, the five in the town center were the most competent.
Luna threw a ball of what appeared to be luminescent twine at the feet of her two. Within seconds, it had exploded all over them. They were quickly bound in glowing rope robes, arms pressed to their sides.
The ropes automatically withdrew the wands from their fingers and Gillian hit them both with a medical-grade concussion hex — she was an excellent healer and quick with a wand.
"Six Death Eaters in the Northernmost neighborhood," Gareth informed them. "They short-range apparated to each other."
"I thought we blocked apparation," Cho, on a broom, growled.
"Design flaw — noted," Hermione ground out. "They can apparate within the wards but not outside of them. If you're 17, you can too. Noceo cruentas."
They all winced; that was a nasty laceration hex from the mild-mannered Granger.
"Two brooms heading their way," Fred announced, speaking for George as well.
"Gillian, Luna, to the town center. I'm going into the neighborhoods," Harry barked.
Harry took off at a run in the opposite direction. For him and the rest of the DA, the thick white fog looked like nothing more than mist and he could see two Death Eaters down on the ground already.
Continuing on, he saw one Death Eater exchanging spells with Terry and Sally-Anne.
Harry hit him in the back with a bone breaker; it caught him in the ribs and threw him to the right. The motion of his wand transitioned smoothly into a transfiguration based incarcerous spells, binding the man in strong chains. He finished with a stunning charm.
Terry and Sally-Anne were tearing off after him now, towards the main confrontation.
"They're getting nasty!" Neville announced.
A flash of green spell fire confirmed that. One of them had conjured a gust of wind that effectively cleared away the gas. Ahead, he could see his friends ducking and casting just like he'd taught them. They were all moving efficiently and focusing on dodging rather than relying on shields.
Two forms raced over Harry's head; the twins. Terry and Sally-Anne sped up when they saw the explosion of light from what was, undeniably, the redheaded duo.
"Stinging sap," one of the twins said smugly as a few Death Eaters screamed.
Four Death Eaters were still standing when Harry arrived. He growled and threw his hand out when he saw a flash of hunter green light.
"Contego," he voiced, knowing his wandless spell would be stronger that way.
The yellow-hued shield sprung up in front of Ron, deflecting the muscle-inversion curse.
"Celer jaculum," he cast.
Three crimson javelins sped out of his wand. One missed, as he had aimed low, but two found their way into the thighs of the Death Eaters closest to him.
Someone threw a set of rope robes at them and they were bound. Before their cronies could do much else, they were struck by multiple hexes and landed in a heap against some trash bins.
"Status?" Harry asked, pressing a hand to his ear.
"I see no targets moving," Gareth said; they could vaguely hear the chatter of DA members in the Firewall ballroom.
"Town Center's clear," Luna's breathy but concentrated voice answered.
"Eyes on count?" Ron asked.
"Eyes on five," Luna answered for the town center.
"Eyes on two."
"Eyes on two."
"Eyes on five."
"Eyes on one," Neville finished the sound-off, retrieving a Death Eater from the bushes.
"Stun every one of them again," Ron ordered, waiting until every Death Eater had been definitely stunned. "Roll call."
Everyone called off their name and injury status — no one had anything more than some spell burns and a sprained wrist.
"Get all the Death Eaters into the town center; line them up, hit them with the tracker virus, and place a muggle repelling charm." Harry ordered.
He levitated four Death Eaters. Susan, Neville, and Ron all helped levitate the rest. Along the road back to the main square, the DA took the trussed up unconscious offenders and floated them into the town square.
Cho, Dean, Hermione, and Anthony had already established a perimeter of muggle repelling and detection wards. Everyone's hoods were still in place. The twins were sweeping up and down the streets to make sure every remnant of their pranks were removed.
"Have we got any way of knowing when the ministry will arrive?"
"Average response time of nine minutes," Zara Valli's distinctive voice answered.
"Thought you were on vacation, Valli," Harry said to the well established socialite and budding pureblood Lady Regent of her family.
"And miss this?" she scoffed; she was poised elegantly in a wing-backed chair in the Firewall ballroom. "I'm sorry I missed the discussion of it's merits."
"Colin, you're clear to move in. I want you in and out; all we need are their pictures."
"Nonessential personnel — clear out," Ron barked.
"Two minutes till we can expect them," Susan said, shifting nervously.
The town was eerily still; most all of the muggles slept on, unawares. The ones that weren't asleep couldn't leave their houses and they couldn't see out of their windows.
"Cutting it close," Harry said gruffly.
Multiple portkeys activated. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Susan, the twins, and Sirius were the only ones remaining. Sirius was already checking his godson over with his eyes, coming to stand behind the armor clad boy. Harry didn't have a scratch on him that he could tell.
Just as everyone left, Colin's pre-made portkey placed him right near the copse of trees on one side of the center. Everyone started, wands aimed his way, but they were dropped within seconds.
Colin didn't comment, well accustomed to jumpy reactions. He moved immediately towards the bound prisoners, camera at the ready. The masks had already been removed, wands snapped at their feet. They were all low level Death Eaters. The highest ranking one was probably Batten Nott, a cousin of the main branch of the Nott family. In seconds, the young blonde had photographed them all.
"Got it," Colin nodded to them all and activated his portkey again.
"You all go now," Harry waved off. "Sirius, you too."
Hermione stayed, knowing she was needed.
"I've got the portkey trails," she assured him.
"I'll clear our magical signatures," Harry nodded. "We'll have thirty seconds of grace to portkey out or we'll leave our own signatures behind."
Hermione nodded and raised her wand. She moved it with skill in a complicated pattern.
Harry, however, closed his eyes and brought his magic to the surface. After a moment, he began a humming chant.
The knowledge of how to do what he was doing was lost to all but a few. At first it had been because of a scarcity of power with which to perform the spell but later that had turned into a scarcity of knowledge.
Sirius had recommended the book; apparently aura cleansing was a very restricted talent and all books had been pulled out of print in 1707 with the advent of the Ministry. It took a load of magical talent and the ability to recognize auras he wanted to remove and auras he wanted to remain (i.e. the Death Eaters).
Luckily, Harry knew his friends and their auras very well. He walked briskly down the street to the last intersection they'd fought at.
"Let's go," Harry said as soon as he was finished.
"Just one second," Hermione said breathlessly.
"Mione…"
"Aurors incoming," Gareth warned them. "In 3, 2,-"
Simultaneously, Harry and Hermione portkeyed away. As soon as Hermione left, her wards fell. The period of grace after the cleansing spell ended and no trace was left that they or their wards had ever been there.
The aurors appeared, wands at the ready, to find fifteen trussed up unconscious Death Eaters.
…
"Bloody hell, you two," Ron scolded. "That was cutting it close."
"There were a lot of portkey trails," Hermione said defensively. "We got out in time."
"Barely," Ron retorted.
Gillian and Audrey, Lanuaria's apprentice, were doing rounds around the room. Some of the spell burns from curses that were barely dodged required creams.
Everyone was chattering loudly and excitedly; Colin begged to bring out the presentation pensieve. Harry had just gotten it set up when Chie Shinohara pushed open the grand doors; they would rebuff any non-DA members when meetings were in progress.
"I saw the journal — is everyone okay?"
"I'm logging injuries in the journal now," Daphne said from a small elegant writing desk she'd transfigured. "Just some spell burns and Cho sprained her wrist with some broom maneuver. They're all about to share their memories of the fight."
"Oh, wait," Chie called, stepping elegantly through the crowd of students and to the front. "If it's memories of the same event in the same general location I can piece them all together."
A couple of the more exuberant members cheered.
"Yes please, Chie," Hermione agreed politely with a weary smile.
All of them were still in their battle robes, capelet hoods down. If they were being honest, they all felt a bit like badasses. Very tired badasses.
"Could be good for us, evaluate what we need to improve." Harry commented as Chie began doing something to their memories.
"I want more numbers next time," Ron determined. "Even having an extra five overhead had us going at it one on one on the ground."
"We'd like to know what went wrong with the stun bombs," the twins said in unison.
"Those are proving tricky to get right."
"It's ready," Chie commented, smoothing her floral dress. She'd picked up work in the Japanese embassy as a magical liaison of sorts and normally looked business formal.
Everyone quieted down as the pensieve projected a much wider view than they were used to; they could clearly see the entire street and town center as if it were a 3D map. As the memory played, Chie approached Harry.
"Harry," she greeted, nodding gently. "It won't be possible to arrange a visit to Japan this summer but my auntie sent along some information. It's rather delicate though."
"Are you staying for the night?" he asked, knowing she had elected to move into Firewall Castle rather than pay rent on an apartment.
"I am."
"Perhaps we can talk about it in my study on the third floor, east wing, after breakfast?"
"That works," she agreed before slipping off to find her own seat near her old schoolmates.
By the end of the relatively short memory, Ron had a sheet of notes about things they needed the work on. The twins had stood obnoxiously close to the pensieve when the stun bombs had exploded but hadn't been able to pinpoint what had gone wrong. At the end, there as much discussion between them all before Colin stood up and called for attention.
"I'll be going to Diagon bright and early to pick up a stack of Prophets," the soon to be fifth-year Gryffindor said, not feeling any nerves as he spoke to the large but lounging group. "Need about five of the press squad up bright and early to write the report."
"Daphne, did you finish medical reports and inventory?" Hermione asked from her own desk.
"It's all there," she tapped her journal with a manicured nail.
"I think we're good for tonight then," Harry declared, waving a hand towards the doors to end the privacy wards. "Seems the house-elves decided we'd be having a small feast — they cooked accordingly."
"Every night is like a circus in this place, Potter," Ella Wilkins said with an eye roll and a Slytherin look of disdain everyone knew was faked.
"Oh stuff it, Ella," Sophie Roper retorted. "You love it here."
Ella sniffed, corners of her lip twitching. "It might have grown on me."
The group laughed and headed into the large dining room big enough to house all of the occupants of the castle. There was a celebration to be had.
…
The DA had gotten a teensy bit crazy.
Somewhere along the line, a few poker tables had got pulled out and then some blue sparring matts were conjured. Then the elf-mead started flowing then Seamus and his mom had got degenerately more Irish.
And that was before the whiskey had even hit the table.
Some of the parents, many still coming to grips with the changes they had seen in their sons and daughters, didn't throw up much of a fuss about the underage drinking. All of them were supervised anyhow and they couldn't dispute their safety within the castle.
Harry had forcefully insisted that there'd be no studying or report writing so every member ended up spending time with their family or friends.
At the end of the night, the twins had put on a fireworks display on the beach. It reenacted a Quidditch match with a particularly explosive snitch that awed some of the muggle family members (and some of the wizards too).
So, it was an understandably bleary-eyed Harry Potter that stumbled down the brightly lit halls of the castle and into his study. He'd slept through breakfast but he didn't want to miss his meeting with Chie. He was shirtless, still in his sleep shorts, with a heavy robe tied loosely at the waist. There weren't very many people in the halls to snicker at his messy bedhead so he didn't much care.
"Master Harry be needing tea," Winky said after taking one look at him, popping out of the room before the Boy-Who-Lived could even acknowledge her.
His study was large and the floors were cold, aside from the area covered by the hand-woven blue and cream rug. Harry was carefully considering the merits of testing out the chaise by the fire but shook that off. No sooner had he sunk into the chair behind his desk than a small tea service for two appeared, his cup already poured.
Before he could lift his cup, a collection of parchments appeared a few inches above his in-tray. They fell into place atop the heap of other forms and reports that needed signing or filing.
He groaned unintelligibly.
After anther cup of tea he felt almost human and there was a knock on the door just as he was pouring his third.
"Come in."
"Morning Harry," Chie greeted, stepping into the room wearing a fitted silk robe. She looked far more prepared for the morning than he did.
"Good morning," he returned. "Tea?"
"Please."
Harry waved a hand, not even using a wand, while he set aside his parchment and quill to turn his attention to Chie.
"Sugar?"
"Two."
After those niceties were out of the way, Chie settled down to explain.
"You are aware of my travels to Japan to learn more of the mind arts?"
"Of course," Harry answered, thinking of how much the DA had benefited from it.
"I was learning from my aunt Sora," she continued. "Their magic is very different from ours, very base. What isn't instinctive is ritualistic — that's what makes this so delicate."
Harry held her eyes, listening intently.
"I explained to her the curse scar and the connection between the Dark Lord and yourself. Sora was very concerned because the bond has proved to be subject to manipulation."
"Well that's why I'm worried too."
She shook her head, some of her dark hair falling out of its pinned array. "Not in that way. A bond should not work the way your bond works. If it is to cause you pain, it is to cause you constant pain. If you are to share thoughts, you are to share constant thoughts."
"Instead my dreams are random," he said with a furrow in his brow. "And the pain sporadic."
She nodded. "It's dark magic, my auntie was very certain. And she says there's only four rituals she knows of that could cleanse it."
"Alright, so we need to find these rituals."
"There's more," she said, brow furrowing. "She said it sounds like a soul bond. Soul bonds can only happen if a wizard willing shares his soul — normally in a happy circumstance, like marriage binding."
"And abnormally?"
"There is a practice," she said slowly. "It's old and gruesome but involves tearing the soul in half and placing it into an object."
"Doing what?" he asked dumbly.
"Putting a piece of oneself into an item," she clarified. "For a piece of his soul to have ended up in you, he had to have made preparations. He had to have gone to kill you intending to place his soul in an item. A killing curse, rebounded or not, wouldn't be enough to fragment a soul."
"You're saying I have a piece of his soul in my head?"
"It is the best explanation," she agreed. "We need an expert in soul magic or bindings to be positive and that I am not."
"Does he have a piece of my soul? The connection works both ways."
"I doubt an infant underwent the necessary rituals to initiate a soul bond or soul severing."
"Soul severing?"
"That's my best translation for what she was calling it. I assume there's a word to describe the practice and probably western knowledge about creating and destroying them, but she doesn't have it."
"You need to talk to Hermione."
"I planned to after this."
Harry traced his scar slowly, leaning against his desk. "You're sure?" he asked.
"It makes the most sense to explain your dreams and his greater success with the link."
"What do you mean?"
"You are not a slouch in the mind arts, Harry. The Dark Lord is, no doubt, a master, but he clearly has a greater…affinity with the link."
"I burned Quirrel with my bare hands — I'd say I have a pretty good affinity with the link."
"That's your mothers blood protection, not the actual mental link," she corrected. "But think — could you send Voldemort false thoughts or dreams?"
"Definitely not."
She looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know of the muggle world, yes?"
"You could say that," Harry agreed dryly.
"Think of your link as one way road. You can still use the road to his mind by the virtue that it exists but you're going the wrong way. Connection is spottier and unpredictable. He gets in easier because all he has to do is follow the one-way link to his soul. He is not going against traffic, to keep with the metaphor."
Harry was starting to look a bit green and was regretting his third cup of tea. He felt a bit sloshy now.
"What about those rituals?"
"Sora has them — she's willing to give us the scroll but it will require some time. It can't be apparated or portkeyed."
"Damn," Harry muttered.
"I can arrange it all," she waved off. "The problem is finding the right ritual."
"Finding the right ritual? I thought you said she had them?"
"There are four and all on one scroll. None of them are named and none are marked to show where one begins or one ends," she explained. "Plus we have to translate them by hand."
"You really need to talk to Hermione."
"I'm already looking into magic to negate, block, or nullify soul bonds," Chie told him. "And Hermione's my next stop — I've got some research already."
Harry held up his hands as if to fend off the research.
"Relax, I'm not going to make you read it. I fear your brain would melt."
"I fear you're right. Never realized how hard it is to run my own estate, even with the goblins."
"You have many here who have struggled with the same tasks for longer," she advised. "Perhaps you could call upon them for advice."
"Maybe I might," he said softly, mind still swirling with thoughts. "Thanks Chie, for everything."
"Same to you, Harry."
…
It was two hours later when Harry sat back to rub at the crick in his neck. Sometimes, he underestimated the amount of work it would require to run a war relief fund.
He had plenty of help of course but perhaps he could turn over more of it to one of the DA. At least the goblins were being more than cooperative and making sure that the ministry would be able to direct families to the Diggory War Relief Fund without actually allowing them to interfere.
A soft knock sounded on the double-doors to his study.
"Harry?" he heard a girls voice.
"Come in," he answered.
Daisy Corran poked her head around the door before stepping in. Her brown hair was pulled up tightly and she was wearing casual jeans and a blue jumper.
"What's up, Daisy?"
She looked nervous but took one of the seats in front of him without prompting.
"It's about Cho."
"Is she alright?" Harry asked, knowing that of the DA, Cho Chang and Megan Jones had been hit the hardest by Cedric's death.
"I-well," she paused, collecting her thoughts. "She seems okay enough. I know it's been awhile, since Cedric died. But we've been sharing a room and I know she's been having nightmares. I wake up in the middle of the night and she's holed up in the bathroom and she left her trunk open the other night and I saw some of Cedric's old things."
"What's worrying you?" he asked, pushing away all his desk work. It had been a little more than a year since Cedric's death, though that didn't change much.
"Just this look she gets sometimes and the way she's been throwing herself into training. I don't think she's really grieved or let go of him. We're going to have a hard enough year with NEWT's and…" Daisy trailed off. "She just won't talk to me, even about Cedric when I want to talk about him. I miss him too, you know?"
Harry came around his desk, abruptly wishing he'd worn something other than a fancy house robe.
"We all miss him, Daisy," he said softly, taking the arm chair next to hers. "I don't have much experience with upset girls and talking about these things. I'm especially bad at talking about these things with upset girls."
She laughed softly at his bad attempted at lighting the mood.
"She won't let me help her or even talk through it with her."
"It's harder for Cho because she was his girlfriend."
"I know that," she cut him off.
"I know you know that," he teased gently, reaching out to squeeze her wrist. "But you grieve differently for a friend than you do for…"
"A lover?"
"Go ahead and make it weird."
She shoved him.
"Do you think you can talk to her?" Daisy asked. "She won't talk to me but she has to talk to someone or she'll like, implode. Have you seen her lately?"
"She's been a bit fierce on the matts."
"I'll say. See that welt she gave Susan?"
"Must've missed it."
"So you'll talk to her?"
Harry thought carefully for a moment. "I don't think that's a good idea," he decided after another searching moment. "But there is someone I can have try to talk to her."
"Who?"
"A Doctor Annette Tolipan."
"Alice's mom? What for?"
"Mrs. Tolipan is a grief counselor and family therapist," Harry told her. "I remember hearing her talk about it but she stopped working to look after the twins."
"Drew and Lucas are right little menaces," Daisy said immediately. "Lavender didn't know whether to string them up or pinch their cheeks. They were playing lookout and diversion for the twins with that beauty product prank."
"If anyone will know how to get through to Cho, it'll be her. And Mrs. Tolipan will be impartial."
"Impartial?" the brunette questioned. "It's not like any of us have anything bad to say about Cedric."
"Yeah but did you ever think that maybe it's hard enough for Cho to face her own grief without dealing with everyone else's too?" he asked insightfully.
"Never looked at it like that…" she said slowly. "Will you let me know what Mrs. Tolipan says?"
"Sure," Harry agreed.
He moved back around his desk and pulled out the map Sirius and a few of the more talented runes students had put together of Firewall Castle. It was much like the Marauder's map. Crosschecking with a piece of parchment attached to it, Harry announced "Looks like she and Alice checked out for the day with Daphne and a pack of girls."
"Did you just-" Daisy shook her head. "A pack of girls? A pack?"
"You all move in packs!" he defended.
Daisy just snorted and checked the list.
"Oh it's some spa treatment thing Daphne convinced Hermione to add instead of more museums."
"Convinced?"
"Apparently Hermione felt educational value was more important for a family friendly summer schedule."
"Yeah that sounds like her. Then what happened?"
"Apparently Mrs. Moon and Ms. Zabini convinced her of the many benefits this six-hour excursion brought."
"Don't you mean Adriana?" Harry asked, batting his eyes and imitating the Italian accent of Blaise's mom. They'd all been corrected numerous times for calling her Ms. Zabini.
"Right, the woman hasn't been Mrs. Zabini in five marriages," Daisy said with an eye roll, clearly feeling better than she had when she walked in. "You should have seen her — barged in, stood over Hermione's shoulder, and pointed out right where she should pencil in the appointments."
"I think she scares Hermione, honestly."
"She scares me a bit," the Ravenclaw snorted again.
"Yeah me too," Harry admitted with a laugh.
"You coming out of here for lunch, Harry?"
"I think I might," he agreed. "Get a work out in after. You game?"
"Count me out," she said, raising her hands. "Taskmaster Longbottom took the mickey out of me this morning."
"Thought I heard some wailing in the courtyard."
"That was Lavender complaining about how sore she was going to be during her spa day."
The two rolled their eyes good-naturedly. They were joined by Justin Steele on the way to the dining room and the trip chatted and joked in companionable silence.
…
"Hey Colin," Harry greeted as he poured himself a cup of pumpkin juice. "I saw the Prophet — all credit to the aurors; 15 Death Eaters captured."
Colin nodded. "There's a few other European publications that covered it; I tagged the report to go to you after Hermione."
"Anything interesting?"
"Not yet," the blonde boy, who'd long outgrown his hero worship (though he certainly looked up to Harry still). "Daphne said she's gonna talk to some of the parents who work in the ministry, see if they can keep an ear to the ground."
"Parent network of ministry spies," Harry snorted. "There's a conspiracy theory I don't think anyone's thought of."
"I'll run it by Luna later," Michael Corner spoke up from down the table, nose buried in a book as the others laughed.
"Where is Luna anyhow?"
"Helping her father in the tower with his printing press. Something about flubber-moths and ink in the toner."
"None of those things make sense," Anthony said as he strode into the room. "Ink and toner are two very different things."
People had long stopped trying to argue Luna's creatures with her. The young blonde was eccentric, certainly, and maybe not on the sane side, but she was a great friend and a terror with a wand. The Ravenclaws hadn't given up on arguing the logistics though.
The handsome blonde had a large tome under one arm and his jumper/button-up combo was haphazardly tucked into his slacks. He waved jauntily as he moved towards the table.
"Hey Anthony," a chorus of voices greeted.
"What're you doing in today?"
"Switching out books," he said, gesturing towards the heavy book. "Mum's took my sister to a doctors appointment."
"So pretty much you were hungry?"
"And there's food here, yep."
"I'm right with ya mate," Ron said as he entered the room too.
"Oh there's the great stomach himself," Harry ribbed as his best mate dropped into the seat beside him.
"Shut it, Potter," Ron retorted, bumping Harry's shoulder as he pulled a platter of cold cuts towards himself.
"You up for a workout after lunch?"
"I'm in," Ron agreed around a mouthful of turkey.
"Apparently Neville wore everyone else out already."
"I'll join you two," Anthony decided after a moment of choosing his plate. The elves were always cooking; there was always food or snacks to be found on the table, day or night.
"Then we've got to talk about Hogwarts this year," Ron said in-between bites.
"There's been some disturbing rumors about the new defense professor." Colin agreed. "It's in my report, Harry."
"Susan's aunt can't spare another auror?" Harry asked Ron while nodding in acknowledgement to Colin,
"I'd think they could but we haven't heard anything. We do know they pulled everyone back into the force — reserves, inactive, early retirement."
"Bloody hell," Harry rubbed his head. "Colin, do you think you could put that report into the journal? Just the section about the defense professor."
"Sure Harry," Colin said agreeably.
The rest of lunch passed quickly.
…
"What's going on, Gareth?" Harry asked the likable light-haired boy who was standing with arms crossed in front of the Death Eater map.
A sweaty Ron and Anthony had just accompanied him into the ballroom.
"Some new blacks on the map," he answered without taking his eyes off of them. "All from within the ministry. And all added just after they would have detained the 15 we caught."
"Which mean's they're all aurors."
"Yeah but they weren't part of the St. Asaph's response team."
"We know who they are yet?"
"We won't have a name to go with these signatures until mid-evening, at best," the tactician predicted. "But there's already at least four marked Death Eaters. Assuming we stick to our 'they come in pairs' motto…"
"Then there's at least five more within the auror department alone…" Harry finished the thought.
"Keep an eye on them for now," Ron directed from Gareth's other side. The ginger and the other planner had grown into fast friends, working together as much as they had. "I want to be able to show Susan which desks they sit at. If they're stationary anywhere particular for more than a couple minutes, note it."
"I've already assigned them names," Gareth agreed. "Just A1, A2, etcetera. I'll start a log in the journal. I'll bring Susan up to speed once this girls day out is done."
…