...
It was clear to Amelia that Harry walked with a destination in mind.
He took them up four staircases and down a few lesser used hallways before he stopped in front of a large portrait of a tree on a hill.
A small girl, looking like some sort of wild thing, poked her head out of a shrub near the bottom of the painting.
"Hello, Seasil," he greeted. "Dei gratia."
She ducked back into the bush without acknowledging him. The bush in question shook violently before the frame swung outwards. Inside was an odd little room in the shape of a half circle. The flat wall occupied mostly by the portrait back and a huge fireplace. The ceiling was relatively low by Hogwarts standards and the decor was mostly warm wood tones and soft yellows.
"Just one of the old sitting rooms," Harry said by way of explanation, taking a seat in one of the arm chairs.
The older woman didn't fail to notice the powerful privacy wards being erected. They went past even the spells used to secure her own office.
Susan took one look at her aunt and knew it was time to get talking.
"Aunt Amelia, this is Harry Potter, one of my very close friends."
"You've never mentioned him before."
"I know," she answered honestly. "But I've been friends with him since my first year."
Amelia's thin eyebrows rose in confusion.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Madam Bones," Harry introduced. "I've heard a lot about you."
"And in comparison I have heard very little about you."
"Aside from the Prophet, you mean?"
"I'm less than fond of Rita Skeeter's drivel."
"I'm not the only one she casts in a less than favorable light, I know."
"Perhaps you would like to explain today's events?"
Harry looked between the two Bones women and shrugged gently.
"They were exactly what you saw. Umbridge used a blood quill on Dennis during his detention and Colin brought him to me."
"And why did Mr. Creevey bring his brother to you instead of a professor?"
"Because they're my wards."
"It is quite unusual," she said, gauging his reactions.
"Auntie, everything about Harry's life is unusual," Susan piped up.
"Oi, you trying to call me strange, Bones?"
"Strangest bloke I've ever met," she shot back just as quick.
"And she isn't wrong, Madam Bones. My life and the circumstances of it are quite unusual. I'm lucky to have amazing friends, really amazing, to get me through it."
"Yes I imagine there's no small measure of excitement in your life."
Harry cocked his head and sized her up for a moment. For Amelia Bones, the experience was quite strange. Never before had the penetrating gaze of a teenager made her feel so small.
"What do you know of the night my parents died, Madam?" Harry asked bluntly before tapping his forehead. "The night I got this scar."
"As much as everyone else, I assume."
"So, nothing?" Harry asked with a quirk of his lips to show he didn't mean to offend. "That's to say, there was only one person who survived that night and none of those authors ever interviewed him."
"It was your headmaster that many looked to for information about the Boy-Who-Lived."
Harry hummed noncommittally, as if preferring to avoid thinking of Dumbledore's involvement.
"Do you know why the Dark Lord attacked Godric's Hollow?"
"It was well known that your parents were supporters of the light side, warriors even," she recounted. "Although I fail to see what that has to do with the situation at hand."
"There was a prophecy," he continued. "It was delivered in front of Albus Dumbledore and recorded within the Department of Mysteries."
"There was extensive damage to that department during your foray into the ministry last June."
Harry nodded in agreement.
"In fact, there was more damage there that one person could have possibly wrought on so many assailants," Amelia continued.
"There was?" he asked innocently.
Susan knew he aunt wasn't buying it and tried to steer the conversation away from that. It was made more difficult by the fact that she wasn't sure where exactly Harry was going with it.
"He got the prophecy," she blurted out.
"And it pretty much only confirmed what the wizarding world seems to think of me," Harry picked up as if Susan's interjection was planned.
"That being?"
"That I can kill him. That I'm the only one that can kill him."
To her credit, Madam Bones expression was not visibly overtaken by surprise though it did twitch with interest.
"Voldemort had heard the first half of the prophecy and that led him to two families with a child that fit the prophecy. The Longbottoms and the Potters."
There was some shock visible now.
While the attack on the Longbottoms was not unprecedented given the climate at the time, the vicious degree of it was. Two upstanding aurors had been tortured into insanity and she finally knew why.
"So now you understand," Harry said, correctly interpreting her expression. "The problem now, of course, is that the Dark Lord hasn't forgotten about the part of the prophecy he did hear. He still views me as a threat and a target."
"I don't think any of us is unaware of that with you having been targeted by Black."
Both Susan and Harry shared an almost imperceptible wince. Madam Bones, however, was quite keen and picked up on it easily.
"I'm already in the center of this war. In my first year, Voldemort possessed a teacher and hid in the back of his head. Dumbledore had lured him to the school by storing the Flamel's philosopher's stone and I ended up facing him. In my second year, I faced him again when he possessed Ginny Weasley through a diary and ended up killing his guardian snake. In my third year, there was the Sirius Black…debacle and in my fourth year I was forced into the Triwizard Tournament where I ended up participating in his resurrection ceremony."
Susan's aunt had sat back heavily in her chair, adjusting her monocle carefully. Shock was written clearly across her face and when she looked to Susan for confirmation she found complete conviction.
"It's all true," Susan agreed. "I've been there for all of it. Second year was the scariest. There was a basilisk roaming the halls petrifying students."
"A basilisk?!"
"I saw it," Susan agreed, nodding her head with wide eyes. The remembered fear on her face couldn't be faked.
"You saw it?" Amelia sounded angry more than shocked at that.
"I saw it's carcass, I mean," Susan corrected. "Harry killed it with a sword."
"With a sword?"
"It was all very heroic," Susan nodded glibly.
"Sue, I don't think your aunt wants actual answers to those questions nor recounts of my dashing heroism."
Susan opened her mouth.
"Dashing," Harry cut her off with a wink.
The Hufflepuff rolled her eyes.
"Are you honestly saying the Dark Lord himself was within these halls and the Ministry wasn't informed?"
"Dumbledore runs Hogwarts like it's its own country," Harry answered. "And more often than not, he'll conceal, maneuver, and lie his way out of being upfront with the ministry about what's going on in Hogwarts." He paused. "I rather support it sometimes."
Amelia was beginning to look more than a little bit incensed, clearly aggravated by all of the things that had been kept out of the rightful purview of her department.
"Like in second year with the Basilisk? If the ministry had been brought in the press would be with them. And my name would have been dragged through the mud and the whole nation would be calling me the heir of Slytherin instead of just some frightened students."
"The Dark Lord is the heir of Slytherin," Amelia said slowly.
"And it was his diary that possessed a student to open the chamber and release the basilisk."
The oldest Bones took a minute to collect herself. She was muttering a few things about 'under the nose of the Ministry' and 'that blithering old codger' and a few more creative slurs before she reigned herself in.
"And why wasn't I informed of this?" she asked her niece sharply. "You have always had a way to contact me, Susan. You had no trouble doing so last night."
"I asked her not to," Harry said simply.
"What?"
"I asked her not to."
"He didn't always ask me. I didn't think it was necessary."
"Second year was the closest we came to calling you," Harry admitted. "But what good would it have done other than forcing school closure? You would have never gained access to the chamber and Voldemort would have killed Ginny Weasley and risen again two years earlier. Plus, the basilisk would still be loose. The Wizarding World is hardly prepared for it now, let alone then."
"On the contrary, the aurors are quite nicely prepared," Amelia contradicted.
Harry couldn't hide his smile at that. It was small, just the corners of his mouth, but he clearly knew something.
It was her niece's expression that gave it away; Susan was trying so hard not to smile that her eyes crinkled in spite of herself.
"About that," Harry said.
He flicked his wrist and caught his wand deftly, immediately turning it towards his own face. With a little wiggle of his wand, his entire face bubbled and his hair lengthened and lightened.
"Lord Ravenborough!" Amelia gasped, shocked.
Harry laughed and nodded, dropping the glamour and re-holstering his wand.
"That's why you wanted an auror for Hogwarts," she said as if it finally made sense.
"Yep," he agreed. "I was sad to see another couldn't be arranged this year."
"Dumbledore didn't want an auror and when Fudge made his move at the last minute, Dumbledore changed his mind too late and we got Umbridge instead," Susan explained for her aunt.
"I do believe you'll be getting an auror now."
"Excellent," Harry said with a smile.
"It strikes me as odd, Susan, how very well informed you are. None of this has come of any surprise to you."
"I don't hide anything from my friends, ma'am," Harry answered. "Unlike Dumbledore, I don't play information close to the vest when I know I can trust my friends with my life. Withholding information gets people killed. That's something Susan pointed out rather forcefully at the beginning of term."
Amelia looked at both of them questioningly.
Susan took a deep breath and drew herself up.
"Auntie, ever since my mum and dad and uncle died, we've been all each other has. Growing up you taught me to be honest, hard working, and independent. You've always respected my choices and what's most important is that you taught me to make good ones. I think I've made a good decision and I really need you to back me up."
Amelia looked rather taken aback by the honest emotion and imploring request from her niece and sole remaining family member.
"I just need you to trust me and really hear us out."
"You're not…involved with Mr. Potter, are you?"
"Oh my God, auntie!" Susan said immediately, face flushing to match her fiery red hair. "No! Harry's like, everyones brother."
"I apologize," she said stiffly while Susan stifled a glare and tried to cool her burning cheeks.
Harry laughed and then shook his head, allowing the room to settle into a more sober mood.
"Madam Bones, if Susan didn't have the utmost trust in you and we didn't have the utmost trust in her, this conversation would have never happened. I wouldn't have told you of the prophecy, I wouldn't have told you about two of my four Lordships, and I wouldn't be willing to make you privy to everything I know."
Her eyebrows were steadily rising into her hairline at the implications.
"Assuming you know something that I wish to know?"
That was Susan's cue. She withdrew a shrunk folder from her pocket and handed them to her aunt. At once, Amelia could feel the blood based protections on the folder and she shot an intense look at her niece.
"You haven't signed the secrecy oath," Susan answered softly. "So the information in that folder won't leave that folder and it'll only be able to be seen by you or I."
"There's other copies, of course," Harry added.
She opened the folder slowly and flipped through it.
"What…" Six pictures of her own aurors were looking back at her and each of their dossier pages was stamped with a distinctive snake and skull mark.
"Those 6 aurors are marked Death Eaters," Harry confirmed what the information was showing her.
"What source tells you this?"
Two of them were already suspect in her eyes and she desperately needed to know how they confirmed this. Harry and Susan shared a glance.
"That information is…sensitive," Harry admitted.
"Sensitive? Six marked aurors is well beyond sensitive," she said strongly, looking as if she wished to stand. Her eyes met his and attempted to glare him into submission.
Harry, unfortunately for her, was well past the point where he was cowed by the glare of anyone.
"The people with access to that information have signed contracts on their lives and magic swearing loyalty to the light side." Harry told her strongly. "I hope you're not expecting me to come clean and bare all my secrets to you without guarantees that they stay secret. That would jeopardize every person under my protection."
"Under your protection?"
"I'm Lord Potter Black Ravenborough Gryffindor," he said forwardly; as he did, the glinting rings upon his fingers became visible. "You could say that every person in this castle falls under my protection."
"Yet something tells me that isn't what you meant," she said after processing that.
He met her eyes measuringly for a long moment.
"No ma'am, I won't insult your intelligence by saying that it was."
They sat in silence for a moment.
It was broken by Susan, surprisingly. From her pocket she withdrew the standard secrecy contract that the DA had tailored for the head of the DMLE.
She unfurled it and slid it across the low ovular table.
"Please think about signing it, Auntie."
"Susan, what could possibly warrant this level of security? A binding oath?"
"I'll answer that if you don't mind," Harry butted in.
Almost grudgingly, she waved for him to continue.
"It's always been Voldemort's prerogative to attack Hogwarts. This castle is an icon of the light and a bastion of hope and faith for the surrounding village and the whole of magical Britain," he began, holding her eyes. "It's headed by one of the world's most renowned wizards, the only wizard Voldemort has ever been said to fear."
Susan snorted at that description of the Headmaster, her faith in him long eroded, but didn't comment.
"Hogwarts is a veritable fortress, yes, but it houses some of the most vulnerable members of the population. It houses the future of wizarding Britain. Pureblood heirs and muggle borns alike are housed in these halls and all of them inadequately protected."
"Doesn't that contradict your point of this castle being a fortress?"
"No, because the castle itself is a fortress. But a fortress itself is nothing without a force of capable wizards inside of it. There's four marked Death Eaters in the student body already and the teachers are incapable of protecting the others."
"Marked students?" she gaped.
"We can prove it. Hogwarts just isn't safe. Our entire Hogwarts education has proved that," Susan agreed. "We have the memories, in a pensieve, but you have to sign the contract."
"I have to sign the-" Amelia cut herself off and restrained a huff, taking the sheaf of parchment and adjusting her monocle carefully.
Harry and Susan had discussed this; the redhead knew her aunt loved to make people uncomfortable with long silences and they had prepared for it.
For three minutes, she let them sit in silence before she set the contract down.
"I have more questions."
"Alright," Harry agreed, seeing immediately that she was heavily considering signing the contract.
"My first is to ask what it is that you and my niece and whoever else are doing together, primarily."
"Primarily?" Harry returned. "We're learning."
"Learning what?"
"The Hogwarts curriculum and more," he answered. "Susan, maybe you can demonstrate?"
Susan looked between her aunt and Harry for a moment before nodding and taking a deep breath. She was focusing for a long second and just as Amelia opened her mouth to ask, Susan began incanting.
"Expecto patronum," she said confidently in an even-toned speaking voice.
There was a pregnant pause where Amelia's mind raced with thoughts about why her niece would even try that spell. She wasn't expecting the fully corporeal Clydesdale horse to shoot brilliantly out of the end of her wand.
"Dear Merlin…" Amelia breathed.
All three of their faces were bathed in the silvery light and the magnificent beast stomped its feet and began a ghostly prance around the limited space. After a few seconds, it faded after a final inaudible whinny.
"We've been working on that one all year," Harry confided. "Though I learned it in my third — had a particularly bad reaction to the dementors."
"I did too but I don't seem to have the Potter luck that forced me to encounter them a bunch."
"That is astounding Susan," her aunt praised after a moment of tactless gaping. "An incredible piece of magic. That's well beyond NEWT level."
"Everyone wants to be protected from dementors," Harry said with a shrug. "So we all practice nearly daily with it now."
Amelia stared at them both for a minute longer before clearing her throat.
"My second question is about the very curious amulet my Susan has been guarding so covetously."
Harry's eyes lit up as he smiled at the easy question.
"The amulets and rings are standard issue for all my friends. They're emergency portkeys, trackers, and have some basic enchantments."
"May I?" she asked her niece, gesturing to the chain she could see dipping into her blouse.
"I have a better idea," Harry said with a smile, reaching into his pocket and withdrawing two velvet bags.
He handed them to the curious woman who took them slowly, opening the heaviest first.
The thick platinum rope chain hit her palm first followed by the amulet itself. Also platinum, there was a thumb sized black onyx set into the center of the Celtic shield design. Tapping her monocle with her wand, she activated one of their various enhancements and studied the amulet carefully.
"This would deflect even a high level cutter, Mr. Potter," she said in a voice that was almost breathy but still firm. She was imagining the price tag on just how much one amulet would cost.
"We haven't had to test that yet but I sure hope so."
The second bag revealed a matching ring with a thick band that kept with the Celtic design. The black onyx in the center was just as impressive as the first.
"If I'm not mistaken, these were commissioned by one of our world's finest enchantresses," she remarked, trying to sound casual.
"Can't put a price on the safety of your loved ones," Harry said with a shrug.
Amelia suddenly noticed that both of them were wearing the ring.
"And secrecy charms to boot," she commented.
"Can't put a price on security either," Harry responded. "Tap the ring with your wand three times to set the portkey activation phrase. Do the same with the necklace but please use a different phrase."
"You intend for me to keep these?" she asked, sounding surprised.
"Of course," Harry responded.
"And where do these portkeys go?"
"The ring is reusable and goes to Hogwarts. The amulet takes you to my…home?"
"Is that a question?"
"My home, yeah," he amended. "I would recommend activating that one if you're injured — we have a full time healer and her apprentice on board. Just wait on using it until you're in on the secret."
Amelia's eyebrow went up. A full time healer and mediwitch? And what secret?
"Their village and clinic was destroyed by Death Eaters," he explained. "I've got more than enough room to accommodate them and they've proven excellent at healing the occasional potions mishap."
"Also helps that you pay them out the arse."
"Susan," Amelia reprimanded instinctively. "The secret, you mentioned?" she picked back up.
"A secret not even I can tell you," he said with a wink. "And if you're ever in distress, you can tap the stone in the ring to the amulet stone."
"In distress?" she asked in a slightly higher pitched voice. "I am the Director of Magical law enforcement-"
"And Susan's last living relative. So you'll excuse me if I offer you every bit of security I can afford."
Amelia certainly couldn't refute that. The way he'd said it definitely told her that he was serious about protecting both herself and her Susan.
"150,000 galleons worth of security?" she asked after a moment of silence, referring to the sum he'd donated to the aurors.
"And then some," he agreed easily.
"You still haven't explained why," she said firmly, leaning back in her chair. "Why this is all necessary and what it is, exactly, you've gotten involved in."
"He hasn't gotten involved in anything," Susan answered. "V-Voldemort attacked him as a baby and with the prophecy you could say he was born into it. I got involved in this when they killed my mum and dad." Her face darkened and she turned her head to the side. "I remember that night, I won't ever forget."
"I remember the night my parents died too," Harry said quietly, wordlessly reaching out with his magic.
It was something instinctive that he'd taken to doing since he'd really come into his magic after the tournament. It was only meant to be comforting and it achieved just that. She gave him a small smile that lacked any happiness but did convey thanks.
Amelia watched the byplay with shocked interest; she could feel the highly controlled magic that rolled off of the boy and towards her niece. Everything about this meeting was shocking her. She couldn't deny the friendship between Susan and the Boy-Who-Lived and it certainly didn't seem to be a new friendship.
"Hogwarts will be affected by this war, Madam Bones. Cedric Diggory was part of our group of friends. We were just a study group but his death, it-"
"It changed everything." Susan growled roughly.
"I'm afraid I've said too much," Harry said with a halfhearted shrug before he was struck by a look of horror. "Oh bloody hell, I sounded like Dumbledore."
Susan did let out a bark of laughter at that and even Amelia's serious facade was tempered if only for a moment.
"This contract is quite serious for someone in my position."
"I know that, Aunt Amelia," Susan told her honestly. "You know that I would never ask it of you if it wasn't necessary.
"And are you sure, Susan, truly sure, that this contract is necessary? Considering the consequences of breaking it?"
"If you broke your contract, you'd lose your magic. If I broke mine, I'd die."
"You mean to tell me that you signed-"
"Yes I did."
"Of all the irresponsible, unbelievably-"
"Don't start a row with me!" Susan said in a surly, loud voice. "You don't know anything about Harry or my friends or what we can do and if you ever want to, you'll sign that."
Harry looked awkwardly to the other end of the room, trying very hard to ignore the familial conflict. He maintained his will and didn't look over for a little over a minute until his attention was drawn by the sound of a quill scratching parchment.
Harry floundered for a moment before the intimidating older woman arched a cultured brow.
"Right, erm," Harry said after a moment. "First things first."
He drew his wand and took a deep breath.
"I, Harry James Potter, do swear on my magic that Sirius Black was not the secret-keeper for my parents, that he did not betray them to the Lord Voldemort, that he is not a Death Eater, and that he did not murder twelve muggles."
There was a bright flash of light followed by a duller flash to signify that his oath had held.
"What?" Amelia asked, monocle dropping this time.
"Yeah, Peter Pettigrew was their secret keeper and he betrayed them. When Sirius got arrested, Pettigrew hid out in his rat animagus form until third year when Sirius revealed him and he escaped. He's the Death Eater that helped resurrect the Dark Lord; him and Barty Crouch Jr."
"That is- Why didn't-?"
"The short answer is that everything comes down to the Bagnold administration and their love of scapegoats," Harry answered. "That was really just a sort of side-note so you don't see Sirius and get arrest-happy."
"Arrest-happy," Amelia mumbled as she composed herself.
"Would you like to visit our…uh," Harry paused, searching for the word.
"Clubhouse," Susan said simply.
"Sure, clubhouse? We'll show you our list of known and suspected Death Eaters."
"And then some," she red-haired girl added.
Amelia stood briskly, wondering just what she was getting herself into. "Very well then."
Harry tapped his wand to his ring a few times and knew that whoever wasn't already at the Cathedral would be by the time they arrived.
Amelia, who had hesitantly slipped on the ring, started noticeably when she felt it warm and pulsate.
"That would be the signal we use to tell everyone about meetings," he told her as he held open the portrait hole politely. "I'll have Hermione give you a copy of the instructions."
"And a journal, you think?" Susan asked from the other side of her aunt as Harry directed them into a little used shortcut.
"I think so, we can blood-bind it."
"A journal?" Amelia asked, wondering what use such at thing could be to her. She wasn't even going to react to the mention of blood-binding. It was surprising that the Boy-Who-Lived was familiar with the old practice let alone supportive of it but she couldn't say anything since she was no stranger to it herself.
Harry and Susan shared a look before Harry nodded.
Susan reached into her robes and withdrew a thick, leather-bound and brass-clasped journal. It was glowing faintly and Susan cracked it open using a leather divider that she knew marked the chat section.
"Anything important?" Harry asked, knowing the glow meant a message sent straight to Susan herself.
"Just Hannah," Susan said before passing the open book to her aunt.
'Sue, has Aunt Amelia agreed yet?' she saw in Hannah Abbott's familiar bubbly handwriting.
Above that she could see some other messages between the two, looking like some rather hurried shorthand about, if she was not mistaken, a 'questionable' and his activities after curfew hours.
"You use them for instantaneous communication?"
"To some extent," Harry agreed before reaching over and opening Susan's journal to the first or second page. "The first half is mostly our research, the glossary is right there," he said as he pointed to the page.
"Usable and Unusable spells?" she read the first glossary title with interest before flipping to the prescribed pages.
As she read the compendium of spell breakdowns, her eyebrows rose higher and higher. At the very top, below the title, was a long italicized note section.
"Do not cast: Putesco, Undique Rigor…" Amelia read the first few spells and looked at the two teens who were standing on the staircase landing as it rotated.
"I should certainly hope you're not casting these spells," she said, looking down quickly. "These are auror level."
"Are they?" Harry asked, skimming it. "I thought the auror level spells are on the back of the list."
"They reclassified any borderline spells like the flesh rotter to auror level," Susan answered helpfully. "Just as our fourth year started, I think. And the Undique Rigor is part of the two classes of compression spells that were deemed to be too strong for public use."
"And Hermione doesn't know?" Harry asked, sounding amused. "Seems like just the sort of thing she would have kept up on."
"She knows, I heard her and Lisa discussing it in her newest treatise."
"Treatise?" Amelia asked, subtly reminding the two of them that she was present, confused, and unamused.
"Our friend Lisa Turpin is a bit of a political bug," Harry answered easily, knowing Susan still maintained a flexible low-level privacy charm around them. "She enjoys writing long essays about politics…"
"And taking short walks around the Black Lake," Susan finished in a light voice; this was obviously some sort of running joke amongst them.
They all fell silent when some Slytherin students entered the same corridor from a hall a few feet in front of them. She recognized the Greengrass and Davis heir as well as Adriana Zabini's boy. That was certainly not a group of Slytherins Harry Potter would be smart to antagonize.
Amelia thought it curious that they were in that particular corridor as it was in a rather out-of-use part of the seventh floor. Since neither her niece or Harry Potter showed any acknowledgment of the three snakes, Amelia followed their lead quietly as they took the same left the Slytherins took.
The Slytherin students, however, weren't anywhere within eyesight when they entered the tall but narrow window-lit hall. Harry approached a door on the left that appeared to be a broom cupboard.
When they opened it, it actually revealed another portrait set just a few inches into the wall.
"SHUT MY-" the zealous, ebony-haired portrait of a gaunt woman in a lightning-illuminated bed chamber screamed violently before calming immediately. "Oh hello, Harry, Susan."
Her entire countenance had done a complete 180. What was previously a high pitched and nails-on-chalkboard voice changed into a calmer soprano. She also took on a more austere and less banshee-like expression.
"Hello, Lady Margrave," Harry greeted with a very polite bow. "Might I introduce the Lady Bones, Amelia of Bones, aunt of Susan?"
Lady Margrave did some sort of flaxen blushing and eye-battering before giggling girlishly. It was strange coming from a woman who looked to be well into her 50's and so must, by magical standards, be much older than that.
"Impeccable manners, Lord Potter," she curtsied before nodding.
"Madam Bones, this is Lady Margrave, one of our two dedicated portrait guardians."
"Terribly sorry for the caterwauling, my dears," she apologized. "I thought you were some ruffians pursuing Tracey, Daphne, and Blaise."
"Indeed not. Begging entrance, my lady?"
The portrait giggled again and curtsied before swinging open.
Amelia subtly probed her old knee injury and hid a wince before stepping up and over the threshold into the Cathedral.
They came out in the back corner about twenty feet from a long dueling-standard platform. As she entered the room, she was struck rather dumb.
There were a few wood framed single beds that they were standing between now. Directly opposite, near the other end of the platform, were two very large glass-front medical cupboards filled from bottom to top with multiple glowing potions and flasks.
What truly caught her attention was the other end of the room.
There were more than fifty students gathered, more than sixty, even. Some of them were under a small library-loft filled with more books than she would have thought and the back walls were covered with maps and pictures she couldn't quite make out.
"Harry mate…"
"…good to see ya!" the Weasley twins greeted.
Amelia was very sure they were supposed to be in Diagon Alley managing their booming joke shop.
The products from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes had caused endless amounts of strife within her office and the entire ministry. They had several muggle-inspired products that skirted the laws without outright breaking them which had displeased many committees into trying to ban or limit their inventions.
Because of that, Amelia had made it a personal policy to keep an eye on them and their products. The monocled canary incident was one that would never be spoken of or repeated.
The entire room turned to face them then and she heard a miffed voice say "You were supposed to bring her through the main entrance!"
"Shut up, Lavender," someone with an Indian accent hissed.
Her monocle dropped again and her knee wobbled just a little bit.
Hannah immediately rushed forward.
"Hi Aunt Amelia!" she said brightly.
"What is going on here?" she gasped, giving up on maintaining her stoic facade. "Madam Hooch?!"
"These are about seventy of our closest friends," Harry answered brightly. "And a professor. Her niece, Amanda, is a member."
Amanda waved.
"Are you okay?" Hannah asked, concerned. "Is your knee bothering you? I know it starts to in the colder months."
"I am fine, Hannah," Amelia said severely but the determined badger ignored her.
"No, I don't think so."
Hannah gave her wand a complicated wiggle and conjured a perfect replica of Amelia's favorite spoon-back armchair from Bones Manor.
"Sit," she ordered in her firmest healer voice.
Despite herself, Amelia felt herself sitting. That was a seventh-year conjuration and the chair was flawless.
While Hannah began weaving a diagnostic charm, Harry walked towards the back of the room to where Megan was sitting facing Cedric on a dining bench.
"Hey," he said softly, reaching out and squeezing her shoulder.
"Hey," she echoed, waiting a moment before speaking. "I'm sorry about causing a scene."
"I think it was really impressive, actually."
She snorted.
"No, really," Harry assured her. "Everyone discussed it already; we've never seen knob-knocking tongue mixed with minging cunt. It was very effective."
"Cedric wouldn't have approved," she said, unable to stop from cracking a small smile.
"He always was a bit of a Hermione about swearing," he agreed, bumping her knees with his leg but not sitting. "Are you alright?"
"Did you just use Hermione as a verb?" she questioned. "And yeah, I'm fine, Harry."
He gave her a hard look. Under the glare, she amended her statement with a shrug.
"I'm angry," she said simply. "I will be till this over with."
Harry took a moment to consider his answer.
"I'm angry too sometimes," he admitted. "But you've got to be careful, Meg. This kind of anger, it, it burns. It'll burn you up inside. You've got to focus on the loved ones we can still protect, the ones that need us the most."
She was listening to him but didn't outwardly react to the words, staring almost unseeingly at the constantly moving but never truly lively portrait of Cedric.
"You should talk to Cho or Alice about Mrs. Tolipan," he said softly. "I talk to her sometimes, after nightmares. Though she goes by Dr. Tolipan if she's practicing. She can really help you get your mind straight."
He didn't wait to see her reaction to his advice, turning to face the still milling crowd. As an afterthought, he turned back to Megan.
"I used Hermione as an adjective, by the way. I could accuse you of Hermione-ing though."
He was rewarded with a small smile for his bizarre thought. For some reason, it made Megan feel that much better.
"Right, okay," she said, chuckling weakly on an exhale.
After giving the Hufflepuff a short nod once he was sure she was somewhat more collected, he raised his wand and cast a sonorous charm.
"Alright, Anita, Kenny — can you two get the spectator wards up?" he asked. His tone immediately fell back into the cool but firm cadence he adopted when dealing with the DA in large numbers. Ron coined it his commander voice.
The two seventh years stepped up and nodded. Everyone else took that to mean move to the sidewalls.
"Jimmy and Nanette, I want you against Sean and Noreen. If I see you two brothers singling each other out, I'll send Lavender in there."
The boys shook their heads so fast they might've broken their necks; the two fourth year twins, one in Gryffindor and the other in Hufflepuff, knew very well that Lavender could do painfully embarrassing things with cosmetic charms.
Hannah placed a strong pain-relief charm on Amelia's knee that made the older woman want to sputter. That was the preferred charm of the DMLE on-staff healer; even Amelia didn't know it. Then she went off towards the potions cabinets. Idly, Amelia noticed that she dismantled some strong protection and locking charms first.
"We call ourselves the DA, the Defense Association," Susan told her aunt softly as she conjured her own plush chair near the end of the dueling platform. "Most of us have been members since my first year but a lot of people joined in second, third, or fifth. Cedric joined near Christmas in our first year."
She smiled softly and nodded to Cedric's portrait across the room. The mantle of the fireplace below the portrait held a few mementos, picture frames and a Hufflepuff scarf.
Hannah came back with a mid-sized pot of mellow green salve that she handed to Amelia.
"It's Star Grass salve," she told the older woman. "But Neville tweaked the recipe so it should work a bit better than your run of the mill stuff."
"Susan, this is-"
"A lot to take in, I know," Susan said softly. "Just watch, watch what they can do. They're our youngest, though Noreen's a fifth year."
Harry finished securing the spectator wards and checking with both Anita, whose messy blonde hair was pulled into a bun, and Kenny, the reedy seventh year Gryffindor.
"Basic match rules," Harry called out. "No ward-breakers, no borderlines, no weapons; conjured or otherwise. If wands are lost, fists are in. Questions?"
All four of them shook their heads no.
Amelia had questions.
"Borderlines? Weapons? Fists?"
Susan ignored her aunt, clearly telling the woman to watch.
"Robes away then," Harry finished.
With ease, they banished their robes onto the backs of some empty chairs and loosened their cuffs. Nanette Desford, the mild mannered healer, pulled off her soft white blouse that went under her pretty casual robes and revealed her body armor underneath it.
"Is that armor?" Amelia asked, jaw slackening again. "It doesn't look like dragon hide."
"It's basilisk hide," Harry answered as he took a seat on the end of one of the beds.
"Basilisk hide?"
"A lot more flexible than dragon hide and a fair bit more resilient. We had more than enough to cover everyone."
"Every one of these students have this armor?"
Susan pulled down her blouse unashamedly and revealed, rather than cleavage, the same basilisk hide armor that Nanette was sporting.
"Standard issue," Hannah chirped, showing her own armor under the neckline of her house robes.
"You all wear them under your clothes?"
"I think that's the habit," Harry confirmed. "If not, we carry the armor in shrunken trunks on our person at all times."
"And the amulets and rings too?"
"Yes ma'am," Hermione answered as she approached the group; she'd just come down the spiral stairs from the loft and skirted the edges of the spectator wards. "Every one of us has the jewelry, armor, and robes as standard issue."
The director assessed the fit but clearly bookish teen.
"It's an honor to formally meet you, Madam Bones. I'm Hermione Granger," she introduced, hazel eyes focused intelligently on the older woman.
She nodded to the girl but Amelia's attention was quickly grabbed by the three fourth years and the fifth year, Noreen, beginning their fight.
The area they had was large, a 30x30 space, and Jimmy and Nanette had already claimed one side as their own. Sean and Noreen had chosen to stick close to each other, Jimmy and Nanette doing the opposite.
On some signal, Noreen voiced her first spell loudly.
"Contego!" A flexible yellowish shield sprung up in a convex shape that guarded the Ravenclaw and Sean from the front and sides.
"Exustio," Jimmy cast, a burning wave of fire immediately enveloping the shield; it wouldn't penetrate but it could make things dangerously or uncomfortably hot.
Sean countered wordlessly with a thin but wide splash of water. Since the fire was magical, the small amount of water that met the fire caused a great billow of steam and extinguished the flames.
In response, Jimmy and Nanette quickly backed up to the furthest edges of the shield and regrouped. Noreen's shield dropped and when the steam abated she was nowhere to be seen.
Jimmy immediately began searching for distortions and Nanette launched a flock of aggressive pointy-beaked birds wordlessly towards the only visible opponent, Sean.
As the four students parried and shielded, ducked and rolled, Amelia was struck dumb. She knew some of her aurors wouldn't know how to counteract their attacks. Low level spells, high level spells, some wordless and others so obscure that even she didn't recognize them were thrown around the dueling area. Ignoring their impressive spell repertoires, the tactics they used were beyond anything she would have expected. They had clearly been rehearsed and practiced and rehearsed again.
"Nanette," Harry called warningly when he saw her loose the medical grade concussion spell favored by Graham. "Bit too nasty."
She nodded but didn't answer further, ducking a hail of rubber disks.
"And Jimmy those disks better stay rubber," he warned. "No weapons."
After that, Harry sat back and watched them.
They mixed in the physical if another got too close to them; Sean had taken a vicious punch from Noreen and Nanette had been grounded by a kick to the back of the knee from Jimmy.
Ron's wand let off a cannon like sound and the four immediately ceased fire. Noreen and Jimmy had won that round.
"Nanette, you've got to be more flexible. You'll save energy if you duck and dodge rather than shield especially since you favor transfiguration," Harry called loudly, seeing the girl immediately nod.
"And Jimmy, you should work on that summoner/banisher combo with those disks. I can see the beginnings of a pretty good move there if you practice with it," Ella Wilkins recommended, voice maintaining her ever-present disinterested tone.
"Now, Nigel and Katie versus Zara and Ella I think," Harry said. "You saw the youngest end of the spectrum so now here's the oldest."
By the end of that fight, Amelia was even more blown away. Harry had to call out a few warnings since the seventh years were getting a bit nasty (the girls, mostly — poor Nigel). These were just students and yet they fought and cast and chained spells together in a manner that would leave most of her recruits green with envy.
"Dear Merlin…" she breathed, monocle hanging forgotten at her neck.
When the fight ended, there was some cheering from the spectating crowd and some grumbling betwixt the fighters.
"That's the third time you've broken my fucking nose, Wilkins," Katie growled at Ella, holding her bleeding nose.
"That's the fourth time you've broken my thumb, Bell."
"Then stop trying to shove them in my eyes."
"Then stop trying to punch me in the throat!"
"I wouldn't try to punch you in the throat if you wouldn't try to go for my nose," Katie said loudly.
"I only went for your nose because you went for my throat!"
"Cycles of violence, ladies," Zara interrupted. "Now shove it before I break your nose, Ella, and both of your thumbs, Katie." Wisely, none of the other girls wanted to invoke the wrath of the frankly terrifying Hufflepuff.
"I'm gonna go see to that lot," Hannah said quickly, nodding at the slightly bloody Katie and the mildly concussed Nigel.
"Those spells are well above auror level — some of them are quite dangerous," Amelia said, looking to her niece.
"Those were the nice spells," Susan admitted. "The really damaging ones don't get used in practice duels."
"Really damaging?" the older woman asked in an incredulous tone.
"Why don't you come meet Ron Weasley, Gareth Pewsey, and the Sally's?" Harry asked, standing.
"The Sally's?"
"Sally-Anne Perks and Sally Smith," Harry said, nodding towards the group of four in front of the maps near the main entrance. "Our tactics people, I guess you could say."
"Tactics people?" she muttered as she followed.
Neville Longbottom was also with the four strategists, leaning against the largest table and poring over the maps.
"We can't go about pitting traps in the Forbidden Forest, Ron," Neville said strongly. "Even if it is just plants. We've been over this — most of the aggressive species of magical plants are too invasive."
"And we can't go digging pits full of venomous tactula or devil's snare — that's dangerous to the centaurs and unicorns," Sally-Anne added.
"Centaurs are smart enough to see it," Ron defended. "They know the forest better than anyone."
"Yeah but their young might not," Neville said. "You think they'd appreciate their foals dropping into pits of deadly plants?"
"Besides, most of the plants in the forest are deadly in their own right," Sally said. "The Forbidden forest is a delicately balanced ecosystem. We don't need to upset it."
"At most, we could release some Australian koala pollen that'll make the existing plants more aggressive but even that could be dangerous."
"Fine, that's off the list then."
"I still think that if we can buy up these five land boroughs and gift them to the centaurs, they'd be a lot more likely to help." Neville added.
"You can't gift it to them," Susan said as she approached, shaking her head. "But you could return it back to them."
"So we have to buy it then return it to them but it can't be called a gift?" the redheaded teen asked, screwing up his freckled face.
"It would make them sound indebted to you," Lilian Moon called down from the loft. "So it has to be a return, as if you're repaying a debt to them owed by wizards, not incurring a debt to wizards owed by the centaurs."
"Bloody politics," Ron grumbled. "Alright, we'll work on plans for the forest another time. We've already got the outskirts trapped to hell and back."
Topic ended, they turned to look at Amelia, Harry, and Susan.
"Hello, Madam Bones," Gareth greeted. "Pleased to meet you — Gareth Pewsey."
"And I'm Sally-Anne."
"And I'm Sally Smith."
"And this is-"
"Ron Weasley," Ron interrupted Harry, reaching over to shake Madam Bones hand firmly. "Honor to meet you."
"Nice to see you again, Madam Bones," Neville greeted.
"I should have expected to see you here, Mr. Longbottom."
"Potters and Longbottoms have always stood together."
"And the Bones too, to some degree," she agreed, referring to years of political alliance between their families.
Her attention was grabbed then by the maps. There was one of Diagon, a few of the ministry, some of Hogsmeade, one of the whole of Europe, another of the whole of the UK and a most interesting detailed map of Hogwarts.
The one that really caught her attention was bordered by card sized pictures of people she recognized as Death Eaters, supporters, suspected Death Eaters, and a few people she would have sworn were neutral if not light-grey.
"Death Eaters?" she breathed out, stepping around the table and towards the maps. Some of the dots were moving, some weren't, and a few disappeared to reappear somewhere else or disappear entirely "Is this an actual map?"
"We hit a couple of them with a tracker at the Department of Mysteries," Ron agreed. "It spreads, but only once. I think Bellatrix LeStrange herself infected most of them."
"And there really are marked students," she confirmed, getting tired of all of the shock reactions they were eliciting.
Too bad for her, since there were more than a few surprises left in store.
"Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott, juniors," Ron confirmed without looking up. "And Snape, of course."
"Of course," she muttered.
"The file Susan gave you of marked aurors has a full account of their daily movements for the past month; each has an interactive map of their movements around the auror office. We couldn't identify two of them so they've been given a number; maybe you can figure out who they are based on their desk."
Opening the file, Amelia found one of the map sheets Ron had told her about that was showing the movement of one of the marked aurors but slightly sped up. She could tell he sat at the fourth desk from the left.
"This is very accurate," she muttered, looking at the map with wider eyes than she cared to admit before turning to a smaller one to the left.
She studied it intently, noticing the color coded markers and circular shapes varying in size. It wasn't until she zeroed on a particular circle that she realized what she was looking at.
"Is that Bones manor?!"
Ron looked over. "Yep."
"Bones manor shouldn't be plottable."
"Unless you're a Bones," Susan said from behind her aunt. "Or the Dark Lord; we operate on the assumption that anything the ministry knows, he knows."
"You- our wards," she said, sounding the closest to angry with her niece that she had been. To reveal the location of Bones manor was a serious security risk.
"They're only monitoring charms, ma'am," Ron spoke up. "All of our families are on that map, even if they don't know it."
Sally-Anne started pointing out different dots.
"The Longbottom's, Roper's, Valli's, Abbott's, and even Greengrass Manor."
"If any of them are attacked, we'll know in seconds flat."
"And if this room is breached, those maps self-destruct before anyone would have time to set foot through the door."
"This is…"
"More than you were expecting?" Harry offered.
"Much, much more."
…
Amelia Bones was in for a lot more surprises.
After the students were finished showing off for the Director of the DMLE (and many of them did admit to showing off), they all gathered at the two long dining tables. Amelia had been given an armchair at the head of one of the tables.
"Slippy," Harry called.
"Master Potter need Slippy?" the healthy looking house-elf asked. Amelia noted with interest that he was wearing the most interesting set of heavy purple robes and what looked like armor underneath.
"Do you think we could get enough tea for everyone and finger snacks?"
"Snacks for all the young masters?" he asked, looking around hopefully. "Slippy will be his very fastest. Slippy will have all the elves's help."
When Slippy had popped away, Amelia gave in and asked another question.
"Your house-elves have armor as well?" her brow raised incredulously.
Lavender giggled. "Oh yes — they're wearing miniature versions of our dress robes."
"You have dress robes?"
"Lav's summer project," Gillian Ossett informed her.
Somehow, Lavender had convinced Hermione (who Harry gave a large part of the budget controlling to) that the elves needed to have their own mini-sets of dragon hide armor (since they couldn't spare the basilisk hide) as well as robes.
Dobby had loved them immediately, excited to match the students around the castle as many of them could be found wearing their robes in the summer. All of the other elves, looking much healthier than when they had first been bought by Harry, had taken to them as well.
"But the elves?"
"I couldn't stand the sight of another tea cosy or pillowcase," Harry shrugged. "They all love them."
"Swear I saw one of the little buggers humming batman and running down the hall at-" Dean's voice cut off suddenly.
He was about to say "at Firewall" but Amelia didn't know the secret.
"Oh, that's right," Harry said, turning to Hermione. "Mione?"
Hermione stood up and approached Amelia before leaning down to whisper something in her ear very quietly.
"You have a Fidelius protected castle?" she asked, voice bordering on shrill.
"The whole island is warded, actually," Hermione said.
"How could you possibly-" she began in an even more incredulous tone.
It was Susan's giggle that brought Amelia back to herself and she quickly schooled her expression.
Hermione answered. "It took Ron, Neville, Harry and myself thirty minutes to erect the ward."
"How big is this island?" Amelia asked, knowing thirty minutes was far longer than it should have taken four moderately powerful people, young or not. Unless it was cast improperly, of course.
"Big enough," he answered enigmatically.
"And the castle's ruddy huge," Seamus answered from the middle of the table.
"Big empty castle, all to yourself, Mr. Potter?"
"Harry, please," he corrected. "And no, not exactly."
"A couple of us live there with our families," Kevin answered.
"Including my mother," Blaise spoke up.
"Adriana Delia lives with you?" she asked, jaw dropping a little further.
"And the Browns, Moons, Davises, and Hooches too." Harry listed off. "Plus a good deal of others. Anyone who's worried for their families safety can come stay. The Corrans and Dunbars are coming in the last week of September."
Tea and snacks appeared, plates magically set in front of each person and cups too.
"Thank you, Slippy," a few people called to the elf they couldn't see but knew was near.
"I'm guessing Slippy isn't a castle elf?"
"And this isn't castle food," Harry agreed. "Small groups of students can sneak into the Hogwarts kitchens but the elves would have to report regular meals of such large quantities to the Headmaster."
"And your elf might stand out a bit."
"Just a bit," Harry laughed.
"Perhaps you'd like to visit Firewall after this?" Hermione asked. "You could meet Healer Silva and her apprentice, Mediwitch Kent."
"Lanuaria Silva?" Amelia asked, this time forcing her voice to remain steady. If there was a slight waver, everyone pretended not to notice.
"You know her?"
"She is an excellent and reclusive healer with a specialty in remedying the effects of dark magic and dark artifacts," Amelia said. "Lanuaria Silva hasn't been heard from since her home was destroyed — in fact we suspect she was targeted specifically."
"You think she was targeted?" Harry asked with a shocked voice; this was news to him.
"She is the chosen healer of Mad-Eye Moody himself," Amelia said in a voice that conveyed how highly she thought of Lanuaria.
"She never told me that…" Harry muttered
"Well, she's the chosen healer of Harry Potter now," Sean Peakes chirped.
"And the rest of us too," Jimmy added after his brother.
"I didn't really check her credentials, honestly," Harry admitted with a shrug. "They signed the loyalty oaths and said their village had been destroyed. It was enough for me."
"Although that puts a new light on some of Voldemort's actions," Lisa Turpin said, finishing her tea and snagging a finger sandwich as she pushed back from the table. "We haven't determined how he chooses targets aside from the obvious ones like manor houses or public locations. We know it isn't by any of the standard demographics like population or land mass. Michael, get me the victim list; magical and muggle."
"What're you onto, Lisa?" Harry asked as Michael Corner finished his tea and headed for the upper level.
"It's a pretty common terrorist move," Lisa explained as she walked towards the maps. "If you want to hit your enemy hard, you hit their ancillary and auxiliary organizations before you make your first big attack."
She paused for a moment to stare at the map before turning back to them.
"Take muggle terrorists, for example. When they target a city, they'll take down the firefighters who respond to explosions, the police, the 999 operators who respond to emergency calls, the hospitals that would take the wounded, or even the power grid."
Amelia was listening with piqued interest.
"Dark Lord did the same thing in the first war," Ron added, taking a whole platter of the finger sandwiches over towards the map area and table where Lisa was spreading out some research. The girl happily snagged another. "Knocked off the floo operators and the head of the department. Attacked St. Mungo's and all the healers too."
"You think St. Mungo's is a bigger target than we realized?" Harry asked, looking concerned.
"It's a pretty easy target," Neville said, clearly thinking. "I mean, I'm there all the time and I hardly see aurors. The wards are individually silenced so sound from one floor won't reach the other if the alarms aren't triggered. And Lucius Malfoy was there all the time so there's nothing against the Dark Mark."
"Hannah," Harry said as Lisa and Michael began laying out lists and other materials. "I'm going to transfer another 200,000 galleons into the Diggory War Relief Fund from the Ravenborough vault; I want a secondary hospital set up. Hermione's got a list of real estate we considered in place of Firewall. Pick one, make sure there's more than enough room."
He looked around before focusing on a light-haired girl at the table farthest from him.
"Tracey, get with your dad and see if he can arrange to brew hospital grade potions for us. We'll need access to St. Mungo's order history to see how many of each potion they use monthly. It should be public record; get with Anthony and figure out how much we'll need of what supplies."
"Fay, I know your uncle owns Dunbar Construction; get with Hannah once she's chosen the place and see if your uncle can do the renovations and remodeling to turn it into a functioning hospital."
"We can't Fidelius a hospital, Harry," Hermione said.
"The goblins can ward it to hell and back," Harry said. "And I know we can ward against the Dark Mark personally."
"Diggory War Relief Fund? Hannah? Hospital?" Amelia interjected, once again fighting to maintain control of her voice.
"It was our idea to start a War Relief fund early so it'd be available as soon as possible," Hannah said.
"This group is responsible for the Diggory War Relief Fund?"
"Yes," Harry agreed. "Is that a problem?"
"Problem? Do you know how much that fund has-" she stopped; of course they all knew how much good it had done. "It's wonderful. The Minister has been vying for control of the fund, assuming it had something to do with the ministry but the goblins have blocked him at every turn."
"A group of us help manage it," Wayne Hopkins said. "And two goblins, they do much of the fund assignments. We just have to sort the applicants into groups and we base those off of things like if their houses have been destroyed or just damaged or if they've lost their jobs because of the war."
"Or if a family member dies; we cover funeral costs," Leanne added.
"Oh, and tuitions and fees too, especially for muggle students," Wayne added.
"Amos has been taking quite a bit of heat," she continued, lost momentarily in her thoughts. "He's denied any involvement, of course, but no one believes him."
"Because he isn't actually involved, yeah," Harry said. "We thought that might happen — we've got an eye on him."
"An eye on him?" Amelia repeated.
"In case Death Eaters target him because of the fund," Hannah answered.
"What would you do if he was?"
There was a long silence before Jimmy Peakes whispered something to his brother. After a moment, he spoke up.
"We would-" he looked at his brother for affirmation, receiving a nod to continue. "We would alert the proper authorities, yeah."
"Uh huh, final answer," Sean agreed.
There was a bit of an unspoken agreement to not mention those 15 Death Eaters they'd put out of commission.
Amelia gave them all penetrating looks, more than able to tell when someone spoke less than the truth. When she attempted to turn her glare on her niece, the resolute but otherwise blank expression surprised her.
"Cedric's the reason most of us are here. We'll look after his mum and dad," Megan Jones spoke up from halfway down the table.
Nearly every student turned and nodded towards Cedric's smiling and waving portrait.
"And you plan to start a hospital? Just like that?" she asked, pushing on and deciding not to antagonize the clearly volatile blonde Hufflepuff. She hadn't forgotten what happened in the Great Hall.
"We're not starting a hospital," Harry corrected. "We're building the facilities and stocking it as a just in case. If St. Mungo's is destroyed, we'll turn the facilities over to them and they can handle that paperwork."
"Harry's only trying to avoid the jigger mites that inhabit parchments," Luna's dreamy voiced pitched in.
"He's trying to avoid more parchment signing, more like," Ernie teased.
"Oi, you lot don't have to sign literally a hundred checks every two weeks," he grumbled. "Starting to regret agreeing to start a primary school for magical and muggle kids on Firewall. Finding maths tutors is vicious."
"Maths tutors?"
"Some of us have kid sisters and brothers that don't have magic living on Firewall," Alice Tolipan answered. "So our parents and some tutors are homeschooling them."
"And Harry agreed that the house-elves should learn how to read and write and do basic maths," Hermione said brightly. "The first step towards equality is literacy, in this case."
Amelia shot the girl a strange look and a couple of the members rolled their eyes good-naturedly. Hermione never gave up on S.P.E.W.
"I think I might like to see this castle."
"A few of us were planning to go see our families — portkey together?" Alice offered.
"I'll go," Hannah said, joining Alice.
"I think Madam Bones and Susan might enjoy the scenic route; we'll take my portkey."
"I'll come," Hermione decided, gathering around Alice and a group of four others. "I have a few books I need to get."
"Count me in," Neville called. "Lanuaria said she's got some seeds from her healing collection that I can use in the forest."
"What would you be doing in the forest?"
"Preparing to bribe the centaurs, of course," Neville declared with a broad smile before Alice's portkey tugged them away.
"Ladies," Harry said, offering both Susan and her aunt an arm.
"You'll love it, Auntie, really — I'll show you Hannah and I's room."
"Why would you and Hannah have a room?"
Harry activated his portkey right as Susan's face contorted into an 'oops' expression. She supposed she'd have to explain her summer activities to her auntie as well.
...